James Pyles's Blog, page 150

Keisha in Atomworld

They always say “never go into the light,” kind of like “moths drawn to a flame,” but seventeen-year-old Keisha didn’t have a choice. Well, that wasn’t true. She did have a choice. She could choose to let the world burn, but after two astonishing adventures into another reality, she’d gotten used to saving it instead. […]

Massacre

“It’s Shay! She’s trapped! We’ve got to save her!” Seven-year-old Jake woke up panicked and hyperventilating in the shadow of a dragon’s grave. “Jake. Take it easy. It’s okay.” His sister Mandy had him by the shoulders. His eyes looked glazed, like he was still asleep. She hugged him close to her. “It’s okay. We’re […]

Farallon Sojourn

“My grandfather was a man, when he talked about freedom, his attitude was really interesting. His view was that you had obligations or you had responsibilities, and when you fulfilled those obligations or responsibilities, that then gave you the liberty to do other things.” –Clarence Thomas It was a communications console. That’s what Isaiah had […]

Dangerous Waters

Merilyn and Riyn waited at the seashore. They had met over twenty years ago on this very beach, although their fates had been intertwined nearly fifteen years earlier after he had saved her from drowning when she was a child. Now they stood hand in hand and gazed at the sea. They were the undisputed […]

Old Boots

Gilbert felt sad leaving his old boots behind. He’d had them for so many years, that they were more duct tape now than plastic and rubber. He wore them that winter he was sleeping in an abandoned car behind Miller’s warehouse. Old Man Frank had turned him on to that one. Hit by a truck […]

The Adventures of Rocket Girl

“I’ll burn my ass off if I use this thing.” “Have a little faith, Keisha. The uniform is fully heat-resistant, and besides, the thrusters work in combination with the Barsoonian charge infused in the rocket pack, so the amount of energy required to lift a person is much lower than it would have to be […]

Reconstructing Gwen

Gwendolyn Anders was being deconstructed. No one else could tell the forty-five year old divorced woman was falling apart. She couldn’t afford to let anyone know. She had to keep moving, go to work each day, make sure her two kids got to and from school, did their homework, ate healthy meals, made it to […]

Flight Girl in Dieselworld

“Do you think you can fly it, Keisha?” “I’m not sure. I trained in a Cessna 152, not some World War Two wannabe.” The sixteen-year-old was once again in a different universe, the one she had saved last year, only for her friend Josiah Covington, twenty years had passed. She remembered him as a shy, […]

Prelude to Piracy

“My grandfather was a wonderful role model. Through him I got to know the gentle side of men.” –Sarah Long Keisha’s body jerked as she woke up. She remembered falling, but everything was dark and still around her. No, not everything. “Miss Davis, you’re going to be fine. You just had a frightful dream, is […]

The Highjump Mystery

December 30, 1946 – Antarctica “George 1 calling Little America base, come in Little America, over.” The radio receiver aboard the US Navy Martin PBM-5 Mariner flying somewhere near Thurston Island emitted harsh static but no message of hope. “Nothing doing, Lieutenant.” Radioman James Robbins turned to Bill Kearns, the aircraft’s co-pilot. I can’t raise […]