Editor Ra Page sets out his stall in an introduction headed ‘No Closure’. I won’t presume to be well read enough to engage fully with his argument, but I can agree with the gist: that short stories are products of artifice (as Page puts it, they all have a ‘glitch’), in that real life doesn’t divide itself up into neat little parcels with clean cause and effect, tidy endings, and so on. ‘Parenthesis’ is, then, a book of stories that celebrate or draw attention to that artifice in some way.

The anthology gets right down to business from the very first story, Adam Marek’s ‘Testicular Cancer vs the Behemoth’. Austin Weaver discovers that his cancer has spread, and tries to tell his family – but they’re rather preoccupied with the monstrous lizard rampaging around the city. It’s not all bad news, though, as Austin finds a way to transcend his circumstances through these extraordinary events. Marek’s story is a fascinating examination of the relationship between personal tragedies and large-scale disasters, as well as a fine example of how fantasy can be used to throw light on reality.

‘Marginalia’ by Crista Ermiya takes us to a library, and a woman who hides away behind a veil and gloves. She has her eye on a particular man she sees there; but, of course, she doesn’t want him to discover her secret. Ermiya’s writing is good, but her story’s real power comes from its ending, and the way it makes us think (and think, and think again) about its protagonist. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself chewing ‘Marginalia’ over long after you’ve finished reading.

Paul Brownsey’s piece, ‘Out There’ is another tale centred on the personality of its main character. I can’t remember the last time I read such a compelling story in which nothing actually happens as such. Roger and his partner Stuart have returned home from a stamp exhibition in New York to find a series of e-mails from ‘Uncle Jack’, the man who lived next door to Roger as a child and got him interested in philately. As Roger works his way through the messages, he starts to question the nature of his relationship with Jack. The story is constructed entirely from Roger’s direct speech and the text of Jack’s e-mails, and the only ‘action’ is Roger’s reading and reacting to the correspondence; yet Brownsey has fashioned a superb character study and an incisive comment on contemporary paranoia.

L.E. Yates contributes ‘Lucky and Unlucky’, in which a boyfriend and girlfriend, Lenny and Catherine, go to work on a day like any other – until, that is, outside events overtake them. Yates’s tale is full of closely observed details that ring true, as Lenny describes his day to Catherine, and imagines hers. It explores poignantly how everyday life oscillates continually between good and bad luck, ‘[a] thousand tiny, infinite moments which add up to more than human beings can comprehend’– and how any one of those moments could have life-changing consequences.

Thomas Fletcher’s ‘The Big Drift’ is one of my favourite stories in ‘Parenthesis’. It’s told by Patrick, who grew up wanting to be an astronaut but actually became a physics teacher, and now finds that his life has unravelled around him. Fletcher uses the drifting apart of the universe as a metaphor for relationships that fall apart; it’s effective enough, but he perhaps belabours the point a little too much. More potent for me is the way he structures the story; events seems disconnected at first, but that proves to be untrue, and shockingly so.

‘Heisenberg’s Uncertainty’ by Gabriella Reed is a short tale in which the bodies of a family are found buried beneath their killer’s porch. Rather than focus on the deed itself, or the investigation, Reed looks at the reactions of others, notably Chloe (who lives next door to the murderer) and her friend Mary Jane (our narrator). What comes through strongly in those reactions is just how difficult it is to contemplate even the possibility of such happenings: Chloe asks, ‘Do you think those kids, their parents ever even thought to be afraid of something like that, something so awful you don’t even see it?’ Reed’s telling makes ‘Heisenberg’s Uncertainty’ feel thoroughly authentic; right down to Mary Jane’s narrative voice. A fine story.

The most annoying thing about ‘Parenthesis’ has to do with its typography: the paragraphs are not all indented. This is quite noticeable and occurs seemingly at random throughout the book. It’s distracting and disappointing to find in an anthology that has otherwise been put together with such care. Not that all the stories are equally as good as each other; but their overall quality is high enough that I’d rather dwell on the good points. There are some great pieces here, and it’s even more encouraging that the authors are only at the beginning of their careers. ‘Parenthesis’ would be worth reading simply because it tries to do something different; that it succeeds in its aims with such panache makes it all the more so.

David Hebblethwaite lives out in the wilds of Yorkshire, where he attempts to make a dent in his collection of unread books. You can read more of David's reviews at his review blog.

© 2006 Laura Hird All rights reserved.