James Pyles's Blog, page 144
June 17, 2018
This Year’s Father’s Day
Every morning for the past three years, Gary took his convenience store donut and coffee to the park and had breakfast at one of the picnic tables. It had been a difficult time between the forced retirement and then Helen suddenly and angrily divorcing him. Most of all, he missed his kids and grandkids. They’d taken […]
June 16, 2018
With Power and Great Glory
Iris Berry pulled up her other boot as she gazed at the breadth of the firmament above her in awe and terror. So far it was clean of Moskeren scouts, but she’d be a fool to believe she could elude them forever, even in the Sierra Nevada mountains. She had hiked in from Dardanelle, now […]
Urartu
He came to Taşlıçay after a snowstorm and entered Mehmet’s restaurant. The last customer had left and the proprietor had let his staff go early. “We’re closing, Sir. I have nothing left to serve you.” “I am not here to eat, Mehmet.” He spoke heavily-accented Turkish and appeared middle-eastern. “What do you want?” “To save your […]
June 15, 2018
Happily Ever After?
“Do you believe in happily ever after?” Kristy popped another one of her strange questions as she and her fiancée Mike were standing in line for the sando of the day, which today was Green Garlic Roasted Beef. “No. Nothing is forever including happiness.” “We’re going to get married in a month. Doesn’t that make […]
June 14, 2018
Dire Beginning
The afternoon sunlight, which had been shining dimly through the mist and overhanging trees, flickered and threatened to extinguish, as if a giant was blowing out a candle. “They came! They heard me and they came!” In spite of their dire circumstances, trapped between an army of demons on one side and a strangely alien […]
June 13, 2018
Injured and Dangerous
I must be living in a cave because I’ve never heard of Incels before. According to Wikipedia: Incels (a portmanteau of “involuntary celibates”) are self-identifying members of an online subculture who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, a state they describe as inceldom. Self-identified incels are mostly […]
Should We Burn Ray Bradbury’s Books?
I just read an essay by Katie Naum at the Electric Lit website called The New ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Movie Fails to Reckon with Bradbury’s Racism. First of all, I had no idea HBO had remade the film adaptation of Bradbury’s classic novel (I have seen the 1966 film version, and of course I’ve read the […]
Head Tax
Manny almost jumped back from top of the escalator when he saw Leah walking across the baggage claim area right below him. She hadn’t looked in his direction and was out of sight by the time he reached the bottom. He hadn’t expected her to still be at Seatac. Her flight should have arrived hours […]
Connie’s Flight
The courier taking Connie and the other birds from the lab to the observation center dropped her cage in the parking lot and she was the only one he didn’t catch. Now she was free. “Hello little birdie,” said the young girl. “Are you hungry?” The coturnix quail hadn’t eaten in a long time. “I’ll […]
June 12, 2018
Is There a God in the Moon?
Tristan Schaefer wasn’t sure if this was magic or just the drugs kicking in. Vixia’s single moon Tatis always seemed unusually large in the sky when it was full, especially compared to Earth’s, but now it was impossibly reflective, as if the forest were perfectly mirrored and inverted on its surface. “Izola!” Where was she? […]
