“The Haunting of the Ginger’s Regret” Accepted by Starry Eyed Press

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Image: hongkiat.com

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My novella “The Haunting of the Ginger’s Regret” has been accepted by Starry Eyed Press for their 224-Verse. This will be the second story published in their Andromeda galaxy collection, the first being The Fallen Shall Rise.

“Haunting” is set in a different part of the galaxy and in a different era, so the two storylines are completely dissimilar. Those of you who are long-time readers of my blog know that the “Regret” and her pilot have had many adventures here. For publication, I changed quite a few things, so those older stories aren’t the same as what will soon appear in the 224-Verse.

I don’t have any cover or other graphics yet, but here’s a brief sample of the story:

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Review of “Rogue Protocol,” Part 3 in “The Murderbot Diaries”

rogue

Cover art for the novella Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

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I’m continuing to thoroughly enjoy Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series having just finished Rogue Protocol, the third novella in the collection (and still incredibly overpriced, even for such quality). I’ve already reviewed All Systems Red and Artificial Condition.

Side Note: I’ve mentioned this before in one of the previous reviews, but even though the security unit/murderbot has no gender, even though partially organic, I can’t help but hear her voice as a “her.” Maybe it’s because I’m aware that the author is a woman, or maybe it’s because Wells projected a “female” personality into her voice during the writing, but that’s how I think of “her.” I know some people are going to object to this (for gender identity reasons), but for this and other reviews, the SecUnit is a “she” to me. That’s what I’m going to call her.

In this “episode,” our SecUnit who sometimes goes by the name of “Consultant Rin” when posing as an augmented human security consultant, continues to pursue clues as to her past and the lost portions of her memories. To that end, she stows away on another robotic spacecraft, convincing its AI that she belongs there, and travels to a station orbiting the planet Milu. There, she plans to travel to an abandoned orbiting terraforming station that is not what it appears to be.

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Book Review of “Jack of Shadows”

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After my last two books and especially Nnedi Okorafor’s missive and it’s aftermath, I decided to “play it safe” and revisit some old ground.

I remember reading Roger Zelazny’s Jack of Shadows soon after it was originally published in the early 1970s and recalled enjoying it.

After so many years, that’s all I recalled, but apparently this Hugo and Locus Award nominee had gone out of print for some years. Nor could I find a copy in my local library system. Finally, it was republished as part of the “Recovered Classics Book Series number 23”. I downloaded it from Amazon to my Kindle Fire and there it waited for me.

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“Spring Info SciFi 2022 Edition” is Here!

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My personal copy of Spring Into SciFi, 2022 Edition arrived in the mail today. It features my science fiction short story “Tiamat Descending.”

The “blurb” for my story says:

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Book Review of “Binti: The Complete Trilogy”

binti

Cover art for Binti: The Complete Trilogy

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I previously mentioned that as part of Women in SciFi Month and in response to the twitter hashtag #FiveSFFWritersWhoArentBlokes, I collected the names of some female authors I’ve never read to essentially broaden my horizons.

Today, I just finished Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti: The Complete Trilogy. As it’s a collected trilogy (plus one additional short story), it’s publication history is from 2015 through 2019.

To understand my review and the work in general, I’ll present a few bits of info. First, the author’s bio as presented on Amazon:

Nnedi Okorafor was born in the United States to two Igbo (Nigerian) immigrant parents. She holds a PhD in English and was a professor of creative writing at Chicago State University. She has been the winner of many awards for her short stories and young adult books, and won a World Fantasy Award. Nnedi’s books are inspired by her Nigerian heritage and her many trips to Africa.

That’s the short version. Now the professional reviews of this trilogy posted on Amazon:

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“Surge: A Dragon Soul Press Anthology” is Available for Pre-Order Now!

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Promotional image for the Dragon Soul Press anthology “Surge”

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The Dragon Soul Press cyberpunk anthology Surge is now available for pre-order from Amazon for delivery to your kindle device April 30, 2022

From Amazon:

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Spring Into SciFi 2022 is Here!

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Cover art for “Spring Into SciFi 2022”

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It’s here! The Cloaked Press anthology Spring Into SciFi 2022 Edition is now available for immediate download from Amazon onto your kindle device upon purchase.

It features my space opera short story “Tiamat Descending.” Here’s a short sample.

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Book Review of Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Cyroburn”

cryoburn

© James Pyles

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I feel like this book review requires a bit of an explanation. I thought “Women in SciFi Month” was in March, but according to this, it’s in April, so I’m not late.

Actually, thanks to Cora Buhlert (she and I are very different people but she’s one of the few folks who doesn’t take it personally) and the twitter hashtag #FiveSFFWritersWhoArentBlokes, I compiled a list of female SFF writers I want to read (a lot more than five). I’m usually against “you have to read these authors or you’re racist, sexist, misanthropic, whatever…” but I am also aware there are tons of science fiction writers I simply don’t know about. After all, if not for twitter, I’d have no idea Adrian Tchaikovsky even existed, let alone have read and reviewed his novel Children of Time (it has issues but overall, a great book).

Because my list is alphabetical, I started with Lois McMaster Bujold. I found out that a bunch of her books were at my local public library just a few miles from where I live. I shot on over but hadn’t looked any of them up first. I set aside anything that looked like fantasy and drilled into her science fiction works. I settled on Cryoburn because the blurb was interesting:

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Spring Into SciFi 2022 Comes Out in Two Days!

scifi

Cover art for “Spring Into Scifi 2022”

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Wow! That came up fast.

Spring Into Scifi 2022 becomes available on Monday, March 21, 2022. Amazing. I’m so fortunate to have been a contributing member to this anthology series since 2019. My short story “Tiamat Descending” is featured within it’s pages. Here’s a small taste.

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