James Pyles's Blog, page 195
August 19, 2017
The Defector
“Remember, stay in the compartment under the truck’s bed until you’re past the last checkpoint and Franciszek gives you the signal. If the truck is stopped, do not make a sound or the soldiers will shoot you both.” Dominik Zheutlin was peering up at the member of the Fighting Solidarity movement. Normally, they didn’t take […]
August 18, 2017
Nereid
Now in this island of Atlantis, there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far […]
August 17, 2017
Ashurbanipal’s Library
Aiyana Kaleya Zheutlin had been reading strange languages for the past three weeks, ever since returning to the present and the arctic base of Operation or rather Project Retrograde and discovering how much of the present they’d changed. Something Kelgarries and the fastidious and annoying Dr. Antoine Barnes had mentioned in their briefing when the […]
August 16, 2017
Cowboys and Sorcerers, Part Two
The 22nd Story in the Adventures of the Ambrosial Dragon: A Children’s Fantasy Series Clayton, Yao Jin, Landon, Mitchell, and Illanipi were trapped in a narrow canyon which was blocked at both ends by black clad gunmen, all firing their six-shooters at our heroes. Landon’s lantern amulet was shining a bright white light under his […]
The Shower Scene
The old motel wasn’t what Norman imagined. He thought an old Victorian in the California countryside converted to an inn would be charming and tasteful. But his room reminded him of “old woman bedroom.” Oh well, at least there was plenty of hot water for a shower. Cheap shower curtain but that part didn’t matter. […]
August 15, 2017
Reggie
“What the hell is it, Neil?” “I don’t know, Doctor. It was in my coffee cup when I opened the lab this morning.” Louise Manners wrinkled her nose. “I told you never leave your dishes in the lab over the weekend. We work with biological…” “Doctor, how could left over coffee turn into…into that?” “We’d […]
August 14, 2017
Sherlock and the Doctor
“This is ridiculous, Watson. I deal in facts, not fiction.” The two men had just stepped onto Baker street after exiting their flat and made, what to one of them, was a startling discovery. “But I tell you, Sherlock, this Police Box wasn’t here when we went to bed last night. How could it have […]
August 13, 2017
The Virgin Wept
The Virgin wept to see the destruction of the monastery. First lightning and now the earthquake turned it to ruins. Thank God the chapel escaped harm so the monks and pilgrims still can come and pray. “But what will happen to my poor monks now?” “Please, you must return to your grave, sister. You are […]
August 12, 2017
Cowboys and Sorcerers, Part One
The 21st Story in the Adventures of the Ambrosial Dragon: A Children’s Fantasy Series 6,000 years ago in Bronze Age China, Bingwen Lóng, a dragon disguised as a man, Yao Jin, a sorceress and sword wielder, and Xia Jiuzhou, an eight-year-old boy whose real name is Landon, stand on a ridge overlooking the mystical and […]
August 10, 2017
Turn and Face the Change
Two days before he took his first trip through the time gate, Major John Kelgarries had a hush-hush meeting at Operation Retrograde with Antoine R. Barnes, Head of the Temporal Mechanics division, the last word in temporal field operations and perhaps the one person in the operation who actually understood the Forerunner time map. It […]
