Author Archives: James Pyles

The Long Winter is Coming

volcano

PHOTO PROMPT © Ken Arnopole

“Daddy, do you think Mommy’s okay?”

My six-year-old daughter asked me the question I didn’t want to answer.

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” I said. We were watching the news on my phone. “Boise was outside the Yellowstone super volcano’s blast radius…”

“So, she’s alright?”

“Maybe. But the volcano will get everyone else.”

“What?”

“You know how the sky is always gray and we have to stay inside so we don’t breathe the ashes? That’s spreading around the world blocking the sun. Pretty soon, it’s going to be winter everywhere.

“Can we go home soon, Daddy? I’m don’t like Boston anymore.”

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“Haunted Places” Anthology is Here!

haunted places

Promotional cover art for “Haunted Places” volume 2

It’s here!

The Haunted Places (universal link) anthology featuring my short story “Haunting Chloe” is now available!

Here’s a sample of my story:

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Review of “Cosmic Convocation” A Space Opera Anthology” (2022)

cosmic

© James Pyles

I expected Cosmic Convocation: A Space Opera Anthology published by Starry Eyed Press, to contain an uneven collection of stories and that’s exactly what I found. I won’t mention all of them (although I took notes for every single story), but here are some of the more mentionable works.

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Coming Soon in “Haunted Places”

haunted places

Promotional cover art for “Haunted Places” volume 2

My short story “Haunting Chloe” will be featured in the upcoming anthology “Haunted Places,” edited by Jamie Ferguson.

Jamie’s probably one of the best fiction publishers and editors I’ve worked with. She is very keen on details and proverbially holds my feet to the fire to make sure I turn in the best story possible. She also provides exceptionally helpful feedback on my writing including how (thankfully) it has improved over the past few years.

Here’s the promotional blurb:

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Book Review of “White Night” (2008), Book Nine in the Dresden Files Series

white night

© James Pyles

I was going to review another book before this one, but when I was halfway through that other book, my request for this one came through at my local public library. Library books have to be returned at a certain date, so this one got priority.

Jim Butcher’s White Night is the ninth novel in his Dresden Files series. Harry Dresden is a functioning and advertised wizard working in Chicago. It’s urban fantasy like Sam Spade meets Lord of the Rings, only sort of.

We last left Harry as a newly promoted Warden of the White Council, basically a police officer/enforcer for a conglomerate of good wizards who defend their laws and protect the world of mortals from the supernatural.

They are currently engaged in a war with the Red Court vampires (there are several courts, all with different characteristics). It’s a war that Harry inadvertently started and so far, things have been going badly for the White Council.

Add to that Harry’s new apprentice Molly. Molly is a late teen girl and daughter of devout Christians (her father Michael is literally a Holy Warrior, magic sword and all) but she, having inherited some magic ability from her mother (long story), used her powers badly and was nearly executed by the White Council. Harry went to bat for her and now either Molly plays the straight-and-narrow as his student, or the Council executes them both.

All caught up?

Good. Spoiler Alert!

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Every 30th of May

brooklyn bridge

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

She always manifested first for her life was the cause. Mist rose under the Brooklyn Bridge that May 30th as the twelve appeared. The people who were present either were unable to perceive them through a lack of faith or chose to ignore what they considered the impossible.

After all this time, those few who could see them but didn’t know what they were thought them to be performers in some macabre cosplay. When they tried to approach any of them, they wavered and vanished. The ghosts of the bridge’s tragic past were sentinels and did not speak cautionary tales.

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Time Lord Pranks

telephone box

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

The Time Lord approached the disguised TARDIS from around the corner and stopped suddenly. He was accustomed to the inexplicable, but this sight rendered his mouth agape.

“I clearly recall you being in pristine condition when I left here to pursue that elusive rogue.”

He looked about, but a crimson telephone box containing multiple trays of flora punctuated by a pigeon cooing on the top layer hadn’t yet attracted attention. This was somewhat peculiar for London.

“Very well, then,” he said reaching into his inner jacket pocket. “One sonic screwdriver to the rescue. Then we’ll deal with this pesky Doctor.”

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I Just Came Back For The Garden

plants

PHOTO PROMPT © Nancy Richy

It was a unique but familiar waiting room. The windows overlooked a small atrium that seemed more like a backyard. The flora extended indoors and plants that I remembered as sprouts were fairly dominant vines encroaching upon plush, gray chairs.

“Mr. Müller will see you now.” The receptionist was new, young, and I couldn’t help thinking she resembled a brunette Barbie doll.

I walked into the ridiculously large office. “Vance, it’s been a long time.”

He gave me his CEO smile. “I’m glad you came. I know you’re retired, but…”

“Sure. Kids today don’t know how to tend a garden.”

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Review of “Proven Guilty” (2007), Book Eight in Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” Series

proven guilty

© James Pyles

This morning, I finished Proven Guilty (2007), Book 8 in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files novel series.

Warning! Spoiler Alert! Stop here if you don’t want to know more.

As you may recall if you’ve read my other reviews of this series, Harry Dresden is Chicago’s only advertising wizard. This is sort of like crime noir meets urban fantasy. Harry’s not quite the “hard-boiled” type of detective he wants to be, but he’s a good guy. He also gets in trouble a lot.

In the previous book, he was made a Warden by the White Council. The White Council is a group of wizards who enforce the laws of magic and are charged with keeping the “normal” world safe from the supernatural. A Warden is an enforcer of those laws, and they are brutal in their duties, the laws being pretty inflexible.

Harry is treated to just how inflexible, when, at the beginning of the book, he’s present at the execution by beheading of a young Korean guy. He was found guilty of using his magic to take control over other people’s thoughts, up to and including getting them to commit suicide.

Outside of the heinousness of these acts, Harry still feels compassion. The “Warlock” was young, inexperienced, and had no one to guide him.

Too bad.

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My Novel “Our Legacy, The Stars” Got a Five-Star Review

tom corbett

Cover art for my book “Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure.”

I’ve plastered this all over social media so I might as well say it on my blog as well. My space opera novel Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure has received its first five-star review on both Amazon and goodreads.

As many of you know, this novel was originally presented on Amazon Vella as a 16-episode series, much like the old magazine and movie serials of the past. Classic speculative and adventure fiction, everything from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Tarzan” and “John Carter of Mars” as well as Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes” stories were originally serialized in magazines (no, I don’t hold myself up to those masters at all, I’m just making the point).

In the movie serials of the 1930s and 40s, science fiction adventures from Flash Gordon to Buck Rogers were presented in theaters a chapter per week, bringing audiences back again and again to see how the hero or heroine was saved from the latest cliffhanger.

Tom Corbett: Space Cadet was a child of that era, specifically the early to mid-1950s. He’s also appeared in everything from books to comic books and now, finally, has emerged into our 21st century, updated for the science, backstories, and characterization.

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