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Jason B. Baker

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2021

Stories (3)

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7 Following

3 Stories

59 karma pts

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The Founding of Perdition

Submitted to Contest #307

I WAS SITTING in a corner of what’s now one of the town’s respectable dining establishments, with linen napkins and decent wine. The floor still tilts in back, and the original bar leans like it’s remembering a poor bet, but travelers and tourists don’t mind. They come for history. For stories.One of them, a young man with a notebook, tracked me down. Said he was writing a story for a newspaper back east—The Founding of Perdition. Wanted it from someone “here since the beginning,” especially, his words, not mine, “the town’s highly regarded ...

1 like

Echo Canyon

Submitted to Contest #305

THE SUN WAS HIGH when they dropped into the third canyon that morning, hooves clattering loose shale, the sound echoing off rust-colored walls that offered no shade, no relief, and no end. The wind didn’t move down here. It hovered. Heat sat like a drunk on their shoulders, pressing down slow and mean.They hadn’t spoken in miles.The tall one, the quieter one, rode with his broad-brimmed, dark hat pulled low and his eyes behind dust-crusted lashes, scanning the narrow trail ahead. His shirt clung to his back, darkened with sweat down the spin...

17 likes

Baptized in Mud

Submitted to Contest #305

THE WATER WAS SHALLOW, but it felt like he’d landed on bedrock. Mud sucked at his shirt. His hat was gone, and somewhere upstream, a longhorn was bellowing like damnation itself. The herd kept churning through the narrow ford, hooves pounding the riverbed, flinging water and muck and everything else the beeves left behind. He’d landed hard on his right side, felt something crunch, and now sat half-submerged in the churned-up mess, one hand clutched at his ribs, and the other was too slick with filth to push himself upright.The sun, high and ...

7 likes