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Uncertainties VII
Original anthology of supernatural short stories.
220 pages, Hardcover
Published November 24, 2024
2 people want to read
About the author
Carly Holmes
24 books24 followersI'm a writer living and writing on the west coast of Wales. When not writing I love to read, and discover books and authors that are new to me. My favourite writers include Jon McGregor, Stephen King, Angela Carter, Peter Carey, Julian Barnes and Daphne du Maurier. I've had a number of short stories published in journals and placed in competitions, and my debut novel, The Scrapbook, was published by Parthian in May 2014. I'm currently working on a collection of ghost stories. I'm on the editorial board of The Lampeter Review (http://lampeter-review.com) and host and manage The Cellar Bards, a group of writers who meet monthly in Cardigan, Wales, for an evening of spoken word poetry and prose (https://www.facebook.com/groups/33354...)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 15, 2025
Various (Editor: Holmes, Carly) - Uncertainties Volume VII
Late 2024 found the latest installment of this dependable series in my mailbox. Carly Holmes, no stranger to fans of Weird Lit, at the helm. Assorted riches, as always, so I will just breeze through a handful.
“Pond Scum” finds two brothers, battered from personal setbacks and Life in general, in Italy, traipsing lonely country. They no longer have much in common, except weakness for alcohol. And a thirst for trouble, diversion. My sympathy does not extend toward aggressive drunks.
After his wife dies from the slow rot of cancer, Graeme needed solitude, isolation to grieve in peace. He takes a room in a remote village near the beach. His landlady is cheap, sexually pushy, yet sly enough to loosen trousers. Oh, yes, the beach. Something strange there. A distant figure, one with the “Sad Face” unsettles Graeme. Then there are those queer black stones. He knows he ought to depart, he really ought to.
Grief of another cloth in “A Suit Of Darkest Blue” finds Joan on a seemingly endless cruise, trying to escape, to forget. With her, however, is the ghost, perhaps ghosts, as grief wars with anger. On the decks, on shore leave, she “sees” because she cannot, she will not, let go.
Do you have a parent or sibling or any loved one who is a hoarder? If so, best advice – die first. Otherwise, you might have to endure the joy of tidying their house. Are you claustrophobic? Does your asthma flare when the very air itself is squeezed out by mountains of junk? “Little Nothings” will be for you. Should I mention the bugs?
The writer, tapping dry on inspiration, spinning clichéd plots aloud. One may be forgiven suspecting he is more hack than scribe. One tired notion after another “Ends Abruptly”. That’s the trick, though, correct? The satisfying conclusion. And oh, how fitting this one lands.
Late 2024 found the latest installment of this dependable series in my mailbox. Carly Holmes, no stranger to fans of Weird Lit, at the helm. Assorted riches, as always, so I will just breeze through a handful.
“Pond Scum” finds two brothers, battered from personal setbacks and Life in general, in Italy, traipsing lonely country. They no longer have much in common, except weakness for alcohol. And a thirst for trouble, diversion. My sympathy does not extend toward aggressive drunks.
After his wife dies from the slow rot of cancer, Graeme needed solitude, isolation to grieve in peace. He takes a room in a remote village near the beach. His landlady is cheap, sexually pushy, yet sly enough to loosen trousers. Oh, yes, the beach. Something strange there. A distant figure, one with the “Sad Face” unsettles Graeme. Then there are those queer black stones. He knows he ought to depart, he really ought to.
Grief of another cloth in “A Suit Of Darkest Blue” finds Joan on a seemingly endless cruise, trying to escape, to forget. With her, however, is the ghost, perhaps ghosts, as grief wars with anger. On the decks, on shore leave, she “sees” because she cannot, she will not, let go.
Do you have a parent or sibling or any loved one who is a hoarder? If so, best advice – die first. Otherwise, you might have to endure the joy of tidying their house. Are you claustrophobic? Does your asthma flare when the very air itself is squeezed out by mountains of junk? “Little Nothings” will be for you. Should I mention the bugs?
The writer, tapping dry on inspiration, spinning clichéd plots aloud. One may be forgiven suspecting he is more hack than scribe. One tired notion after another “Ends Abruptly”. That’s the trick, though, correct? The satisfying conclusion. And oh, how fitting this one lands.
December 14, 2024
This is the seventh volume in the exemplary anthology of short supernatural tales from Dublin's Swan River Press, and it holds up to the very high standard the series has forged. Edited by Carly Holmes, who contributed a story to the high watermark so far, volume five, this opens with a tale of weird locals encountered on a trip, Pond Scum, and takes in a bumper crop of elegant and surreal stories, like Sarah Read's Mama Fungus, the intentionally typo-ridden tale of the unexpected A Suit of Darkest Blue, and wraps up with the darkly bleak social realist fable An Empty House. Another one that hit the spot was Premee Mohamed's tense road-trip vignette Little Nothings, You'll search a long time to find another anthology of this searing calibre and diverse combination of talents in the field.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews