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James Lane

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2023

Stories (10)

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17 Followers

21 Following

10 Stories

267 karma pts

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Reverse Psychology

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #312

The scientist sits opposite me at a small desk and sets her clipboard on the table. ‘SUBJECT 1C13’, is printed in bold black letters at the top of an empty page. Despite wearing a flannel vest overtop a pale blue wool sweater, she shivers and rubs her arms. “Cold?” “It’s always freezing in here,” she says. We’re in a small room in the basement of Hopper Hall. I was here once before during my orientation. I only got a quick peep inside, hurried by a sloppy line of fellow freshmen, all drunk on eagerness and some plain drunk. It was a shining ...

2 likes

Falsestone

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #307

A new harvest of rot comes through the port doors. Sheets of bark are piled on a wagon, each speckled with red and blue fungus. The smell hits me. The harvesters treat the wood with vinegar and ash and it all gives off a stench like potatoes left in a cellar of a long dead gardener. Mayar, the Scholarch of Weathward Tower, holds a kerchief to her nose and greets Arn Troff. Mayar is slender and dressed in yellow silks. She glides when she walks, as though on ice. Arn is a giant plodding man, with a wild grey beard draped over a filthy tunic, ...

6 likes

I'm Gonna Punch Lucas Redmore in the Face

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #233

                                                February6th - TuesdayI’m gonna punch Lucas Redmore in the face. Today at art class, while I was busy with my rocket, Lucas snuck up and drew a line on my lip with a black marker. And then he called me a Creeper! The whole class laughed. I swear I heard M...

21 likes

I'm Not Hercules

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #232

The sun speaks to me. He tells me I'm like the champions of old, and I'm a herald to be worshiped. He tells me that Zeus Pater is full of the pride he mocks and that Ares, the red son, has forged indestructible truth from slag - that violence is the furnace of power. And Venus, that celestial satan who I lust for; who I despise, has ensnared us all in her ambient seduction.BJ and Dicky of the Power 99.4 morning radio show speak to me. BJ tells me about the traffic on highway twelve and my twelve labours and the duties of the twelve apostles....

7 likes

8%

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #230

Targets acquired:One male, 67 years old. One female, 11 years old. One male, 7 years old.No weapons detected.Their heat signatures tell me they’re underground. Below the canopy and beneath the earth, they’ve evaded me for years. But today, as I throw open the hatch to their hovel and look into their desperate eyes, I know I’ve found victory.“To hell with you, you soulless murderer!”The old man throws a brick at me, and it smashes off my arm. I laugh. Thirty-nine percent of human laughter is a response to a surprise, twenty-one perc...

20 likes

Tilly the Tenderhearted

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #229

The reek of gun oil hits my nose before I open my eyes. Fitch is cleaning his revolver at the foot of my bunk again. “Can’t you do that outside?” I say.“No.” Fitch looks up and brushes back strands of ruddy hair. He’s got nice eyes. Green and intense when they look at you, like he’s hanging on to your every word. But there ain’t nothing going on behind Fitch’s eyes that don’t have to do with Fitch. “You don’t need it here,” I say. “The hell I don’t.” Fitch blows away dust from the cylinder. “You want another spooked kitch...

8 likes

Wizard Meets Witch

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #228

The Magi Weekly Classifieds. Ad #1610Single Wizard, 42. Enjoys good books, star charts and deep conversations. Seeking a star-crossed sorceress with a passion for discovery. If you value serious research during the day and playful observation at night, please write back.“Playful observation,” Albert Limerno read aloud from his ad. “What a buffoon.”Albert tossed the issue of the Magi Weekly atop a heap of star maps on his desk. It took him a week to make those charts - plotting two new celestial bodies and calculating their apparent diam...

13 likes

Duhghlaserex, Dread of the Seven Peaks, and King of the Black Waters

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #226

Deep in a cave in the Crow Mountains lived a dragon named Doug. Well, his full name was Duhghlaserex, Dread of the Seven Peaks, and King of the Black Waters, but only his mother called him that - when she was angry. Doug, like any respectable dragon, had a territory to manage. He reigned over the Crow Mountains and Blue Boulder valley for many centuries, scaring away anyone that came into his domain. But it was a desolate place, and over time, he got lonely, so he relented and let a few creatures settle his lands.First the faeries came....

7 likes

The Resplendent Quetzal

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #225

Brielle Noonypill hurried to stitch her sister’s spangled cotinga costume. Fredericka, the elder Noonypill sister, tore the gown’s train by tangling herself mid-pirouette, while rehearsing her Passage Day dance. “Hurry,” said Fredericka, entering Brielle’s room. “The Cotters are already here, and oh no….” Freddy peeked out the door. “Miss Brightly comes with the class.”Brielle poked herself twice with the needle in the rush to have it ready, and her sister’s impatience was not helping. If her mother were still alive, she’d have it all d...

15 likes

Of the Land, Sky and Waters

James Lane

Submitted to Contest #215

Korlach Longnail finished the last of his worms and wiped dirt from his chin. “How do ya goblins eat that filthy mess?” said the stagecoach driver. Korlach struggled to answer. In his twenty-two years, no one ever asked him that. “It’s how we eat in Grengorock,” Korlach said. And what of it? These humans were so peculiar. All that work to eat: kill, and skin and cut and boil. If a goblin found food, he ate it, just like every other creature of the land, sky and waters. The driver twisted around in his seat. He wore a...

8 likes