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Kevin V

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2023

Stories (14)

Comments

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36 Followers

13 Following

14 Stories

481 karma pts

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The Talk

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #194

I stared at the unopened gifts. Well, the two unopened gifts, one of which lay in the middle of the room, one corner of the still wrapped box crumpled. It had just missed my head and only because I threw myself to one side. My wife is amazingly accurate when pissed. The other gift, the only one she opened, lay at the exact point she dropped it.Then she ran upstairs. Sobbing. Me, I sat in the room where I had the gifts, our living room, and struggled to understand what happened. Things certainly didn't go as I thought. I got up and grabb...

25 likes

Swish, Swish, Swish (A sequel of sorts to 'Clack... Clack... Clack...')

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #192

Tom browsed through the thrift store when he discovered the absolutely perfect thing for the Seventies Night festivities at the Falcon's Club he and his wife, Beth, planned to attend. This was even more special than the Ronco Veg-A-Matic he bought at a garage sale last year. Not seeing a price tag, he carried it over to the young, gum-chewing sales girl. Her name tag said 'Tiffany.' "How much are these pants?"Tiffany took the pants, looked at the tag inside, looked at Tom, looked back at the pants, then asked, "Who're these for?""They're for...

15 likes

Friendly Competition

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #191

I didn't intend to overhear anything. Grabbing my Walmart Great Value mozzarella string cheese and my sandwich bag of self-mixed nuts from the fridge, I'd only intended to take my quick break the same time I always did.She sat at the other end of the long table, her left arm, elbow on the table, supporting her head, which faced away from me. Though hushed, I clearly heard her say, "I can't do this job. Maybe I'm not cut out for any job."That is, of course, when I realized that she spoke to someone on her phone. I couldn't see it when I sat d...

25 likes

Clack... Clack... Clack...

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #190

I stared at the line of the email from the president of our company in stunned silence:Subject: Star Tech Friday. Be ready!Imbecile!How could I have missed that? Why would I not have questioned it? I had no idea what to do now. What I needed to do was go home before I made an even bigger fool of myself. I should've turned and left when Sally at the receptionist's desk gaped at me. She didn't even grace me with her cheery, sing-songy 'Morning Tom!' Caught up as I was, I missed the sign. Then everyone else I passed also looked in disbelief. Wi...

15 likes

A Matter of Perspective

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #190

The abandoned house provided the perfect location for me to stake out the Thresher's lair. This house served as their original headquarters from which they ran their 'organization.' Then the city started cracking down on drug houses, this being one they condemned. Without money for the city to raze it, it sat abandoned, allowing time and nature to do it for them. Ironically the Threshers acquired a larger house directly across the street. From there, their membership flourished as did their territory and power. I intend to see that end. Du...

14 likes

The Rise and Fall of Sir Pee-nut Seedfleenger

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #189

"This is the story of the rise and fall of Sir Pee-nut Seedfleenger and how he came to live with me. It all began the day that Pee-nut hatched. He was very young just like you were when you hatched." "I wasn't hatched, Uncle Steven! I was borned from mommy's tummy," Anna said. Steven smiled. He loved the way she tilted her head and held her index finger high when making her point. He reached out and gave her a little tickle under her armpit. "And sometimes when I see your mommy, I think there's another YOU still in there," and poked her ...

8 likes

Paths

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #189

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost…I know it's said that strange things, peculiar things, happen from time to time; but to have my street suddenly transform into a forest went beyond anything I'd ever imagined or heard. I found myself on a dirt path that branched about thirty feet ahead. One path continued fairly straight - a bit wavy though. The other? Not even close to straight. So crooked, in fact, that it appeared to slither, if, indeed, paths had that ability.The ...

15 likes

Prompt Problems

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #188

"So, what's the catch?" I heard as my apartment door suddenly flung open and my neighbor across the way bounded in. Tucked under his armpit looked to be a large roll of newspaper. "Ron, we've talked about this," I said as my heart rate slowed to normalcy. "You need to knock!""Why Pete? You don't knock when you come over.""But I don't come over…""Well that's not my problem, now is it?"I dropped my head onto the table barely missing my coffee. I really, really hoped for a better day. I completely and totally made a mockery of last night's...

15 likes

My Emmy

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #187

The cat remained still, almost too still, under the oak tree in my front yard, observing me as it has for the past three days. Siamese, of that I am sure, only because Emmy favored them. Not me. I tolerated them only for her. A dog person myself, I always had one until recently. I only owned one at a time, all King Charles Spaniels, all male (neutered of course), and all named Justin. Always wanted a son named Justin, but it never happened. No daughters either. Just as well, I suppose, Emmy hated that I wanted her named Justine. "Git!" ...

18 likes

Being Neighborly

Kevin V

***This is not for this prompt, but I'd submitted a story I preferred more to the 'same first sentence' prompt. Since I didn't know what else to do with it, it's here.***Love thy neighbor. Bunch of crap. If I went on to love my neighbor as my wife Joyce was doing, I'd be naked in his arms giving him my whole body. That would be weird. At least for me. Evidently not for her, because she stopped sharing her body with me months ago. "I'm not in the mood," she'd say, or "I have a headache," or simply "Not tonight." I found it frustrating, but di...

3 likes

Augmentation

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #186

In our living room I held up my arms, concentrating on my wife Lisa and slowly, melodically, spoke the incantation. The air around her shimmered, and with a thunderous boom all returned to normal. I looked at my wife, topless and examining herself, to see if it worked. Her pet canary, Popcorn, also regarded her from his cage. Then I heard her say that it didn't work, that her breasts did not augment as I promised, and that she thought me to be an idiot. I told her to wait a moment and see. Magic doesn't always happen right away. Then I heard...

17 likes

Tall Tales at Dollar Bill's Bar and Grill

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #186

His drinking allowance gone, Rick sat at the bar nursing his last beer, pretending to watch the news, and wondering how to scam another. Looking around Dollar Bill's Bar and Grill, he spotted no one he knew. Other than a handful of people at two tables, the place stood empty. Most of the regulars came later, and his wife expected him home long before that. The door opened and two young men, probably professional types based on their clothing, entered and made their way to the bar. They each grabbed a stool just two down from him, and order...

22 likes

The Curious Case of the Rescued Toys

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #185

They slid open the storage unit to reveal it stuffed completely with what appeared to be all children's toys. From what Frank saw, no open space existed anywhere. "It'll be like that all the way to the back," Tom said. He owned the storage units. "I can't rent this one because it's always filled. I empty it and it fills up again. Mostly toys, stuffed animals and games. Always kid's stuff." Everything Frank saw looked like kid stuff. "And you have cameras in here." Tom pointed to where they were all mounted. "Twenty-four hour surveillan...

8 likes

Not the Same

Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #184

I heard it said that the silence can be deafening. I suddenly felt the truth in that, but yet so much more. No longer did my sight reach as it did; my hearing the range; and more limited in scope but no less diminished - touch. Only taste and smell seemed unchanged. I sat quietly on my bed reflecting. There was loneliness. There was a sense of loss. There even existed, being honest with myself, a fair amount of fear. Mostly, though, I felt diminished. Small. A very unsettling state. I could defy my sister. My life was safe, uncomplicated...

12 likes

Author bio

I used to be a voracious reader and at times still am, although my tastes have changed. I focused almost exclusively on Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror originally. While I always liked the idea of writing, it remained only an idea.

In the early 2000's, a friend of mine wrote a story that was published in a small, local rag that only survived one issue. While I liked the premise, I thought his story (and the others) was horribly written. But, he took the step and wrote when I hadn't. Big time kudo's to him. So I took the step and wrote my first story.

It was atrocious. I wrote my second and it also lacked any redeemable quality.

I happened on a critique site called Critters and started submitting there. The critiques were often thorough and brutal. I also joined another site, smaller and more personal, that offered both weekly prompts to work on technique and brutal, thorough critiques.

I also subscribed to Writer's Digest and purchased quite a number of books on writing techniques. Slowly, my writing improved.

Life happened, and I stopped writing for about 10 years. I joined Reedsy mostly because of the prompts. I have found many exceptional writers whose stories and techniques I can read and study.