Justin Pyfrom's Blog, page 18

16th Short Story Released

She is a monster born from the vengeful heart of a scorned woman. Luckily, she was locked away to protect humanity. And yet, humanity is ever so curious regarding her existence and power. That’s going to be a mistake.

It is available for Amazon Kindle.

One of America’s Public Enemy

When a country with less than five percent of the world’s population has nearly half of the world’s privately owned guns and makes up nearly a third of the world’s mass shootings, it’s time to stop saying guns make us safer.
― DaShanne Stokes

What if the American people had enough of the NRA?

The duality of the NRA/gun control.

I cannot tell you how much I dislike the NRA. Why? It’s not for the reasons you think. It’s not because I don’t like guns. I mean…I don’t like them although I am capable of using them being trained by my uncle. No no. I don’t like the NRA because they can’t seem to keep themselves out of grown-up’s conversation. My country has the highest number of mass shootings in the world by a colossal margin and the NRA has the arrogance to still spout out their nonsense while intervening in the path of progression towards America’s safety.  They are doing more harm than good and I wanted to convey that message through Enough Is Enough because, seriously, enough is enough.

Oh, I am going to get into so much trouble for this post and this story but it has to be said, and, frankly, I don’t care. The NRA is a type of organization that cares more about itself than the American people. They only want to protect their rights than protect and assist the victims, if that makes sense. I could not tell you how many times I had to hear them talking about how the government is trying to “take their guns” and how “guns aren’t the problem” while placing the blame on other fields – more notably video games – despite the research proving to the contrary. It’s like a fucking loop da loop if there ever was one.

So, the layout of this story was pretty straightforward and I asked myself one question: “How would one dismantle such a powerful organization?”  The answer is from the inside out.

I took it a step further and created an “operation” that the government gave the green light for because even they have grown tired of them.  So, I spent an entire day working on the operation and the steps before even working on the story, itself. I made sure that I created the staff, procedure, and administration for all cogs and bolts with personalities of their own just in case I wanted to add them into the story. Honestly, I think I can turn the operation alone into an Audible Original; it’s really good stuff if I do say so myself. After that, I went to work on creating the guy who would do it all.

The one thing I like to do with my story is to provide misdirection. Much like my sci-fi idol, Rob Sterling, I never like to play it safe with storytelling. That’s why I made the man unhinged. Broken. I figured that most parents would have a slightly fractured mind and broken spirit due to the NRA’s constant meddling. It does make for a compelling protagonist since he’s grounded in such a tragically realistic individual. Man, I can’t wait to see your face when I show you the truth behind the protagonist.

I mean, that’s not the only misdirection I provide. But if I say anything else, I’ll be trekking into spoiler territory.  Haha! 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.

15th Short Story Released

Some organizations just can’t seem to stay out of government affairs. They even think that they are exempt from such a rule. That is until they met a pissed-off father.

It is available for Amazon Kindle.

How To Break A Psychopath…Of Sorts

We live in a world where joy and empathy and pleasure are all around us, there for the noticing.
― Ira Glass

What if you could actually give a sociopath/psychopath empathy?

That”s what I began to ask myself after watching an episode of Charmed. More specifically, the sixth episode of the third season of the original series entitled “Primrose Empath” (click here). The episode, and the series as a whole, got me interested in the whole aspect of the mind. At the time, I didn’t know about psychology but it still intrigued me. Fast forward to 2019, when I started working on the outlines for the forty-five short stories, I decided to revisit that episode and do a deeper dive while reading up on the core aspects of empathy. And that was only the beginning of my research.

I would like to point out that research is the most fun for me in my writing process. I just love reading and learning so much that I tend to forget – just for a second – that I have a short story to write and needed to start writing down notes.  Fortunately for me, I made the right decision on researching the power of empathy – not the psychology behind it. I mean…I did that later but I really wanted to understand the full extent of that power (click here to read). It was completely worth it and I listed all the applications, advantages to the willing, and disadvantages to the unwilling. This gave the skeleton for the best victim/villain of the story.

Referring back to the aforementioned episode, Vinceres was the villain of the week and I wanted to create a grounded version of him. The thing about science fiction is that, for me, I need to make the villain a humanly repulsive as possible. There has to be a way for me to make the villain related and identifiable to the reader…and it doesn’t have to be in a good way. What’s important is for the reader to see the villain and say “I know someone like that” or “I’ve seen someone like that”. So, I had to keep the core ideology of Vinceres. He’s a psychopath that thinks he’s invincible. So, after watching that episode, I knew how to create and punish the villain.

I was going to create a human villain who thinks he’s untouchable. I took that vile mindset and created a scenario that the outcome was pretty damn obvious: he was going down. But the way he was going down was going to be the fun part.

I decided to use the idea of witchcraft to approach this as it made the story a whole lot more fun. It’s really becoming part of my ongoing themes to have the protagonist of the story be women when the villains are egotistical men. Just something satisfying about it all; I can’t explain it. I guess it’s the byproduct of me being raised as a feminist. Can’t complain, though, it’s great for storytelling and female empowerment.

Now, the telepathy plot device was added at the last moment and didn’t really mean anything at first until I read it over it. At first, I didn’t like it so I decided to work into the beginning the villain’s part of the story so it flowed better. Good thing, too, because it made the torment that much more enjoyable for me to write about. Let’s see that the reader feels the same. 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.

14th Short Story Released

Not the best idea to piss off women, especially a coven of them. A lesson a corrupt banker is about to learn in the worst way imaginable.

It is available for Amazon Kindle.

The Firsts Among Firsts

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.
― Wayne W. Dyer

The duality of karma

This is going to be the funniest BTP (“Behind The Pen”) segment that I have ever written. I had so much fun creating the backstory for the main character of this story and, in a beautiful twist, I didn’t even use him that much. And yet, The Jamaican was still managed to pull all my test readers in within the few pages he was introduced in. I count that as a win in my book and for good reasons since I will be using him, again. But, of course, I’m getting ahead of myself. Allow me to explain how The True Colors of Karma came about.

If you remember back in 2018, we witnessed a long going pattern of black people having the cops called on them for the most mundane of tasks – using by white people, women more often than not. Now, though this is nothing new for the black community, the first time this type of practice was brought to my attention was when I read about two black men getting arrested at Starbucks for just…sit down (read here). Even I’m guilty of that; it’s a common thing at Starbucks. People go to Starbucks to use the WiFi. Needless to say, everybody on all sides was in outrage. However, I stood at a moment of inspiration.

Wishing that people can get their comeuppance at a much faster, satisfying rate, I began to imagine a being that could do just that. Inflict instant karma like that spell from Charmed and give that being a name that is as much of a mystery as his origin and the full extent of his power. I settled on the name “The Jamaican” because it sounds the coolest. Plus, “The Haitian” was already taken. Haha!

Wanting him to be the Cosmic’s embodiment of karma, I wanted him to be very detached regarding his feelings towards humanity.  It also wouldn’t hurt that he would have a certain sense of dry humor when talking about – and to – humans. I think I will do that for all of my creatures/beings/monsters. Being serious is something I do only when it’s called for – and it almost never called for. The more detached you are, the more humorous you should be is usually my approach to character creation. Plus, I wanted him to have a preferred type of target: racist people. That was me putting my little personal stamp in everything I write. Oh, how I do hate racism and prejudice. Especially when those said people have no shame in it; they are the worst of the bunch.

I have to give a major shoutout to James Willis. He did a wonderful job with being my creation to life. Martin and I only had to give him a few points about the character and he did the rest.  Mr. Willis, like me, is a teacher and a writer but also a poet and a musician. A damn good one, too. Please, follow him on Instagram. 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.

13th Short Story Released

He is called by two names. However, what he is called to do takes on one form but many words. Either way, he is a true nightmare for his targets.

It is available on Amazon Kindle.

The Worst Type of Crime For Black People

we were like crabs in a barrel, that none would allow the other to climb over, but on any such attempt all would continue to pull back into the barrel the one crab that would make the effort to climb out.”
― Marcus Garvey, Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey

Have you ever been ostracized from your community? Was it because of something that was out of your control? Or, better yet, was it because of your harmless ambition for something precious or greater? This is why Crabs In A Barrel is so important to me. I have been a victim of such ridiculous notions. And it’s not too much of a stretch to say that it has been happening all my life.

Before I get into the story, allow me to explain the mentality to you. To put it plainly, the crab mentality is a way of thinking that boils down to this classic quote: “If I can’t have it, either can you.” When relating it to the black community, people will attack the self-confidence of another who achieves success beyond the others.

Why? For numerous reasons, actually. However, I always noticed that it was out of envy, resentment, spite, conspiracy, or competitive feeling for “halting” their progress. Either way, I had to deal with people – adults and kids, alike – devolving and discarding my accomplishments. And it’s because of this that I have always been hesitant about sharing my good news.

Even more despicable was the fact that I’m light-skinned. That means everything regarding my success could easily be linked to my skin tone. And unfairly so, too. “You’re light skin so everything is easy for you,” was their go-to and it was almost always followed up with a swift punch from my brother. My brother, being my biggest and loudest supporter, had always seen the work I put into all of my endeavors. he is the first to say that I deserve the praise for all my accomplishments and is the first to do so. I will always be thankful to my Lord and Savior for that man.

Alas, it still doesn’t negate the fact that it still happens and not everything is blessed to have my level of support. So, I took a special interest in writing stories about this particular vile way of thinking. This is one of a few short stories that I figured would strike a chord within the lot. However, this is the only one I chose for my Short Story Project; I’m saving the other ones for later.

This particular story was written after I was told that I’m not “black enough” because I have never been in jail or on the street. That statement gave me such pause because of the sheer audacity of it all. I’m not black because I’ve never been behind bars? I’m not black because I actively avoid doing crimes. I was officially livid. Moreover, I was beyond annoyance and I wanted to showcase that in the story.

I was determined to make my point clear. That this type of mentality is unacceptable and extremely dangerous if you do it to the wrong person on a wrong day. It’s not that I wish death on anybody but I do know that everybody has their breaking point including me. So, I made sure that I put all of my frustration into this story. And I do mean all of it.

Writing, itself, was beyond crazy for me. It lacks my traditional flair for science fiction. You know? The telepathy, magic, and such. However, I did put a heavy dose of psychology into it.

As usual, I explored both sides of the topic and made sure that I was as brutally honest as I could be. That also means the story will have a murder. however, as I continued to write, I began to circle the story around the death. And, honestly, I made the murder appear as flat as possible so I work the history of the murder as oppose to the murder, itself. Think of it as a backward noir, if you will. I think that’s the term, right? 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.

12th Short Story Released

It’s the most dangerous mentality that can possess a black man’s mind. And, now, it’s the very thing that led to one’s death. But now it begs the question: Will anyone care?

It is available on Amazon Kindle.

A Happy Accident In A New Realm

“Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions.”

― Gerald G. Jampolsky, Love Is Letting Go of Fear

The duality of forgiveness.

The funny thing about this short story project is that I am able to explore various subgenres of science fiction while working through various topics and subjects. I always want to give mundane science fiction but didn’t know how to do it because everything I write about has always been dialed up to an eleven. It requires me to work through a more focused setting. That’s how An Overdue Dinner Party came about.

I wanted my first attempt at Mundane Science Fiction to be as grounded as possible without losing my style of writing. Furthermore, for the longest time, I wanted to explore the theme of forgiveness and the many sides of it. This was a personal thing for me because I’ve always struggled with that particular act despite being a Christian. However, it wasn’t therapeutic for me but it did do something else. It taught me the difference between forgiveness and acceptance.

Let me explain.  I’ve never been the one to forgive people for their transgressions especially when they are repeat offenders and/or without a care. The worst part is when they get mad at me for not forgiving them citing that it’s my duty as a Christian to forgive people. Unfortunately for them, my response is always the same: “I think I’ve proven that I’m not your typical Christian.” That’s actually how to approach this story. There will be no real level of forgiveness.

I wanted the shadow of the villain to be a focal point of the story and I figured that the only way to give him layers and substances was to make him dead from the beginning of the story. That way it was possible for the readers to understand the personality and villainy of the antagonist. This also allowed me to show the level of influence he had over the men in the story and the damage he had caused in their lives.  So, the reader was able to learn everything they needed to know about the villain through the stories of the men.

Then, I took it a step further by adding the butler and the son at the last minute to the outline. I did that because I needed a neutral party and an outside perspective, respectively. It actually worked out perfectly because the son was able to learn along with the reader while the butler provides my insight/views on forgiveness.

To put it bluntly, I’m not quick to forgive people but I am to accept them for who they are.  That way, for me anyway, it will be harder to disappoint me – or even anger me – because I’ve already come to accept the fact that I will indeed be disappointed by that said person. My grandma isn’t a fan of this viewpoint but she knows that it’s the only way that I can hold a decent conversation with that lot; family is very important to her and I respect that. Call it a happy medium and that’s exactly what I wanted to portray in the story.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to forgive the most horrible people in your life. Instead, you have the option to accept them as a horrible person and work to limit contact with them. It’s not easy but it’s healthier, you know? Anyway, 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.