James Pyles's Blog, page 130

Time’s Up

Remington had lost count of the number of times he had wandered among these stones. It had been so long that he’d forgotten which one was his. When was it? He could hardly recall. Yes, he did remember the Great Heathen Army. His grandfather had been felled by them at the Isle of Portland while […]

An Outsider’s View: Is WorldCon Going to Be Better Now?

After the recent progressive, politically correct meltdown at the upcoming WorldCon 76, I was wondering if there would be any appreciable fallout since it officially starts this afternoon. I didn’t want to spend a huge amount of time poking around on the WorldCon site, but I did notice a page for Future WSFS Conventions. This […]

For Bubbe

Faye Ballard chained her bicycle to the post and dashed inside just in time for class. “Ah, Faye. Glad you could join us.” Their teacher Jeremiah Lamb wasn’t the most patient person, but he knew baking like Michelangelo knew painting. “Yes, Mr. Lamb. Thank you.” She quickly put on her apron and stood with the […]

Death by Bic

“Between the booze and the coffin nails, it’s like a monument to death, right Turner?” Detective Gerard Harrington waved his hand over the desk of the deceased while nodding at Officer Dawn Turner. “I guess so, Sir.” She wasn’t a fan of the flamboyant homicide investigator’s style, but everyone in the department knew he was […]

Averie

Averie lived in her own little world. I mean, a lot of people are introspective and seem to exist in their personal bubbles, but for Averie, it was the literal truth. Everyone could see her, but the ordinary human brain couldn’t process her specialness, so they didn’t notice her that much. Averie didn’t often notice […]

Waiting for Dana

Joel Carpenter dozed in his rental car waiting for the ferry. Ten hour drive from San Francisco to Boise. Ditched the car, switched IDs, then an hour flight from Boise to Seatac, and another hour to rent a car and get here. What they were doing was beyond illegal. This had better be worth it. […]

Gender Fluid Actress Ruby Rose “Not Gay Enough” to Play Batwoman

Actress Ruby Rose has deleted her social media presence after facing a backlash for being cast as “Batwoman” — not from the right, angry that the self-described lesbian character will be played as written, but from the left, who declared Rose “not gay enough” to play the female superhero. I found this quote in an […]

The Loneliness Disease

Charles felt his forehead calescent and damp. Struggling to free himself from the comfort of his bed sheets, he staggered to the window. Pulling open the blinds, he unlatched and then lifted the frame, letting the cool morning breeze into his bedroom. A violent paroxysm of tremors accompanied by dizziness seized him, forcing the older man to kneel […]

When I Last Saw My Face

Victor sighed in relief as he put on his face and looked in the mirror. Tucking it into the collar of his black turtleneck, he donned the dark brown fedora to complete the transformation. Dark brown trench coat, gray slacks, brown kid gloves, and Victor Montoya no longer existed. There was only his real identity […]

Only One More

It felt so good to get the crap off of his body, even the nausea-inducing odor with which he was always saturated after each job. This was number eleven. Only one more to go. Each of these increased the chance of him leaving some clue, though so far, the police were chasing nothing more than […]