Lyle Stiles

Babies? Curses? And Were-Platypuses?...

Check out my new MG short story, "The Baby Blight-A Halloween High Mystery" published by Starspun Lit ( complete with illustrations) here: www.starspunlit.org/issues/hallo...

Looks like exactly the kind of book I need right now! Thanks for posting about it.

Also, I'm loving your row of Octavia Butler books—especially the Patternist ones

I had the most wonderful flight home from Denver. I met the nicest young man who sat next to me. He offered to put my bag in the overhead compartment and helped me with my tray. He was always polite, saying "yes ma’am" or "no ma’am." Anyone would be proud to have him as a son or grandson—so polite. People walking by were saying congratulations, great job, or even taking pictures. I turned and asked him, “Who am I sitting next to?” I looked at his Jaguar pants, smiled, and asked, “Are you an athlete?” He smiled and said, “I’m Travis. Yes, I was drafted by the Jags.” I already told my sons I want his jersey. He’s so humble and down-to-earth—I would have never guessed he was a professional athlete. JACKSONVILLE JAGS, you did good! I will be buying tickets. United Airlines, thank you for my seat assignment!

This is too wholesome

“Your saliva smells like sardines.”
“Yeah, well. I’m a cat.”
“Now my face smells like sardines.”
“I don’t care. I’m a cat.”

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow #booksky📚🪐

“To all who walk the dark path...brighter days are coming. Clearer sight will arrive. And you will arrive too. No, it might not be forever. The bright moments might be for a few days at a time, but hold on for those days. Those days are worth the dark.”

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson #booksky📚🪐

Can you hear that? That’s me smiling, y’all. I’m smiling so loud you can fucking hear it. I’m going to destroy the goddamn universe with my irrational joy and I will spew forth pictures of clumsy kittens and baby puppies adopted by raccoons.

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson #booksky 📚🪐

“But for a society built on exploitation, there is no greater threat than having no one left to oppress.”

The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin #booksky📚🪐

But I think there’s another reason that winemakers tend to live a long time. Their lives revolve around nature and the cycle of seasons. You realize you cannot control nature, you can only adapt...When you come to peace with this, it’s not only humbling, but also freeing.

Roctogenerians #booksky📚🪐

“Look how cute little birdie is!” my mother said earnestly. “Let’s make a grave for him over there, so everyone can lay flowers on it.”

And that’s what we did. Everyone cried for the poor dead bird as they went around murdering flowers, plucking their stalks.

Convenience Store Woman #booksky 📚🪐

“In order to rise From its own ashes A phoenix First Must Burn.”

Parable of the Sower #booksky📚🪐

The term doughnut came from Harrison Gregory, an 18th-century sailor, inspired by his mom. She made him a dough cake with nuts in it for his journey.

When other sailors asked what he was eating, he said, “Dough and nuts”; this was quickly shortened to “doughnuts”.

Why? by Riddleland #booksky📚🪐

A proton is an infinitesimal part of an atom, which is itself of course an insubstantial thing. Protons are so small that a little dib of ink like the dot on this "i" can hold something in the region of 500,000,000,000 of them.

A Short History of Nearly Everything #booksky📚🪐

“Hope in the shadow of fear is the world's most powerful motivator.”

Scythe by Neal Shusterman #booksky📚🪐

The dolphins had long known of the impending destruction of planet Earth and made many attempts to alert mankind; but their communications were misinterpreted as amusing attempts to punch footballs or whistle for titbits, so eventually they gave up and left Earth by their own means…

H2G2 #booksky📚🪐

Greek philosopher Diogenes wrote in mythical jest that the god Hermes taught his son Pan (the half-man, half-goat frolicker) the practice of masturbation, and that he, in turn, could teach it to isolated shepherds tending to their flock.

DIY by Dr. Eric Sprankle #booksky📚🪐

900 CE: People believed in tempestarii (weather mages)—evil sorcerers summoning sailors in flying ships to cause storms to steal crops from farmers’ fields, a form of witchcraft hysteria.

Farmers never caught the sailors, but did accuse neighbors of being tempestarii.

Weird Middle Ages #booksky📚🪐

"I’m not saying he intentionally threw me out of a moving car, just that an opportunity presented itself and that my father is a dangerous man who shouldn’t be trusted."

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson #booksky📚🪐

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”

—Dr. Seuss📚🪐

“He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.”

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams #booksky📚🪐

2300 BC: The chief priest of Sumeria created a hymn to praise God. This celebration of the deity, “The Exaltation of Inanna,” is the world’s 1st known poem. But it has another claim to attention—both the 1st God and this 1st known priest-poet were female.

Who Cooked the Last Supper? #booksky📚🪐

Too true!

She has a very unique (and pleasantly unhinged) approach to comedy and life that makes the whole book an enjoyable read.

And though it was a bit more somber than LPTNH, I also enjoyed "Furiously Happy."

I’m from the South, and in Texas we offer drinks to strangers even when we’re at the liquor store. In Texas we call that “southern hospitality.”

The people who own the store call it “shoplifting.”

Let's Pretend This Never Happened #booksky 📚🪐

Research points to one woman as the original “gene fount” for the whole human race. She lived in Africa 300,000 years ago. Her descendants migrated & spread across the globe, giving rise to everyone living today. She is known as "Mitochondrial Eve."

Who Cooked the Last Supper? #blacksky #booksky 📚🪐

In 2023, it was a Christmas miracle of sorts for Brenda Lee when “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” propelled by TikTok, finally hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart, 65 years after it was released. Lee, at 78, became the oldest living person to have a No. 1 song in the US.

Roctogenerians #booksky📚🪐

Can we compromise and read books with Easter eggs/hidden references?

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss📚🪐

returning october 2025 #DVPit now on bluesky 40+ participating agents & editors (and counting) follow us at @dvpit.bsky.social for more updates!

Marginalized creators! Polish up those manuscripts, #DVPit returns October 2025 on bluesky with over 40 participating agents and editors! #booksky #writersky

My most important talent—or habit—was persistence. Without it, I would have given up writing long before my first novel. It’s amazing what we can do if we simply refuse to give up. And this applies to anything that's important, but frightening.

Bloodchild & Other Stories-Octavia Butler #booksky📚🪐

"Drink up," said Ford, "you've got three pints to get through."
"Three pints?" said Arthur. "At lunchtime?"
Ford nodded and replied, "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #booksky 📚🪐

OMG! Congrats!!!!!!!!!