The Thinning Veil — Matthew J. Pallamary

*AWARD WINNING FINALIST - INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS* Art imitates life and reflects our human condition which fluctuates from moment to moment along with our ever-changing life experience of the times we live in. My first short story collection, The Small Dark Room of the Soul and Other Stories was published thirty years ago and made references to the collective fears of those times. Much has happened over the last three decades since then with shifting geopolitics, explosive growth in science, technology, pandemics, school shootings, chaotic weather patterns, homelessness, and all the other problems we are still struggling with as we move deeper into the twenty-first century. Twenty years later, my second short story collection, A Short Walk to the Other Side was published, following the similar theme of how close we all are to our demons, no matter how much we try to ignore and rid ourselves of them. We are all just a short walk away from a thought, act, or emotion that lets the monster out of its cage, taking us hostage into the abyss with it, sometimes with no escape. This, my third short story collection, The Thinning Veil follows the same train of thought. In this case it doesn't matter if the demons are locked in a small dark room, or just a short walk away, because the veil between the worlds is thinning and the boundaries have become blurred, bringing more weight to the question; what or where are the boundaries between what we believe to be real and what we imagine? Erudite, eloquent, iconoclastic, The Thinning Veil once again showcases author Matthew J. Pallamary's mastery of the short story, raising this literary format to an impressively high level of literary fiction. Thoughtful, thought-provoking, entertaining, and memorable, the thirteen short stories comprising The Thinning Veil are especially and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library Contemporary American Literary Fiction collections. MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW - LITERARY FICTION SHELF