David Langford described Collier as "best known for his highly polished, often bitterly flippant magazine stories... best stories are touched with poetry and real wit, sometimes reminiscent of Saki's. There are moments of outrageous Grand Guignol; the occasional sexual naughtiness is far beyond Thorne Smith in sophistication." Langford praises Collier's "smiling misanthropy." Similarly, Christopher Fowler wrote in "The Independent", "His simple, sharp style brought his tales colourfully to life" and described Collier's fiction as "sardonic." John Clute wrote, "He was known mainly for his sophisticated though sometimes rather precious short stories, generally featuring acerbic snap endings; many of these stories have strong elements of fantasy..." E. F. Bleiler also admired Collier's writing, describing Collier as ""One of the modern masters of the short story and certainly the preeminent writer of short fantasies." and stating that "The Devil And All" was "one of the great fantasy collections".