James Pyles's Blog, page 225
November 30, 2016
The One-Way Journey
Monday, September 10, 2018, U.C. San Francisco Medical Center, Oncology Ward “Am I going to have to wear the electrodes while I’m under, Dr. Manning?” Alicia Gooding was lying on the modified operating table. She was wearing only a patient’s hospital gown but Steven, one of the nurses, had placed heated blankets on her to […]
November 29, 2016
The Unlikely Alliance
“You want me to take over as the Director of the Safe Housing Project. Me.” Jake Buchanan was sitting across a table at a local diner from Bishop as she made what he considered an outrageous suggestion. What could she possibly be thinking of? “Just let it sink in a minute, Jake. You’ll see it […]
The Revolution of 2030
“Hi. I’m Susie; she/her/hers.” “Stop that! We don’t do that here.” Susie cringed when the group leader Sharon snapped at her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…” Susie felt abruptly crushed but was determined not to shed tears, especially in front of them. “No, I’m sorry.” Sharon realized she’d been overreacting, though she had good reason. “It’s […]
November 28, 2016
Payback
From the Flight Log of Freighter Pilot Camdon Rod Oh crap! I just remembered that the Bio Research Center for Evolutionary Design located on Delta Epsiloni Four put out a hit on me over two years ago. Really, it wasn’t my fault that I lost their shipment of hundreds of thousands of biosamples developed on […]
Living One Night At A Time
From the Unlife and Curse of Sean Becker I can’t believe that kid Artemus knew all about this. Of course, because he’s a vampire, he may be a lot older than he looks, so “kid” might not be accurate. We spotted each other about the same time in a public library branch in Las Vegas. […]
November 27, 2016
You Can Never Go Home, Especially If You’re A Vampire
From the Unlife and Curse of Sean Becker Can a vampire still love? I know that’s probably a hard question to answer. I feel the same way for my wife Janet as always. I feel the same love for my children as I did before I died. Perhaps that’s what’s driven me back home…to see […]
November 26, 2016
Book Review: Transhuman
I know I’ve read one or more science fiction novels written by Ben Bova before, but I can’t recall which one(s). However, the cover of Transhuman, published in 2014, boasts of him being a six-time hugo award winner, so this should be a pretty good novel, right? Turns out, all six of those awards were […]
Where Giving Leads
“What the recipient of alms does for the donor is greater than what the donor does for the recipient.” –Vayikra Rabbah 34:8 Less than a year ago, Eddie Scholl had been living on the streets. When he saw the old man in the torn olive green coat and rainbow stocking cap standing on the street […]
November 25, 2016
Angel In The Night
“What do you want? Can’t you see that I’m in pain?” Everett Temple was 86 years old and dying of cancer. It was late, after 2 a.m., and yet he had a visitor in his private hospital room. “I want to help you, Everett. I want to ease your suffering. Why won’t you let me?” […]
The Day After Thanksgiving
It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I’m exhausted. The holidays wipe me out, especially when I have to spend them with family. I really wasn’t looking forward to that flight from Chicago to Oakland. Couldn’t get a direct one of course since I waited until the last minute, so the whole trip took nearly seven […]
