James Pyles's Blog, page 107

Book Review of Echo Volume 3: The Dialectic of Agony

I’ve been following Kent Wayne’s (pen name) Echo series for a few years now. Kent is an indie author with a vision for life on and in orbit around a colony world called “Echo” set a thousand years in the future. Being a veteran, he renders military action with a keenly realistic voice, sometimes going […]

The Hunted

The Israeli had been born in Frankfurt, so the Christmas market was familiar. He used to sneak out with his Christian friends as a boy to sample the lights, the music, and the smell from the food vendors (though he was still observant enough not to partake). Elon Rosenberg, late of the Israeli Air Force, […]

Quoting: “To Do With Joy” List

People who get things done make “to do” lists. Considering it important to take action on your “to do” list leads to taking care of things. When you create a “to do” list, label it “to do with joy.” When you explicitly write that it is a “to do with joy” list, you are giving […]

A Greater Infamy

Florence paused at the door, “what the hell did you just say?” The fifty-nine-year-old housewife and mother of three stood in-between the kitchen and the living room in their third floor apartment on Montgomery Street. Her hands were pressed firmly on her hips, with the right one still holding a wooden spoon she’d been using […]

Quoting: Enjoy Your Self-Talk When Doing What You Must

Sometimes you can find ways to actually enjoy doing something dull or boring. But when you can’t come up with a creative way to enjoy what you are doing, you can still talk to yourself in interesting and fun ways. Your hands will be engaged in an activity that you need to do, but your […]

Rewinding Time

Sixty-six year old Douglas Collier was shocked to find that he was walking out of the foothills toward Idaho State Highway 21 somewhere between Idaho City and Boise. In fact, he didn’t expect to exist at all, let alone be on his feet. “What the hell just happened?” He stumbled across a low, grassy rise […]

Quoting: Joyful Zrizus

Some people might take action, but with resentful zrizus. “I shouldn’t really have to do this,” they say to themselves. “Someone else should take care of this.” There is a well-known idea expressed by the late Rabbi Chaim Friedlander: “If you are doing it anyway, you might as well do it with joy.” This is […]

Is SciFi Author/Editor Robert Silverberg Really Racist and Sexist (or has the internet once again lost its mind)?

If I hadn’t read a blog post at Superversive SF called The Cardinal Mistake With SJWs and Robert Silverberg, I probably wouldn’t be writing this. First off, I’ll state for the record, that because I’m even mentioning Jon Del Arroz‘s (yes, he deliberately makes himself a lightning rod for controversy) name and daring to write […]

The Man Who Would Be God

Fanatic time traveler Michael Robert Obe knew only murder could change the future. “Sorry, kid. This is the only way.” The eccentric (or insane) physicist held the bound five-year-old boy by the collar of his shirt while standing on the railway trestle. “I loved this view when I was a kid. That’s why I brought […]

Quoting: Serene Zrizus

Some people become overwhelmed when they feel they have too many things to do and they don’t have enough time to do them. This overwhelmed feeling causes them to move more slowly than they usually do. Their minds becomes unclear. It’s hard for them to focus and concentrate. Instead of becoming more efficient at what […]