Tag Archives: steampunk

Read “The Last Oasis of Mars” at “High Tower Magazine” NOW!

pirates

Promotional art for “The Last Oasis of Mars.”

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It’s here!

More specifically, my short story The Last Oasis of Mars: From the Tales of the Razzle Dazzle is at High Tower Magazine.

Join (a fictionalized version of) writer Jack London and the Captain and crew of the pirate ship “Razzle Dazzle” or “Dazzler” as she attempts her greatest adventure, raiding the last British outpost on the dying planet Mars.

What is the secret of the “Fire” mines beneath the oasis?

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Reminder: My short story “The Last Oasis of Mars” Appears in “High Tower Magazine” on Friday!

The Dazzler

© James Pyles

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Just a reminder, my steampunk, pulp fiction short story “The Last Oasis of Mars” will be featured in the premiere issue of High Tower Magazine on Friday, June 14th. If you click the link before then, there’s not much to see. Click Subscribe to subscribe to the new periodical. Clicking No, thanks takes you to more information. So far only the About page has any real content. After all, it’s just getting off the ground.

Speaking of which, here’s a short sample of my wee missive:

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Kickstarter for “Zehlreg A. Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium” Launches Tomorrow!

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

Remember when I said that my western/horror short story “Blood Trail” was accepted for publication by End of the World Pubishing?

Well, the kickstarter starts tomorrow morning, Friday, May 31st!

According to the publisher, the final word count will be around 125K, which is huge. Also, reaching for the stars, they also want to raise enough for an audiobook as well.

Go to the Zehlreg A. Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium kickstarter page. If necessary, create an account (I had to go through about a dozen captchas just to make mine).

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“The Last Oasis of Mars” to be Published in High Tower Magazine

pirates

Promotional art for “The Last Oasis of Mars.”

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

My steampunk science fantasy short story “The Last Oasis of Mars” has been accepted for publication in the brand new periodical High Tower Magazine.

So far, the publication is entirely digital, so I don’t have any promo art from them. That’s why I posted some of my AI art (the story is 100% me) above for the visual.

“Oasis” is a callback to the “Barsoom” tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs as well as the pulp fiction of the early part of the 20th century. A lot of this was my introduction to science fiction and fantasy when I was a teen, so it’s near and dear to my heart.

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My short story “Blood Trail” Accepted for Publication in “Zehlreg Augustus Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium”

western

Screen capture from hyperion-tales.com

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I don’t have a lot of details yet, but my “E.E. Durban, Occult Consulting Detective” short story “Blood Trail” has been accepted for publication by End of the World Publishing.

The theme is called Zehlreg Augustus Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium and is “where the Wild West meets the vast worlds of Fantasy!”

More specifically:

Our theme is intentionally broad to allow would-be contributors to rustle the dogies of their imaginations as freely as possible. A few ideas we have had, purely as examples, are: What would it be like if there had been dwarves around for the California gold rush? What animals elves or orcs might drive and what antics might ensue? How would a saloon fight go if some folks in the saloon were magic users? For that matter, what would magic look like/be used for and how would the general populace use it? Show us Sitting Bull with magic that controls water! Show us ghost riders chasing the Devil’s herd! Show us Billy the Kid with a wand! Or on a dragon! Or both! Show us Annie Oakley, Magic Missile Sharp-shooter! The possibilities are endless.

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Steamflight

liz

PHOTO PROMPT © Liz Young

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“You really like it in that steampunk reality?” Josue Hunter stood in this secret museum admiring the flying machine with his best friend Wyatt Ellison.

“You sound so surprised, Josue. I got into time traveling for the adventure, so when history made this turn, you knew I’d jump for it.”

“And you knew I’d pass, giving up time travel. My universe became safe and mundane, well except for this.” He motioned toward alternate reality’s first steam driven aeroplane from the mid-19th century.

“You needed your history to be safe for your family. The time change gave you that, my friend.”

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Book Review of “The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass”

aeronaut

© James Pyles for photo

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I was at the public library weeks ago looking for another book when I came across Jim Butcher’s novel The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass. It was published in 2016 as the first of a series, but according to Butcher’s website, the second in this collection will probably be published this year.

I’d never heard of Butcher before, but he’s been Hugo nominated more than once and has written the well-known (to everyone but me) Dresden Files novel series. I’ve been criticized by “real science fiction fans” that I’m not a “true fan” because I don’t have an encyclopedia-like  knowledge of all things SciFi. Oh well.

At 630 pages, it took me a while to read, especially since I can’t always find large blocks of time for reading. So after renewing it once, I finally finished it off this morning. I’m really glad I came across it. I was attracted to the cover mainly and checked it out on a whim.

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“Wolf in the Wind” Now Available in the Anthology, “Shoot the Devil”

shoot the devil

Cover art for the anthology “Shoot the Devil.”

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It wasn’t supposed to come out until October 1st, but the anthology was just “too extreme for pre-order.” Available on Amazon right now in both digital and paperback the Crucifixion Press anthology Shoot the Devil: Ten Tales of Humans Defeating the Demonic. The Amazon blurb says:

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“Wolf in the Wind” Appears in “Shoot the Devil” Anthology October 1st

shoot the devil

Cover art for the anthology “Shoot the Devil.”

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

My steampunk, occult, horror, western short story “Wolf in the Wind” will appear in the Crucifixion Press anthology “Shoot the Devil” on or about October 1, 2022.

Too often, the modern world wants us to avoid confrontation, to pretend that evil doesn’t exist, that the bad guy is always misunderstood, “the hero of his own story”. Even when people can be bothered to admit that evil exists, they just encourage us to be ‘nice’. To be ‘understanding’ and ‘compassionate’. Anything but actually facing the evil and driving it out with extreme prejudice.

-From the Foreword by Eric Postma

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Coming in October in a New Anthology: “Wolf in the Wind”

wolf teaser

Promotional image from Crucifixion Press

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My short story “Wolf in the Wind” was accepted some months ago for a new anthology, but it won’t see the light of day (so to speak) until October. Until then, here’s a small taste.

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