Alan Hancock

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2024

Stories (5)

5 Stories

62 karma pts

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“The South” by Alan Hancock

Submitted to Contest #287

The SouthAlan Hancock 20252 020 words When she woke, always before me, always at first light as slanting sunlight brought the touch of the day's heat in through the gaps in the wooden shutters, through the muezzin's long call to prayer as the swallows went swooping and screaming past the window down the long canyon of Rue Descartes, past Hamid the bed maker opening the steel doors of his workshop, in the first light in the still of the early morning she made tea. I would half wake and hear her in the kitchen. The metal sound of a lid taken o...

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“Guide my steps” by Alan Hancock

Submitted to Contest #281

Guide my stepsAlan Hancock 2024 I watch him as he walks in the rain. If only he knew, how close I am, always, how much I care. He would be surprised, frightened maybe. And I don't want to frighten him. Not now. So close I can feel his poor heart. He thinks he is a poet. He notes things down in the special notebook that he bought at the bookshop by the harbour. He goes there often, when he is lonely, when he wants to leave his lonely house and be part of the big world. I've followed him down there, watched him walk up and...

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“My Secret Life” by Alan Hancock

Submitted to Contest #281

My Secret Life Alan Hancock 20242,660 wds When I put this story together I was wondering where to start. And I thought, let’s start at the beginning, a long time ago in another place a very long way from here. So, to start from the beginning. When I was a boy I loved stories about people who had a secret. Some of them were true stories and some were made up. But it didn’t make any difference to me. They were all just as good, as long as they had a secret. I read this story about a gang of kids ...

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“The Lighthouse” by Alan Hancock

Submitted to Contest #275

The LighthouseAlan Hancock, July 20242 055 wds June 2024The lighthouse had withstood storms, high tides and king waves for over 150 years. ‘Just look at those walls, they must be near a metre thick’, Simon said, ‘And windows like ships port holes’ Annie added. It was indeed impressive. ‘Did you see the cat?’‘No, where?’ Simon looked up from the visitors’ guide account of the shipwreck.‘Big black one. Sitting on the path, then it ran up ahead up the steps. Like it was leading the way. You sure you didn’t see it?’‘Must have been heading h...

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“Sky” by Alan Hancock

Submitted to Contest #253

The Sky – Alan Hancock 2024With thanks to the illustrators of the cover to Ian McEwan’s novel ‘Saturday’ – this image inspired my story1, 150 words He doesn’t go and make that coffee, he doesn’t check the NASDAQ and the Dow Jones Index, the DAX and the FTSE, the Brent Crude spot prices or US dollar exchange rate forecasts, not that day, or ever again. Because he lingers at the bedroom wondow and watches Venus beaming down on North London, next to her the Post Office Tower lit by its electronic and neon beacons that outshine any star or plane...

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Author bio

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