James Pyles's Blog, page 97
January 24, 2019
Book Review: Contest
Sometime last summer, I wrote a short piece of fiction on this blog, and one of the comments made about it was that it was vaguely reminiscent of Matthew Reilly’s novel Contest. Intrigued, I discovered that my local public library system had a copy, so I checked it out and started reading (however, I forgot […]
“Flash Fiction Addiction” Anthology and a lot of Authors
Do you want to see a lot of names, because this is a lot of names. 101 authors and stories selected for this anthology out of a pool of nearly three times as many. If each writer maxed out the word count of their wee missives at 750, the total would be 75,750, or the […]
Quoting: Choose Your Thoughts to Avoid Worry
Worry is when you choose from millions of possible thoughts, only the few which deal with a potential misfortune or problem. Once you accept your worrying as the act of choosing specific thoughts, you can consciously make an effort to avoid those thoughts that cause you needless pain and choose more constructive, positive thoughts. -from […]
January 23, 2019
Being Published in the Anthology “Flash Fiction Addiction”
My flash fiction story “Growing Flowers” has been accepted for the “Flash Fiction Addiction” anthology to be published by Zombie Pirate Publishing. The original announcement states: FLASH FICTION ADDICTION is now open for submissions. Very short stories 100 – 750 words long. Any genre or theme. Subs close when we have 101 accepted stories. They […]
Quoting: Show Concern Instead of Anger
Rabbi Yitzchok Blauser’s daughter once went to the cupboard, and all the glasses, cups and dishes fell and broke. He did not get angry at her, and he did not even ask her why she wasn’t more careful. Rather, his only concern was that she should not be upset or frightened. He said to her, […]
January 22, 2019
Quoting: Use Auto-Suggestion for Approval
Repeat to yourself slowly and calmly again and again, even hundreds of times, “I do not need the approval of others,” or, “What others think of me does not make a difference.” Contemplate these thoughts until you start to internalize them. Repetition will help you integrate them. Realize that you may have repeated many thousands […]
January 21, 2019
Official Table of Contents of “World War Four”
Yes, I’m excited. You’ve seen variations on this before, but the anthology’s TOC now includes the title of the novelette by internationally bestselling science fiction author Neal Asher. As an aside, having recently finished N.K Jemisin’s Hugo-award winning novel The Fifth Season, I’ve started reading Asher’s Dark Intelligence (2016), the first book in his Transformation […]
Blocked: When You Make a Hugo-Award Winning Author Upset on Twitter
Yesterday, I wrote and posted a book review of SF/F author N.K. Jemisin’s Hugo award-winning novel The Fifth Season, both here on my blog and on Amazon (considering Goodreads as well). I then posted links of my review on twitter and in a private writer’s group on Facebook. As you can see by the accompanying […]
Quoting: Beware the Fruits of Impulsivity
Be careful not to panic into taking action or saying something, until you carefully think it over in your mind. The fruit of acting impulsively is regret. When you act impulsively, you might make irreparable mistakes. It is especially important not to make major life changes when you are guided by emotions. If you are […]
January 20, 2019
Book Review: The Fifth Season
“Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold.”―Entertainment Weekly “Intricate and extraordinary.”―The New York Times “[The Fifth Season is] an ambitious book, with a shifting point of view, and a protagonist whose full complexity doesn’t become apparent till toward the end of the novel. … Jemisin’s work itself is part […]
