Strange Tales: A 5 Story collection
()
About this ebook
Here are five tales of people going off the beaten track of reality to experience something completely new and unworldly. Stories of individuals in pain who ride a rollercoaster of odd happenings that show life in a different perspective. People running to something or away from something. A young traveler who encounters a modern marvel in an ancient ruin. A group of youngsters in a Lewis Carroll-like tale, where language and logic are stretched and reshaped into a tongue-twisting, whimsical adventure.
Dale T. Phillips
A lifelong student of mysteries, Maine, and the martial arts, Dale T. Phillips has combined all of these into the Zack Taylor series. His travels and background allow him to paint a compelling picture of a man with a mission, but one at odds with himself and his new environment. A longtime follower of mystery fiction, the author has crafted a hero in the mold of Travis McGee, Doc Ford, and John Cain, a moral man at heart who finds himself faced with difficult choices in a dangerous world. But Maine is different from the mean, big-city streets of New York, Boston, or L.A., and Zack must learn quickly if he is to survive. Dale studied writing with Stephen King, and has published over 70 short stories, non-fiction, and more. He has appeared on stage, television (including Jeopardy), and in an independent feature film. He co-wrote and acted in a short political satire film. He has traveled to all 50 states, Mexico, Canada, and through Europe. He can be found at www.daletphillips.com
Read more from Dale T. Phillips
Jumble Sale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Shadow on the Wall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFroggy Went A Courting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Improve Your Interviewing Skills Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHalls of Horror Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApocalypse Tango: A 5-story Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Locust Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Sharp Medicine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStrange Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Fall From Grace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 2nd Zack Pack: 3 Zack Taylor Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Crooked Paths Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNeptune City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrime Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlades and Butchery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDesert Heat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll the Crooked Paths Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Darkened Room (A Zack Taylor Mystery) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Big Book of Genre Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApocalypse Tango Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Zack Pack: 3 Zack Taylor Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Fables and Fantasies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Certain Slant of Light Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to be a Successful Indie Writer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHalls of Horror: A Ten Story Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Memory of Grief Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Strange Tales
Related ebooks
The Dunewalkers: Moving In Series, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gwythienian: Odan Terridor Trilogy, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secrets Inside Rose Manor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hornets' Nest of Our Desires: The Artie Crenshaw Trilogy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Mound Over Hell: The Dark Depths, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLike Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Innocent Ones Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good Bones Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhiskey River Runaway Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Highway Store and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDead Ringers: Captain Arlon Stoddard Adventures, #9 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRavens When They Cry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe House on the Beach and The Unicorn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Poet in Dangerous Times: Echapbook 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDare You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Recipe for Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoose Willow Mystery: A Yooper Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMungwort Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lily of the North Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShe Had To Die Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Collaborator: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aberrant Egress Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevisionist Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSome Kind of Ending Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking Uphill at Noon: Poems Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gone to Ground Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBRINK: Don't Go Back to Sleep Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrimeucopia - The I's Have It Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Taste of Flesh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Apricot Colonel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Psychological Fiction For You
The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Housemaid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Quiet on the Western Front Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Dark Vanessa: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crime and Punishment Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When No One Is Watching: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life She Was Given: A Moving and Emotional Saga of Family and Resilient Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Lovers in the Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Certain Hunger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sour Candy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes on an Execution: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hellbound Heart: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moby Dick (Complete Unabridged Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What She Left Behind: A Haunting and Heartbreaking Story of 1920s Historical Fiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hogg Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Piano Teacher: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The End Of Alice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Yellow Wallpaper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House Is on Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifth Mountain: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Misery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of Wild Places: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Head Full of Ghosts: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blonde: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mrs. Caliban: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Strange Tales
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Strange Tales - Dale T. Phillips
Copyright © 2012 Dale T. Phillips
Cover Design copyright 2012 Melinda Phillips http://www.snapichic.com
The Tree of Sorrows was first published in Plot, Summer 1996
The Great Snipe Hunt was first published in New Myths,
March 2010
Try these other works by Dale T. Phillips
Shadow of the Wendigo (Supernatural Thriller)
The Zack Taylor Mystery Series
A Memory of Grief
A Fall From Grace
A Shadow on the Wall
A Certain Slant of Light
A Sharp Medicine
Story Collections
Fables and Fantasies (Fantasy)
More Fables and Fantasies (Fantasy)
Crooked Paths (Mystery/Crime)
More Crooked Paths (Mystery/Crime)
The Last Crooked Paths (Mystery/Crime)
More Crooked Paths (Mystery/Crime)
Strange Tales (Magic Realism, Paranormal)
Apocalypse Tango (Science Fiction)
Halls of Horror (Horror)
Jumble Sale (Different Genres)
The Big Book of Genre Stories (Different Genres)
Non-fiction Career Help
How to Improve Your Interviewing Skills
With Other Authors
ROGUE WAVE: BEST NEW England Crime Stories 2015
Red Dawn: Best New England Crime Stories 2016
Windward: Best New England Crime Stories 2017
Insanity Tales
Insanity Tales II: The Sense of Fear
Sign up for my newsletter to get special offers
http://www.daletphillips.com
DEDICATION
For Jesse, who saw many strange things, and who made a difference
CONTENTS
Foreword
As you read these stories , you’ll notice a recurrent theme in a few of them—The Question—how to go on living when we have lost the one we love, and the pain is too great to bear. Too many people in this world have dealt with such suffering, and some have chosen not to continue life in so much pain. Some of these tales offer a redemption, a last chance to consider before taking that drastic step.
And another story considers what we are as a race, what choices lie ahead, and what might have helped get us here. By journeying into our past, sometimes we can see our future. The future is not predetermined—we will make of it what we will. Whether or not we will finish ourselves off is a matter yet to be seen. But we’ve had the capacity to end all life on the planet for 67 years, and we haven’t done so yet, so there’s hope.
And the final story is a complete changeup, for we shouldn’t be grim all the time. Here we play with language in the manner of Lewis Carroll or James Joyce, with puns and portmanteau words galore.
This story finally found a home, but not until it had been rejected by a number of magazines. But—the funny thing is, so many of the editors really liked it! And yet they passed on it.
So you can see what a tough time it is to sell good fiction, even when it’s what they want...
Here’s a few of the comments I got from different places:
Enjoyable, not our style
Beautiful. Thoroughly enjoyed. Loved your use of language and words
Great opening and premise- unique, semi-surreal
Loved this whimsical story. Co-editor doesn’t like whimsy.
Beautifully written and very humorous. We like darker.
Linguistically clever
I really enjoyed the fun and creative use of language: this sort of poetic word-play is one of the ways that writing can be made really beautiful. This was also a very nice story, with a fun (if predictable) twist and a clever moral.
I couldn’t decide if this story was utterly brilliant or just too clever for its own good.
I enjoyed this charming, engaging tale very much.
So before you consider a writing career, think about getting rejected so often in such fashion. Hopefully you’ll be glad I didn’t give up. We writers can be obsessive types, which is almost always the only way we succeed.
Anyway, enjoy the ride. The stories await...
Roadside Attraction
Guy had been on the road for days, and felt crumbled around the edges. Running away wasn’t easy, because at some point, you had to stop, and the horrors that you were running from had time to catch up. So you pushed yourself far beyond the limits of any sane person, off into some other world, where sights and sounds and smells could fool you. Your mind played tricks, and you were just too tired to figure it out.
Driving too far for too long can be deadly, and Guy desperately needed to stop and rest. He’d reached the end of his endurance, and could not go much further, but there was nothing available. He was in the desert, he was aware of that much, but wasn’t even sure which state. He had, however, recently spotted a saguaro