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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2022
Submitted to Contest #252
TW: contains descriptions of gore appropriate to the sixteenth century and there are references to miscarriages. A king does as he pleases and anyone who disagrees is a fool.Wolsey, my lord chancellor, who the pope made cardinal, erred in being too slow to deal with “the king’s great matter” which was how the need to legitimately free myself from my first marriage became known. Thomas More who I promoted to the same position, forfeited his life when he put conscience before obedience to the crown. When Thomas refused to take the oath of succ...
Submitted to Contest #237
Dave’s ears were still ringing from the night before. He’d had less than four hours sleep after playing in his band and felt like death warmed up, but he knew once he’d showered, downed a strong coffee and eaten two slices of thickly buttered toast, he’d be alright.“Not too bad for forty-one!” Dave often conversed like this while studying his reflection in the hallway mirror. He tucked in his uniform. Other than a touch of bagginess under the eyes, his skin had remained smooth, and his thick brown hair was only just starting to recede. Any p...
Submitted to Contest #222
TW: Some sensitive content.Mentors come in many forms and their influence can last forever. I always knew I’d meet him again. So, why am I so nervous?There’s a bite to the air the day before Halloween. Smoky fumes rising from decaying leaves pressed down by the tramp of countless feet, catch the throat with their pungent odours. Fortunately, the sky is clear and cloud free which is just as well because I’ve left my umbrella at home. It’s a blue and white spotted affair with a dainty handle which I bought specially. I had planned on wear...
Submitted to Contest #205
EGYPT, CIRCA 1350 BCWearing the mask of the jackal-headed god Anubis, Darius entered the ‘ibu’ tent with a heavier step than usual. The woman whose body lay naked and thoroughly cleaned before him on the embalming table was not just anyone. For a few seconds he caught his breath, half-expecting Zara who’d been a close family friend, to rise up and tease him about his big feet like she’d done when he was a boy.Darius had never minded her teasing. Having lost his own mother at a young age and with a father who was engrossed in ...
Submitted to Contest #195
More than twenty years ago, I trudged through a rain-lined street that led to a shop where I was about to start my new job. It was a day early in December, not quite cold enough to be comforted by a blanket of snow. A fog hung like a damp cloak in the air and the streams that ran through the town were full almost to the brim even before they spilled into the dark flowing river. Before I left home, I’d had a hard job deciding what to wear that first day as the new manager of the charity shop. In the end, I had opted for a smart pair of trouse...
Submitted to Contest #188
Figures differ depending on where you live, but here I’m one of the 1,300 born with a cleft lip. A genetic fault caused part of my upper lip to split on the right side reaching to my nose in the early stage of my mother’s pregnancy. ***It could have been the perfect lesson. If it weren’t for one thing! Or one person, to be precise.If I’m going to talk about this, I should at least be honest. It was more than one person, but she was the kingpin; the skittles would not have fallen had she played it straight.There’s a high-pitched hum in my hea...
Submitted to Contest #179
New Year’s Eve 2022. Just think, tonight I might have been one of the luckiest men alive. Except I’m not.The city in which I was born and still live is pinnacled by spires and towers. It has ancient medieval colleges, museums, galleries, theatres, amazing bars and restaurants and quaint shops. It’s also plagued by streams of tourists and having to dodge endless bikes. The river, the city’s soul, carves its way through the centre before its fast-flowing currents are controlled by locks further on. During the finer months, long narrow flat-bot...
Shortlisted for Contest #177 ⭐️
I’m feeling extra grouchy today. It’s unfortunate because ‘giving out’ to others is what I do. But then, being driven half-crazy by scratching whilst lying in wait on my futon can do that to a person. Especially during the middle of the night. It seemed to be coming from the back of the skirting board. The intermittent scraping put my teeth on edge. So much so, I barely slept until the last hour. My heart rushed as the morning alarm jolted me awake; it was too late to do my daily exercises (a vigorous worko...
Submitted to Contest #175
At precisely 6 am, Yvonne Strong rose, opened the blinds and peered onto a garden shadowed by the night’s dark shroud. Shivering involuntarily in spite of the underfloor heating, it was only a matter of time before a frost wreaked havoc on all her hard work. Gardening which kept her going through the worst times was impossible now. She’d brought the potted plants indoors, but others needed covering over with a fleece. The leaves of the normally hardy palm would have to be tied up. Winter, the colourless enemy truncated all that wa...
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