Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life [Paperback]

Gregory Bernard Banks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2008

With four brand new stories added, Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life, Second Edition, is the new revision of the highly acclaimed short story collection from Gregory Bernard Banks. Compared to authors such as Roger Zelazny and Harlan Ellison, Banks takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotion with stories ranging from the sweet tale of a boy who simply wants to be Touched by a world he s struggling to understand, to the haunting and lyrical tale of the savior of abused kids known as "The Soul Man." Author Gregory Bernard Banks combines the colorful storytelling style of the Golden Age of science fiction with thoughtful exploration of the contemporary issues of today. Not only will these stories take you on a emotional journey, but they will leave you contemplating life and the human condition as well.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The author has marvelous figures of speech; I don t think I ve seen it as thick and apt since the early career of Roger Zelazny. Death is a central theme; one of the stories, A Cup of Time, has death agents reminiscent of the Incarnations in my novel On A Pale Horse. That s not to suggest it is any copy of mine; the death agent here is a luscious young-looking woman. (It can be hard to tell a woman s age, especially when she s immortal.) The lead story, Escape Velocity, sets the tone: folk are kept alive interminably, and some really want to escape that fate. That is, to die. It makes perfect sense to me. So the adventure is how he manages to escape to death. Touched made me remember Olaf Stapleton s Odd John. Some are slice of life (or death) pieces, with human insights... But for an experience in description and emotion, this is good. --FeBlueberry 2005 Hipiers.com newsletter

In this collection of seventeen stories written by Gregory Banks, death is constant death of individuals, cultures, worlds and always there is mystery. The mystery of what lies beyond death is present, of course. And the narrators of these stories usually have a positive optimistic view of death a faith either spiritual, cosmic or magical, that all things are working together. But there is mystery in these stories. Often the puzzle or conundrum surrounds the actual cause or generative force that causes the death. There is also the long wait that accompanies dying. Whether the person waiting is a dying man who is continually revived, a faithful best friend beside a respirator, a long-dead son awaiting a spiritual reunion with his now-dead father, or a dying person who doesn t quite understand that death has occurred or is in fact taking place... ...Many of the stories touch on healing of some kind, healing created by a group, healing for a group, unwanted healing. The characters are normal everyday folks most probably African-American but their races generally do not matter. They face something common to all people: death and dying when racial identification, wealth and politics take a back seat to finality. Race, wealth, and politics aren t dismissed, mind you, the viving people at the nursing home are definitely powerful figures backed by a powerful government. But for the most part, in these slice of life supernaturally-tinged stories, death is a lonesome valley that these characters usually travel alone... ...A collection of stories about death could be troubling and haunting to some. But it is the most common of human journeys. And Greg Banks has written about it with hope, faith, love and joy. I highly recommend this book. Especially for those spiritual and psychological types who ponder the importance and meaning of death and the journey of the dying. --Carole McDonnell, author of Wind Follower

From the Publisher

This collection, with stories ranging from flash fiction to novelettes, is about people dealing with life or death situations in unique and moving ways. Piers Anthony, author of the hugely popular Xanth series, recently commented in his FeBlueberry 2005 Hipiers.com newsletter that "(Banks) has marvelous figures of speech; I don't think I've seen it as thick and apt since the early career of Roger Zelazny..." Author C.D. Moulton says of the book, "The subject matter is both varied and consistent. The style is captivating. Unlike most things I’ve reviewed, I wanted to read past the first page...Truth be told, I wanted to read past the end of the book." Author Angela Hooper says, "(This is a) brilliant collection of short stories of life and death, each one very different and individual, a separate story adding to make a truly awesome book." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: WheelMan Press; 2nd edition (April 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615186467
• ISBN-13: 978-0615186467
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Gregory Bernard Banks began his pursuit of a writing career in 1997, after spending years studying his other creative love, graphic design. Over the years since he s served as moderator for the Zoetrope All-Story Writers Workshop, as a site administrator for Scrawl: The Writer's Asylum, and as webmaster for the WRITER and MARKET Literary Search Engine. He s currently co-Webmaster for the Speculative Literature Foundation, and Community Leader/Support Aide at Lulu.com, and and is the sole proprietor for BDDesign LLC, where he now helps others make their publishing dreams come true.

Banks is also a frequent contributor to Audacity Magazine with his column, "A Sedentary View", and continues pursuing his dream of landing a 7-figure book deal by the time he's 80. His list of publishing credits include The Rose & Thorn, Story House, StoneGarden.net, Creative Brother's Sci-Fi Magazine, The Writers Post Journal, AlienSkin Magazine, The Speculative Fiction Centre, Amazon Shorts, and Axxon Online. In addition to having stories finish in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals for the prestigious L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest, his story, Into the Every, title story for his latest book, finished in 6th place in the 2006 Preditors and Editors Readers Poll. He's published three books, Crossroads and Other Tales, the Foreword Magazine 2005 Book of the Year Finalist Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life, and A Writer's Journey in Poetry & Prose." His fourth book, Into the Every: Tales of Magic and Science, is scheduled for an August 2008 release.

Banks lives in the rapidly growing city of Stockbridge, Georgia with his parents, his computer, and far too many books to count.

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Fiction credits:

Short Fiction:
- "The Master of Perfection" - October 1999 issue of The Blue Review.
- "Crossroads" - November 1999 issue of The Amateur Poetry Journal.
- "Fading Away..." - Sept 2000 premiere issue of The Story Garden.
- "A Lazy Afternoon in a Small Georgia Town - 6-26-01 issue of GiggleWithMe.com.
- "A Stormy Relationship" - 10-27-01 issue of GiggleWithMe.com.
- "An Interview with Santa" (run in three parts) - Dec. 2001-Jan. 2002,GiggleWithMe.com.
- "The Sacrifice" - The Summer 2002, The Rose & Thorn - A Literary Ezine.
- "Devour the Sky" - Story House, April 2, 2003.
- "Kachina Dawn" - StoneGarden.net, August 3, 2003.
- "Escape Velocity" - Creative Brother's Sci Fi Magazine #1, August 14, 2003.
- "Home Going" - Creative Brother's Sci Fi Magazine #3, to published January 2004.
- "An Elysium Dream" - StoneGarden.net, February 9, 2004.
- "He Rocked" (reprint) - The Writers Post Journal, to be published May 2004
- "The Last Living Thing" - AlienSkin Magazine published September 2004
- "For Whom the Midnight Tolls" - The Speculative Fiction Centre 2005 Anthology "Horizons," November 2005.
- "A Love Everlasting" (reprint) - The Speculative Fiction Centre 2005 Anthology "Horizons"
- "He Rocked" (reprint) - The Speculative Fiction Centre 2005 Anthology "Horizons"
- "The Circle" - The Speculative Fiction Centre, Fiction: Winter 2006 Issue #5
- "A Tale of Black and White" - SCARAB (Wanganegresse Press, 2006).
- "The Summoner" - Amazon Shorts, April 28, 2006
- "Web-elations" - The Speculative Fiction Centre, Fiction: Spring 2006 Issue #6
- "Two By Two" - Amazon Shorts, August 5, 2006
- "Into the Every" - The Speculative Fiction Centre, October 2, 2006
- "The Nothing" - AXXON Online's AXXON 100x100 (First Series), October 2006
- "The Highest Curse - Part I" - Amazon Shorts, November 15, 2006
- "Home Going (reprint)", New Works Review, March 28, 2007
- "The One and Only" - The Speculative Fiction Centre, July 21, 2007
- "Law of the Land" - Amazon Shorts, October 26, 2007

Books:
- "The Art of Poetry - Collection #1 (chapbook) - First published in 1998.
- "Crossroads and Other Tales" (fiction) - January 2004.
- "A Writer's Journey in Poetry & Prose" (nonfiction) - October 2006.
- "An Interview with Santa and Other Christmas Treats" (fiction) - November 2007
- "Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life" (second edition) - March 2008.
- "The Summoner" (fiction) - November 2008
- "2012: Seeking Closure" - April 2009

Poetry:
- "Striving for the Heavenly Kingdom" - Poetry Club Newsletter - Vol. 4, Issue # 7 (8-9-97) (no longer in publication).
- "Perfection Is..." - Summer 1998 Edition of "Treasured Poems of America" by Sparrowgrass Poetry Forum.
- Various poems - Past issues of The Amateur Poetry Journal (no longer in publication).
- "There in Your Eyes" - Volume one of A Generation X Anthology - "In Our Own Words", March 1998.
- "Our Love" made into song by LaTonya M. Peoples and appearing on her 1999 album, "The Spirit Within".
- "Truth" - Second issue of The Story Garden, March 2001.
- "Reflections" - Volume three of A Generation X Anthology - "In Our Own Words", March 2001.
- "Emergence" - The Writers Post Journal, to be published April 2004.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A truely stunning collection, July 18, 2005

By 

Julie A. Dawson "Bards and Sages Publishing" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life (Paperback)

Breaking the boundaries between literary and genre fiction, Gregory Bernard Banks' Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death and Life is a stunning collection of short stories that confronts the meaning of life and death with beautiful bravery. Part science fiction, part philosophy, with a little horror thrown in, this collection should be on everyone's reading list.

Each tale is a wonder in and of itself, and combined into a collection, creates a dramatic and insightful tool with which to uncover our own thoughts and fears on the subject matter.

Banks opens the collection with "Escape Velocity," a telling and frighteningly pertinent story of the price of heroic life saving efforts when the government, not the people themselves, decide if they should be allowed to die. With "Touched," he delivers a futuristic Pinocchio tale involving a genetically enhanced boy who learns what it means to be human. While the stories have a strong science fiction bent, the reader always feels they are in a familiar place.

"An Elysian Dream" tells the story of a young woman who quickly discovers that paradise without freedom is nothing more than a prettier version of hell. A man learns it's never too late to make amends with the past in "Home Going." In the hands of another writer, these stories may have come out as either empty nihilist tales or shallow reaffirmations. But Banks has a knack of taking what might otherwise be considered morose story concepts and turning them into uplifting, insightful, and poignant life lessons.

With "Living with Mrs. Klase," an abused woman and her children find Christmas with a retired farmer and his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. "The Soul Man," a story involving a person who seems to be the savior of abused children, is part flash fiction, part poetry, and part modern myth.

There are seventeen stories in this collection and every one of them elicited strong emotions in me as I read them. These are incredible stories that need to be read.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Macabre Tales, July 23, 2005

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life (Paperback)

Supernatural and fantasy ultimately sums up PHOENIX TALES: Stories of Death and Life by Gregory Bernard Banks. The author has created a selection of short stories that feed into the sci-fi futuristic storytelling of life and death. Each original story is told in a style that keeps your attention page after page until the finale of each story.

Examples of some of the selections are "Escape Velocity", which is about a man in a nursing facility who doesn't seem to get it right when dying. He wants to go home to be with his granddaughter, but it is forbidden. When he finally does escape, with her help, his quest is finally fulfilled to the astonishment of his granddaughter. "Touched" is about a little boy who was genetically created and is shunned by the people of his town. What many come to realize is that this young boy has much to offer then just being different. A very touching story that really goes deep to the heart of being judgmental and hurting someone for no apparent reason. "Living with Mrs. Klase" is another unique story that deals with a husband who will go to great lengths to please his wife who is suffering from Alzheimer. She wants to relive Christmas over and over again, playing the role of Santa's wife. When they help a young mother and her two children who are running from an abusive boyfriend and are stranded in the snow, their lives take on a new turn of events.

Each story has a moral base that reaches into the heart of understanding the role of everyone when life or death comes knocking at the door. Overall, Mr. Banks put together a collection of stories that definitely went beyond anything we would attest to as being in our day and time.

I approached the reading of this book very carefully because I wanted to really understand where the author's style and depth was going to take me. The character development, the futuristic terms and sci-fi scenarios flowed well with each storyline. Although some readers may not enjoy reading supernatural/fantasy stories, those that do will welcome this particular genre. Regardless, PHOENIX TALES by Gregory Bernard Banks is a one of a kind book anyone would enjoy reading. (RAW Rating: 3.5)

Reviewed by Kalaani
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phoenix Tales-Stories of Death & Life, November 1, 2005

By 

Sherry N. Brantley "Author / Speaker / Consul... (Chandler, AZ. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life (Paperback)

Wow! These stories are moving, thought-provoking and fresh! They give you a new perspective not only on the way we look at death, but also, how we look at life! I experienced a range of emotions while reading them. Each time I'd pick one out as my 'favorite' short story, I'd read the succeeding one and would fall in love with Gregory's style of writing all over again. His descriptive way of revealing his characters and their surroundings left me spellbound. A must read for you! If you also want to get a sense of his humor and wit, 'A Cup Of Time' cannot be overlooked! They don't make writers like this anymore!

Sherry Brantley, Author of "Best of Friends," and "Choices-The Power is Within You."