I have found these short collections to be very useful in finding newfavorite authors in the indie community. If it only takes you a couple hours tocheck out a release, you’re more likely to give a new writer a chance youwouldn’t give if they only had long novels available for introduction. As such,I have found a slew of unknown authors I intend to follow from this pointforward.

Sonora Taylor is one that caught my eye with the promotions of herlatest collection, Little Paranoias.But rather than request an ARC for review, I decided to use my Kindle Unlimitedmembership to see if she had anything already available (that way I coulddecide if I wanted to pursue her new work or not). I immediately found thefour-piece collection, The Crow’s Gift,which was released several years ago. The other night, I sat down and gave it aquick read.

Though I wasn’t blown away by it – some of the writing felt too easyand some of the dialogue made me roll my eyes – there was enough imaginationhere to put Sonora on my watch list. The first story, “The Crow’s Gift,” waseasily my favorite. I would have loved to see this story expanded upon. Itreads like that kind of horror fueled by magic, the kind that made Coraline and The Monster Calls so popular. I also enjoyed the way “I Love YourWork” played out, even if it wasn’t one of the stories that felt too simple inits writing. “I Never Knew Your Name” was sadly forgettable, and “All thePieces Coming Together” staggered in its dialogue. The characters, however,would have been enjoyable to explore further.

Despite its shortcomings, Sonora Taylor did do enough here to get myattention. I will seek out more of her work in the comings months, and maybeeven pre-order Little Paranoias. Ifeel like there’s something great just bubbling beneath the surface of whatI’ve seen thus far. – by Andrew Redman

3.5 out of 5