Category Archives: robots

Promoting “Galactic Treks” and “Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure”

promo

Promotional image for my recent work.

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I used a recent Starry Eyed Press newsletter to craft the composite image you see above. I’m sure you can tell this is all about self-promotion. When you’re an indie author, you are also your own marketing department.

My novelette “The Aliens” is now published in the Starry Eyed Press anthology Galactic Treks: Short Stories. This is brand new and I’m one of five featured authors.

“The Aliens is an old school science fiction tale about a starship, the rise of a new and uncertain second officer, and after 200 years of space exploration, the very first contact with an intelligent, space traveling race. Will this signal disaster for humanity or a bold new step into the final frontier?

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Get “Spring Into SciFi 2024” Today!

2024

Cover art for “Spring Into SciFi 2024.”

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It’s here!

Spring Into SciFi 2024 from Cloaked Press is available TODAY!

Download it from Amazon onto your Kindle device and start reading right now. The price is very reasonable.

If you’d rather have the paperback, that’s available too for $15.99 USD.

This anthology features my short story “I Don’t Want To Be Human.”

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Spring Into SciFi 2024 Coming Soon!

2024

Cover art for “Spring Into SciFi 2024.”

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Almost there.

My short story “I Don’t Want To Be Human” is featured in the upcoming Cloaked Press anthology Spring Into SciFi 2024. Click that link to pre-order a digital copy for download from Amazon to your Kindle device on March 21, 2024.

If you prefer a paperback, pre-order that right here, but there’s more.

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My Short Story “I Don’t Want To Be Human” to be Published

spring into scifi

Screenshot from Facebook

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My science fiction short story “I Don’t Want To Be Human” has been accepted by Cloaked Press for their 2024 edition of Spring Into SciFi. I have stories published in a number of “Cloaked” anthologies over the past several years and am excited to be part of their latest project.

“I Don’t Want To Be Human” is both an atypical exploration into the “intent” of Artificial Intelligence, and turning the common trope of robots and androids wanting to be more human on its head.

Here’s a small sample of the story:

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My Drabble “Butterfly” a Favorite in “Pocket SciFi: Drabble Contest One”

drabble

Screenshot from Facebook.

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I received this wonderful compliment on Facebook this morning (see the image above). As you may know from this announcement, nine out of ten of my submissions to “Pocket SciFi: Drabble Contest One” was accepted for publication.

You can find this Starry Eyed Press anthology at Amazon in kindle or paperback formats.

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“Pocket SciFi: Drabble Contest One” is Now Available!

pocket

Cover art for the anthology “Pocket SciFi: Drabble Contest One”

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“Pocket SciFi: Drabble Contest One” is now available from Amazon both in Kindle and paperback formats. This is a unique publication from Starry Eyed Press in that it came to life as a drabble contest.

A drabble is a complete story that is told in exactly 100 words. You might think that writing such a story would be difficult, but with a bit of practice, it can be done.

For instance, every week, I participate in a fiction writing challenge at Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Addicted to Purple. She sends out emails every Wednesday for her “Friday Fictioneers” challenge, asking anyone who wants to participate to craft a poem or short story no more than 100 words long (also see this blog as mine are available here weekly).

It can be less, but I like to make it into a drabble challenge.

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Rewellagans

robot

Image found at the Weight of Thought Facebook page. Attributed to Victor Dimitrov: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qQOaZn

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“Rewellagans,” insisted five-and-a-half year old Joannie Palmer as she pointed up at the machine. She had led me into a glade I’d never visited before, one covered with several varieties of long grasses and surrounded by tall but otherwise unremarkable trees.

“I can see that.” As her Grandpa, I’m expected to understand everything even when I don’t have a clue. “But what is it?” I knew what it was and it was impossible. Joannie’s “Rewellagans” was a six-meter tall humanoid robot, but something out of an old 1950s B-science fiction film. It’s technology that had never existed and could never exist.

Don’t you see it on the machine’s right shoulder. No, on our right. It’s the robot’s left shoulder.”

She kept pointing as if by sheer effort she could make me see it.

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Movie Review of “M3GAN” (2022)

megan

© James Pyles

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Last night (as I write this), I watched the 2022 horror film M3GAN.I normally don’t watch horror films. I’m not overly fond of being terrified and calling it “entertainment.” However, I do have an interest in AI and humanoid robots. So a few days ago, when I saw the Blu-Ray at my local public library, I decided to give it a whirl.

The disc gave me the choice of watching the theatrical version (PG-13) or the unrated version (anything goes). Naturally, I selected the latter.

The story begins with a little girl (Violet McGraw as Cady) in a car with her parents going on a ski trip. The girl is playing with an advanced robotic furry doll run from her tablet and invented by her aunt. Snow in the ground, icy roads, fog, and a snowplow out of nowhere, and the parents die in a car crash.

Meanwhile her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) who is supposed to be developing a better, cheaper furry AI doll with her team Tess (Jen Van Epps) and Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) are actually working on a prototype “child” android named M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android).

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Book Review of “Redux II: The Search for Floyd”

redux2

© James Pyles

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Last night (as I write this) I finished Gregg Cunningham’s SciFi time travel novel Redux II: The Search for Floyd published by Starry Eyed Press. It’s the sequel to the original novel Redux: The Lost Patrol which I reviewed on my blog last year.

The original novel is set in the future, primarily on the Moon. Redux and his battle robot Floyd are using a time travel device called a “War Pig” in an attempt to “fix” history. Redux wants to bring back all the people lost in war, to win every battle they lost, and to establish a future history with his lost love.

The original novel is a little hard to follow because, like many time travel books, it tends to bounce around all over the place. In the end, an old, burned out Redux is left stranded when his younger self steals the War Pig and his version of Floyd.

It’s not all bad. His lost love Dixie is alive, but she’s young and he’s an old man she doesn’t recognize.

Redux II picks up there with our hero (or anti-hero) one among a series of refugees destined for relocation on Mars. But then things get weird.

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Book Review of Redux: the Lost Patrol, A SciFi Time Travel Novel

reduxIf you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Some weeks ago, author Gregg Cunningham asked if I’d mind reading and reviewing his novel Redux: the Lost Patrol, A SciFi Time Travel Novel. To that end, he sent me a PDF formatted ARC copy.

I started to read Part One of the novel “War Pig.” I’ve read War Pig at least twice and so burned through it a third time. Then I hit Part Two “The Lost Patrol.” I was most of the way through Chapter 1 “Time” all the while feeling like I’d read this before. Then I checked Amazon and saw I had bought the book last May. Yikes.

I checked my reviews and I hadn’t published one, but when I checked the digital book on my Kindle Fire, I found my notes. I feel really dumb. I’d read Gregg’s book months ago, but never wrote the review.

Sorry about that, Gregg.

Well, it’s never too late so here we go.

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