Peter Gaskin

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2021

Stories (6)

6 Stories

143 karma pts

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“Bombadil's Girls” by Peter Gaskin

Submitted to Contest #217

Content warning: Lots of Lord of the Rings references.The party had finally wound down, and after all the dancing, the schmoozing, the slurred propositions, all that was left were dozing tipplers and loose chatter. The stale perfume of spilled beer and junked cigarettes lent the survivors of the night a last-call atmosphere, like we were all fumbling about in the after-hours of a dive. About ten of us now sat in a circle out on the backyard deck. All my senses were numb, th...

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“Morning Reflections” by Peter Gaskin

Submitted to Contest #216

I sit by the café window and gaze out at the crowds walking by. All these colorful people, so full of life, with busy schedules, probably headed to someone who loves them. I sit and regard my melancholy reflection, recalling my past. My troubled past—“Excuse me, are you going to buy something?” a man with an apron and a nametag asks. “You can’t just sit here if you’re not going to buy something.”“Oh. Sorry.” I rise and let the man feel the anguish in my soul by staring directly into his eyes, the red rims moist with the thre...

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“Warriors of Java” by Peter Gaskin

Submitted to Contest #216

Deep in the caverns of Dragonhead Mountain, through winding alien passages built by a race long dead, a hiss sprang forth from the darkness. This hiss was so aggressive, so shrill it filled the underground labyrinth with life, mapped its tendril-like corridors with a sense of violence and rage. This same hiss gushed out of the cave entrance like a geyser of boiling water. A druid from thirty miles yonder perked his ears in interest.The small party this druid had gathered, oh how ye be brave mighty warriors, ventured forth with a tr...

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“The October House” by Peter Gaskin

Submitted to Contest #215

Beneath the carpeted floors, the marble surfaces, the Alpine beams, behind the paint and dry wall and game rooms and mancaves and 80-inch OLEDs, before the Nordic furniture and open concept and smart hubs and multi-hued LED lighting and powerful wireless mesh systems, a house once stood. This house had once been full of life, full of noises and creaks, of dark corners and dangerous crawl spaces. Of wandering halls, moody rooms, and a thousand different kinds of dust, each housing i...

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“Time is But a Long Pull from a Tom Collins” by Peter Gaskin

Submitted to Contest #103

CW: some minor cursing. He’d sworn to his parents, to his teachers. To his friends, to the bullies and the naysayers. He was going to be an astronaut. He was going to train, to study, to work hard at it. He was going to be the first kid to set his little human toes on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Those were the last thoughts in his mind when...

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“The Newcomer” by Peter Gaskin

Submitted to Contest #102

It wasn’t such a bad place to grow up in, this little town. The streets were narrow but straight, the shops old but clean. Residents woke early to take in the crosswinds of coffee and pastry pumping out of the corner bakery. The dew muffled the morning into stillness, quieted the quiet folk, weighted them down with complacency, comforted them with a familiarity that kept their routines on track.There wasn’t much room for hate here. Most of the day was spent in reverie of time gone by, or in wonder of what lay ahead. Most...

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Author bio

Father, writer, editor, guy who generally likes more things than he hates.