Book DescriptionLife, death, hope, faith, spirituality, love, and the deeper mysteries behind them all, are the best ways to sum up the overall theme for "Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life." This collection of literary short stories blends fantasy with splashes of science fiction and horror to tell seventeen dark and unique tales. Each story in some way puts its lead character into situations where life or death choices must be made. Not only are the stories imaginative and compelling page-turners, but also timely tales which address many of the social and moral issues we face today.
The collection begins with "Escape Velocity," where an elderly man finds himself trapped in a robot-run government institution where he"s resurrected repeatedly against his will, while ironically denied the experimental treatments that might cure him. "The Sacrifice" is about an ancient wizard from Atlantis whose fear of death drives him to feed off the life-force of babies, while "An Elysian Dream" explores a lost,living city that has evolved into a jealous and lonely god, and the young woman who is its lone subject and prisoner. "A Love Everlasting" is about a man whose decades-long journey around the world eventually reunites him with a lost love, and "Touched,"about which author Piers Anthony says, "...(It) made me remember Olaf Stapleton’s Odd John...," is a genetically enhanced boy"s search for self in a repressed, rural community of the future. "Fireflies" follows a man while he deals with the madness assaulting him after the tragic death of his wife and child.
Reviewer Kalaani for The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers describes "Living with Mrs. Klase" as "...another unique story that deals with a husband who will go to great lengths to please his wife who is suffering from Alzheimer"s. 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..." "A Cup of Time" is a humorous tale of a man who must recover the life stolen from him with the aid of the lucious looking "Death Angel" who"s been mistakenly sent to claim his soul.
"The Soul Man" is a very short but poignant piece about a child being rescued from her abused life, while "Home Going" is about a man making a fateful return to the South, after a long estrangement from his family, to attend the funeral of someone very close to him. The story "Heartbeats" is an allegorical tale of fate and karma as a prison inmate faces the ultimate penalty for his horrific crimes, while the flash fiction piece "A Time for Rest" explores a mentally challenged woman trying to cope with the greatest of tragedies. "Kachina Dawn," which was once a quarter-finalist in The Writer"s of the Future competition, takes us on an exploration of the Hopi culture in a post-apocalyptic world, and a returning son whose secret may determine the future of his people.
How violence can corrupt one"s very soul is explored in the story, "Of Love and Blood," and in the former semi-finalist for The Writers of the Future Contest, "Avatar," a man with Osteogenesis Imperfecta seeks happiness by acquiring the body of his dreams. "An Old Friend" is another brief tale about a little girl as she sits at her dying friend"s side. Finally, "The Last Living Thing" takes us to a remote planet where the last living being awaits the destiny that will take her beyond known space and time.
Reviewers have compared Banks" work to the likes of Roger Zelazny and Harlan Ellison, while the author himself cites such master storytellers as J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury as his greatest influences. As CD Moulton says, "I do not give five starsto anything. I give this one five stars. That says it all." Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life (Gregory Bernard Banks)