Hey Jared,
I’ve had my eye on this author months now. Finding a new author is always a mix of exciting and hesitation. In this case, short stories can help break the ice. What makes it even better is when you can get them for free.
Title: Two’s Company
Series: The First Law; Short Story
Author: Joe Abercrombie
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: UU, Medieval
Synopsis: A short story following a pair of unlikely partners in the world of The First Law.
Recommendation: It’s a great introduction to the author, their style, abilities, and a sliver of a much larger world. Worth the few minutes to read.
With short stories, there’s not much to go on. The world is intriguing, and the characters are amusing. But the biggest highlight of this tiny story is actually the author.
The author manages to balance world building and character development in a very short period of time. It never felt like an info dump. There are painfully few bits of information, but each of those bits makes me want to know more about the world. Less than 7000 words and the characters feel real and the world alive. So, obviously, I’m excited to dig deeper into what this author can do with a full size novel.
Lastly, I just want to point out that this short story is available to read for free over at Tor. So go read it.
Robert
Reading Over The Shoulder 
I love the artwork.
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