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Uncertainties #1
Uncertainties Volume I
"Turn and face the strange." — David Bowie
"It may be my own imagining, or perhaps the cumulative effect of reading the entire book over a couple of evenings, but the contents appeared to grow darker as the pages turned." – from the Foreword by John Connolly
Uncertainties is an anthology of new writing—featuring contributions from Irish, British, and American authors — each exploring the idea of increasingly fragmented senses of reality. These types of short stories were termed "strange tales" by Robert Aickman, called "tales of the unexpected" by Roald Dahl, and known to Shakespeare’s ill-fated Prince Mamillius as ‘winter’s tales’. But these are no mere ghost stories. These tales of the uncanny grapple with existential epiphanies of the modern day, and when otherwise familiar landscapes become sinister and something decidedly less than certain . . .
Contents
"Foreword"
John Connolly
"The Faerie Ring"
John Reppion
"From the Archives of the Westmeath Examiner"
Derek John
"Wellaway"
Martin Hayes
"Last Love"
John Kenny
"On a Clear Day"
Robert Neilson
"A Letter from McHenry"
Reggie Chamberlain-King
"The Light at the Centre"
Maura McHugh
"Fran’s Nan’s Story"
Sarah LeFanu
"Flyblown"
Timothy J. Jarvis
"To the Eternal One"
Mark Valentine
"The Seance"
Lynda E. Rucker
"Biographical Notes"
"Acknowledgements"
Brian J. Showers has written short stories, articles, interviews, and reviews for magazines such as Rue Morgue, Supernatural Tales, Ghosts & Scholars, and Wormwood. His collection The Bleeding Horse won the Children of the Night Award in 2008. He is also the author of Literary Walking Tours of Gothic Dublin; and, with Gary W. Crawford and Jim Rockhill, he co-edited the Stoker Award-nominated Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu. The anthology Dreams of Shadow and Smoke, co-edited with Jim Rockhill, won the Ghost Story Award for best book in 2014. Showers also edits The Green Book, a journal devoted to Irish writers of the fantastic; and runs the Swan River Press, Ireland’s only publishing house dedicated to literature of the gothic, strange, and supernatural.
"It may be my own imagining, or perhaps the cumulative effect of reading the entire book over a couple of evenings, but the contents appeared to grow darker as the pages turned." – from the Foreword by John Connolly
Uncertainties is an anthology of new writing—featuring contributions from Irish, British, and American authors — each exploring the idea of increasingly fragmented senses of reality. These types of short stories were termed "strange tales" by Robert Aickman, called "tales of the unexpected" by Roald Dahl, and known to Shakespeare’s ill-fated Prince Mamillius as ‘winter’s tales’. But these are no mere ghost stories. These tales of the uncanny grapple with existential epiphanies of the modern day, and when otherwise familiar landscapes become sinister and something decidedly less than certain . . .
Contents
"Foreword"
John Connolly
"The Faerie Ring"
John Reppion
"From the Archives of the Westmeath Examiner"
Derek John
"Wellaway"
Martin Hayes
"Last Love"
John Kenny
"On a Clear Day"
Robert Neilson
"A Letter from McHenry"
Reggie Chamberlain-King
"The Light at the Centre"
Maura McHugh
"Fran’s Nan’s Story"
Sarah LeFanu
"Flyblown"
Timothy J. Jarvis
"To the Eternal One"
Mark Valentine
"The Seance"
Lynda E. Rucker
"Biographical Notes"
"Acknowledgements"
Brian J. Showers has written short stories, articles, interviews, and reviews for magazines such as Rue Morgue, Supernatural Tales, Ghosts & Scholars, and Wormwood. His collection The Bleeding Horse won the Children of the Night Award in 2008. He is also the author of Literary Walking Tours of Gothic Dublin; and, with Gary W. Crawford and Jim Rockhill, he co-edited the Stoker Award-nominated Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu. The anthology Dreams of Shadow and Smoke, co-edited with Jim Rockhill, won the Ghost Story Award for best book in 2014. Showers also edits The Green Book, a journal devoted to Irish writers of the fantastic; and runs the Swan River Press, Ireland’s only publishing house dedicated to literature of the gothic, strange, and supernatural.
191 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2016
2 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Brian J. Showers
45 books47 followersBrian J. Showers is originally from Madison, Wisconsin. He has written short stories, articles, interviews and reviews for magazines such as Rue Morgue, All Hallows, Ghosts & Scholars: The M.R. James Newsletter, Le Fanu Studies, Supernatural Tales and Wormwood. He also runs The Swan River Press and the editor of The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature.
His short story collection, The Bleeding Horse (Mercier Press), won the Children of the Night Award in 2008. He is also the author of Literary Walking Tours of Gothic Dublin (Nonsuch, 2006) and Old Albert — An Epilogue (Ex Occidente, 2011); with Gary W. Crawford and Jim Rockhill he co-edited the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu (Hippocampus Press, 2011).
Having studied Popular Literature at Trinity College, he currently resides on the Emerald Isle, somewhere in the verdant and ghost-haunted wilderness of Dublin City, where he is busy at work on various projects, including his next collection of strange tales.
His short story collection, The Bleeding Horse (Mercier Press), won the Children of the Night Award in 2008. He is also the author of Literary Walking Tours of Gothic Dublin (Nonsuch, 2006) and Old Albert — An Epilogue (Ex Occidente, 2011); with Gary W. Crawford and Jim Rockhill he co-edited the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu (Hippocampus Press, 2011).
Having studied Popular Literature at Trinity College, he currently resides on the Emerald Isle, somewhere in the verdant and ghost-haunted wilderness of Dublin City, where he is busy at work on various projects, including his next collection of strange tales.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 9, 2016
The stories in "Uncertainties Volume I" are written by authors I am generally unfamiliar with. Brian J. Showers has done a fine thing in collecting these stories of the strange and uncanny. They are not the kind of stories of hard core slah and bleed type, but mostly the kind of quiet, moody, atmospheric tales.
This signed numbered copy of Uncertainties is number 74 of 100 copies of a print run of 400 and is Signed by:
Brian J. Showers
John Connolly
Sarah LeFanu
Lynda E. Rucker
Martin Hayes
Timothy J. Jarvis
Reggie Chamberlain-King
Derek John
Maura McHugh
John Reppion
This signed numbered copy of Uncertainties is number 74 of 100 copies of a print run of 400 and is Signed by:
Brian J. Showers
John Connolly
Sarah LeFanu
Lynda E. Rucker
Martin Hayes
Timothy J. Jarvis
Reggie Chamberlain-King
Derek John
Maura McHugh
John Reppion
February 5, 2020
Swan River Press’ Uncertainties vol. 1 is a wonderful anthology that presents some of the finest contemporary writers exploring the strange and eerie. Each tale feels like it brings a fresh new perspective on the uncanny and all the stories were a delight to read. A couple of authors that stuck out was; Timothy J. Jarvis with his tale Flyblown, something deeply repulsive underlying a scorned love drama, it felt fresh and disturbing, it’s one of those stories that will stick with me for a long time. Lynda E. Rucker was another I’d not read anything by but heard only good things, and her tale The Séance showed me that she is a writer I need to read more of. A chilling exploration into the sinister art of a lost childhood friend. Another tale that really struck a chord with me was On a Clear Day by Robert Neilson, a story that embodies everything I love about strange fiction. It felt almost like a meditation on the unknown and the unreal, and this resonated very deeply with me. There is also a tale by Mark Valentine here; To the Eternal One, where he brings his usual flair for the uncertain to the tale, delightful to read as his fiction always is. Brian Showers has done an admirable job editing the anthology and picked a selection of stories that all feel deeply rooted in the uncertain and strange in different ways, and all of them are highly readable.
January 12, 2021
There is no way I can do justice to this work in a review nor yet fit it into this whole book’s possible gestalt. It just is, sitting alone in a Wicker chair amid a Mid-Eastern mock-up of a Gentleman’s club… It is both an importantly genuine currency of literature as well as a forged one, the genuine and the forged taking it in turns to be the lead partner in the collage- or palimpsest-dance, and your ticket to becoming a titled person reigning over one of the world’s Biblical locations or of other religious-cultural oubliettes of ancient history.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews