Category Archives: Uncategorized

“The Trench Coat Chronicles” Now Available at Barnes & Noble

Cover image for the anthology “The Trench Coat Chronicles”

I’m pleased to announce that the Celestial Echo Press “hard-boiled detective” anthology The Trench Coat Chronicles is now available Barnes & Noble.

Edited by Ruth Littner, Ann Stolinsky. it features my short story The Haunted Detective.

In 1947 San Francisco, Marguerite Potter has just gone into business for herself as a Private Detective after learning the trade from her more experienced mentor. Used to the rough and gritty streets of the City that Never Sleeps, even Margie is startled when her first client is the young woman who became her friend when Potter arrived in the City, a woman who had been murdered six years ago.

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Fantastic Schools: Volume Two Now Available

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Cover image for the anthology “Fantastic Schools, vol 2”

Okay, it’s only partly available. The Kindle version can be purchased and downloaded now, but the hard copy edition is still being worked on. Still, finally, finally “Sorcery’s Preschool” has seen the light of day.

I have cover credit and I’m listed with some of the other authors at the top of the page, but according to L. Jagi Lamplighter, Amazon only allows up to ten authors to be listed, so for the paperback, my name won’t be up top.

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More Crimes, This Time By World Fantasy Con 2020

I came across this thanks to a tweet by Jon Del Arroz. Apparently Jane Dismantle White Supremacy tweeted a complaint to the World Fantasy Con 2020 about how incredibly offensive their panels were, or at least how offense their descriptions were. You can find the letter on Google Docs, but I took screenshots of all of the tweets responding to her to date and the entire letter in case she decides to delete them (that happens occasionally).

Here’s the letter.

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Why So Binary?

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Screenshot from twitter

First of all, I totally hate this new WordPress editor, absolutely hate it. Why can’t I choose to have my old editor which I knew so well?

Anyway, I hope you can see the image I selected because I can’t. It’s a screenshot of my original screenshot of Representative Dan Crenshaw calling out former Vice President and current Presidential candidate Joe Biden on something he said that, in my opinion as well as Mr. Crenshaw’s is absolutely untrue.

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A Wee Bit About Comments

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I apologize for the inconvenience, but for the foreseeable future, I’m going to be moderating every comment made on this blog. I had to do this some years ago on a companion blog to keep conversations civil, but events have occurred that have resulted in me making that same decision here.

I’m sure if you’ve been reading this blog for any period of time, you have realized I can be opinionated, and as fair as I want to be, as much as I want to provide a platform for all voices, occasionally one comes along that crosses the line. I bear some responsibility for creating the situation, but this seems the only decision I can make to correct it.

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DVD Film Review: Black Panther

Actor Chadwick Boseman who played T’Challa, the Black Panther died at the age of 43 of colon cancer. Everything I’ve read about him says he was an amazing human being, both talented and kind. He was married only last year but he and his wife had no children. According to his official biography, he was a Christian and actually prayed to get the role of the Black Panther.

I’m reblogging my review of the 2018 film “Black Panther” in his honor. Rest in Peace, Chadwick. Wakanda Forever.

James Pyles's avatar

black panther Promotional poster for the 2018 film “Black Panther”

Okay, so last night, I watched Black Panther (2018) and loved it. Actually, for me, picking up the main themes wasn’t difficult at all, and yes it is more than just another superhero story. It’s both the epic tale of a new King who is struggling to determine the direction of his nation, and a spiritual journey for personal truth, especially between father and son.

I’m not being frivolous or unkind when I say that the latter reminded me of the 1994 Disney film The Lion King. After all, Simba (voiced by Matthew Broderick) has to come to terms with his guilt over his father Mufasa’s (voiced by James Earl Jones) death and his worthiness to become a King. He is also challenged by his rival Scar (voiced by Jeremy Irons) and must risk death fighting for the right to ascend…

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Day Job and Insomnia

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Image: alghad.com

I’m beat.

I’ve been working at the new day job for a little over six weeks and I’m loving it, plus they seem to be loving me. The pay is good and I’m working from home. Probably will be too until at least the end of July and maybe longer.

But with doing a bunch of other, littler jobs before that, although the pay was lousy, I had tons of time to write.

Then there’s the insomnia. I go to sleep okay, but wake up in the middle of the night. Sometimes I’m able to roll over and eventually go back to sleep, but other nights, I’m up for a couple of hours.

Last night, I forced myself to stay in bed, but it seemed like it took forever to doze off again.  I finally was in the space to really sleep when it was time to get up.

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The Presence of Justice

I posted this on my other blog “Morning Meditations,” but it really needs the widest possible audience, so I’m reblogging it here, too. “The Presence of Justice”. It wasn’t easy to write. For a lot of you, it won’t be easy to read.

James Pyles's avatarMorning Meditations

blm boise Photo credit: KIVI Staff – Black Lives Matter protest in front of the Idaho State Capitol

There’s quite a push in social media and in the news regarding phrases like “silence is concent” and “silence is violence.” In other words, if you are white and you don’t say something about “systemic racism,” and a very specific something, then you are accused of giving tacit approval to racism in general and violence against people of color in particular.

I don’t know about that. The Bible has a lot to say about times when it is better to be silent rather than speaking out of emotion or impulse. Make no mistake, there’s a lot of emotion and impulse in both social media and the real world.

Having Jewish family members, my traditional focus relative to justice is the battle against antisemitism, and, after all, bigotry is bigotry, right? Would not the words…

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My Award Winning “Building Your Brand” Article to be Published in “Inner Circle Magazine”

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James Pyles – photo taken by David Pyles

As you may recall, I recently announced that I was awarded third place in the “Building Your Brand” contest by Sweetycat Press.

Steven Lester Carr posted my essay on their Facebook page which I replicated here on my blog.

Grant Hudson at Inner Circle Magazine just informed me that the essays for all three award winners will be published in the May edition of that periodical, which will be out very soon.

Find out more by clicking the magazine’s link above.

I Want My Old Normal Back

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© James Pyles – Selfie in the age of COVID-19

I’ve been hearing the phrase the new normal a lot lately. It’s the idea that even once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, the U.S. and the world won’t simply go back to “business as usual,” as if the pandemic never happened.

There are some people who even see this “new normal” as an opportunity to “improve” things. For instance, House Member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is advocating for people to not go back to work once restrictions are lifted. She is specifically referencing people who work 60, 70, and 80 hours a week at low paying jobs and who feel no security in their lives. You can watch a video of her statement on YouTube.

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden has said that the pandemic response is an opportunity for structural change. Of course that might only be a good thing if you share his political viewpoint.

Yet, from what I’ve seen, the protests people are actually doing go in the opposite direction from Ocasio-Cortez and Biden.

A few days ago, people in Orange County, California (where I used to live) held a mass protest at Huntington Beach opposing Governor Gavin Newsom’s closing beaches in Orange County and only Orange County. He did this in response to a perceived overcrowding at Newport Beach the weekend before. Just how crowded the beach was has been disputed, but based on the photos, it looks crowded.

Nevertheless, Californians are pushing back, including at a rally at the California State Capitol where 32 people were arrested, both because they were in violation of Newsom’s stay-at-home order, and because of the ban against protests on state property (but I thought people had a constitutional right to protest on any public property as long as it was peaceful).

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