James Pyles's Blog, page 45

Coming Soon from Starry Eyed Press: “The Fallen Shall Rise”

This is a novella that was accepted for publication by Starry Eyed Press that I’m now able to talk about in more detail. The tale takes place in a shared universe called the 224-Verse. My story “The Fallen Shall Rise” is set against a wider backdrop of galactic political intrigue and presents the mystery of […]

“Tiamat Descending” Accepted into the Anthology “Spring Into SciFi”

My SciFi short story “Tiamat Descending” has been accepted by Cloaked Press for the 2022 edition of their annual anthology Spring Into SciFi. I’ve proudly had stories published in this anthology series since 2019. The cover displayed above will show the names of the contributors in its next iteration and the expected publication date is […]

Review of Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” (2021)

It took two days for me to work my way through the two-disc set of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021). I saw the 2017 version and wasn’t incredibly impressed. I was hoping for more in the “Snyder Cut.” Given the breadth of this film, I’m commenting on things in no particular order and this review […]

69415

I suppose the number seems mysterious, but it’s born out of curiosity. I’ve written and submitted eleven short stories between December 2021 and today (February 11, 2022). One was already rejected, so I didn’t count it, but ten stories are still “in play,” still submitted and being considered. Of those ten stories, the word count […]

My Review of Star Trek: Picard Season 1

I saw the DVD set for season 1 of Star Trek: Picard at my local public library and worked up the nerve to actually watch it. Fortunately, since I got it at the library, it was free, and also it was only ten episodes, so not an enormous investment of time. Keep in mind, I […]

Book Review of Ryan Graudin’s “Wolf by Wolf”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi. I first heard of Ryan Graudin‘s YA novel Wolf by Wolf: One girl’s mission to win a race and kill Hitler by reading the Tor.com (I know, I know) article 5 Adrenaline-Pumping YA SFF Survival Books authored by Meg Long. It’s […]

Review of Spider Robinson’s “Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon”

So I was having a discussion with my grandson, actually playing a game with him over the phone, and realized I needed a bar. That is, I needed a bar as one of the scenes for our game. Author Spider Robinson (apparently his given first name is a jealously guarded secret) wrote a collection of […]

Film Review of “Black Widow” (2021)

I found the 2021 film Black Widow as a DVD at my local public library yesterday. Naturally I checked it out so I could watch and review it. I’ve heard various unflattering things about the movie, and I wanted to see for myself. Oh, tons of spoilers follow, so if you haven’t seen the movie […]

Book Review of Wilbur Smith’s “The Seventh Scroll”

Wilbur Smith’s 1995 novel The Seventh Scroll isn’t the sort of book I’d read today, although action, adventure, and archeological mysteries are something I’d have considered back in the day. But on Facebook, I read that it’s author died last November. Smith was highly regarded as a writer on the FB writers page where I […]

Book Review of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Children of Time”

I decided to read and review Adrian Tchaikovsky’s SciFi novel Children of Time when someone on twitter called him one of the top three living science fiction writers in the world. Wow! That’s quite a testimony. I was curious if that statement was anything close to being accurate. I asked another person on twitter what […]