James Pyles's Blog, page 104

Dabbling in Science Fiction Fandom

In recent comments on the File 770 SF/F news blog criticizing veteran SF writer Robert Silverberg over comments he made about author NK Jemisin’s Hugo Award acceptance speech last summer, one of the things mentioned is that Silverberg hasn’t read any SF stories written in the past ten years, like that’s a bad thing. In comments […]

Quoting: State Your Goal When Impatient

Develop the habit of repeating, “This, too, will increase my patience.” How often will you say this? The more impatient you are when you start this process, the more frequently you will find this beneficial. The problem itself will be the source of the solution. -from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book “Patience,” Advertisements

Cylinder

Suspended from the airlock by his thick umbilical, Astronaut Jonathan Weaver watched the ring of illumination inside the enormous hollow tube code-named “Oumuamua” move away from him toward the other end of the spinning alien habitat, creating the illusion that he was now in early evening. The forty-two year old Air Force Captain, weightless because […]

Raquel By Night

“Well, damn. It’s too late now.” Dale Hunter watched the last rays of the sun disappear behind the western peaks and he was still nowhere near the Safe Zone. He might survive the night, but he had to bank on none of them picking up his scent, and it absolutely meant he couldn’t build a […]

Quoting: Accept What May Be

In order to have peace of mind, prepare yourself in advance to accept with serenity whatever occurs. People who expect everything to go the way they want are caught off balance by difficult life situations. Have an awareness that difficulties constantly arise. Being prepared in advance to accept what happens makes it much easier to […]

Reminder

“Todd, why is there a pair of boots out front?” Kim stood at the window looking at what her husband placed outside. “They were Erica’s boots. There should be a public reminder.” The thirty-year-old electrician stared wistfully into the fireplace as logs were peacefully consumed. “Oh.” She sat on the sofa next to Todd. “I’m […]

Quoting: Stupidity is Not Courage

Courage is only courage when it is connected to wisdom. It is immature to risk one’s life or health for fun or thrills. Not only is this immature, it is dumb. The Sages ask: “Who is a wise person? One who foresees the outcome.” (Talmud – Tamid 32a) Driving a car at speeds high above […]

When Banning and De-Platforming Becomes Censorship

I always get some blow back when I post anything political on this blog, and I’ve been actively trying to avoid it for the past several days (which is why I have twitter and Facebook). However, I was very impressed by an article published by “The Federalist” (yes, they’re conservative) I read today titled The Stigma Against […]

Mona Lisa Smile

Today was the day that Stefan Günther determined he would finally speak to his own personal Mona Lisa. Everyday for weeks, she sat across from him on the S-train as he made his evening commute home to his one-bedroom apartment outside of Wiesbaden and she went to who knew where. “Hi. My name’s Stefan.” The […]

The Ghost Before Christmas

Raymond walked into his bedroom with a fresh cup of coffee for a relaxing Sunday morning and found the Christmas decorations laid out on the bed next to his newspaper. “You never give up, do you, Mom?” Setting his cup down on the end table, the 45-year-old divorced engineer sat at the foot of the […]