Author Archives: James Pyles

Seeing Better

rain

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

When Benedict looked outside that morning, he thought it had rained and drops had speckled the window. But then he turned away and saw everything else looked that way. He checked, but he hadn’t put on his glasses yet. When he did, it didn’t help.

He was about to ask his wife what she thought it was, and then sadly remembered she had passed away two years ago last Tuesday.

He thought to call his doctor, but the effect was getting worse. Then he realized he wasn’t going blind, but only seeing the other side better. “I’m coming home, Marge.”

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Movie Review of “Metropolis” (1927)

metropolis

© James Pyles

Since I retired, I decided to view films I’ve never seen before (and have always meant to) as well as movies I haven’t viewed in ages.

Last night, for the first time, I saw Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). I haven’t watched a silent film in a very long time, but I’d taken enough film classes in my youth that I’m perfectly fine with the experience.

That said, you don’t watch this movie unless you’re a serious science fiction fan or a film student. Film making has changed a lot in the past century and the acting and makeup in early cinema borrowed heavily from the stage. In other words, the actors looked like they had plaster on their faces and their acting (by modern standards) was melodramatic.

I was saddened to learn that about a quarter of the original film was lost. There’s a long history of the efforts in attempting to restore this masterpiece, but what is gone is gone.

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You Are What You Eat

fast food

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Harold sat in the driver’s seat and slammed the door. The doctor’s visit was more than disappointing. Doc called the pharmacy so that numerous prescriptions would be filled and waiting when he got there.

He looked down at the pile of trash on the car’s floorboards and then his expansive gut.

“You are what you eat,” he muttered. “Bloody blood sugar.”

He wanted to cry but instead he put the key in the ignition and started his car.

“This won’t beat me. I won’t die a fat slob choking down a bunch of pills. I must join a gym immediately.”

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Frick, Frack, and the “DOGE-Y” Scorched Earth Policy

jen window

PHOTO PROMPT © Jen Pendergast

I stood outside their High Tower watching our new leaders Frick and Frack gazing out the window at their vast domain, the one that used to belong to We the People.

“Hey, you,” I yelled. My voice quavered and I knew they could dispose of me like yesterday’s trash.

“Yeah, what is it?” sneered Frick.

“You just nuked Denver. Why?”

“They were wasting federal funds on public transportation,” said Frack.

“But the whole city’s gone, all the people dead.”

“We got rid of the waste, right?”

And everything else, too.”

Frick flipped me off. “Are you some gay socialist radical?”

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“Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure” Now Available as a Digital and Paperback Book

tom corbett

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

It’s here!

Once a 16-part serial adventure on Kindle Vella, Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure is now available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats (It might still take a couple of days for Amazon to actually link and stock the book in all markets).

Based on the 1950s television show Tom Corbett Space Cadet, the book is updated in terms of our modern understanding of science as well as more nuanced characterizations and plot.

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“I Told You Not To Summon Demons”

kent

PHOTO PROMPT © Kent Bonham

“They were using my books to play D&D again,” groused Mervin. He examined the tome on the big rock in his backyard. The persistent stains were centuries old, but it was due to rain soon. Kenny shouldn’t have left it out.

“Sorry, Grandpa. I was just coming for it.” The twelve-year-old had crept up behind him, a credit to his heritage.

“I told you not to play with my books.”

“They’re so cool, only…”

“Only what?”

“I was reciting the markings like you taught me and…”

“Did any of your friends get eaten? I told you not to summon demons.”

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My New Stories in “Drabbles: First Contact” (2025)

promo

Promotional image for my stories in the anthology “Drabbles: First Contact.”

My first publications for 2025 are now available in the Starry Eyed Press anthology Drabbles: First Contact (Amazon US). Click the following for the global link.

For those of you who don’t know, a “drabble” is a complete story that is exactly 100 words long, no more, no less.

“First Contact” is a reference to humanity’s first encounter with an extraterrestrial species. These contacts can be friendly or terrifying or a lot of other things.

Twenty-six authors contributed a total of over thirty drabbles to this anthology. It is currently available for Kindle but will also be coming out soon in paperback.

Four of my stories made the cut:

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Book Review of “Error Code: 22 Tales of Robots and AI” (2025)

error code

Cover art for the “Error Code” anthology

Yesterday, I finished reading the small anthology Error Code: 22 Tales of Robots and AI by Eric Fomley and Addison Smith.

It was produced by Shacklebound Books which I gather is a small, indie publisher. They’ve got quite a collection of anthologies listed on Amazon.

Each story is quite short and the book is a quick read (130 pages in print, though it’s available only on Kindle as far as I can tell).

Like many such anthologies, the stories fall into three categories:

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The Cure for Cancer

view from train

PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

I’m dying.

I’ve been riding this train to visit my children, well now, my grandchildren, for over thirty years. My dear wife Jeannie passed away six years ago, bless her. I’m the only one left of my generation and the docs say the cancer is spreading.

It’s spreading across our land as well. That old shantytown used to be a neighborhood sheltering good working men, families, children playing ball in the street.

The world’s falling apart and it doesn’t matter which party promises to bring prosperity. We are no longer represented. I pray I die before the bloodshed of revolution.

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Review of “Dead Beat” (2006), Book Seven in the Dresden Files Series

dead beat

© James Pyles

Yesterday, I finished book seven in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series Dead Beat. Like the rest of the books in this collection, the title is a play on words. This time, Harry Dresden faces the threat of necromancers, users of magic of the dead.

Harry’s life gets increasingly worse with each book and sometimes I marvel that he’s still alive.

Oh, before I go on, since this book was published in 2006, there are spoilers aplenty.

Harry’s detective friend Karrin Murphy goes off to Hawaii on vacation with a man (or being) of great power who Harry doesn’t trust. By now, the readers of this series know that at some point, Harry and Murphy are going to become lovers, but currently, he’s too noble and self-righteous to object to her plans.

He’s contacted by Mavra, his deadly vampire foe, who threatens to reveal certain illegal acts Murphy committed (all performed while helping Harry) and destroy her life if Harry doesn’t find and bring her something called the “Book of Kemmler.”

As it turns out, this book holds the secret to summoning a vast number of the spirits of the dead and focusing the energy in order to turn one necromancer into basically a god.

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