Book Reviews
Gregory B Banks: Tales of Life and Death
Publisher: Wheelman Press
Title: Phoenix TalesAuthor: Gregory B. Banks
ISBN: 978-0-615-18646-7
Publisher: Wheelman Press
Pages: 280
Speculative Science Fiction. You'll meet the greats of the genre by starting here: Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny and others....
Gregory B Banks' Phoenix Tales are elegantly written in simple prose. Sentences have been pared down wasting no words. If you're unfamiliar with the evolution of science fiction, especially since the Sixties, You should expect to find several unfamiliar concepts in some, but not all, aspects Gregory's writing because he speaks of the experimental writings of Zelazny as influences on his own work, although he doesn't specify whether he's referring to the earlier or later period of Zelazny's writing. For some people Banks' writing is likely to serve as an introduction to the New Wave writers. And for those readers it's as well to move straight from Banks' writings to Harlan Ellison's, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, Aye, and Gomorrah, by Samuel R. Delany, and, of course, Roger Zelazny's, The Great Slow Kings, as soon as possible.
Don't expect common themes, or genres, because, perhaps sparing death, there are none. But do look out for a particular element of poignancy in, Escape Velocity. The Sacrifice is a fantasy, and Heartbeats a paranormal story. Given his writing influences it should come as no surprise that Gregory's artistic portrayal of Natural Justice extends far beyond what you and I would consider everyday human experiences. One of the tales, Fireflies, is a guilt-ridden halucination.
Although most readers are familiar with insane characters they're probably much less familiar with firsthand accounts of insanity. I would suggest reading this story more than once. I'll not spoil things by explaining why a second reading is advisable. Suffice it to say that it's likely to be advantageous.
My Recommendations for this book: I'm going to make two different sets of recommendations for Gregory's work. If you're already an experienced reader of speculative fiction, then get it and read it. You won't be disappointed. But if you're not already an experienced reader of speculative fiction, then perhaps you might want to familiarise yourself with the genre before going much further. When you do decide to read this kind of work, read work from the genre's towering pioneers who are mentioned above too. It's a journey into a completely new literary world. It takes some time to aclimatise. But once you've made a comittment to do it you'll learn so much. It's well worth it.
Review by Patrick Mackeown, January 2009
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