James Pyles's Blog, page 161

Hall of the Mountain Kings

It had been a week since Dani and the Davidson children had encountered the nightmare of the Great Gray God, the one meant to be a trap for them, woven by the demon imp disguised as a black cat named Onyx. Although they were higher in the Dark Hills, which was really a range of mountains, […]

Flight 19

“We should be landing at Treasure Cay Airport in about ten minutes.” Lori couldn’t relax knowing they were flying into weather that was nothing like the forecast. “I’m sure the pilot is competent.” Zach chided his wife on her former career as a Navy combat pilot. She never could relax when flying commercial. “It’s just […]

Riddle Me This!

Landon could hear a strange sound from behind and a huge shadow loomed over him. He suddenly whirled to see a hideous apparition instead of his friend the dragon. It was an enormous worm with a mouth like a lamprey eel, full of thousands of razor-sharp teeth and it was getting ready to strike. It’s […]

Estrangement

A warm summer breeze blew from one end of the passageway to the other. Raisa Hewitt could feel it gently caress her face and flow like fingers through her long, dark hair. She could hear the friendly chattering of birds from outside the arch ahead of her, the rustle of leaves in tree branches, she […]

The Switchman’s Lantern

Josiah Bell was a switchman like his Pappy before him. He had a gimpy leg from an accident he had when he was six so he walked the tracks carrying his lantern in one hand and a long pole in the other. On top of the pole, he hung a red kerchief on a nail […]

Waiting in 1979

One of the perks of being “unstuck” in time and space was being able to re-experience things long gone such as a “lead burger” at that greasy spoon just north of U.C. Berkeley. Jonathan grasped the massive bun and bit down, mustard oozing over his fingers. It was a warm July evening in the East […]

Our Honored Dead

“You consider this site to be a war memorial, Jonathan?” “It’s foolish to see it otherwise, Raven. In fourteen years, an American President will give Iran nearly two billion dollars in cash ostensibly to inhibit their nuclear weapons development, but the hideous result was to fund a whole new era in world terrorism. How many […]

Tikkun Olam

This world wasn’t real but then nothing he dreamed was real. Unfortunately, he was dead and all he had left were his dreams. Jonathan Cypher stood on a salty white plain, the sky above a uniform gray mist. How had he gotten here? He woke up but the statement hardly did his situation justice. He […]

Starting Small

“Oh my god, look at those cuticles. Your nails need help, Larry.” “Hush, Violet. This isn’t about my nails. Worry about your own nails.” “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s with the tiny quill pen. Miniature calligraphy?” “My long suffering wife, you know my handwriting sucks.” “Then what’s up, dearest but daffy husband?” “Hand me the itsy-bitsy […]

Test Flight

Cory was conducting another sweep of the void in search of any contacts in the area of space where what Krista called “the indiscriminate drive” deposited the ship. “Nothing, Captain. No coalescent bodies of any kind. I’m only reading dust and hydrogen gas. Impossible to tell our location in relation to the Solar System without […]