James Pyles's Blog, page 41
June 15, 2022
Book Review of Denton Salle’s “Sworn to the Light”
Yes, I’ve been remiss in reviewing my (online) friend Denton Salle’s novelette Sworn to the Light: The Avatar Wizard – Book 1 (of four). However, I did download it onto my Kindle Fire last month and last night I finished it. Excellent work. A very compelling YA Fantasy work that I think my grandson would […]
June 11, 2022
More Social Media Dabbling: Video Reviews and Commentary
Okay, fine. I’ve made another two TikTok videos. The first is a three-minute whimsical review of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s 2018 science fiction novel Children of Time. My written review of the book is more straightforward and detailed. TikTok videos are brief by design, so I had to compress everything into a max of three minutes. As […]
June 8, 2022
“Repent, Old Indie Writer,” Said The TikTok Man
So I’m trying to expand into different areas of social media to see how they work for book promotion. To that end, I created a TikTok account (yes, I know, it’s for really young people to make short, humorous videos). But Richard Paolinelli has been using it, so I figured I’d give it a try. […]
June 2, 2022
Mourning the Loss of Escapism
What disturbs me more is the whole concept of purpose as applied to any literature. To the Marxists, intent upon subordinating everything to the good of the state, the arts must serve a direct purpose of life — usually propaganda, I’m afraid. But why people in this country accept such Marxist ideas is a puzzle. […]
May 30, 2022
Book Review of “Dream Park” (1981)
I had originally read Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes in the early 1980s, not long after it was first published. I decided to re-read it because I was looking for material from which to construct my one-on-one role playing games I play with my thirteen-year-old grandson. Long story short, the novel was […]
May 22, 2022
Does Every Single SciFi Story Absolutely Have to Have a Social Justice Theme?
I asked that question in the above referenced twitter conversation. I actually expected an answer since the people involved usually interact with me, but this time… “crickets.” The topic is addressed more specifically in the blog post The enduring appeal of the last ditch attempt. I’m going to assume that from the perspective of the […]
May 11, 2022
My Short Story “Fall of the Tower” Will Be In the SciFi Anthology “One-Way-Ticket”
If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi. The “One-Way-Ticket” anthology submission call from Starry Eyed Press, among other requirements, asked for a short story in the science fiction genre that in some way described a one-way journey. As humanity anticipates the possibility of colonizing the Moon, Mars, or […]
Read “The Haunting of the Ginger’s Regret” for Free, It Now has Two 4-Star Review, Plus a Video
If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi. “The Haunting of the Ginger’s Regret” now has two 4-star review on Amazon. Remember that for the month of May, I’m offering a free PDF copy of the story for anyone who asks. All I’m asking in return is for the […]
May 9, 2022
Book Review of “OceanSpace”
If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi. It wasn’t until I started reading Allen Steele’s 2000 novel OceanSpace that I realized I’d read it before, and probably not too long after it was originally published. As I was reading certain scenes, I recalled having read them before. The […]
May 7, 2022
Coming Soon…
The story is called “Fall of the Tower” and it has been accepted for publication. The formal announcement will come soon. In the meantime, here’s a preview: “They refused the will of the Arabika. I just tried to stop them from warning their race. But they did, making it impossible to bring them into our […]
