Tag Archives: christianity

Podcast Promoting “Shoot the Devil 3: Martyr’s Miitia” This Friday

promo podcast

Promotional image for the “Shoot the Devil: Martyr’s Militia” podcast.

UPDATE – February 1, 2025: Here’s the public link for you to view the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/live/qIGZAddSpk4

I’ve been promoting the anthology Shoot the Devil 3: Martyr’s Militia for a number of weeks now. It features my short story “The Book of Names.”

The anthology is on sale at Amazon through this weekend (February 1 and 2) for only 99 cents. Great time to buy (and read and of course, review).

A nearly-immortal man who is currently known as Griffin has been searching for the letters and syllables that make up the Name, the one word that will banish evil from the Earth and bring a lasting peace.

He is pursued by a seemingly inexhaustible horde of demons known as “Legion” who want to stop him. Along the way, Griffin has collected the Book of Names, which includes the appellations of many demons. To say a demon’s name in its presence will destroy it.

However, on the threshold of achieving the final letters, Griffin is stopped, not only by Legion but by a woman who may hold the secret to completing his quest. Will she help him or aid his enemies, thus dooming all of humankind?

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“Shoot the Devil 3: Militia of Martyrs” is Available Now!

shoot

Cover image for the anthology, “Shoot the Devil 3: Militia of Martyrs.”

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

It’s out. It’s here. It’s available for your Kindle device. Shoot the Devil 3: Militia of Martyrs is now on sale at Amazon.

As I previously mentioned, I have stories featured in the first two volumes of this anthology and am proud to have made it into the pages of this one as well.

“Militia” hosts a collection of newcomers as well as veterans to “Shoot the Devil” which is good to hear. This series is dedicated to a concept that seems to have fallen by the wayside in most modern entertainment: the victory of good over evil.

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Noah’s Rainbow Is Illegal

Peter's Rainbow

PHOTO PROMPT © Mr. Binks

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“I thought it was a cross up there for a moment.” Simon had to take a deep breath at the surprise and then sighed with disappointment.

“You shouldn’t say that out loud, you know,” his wife Evelyn chided. “If anyone nearby hears, they’ll report us to the constables.”

“It’s my fault for suggesting we take a different route for our evening walk. Oh, look. Noah’s rainbow.”

“Are you insane?” Evelyn’s voice came out as a hiss. “You know the government designated the rainbow for exclusive use, and not by Christians anymore. It’s illegal.”

“An old man can dream, can’t he?”

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Book Review of “The Last Templar” (2005)

templar

© James Pyles

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I just finished reading The Last Templar (2005) by Raymond Khoury. It’s not the usual sort of thing I consume, but every once in a while, I’m attracted to these conspiracy theories, Catholic church conspiracies, historical and archeological mysteries.

It started out great. Strange goings on in Jerusalem in the late 13th century with the city under siege and the Christians about to be overrun. An escape to sea with a mysterious package that contains all the wealth and hopes of the Templars.

In present day, the Metropolitan Museum in New York City is displaying rare artifacts from the Vatican including one little-known encoding device. Four men dressed like knights (later identified as Templar) raid the Met, kill a security guard by beheading, and steal a bunch of wealth as well as the encoder.

Archeologist Tess Chaykin is attending with her mother and her nine-year-old daughter. She’s close enough to the fourth horseman to hear him say a phrase in Latin which translates “The truth will set you free.”

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“Shoot the Devil 2: Dark Matter” is Available NOW!

shoot the devil 2If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

This is it. Shoot the Devil 2: Dark Matter is available from Amazon now. Be the first to purchase and review this science fiction anthology of eleven stories pitting good vs. evil in the farthest reaches of deep space.

As I’ve mentioned before, the book features my short story “The Heavens Declare His Glory.” Here’s a short excerpt.

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Book Review of Joe Haldeman’s “The Accidental Time Machine”

haldeman

Cover art for Joe Haldeman’s “The Accidental Time Machine”

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In going through my “Facebook memories” the other day, I found I’d posted a full review of Joe Haldeman’s 2008 SciFi novel The Accidental Time Machine way back in 2009. Haldeman is a highly acclaimed, award winning author, but while I enjoyed his earlier works some decades previously, this one made me decide to never read Haldeman again. Like so many other “science fiction luminaries,” not only do they disdain almost all people of faith, but in this case actively mock them. Read my views from thirteen years ago for more.

Surprise. I normally review books on actual and not fictional technology, but I came across the hardcopy version of this book at my local library and, having not read a Haldeman novel in a couple of decades, decided to revisit science fiction as one might revisit an old girlfriend. I wanted to see how much my interest in the genre and specifically Haldeman’s writing, had held up over time. I’m also kind of a sucker for time travel stories.

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“The Pleiades Dilemma” Now Available for Pre-Order in the Planetary Anthology “Sol”

sol

Promotional cover image for the Sol planetary anthology

One of my oldest science fiction tales, “The Pleiades Dilemma” is featured in the Tuscany Bay Press Planetary Anthology Sol.

It’s now available for pre-order on Amazon for delivery to your Kindle device on November 10th.

And now, another excerpt:

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Review of Rich Rurshell’s Short Story “Subject: Galilee”

world war 4

© James Pyles

I’m continuing my slow review of the stories in the Zombie Pirate Publishing SciFi anthology World War Four (which also features my short story “Joey,” but right now, that’s beside the point). Today, I highlight Rich Rurshell’s tale “Subject: Galilee.”

Much of the symbolism echoes Christian themes, but Rurshell’s story takes place in the far future. A war is raging between two corporate factions, Liberty West which uses robotic warriors called “Romans,” and Zhang Industries’ human combatants. In between them and a village of peaceful people as well as defected soldiers, is the mysterious armored and cloaked being known as Galilee. He came out of no where, possesses enormous, almost god-like abilities, reprogramming the Roman machines to serve him, his armor all but invulnerable, and seems to be the savior that the world needs, that is until both corporations decide to make him a target.

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Dueling Holidays

christmas wordle

Image found at Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie

“Oh come on, Dave. Certainly during this Yuletide holiday you can celebrate with your family a little, put a present or two under their tree, herald the coming of your Savior. I’ll even wear mistletoe on the front of my waist tonight the way you like it.” Suzanne, winking naughtily, was pulling out all the stops to get her husband out of his recliner in front of the smoldering fireplace in the cozy living room so they could drive the fifteen miles to his brother’s house.

Instead, he just looked up at her with a forlorn expression on his forty-five year old face. “We sent Bob’s family a card, and they know we don’t celebrate Christmas. I mean, they do the whole Santa, reindeer, stocking thing.”

“Get up.” She grabbed his arm forcefully, and he let her pull him to his feet. They both were already dressed for the festive meal his younger brother and their family had every Christmas Eve, so it was just a matter of her getting him to the car. “I don’t care if they put Christmas pudding in the ears of all their elves on their shelves, we’re going.” The forty-two year old software developer gripped Dave with all the strength her gym weight training produced.

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Is Jeff Sessions Trying to Establish an American State Religion?

I know I’m pushing it, but I decided to share these thoughts here on my “fiction” blog.

James Pyles's avatarMorning Meditations

sessions U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

I just found out that “Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday announced the Department of Justice’s creation of a ‘religious liberty task force’ to ‘help the department fully implement our religious guidance'” over at CNN.

Actually, someone I know from my Powered by Robots sister blog reblogged an article called The First Amendment Under Siege posted at The Shinbone Star. You can find out more about their staff here (although discovering that one of their reporters used to work for MSNBC told me a lot about the particular bent of this publication).

I suppose I shouldn’t get into politics on my “religious” blog, but this topic is or should be of interest to all people of faith in the U.S.

It’s tough to get an unbiased view of what Sessions is up to, so I had to look at a number of differing…

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