Author: Gregory Bernard Banks

Publisher: Lulu Press (February, 2005)

ISBN: 1411620356

The following review was contributed by: Jennifer Murray 

Gregory Bernard Banks’ collection of seventeen short stores of approaching death, introspection and rebirth I found caused me to pause between stories and reflect over what I had just read. Every story touched on some level of reflection related to regret for the dreams not quite achieved. That in turned evolved into eventual contentment and appreciation for the path that was taken and the lessons learned from it.

     The writing to me has the same ironic, bittersweet twist that you would find in an episode of The Twilight Zone mixed with the acidic musings that one would attribute to Harlan Ellison. The thread I saw in all of these stories is that life is what you make of it, but don’t take a lifetime to figure that out.

     I think the story that touched me most was “Living With Mrs. Klase.” It exemplifies love and devotion in that the husband willingly played the part that Miriam’s Alzheimer manipulated brain created for their world. The balancing act that it took for George to live in his reality of a Nebraska farmer and that of Mirian’s as Santa rang true to me as the reader. I could also feel the ache for the way thing had been as well as the fierceness of the love he has for her.

     I guess you could say that the story that I had the most trouble with was “A Time for Rest.” I will admit that it took me two or three rereads before I was able to understand it since it was written from the perspective of someone who perceives the world with a much simpler view. Mona has a routine of life that she continues as she waits for the return of her husband Jack even though circumstances we don’t know about have made that obsolete. I do applaud Banks for portraying the confusion that Mona feels to the point that as a reader I felt just and confused and perplexed as the character.

    All in all I find Phoenix Tales to be a great collection of stories that make you think, force you to feel, and out right ponder death and the potential of what could possibly be after that. With these tales, Banks shows us that death doesn’t have to be an ending, but that it can be a doorway to another chapter of our existence.