Author Archives: James Pyles

“Sorcery’s Preschool” Accepted into the “Fantastic Schools” Anthology!

school

Found at superversivesf.com. No image credit given

I wasn’t sure about submitting to this one since “magic schools” and “Harry Potter” aren’t my usual fare. On the other hand, I like a challenge, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I still couldn’t get a handle on it until my son Michael suggested something along the lines of “Jack Jack” from “The Incredibles” movies. How about a magic pre-school for gifted toddlers?

Authors Christopher G. Nuttall and L. Jagi Lamplighter are the ones co-editing the Fantastic Schools anthology. They asked for:

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Featured in “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers”

 

whos who

Promotional image for “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers” by Steve Carr

Steve Carr recently created Sweetycat Press (sorry, it’s a private Facebook group, so you won’t see most of the content) to showcase and promote emerging writers. To that end, their first book is “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers”, which will become available May 1, 2020. Here’s the official press release (I don’t think I’ve been in a press release before):

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Planetary Anthologies “Mars” and “Sol” Available for Pre-Order Now!

sol

Promotional image for the Sol planetary anthology

Fantastic, and totally unanticipated news. As I’ve previously mentioned HERE and HERE, my short stories “The Three Billion Year Love” and “The Pleiades Dilemma” are being published in the Planetary Anthologies “Mars” and “Sol” respectively.

I just found out that the entire Planetary series is available for pre-order now at Amazon.

Sure, “Mars” won’t be available for download to your Kindle device until August 18, 2020, but you can reserve your very own copy by pre-ordering it from Amazon right now.

And while you won’t be able to get your (virtual) hands on a digital copy of “Sol” until November 10, 2020, you can also immediately pre-order it by clicking the link.

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My Short Story “From Deep Within the Skin” to be Published

infestation

Promotional art for the anthology “Infestation.”

This makes the fourth short story of mine accepted into an anthology so far in 2020.

My wee tale “From Deep Within the Skin” was accepted into Infestation: A Horror Anthology by Terror Tract Publishing. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon, for download to your Kindle device on March 30, 2020.

Imagine that as climate change continually heats the globe and hundreds of species a year become extinct, at least one evolves, grows, and thrives. However, as this corporate entity further encounters mankind, it develops a wider agenda, human conquest by bodily infestation.

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Updated Publishing Schedule for the “Planetary Anthology Series”

sol

Promotional cover image for the Sol planetary anthology

A few days ago, I made an announcement about two of my short stories being featured in the Tuscany Bay Books Planetary Anthology Series. I came upon an updated publishing schedule for each volume in this collection and thought I’d share:

  1. : PLUTO: https://amazon.com/dp/B081S745L7
  2. : LUNA: https://amazon.com/Planetary-Anthology-Luna-Tuscany-Bays-ebook/dp/B08462M5W8
  3. : URANUS (March 3, 2020): https://amazon.com/gp/product/B084GXDBJK
  4. : Mercury – April 14, 2020
  5. : Venus – May 26, 2020
  6. : Earth – July 7, 2020
  7. : Mars – Aug. 18, 2020 – Features my short story “The Three Billion Year Love”
  8. : Jupiter – Sep. 21, 2020
  9. : Sol – Nov. 10, 2020 – Features my short story “The Pleiades Dilemma”
  10. : Neptune – Dec. 22, 2020
  11. : Saturn – Feb. 2, 2021

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Crazy

crazy

Found at Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie. Image credit not given

Gerald jumped at everything, even when nothing was there. In spite of the warm, spring afternoon, he wore thermal underwear beneath his faded, torn denim pants, and two sweaters under the ancient, tattered, and stained Navy pea coat.

Long, tangled hair, white as the snow still on the mountains around Tahoe, shot out from his stocking cap, random stalks of alabaster wheat waving in the breeze.

Sad, brown eyes stared down at his worn trainers, the left one completely bereft of shoelaces, as they shuffled one after the other across the sidewalk’s concrete and cracks.

The voices muttered in his ears, and in the dankness of his squirming gray matter, a restless beast always striving to escape the prison of his skull.

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Rising from the Ashes: Two SciFi Tales Accepted for Publication!

pas poster copy

Promotional image for Tuscany Bay Books Planetary anthology series

Once upon a time, there was an indie publisher called Superversive Press. It was based on the quaint idea that science fiction, fantasy, and even horror didn’t have to present an unending stream of tales rooted in subversiveness, nihilism, and fatalism. This downward spiral was certainly the direction science fiction began taking in the 1960s, and then became firmly cemented in by the 1970s (and since I’m an old school fan and have been reading SciFi since that period AND am currently reading a history of science fiction from the 1960s through the 1990s, I should know).

I’ve become acquainted (online) with a number of “superversive” authors and editors for the past several years, and since my initial decision to begin writing fiction, have always wanted to be published by and with them.

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“A Mighty Fortress” Is Now Available!

mighty fortress

Promotional image for the Immortal Works anthology “A Mighty Fortress”

It’s here! A Mighty Fortress (A Mormon Steampunk Anthology Book 4) from Immortal Works and is now available for immediate download to your Kindle device. Read for free using KindleUnlimited, or purchase at the modest price of $1.99 USD. At Amazon UK, that’s £1.51.

Here’s the official announcement on Facebook.

Features my short story “The Deseret War.” Here’s a summary:

Once Stephen Isaac Eddington converted to Mormonism in his native London and realized the severe persecution the Church was enduring in the United States, he knew he had to use his unique skills to help defend the faith. But to do that, he would have to steal an incredible invention devised by his scientist mentor who had recently perished, and the greedy and corrupt tycoon who had financed the venture. Eddington and his ill-gotten technology arrived in Utah well ahead of the U.S. Army troops who the President commissioned to remove Brigham Young from power and establish a new Governor over the Utah territory.

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Second Short Story Accepted For Publication in 2020

Oumuamua

Artist’s interpretation of interstellar asteroid 1I/’Oumuamua. [M. Kornmesser/ESO]

I got a “blast from the past” email last night that I didn’t expect in my wildest dreams. I’ve just signed the contract and submitted it, but don’t have permission to discuss the details yet. The image at the top is supposed to be sort of a clue, but there’s no way anyone (except those few in the know) could correctly interpret it.

However, it does mean my “mystery story” is the second short story acceptance for 2020, which, of course, thrills me to no end.

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“Dark Valentine” #1 New Release in Horror Anthologies

number 1

Screenshot from Amazon.com

When I saw the image being promoted on Facebook by Eleanor Merry, I had to check it out, and it’s true. “Dark Valentine Holiday Horror Collection” is a #1 New Release in Horror Anthologies (as of this writing). That’s pretty amazing, but then again, Valentine’s Day was just last Friday, and no doubt horror fans in love would have thought this was a pretty cool present (as opposed to flowers and candy).

Scrolling down, I saw that it was rated:

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