About six months ago, I mentioned that my short story “The Strangers” was being published in John Green‘s anthology “Tales of the Southwest,” available at Lulu.com.
It’s now also available on Amazon, but that’s not the best news. One of the reviews mentions my story and me by name.
Cover art for the novel Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
With the public libraries closed and my book budget slashed to zero, I was worried I’d be hard strapped for reading material. Then I remembered that some weeks ago, I downloaded a free copy of Annalee Newitz’s science fiction novel Autonomous from Tor.com. So I revisited my kindle device and started consuming the book.
I’m about 60% through, and I can pretty much guarantee that Ms. Newitz is not going to like my review on Amazon. That said, I don’t actually regret reading her book (since it was free), but it again brings to mind how some forms of entertainment are well thought of (in certain prominent circles) and yet cannot seem to tell a good story.
Yesterday, I discovered John Scalzi’s Redshirts novel was also available as a free Tor download, so the MOBI file is now resting comfortably on my kindle. It won both the 2013 Hugo and Lotus awards for best science fiction novel, but given my current experience with “Autonomous,” as well as how I found N.K. Jemisin’s award winning book The Fifth Season, awards don’t always mean what you want them to mean.
Promotional announcement for the Zombie Pirate Publishing anthology, “Raygun Retro”
I can finally announce this and I’m thrilled to do it. My retro science fiction short story “Buried in the Sands of Time” has been accepted for publication in the Zombie Pirate Publishing anthology Raygun Retro: A Science Fiction Anthology.
Here’s the formal announcement from ZPP’s Facebook page:
Congratulations to all of the successful authors for RAYGUN RETRO: A Science Fiction Anthology. Thank you to everyone who submitted, you made it a difficult choice.
Preorder your Raygun Retro Ebook now for half price at the link above.
Available in paperback May 1, 2020.
I’m especially thrilled, because I’ve tried to submit various earlier versions of this tale under the title “Arabia Terra” for nearly two years, and it’s been repeatedly rejected. The final version is a major retooling of the concept which, in this case, is (in my humble opinion) the perfect missive for retro science fiction that pays homage to SciFi movies, TV shows, and novels from the 1950s and 60s, plus illustrates what might happen if the past collided with the future.
Here’s a brief sample. Keep in mind, the final and edited version may read slightly differently:
© James Pyles
I received an email this morning with a digital copy of this book “Infestation,” published by Terror Tract. I had previously mentioned that this anthology, featuring my SciFi/Horror short story “From Deep Within the Skin,” was available for pre-order on Amazon and would be delivered to your kindle device by March 30, 2020.
I checked again, and it’s available now!
I’m including a photo of my computer screen showing a page from the book, as well as the anthology’s Amazon page.
From the book’s Foreword:
Cover image for Max Barry’s 2013 novel “Lexicon”
I just finished Australian author Max Barry‘s 2013 novel Lexicon and I think it’s terrific.
I first became aware of him and this novel by reading a 2014 article he wrote for Gizmodo called How to Write a Great Science Fiction Novel in 7 Easy Steps and, as far as I can tell, “Lexicon” is the first SciFi novel he ever published, though he’s written other books before.
The novel is intriguing in that words are used as weapons, and they can ultimately kill. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but as it turns out, there are certain individuals who, properly trained, can analyze the personality “segment” of people around them, determining which words (which in the book are all nonsense words) will influence them.
But it’s worse than that. A teenage girl named Emily Ruff, who is a runaway and homeless in San Francisco at the beginning of the story, is recruited by a mysterious group of people and begins training at an exclusive prep school in Virginia (think “Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Children” except the children are especially persuasive, but not mutants).
Promotional image for Tuscany Bay Books Planetary anthology series
I know I’ve been harping for a while on having two of my SciFi short stories accepted into the “Mars” and “Sol” anthologies in Tuscany Bay Books’ Planetary Series, but I was just sent a link to Amazon that displays that entire collection on a single page.
This is definitely one-stop shopping. Pre-order all eleven volumes in the series in a single action. They’re waiting for you now.
I’ve just completed my first major edit to the tale “The Pleiades Dilemma” for the “Sol” anthology, and after doing a bit more research, came up with a different, and what I think of as a more dramatic climax to my story. Really, I’m very proud of it. Hope the editor agrees.
In other news…
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):
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.
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:
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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