Manchester Uncanny (Confingo Publishing) is the fifth short story collection by Nicholas Royle, covering tales written between 2003 and 2022, including three original ones. The book design and contents act as a counterpoint to London Gothic from the same publisher (with a promised Paris version forthcoming). These stories deal with the place of Royle’s upbringing, with its industrial haze and rich cultural history acting as touchstones to the themes that shape the prose. These streets are haunted by the spectres of Shipman, Brady and Hindley, populated by damaged characters dealing with broken relationships, facing sinister depictions of darkness and isolation. Real-life figures are mentioned – Ian Curtis, James Anderton. Royle’s unique voice shines through in all the stories, even the more experimental ones like Disorder (utilising only the lyrics from Joy Division’s 1979 album Unknown Pleasures), The Dark Heart (in which the nine sections that comprise the story can be read in any order) and Strange Times, which is made up of messages presumably sent and/or received during the Covid pandemic which reflect the – well – strange time that we endured.

My favourites include The Child, in which the narrator returns to Manchester after spending years away, only to come across a DVD of a dodgy film confiscated by the police in the 1970s. There’s a powerful sense of nostalgia and regret in Nothing Else Matters. Salt has a delightful sense of foreboding as a student visits the all-too-quiet home of a tutor in an effort to discuss some coursework. In Someone Take These Dreams Away our narrator’s concern over an old school friend begins to intrude into his obsession for late 60s British films. In The Apartment a single man living alone hears voices coming from the apartment above; the puzzling aspect is that he lives on the top floor of the block. Simister tells the story of recently separated Adam, whose responsibilities in caring for an elderly neighbour take on startling consequences. In Safe a young woman buys a flat containing a mysterious item left by the previous owner (this one has a delicious final line). Zulu Pond was originally published as Alsiso and also concerns a man returning to his childhood haunts after spending years away, only this one involves a secret fishing location and some dark thoughts that plague the central character’s mind. Zulu Pond happens to be one of the best stories I’ve read in years.

Nicholas Royle’s fiction tends to touch on themes and motifs that absolutely chime with me as a reader – identity, memory, regret, dreams, coincidences, repetition. He’s the master at subtlety. Sometimes the hints and clues are so subtle I have to reread the story to pick up on these indicators. He has a unique way of blurring the line between something being autobiographical and something being fictional. He draws you in. I suppose it’s as much about what he leaves out of the prose as what he puts in that makes it so impactful. He doesn’t pander to the reader, his fiction is sometimes ambiguous, often numinous, always rewarding. There is also a great deal of humour there. This latest collection is as good as anything he’s written. It comes highly recommended.