Review: Brilliant
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 15, 2014
This short story is actually a prelude to the urban fantasy Scarlett Bernard series.  The series so far consists of two books with a third coming out this fall.  Scarlett is a null who cleans up magical crime scenes for the supernatural folks that inhabit our world, keeping their existence a secret.  From the beginning of the series Scarlett has had a roommate named Molly, who is a vampire.  I wondered why a vampire would want to live with Scarlett, and this story fills that in nicely.  While the story was immensely enjoyable and very inventive, what made it brilliant was the writing.  Melissa F. Olson is such a talented author that when I start in on one of her books I immediate realize I have been reading amateur writing for months.  Olson is so gifted - her phrasing, the pacing of the story, the very descriptive phrases - they all make for an author who is a master at her craft.  If there is any negative about this short story it is the fact that it IS a short story.  Writing this good should go on and on.