James Pyles's Blog, page 58
March 3, 2021
Review of “Misfits” by A.C. Haskins
If you’ve read THIS and THIS, then you know why I’ve been reviewing a small series of short stories published by Baen Books. Today, I review the third and last tale in the 2021 freebie I downloaded called Misfits authored by A.C. Haskins. He doesn’t seem to have a blog or website, but according to […]
March 2, 2021
Review of “Latuda’s Lady in White”
If you read my review of the short story Appleseed: A Founder Effect Legend, you know this is my opening effort in taking a closer look at the literary products of Baen Books. I’ve written enough (more than enough) about the Baen’s Bar kerfuffle, but I’m convinced that the worst Baen editor Toni Weisskopf is […]
March 1, 2021
Nebula Award Nominations are Closing but is that Significant?
My friend Richard Paolinelli posted THIS on twitter and Matthew Hopkins / Samuel Collingwood Smith sent me the link to his blog post in the comments of my blog. But I’m not here to talk about that. It just so happened, given the context, that I decided to see if Jason Sanford had blocked me […]
February 28, 2021
Review of “Outland”
On an impulse, I decided to watch the 1981 film Outland. I remember seeing it back in the day on cable, and remember thinking it was “okay.” It’s still “okay.” All star cast with Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen, James Sikking, Clarke Peters, and John Ratzenberger made it bearable, but the story was mediocre […]
February 26, 2021
Review of “APPLESEED: A Founder Effect Legend”
After the whole Baen Books or rather Baen’s Bar kerfuffle and being “shamed” into silence by various groups and individuals (including garnering the disapproval of Paul Weimer who I actually kind of like), the one thing I decided to do when I gave up everything else, was to read more Baen Books. I probably have […]
Review of Robert Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”
I decided to re-read Robert Heinlein’s 1959 classic Starship Troopers (I probably last read it sometime in the late 1960s or early 70s) because science fiction writer Neal Asher‘s book Prador Moon (which I recently reviewed) was unfavorably compared to it by a few Amazon readers. I must say Heinlein doesn’t disappoint. “Troopers” remains timeless, […]
February 25, 2021
Crushing
“Being unafraid of making mistakes makes everything easy for me. Not worrying about what people think frees you to do things, and doing things allows you to win or learn from your loss — which means you win either way. Hear me now: you are better off being wrong ten times and being right three […]
Free
“I’ve escaped. I’m outside of Sanctuary.” Dane Asher’s numb fingers caressed the brittle petals of the frozen roses. They were covered with a layer of snow, and were so beautiful, like the landscape graced by a winter that was slowly killing him. “I don’t know why I’m free, but now I’m free only to die.” […]
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, […]
