Running Review - Uncertainties IV

I'm sorry I've not been doing reviews for a while. It's been hard for me to focus on new books for some reason. You'd think it'd be easier, but no. However, I have finally started this anthology from the Swan River Press, so brace yourself for my 'insights' in the coming days, or weeks.


Uncertainties IV is edited by Timothy J. Jarvis, whose introduction is excellent. It combines intellectual insights (Todorov, anyone?) with a personal anecdote about a church in rural England that makes for a neat little ghost story in itself.

The cover art by B. Catling is intriguing, just unconventional enough for a Gothic anthology. There is a hint here of a lonely house, of a sunset, perhaps a beach. I like it.

Jarvis' selection of authors is intriguing. Obviously, an editor always goes for the story not the name. But here I find a  large percentage of writers who are new to me. In fact, there are only four I can be sure I have read before -  Rebecca  Lloyd, Brian Evenson, Charles Wilkinson, and D.P.  Watt.

So, I anticipate at least as many surprises as usual when I begin a book of tales by many hands. My review of the first story will be along shortly.