Joe Sweeney

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2020

Stories (5)

5 Stories

104 karma pts

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“Waking Up” by Joe Sweeney

I stare wistfully out the small window and across the tarmac. I’m going to miss the desert. A typical early winter day in Tucson. The sun shines brightly from clear blue skies onto the tan desert sand, generously sprinkled with the cactus greens of saguaro, cholla, hedgehog, and barrel. Not a single Palo Verde tree in site, though. There are a handful of them decorating the main entrance s...

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“Marketplace Mishap” by Joe Sweeney

This was the worst time to be in the marketplace. The evening crowd was out and they were hungry. The only reason she was here was because Ambassador Bnedy Kaine, special envoy from Earth, had insisted. “It will be a unique experience,” he had said. “Instead of food trucks like on Earth, the shops have storefronts! You can sample their offerings and buy, or go inside for a sit-down meal. I wouldn’t miss i...

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“Introductions” by Joe Sweeney

Jade straddled the bike and took a moment to familiarize herself with all the gadgets. She’d never had a bike like this before. Speedometer, odometer, head and tail lights, turn signals - the works. The seat and handlebars adjusted easily to fit her short body. “Hey.” Jade looked up, startled. A young man with dark skin was standing beside her. “Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mea...

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“Indoctrination to the Checking Piece Courier Service” by Joe Sweeney

Jade stopped at the dilapidated door. The metal had rusted and it was barely hanging onto the frame. She peered through the dirty glass. It appeared to be an abandoned bicycle shop. She looked again at the business card in her hand. A standard sized, flat white card with a pawn embossed in black on one side. On the other side was scrawled “47, Naity Rd, Nabagram Colony.” She squinted at th...

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“Alternatives” by Joe Sweeney

I open my eyes and peer at the mobile phone on the nightstand. 1:37 am. I’ve been asleep for almost an hour. It would be so nice if I could get straight through even one night. The past month has been torture. I have got to stop reading the news. This whole coronavirus epidemic is getting way out of hand.I push the blankets aside, bracing against the chill in the room. Moving so as not to awaken more than necessary, I make my way to the bathroom.Returning to bed, I snuggle under the covers, pulling them...

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Author bio

I’ve been writing short stories since grade school. For the past fifteen years, I’ve been active on a few contest sites, writing prompt-based short stories and self-publishing them in a collection series called Prompted to Write. I currently have three volumes in the series and I’m working on my fourth. I also have two other short story collections, Mad Queen’s Chess and A Random Collection of Events.