Cold, Thin Air Volume #3: A Third Collection of Disturbing Narratives and Twisted Tales

by C.K. Walker

A beautiful chandelier that betrays a horror in the English countryside, an empty interstate that is more lonely than it seems, a debt to be paid in an unnatural currency, a pocket watch which holds the sins of the wearer, the things in the forest that terrify even the dead, and an ancient creature lurking at the bottom of a lake all dwell within. Come inside and see who survives and who takes their very last breath of cold, thin air.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction

166 pages, Paperback

Published September 27, 2016

About the author

C.K. Walker has been published by Jitter Press, The Altar Collective, and Thought Catalog. Her stories have been adapted for audio by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights and the NoSleep Podcast.

Reviews

[Jerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Volumes 1 and 2. I expected the same from Volume 3. With the exception of the last story Lake Kagachante, I doubted whether these stories were even written by the same author as the first two. They weren't bad, just not that great. I am generally not a grammar Nazi. I usually look over a few errors and don't dwell on it but there were way too many to ignore in this book. I can see how forth instead of fourth, son instead of sun, etc. can be over looked by a grammar check because they are spelled correctly even if in the wrong context. It was the constant absence of entire words like by, my, as, if and such that drove me crazy to the point that it distracted from the book. I couldn't get over the lack of/laziness in proofing the book. I would have given a 1 star rating due to simply to the poor grammar EXCEPT for the last story. Lake Kagachante also contained multiple grammar errors but it was good enough to allow me to not dwell on them. I would have loved the entire book to be on the same level as the first two volumes but at least the final story made up for what the rest of the book lacked.

[Rikke Nordravn · Rating 2 out of 5]

it seems uninspired and confused in general, also seems like there was no proof reader which is a shame because it does take away from the stories.
Last story in the book is however up to standard of what I have read before, from this otherwise totally amazing author.

[Waru]

Please no more "BUT I WAS PHONE!!!" endings. Cold, Thin Air Vol. I was good, but this was not.

[Cullen Drain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first 2 volumes of CK Walker’s “A Cold, Thin Air” collection and absolutely loved them. She tells stories in such a great way and I really enjoyed her use of clever, creative twists in the stories from those two books. So I came into this third volume expecting more of the same and, unfortunately, was pretty disappointed.

I get the impression that these stories were collected “from the cutting room floor”, if you will. It feels like this was a bit mailed in. The book’s print was excessively large, I can only guess this was to puff out the stories to appear that they could comprise a book’s worth. Also there were more than a few spelling errors… I mean no big deal there, I got through them fine but it was a big messier than I’d expect from a published book.

The majority of the stories were super short and ended something like this: “it was then that I remembered that I actually DID do the thing I’d been denying this entire story.” This approach should be used sparingly as in Walker’s first 2 volumes, but here it got groan-worthy by the end of the book. Maybe it’s a personal preference but I just got tired of that approach continuously appearing to wrap up a story.

All that negative aside, I did enjoy some of the stories. “The Pocket Watch” was awesome, I really liked that one. “The Things We See in the Woods” also was a fun read. Finally, the lengthy conclusion “Lake Kagachante” was fun as its length allowed Walker to explore the characters more, which she does an excellent job doing. It was pretty thrilling.

Overall: definitely read the first 2 volumes! They were incredible (“Borascca” was so good that I still think of it often), super fun, and very clever stories. Some real gems in those two volumes. If you love them, read this 3rd volume. I’d still recommend this book despite my disappointment because there are some good stories and Walker is such a good story teller that it’s worth the time. It’s a very short book with large print so it won’t take long to read it.

I’m definitely anxious to read anything else Walker puts out. Selfishly, I hope she writes a novel in her future! She’s one of my favorite authors I’ve recently discovered.

[Zacus Strunkus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holy Kenobi that was bad.

They call her the Fumbler. C.K. Stumbler.

Were there good stories? Yes! There always are, and anyone who claims Walker isn't talented is wrong. Characters tend to flow naturally in her stories, and she can write scares and thrills to an effect often enough.

But at a certain point, that stops being enough. Especially when sometimes she fumbles the characters and thrills. Every time you start a Walker story, you flip a coin. Heads, the characters are amazingly well down. Tails, you pray someone starts a fire using the pages you're reading. Do it again for the action of the story, the twist or the scare, and if you come up heads both times, you get nothing short of an amazing story.

But I can only slog through forgettable and boring stories with poor characters and poorer prose for so long before it stops being worth it, and when I'm ending almost every story with a shrug and forget about it the next day, it's just a waste of my time.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

C.K. Walker is an absolute horror debut success. I am personally offended that Hollywood makes dribble into movies but overlooks talent like this. If you're a horror fiction fan: I promise you will like C.K. Walker. Horror is largely overdone as a genre, so its refreshing to see a new TAKE on popular themes and tropes. I guarantee theres more than one story in each book that will make you take a step back and say, "Well that was messed up and not at all what I expected."

As this is anthology series it's difficult to review in full but Cold Thin Air vol. 1-3 are freaking fantastic.

[Michiko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the stories, but OMG, Walker needs a proofreader. The typos were kind of egregious this time around, with multiple misspelled, incorrect, or dropped words per story.

While I am still giving 4☆ because I could mostly understand what was being said, I was very close to dropping to 3☆ because of the sheer... sloppiness(?) of the text. These errors are steadily growing in frequency, with only one or two that I can recall in book 1, a few in book 2, and now this. It makes me very hesitant to get book 4, tbh

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked only a couple of stories in this one. The Tall Man and The Pocket Watch both of which I’ve read before, and The Chandelier. The Things We See In The Woods was good too, not scary per se but very interesting and attention keeping. Otherwise the rest of these were not my favorites.

[Rebecca Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of this was quick three-page short horror stories and weren’t bad. I remember a few of these from the NoSleep Podcast but definitely not all. I haven’t heard of the last story in the book so it was an enticing and nice, new read!

[Judy Cadena · Rating 5 out of 5]

See first volume for entire review but everyone should definitely read it.

[Peaches · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Things We See In The Woods was pretty good! Not a fan of the others, though.

[Anna Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love stories. Found CK through NoSleep Podcast and will be getting the other volumes!

[Blair Hoyle]

Burn is easily, EASILY the standout of this collection of short stories.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!!

I loved the stories!!

Each creepy and different fantastic!

I would highly recommend this book!

Enjoy the read and the creepy creative!

[Scott Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lesser work from Klingel, though I still enjoyed several of these stories and intend on reading Volume 4 next. As I've written in my reviews of the first two volumes, these things desperately need a proofreader or editor. There are multiple typos as well as some completely missing words. Makes it hard to fully appreciate her writing.