Here lies a compilation of short stories that I have been inspired to write, or have written for various prompt contests.

From encountering a cunning jewel thief to a mysterious murder on the day of Halloween, each story is unique and different. You'll meet an elusive murderer, and maybe run into an omen of bad luck. Or maybe you're the kind who'll wade into a manhole for an adventure, or hunt for a fabled lady in the woods...

Mystery, Humour, Action and Crime...dive right into this anthology and pick up a story that interests you the most!

The color scheme is eye-catching, and the effort put into the cover is admirable. However, there are some things I'd like to point out. First, the title font is smaller than I'd like it to be as a reader, and the font should be clear and easy to read. The author's name is hard to find, and the photo used can mislead potential readers. You probably know that the werewolf platform is huge on Wattpad, and if someone sees a cover with a wolf on the front, they're automatically going to think it's a werewolf story. I suggest that you use a photo that somehow represents your entire collection without being misleading.

It's unique and refreshing. I can see the personal connection you might have with it, and the aesthetic fits well with your story. I'm not sure if it completely represents your story. Keep in mind that a title is hard to find for a collection of stories, but you can look at the overall morals of each story. How do they relate to one another, and can you make a title out of it?

For the most part, I was pleased with the shortness and conciseness. There were some awkwardly phrased parts I noticed, however, and you could shorten sentences. For example, instead of saying, "a mysterious murder on the day of Halloween," since it's bit of a mouthful, you could instead say, "... a mysterious Halloween murder." You also have some repetition with the word "maybe," since you use that phrase two times in sentences right after one another. The genres should not be capitalized either, as it's unnecessary.

One thing I appreciated and a pattern I was quickly noticing was how your beginning always established the mood of each short story. The more light-hearted stories got a lighter beginning, while the mysterious or more serious ones started on a more dark note, such as the mentioning of the weather. I did notice, however, that even a few sentences into the story, most of your darker tales or twist-ending stories mentioned the weather; typically a stormy day or some chilly weather. Try to separate from this repetition. You could add some duality in your writing and have the worst things happen on a lovely, sunny day. Or you could hint at the mood of the story through other means than just the weather.

In some of your dialogues, you struggled with the punctuation and tags at the end. If your dialogue is accompanied with a dialogue tag (he said, she yelled, they shouted, describing the way someone says something), the dialogue tag is a continuation of the dialogue sentence. For example, it makes little sense for the clause, "She said," to be a sentence by itself. Therefore, it's part of the dialogue sentence. The dialogue should end in a comma to indicate that the sentence isn't complete, and the start of a dialogue tag is not capitalized, as it's not the start of a new sentence. The opposite goes for action tags. If your dialogue is accompanied by an action tag (she grinned/he sighed/they walked away, basically an action), the action should not be part of the dialogue sentence. The dialogue doesn't help the action tag make sense; the action tag should be a sentence by itself. Therefore, the dialogue should end in a period to signify the end of the sentence, and the start of the action tag should always be capitalized, as it's the start of a new sentence. Of course, the punctuation may vary. Exclamation marks and question marks can end a dialogue regardless of the tag accompanying it, as long as if it's a dialogue tag, the dialogue never ends in a period, and for an action tag, it never ends in a comma.

Example of dialogue + dialogue tag: "'I'm okay,' she said." OR "She said, 'I'm okay.'"

Example of dialogue + action tag: "'I'm okay.' She forced a smile." OR "She forced a smile. 'I'm okay.'"

You also have a habit of adding punctuation after the dialogue mark or adding more than one. Each sentence in general should only end in one punctuation mark. An ellipsis, comma, question mark, etc, can all be punctuation marks. And whatever punctuation you end the dialogue in should be within the dialogue marks, not after.

You had some comma mistakes in your writing. Commas are used to separate different clauses. There are two types of clauses: Independent and dependent. They both have subjects (who/what is doing the action), and a predicate (the action being done). The difference between the two is that an independent clause can stand alone as its own sentence, while a dependent clause depends on another clause to make sense. If more than one clause is joined together, they should be separated with a comma. For example, this sentence, "I cried, then Billy ran away," there are two different independent clauses. One is "I cried," and the other is "Billy ran away." You'll notice that they're separated with a conjunction and a comma. You often misuse commas in this sense or forget to add them. Commas can also be used to separate an introductory phrase or word before the main clause. In the sentence, "Today I went to work," the independent clause is "I went to work," and you'll notice that it has a subject "I" and a predicate "went." The word "today" is excluded, and needs to be separated with a comma. The correction is: "Today, I went to work."

There was one time I noticed a misspelling, which I was quick to point out. However, your writing is spotless of any spelling errors. I can see how much effort was put into editing and proof-reading these stories, and the effort clearly paid off.

I found each of your plots clear, meaningful, and brilliant. Especially the ones with twist-endings, or just the way you presented the ending made it even better. Each story was carefully planned and written. Normally, when critiquing story collections, I notice the author might pay careful attention to a particular story, but not as much to the others. Here, however, you showed equal care to each tale, and they've all stuck with me. I took off a point because there were some places you could elaborate to heighten the reading experience for your readers. For example, in some of the more important parts, it would have been nice to see you expand on the protagonist's emotions and help the reader connect with the conflict on a more personal level. I understand that there may have been some word limits, but keep this in mind for the next time you write without a limit.

The protagonist was hardly mentioned throughout your stories, which I found very clever and purposeful. I learned almost nothing about the characters themselves, but found that you wrote in a way to point the attention to the context and actual scenes of the story rather than the characters within them. It was very insightful, and I'd also love to learn if it was purposeful or not!

I was very intrigued by your writing voice. Your use of diction and vocabulary fit your style of writing very well, as well as the genres you were writing in. Additionally, your writing voice made it easy for me to understand the context of the stories. I took off a point because your writing is very clean; almost textbook-style cleanliness in terms of grammar and writing rules. But you could also experiment with figurative language, metaphors/similes, and sensory details. You can establish techniques in your writing to provoke certain emotions within readers that may otherwise be considered grammatically incorrect, whether they be run-on sentences or descriptive language to strengthen emotions and scenes.

As a reader, I found no problem with your transitions and your story flow. Your scenes remained steady in each new tale in terms of story pacing, and there were no awkward transitions from one scene to another.

In paragraph 4, I suggest spelling out numbers if they're between 1-10, and even beyond that, as well. If you don't write out the numbers, this can break the flow of the story for your audience. In this case, instead of saying "5," it's better to say "five."

"Then he decided to bequeath me to his daughter..." (p.8). While this is optional, it's safer to use commas to separate introductory words from the main clause, as technically, an introductory word or phrase isn't part of an independent (or dependent) clause. Correction/Suggestion: "Then, he decided to bequeath me to his daughter..."

Your writing here was spotless. Although short, I enjoyed the humorous aspect and personification in this particular tale! It was clever to write in a pen's perspective, and I really got a taste for the fountain pen's obvious sense of superiority and grandiose.

"I thought the one thing that wasn't ruined everyday was the morning news', Sergei grumbled..." (p.3). There are two problems here. One is that "every day" is two words, not one. It should only be used as one word when used as a descriptive. For example, it's correct to say "everyday clothes" and "everyday utensils" as items used daily. But since the phrase isn't being used that way here, it should be separated into two words. Additionally, punctuation should always end within the dialogue marks, not after. Correction: "I thought the one thing that wasn't ruined every day was the morning news,' Sergei grumbled..."

In paragraph 5, the comma after the ellipsis in the dialogue isn't necessary, as the ellipsis is considered as a punctuation mark already. By adding a comma, you're technically ending the sentence with two punctuation marks.

"'Ughhh, not THOSE again...,'" (p.6). Here, if you want to emphasize something, it's more professional to italicize rather than capitalize, Additionally, remember that a comma doesn't have to and should not be used after an ellipsis. Correction/Suggestion: "'Ughhh, not those again...'"

"'... the man would have found,' Sergei laughed." (p.8). Since "Sergei laughed" is an action tag and not a dialogue tag, it should be a separate sentence. By indicating it as a dialogue tag, you're essentially saying he laughed out the dialogue. These two sentences should be separated. Correction: "'... the man would have found.' Sergei laughed."

"'You wouldn't be so calm if he got our Swarovski dinnerware,' she smiled sweetly. Picking up her blazer, she headed to the door. 'See you in the evening!' she waved and headed out." (p.9). Again, as I've mentioned before, dialogue tags (describing the way someone says something) are part of the sentence, while action tags are separate sentences. In both these dialogue sentences, "she smiled sweetly" and "she waved and headed out" are action tags, and thus should be treated as such. Additionally, I found one of the dialogue phrases awkward. In reality, it makes more sense for someone to say "see you tonight" rather than "see you in the evening." (this suggestion is optional). Correction: "'You wouldn't be so calm if he got our Swarovski dinnerware.' She smiled sweetly. Picking up her blazer, she headed to the door. 'See you in the evening!' She waved and headed out."

"Now today's murder was perfect." (p.14). Since "now" is an introductory word, it should be separated from the rest of the clause with a comma. Correction: "Now, today's murder was perfect."

"I was back at Cheshire Street, with three oficers." (p.18). The comma is unnecessary, and you misspelled "officers."

I hardly found any grammar errors here and was impressed by the subtly portrayed in this story. I understand that this particular story was for a contest, so it could have been because of the word count limit, but I would have liked more description. For example, I found that while the story itself was genius; you weren't in touch with your character's emotions. What did he feel when he/she noticed or realized something? Could they have done more contemplating in the brief car rides mentioned to heighten the tension for your readers?

"... those flawless books of yours?," (p.4). You shouldn't have more than one punctuation mark ending the sentence. Since you chose to end it with a question mark, the comma can be omitted. Correction: "... those flawless books of yours?"

Again in paragraph 6, never end a sentence with more than one punctuation. You already have a question mark ending the dialogue sentence, so the comma is unnecessary.

"'... never bodes well for you,' the man paused." (p.9). In the second half of the sentence, "the man paused" is an action tag, and therefore should be separated as another sentence from the first. Correction: "'... never bodes well for you.' The man paused."

"First-hand experience,' the man gave a hollow laugh." (p.13). Again, "the man gave a hollow laugh" is an action tag, and should be a separate sentence. That means ending the punctuation in the dialogue sentence with a comma and starting the beginning of the action tag with capitalization (as it's the beginning of a new sentence). Correction: "First-hand experience.' The man gave a hollow laugh."

"My boots stepped softly on the fallen yellow leaves, as I made my way to the tree as quietly as I could." (p.10). The comma here is unnecessary, as this is just one clause. Additionally, it's less awkward to replace a body part or item of clothing (boots) with a possessive pronoun. Suggestion: "I stepped softly on the fallen yellow leaves as I made my way to the tree as quietly as I could."

This story in particular was very thrilling! I had to go back and reread it because I was rushing to see the end. Very well written!

I was so impressed by this story collection! Not only is your writing clean and distinct, but each tale seems to have a personal connection with you as the author, and can connect with any reader or audience. I found hardly anything to point out in your stories (as you can probably see) and the ones I did, I've been nitpicking. I hope you're proud of yourself, because your work is absolutely stellar!

Congratulations! Your book has earned at least ninety points in my review—and therefore will be added to my reading list!