The Small Dark Room of the Soul Slated For Portuguese Translation

SAN DIEGO - May 19, 2016 - PRLog -- Author Matthew J. Pallamary has signed a contract for the Portuguese translation and world wide distribution of his eclectic short story collection, The Small Dark Room of the Soul and Other Stories, written in the spirit and tradition of the stories of Ray Bradbury, one of his mentors.

Many of the stories in this collection were previously published in numerous magazines, journals, and newspapers, including the San Diego Union Tribune, which featured one of them. Pallamary's collection of dark tales also received mention in the Year's Best Horror and Fantasy.


From the Introduction:

There can be no light without darkness.

The sun cannot rise without the night preceding it, and the setting sun of the day must inevitably fade to black.  If life were all sunshine and roses, there would be no contrast. Perpetual sunshine would be both blinding and devastating. We need the darkness. It is an integral part of the whole.

Part of us.

Horror stories are a reflection of our darker side. In an age of very real terrors like A.I.D.S., cancer, and terrorism, stories that frighten us can perform a useful function by allowing readers to live out and experience fear in a controlled fashion and deal with horror on their own terms.  If it gets to be too much, they can always close the book and put it away.  Experiencing horror in this way works as an anxiety release because it is a tangible way to deal with and escape the terrors of modern living.

The emotion of horror keeps us in touch with the darker aspects of ourselves while allowing us to confront our own vulnerability and inevitable death.  Reading horror is a valve that allows steam to escape when the buildup is too great, yet the fictionality of it gives us an escape from a confrontation that could overwhelm us.  It provides a cathartic release without oppressing us with more than we can handle.

Too often we shun our dark side in hopes that if we don't see it, it doesn't exist.

The English language edition of The Small Dark Room of the Soul and Other Stories is available at:

http://www.amazon.com/small-dark-room-other-stories/dp/18...=