The Darkness Beyond the Veil boasts “Nine tales of the
supernatural” from the author Scothern. True enough, I suppose. What caught my
eye was the write up on “Faithless.” Further explorations show the author to be
an atheist. No judgment here, to each their beliefs. But what is puzzling is,
perhaps I need an education here, if an atheist is a person who denies or
disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings – then why write about
the existence of such being?
I suppose in the broader sense, there are those that write
about pixies and fae but aren’t inclined to believe they exist – touché to me?
Well, whatever, The Darkness Beyond the Veil offers some dark realism in the
realm of the supernatural. Not a huge fan of Faithless, and I must confess rose
my disappointment to heights of seemingly no return.
That said, I read on and was quite take in with ‘The Veil’
and the dark roller coaster ride it to me on. The atmosphere was quite pleasing
and the brooding feel of the plot was enjoyable as well. Love can be a puzzling
and sometimes frightening emotion. To further my pleasure, ’11:59’ was somewhat
original but certainly captive. Tom did not excite me, however – who glazes
three separate tales and takes them to some interesting places but overall nowhere
memorable.
For the reader – if supernatural themes are your bag this
might be worth a read. Overall, I harp in the $0.99, which for me makes them
all worth a read but I sense disappointment here, as this work does not measure
up to the other works of the author.
For the writer – nothing here to glean off of – decent writing,
nice flow to the collection but no notable training or influence material here.
