Joe Sauers

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2020

Stories (13)

13 Stories

600 karma pts

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“One Short” by Joe Sauers

Aulie delivers copious amounts of white smoke into the main tent, covering the floor and concealing the pancake risers under a thick squidgy blanket of eerily inviting fluffiness. The main lamps are dampened and then switched off, leaving the low-angled footlights as the only source of illumination inside the portable pavilion. An ornate green throne, decorated with large nuggets of polished amber and coloured glass made to resemble sparkling emeralds, appears from behind one of the many hanging curtains. Two quins, their painted-on merrimen...

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“Nax” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #270

Hi. Name’s Nax. Like Xanax? I know. Don’t ask. It’s what my mom wanted to call me, but she said they wouldn’t put it on the form at the registry office. Legal reasons. Still. She never called me by the name they did record so when I got older, started school, and my friends found out, well, Nax stuck.Anyway.Buried mom two weeks ago. And as much as I miss her, I still hate Nax. But she liked it. Somewhy. So now I’m Nax. Her estate is under scrutiny or something like that and will be for some time but the magistrate, or whatever, said it was a...

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“The Cove” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #192

Catching sight of a silfrix flock, some twenty-thousand strong, passing overhead on a cloudlessly clear day like today, can, without warning, take one’s breath; snatching it away, to the verge of faint. Their deep yellow plumage against vibrant blue sky arrests the soul as would a lover’s desirous gaze. With the sun at their side as it now resides, shadow play across the burly fowl as they fly is a feast for the eyes. Their elegant, forward sweeping wings carry them along, alternately extending and drawn to, revealing flashes of sapphire, az...

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“A Day Late And A Dollar Short” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #191

One of the managers at the small firm where I worked, way back when, I found to be a rather woeful sort of person. He was a nice enough guy, Ian, he was called, but he was really boring. We were talkative and friendly at work but when he’d tell me about what he’d get up to at the weekend, it was always around-the-house type stuff. Things like cleaning out the conservatory, watched a good film on television or maybe gave the grass a good cutting on a sunny Saturday during the summer. I don’t think he ever actually said but it was evident...

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“Me” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #187

Me. They have come. Again. To see… me. Some wearing rags. Some wearing crowns. Accessorised as ever will they be, all of them.Because of me.They would be sufferable if they were to remain silent. But they rarely do. Supplicating for… something.Blah blah whoever needs… whatever.Please, they plead. And so mote it be. Want want want. It’s only ever about them. And their want.I have heard told that a narcissist is one who only ever thinks of themselves instead of me.And daily, I am reminded of this.Peasants.For years I have graced this temple. A...

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“Table For Two” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #186

‘I don’t recall seeing a restaurant on this road, not out here, anyway.’‘Nottingham Road just before the cattery.’‘Sounds… nice. I hope it’s worth coming.’‘It’d better be, I’ve already recommended it to Angela.’‘Who’s Angela?’‘Senior partner.’‘Oh yeah, I remember.’‘The reviews said it was a nice place, good eats and it “caters for the discerning palate”, whatever that means.’‘It’s not one of your vegan places, is it?’‘I’m sure they do all sorts. I read something about steak. Said it came just as ordered.’‘Oh, well that’s good. Can’t be doing...

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“Sorely Mistaken” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #70

Dr Fletcher sheltered under a desk in a colleague’s office until long after the sounds of smashing glass, splintering wood and snapping metal stopped. He’d been hiding there for nearly three hours, fearing for his life. The demonstration that began outside the clinic some six hours previously had started peacefully enough; most of the sign holders sat in folding chairs they’d thoughtfully brought along, drinking tea and coffee and striking up the occasional chorus among the more vocal members of the crowd. The songs they sung were rather inv...

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“The Dewar Inn” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #68

The interview room consisted of two solid wood dining chairs; one occupied, one not, a folding table with an only just rectangular top, a bare concrete floor, four brick walls that were originally painted a shade of buttercup yellow but had over the years darkened in a patchwork of places leaving them with the look of having been stained by nicotine, a card reader that released the eight bolts which rendered the stainless steel door incapable of being opened, six fluorescent lighting tubes that buzzed incessantly when on, and sometimes even ...

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“Through The Mist” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #67

Jaunty merriment danced along the crisp night air like autumn leaves of song soaring on the bitter breeze. Across the water in Boston harbour, through the darkened streets and over the roof tops, the sounds of festivity issuing from The Whaler tavern could be heard by all who cared to listen. The ale was cold, the peanuts were fresh and the sport was true. Liam Cleary, Edward Shaw and William Reilly were surprised by the communal roister. Their usual, quiet haunt was overtaken by a throng of locals currently in the throes of celebration. Fro...

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“The Copia of Cannam” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #67

The Northern Ocean was dead calm on the day that Captain Sice Halland and his crew sailed in search of the fabled Copia of Cannam. The clouds on the horizon, only just risen into sight, softly framed the vast expanse of dark sky above them. Thousands of distant stars could be counted and a faint Seren, the smallest moon, was barely perceptible, showing only a thin sliver and concealing her remainder in darkness. The bow of the Fox cut through the calm dark water's surface with a surgical precision. There was a constant, resonant hiss as its ...

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“Ollie's Bucket List” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #65

Ollie lost track of how much time he'd spent standing at the door with the purple panel, doing his best to attract the occupier’s attention, but hard as he tried, he just couldn't generate enough of a knock to alert the householder to his presence. He had just made the decision to move on to another house when he heard the latches unfasten from the inside. The door opened to reveal a middle-aged lady with big hair and a startling amount of make-up looking down at him, a forced lipstick-smeared smile projected prominently on her face."Hu...

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“Brown Jade” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #64

An instant after Dennis Wing uttered the words zōng yù to the check-in clerk at Heathrow Airport, a hush like a tidal wave of silence washed over the whole of the departure lounge, reducing the bustling character of the international terminal to the stillness of a crypt. A few more moments passed before Dennis registered that everything around him had slowed to a snail’s pace. He looked around warily to see strangers averting their gazes from his direction. Hands shielding children’s eyes as parents guided them away. Dennis returned his atte...

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“Gary The Bird or How I Spent My Winter Vacation” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #63

Every. Year. Seriously. EVERY … SODDING … YEAR! Come six months … nested or not …and we’re off. Over. And over. And over. Like a clock. Tick tock. Tick tock. Twice, in fact. Down the globe. And up the globe. Down the globe. And up. Again. And again. And again. It. Is. Doing. My. Nut. You may ask: Why do we do it? Well. I’ve never actually been convinced myself. Boredom, mayhaps? Possibly. Masochism? More than likely. But who’s to say? Don’t ask them, though, whatever you do. Outlandis...

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Author bio

I‘ve always made up stories (as my mum and employers will attest!). I love books, film and all things storytelling related. I‘m a QA officer by day and spend the rest of my time either doing cool stuff with my wife and eight-year-old son or writing and reading like a thing possessed. Oh yeah, and sleeping, eating and all that sort of thing. I like write thrillers and suspense but will give most things a go. And the bad humour seems to be creeping into my writing more and more. Sorry. Craig Fremont, the name I publish under, has a few more books out, short reads with more bad humour, documenting the mayhemic mishaps of three little elves that, quite honestly, I don’t trust and neither should you. I’ve made my first submission to RP in what feels like a thousand years and it felt great to hit that submit story button. It’s called Table For Two and if you choose to read it, thank you and I hope you like it. I read Stephen King, Julie Kagawa, George Orwell, Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Harris, Daphne Du Maurier, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Ambrose Bierce, Mary Shelley, Carlos Ruiz Zafón and many others incessantly. My favourite novel is Jamaica Inn and fave non-fic is Zodiac by Robert Graysmith. My novel Through the Mist is on vacation and I haven’t seen or heard from it in ages, but it’ll come back one day. I’m currently drafting The Last Days of Kallig, a sci-fi murder mystery. I’m really chuffed to be part of the Reedsy writing community and always looking forward to the next set of prompts. There is a shed load of talent on here and buckets of inspiration. Gonna go now cause a) I talk too much and b) dinner’s ready. 😁