Ben Pyle

Freelance Writer | Leadership Consultant | Graphic Novelist | Assistant Professor

United States

I earned my doctorate in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Organizational Leadership while working as a business consultant. I coach intercollegiate speech and debate, editing nationally competitive speeches on various topics at 1,500 words or fewer. My textbook on FORENSICS PEDAGOGY with Dr. Sim Butler was recently published with Great River Learning. I earned my master’s degree in Criminal Justice, researching the quantification of risk for sexual assault within the prison system. My research, "Organizational Change in Law Enforcement: Community-Oriented Policing as Transformational Leadership," with Dr. Joseph Cangemi, was published in the Winter 2019 edition of ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL.

Creatively, I write prose, comics, and graphic novels. I completed a comic book writing apprenticeship with Van Jensen (THE FLASH, PINOCCHIO VAMPIRE SLAYER). My prose short stories have been featured in LITERARY YARD, ARIEL CHART, PAGE & SPINE, and SCARLET LEAF REVIEW. My webcomic with artist Marc Rene, PROJECT: AURORAL, reached Top 20 in Stan Lee's POW Entertainment 2016 Line Webtoon contest and recently appeared monthly as a feature in HYBRID FICTION. I had three comic book short stories published in 2019 with artist Renan Balmonte: "Lavinia" appeared in MY KINGDOM FOR A PANEL by Arledge Comics, "Blood Borders" appeared in MONSTER MASHUP: A PDX ANTHOLOGY by Grit City Comics, and "Echoes" appeared in ELSEWHERE by Unlikely Heroes Studios. I also provide reviews and editorial duties for the comic book and pop culture review website SIRENS OF SEQUENTIALS.

E-Mail: [email protected]

REVIEWS:

"...eerie and frightening."

Katherine Kleffner, THE NERDY GIRL EXPRESS - 05/30/19 on "Lavinia" by Ben Pyle & Renan Balmonte appearing in MY KINGDOM FOR A PANEL. https://thenerdygirlexpress.com/2019/05/30/my-kingdom-for-a-panel-comic-review-arledgecomics-from-kleffnotes/

"'Blood Borders' by Ben Pyle and Renan Balmonte ... mixes the topical with the supernatural. ... It's a simple yet effective horror tale about the themes of exile and being hunted as an 'other.'"

ADULT MUTANT REVIEW GUY - 01/08/20 on "Blood Borders" by Ben Pyle & Renan Balmonte appearing in MONSTER MASHUP.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/monster-mashup-1-32934715?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=postshare

Portfolio

Academic Work

Great River Learning
08/18/2021
Textbook - Forensics Pedagogy: Coaching Competitive Speech and Debate

Chapter 1: Dramatic Interpretation Chapter 2: Prose Interpretation Chapter 3: Duo Interpretation Chapter 4: Poetry Interpretation Chapter 5: Program Oral Interpretation Chapter 6: Extemporaneous Speaking Chapter 7: Impromptu Speaking Chapter 8: After Dinner Speaking Chapter 9: Communication Analysis Chapter 10: Informative Speaking Chapter 11: Persuasive Speaking Chapter 12: Lincoln- Douglas

Western Kentucky University
05/31/2021
Administrative Trust as a Contributor to Forensic Coach Burnout and Exit

This study sought to determine whether a relationship exists and its extent between intercollegiate forensic coach trust in university administrators and burnout and exit in intercollegiate forensic coaches. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between intercollegiate forensic coach trust in their university administrators with both intercollegiate forensic coach satisfaction and intercollegiate forensic coach burnout in predicting intercollegiate forensic coach exit from...

Organization Development Journal
12/01/2019
Organizational Change in Law Enforcement: Community-Oriented Policing as Transformational Leadership

Comprehensive organizational change in law enforcement practices remains constrained by its adherence to the quasi-military model. While transformational leadership continues to gain popularity within the business field, police leadership and officers also express a desire to emphasize follower-oriented practices. However, the transactional relationship persists for police, inhibiting the widespread implementation of community-oriented policing, a transformational law enforcement style....

UA
05/31/2010
Quantifying Risk for Sexual Assault in Prisons

Traditional studies of sexual assault in the prison system have focused upon identifying those inmates most likely to perpetrate the offence. However, little research has been conducted upon better identification of those inmates most at risk for sexual assault victimization.

Short Stories

Literary Yard
07/24/2019
Shane, The Devil

By Ben Pyle Satan is a staggeringly good kisser. Not too much tongue. A light nibble on the lower lip. Way better than my ex-husband. My dead husband. Satan and I have been seeing each other for a little over three months. Met on Tinder. Go figure.

Ariel Chart
08/05/2019
My Job as a Cat

By Ben Pyle This is my fourth day working as a cat. Not too bad a gig. I sleep most of the day. Canned tuna for lunch. However, I drew a line in the sand at the litterbox. As she enters the room with the pet brush, I tell Mrs. Cummins, "Listen, lady.

Page & Spine
10/25/2019
School Spirits

​By Ben Pyle Some swore the high school was haunted. In truth, it still is. I drop the seats and turn toward the voice. "Mrs. Vaughn?" The socket wrench slips. My knuckles strike the auditorium seat's underside. "Yes, Jake?" I say contorting my head into the aisle. A seventeen-year-old boy covered in blood leans against the open doorway.

Comics

Tales from the Distpatch Vol. 4
05/03/2023
Lacewing

Tales From The Dispatch is a new anthology series from SnowyWorks and Indie Comix Dispatch. Featuring stories of alternate futures, paranormal activity, wishful thinking, crime fighters, campfire tales, and much much more. There’s sure to be something for every comic lover!

Hybrid Fiction Vol .1 Issue #6
09/20/2020
Project Auroral: Finale

Enjoy the latest edition of Hybrid Fiction, an action-packed, genre-bending issue full of comics and scifi and fantasy stories. In this edition of this germinal cross-genre literary and art magazine, our creators take you from compellingly human cyberpunk with Ampu-Chic to future fantasy. In this issue you'll also find the final chapter in the saga of the comic Project Auroral in which a LGBTQ superhero battles to save Earth from subjugation from those closest to her. And finally we're...

Hybrid Fiction Vol .1 Issue #5
08/20/2020
Project Auroral: Chapter 3

Enjoy the latest edition of Hybrid Fiction, an action-packed, genre-bending issue full of comics and scifi and fantasy stories. In this edition of this germinal cross-genre literary and art magazine, our creators take you from cyborg violinists to celebrity heroes to a Tinder date with a faery. In this issue you'll also find the continuing saga of the comic Project Auroral in which a LGBTQ superhero battles to save Earth from subjugation from those closest to her. There's also the fourth and...

Hybrid Fiction Vol .1 Issue #4
07/20/2020
Project Auroral: Chapter 2

We're back from hiatus with an action-packed, genre-bending issue full of comics and scifi and fantasy stories. In this edition of this germinal cross-genre literary and art magazine, our creators take you from a dragon-summoning gone wrong to a dystopian future where love still prevails despite drones. In this issue you'll also find the continuing saga of the comic Project Auroral in which a LGBTQ superhero battles to save Earth from subjugation from those closest to her. There's also the...

Hybrid Fiction Vol 1. Issue #3
03/04/2020
Project Auroral: Chapter 1

In the April edition of this germinal cross-genre literary and art magazine, our creators take you from the far reaches of space (where magic may or may not exist) to locations as mundane as an office (except there's a tearoom that let's you walk into an alternate, less mundane reality). In this issue you'll also find the first pages of the comic Project Auroral in which a LGBTQ superhero battles to save Earth from subjugation from those closest to her. There's also the second part of our...

Elsewhere: Volume 1
08/01/2019
Echoes

Elsewhere is a lovingly curated anthology of short pieces by independent creators from all over the world. Together, we bring a bunch of different viewpoints and voices. Genres, styles, moods, and interpretations of reality shift very quickly across more than a hundred and fifty pages of gorgeous art and smart storytelling.

Monster Mashup Comic Anthology
10/01/2019
Blood Borders

Monster Mashup is a public domain crossover anthology using characters from your favorite stories and mashing them up with monsters from legend, lore, literature and MORE. Monster Mashup is built upon a simple idea of combining a multitude of public domain characters into a single book.

My Kingdom for a Panel: A Shakespearean Anthology
07/01/2019
Lavinia

A comic anthology featuring works about or inspired by William Shakespeare. 274 backers pledged $10,876 to help bring this project to life. My Kingdom for a Panel: A Shakespearean Anthology We're a small, but dedicated, crew that's successfully funded eleven and fulfilled ten (on track for #11!) Kickstarter campaigns.

Webtoons
12/12/2015
Project: Auroral

3-episode web-comic with artist, Marc Rene (NICE, The Machine Stops, I Holmes). This web-comic reached Top 20 in Stan Lee's POW Entertainment 2016 Line Webtoon contest.

Reviews