Justin Pyfrom's Blog, page 19

11th Short Story Released

Six gentlemen are seated at a dinner party to discuss a topic that only two of them are willing to take part in. There are just some questions that shouldn’t be asked.

It is available on Amazon Kindle.

True Meaning of Family

“Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones that would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what.”

The duality of family

The Family That Preys has a very personal connection to me. Actually, as I’m writing this “Behind-The-Pen” segment, I’ve come to realize that I have been venting about the mistreatment I’d endured by writing. Even worse, everything that you’ve read in that story is in direct correlation to how I was treated in my family. Well, I did dial it up to an eleven like I normally do but the base is still there. Here, let me show you.

For starters, all the family members in the story are representations of my cousins. Only a handful of them. I have to make that part clear because, out of all my cousins, I only still talk to a handful of them. You know…come to think of it, I can literally count them out on both hands. It’s sad but I had to put my happiness first and it was a lesson that became undeniably clear very early in my life.

See, the mother and father represented my cousin’s desire to make me feel inferior to them. They always wanted me to think that I was a nobody and shouldn’t exist. Even worse, they wouldn’t hide their dislike of me. I remember one of them flat out insulting me in front of her mother about anything she could think of. Because of that, my grandma had to step in, finally, and make them stop. Well, try to anyway. And, if I’m being honest, she didn’t do that much of a good job all things considered.

That leads me to the aunt and uncle characters. They represented my cousins’ attempt to change me into their image. It was their version of a “compromise”. If I became who they wanted me to be, they would leave me alone – maybe even like me. But I remember the grand advice my mother gave me at a young age. My uniqueness is a gift from God and I should never reject a gift from him. but this reminder and demonstration of iron will only cause me to become a bigger target for them.

I remember my cousins wanted me to flirt with girls, steal stuff, wear clothes that weren’t for me among other things. And every time I stood my ground about my individuality and morals, they would either lie one me or call me names. “Faggot” was their favorite name to call me because it always got a reaction out of me. I would tell on them – or get revenge – and they would only retaliate because their parents were never really on my side. Not at all but became their downfall when I suddenly reached my breaking point.

It was before I started my sophomore year in high school. Everybody in my family began to realize my uniqueness being an asset to everybody. But, unbeknown to all of them, I had had enough and began a fierce rebellion towards my cousins and their enablers. I was even willing to let one of them fail out as I refuse to tutor her despite their pleas and promises of payment. This was where I learned that I had people in my family who NEVER liked me. I saw that my cousins were entitled and cruel and had a vicious vindictive streak.

I embellished my grandma’s role, of course. I did most of the work. Detachment and shade-throwing until I got to college. From then on out, I never spoke to them, again. I even blocked them from all social media. I’m told to forgive and reach out to them but, given the ending of the story, you can guess what my reaction was.

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.

10th Short Story Released

The true role of a grandmother is explained and explored through the eyes of her favorite grandson who is finally comfortable enough to tell the woes of his past trauma.

It is available on Amazon Kindle.

Classic Argument At Birth

Nature is a definite thing. But nurture is just as powerful. It can really mess with you.”

-Henry Cavill

The duality of nature versus nurture

When you see the title and the synopsis of The Role We Play, it doesn’t take a genius to know what topic I was planning on exploring. This story was something I wanted to write for a long time because of my brother. Well, me, too, really, but mostly him. Let me explain.

Our mother is a woman who has been fighting the Addition Demon for so long that we have lost score over the wins and losses. Now, while I’ve been blessed with a dad that cared about me, my brother wasn’t so lucky. His father was not only absent but a complete deadbeat. Trust me when I say this: my brother was dealt a crappy hand. We both knew this but, nonetheless, he flourished into a fine young man with a beautiful baby girl. But, like all children’s in our position, a lot of “What If” began to form into conversations.

One of our frequent conversations always revolved around the same question”: “What if we were actually separated while in the foster care system?” Quick context, when we were put into the system, my mom had one condition that we were not to be separated. But…what if…what if they disregarded my mother’s request?

Between you and I, I think I would have turned out to be a horrible person without my brother as my anchor. Vice versa for my brother. Honestly, I probably would have walked a complete path. A much darker one. Though, you may say I got lucky; I prefer to call it being blessed. But I took that rather scenario and combined it with what my mom was – and still is – going through to create a character that’s dialed up to an eleven. That was the easy part. But writing the story, on the other hand, was a little difficult for me. Mainly because I didn’t know where to start.

See, I wanted to do something different for each story. Even if I was to repeat a theme or motif, I try to do it in a completely refreshing way. But I was hitting a wall and it was lasting longer than I wanted it to. Almost two weeks, even after I completed the character’s outline and timeline. It was a real puzzle for me and real pain for me to solve. Of course, I solved it by diving into his psyche.

To play off them, I wanted the main character to realize that he was “nurtured” while another character argued he was “born” to be one i.e. nature. This left a gap for me to plot a setting where the main character can have time to reflect on such a topic. Then…it just…clicked. Everything can take place in a prison. And with that, I only had to figure out how to implement flashbacks cohesively.

This story has been labeled as the darkest short story by Leon (my brother). He said that he wanted me to lighten up on the dark themes but I told him “not a chance in Hell”. Moreover, he recognizes that this story was an allegory for us – or me. It was something that he couldn’t help but notice and told me that I have nothing to worry about.

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.

9th Short Story Released

There comes a time in one’s life when reflecting on all misdeeds become mandatory in order to find peace. For one inmate, today is that day.

It is available on Amazon Kindle.

A Good Hard Look At Us

Being human is given; but keeping our humanity is a choice.

– Moumita Das

The duality of the current state of humanity.

But Is It Home is a story that I wanted to serve as a reminder of the current state of humanity. Of course, I didn’t want to be too cliche about the topic. In the end, though, I wanted to focus on my hometown of Philadelphia as it’s one of the oldest municipalities in the United States. Hindsight being what it is, I did what I normally do and put a little bit of me in my short without me realizing it.

Anyway, I took the first day writing out the pros and cons of the topic towards the state of humanity. I mainly focused on the things that I really care about and constantly exposed to. For example, the ongoing problem with employment and homelessness is a big problem in Philadelphia as it seeps through all of its citizens in some way, shape, or form. I normally have to deal with homeless beggars who try to gaslight you into giving them money. My reaction is a quite “No” or a punch to their jaw.

So, this story is basically a callback to my beloved city while also putting it under a magnifying glass. But, I wanted to make the story more interesting. That’s why I put aliens in there. Not just any aliens – my own creation. The type that I know I’m going to reuse in a later publication. Furthermore, I wanted there to be a pressing need to gently push the story along.

Speaking of aliens, don’t be surprised if you see – or father read about – them later on down the line. They are all my creation, of course, and I’m testing them before my friend and I put them in their rightful story and universe. But they also serve as outsiders looking in on the humans. I don’t know I came across this idea but I do know that it worked quite well and made it very easy to write. Also, make the primary character LGBTQ+ was a last-minute choice but worked out, nonetheless. Well, I’ll let you be the judge of that.

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.

8th Short Story Released

Philadelphia is about to get a few new residents in the near future. However, some details need to be ironed out before any decisions can be made.

It is available on Amazon Kindle.

 

7th Short Story Released

Mars is ready to be populated and everybody is excited. Well…not everybody. Especially a particularly tight-knit Italian family.

It is available on Amazon Kindle.

Always And Forever

“Think of your family today and every day thereafter, don’t let the busy world of today keep you from showing how much you love and appreciate your family.”

–Josiah

What if Mars was finally ready to be populated?

I always wanted to write a story about the topic of overpopulation even since I started this project. The terrifying of overpopulation has been something that I’ve found fascinating due to its pending actuality. There was a short story that I remember reading in college that I really liked. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the name of the story but I remember the plot and I wanted to write one of my own.

Now, I didn’t want to do the traditional way of storytelling regarding the topic. Instead, I wanted to make it the driving plot point while making it about a family. Why, a family? Well…because it was the first thing that came to me. I know it’s cheesy but that’s the truth.

Think about it this way. A family of any kind is something that supposed to be forever and a constant source of love and support. We all know this and craves it. So, when I was thinking about overpopulation and family, the process was simple and pretty straightforward.

First, I thought about overpopulation and all the pros and cons of the Earth. Then, I thought about everything I wanted to have on a mirror planet i.e. Mars, and how these things can be achieved. After that, I took a moment to think about how the government would regulate its population so they wouldn’t have the same problem. Finally, like I always do, I threw a monkey wrench in it all to create drama for the family in the form of a lottery.

I did this because I wanted to center the chaos around the Italian family who – like most Italian families – is really tight-knit. Then, I put them in the story and tried to write it as accurately as possible. I even took what I and my brother have always been taught to us: “Your siblings are your best friends” and made it another driving point. It’s just what my story needed to be made personal.

Worked, too. Like a charm. It only took me a day or two to write Family Matters and it’s something I’m really proud of.

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.

Life Is Really Something, Huh?

“If you want the people to understand you, invite them to your life and let them see the world from your window!”

― Mehmet Murat ildan

What if Heaven functioned like a business corporation?

A Few Good Men In A Breakroom has an interesting story behind its creation. I was working on a book regarding an angel of death but found myself not enjoying the process of it all. Spoiler alert! It was becoming clear to me that the story was working itself out as an Audible in my head so I shelved it for later use. However, it did get me thinking about how angelic roles are given to their host.

So, I watched the CW show, Supernatural, to see how many different types of roles are issued to angels and began to formulate how the roles would be bestowed on a recently deceased mortal. Then, I took it a step further, like in Angel of Mine, and humanize them in a fantasy setting by giving them all basic angelic powers and each role their set of powers. This gave me something to refer back to for this story and any other story that will be using angels, especially the Angel of Death one. But that wasn’t the only one that thing was interesting.

The story is broken up into five mini-stories: the four men and the ambitious angel in over his head. I didn’t have to take long about writing them because I didn’t have, or want, to be as descriptive. The point of it all was to show the wonderful bleeps of humanity that people seem to overlook because of the terrible spreads that are always in the news. So, I wrote the core parts of the four men’s story. The key points that will show they got to Heaven. And, yes, I put a gay in there because, though people tend to forget, the LGBTQ+ community has a multitude of good people who are God-fearing. I wanted to make that point perfectly clear because I am, indeed a God-fearing gay man.

Now, for the actual angel, himself, I made the decision to make him the sole narrator talking to the sentient angel, aka the reader. This was because I wanted to give the overly ambitious angel the space to vent his frustrating concerns about the fact that he took on more than what he can handle. Sounds familiar? It should be because I made the angel a personification of one of my key flaws. Ha ha! 

Yeah, I don’t have a problem vocalizing my flaws because it’s a part of me. Besides, it doesn’t hurt to let people know that I do have a lot of flaws. I mean…a lot. One of the key flaws in my stubbornness, especially with my morals and ethics. It has always been a deciding factor when people want to be friends with me. I didn’t want my angels to be stubborn, or prideful, because that’s how Lucifer was born. So I chose another flaw of mine. I tend to “bit off more than I can chew”. In other words, I’m a bit of the overly ambitious side. It’s something that my family and friends appreciate but always worry about it because it tends to hit my mental health.

Anyway, Markus Carter did the book cover for this cover as well and I found that his minimalistic approach was, again, decisive. This is because I’m aware that people are more attracted to glamorously intricate book covers. So, I want to see how people respond to his style of illustration.

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.