I've heard it said that the fear of death so permeates us as a species that all of our endeavors serve as distractions intent on keeping us from thinking about our eventual deaths.
Sometimes, when the clock clicks over at two thirty in the morning, and I can't sleep, I wish I could come up with more distractions.
Some people apparently decide that rather than distract themselves from thoughts of death, they will turn a brave face into the wind and speculate on the landscape of the undiscovered country.
Gregory Bernard Banks has done this in Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life, a collection of short stories examining not only death, but how it influences our perceptions of life.
Banks engages death from every imaginable angle. The first story, Escape Velocity, examines a future in which western medicine has advanced to such a degree that the human body can survive almost any calamity, whether the person who lives in that body wants it to or not.
In the story Escape Velocity, death represents a release some wish they could embrace. In A Cup of Time, everyone wants to avoid death at all costs. In Avatar, a man sees his death as the possibility to change his life for the better.
Science fiction, fantasy, the commonplace, young, old, willing, afraid, good, evil. This book provides everything but distractions.
I knew from the first story I would rate this book high, but struggled with the exact number. Then one day at work, after my last appointment had gone, and my area supervisor (hello Andrea) had left for the day, I read Living with Mrs. Klase, and I wept. I bawled. My eyes became red, my nose transformed into a waterfall. Vulgar, staccato sobs echoed in the empty office. I prayed in earnest that the DHL driver wouldn't walk right through the door at that moment, or I'd have to kill both him and myself out of embarrassment.
Any book that can do that deserves the highest marks.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life by Gregory Bernard Banks
Published by: Lulu Press; March 1, 2005
ISBN: 1411620356
Genre: Science Fiction, Short stories
Author's Webpage: www.phoenixtalesbook.com
About Joe Murphy
Wow. A story that makes the big man cry? This I've got to read!
And in comment to your "I never get any comments on my review" whine from the previous WI!- my fault. 🙁
I've changed it now so comments are a bit easier to do. Hopefully, they'll come flooding in now!
E
And I missed the tear-fest?! DANG! That's what I get for leaving work early...ah, but that's the only perk I get being the boss! Maybe when I am done reading the official "chick lit" book I am reading now, (no boos or hisses, please!) I'll check this one out. I could have 'borrowed' it from the kitchen, but I thought that would be just plain mean of me.
And I missed the tear-fest?! DANG! That's what I get for leaving work early...ah, but that's the only perk I get being the boss! Maybe when I am done reading the official "chick lit" book I am reading now, (no boos or hisses, please!) I'll check this one out. I could have 'borrowed' it from the kitchen, but I thought that would be just plain mean of me.
Boos! Hisses!
Wow, my first double-post on dragon page...I feel pretty darn lame right now! As for YOU Mr. Murphy, I'll figure out what terrible torture should come from you making fun of me...hmmmm...how about making you drink my coffee for the next 6 months....nnnnnoooOOOOOOO!!