Customer Reviews

Crossroads and Other Tales

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Crossroads is a thrillingly emotional trip, it will take you to places in your mind that perhaps you've forgotten, or maybe you didn't know existed. It will thrill you and enthrall you, make you smile and make you cry. I particularly loved "Across the Threshold", an excellent trip through Mans Life, and "He Rocked", the poetically sad, yet happy story of everyone's grandfather. Truly an excellent book.
Angela Hooper, author of In Dark Minds, www.lulu.com/ahooper

"Crossroads and Other Tales" is a unique peak into the human condition, with a twist. Gregory Bernard Banks blends introspective poetry with short stories to tell a range of tales from various points of view. The theme of this collection is tied to crossroads in life in which people are presented with quandaries, weaknesses, hurts, and a host of vulnerabilities. The reader is left to discern reality from fantasy as each tale unfolds and abruptly ends with a conclusion that implies a point, but is typically not clearly defined.

In many tales, the story begins with a character who is consumed by a troubled mind, but ends with an unexpected resolution that the reader could never anticipate. The end of each tale often takes on a quality that is mixed with science fiction, fantasy, or some place outside of the realm the real world. The book begins with Jacob- a boy who found himself making a decision whether or not to commit murder, and ends with Warren- a ninety-three-year-old man who routinely rocks in a rocking chair, until his death. Here, we see the author conjuring thoughts of life being a full-circle in which a beginning of our existence ultimately comes to an unavoidable end. Mr. Banks has indeed created a niche for himself and also uses detailed descriptions to do so. His ninety-one-page book is a mystifying read that has components of the X Files and is dashed with a flavor that proves to be in a category of its own. In fact, words can't quite describe it. Experiencing the journey is the only way to grasp each crossroad, through the author's dark, haunting literary eye.

Andrea Blackstone, author of "$chemin': Confessions of a Gold Digger"
Flavah Reviewer