Status Updates From Quieter Paths

Cold White Fields. 5. Lovely story to round off the collection. A sense of wonder with a touch of sentiment. More spiritual than supernatural (if that makes sense). Basically an ideal Christmas story. Quite moving in the end. 61:15

Escapology. 4.5. Nice story, quite subtle but sinister undertones. Reminds me of Ray Bradbury. In a good way. 56:14

About the Dark. 3.5. OK, well told and interesting premise, but I didn’t feel very invested in Adam’s fate - or apprehensive about the others. 51.5:13

In on the Tide. 3.5. All right but a bit inconsequential. More of a statement than a story. 48:12

Sally’s Wishes. 4.5. Quite intricate, really, outlining in my eyes the ruination of the girl by parents’ insistence on conformity, leading to an unpleasant character who brings on her own ruination. Liked the fate and reappearance of Martin, too. 44.5:11

Discord of Being. 4.5.Great sense of place, nicely exotic, mysterious and credible characters. Not totally sure what happened but it was a lovely journey. 40:10

4am. 4.5. Convincing prison tale and a possibly gruesomely failed supernatural escape. Quite mysterious. Builds to a great sense of apprehension and dread. 35.5:9

Empty Spaces. 4. Short and actually quite sweet. Engaging take on a familiar trope. 31:8

Raveloe. 2.5.sci-fi fantasy Silas Marner. Nice enough but not particularly engaging, not sure of the point. 27:7

Eyes of Water. 3.5. As so often in this book, a finely-written story, very engaging, but a bit flat in terms of conclusion. Just a pact / sacrifice thing ultimately. But an engaging read. 24.5:6

Offering. 5. Stories suddenly taking flight. Much better. After a confusing introduction that I had to read twice, this unravels as a tense edge-of-seat story of a cursed/haunted ambulance with a sickening case of possession to top it all. Great stuff. 21:5

Quiet & Dark. 5. Well flowing and entirely credible story of teenage girls (possibly only one teenage girls) and an enigmatic boy (not a boy) and an otherworldly trap. Sad yet possibly hopeful ending. 16:4

Dog’s Home. 3.5. As the others, interestingly told, quite grim but ending feels muddy again. 11:3

Ilkley Moor. 3.5. Second time I’ve encountered this one, and I appreciated the atmosphere more, but the ending still leaves me cold
Witches Wolves Bears. 4. Great tense story, still a bit disappointing at the end, but more comprehensible
7.5:2