Book Review: Uncertainties Volume VII, edited by Carly Holmes

It’s often the case with a long-running original anthology series that the law of diminishing returns kicks in. This is most certainly not the case with the Uncertainties books, published by Swan River Press. And I think a key factor in the continuing vitality of this series is the policy of inviting different editors to pick and choose stories according to their individual tastes for each successive volume.

Carly Holmes edits this latest addition to a growing compendium of the very best of contemporary uncanny and supernatural short fiction. Author of novels The Scrapbook and Crow Face, Doll Face and short story collection Figurehead, with stories selected three times for The Best Horror of the Year, Holmes has chosen a stellar line up for Volume VII of the series.

The absolute standout is Steven J. Dines’ ‘A Suit of Darkest Blue’, a deeply affecting meditation on loss and profound grief in which a woman in her seventies embarks on back-to-back Nordic and Mediterranean cruises and writes to herself a narrative that nobody will ever read in an attempt to process the loss of her husband and two grandchildren.

Another story that really resonated with me is ‘The Good Old Days’ by Craig Rosenberg, where a man who left his childhood neighbourhood, a suburb of Melbourne, to pursue fame and fortune in the US, returns with his son in an attempt to recapture the carefree wonder of his teenaged years and also find a way to reconnect with his son. I suspect Rosenberg may be of a similar age to myself, as I recognised most of the films, TV shows, confectionery and other artefacts referenced in the story, which sent me heading off on my own journey back into the fuzzy realm of nostalgia.

Other highlights in this very strong collection include ‘Pond Scum’ by Tyler Keevil, which tells the story of two brothers trying to reconcile old differences through a holiday get-together in a Spanish resort, ‘An Innocent Beast’ by Georgina Bruce, an atmospheric delve into the mind of a woman seeking ways to cope with an abusive and controlling husband, and ‘Sad Face’ by Mark Morris, a tense examination of hidden guilt in which a man looking to get away from it all comes face-to-face with what can’t be escaped.

‘Mama Fungus’ by Sarah Read also deserves a special mention. It features a kind of dryad, who seems to have been captured by a group of men and kept in a cabin in a forest. Told from the dryad’s perspective, it’s wonderfully surreal. And ‘Subject Matter’ by Philippa Holloway explores the lengths to which an artist’s model has to go in order to fulfil her remit, with devastating results.

In her choice of stories for this collection, Holmes demonstrates clearly that the genre of the uncanny is in rude health. Highly recommended.

Uncertainties Volume VII, edited by Carly Holmes (Swan River Press, hb, 230pp, €40.00)