James Workman

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2021

Stories (2)

2 Stories

46 karma pts

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“The Close Warm Comfort of the Wild” by James Workman

Submitted to Contest #181

I feed the fire with small dry branches of a dead fever tree. In the darkness a freckled nightjar calls, followed by the distant cackle of spotted hyena. Rising flames cast a glow on my three captors, each nursing his own affliction.Akani mumbles and shivers in his sleep, cheeks beaded in sweat. Malaria. Vukosi squats nearby, gripping his AK-47 as flanks clench and face contorts in another spasm. Dysentery. He glares. As if I’m the cause of our predicament, not the tarp-wrapped bundle beside Nhelo. Barely a teen, Nhelo suffers only a conscie...

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“Sea Change” by James Workman

Submitted to Contest #171

On the slow, rock-swaying return voyage Kenji Nozake overheard the two seasoned deckhands of the FV/Shindō casually discuss whether to drown or eviscerate him. Given his bungling over the past week, the young greenhorn, or aonisai, couldn’t blame them. Among the ways to dispose of him, Kenji reflected, pitching him overboard would require the least effort. Hip checked as he squeezed past astern. Cold cocked by a gaffing pole. Lurched to starboard without warning as a rogue wave swept across the slippery deck. A frenzied scrabbling, shriek,...

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