Life, death, hope, faith, spirituality, love, and the deeper mysteries behind them all, are the best ways to sum up the overall theme for "Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life." This collection of literary short stories blends fantasy with splashes of science fiction and horror to tell seventeen dark and unique tales. Each story in some way puts its lead character into situations where life or death choices must be made. Not only are the stories imaginative and compelling page-turners, but also timely tales which address many of the social and moral issues we face today. The collection begins with "Escape Velocity," where an elderly man finds himself trapped in a robot-run government institution where he's resurrected repeatedly against his will, while ironically denied the experimental treatments that might cure him. "The Sacrifice" is about an ancient wizard from Atlantis whose fear of death drives him to feed off the life-force of babies, while "An Elysian Dream" explores a lost, living city that has evolved into a jealous and lonely god, and the young woman who is its lone subject and prisoner. "A Love Everlasting" is about a man whose decades-long journey around the world eventually reunites him with a lost love, and "Touched," about which author Piers Anthony says, "...(It) made me remember Olaf Stapletons Odd John...," is a genetically enhanced boy's search for self in a repressed, rural community of the future. "Fireflies" follows a man while he deals with the madness assaulting him after the tragic death of his wife and child. Reviewer Kalaani for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers describes "Living with Mrs. Klase" as "...another unique story that deals with a husband who will go to great lengths to please his wife who is suffering from Alzheimer's. She wants to relive Christmas over and over again, playing the role of Santa 's wife. When they help a young mother and her two children who are running from an abusive boyfriend and are stranded in the snow, their lives take on a new turn of events..." "A Cup of Time" is a humorous tale of a man who must recover the life stolen from him with the aid of the lucious looking "Death Angel" who's been mistakenly sent to claim his soul.