James Pyles's Blog, page 138
July 10, 2018
The Last Hunt: A Short Story Review
I’m in the process of reading for review the Superversive Press anthology To Be Men: Stories Celebrating Masculinity. I plan on writing both an Amazon review and a much more detailed one on this blog when I finish. But I can’t wait. I’m going to create a wee preview highlighting one of the short stories […]
Lorenzo’s Gulls
“Come, my friends. I’ve got more food for you.” Lorenzo Thornton had been friends with the gulls for decades, but then he was as good a murderer as they were scavengers. He’d found easy prey in hitchhikers and runaways along the coast highway near his cabin behind the white dunes, and his private graveyard was […]
July 9, 2018
Cri De Coeur
Brittany concocted the nostrum with the finesse of a lover, both in response to Neil’s desperate cri de coeur to save his son’s life, but also for the obscene amount of money he offered. She practiced her witch’s craft with masterful illusion, knowing the potions she created, the billionaire could not find in some pharmacology catalogue. “So […]
July 7, 2018
The Amazing Adventures of Clayton and Julia
“The hangar lacks any conventional aircraft, but then, we didn’t come here for conventional aircraft, did we?” “Clayton, you’re out of your mind. You don’t even know if it will fly.” “My dearest Julia, it’s been sitting in this rust trap for over half a century, but I’ll bet my right family jewel this thing […]
The Exiles
“Have you ever wondered if we left anyone behind, husband?” The man and woman stood at the edge of a magnificent rock formation, their backs to the lake behind them, and facing the open ocean a thousand feet below. “Like us you mean, Tori? If we have, then we’ve visited a terrible curse upon the […]
July 6, 2018
Bobbie Jo’s Comeuppance
Bobbie Jo wouldn’t know class if it crawled into her knockoff Prada and went home with her. Of course, along with adopting ersatz haute couture, she made everyone call her Roberta after graduating from Einstein University in Sagan City. But a deal was a deal, and since her home colony world Drake had paid for […]
July 5, 2018
Vovin
The bridge between the exile of the Dark Hills and the tree city of the dragons Vovin was massive and ancient. Even the dragons and the elves had no name for it, nor did they know how it was built. It was wide enough to admit six golden dragons the size of Shay and Kaleen […]
The Karma of Rachel Silverstein
Rachel Silverstein found the Torah stifling. She’d been born and raised in Crown Heights, the home of the followers of the Rebbe in Brooklyn, and when she was twenty, she took a sabbatical to study in Israel. “But Rabbi, our traditions and practices are so primitive. I don’t understand why a woman can’t be a Rabbi, […]
July 4, 2018
Warriors and the Sons of Warriors
“People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” -attributed to George Orwell His name is Derek Johnson and he’s a disabled, homeless drunk living in an alley that stinks of piss. He’s also a Marine and a Vietnam vet. The three punks thought […]
Timeless Saint
He didn’t look a day older than the last time I saw him, but that was over forty years ago. He could still pass for a kid of nineteen, but I was almost seventy. I couldn’t believe it when I got the phone call telling me to meet him here. He stood alone as the […]
