James Pyles's Blog, page 69
March 24, 2020
Video Promotion of the “Mars” Planetary Anthology
As it turns out, Richard Paolinelli posted a video promoting the Mars planetary anthology on twitter, which I saw when I got from my menial day job this afternoon. Youll have to click Continue reading to see it, and then youll have to wait through most of the video to see my credits. However, they []
Book Review of “Plastic Nightmare”
Aditya Deshmukhs short story Plastic Nightmare reads more like a prelude to a novel than anything else. It certainly ended on a cliffhanger, and Deshmukh even states that there will be a sequel. I really felt like the author didnt give himself enough room to develop the situation or the characters. Five years ago, police []
March 23, 2020
Review of “Echo Volume 4: The Last Edge of Darkness”
I finally got around to keeping my promise to Kent Wayne (pseudonym) and finishing and reviewing the fourth edition of his Echo series, Echo Volume 4: The Last Edge of Darkness Kindle Edition . It marks the conclusion of the physical, psychological, and spiritual quest of elite soldier, Crusader Kischan Atriya. For reference, here are []
March 22, 2020
“Spring Into SciFi: 2020 Edition” Available for Pre-Order Now!
Just got the email update from Cloaked Press that the digital copy of Spring Into SciFi 2020 is available for pre-order now at Amazon. The ebook will be downloaded to your kindle device on April 3, 2020. My science fiction short story The Colonists appears within its pages, and Im incredibly thrilled. Now for an []
March 19, 2020
Book Review of Annalee Newitz’s Novel: “Autonomous”
Autonomous is to biotech and AI what Neuromancer was to the Internet. Neal Stephenson Something genuinely and thrillingly new in the naturalistic, subjective, paradoxically humanistic but non-anthropomorphic depiction of bot-POVand all in the service of vivid, solid storytelling. William Gibson This book is a cyborg. Partly, its a novel of ideas, about property, the very []
March 18, 2020
The COVID-19 California Police State
No, Im really not that paranoid, but you have to admit that people are probably getting nervous about not just the pandemic, but governmental responses. First, the rise of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic across the globe. Then the hoarding, including guns and ammo, and then martial lawwell sort of. Yesterday, I heard that San Francisco []
Review of “Tales of the Southwest” Mentions My Short Story
About six months ago, I mentioned that my short story The Strangers was being published in John Greens anthology Tales of the Southwest, available at Lulu.com. Its now also available on Amazon, but thats not the best news. One of the reviews mentions my story and me by name. Thank you Kerri for your kind []
A Few Freebies While Enduring COVID-19 Separation
With the public libraries closed and my book budget slashed to zero, I was worried Id be hard strapped for reading material. Then I remembered that some weeks ago, I downloaded a free copy of Annalee Newitzs science fiction novel Autonomous from Tor.com. So I revisited my kindle device and started consuming the book. Im []
March 15, 2020
My Science Fiction Short Story “Buried in the Sands of Time” Accepted for Publication!
I can finally announce this and Im thrilled to do it. My retro science fiction short story Buried in the Sands of Time has been accepted for publication in the Zombie Pirate Publishing anthology Raygun Retro: A Science Fiction Anthology. Heres the formal announcement from ZPPs Facebook page: Congratulations to all of the successful authors []
March 14, 2020
Book Review: “And Hell Followed – An Anthology”
I dont quite recall the original conversation I had on Facebook, but a little over a month ago, I agreed to review the Deaths Head Press anthology And Hell Followed. Jarod Barbee purchased a digital copy for me, and I downloaded it to my kindle device and started reading. What intrigued me about this particular []
