James Pyles's Blog, page 63
August 6, 2020
Olivia Comes Home
Olivia tiredly trudged down the steep, rocky walk toward the village. It had been a disappointing journey for the most part. She hoped this wouldn’t be another town that enforced masks. She always kept one handy, but it frequently smudged the pasty pancake makeup liberally applied on her face. Didn’t do much for her black […]
Publishers and My Trust Issues
Remember this? I announced that my short story “The Apollo Containment” was to be published in the Black Hare Press anthology Lockdown Sci-Fi #3. I’ve even got my signed copy of the contract to prove it. However, last night when I happened across the publisher’s Facebook page promoting Lockdown Sci-Fi #4 including a list […]
August 5, 2020
Running on Tuesday
Fourteen-year-old Jerry Craft had shoved his mask deep into the back pocket of his dusty stained jeans five-hundred miles ago. He’d scurried into a boxcar at Denver and the inspectors hadn’t found him when they stopped in Salt Lake. Now somewhere in Nevada, August heat scorching him clean, he felt free. “No COVID’s gonna get […]
August 4, 2020
Tolerance, Intolerance, and the World of the “Stale, Pale Male Crowd”
On the heels of my blog posts Looks Like the 2020 Hugo Awards Once Again Sucked, Loving and Fearing SF/F Fandom, and the currently highly popular Is SciFi Author/Editor Robert Silverberg Really Racist and Sexist (or has the internet once again lost its mind)?, a library book I just finished and am about to return […]
August 3, 2020
Looks Like the 2020 Hugo Awards Once Again Sucked
Well this explains it. The article George R.R. Martin Accused of Racism, Generally Sucking After Hosting Hugos (also found at Vulture) contains a link to my December 5, 2018 blog post Is SciFi Author/Editor Robert Silverberg Really Racist and Sexist (or has the internet once again lost its mind)?. It’s gotten hundreds of hits in […]
August 2, 2020
Loving and Fearing SF/F Fandom
EDIT: I picked up some additional material on the twitter stream and thus the content. Any changes I’ve made in this blog post are bolded. I started following fantasy author Jeannette Ng on twitter after she gave a rather “unusual” acceptance speech upon receiving what used to be called a “Campbell Award.” I recorded my […]
July 24, 2020
My Short Story “The Haunted Detective” To Be Published!
In the last ten days or so, in pretty rapid succession, I got three rejection notices, two from the same publisher. Needless to say, I was bummed. That’s why when Ruth and Ann from Gemini Wordsmiths told me this morning that my short story The Haunted Detective was accepted into their Trench Coat Chronicles anthology, […]
July 7, 2020
Fantastic Schools: Volume One (Fantastic Schools Anthologies) Paperback – May 26, 2020
Just found this out. My story “Sorcery’s Preschool” is still on track to be published in Volume Two of this series next month. In the meantime, if digital isn’t your thing and you prefer a book you can hold in your hands, Fantastic Schools – Volume One is now out in paperback. Buy them… HERE […]
July 3, 2020
Kathleen Morales and the Bandit Carolinas
The open sky stretched from sand to horizon and the riders advanced on the oasis. Kathleen Morales led her band of rebel outlaws, two dozen strong, toward the wide, limpid pool surrounded by long grass waving in the torrid breeze under the shade of the broad palm branches. But when they finally arrived at this […]
July 2, 2020
Being Superversive in a Subversive World
Richard Paolinelli has named me on a list of superversive authors (scroll down, the list is in alphabetical order by last name). Now you may be asking yourself what is “superversive?” According to Urban Dictionary: Nurturing; supportive, building up — opposite of subversive The superversives decorated the object with daisy chains, linked their arms around […]
