Bob Faszczewski

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2021

Stories (126)

126 Stories

2522 karma pts

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“Homerun--Through the Timeline” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #253

Five decades away from the streets of his youth had done little to dampen Harry’s enthusiasm for the stickball games that had highlighted his teen years. Like Mickey Mantle, swinging a Louisville Slugger at Yankee Stadium’s home plate, he used to step menacingly up to the manhole cover with his converted wooden broom handle waiting for Joey or one of his other pals to wind up and let loose with the perfect pitch....

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“Who Lies Beneath the Headstone?” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #252

After the funeral for Fred Harris the line of well-wishers among his family and friends stretched from the living room of his large Colonial home, out into the street and well down the tree-lined block. Greetings and expressions of sympathy lasted well into the evening. Since the family had chosen me to help manage the reception, I hadn’t returned to my home until well after 10 pm. &n...

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“What Behind the Door Lurks?” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #251

As he opened the door of the darkened building and stepped into the glitzy vestibule, a loud sound echoed off the walls. He then saw before him a long, dark corridor illuminated on each side only by a series of book lights, one every few feet. John’s girlfriend Jane had texted him a half hour before and told him to join her at the abandoned building, to which she had provided Google Maps directions attached to her text. Although the place looked familiar to him, its age a...

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“Blowin' in the Ether” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #250

As I lay on the Assateague Island beach the sun’s rays drenched me in warmth as my mind wandered to far-off places. I soon fell asleep, and my dreams took me thousands of miles south and west to East Maui's Waianapanapa State Park in the Hawaiian Islands. Back to the wonderful vacations my family had taken there during my teens. Suddenly, a high-velocity wind blew sand across my face, carrying with it ...

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“Returning the Volley” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #249

As soon as the match began, Irina Ubetekov came rushing toward the net at Wimbledon, returning each serve with more power than she had put behind the thousands she had made during her entire 10-year career. This tournament meant much more. It would put the final jewel in the crown on her climb up the summit of the tennis world, and she wanted to leave that world with a flourish on her record, avoiding the dreaded “40-Love” at all costs. For she had made u...

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“Home Run for the Real Player” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #246

Stickball had provided some of the most enjoyable times of Harry’s youth. He used to step menacingly up to the manhole cover his gang used for home plate with his converted wooden broom handle waiting for Joey or one of his other pals to wind up and let loose the perfect pitch. Then he would get a real piece of it and send the rubber ball flying down the block as he rounded the bases. He’d first touch the front door handle of his dad’s ‘57 Chevy, then the tip of the fire ...

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“Bringing Back the Glow” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #245

For hundreds of years residents of the Northern Hemisphere had romped throughout the summer wearing as little attire as possible in their local lakes and the world's oceans. In 2929, though, the sun left the planet midway through the season and disappeared behind the haunting and oversized shadow of the Earth’s moon. Solar eclipses had happened frequently, often more than once a year, several times during our home base’s long histo...

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“GPS Into Another Dimension” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #243

As my car crept along a deserted road in the Virginia-North Carolina countryside, the passing scenery reminded me of the forest scene from "Deliverance." To add to the negative atmosphere, I had agreed to allow my fellow Realtor, Jill McIntyre, to partner with me on the trip and act as my navigator–more on Jill’s sterling character and background later. Back to the drive–the stillness on this Saturday night made me feel like a solo mortician closing up s...

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“Shanghaied on Dry Land” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #242

He opened the heavy door and saw a long, dark corridor bringing him to exhibits on sailing and piracy on each side. Strangely, the only thing lighting the way to each exhibit was a series of book lights, one every few feet. Exhibits in the newly-opened Delmarva Maritime Museum had begun mapping out the story of ancient seafaring commerce and raids by buccaneers traveling along the Eastern Shore. John h...

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“Off-Road Adventure” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #239

It started out as a pleasant jaunt along Route 50 East to Maryland’s coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. Our trip began at 6 am to give us plenty of time to bask in the sun of Ocean City and later frolic in the waves–perhaps spotting a few dolphins or whales romping in the surf. We planned to stop in one of the boardwalk eateries for a little pizza and adult beverages before heading back to our bed and breakfast in...

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“Perfect Timing” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #238

As John Jordan turned over the first shovelful of soil at the groundbreaking ceremony for his new insurance office in the Rehobeth Beach Coastal Mall he struck an unusually hard object. As he reached down to retrieve what felt like hardened cardboard he said, “It looks like a book, maybe a journal or diary.” When he turned the first page his hands shook as badly-smeared ink scrawls revealed the entries on sheets stuck together by “dried blood...

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“Run for My Life” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #235

The many promises I had made to myself and my friends and relatives during my troubled youth included a vow to get into better financial and physical condition. On this beautiful Sunday morning, I continued the daily running routine I had begun about a month earlier. As I gently jogged in the fresh air along the road, deserted for the time being except for me, I began to clear my brain of the disturbing sounds from the night before, punctuated by random gunfire, police chases and loud screaming...

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“The Day Everything Stopped” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #234

Struter Jones dashed to the corner–just in time she figured--to catch the 7:58 Fifth Avenue bus. As usual, she had timed her sprint to the bus stop down to the last second. Quickly getting fed up with her go-nowhere clerical position, she did only what she had to do when she had to do it. “Only in a holding pattern with this gig,” she thought to herself as she searched for the miracle job that would take her out of the morass tha...

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“Bringing Back the Glow” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #232

As residents of the Northern Hemisphere, all summer long my friends and I had romped with as little attire as possible in our local lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. This year, though, the sun left us midway through the season. We had the haunting feeling the cyclical change was turning into a permanent situation that would forever change our world, but the opinions of a few high school kids mattered little at this point. With Mother Nature closing the curtain on 2300, news ...

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“New Year's Bashed” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #231

On New Year’s Day, Wilson awoke at 7 am and tried to clear the throbbing pain from his head. He sat up in bed to find his old-timey pinball machine wrecked and laying destroyed in a corner of his room. After running over and over this strange turn of events in his mind he fell back into a deep sleep that led him into a nightmare that never seemed to stop replaying. In his dream he had gone to the same country club party to which one of his s...

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Author bio

Bob Faszczewski is a curious writer who loves exploring different themes and motifs. He has produced two recently-published collections of fiction-science fiction stories about travel across the timeline, "Taming the Timeline" (available for sale on saltwatermedia.com) and "Locking Arms with Giants (available for sale through Amazon Kindle and Amazon.com.). Both also are available for sale at Greyhound Bookstore in Berlin, Md. Bob has published the following short stories in magazines in a number of genres: ."Bloodstains on the Ledger"--Ink and the Sword.com . "Tragedy Near the Corpse Light--or Because of It"--Mystery Tribune.com . "Cadaver in the Forest"--Adelaide Literary Magazine . "Heard It Through the Grapevine"--Flash Fiction.com . "Resetting the Clock"--Academy of the Heart and Mind . "The Turkonians Are Coming"--CleverMag.com.