Cold Skies and other tales of fear by Paul McAvoy

Cold Skies and other tales of fear by Paul McAvoy
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Short story collections are difficult to review for me. Sometimes there are stories that shine and other times there aren't. Short stories are usually a mixed bag. This is one of these collections -- almost. Why almost? As a reviewer and a writer myself I can be highly critical of what I read and the words I use to review. I like to find the best in a book and lay it out for the reader, but I don't hold anything back. I believe a reader should be well informed before a purchase.

In this case, Paul McAvoy has over edited his tales leaving only skeletons of what could be great stories. The opening story is one of the best in this collection but it lacks a decent ending and the tale seems rushed. There are also instances where a gerund should have been used and not the plain verb form. This is constant throughout the entire collection. The word 'dead' is spelt as 'led' which can be off-putting and very confusing. Also floor is used when the character is outside 'I was under the car. I got up off the floor and...'. Many writers do this. It is wrong. (I recently had a Facebook discussion about it.)

All the stories in this collection are great ideas (even read one I had done several years ago -- there are no new ideas only new spins) that would have been great just the delivery--the execution--was wrong. There was no meat and no flow to most of the tales and not much of an ending in several of these. Naturally this is just my opinion, several of these tales were previously published.

The fear in these stories did not resonate with me (except the first).

1 star out of 5.