James Pyles's Blog, page 57
February 23, 2021
The Failure
“Screw this shit! I’ve had enough!” Dane roughly yanked the glorified brain cube off of his head and threw it to the ground. “Mr. Asher, please retrieve your covering and replace it on your head. The amplified voice from somewhere over the dark stone wall behind him reverberated. Dane had always hated the Counselor’s snotty, […]
February 22, 2021
I Wouldn’t Want to Belong to a Club that would “Uninvite” a Guest of Honor
“I wouldn’t want to belong to a club that would have me as a member” –Groucho Marx This isn’t so much about Jason Sanford and the Baen Books forums saga as it is about its major consequence: Discon III “uninviting” Toni Weisskopf to WorldCon 2021. Once again, Mike Glyer’s File 770 (he must be pleased […]
February 21, 2021
The Jason Sanford and Baen Books Saga Continues
I know after writing about THIS and THIS, I said I was washing my hands of it all HERE, but people still keep bringing it up, especially on this commentary. Stuff produced by folks such as Matthew Hopkins and questions asked by retired journalist Richard Paolinelli HERE and HERE led me to see if Sanford’s […]
February 19, 2021
On Reading Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” and Baen Books
I suppose I should leave this alone, especially after taking quite a bit of criticism, mainly from conservative authors, when I suggested that the left side of the science fiction industry was using the “Baen’s Bar” incident, which I chronicled HERE and HERE, to paint all conservative authors and just plain all conservatives with the […]
February 18, 2021
Book Review of “All Systems Red”
First the “official reviews” including praise for the author’s other works: “I love Murderbot!” ―Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice “The Murderbot series is a heart-pounding thriller that never lets up, but it’s also one of the most humane portraits of a nonhuman I’ve ever read. Come for the gunfights on other planets, but stay […]
Revenge of the Baen, the Jason Sanford Report, and the Quest for Justice (or is it Vengeance?)
What a mess. Scrolling through twitter this morning (it always comes back to twitter), I found Paul Weimer’s thread (never heard of him before this) citing File 770‘s article Baen Strikes Back; Sanford Under Growing Storm of Harassment. As you may remember from my previous blog post, a whole bunch of nastiness has been happening, […]
February 16, 2021
January 6th, Baen’s Bar, and the Definition of “Evil”
Addendum, 2-17-2021, 4:45 a.m. mountain time: Just an update from File 770 (still not a fan but it is an information source) on the whole Baen Bar fiasco. Of course, from that perspective, all conservatives are evil, but while 770 is also heavily biased, we must make certain that our own behavior and attitudes doesn’t […]
Review of Denton Salle’s Novel “Black Earth Rises, Hall of Heroes Book Three”
Black Earth Rises is the third book in a series by Denton Salle, but it stands very well on its own since I haven’t read the first two novels. Denton asked me to review his book and was aware of recent difficulties I’ve had reviewing books by people I know. He assured me that he’d […]
February 15, 2021
Planetary Anthology Saturn Available Now!
It’s here. The Tuscany Bay Press Planetary Anthology Saturn is available for immediate purchase. As you know having read my previous announcements, it features my science fiction time travel story “Saving the Apostle,” the act and consequences of rescuing the Apostle Paul from execution at the hands of the Romans. If you’re interested, there’s a […]
