Justin Pyfrom's Blog, page 17

21st Short Story Released

It’s amazing how entitled some men can be towards the opposite sex. But one man will come to realize that the same level of entitlement can go both ways.

It is available for Amazon Kindle.

Kids Are Forever Overlooked

Respect your kids. Too many adults DEMAND respect from kids without showing any respect in return. Doesn’t work.

– Lyle Perry

The duality of kids.

I never thought I would have a story where the protagonist is a child. Usually, I try to refrain from such a practice because I don’t feel comfortable putting an innocent child in such a dire situation. Kids are special and their lives should be filled with love, joy, compassion, and fun. No child should have to go through the misery I put some of my characters through. But, then, I got to thinking. What if I do just that and have another child serve as the hero? That simple question was how I created Childhood Lost…and Found.

Point of order, my brother felt a little weird out while reading it and I understood why. See, in our youths, we were in foster care and felt the emotional and verbal abuse of our foster parents. I already spoke about my experience with them at length and will again in a future story so I won’t get into it. What I will say is that the memory still haunts us and talking about it with each other is the cheapest form of therapy. Well, that and writing about it. Anyway, I surmise that he was finding himself reliving the trauma which was obviously not my intention. But he did tell me that, because of that discomfort, the story hit the mark.

It’s interesting because I tell my experience and go on to say that anybody that thinks they are justified to treat children like that should be locked into the deepest hole and left there for life. No one has the right to put a child through hell because they don’t feel good about themselves. Or, worse yet, because they are trying to feel a void in their life that they know deep down they will never fill. So, I decided to create a “branch” of the government that could handle those types of vile individuals.

At first, I created an adult protagonist. A female agent serving as a nanny to the victim but found that to be a bit cliché. Then, someone gave me an idea in passing about kids helping kids out of trouble. That was my “eureka” moment. The main protagonist and hero should be a kid. It was pretty perfect. Kids are always overlooked and underestimated and the government can take full advantage of that. That could be the “branch” of the government and it will have a very high success rate. Add in some child-like nature and mannerisms and I had the perfect character for the story.

I spend about a month after the story was written fleshing out the “branch” of the government because I was more focused on the character than the organization which was a reversal for me. I did that because, quite frankly, to put a child in such a situation is quite taxing on their psyche and well-being so I needed to do a before-and-after timeline so I can get his personality cemented before writing the story. 

Now, the branch is written out and I do plan on making another project out of it. I just don’t when and what form it’s going to take. But I guarantee you that you will be seeing this “branch” again.

And, with that, I hope you enjoy the story.

You can buy the book on Amazon. The link is here.

You can also learn about it on Goodreads. The link for it is here.

20th Short Story Released

When there’s a crime that threatening the life of a child, they are called to make sure that it ceases. They have a high success rate but it’s not what you think when it comes down to the operatives.

It is available for Amazon Kindle.

Age of The Geek, Baby!

“There’s No Secrets On The Internet. When Will People Learn This?”

– Alex Hardison

The duality of Alex Hardison

What if Alex Hardison didn’t have empathy?

Leverage has always been one of my favorite TV shows and Alex Hardison was the reason why (click here to learn more). He was like me in almost every single way as he was nerdy and funny with a loving heart. Not only that he was African American and sexy as all holy hell. I seriously had a big crush on him – and the actor – from the very beginning of the series. Looking back on that character, I had one question that led me to this question: What if Alex Hardison was evil? Well, “evil-ish” but you get my point. Nevertheless, the results were the same as A Sociopath’s Con ended up being created.

Everything in the story alludes to Leverage and even down to the twist ending. I wanted to pay homage to the show as it was, indeed, a marvelous show because of the premise alone. At its core, it’s about the bad guys becoming the good guys to take down bigger bad guys to help the little guys. Like a modern-day tale of Robin Hood. So, I ended up going down that route when writing this story but I intentionally wanted it to be dark as…well…it’s me.

Anyway, I took the character of Hardison and did a 180 on his character and gender. The gender was because I didn’t want her to be taken seriously since it adds to her powerful nature. I did that to her character because I wanted to create a moment that makes the reader yell at the main character to stop pissing her off. This was going to be the running theme as Hardison, in the series, has been known to be very forgiving. I wanted the complete opposite and a reason for it all.

Everything in the story was going to be based on a con. That meant that the main character was going to be a conman that was going to be in conflict with this Hardison character. It’s going to be interesting because this is my first work on psychological writing. It’s not a thriller but it is psychological according to Jeremy, a good friend of mine.

By the way, Jeremy thought it was refreshing that I was going on that path and saw that I could do more with it. I don’t see it, though. It seems like a one-time deal. Let me know what you think after reading it. I’m eager to hear if I should turn it into another medium. And, with that, I hope you enjoy the story.

You can buy the book on Amazon. The link is here.

You can also learn about it on Goodreads. The link for it is here.

19th Short Story Released

A prolific conman goes head to head with a mark of a recent scam that has destroyed the lives of many people. But eventually, one has to ask: who’s conning who?

It is available for Amazon Kindle.

A Turn To The Past

Feminism…is not ‘women as victims’ but women refusing to be victims.”
― Gloria Steinem, The Trouble With Rich Women

The duality of feminism

What if I could seek justice against my cousin for his torment towards me?

I was having way too much fun with creating Maya, the focal character behind “A Woman’s Worth“,  that I decided to create a prequel of sorts for her character. Nothing too big as I wanted to save the rest for the series that I have planned for her. It’s interesting because I originally wanted a new character for the story and run with that. But when Natasha, a friend of mine, read the story she saw that the two characters had a lot of things in common aside from the fact that they are powerful women.

Both of them had to deal with the arrogance of youth. One had to deal with a woman and another one had to deal with a man.  Both of them were lawyers who wanted to make progressive change in the world and to make sure that it sticks. So, I was given the idea to make the two women the same person which I give her all the credit for. She was also one of the many who keep pushing me to write while stressing the fact that I need to remember to take a break.

Anyway, changing two characters to one was pretty easy because it allowed me to link events together and left a decent amount of wiggle room to flesh out her timeline. Her personality was already there and the fact that was going back in time had allowed me to show when the shift began.  This story  – right here – was the one that showed me that I could create a series after of that character. Natasha wants to know when I’m going to get started on the series but she knows that I like to work on one series at a time. I’m working on two series as we speak so it’s going to be a while.

Now, for the story itself, it was done before the changes were made. I didn’t have to think hard for a villain towards a lawyer but I did get a little creative with it. I just drew inspiration from my small collection of cousins that never liked seeing me happy and created a new villain that needed to be knocked down a peg. It was kind of a soothing fantasy for me because realistically you can’t knock a narcissist down a peg – only time and circumstances. But I figured I could still write about it. It’s fun.

Finally, I knew that I wanted to have my friend, Levana, model for this cover, too, and she was more than happy to do so. We had to go shopping for the clothes for this cover as well as the previous cover and we had a ball. She was a runway model while trying on the clothes. It was a monumentally beautiful day of shopping and prep for the shoots. No matter what I want Levana to voice the series. I don’t know how I want the series is going to work but I want her to voice it. Hopefully, you all like the character and the story. And, with that, I hope you enjoy the story.

You can buy the book on Amazon. The link is here.

You can also learn about it on Goodreads. The link for it is here.

18th Short Story Released

Let’s rewind the clock to see the moment in history that became a turning point for Maya’s career. It’s a story that made her into the powerful powerhouse lawyer she is today.

It is available for Amazon Kindle.

The Obviously Stronger Sex

“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”
― Brigham Young

The duality of feminism

What if you could properly punish a person for lying about being raped?

Oh, you have no idea how much fun I had with this story. It was a story that was begging to be told and I can’t tell you how much darker I originally wanted the story to be. Oh, wait…I can actually. I wanted there to be a public execution but thought that was too much for the point that I was trying to convey to my audience. I was riding high on the #METOO movement and cheering with the real feminist that made it possible for all those terrible human beings to be put behind bars. Alas, we still have a long way to go. You know…one step forward, two steps back. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well…

Think about this for a second. How many times have you read in the paper about a man being found innocent after a woman comes clean about her lie? Better yet, how many different types of justifications have you heard come from said woman’s mouth? Rape, sexual assault, and all others of that nature are already heinous crimes without it being a lie. But to use it as a weapon to get back at someone who you claimed has wronged you is beyond reprehensible. And what’s baffling to me is that they’re seldom punished for it. Not by the law, anyway. So, I decided to do just that with my usual flair of cracking things up to an eleven.

For the story itself, the idea was straightforward. A lie that was uncovered and began to affect all parties involved with the liar. The only twist to it all is that I wanted there to be an emotional connection to the liar and a sense of duty and urgency to putting it all to rest. This brought me to create a separate entity that is intimidating and frightful to create that said urgency.  And, to make it better for me, I created the entity from the ground up like I did everything else. I think I might use them for another story in the future. It wouldn’t hurt; they are pretty terrifying for a neutral party.

I also wanted to draw some historical moments regarding lying women. Two specifically, actually. One was regarding the Scottsboro Boys (click here) and another about Brian Banks (click here). Both of them I had to do heavy research for which, again, my favorite part of the writer. I actually bought the movie because there were too many articles to read (click here to buy). I also watched the PBS document on the Scottsboro Boys and it was truly heartbreaking as well as eye-opening.

Using the knowledge from the two, I knew I wanted the main character to be an African American woman who is sick and tired of fake feminist and entitled girls. She is beyond wise and has very little tolerance for bullshit. Actually, I based her off on my best friend who also graced the cover page. And she did such a good job doing the cover that I got to thinking…I need to make a series off of her. ASAP!! Yes, she was just that good and, with that, I hope you enjoy the story.

You can buy the book on Amazon. The link is here.

You can also learn about it on Goodreads. The link for it is here.

17th Short Story Released

The generation of feminism clashes after the truth behind a malicious lie comes to light. But the outcome of the ordeal is something that neither party can really avoid.

It is available for Amazon Kindle.

There’s Great Plans For This Little Story…and Demon

Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

The duality of truth and lies.

So, remember my thirteenth short story, The True Color of Karma, where I introduced a creature of my own creature for future projects (click here for the post and here to buy the story).  I wanted to have a healthy source of creatures, beings, and demons I can callback to for future. But this particular time around, I wanted to create a creature that was very personal to me and that could be virtually indestructible. That may be a something of a mistake for a writer but let me explain how Mirror, Mirror came about.

The Duality Demon was meant to be a representation of being inability to tolerate lies and my desire to expose them all. I mean, seriously, I hate liars and thieves of all forms and I’m really quick to cut them out of my life.  I don’t even bother to hear the reason behind it. There are ways to go about things without the need to lie and steal. Futhermore, I find it to be a slap in the face for people to justify their actions when its evident that they have hurt someone because of it. It’s perverse and appauling. And that thought process right there can gave the idea.

For clarity sake, the demon was always meant to be a woman. I found that women made the best villains for numerous reasons. The main one being that they are willing to use their wiles to get over on people and further their agenda. But I want to make sure she was the most villain. Someone that could never to kill – only stopped and contained.  I mean…there was a way to vanquish her but by the time you found her, she would be too powerful to vanquish so the only course of action would be to contain her. I made her that way to symbolize the daulity of truth and lies. The truth will always come out and you can never truly bury a lie. So, that would be her main powers would be Lie Detection and Truth Inducement/Confession Inducement. More lies from humanity will lead to more powers for her argo making her indestructible.

The only problem I was having with her upon her creation was the fact that she was being one-dimensional. I never like my characters being one-dimensional regardless of their categories. So, I took the time out to watch Charmed and Supernatural, again. It was then I realized that I was missing her motivation. See, if she was becoming more powerful that means she was getting much smarter and more creative. It was obvious that I needed to make her sentient which, in turn, made her that much more dangerous than I anticipated. And made me me love her even more.

So, when it came down for finding a model to bring the demon to life, I knew that I wanted it to be a woman that could pull people in with her presence alone. I called my friend, Nikki, over with the idea and she was on board. No questions asked. She was a determined to kick butt on this project. All I told her to do is make herself as devilishly seductive as possible without over doing it and she knocked it out of the park.  The prefect femme fatale. I can’t wait to show you what else I have in store for this marvelous creature.

This story is meant to her origin story and I made it as straightforward as I probably could while leaving more room for me to explore more of the demon’s personality. Trust me, you’ll understand why after you read the story. And, with that, I hope you enjoy the story.

You can buy the book on Amazon. The link is here.

You can also learn about it on Goodreads. The link for it is here.