Customer Reviews

Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"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!

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

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.

Storyline:

There were 13 total "stories" written in this book. And while the title of the book is "Scairy Tales", it didn't really live up to it. The authors starts by discussing all the different types of horror there is. I wish he had researched a little more than just looking for definitions in Wikipedia.

His stories (besides not really psychological, physical or otherwise) felt as they were simply book ideas. More like a writers journal where he writes all possible story ideas that later have to be expanded upon.

If the author were to pick ONE of the short stories and work it well, he may have a complete book in his hands.

Story Characters:

Since the stories were so short and didn't feel completed, we didn't really care about the characters. While at the end of some of the stories, readers sometimes felt sad, it wasn't directed towards the characters of the book, it was directed to the situation.

Writing Style:

There was nothing remarkable about the writing. Once you move on to another story, you tend to forget the other ones.

Editing Style:

Besides story lines, which I talked about already, everything else was ok.

Overall Thoughts:

I'll pass. None of the stories really stood out to me.