Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror [Paperback]

Gregory Bernard Banks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2010

Vampires in Space. Zombies doing what they were bred to do. The call of Death and the torments of love. A world where humans are the things that go bump in the night... Just some of the tantalizing tales to be found in Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror, the latest release from WheelMan Press. The 13 horror stories in this collection will fill your appetite for the macabre, while taking you into new realms where we discover that the most terrifying thing in the universe may be ourselves. So pick up Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror today. But remember... These aren't your parents' fairy tales....

Editorial Reviews

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 A forum administrator at Lulu.com, and and is the owner of both BDDesign LLC and it’s publishing imprint, WheelMan Press. Banks is also a contributor to Audacity Magazine (AudacityMagazine.com) with his column, “A Sedentary View”, and continues pursuing his dream of landing a 7-figure book deal by the time he’s 80. He’s published six books prior to this one, Crossroads and Other Tales, Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life, A Writer’s Journey in Poetry & Prose, An Interview with Santa and Other Christmas Treats, The Summoner, and 2012: Seeking Closure. Banks lives in the rapidly growing city of Stockbridge, Georgia with his parents, his computer, and far too many books on his Amazon Kindle to count.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: WheelMan Press (January 11, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0982436122
• ISBN-13: 978-0982436127
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,024,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelously creative and original stories, February 13, 2010

By 

J. Chambers (Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror (Kindle Edition)

"Scairy Tales" is a collection of thirteen short stories by Gregory Banks. In the book's Foreword, the author has a brief explanation of the horror genre, which includes subgenres such as dark fantasy, thriller, suspense, and others. "Scairy Tales" is a nice mixture of these, ranging from psychological horror to very real physical terror.

More than half the stories are dark fantasy, and the author really excels here. His futuristic stories of a world gone mad remind me a bit of Harlan Ellison's short stories a few decades ago. Mr. Banks can paint some very grim scenarios, but even in the gloomiest futures, there is at least a tiny ray of hope for mankind.

I enjoyed every story, but some of them really stood out for me. "The Santa" and "A Species of the Dead" showed the author's whimsical side. They're really funny.

"Law of the Land" was a lesson on what happens when everyone is allowed to take justice into their own hands. If that sounds like a good idea, think again.

"The Purifier's Tale" was the longest story. Imagine that humans have managed to release their inner evils as real entities, and these entities have taken over and are killing the humans. Human existence is hanging by a thread, but there is one last hope for mankind. Or is there? This is a marvelously creative story that could be expanded to a short novel, in my opinion.

"Family Day" is another favorite. A family is having a fun day together with no worries in the world. This one is a superb psychological thriller with a twist at the end that caught me flat-footed.

Each of the thirteen stories is very readable. There's no padding or filler in the collection. The writing is as professional as anything I've read. The editing in my Kindle edition was nearly perfect.

"Scairy Tales" includes some of the most creative and original stories that I've read, and I was disappointed to finish the last story and be done with it. I hope that Mr. Banks is planning another volume of "Scairy Tales."

By the way, I agree that with the author that Thin Mints are superior to Trefoils. No, I'm not going to explain that - you'll have to read "Scairy Tales" to understand!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Scairy Tales - 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror, March 7, 2010

By 

M TERESA CLAYTON (ST. LOUIS MISSOURI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror (Paperback)

GREGORY BERNARD BANKS HAS PRODUCED ANOTHER WELL WRITTEN COLLECTION OF OUTER-LIMIT TALES. HIS IMAGINATION TAKES US TO PLACES WE WOULD NEVER SEE WITHOUT HIS GENTLE TELLING OF THE MACABRE AND THE NIGHTMARISH.

THIS BOOK IS WELL WORTH THE PRICE TO BE ENTERTAINED ON A LEVEL FEW AUTHORS CAN TAKE YOU. HIS VISION INSIDE THE DARK IS 20/20.

- M. TERESA CLAYTON, AUTHOR OF "MYSTIC VERSES" "...AND THE SNOW FALLS" MYSTIC VERSES...And The Snow Falls

4.0 out of 5 stars 13 Scairy Stories, June 11, 2010

By 

H. Biggs - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror (Kindle Edition)

I enjoyed 13 Scairy stories. Each story was short and to the point with just the right amount of detail. The stories did not get bogged done with to many details.I agree on the the thin mints Lol.