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James Moore

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2023

Stories (14)

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29 Followers

15 Following

14 Stories

382 karma pts

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Banquet of the Ashes

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #296

Grey Scarum's whiskers twitched involuntarily with the excitable smell that drifted into his nostrils. He hadn’t eaten in a day and a half, and the pangs of early starvation were triggering his survival instinct. He approached the smell with the heightened sense of caution he’d developed since he’d been in the big shelter. The other mice had warned him of the dangers of exposing yourself in this place. Despite it being sheltered, dry and with no direct view of the sky or threat of swooping talons, other, larger creatures roamed during the da...

18 likes

Freedom

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #293

‘I’m Late’ Harry thought as he hurriedly pulled on his work clothesHe hadn’t been at the foundry long and he knew they had strict starting and finishing times, each late clock-in or early clock-out resulted in docked pay. This felt draconian to Harry but ‘a jobs a job’, and at 25 with no formal education, this is where he’d found himself, ‘for now’ he thought.The foundry was a loud, hot, toxic place filled with despair, desperation and acrid stale smoke. The ventilators whirred and sucked out the majority of the worst air, but created a cons...

18 likes

First Day Fears

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #267

“I really feel quite strongly that it’s a bad idea!” Darren shouted across the hall to his dad “I’m just scared, and I didn’t sleep last night and I won’t know anyone there!”“You’re not scared son, you’re just nervous, which is fine. The first day of secondary school is always going to be daunting. But it’s 7:30 AM on the day that you start, it’s a bit late to decide you want to go to a different school now!” Darren's dad exclaimed firmly but in an understanding, caring tone.“I won't know anyone there” Darren whined while pulling on his trou...

16 likes

Can you see me?

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #266

Session No 3‘Good morning Sarah, please come in, have a seat’Mr Mavers requested in an officious yet friendly tone. He spoke softly and carefully, in a manner that was calming but skirting on patronising.‘It’s lovely to see you again, you ARE looking well. How has everything been? I can see here in my notes that last time we spoke we discussed the Idea of your writing down your thoughts and feelings in a journal. And you were quite dismissive of the idea at first. Did you manage to write anything down?’‘I’ve written some things. Stupid ...

13 likes

Paradise Lost

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #248

As I write this, dear reader, I become acutely aware, that this harrowing tale of hardship and heartbreak, longing and loss, fear and frustration. Intertwined with moments of joy and jubilance, excellence and exultation, sweetness and serenity. May fall on deaf ears, if not read with an open heart and an open mind, one that is prepared to allow itself to experience the full gamut of emotions that I have lived through in my unreasonably extended stay on this earth.To start at the beginning, A good place to start as at the beginning of my tale...

20 likes

The Fading Light

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #245

Dylan had been walking steadily uphill for what felt like days. It had, in fact, been 3 hours and 37 minutes, a climb he’d completed many times in his life.He was lost.Or simply exhausted, he couldn’t tell anymore. Nothing around him made sense, he had started to notice this feeling come over him more often on his hikes. Since turning 50 his mind couldn’t keep up with his body and the exhaustion would go straight to his head. He had lived in these hills his whole life, losing his way wasn’t something Dylan did, but now as he looked up throug...

18 likes

A Cruel Wind Blows

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #240

Timothy lay languishing in his own putrid expulsions of blood, vomit and faeces.He rolled over to turn his face skyward and it was smeared and sticky, coated in the brown tarry mixture of foul liquid he had been laying in all night. Some had entered his nostrils, the choking smell had knocked him awake.“EEUUUGGHH, WHERE IS…… I” Timothy gargled.“You’ve fallen down the goddamn middle of the stair, you daft drunken fool, you’ve cursed yourself and no one else to blame” Donald the lighthouse keeper shouted down the endless chasm. “You’ve been up...

21 likes

The Untethered halves

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #239

Light after dark after light after dark, the sun burns off the night, and the night returns to claw back its natural ubiquitous place in the sky. Between each phase exquisiteness, mesmerizing colours and strange visions fill the eyes, a reminder to the world that change always comes. Air that turns warm from cold and cold to warm again, in doing so it gains energy, motivation and movement. The breath of life is breathed anew, inhaled only to be exhaled again. The immovable meets the malleable like a rock hitting water from a great height whi...

7 likes

The Pinch

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #238

ELCv 28 (Earth's Last Chance vessel 28) Was slowing down after 5 months at ‘Elevated Distance Speed’. The 3 person crew were starting to feel the ‘pinch’. The ‘pinch’, as it had become known, was the phenomenon whereby the greater the distance from Earth the more the human heart and brain would become... panicked. Fatigued, strained and 'lost', as though there was an invisible bungee attaching everyone’s core to the planet. There wasn’t yet an acceptable scientific explanation for this effect. But the crew of the ELC 28 were really feeling i...

24 likes

Last Gasp of Connection

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #237

The chaotic chatter rang around Laurence’s head, the busyness of everybody’s speech, the excitable inflections of his friends, blurring together with the background noise of everyone else on the boat. He sat back and just watched everyone have fun, he tried to soak up the ambiance, the fabricated party atmosphere, and engage with it, enjoy it, but he couldn’t, once again his friends were deep in conversation, laughing and joking with each other, clinking glasses and smoking. And he just sat back and drank, he had slowly and subtly withdrawn ...

17 likes

Marble Madness: Reconnecting Through Pixels

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #236

Kevin tossed and turned in bed, before waking bleary-eyed.“Another one of your dreams, baby?” his wife Clara asked from the other side of the bed.“Yeah, crazy,” Kevin said looking around the room “It was like I was climbing a pyramid, but this snake was chasing me up, and for some reason, I tried to outmaneuver it by going sideways and then down again. We ended up running all over the side of this pyramid, and my feet were covered in some fine yellow sand, so I could see everywhere I’d run.”“Crazy!” said Clara sarcasticallyClara got up to ma...

15 likes

Race to the bottom

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #235

Archibald Drakeford or Archie, as the few people who knew him well would call him, was sitting in his private jet, looking wistfully out of the window, the sun was hitting his pale, sunken cheeks and he felt a wave of positivity wash over. He watched thoughtfully as the sea turned to land and back to sea again, he could see all the life beneath him from this perspective, seagulls swooping, waves crashing, he even felt like he could sense all the creatures in the ocean living, eating, thinking, fighting for survival. 'What a thing life is' Ar...

10 likes

1864 Arkansas

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #234

1864 ArkansasEllen was awoken by the sound of her husband John's voice, coming up the stairs in a hushed but angry tone.“It don't mean nothing, Sarah. You'll still stay here with us. Think of us as your keepers more than your owners,” John said.“I've been hearing stories, Mister Addison, that’s all,” said Sarah.“That's just what they are, Sarah, stories. Pay no mind to them. You keep on with your work, and I'll worry about keeping this house over our heads, you hear?” John said in a tone that meant the conversation was over.Ellen got up in a...

12 likes

Beyond the Bottle

James Moore

Submitted to Contest #233

‘"Because it's right," George says to himself. "Since when have you ever known what's right!?" the voice in George's head retorts. "Since when have you ever been good or right about anything?" "I'm not going to sit here and have another argument with myself," George thinks. It had been three weeks since George gave up drinking. It wasn't bothering him; he had never been a heavy drinker. Not even really a social drinker, just a few drinks on the weekend to mark the end of the working week. That's how George had always seen it: a way to de-str...

10 likes