James Pyles's Blog, page 38

The Future of Quantum Leap and Other Stories

If you’ve been reading this blog regularly, you know I’ve been watching and reviewing the 2022 continuation series Quantum Leap starring Raymond Lee, Caitlin Bassett, and Ernie Hudson. As far as I can tell, the series was originally green lit for eight episodes but was recently given an extension for a full 18. We know […]

Book Review of Redux: the Lost Patrol, A SciFi Time Travel Novel

Some weeks ago, author Gregg Cunningham asked if I’d mind reading and reviewing his novel Redux: the Lost Patrol, A SciFi Time Travel Novel. To that end, he sent me a PDF formatted ARC copy. I started to read Part One of the novel “War Pig.” I’ve read War Pig at least twice and so […]

Book Review of “Network Effect,” The Fifth Novel in the Murderbot Diaries

I finished Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel yesterday morning. It’s the fifth entry in the Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells. It’s also the first novel-length book in the series, with one through four being novellas or novelettes  (my reviews on the rest of the series can be found here). It won the 2021 Nebula […]

Spring Into SciFi : 2022 in the Top 27 SciFi Kindle Anthologies at Amazon

As I write this, the Cloaked Press anthology Spring into SciFi 2022 edition ranks #27 in Amazon’s Science Fiction Anthologies (Kindle Store) and #94 in Science Fiction Anthologies (Books). That’s pretty impressive. The accompanying graphic (see below) I received from the publisher gives a slightly different figure, but they tend to float. It also says […]

Review of Quantum Leap Ep8 “Stand by Ben”

I just finished watching the new Quantum Leap season 1, episode 8 Stand by Ben. I suppose that’s a play on the title of the 1986 film Stand by Me starring Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix. This episode certainly milked  a lot of teenage angst films from the 1980s. Except Ben leaps into July 10, […]

Review of Quantum Leap Ep7 “O Ye of Little Faith”

I just finished watching (Tuesday night, Nov 1) Quantum Leap’s season 1 episode 7 O Ye of Little Faith, which is an interesting title since faith is mentioned and yet largely discounted, particularly by Ben. This is the Halloween episode (the original series had several supernaturally themed episodes) since it was first aired yesterday (as […]

Review of Quantum Leap Ep6 “What a Disaster!”

I just finished watching Quantum Leap Season 1, Episode 6 What a Disaster!. Ben leaps into John Harvey in San Francisco just seconds before the October 17,1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. But that’s not where the episode starts. Oh, spoiler alert! It starts at the end of Ben’s last leap in the old west when he […]

Review of Quantum Leap Ep5: “Salvation or Bust”

This week, Ben Song takes his biggest leap ever, back to 1879 in the old west. specifically to a town called Salvation. He finds himself as an old Mexican gunslinger named Diego De La Cruz (Alberto Manquero) whose granddaughter Valentina (Natalia del Riego) has called him out of his retirement in San Francisco to come […]

Book Review of Martha Wells’ “Exit Strategy” (2018), Book 4 in the Murderbot Series

I’m still enjoying Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries having just finished the fourth installment, Exit Strategy. I’ve already read and reviewed the first three, novellas rather than novels, really. Side Note: I’ve mentioned this before in one of the previous reviews, but even though the security unit/murderbot has no gender, even though partially organic, I can’t […]

Review of Quantum Leap Ep4: “A Decent Proposal”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi. Alert! Here be spoilers! Last night I watched Quantum Leap season 1, episode 4 A Decent Proposal guest starring Justin Hartley and Sofia Pernas. Since I knew Ben would be leaping into a bounty hunter, in preparation I watched the original […]