Become a fan of Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror on Facebook and keep up with the latest news about this future horror classic.
Posted on February 16th, 2010 by admin
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Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror briefly hit #53 on the Amazon Kindle’s Hot New Releases list for Fantasy today!
Posted on February 15th, 2010 by admin
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Marvelously creative and original stories, February 13, 2010 (5 Stars)
By J. Chambers
“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!
Scairy Tales:
* In Print (Amazon.com)
* In Print (Barnes & Noble online)
* On Amazon Kindle
Posted on February 14th, 2010 by admin
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February 11, 2010 – Stockbridge, GA. WheelMan Press releases new horror-themed short story collection. (Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror (print), ISBN: 978-0982436127, 5.5 x 8.5, 176 pages, $9.99, (Kindle) ASIN: B001974DB0, $1.99).
During a time when horror is at an all-time high in popularity, WheelMan Press releases a collection of horror stories of the brand only author Gregory Bernard Banks can produce.
Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror is a collection of 13 horror tales ranging from the bittersweet story of a man attempting to make up lost time with his wife and children, Family Day, to the The Santa, the story of the red menace that haunts a werewolf family every Christmas Eve, to The Purifier’s Tale, the epic Gothic horror set in an alternate world where monsters rule and humans are the rare and hunted beasts.
“Many of the stories in Scairy Tales don’t necessarily fall into the classic definition of horror,” says author Gregory Banks. “But I think they explore the deeper social and psychological aspects of horror, which I hope makes them all the more frightening and all the more real.”
Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror officially launches Friday. February 12th on Amazon.com in both print and Kindle formats, and will soon be available in print from online retailers worldwide, as well as in various ebook formats from Smashwords.com.
Gregory Bernard Banks is a graphic designer, forum administrator, co-Webmaster for the Speculative Literature Foundation, author, and owns the small press WheelMan Press (wwww.wheelmanpress.com), and the freelance graphic design company, BDDesign LLC (www.bddesignonline.com. He’s published short stories and poetry in many venues, been both a quarter- and semi-finalist in the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest, and has previously published six books: Crossroads and Other Tales, Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life, A Writer’s Journey in Poetry & Prose, An Interview with Santa and Other Christmas Treats, The Summoner, and 2012: Seeking Closure, along with a variety of ebooks and articles which have appeared in the top 100 rankings on Amazon.com’s Kindle store. Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror is his seventh book.
For more information, or to comment on this book, you may contact WheelMan Press via email at press@bddesignonline.com, or through their website at www.WheelManPress.com.
Posted on February 11th, 2010 by admin
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I’ve known Mark Jeffrey for a few years now. I’ve always been a fan of his Max Quick series of books, and when I learned recently that he had landed a major publishing deal, I was extremely happy for him. I asked him if I could interview him for this blog, to share his success story with other Independent Authors so that they can get some inspiration from his journey, and he graciously agreed.
As you know, I’ve been a fan of your Max Quick books since you first published them a few years ago. For those not familiar with the books, tell us a little about Max and his story.
Young Max Quick suddenly finds himself alone in a world where Time has stopped, and he must discover the reason why and reverse it. Along the way, he meets others like himself who are mysteriously free in this ‘time pocket’. But the more he and his new companions learn, the more it seems his identity is not what he once believed. Now, he must race against a clock that can no longer tick, before the very world is altered forever …
And that is how Max Quick 1: The Pocket and the Pendant opens. It is the first book of a planned septology of novels. Max Quick 2: The Two Travelers is also complete, and I am currently writing Max Quick 3: The Bane of the Bondsman.
The book was originally self-published on Lulu.com. I also created a free mp3 podcast audiobook — or podiobook — version (available still at http://podiobooks.com) that amassed 2.4 million downloads. That was really the version that took off.
The Max Quick story is a very original one. How did you come up with the idea?
Thank you for saying so … I had kind of a jigsaw puzzle of ideas I’d been playing with for years, all things that interested me. Some were things I found interesting in other books or movies: the idea of someone living for centuries, for example, that came from the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles and Highlander equally. The twist I put on it was to have that extremely slow aging conferred on a 12-yr-old — and to give him amnesia.
So with that one conceit, I now had a) a viewpoint character that was 12, and thus a Young Adult novel that could crossover between kids, adults, etc. and b) a really nice ‘question box’, as JJ Abrams puts it, that I could mine almost infinitely for material. How long has Max been alive? What’s happened to him? What other characters has he met? Why does he have amnesia? There were a lot of places I could go with that.
As for time stopping: I wanted something like The Stand, where my heroes would be confronted by an ‘empty world’. I wanted this because I thought it was better if the kids had no adults to save them, no one to turn to. It was truly all up to them. So I came up with the Pocket — what we called the time-stop in the book. And off we went down the rabbit hole! 
I’ve thought that these stories were worthy of being published by a mainsream publisher from the beginning. Why did you choose to publish them yourself first?
Again, appreciated. I published myself at first because I was very impatient to get them out there. The book industry can take years — as evidenced by the fact that I now have a deal with Harper Collins and the soonest the can publish my first book is summer 2011. So: for me, an ‘internet guy’ by nature, that was just too long to wait. And I’m glad I did it my way — now there’s an audience that’s pretty sizable already in place, and it includes people like Oscar winner Abigail Breslin. There’s no way that would have happened if I’d gone purely traditional.
I know that your books sold well previously, and I believe you built a pretty large following in the process. Would you say that you’ve had a good experience with self/Indie publishing? Would you do it again?
Yes, absolutely. I may not have been able to get a mainstream publisher without the ‘farm league’ success at Lulu and Podiobooks. I was able to prove I could build an audience. And by the time the HarperCollins version of ‘Pocket’ is released, the audience for Max Quick will be very large. Most authors don’t start with that kind of advantage.
It took several years for Max to finally find a home with a mainstream publisher. A lot of people might have given up hope long ago, but obviously you didn’t. Why did you have so much faith in this character and his story?
Oh, I’ve always know that this would work out in the end and have a huge audience. The only thing I didn’t know was the timing of it all. Call that prescience — or confidence — or arrogance take your pick. But yes, I’ve had complete faith in this from the very beginning.
How much work did it take to get this story discovered by a traditional publisher?
Well I’ve been through a couple agents. Then I met my current agent, Margaret O’Connor of Renaissance Literary and Talent. She made all the difference. Once I was with her, it was a quick six months until the Harper deal was closed. The right agent makes all the difference. Your stuff has to be good also, but you need that connected person to get you reads. My previous agents were unable to deliver.
Do you have any words of advice or encouragement for other Indie or self publishers out there who dream of achieving similar goals?
It can be done! And now is the best time — here in the future of Twitter and Facebook and Goodreads, you’ve never had a better way to connect directly to readers. But it’s work: you have to market yourself. But don’t be afraid to — that is part of your job. Also, watch my show where I have success stories on every week — ‘authtrepreneurs’, I call them — who started small and made it big: http://bibliotechshow.com
Tell everyone where they can go to stay up to date on when Max Quick will hit bookstores everywhere.
Watch http://maxquickseries.com or follow me on Twitter: @markjeffrey for updates.
Posted on September 21st, 2009 by admin
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Here is the cover for the upcoming book, “Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror,” coming soon from WheelMan Press.
Posted on September 19th, 2009 by admin
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We are currently working on the next release from WheelMan Press.
“Scairy Tales: Tantalizing Tales of Terror” is a collection of 13 Horror stories, most of which have never been published before. With stories ranging from the funny to the fantastic, Scairy Tales will be a scary cornicopia of stories that will tickle your fancy and spook your dreams.
“Scary Tales: Tantalizing Tales of Terror” is scheduled to haunt virtual bookshelves this October.
Stay tuned!
Posted on September 12th, 2009 by admin
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Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life reached an all time high ranking of #13 in the Short Story category on the Amazon Kindle last week, and has risen into the top 100 in the category numerous times this month. The book, originally published in 2005 and revised and republished last year, has by far been my best seller to date, and the continued positive feedback I’ve gotten from it continues to be both amazing and humbling, and I am immensely grateful for everyone’s support. If you have yet to read Phoenix Tales, click here to check it out now.
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An excerpt from the story “Touched”:
JOSEPH STROKED THE hem of the silk dress, ignoring the “Do not touch” signs posted nearby. His fingertips slid over the sleek fabric, whose fibers were fine, delicate, aesthetically beautiful in their craftsmanship. Pages of data from his neurodex scrolled before his eyes. Though he knew silk was synthetically produced these days, it was still interesting to learn about the tiny creatures that had once spun the thread.
“Come on, Honey,” called Mama. “It’s time to go.”
Joseph approached the checkout counter, taking his place at his mother’s side like a good little boy. He looked up at the elderly store clerk, who flashed a scant-toothed grin his way. While on the surface the man showed friendliness, Joseph detected the strained twitch in the man’s right cheek muscle, the nervous jitter of his pupils. A bead of sweat ran down the man’s hairless scalp, slipping between his eyes to dangle on the narrow peak of his nose. Joseph sighed.
He had discovered long ago that most people were awful liars.
“Is there a problem, Lou?” Mama asked. Joseph noted how her pulse rate had suddenly increased.
“No Ma’am,” Lou replied in a creaky voice, prying his gaze off the boy. “I was just–”
“You were just what?”
“Uh, nothing, Ma’am.”
“Then please ring up my items so we can go.”
Lou quickly finished the transaction under Mama’s heated scrutiny. She absently ran her fingers through her son’s sandy blonde hair.
“Will that be all, Mrs. Shuler?” asked Lou as he handed her the bag.
“Definitely,” Mama said, snatching it away from him and striding toward the exit. Joseph followed. He glanced over his shoulder as he passed through the doorway. He caught a glimpse of Lou’s face before the door closed between them. The man had dropped the mask of geniality; his contempt for the boy was now clear.
Mama stopped just outside the door and knelt beside her son.
“Don’t let that ignorant old fool upset you, okay?”
“I won’t, Mama.”
“Good boy,” she replied, kissing him on the nose. She stood and started down the sidewalk. Joseph followed obediently, avoiding eye contact with those they passed. Instead, he focused his attention on the swing of Mama’s russet curls as they spilled down the nape of her neck. Her beige jacket hugged her slim waist, and the matching skirt stopped just above her knees, showcasing her long legs. The heels of her leather shoes pounded a measured beat along the sidewalk. She looked back from time to time to smile at her son.
Posted on May 14th, 2009 by admin
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