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All the Pieces Coming Together
All the Pieces Coming Together brings you fourteen selections from award-winning horror author, Sonora Taylor’s best works over the years, along with two previously unpublished stories. Stories full of dread, anxiety, grisly demises, and malevolent spirits fill this nightmare-inducing omnibus collection. Add both a foreword by fellow award-winning horror author, Steve Stred, and an introduction to the collection by the author herself, and All the Pieces Coming Together should be on the top of every horror lover’s TBR stack.
“In this edgy collection, Taylor serves a dish of delicious dark humor peppered with poetic justice.” - Mary Carroll Leoson, author of The Butterfly Circle
“In this edgy collection, Taylor serves a dish of delicious dark humor peppered with poetic justice.” - Mary Carroll Leoson, author of The Butterfly Circle
- GenresHorror
268 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 10, 2025
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Sonora Taylor
35 books159 followersSonora Taylor is the award-winning author of Little Paranoias: Stories, Without Condition, The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales, Please Give, and Wither and Other Stories. Her short stories have appeared in multiple publications, including Camden Park Press’s Quoth the Raven, Kandisha Press’s Women of Horror Vol. 2: Graveyard Smash, The Sirens Call, Frozen Wavelets, Mercurial Stories, Tales to Terrify, and the Ladies of Horror fiction podcast. Her latest book, Seeing Things, is now available on Amazon. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 1, 2025
A collection of 14 of Taylor's short tales across her writing career. For the most part they're well-written, dark and disturbing. Ranging across a variety of subjects, there are those involving protagonists who aren't all they appear to be, the dangers of modern technology and three or four flash fiction entries. The ones that probably stood out the most to me were "The Crow's Gift," "I Love Your Work" and "Weary Bones" because it featured skeletons, something I've always wanted to see in a horror story.
June 30, 2025
Step into the dark mind of award-winning horror author Sonora Taylor with this chilling anthology, All the Pieces Coming Together. This 14-story collection features some of the most unsettling works from Taylor's impressive career, along with two terrifying tales that have never been seen before.
From the very first story, it’s clear that Taylor has a talent for stirring deep fears and anxieties in the reader. Each piece is like a poisoned dagger striking straight into your mind. The dread seeps from every page, making your skin crawl and filling your thoughts with disturbing images.
Taylor's writing combines psychological depth with brutal imagery. She takes care to create relatable, flawed characters, only to place them in the most nightmarish, gruesome situations. It's like watching a car crash in slow motion—you know you shouldn’t look, but you can’t look away.
A key theme in these stories is the malevolent spirits that haunt the characters. From vengeful ghosts to demonic beings, Taylor brings forth all kinds of evil forces intent on tormenting her characters. She has a talent for making the supernatural feel entirely real and unavoidable.
Taylor's understanding of the darkest sides of human nature sets this anthology apart from typical jump-scare horror. Below the supernatural threats lie universal fears about death, loneliness, and the harshness of life. Taylor gazes into the abyss without flinching and reveals its terrible secrets.
The two new, unpublished stories serve as a wicked topping on this haunted cake. One explores grief and guilt, while the other delves into pagan cults and sacrifice. Both fit seamlessly with the rest of the collection and deliver top-notch terror.
If you enjoy stories that will keep you up all night, feeling paranoid and scared, then Sonora Taylor's All the Pieces Coming Together is a must-read. But be warned—the horrors inside will linger in your nightmares and affect your waking life. This anthology is not for the faint of heart and will leave you deeply unsettled.
From the very first story, it’s clear that Taylor has a talent for stirring deep fears and anxieties in the reader. Each piece is like a poisoned dagger striking straight into your mind. The dread seeps from every page, making your skin crawl and filling your thoughts with disturbing images.
Taylor's writing combines psychological depth with brutal imagery. She takes care to create relatable, flawed characters, only to place them in the most nightmarish, gruesome situations. It's like watching a car crash in slow motion—you know you shouldn’t look, but you can’t look away.
A key theme in these stories is the malevolent spirits that haunt the characters. From vengeful ghosts to demonic beings, Taylor brings forth all kinds of evil forces intent on tormenting her characters. She has a talent for making the supernatural feel entirely real and unavoidable.
Taylor's understanding of the darkest sides of human nature sets this anthology apart from typical jump-scare horror. Below the supernatural threats lie universal fears about death, loneliness, and the harshness of life. Taylor gazes into the abyss without flinching and reveals its terrible secrets.
The two new, unpublished stories serve as a wicked topping on this haunted cake. One explores grief and guilt, while the other delves into pagan cults and sacrifice. Both fit seamlessly with the rest of the collection and deliver top-notch terror.
If you enjoy stories that will keep you up all night, feeling paranoid and scared, then Sonora Taylor's All the Pieces Coming Together is a must-read. But be warned—the horrors inside will linger in your nightmares and affect your waking life. This anthology is not for the faint of heart and will leave you deeply unsettled.
July 9, 2025
Sonora Taylor's omnibus collection contains sixteen stories of varying length (three are flash fiction), all reprints save two - plus a beautiful foreword by Canadian horror author Steve Stred. All the stories are easy reads, with clear prose, good pacing, minimum characterization, and often going for the twist - with great success, in general. Themewise, they're mostly about (straight) relationships, nature, and death, so they usually range over psychological horror and eco-horror, or some mix thereof.
"All The Pieces Coming Together," the titular story, is a raunchy tale about a serial killer who's moved in the middle of nowhere: the perfect place to hide a body, right? - but only if he can find someone to kill in this wasteland! Unfortunately, he does.
"I Love Your Work" touches on the author-fan relationship: Anne does everything she can to meet Samuel Miller, her favorite author, but the universe is also doing everything it can to prevent this meeting - until it doesn't.
"The Crow's Gift" is about solitude and bullying: a lonely and bullied girl befriends a crow, the crow witnesses the bullying, and the story practically writes itself.
"Wither" is an eco-horror story, told through the eyes of an eleven-year-old girl, so it's written as fantasy or like a bizarre (and very dark) fairy tale: the city is "the wicked place," "the woods" are supposed to be an inherently benevolent force - but the earth is dying, and the girl goes always hungry. This one has a very disturbing ending. Nature is not your friend.
"We Really Shouldn't" tells of a former couple reconnecting, wondering again and again how they should (and shouldn't) act towards one another. The story gets interesting the moment a third person is involved.
"Weary Bones," my favorite story in the collection, has a terrific premise, quite imaginative and original: when people die, they have the option (thanks to medical technology) to come back to life as... skeletons. This is a sublime tale of grief horror, brimming with guilt and regret.
"Hearts Are Just Likes" is a story about a couple of aspiring influencers. A dark story about the insanity of sharing one's life on social media. Things get even more insane the one time that one of the influencers refrains from sharing everything.
"Stick Figure Family," "Shell," and "All The Trimmings" are horrifying flash fiction, and I mean truly horrific. Probably the best stories in the collection, as far as ideas and execution are concerned.
"Cranberry" is a complex tale about body-shaming, body dysmorphia, and the impact of words.
"Quadrapocalypse" is an apocalyptic story of the four elements destroying humanity (to repeat: nature is not your friend).
"Someone to Share My Nightmares" is another story about the fan-creator relationship: this time it's a dead director and a young woman living in the small town where the director chose to be buried; his oeuvre takes on the sinister aspects of the town's woods, and, well, yep, Nature is not your friend.
"The Sharps" is another eco-horror story, this time about mutant frog-leech hybrids attacking a biologist studying them. For once, a story with a happy ending!
"The Parrot" is about a married couple's strained relationship, and what happens when the wife invents her own virtual assistant tech, the titular Parrot. When she dies, the tech starts acting strangely towards the husband.
Finally, the closing story, "The Ashiest Place Unearthed" is theme park horror: a divorced father takes his teenage son to his favorite theme park - not the son's, the dad's, and things get very strange. It's essentially a very dark story about obsession.
I recommend the collection to horror fans who enjoy subtlety more than action, powerful endings more than atmosphere, and feeling uncomfortable rather than hopeful. If you're such a reader, you'll definitely be adding more Sonora Taylor to your to-be-read stack!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
"All The Pieces Coming Together," the titular story, is a raunchy tale about a serial killer who's moved in the middle of nowhere: the perfect place to hide a body, right? - but only if he can find someone to kill in this wasteland! Unfortunately, he does.
"I Love Your Work" touches on the author-fan relationship: Anne does everything she can to meet Samuel Miller, her favorite author, but the universe is also doing everything it can to prevent this meeting - until it doesn't.
"The Crow's Gift" is about solitude and bullying: a lonely and bullied girl befriends a crow, the crow witnesses the bullying, and the story practically writes itself.
"Wither" is an eco-horror story, told through the eyes of an eleven-year-old girl, so it's written as fantasy or like a bizarre (and very dark) fairy tale: the city is "the wicked place," "the woods" are supposed to be an inherently benevolent force - but the earth is dying, and the girl goes always hungry. This one has a very disturbing ending. Nature is not your friend.
"We Really Shouldn't" tells of a former couple reconnecting, wondering again and again how they should (and shouldn't) act towards one another. The story gets interesting the moment a third person is involved.
"Weary Bones," my favorite story in the collection, has a terrific premise, quite imaginative and original: when people die, they have the option (thanks to medical technology) to come back to life as... skeletons. This is a sublime tale of grief horror, brimming with guilt and regret.
"Hearts Are Just Likes" is a story about a couple of aspiring influencers. A dark story about the insanity of sharing one's life on social media. Things get even more insane the one time that one of the influencers refrains from sharing everything.
"Stick Figure Family," "Shell," and "All The Trimmings" are horrifying flash fiction, and I mean truly horrific. Probably the best stories in the collection, as far as ideas and execution are concerned.
"Cranberry" is a complex tale about body-shaming, body dysmorphia, and the impact of words.
"Quadrapocalypse" is an apocalyptic story of the four elements destroying humanity (to repeat: nature is not your friend).
"Someone to Share My Nightmares" is another story about the fan-creator relationship: this time it's a dead director and a young woman living in the small town where the director chose to be buried; his oeuvre takes on the sinister aspects of the town's woods, and, well, yep, Nature is not your friend.
"The Sharps" is another eco-horror story, this time about mutant frog-leech hybrids attacking a biologist studying them. For once, a story with a happy ending!
"The Parrot" is about a married couple's strained relationship, and what happens when the wife invents her own virtual assistant tech, the titular Parrot. When she dies, the tech starts acting strangely towards the husband.
Finally, the closing story, "The Ashiest Place Unearthed" is theme park horror: a divorced father takes his teenage son to his favorite theme park - not the son's, the dad's, and things get very strange. It's essentially a very dark story about obsession.
I recommend the collection to horror fans who enjoy subtlety more than action, powerful endings more than atmosphere, and feeling uncomfortable rather than hopeful. If you're such a reader, you'll definitely be adding more Sonora Taylor to your to-be-read stack!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
June 24, 2025
BOOK REPORT
This was an OK book of horror short stories, but for some reason I didn’t find any of them the least bit psychologically disturbing.
Which probably says something about my psyche?
Nah, it’s just that I’m seriously middle-aged and cut my horror teeth on the compilation Shudders (published 1972, edited by Ross R. Olney). Still skeeved out by some of the pieces in that one to this day. Then, of course, I “graduated” to Steven King….
Well, there were certainly worse ways I could’ve spent my yard work breaks today than reading this collection, I’ll say that. It’s worth a solid 2.5 stars, which, of course, Goodreads won’t let me award. I’m rounding down to 2 because of the foreword, which for some reason just really put my jaw on edge. So if you do read this book, I suggest skipping it.
PS
As I was getting cleaned up, I found myself trying to remember the last few pieces of horror fiction that got under my skin. I swear I can’t remember a book. But the Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix (oh be still my heart!) and the 2019 folk horror film Midsommar? Definitely. Also a good part of the Coven season of American Horror Story TV series. And certain parts of the movie Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror.
PPS
Here are some links.
Shudders: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Joker: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7286456/
Midsommar: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8772262/
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: https://woodlandsdarkanddaysbewitched...
PPS
Necessary Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy of this book for free from BookSirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This was an OK book of horror short stories, but for some reason I didn’t find any of them the least bit psychologically disturbing.
Which probably says something about my psyche?
Nah, it’s just that I’m seriously middle-aged and cut my horror teeth on the compilation Shudders (published 1972, edited by Ross R. Olney). Still skeeved out by some of the pieces in that one to this day. Then, of course, I “graduated” to Steven King….
Well, there were certainly worse ways I could’ve spent my yard work breaks today than reading this collection, I’ll say that. It’s worth a solid 2.5 stars, which, of course, Goodreads won’t let me award. I’m rounding down to 2 because of the foreword, which for some reason just really put my jaw on edge. So if you do read this book, I suggest skipping it.
PS
As I was getting cleaned up, I found myself trying to remember the last few pieces of horror fiction that got under my skin. I swear I can’t remember a book. But the Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix (oh be still my heart!) and the 2019 folk horror film Midsommar? Definitely. Also a good part of the Coven season of American Horror Story TV series. And certain parts of the movie Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror.
PPS
Here are some links.
Shudders: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Joker: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7286456/
Midsommar: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8772262/
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: https://woodlandsdarkanddaysbewitched...
PPS
Necessary Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy of this book for free from BookSirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
May 30, 2025
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
All the Pieces Coming Together is a great collection of shorts by Sonora Taylor, an author who I hadn't read anything by previously. And to that, the introduction by Steve Stred really spoke to me. He was spot on with his description of Taylor's work, and the feelings and cadence that come with her voice.
While each story brought something strong with it, I was incredibly partial to Weary Bones, I Love Your Work, The Crow's Gift, and as a EAP fan, Hearts are Just Likes, which is an amazing contemporary take on my favorite Poe story.
Taylor is clearly filled to the brim with amazing ideas and the talent to make those ideas shine. After looking into her work, I'm disappointed in the world for not putting these stories in front of me sooner—but maybe fate kept us apart for a reason
All the Pieces Coming Together is a great collection of shorts by Sonora Taylor, an author who I hadn't read anything by previously. And to that, the introduction by Steve Stred really spoke to me. He was spot on with his description of Taylor's work, and the feelings and cadence that come with her voice.
While each story brought something strong with it, I was incredibly partial to Weary Bones, I Love Your Work, The Crow's Gift, and as a EAP fan, Hearts are Just Likes, which is an amazing contemporary take on my favorite Poe story.
Taylor is clearly filled to the brim with amazing ideas and the talent to make those ideas shine. After looking into her work, I'm disappointed in the world for not putting these stories in front of me sooner—but maybe fate kept us apart for a reason
July 5, 2025
Another great piece of literature with different short stories of varying lengths. Some very short, others reasonably long, but each seemed to be basically perfect in length. Every individual story was very different from the last and each of them had its own charm. They contain some very interesting perspectives from an evolutionary standpoint, but also themes such as death, science and technology.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Here, again, I only realised I was reading the last story when I was already halfway, because it was such an easy read and I couldn't put it down. I will certainly be looking into other similar works as well.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Here, again, I only realised I was reading the last story when I was already halfway, because it was such an easy read and I couldn't put it down. I will certainly be looking into other similar works as well.
August 20, 2025
What a fantastic collection! I love that so many of these stories put women at the center—something we don’t always see enough of in horror. The author’s writing is so immersive, you feel like you’re right there inside the story. And honestly, the deeper into the book I got, the better the stories became. By the end, I didn’t want it to stop. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I love that this anthology is a collection of the authors works over the years as it allows you to see her growth as an author-it truly is “All the Pieces Coming Together!” Creepy, thought-provoking, and beautifully told—this anthology is a must-read for horror fans.
August 5, 2025
Great collection of short stories! Sixteen stories in all, with varying lengths. Sonora leaves the reader with small samples of quiet horror in a subtle way with powerful endings. My favorite of the group was Crow's Gift--Easy to see where it was going, but it paid off in spades. Awesome collection.
June 11, 2025
I received a review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
An average collection of stories. A couple of extremely short ones which were actually some of the best.
A few interesting ideas but nothing that stands out.
An average collection of stories. A couple of extremely short ones which were actually some of the best.
A few interesting ideas but nothing that stands out.
June 25, 2025
Great writing! I love Ed all the creepy stories! Awesome book! Will definitely recommend to others!
November 17, 2025
From the past to the present, always a terrifying ride.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews