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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2022
Submitted to Contest #298
Oval Office, 7amA groggy Donald Trump squints at a one-page intelligence brief entitled ‘Emerging Asymmetric Iranian Threats in the Persian Gulf.’Waving the page in the air, he shouts to Natalie Harp in the hallway. "How does anyone expect me to read all of this?"Natalia leaps up with the eagerness of a poodle about to receive a treat from its owner. “I'll be right there to read it for you, Mr President.”Down the hall, Melania overhears the familiar sound of her husband's voice. She's maintained an open-door policy in the West Wing—except wh...
Submitted to Contest #296
7:07 AMEthan’s fingers hovered over the radar screen, tracing two blips hurtling toward Logan’s single runway—Delta 722, an aging 737 with a catastrophic hydraulics leak, and KLM 143, a packed A380 crippled by an engine fire.The situation was simple: one plane would get the runway; the other would need to go down someplace else.Following landing protocol, the choice was clear: Delta 722 had entered Logan’s airspace seven seconds earlier than KLM 143. Ethan opened the comms.“Delta 722, Boston Tower. Cleared to land Runway 22L, wind 270 at–”An...
Submitted to Contest #295
“The new colonizers wear suits, not helmets. Laws and contracts are their guns.”– Ch.12: The New EraThe Indian Ocean surged in, its waves crashing against Africa’s shoreline. Furaha curled her toes deep in the sand, feeling the grit as she looked toward Zanzibar. The hot sun pressing down on her shoulders was offset by a cool offshore breeze.She clutched her dad's paperback in her lap. The book had been his and now it was hers. She opened to a page in the last chapter:“Western civilization has a single-minded obsession to “increase the GDP”,...
Submitted to Contest #293
I’m sitting on a coach bus at 7 a.m., staring out the window, scanning the streets for tourists. This isn’t where I thought I’d be. Not after graduating with a Master’s in International Relations, fluent in two languages, and ready to take on the world. But here I am.Outside, the street is quiet. I spot him—our last passenger, a foreigner in a blue T-shirt and shorts, looking as if he’s searching for something. I jump out of the bus, waving him over, holding my clipboard. It’s my way of taking control. A trick I learned from my manager.He ap...
Submitted to Contest #291
Liz motions at her throat—she wants me to wrap up my speech and sit down—but full of adrenaline, I feel the need to continue my oratory. The crowd is electric. I seize the moment!“I have a dream,” I say loudly, my voice echoing across the room. “A dream where artificial intelligence strips away the biases and greed that have plagued our government for centuries.”"Imagine a system that ensures every child has access to education, every family has a home, and every voice is heard. This is not a utopia—it’s a possibility, and it starts tonight....
Submitted to Contest #290
Waiting for Joe Blogan to show up at the Austin Longevity Forum feels like its taking forever. Even without him, the Convention Center is buzzing with wealthy men who look like they have more money than time left. At my booth, selling $500 bottles of nutraceuticals is proving easier than unloading Buzz Lightyear toys at Disneyland–a job I regrettably have far too much experience with.As I wait, a man with the smooth hairline of a $20,000 transplant approaches. His forehead is as flaccid as any network news anchor. Yep, Botox. Exactly the kin...
Submitted to Contest #289
The room is unfamiliar, I don’t know how I got here. But what a crowd! Looks like I finally made it to the wrong side of town! I'm back from the dead. Finally made a round trip to where my parents have always wanted me. Life goes full circle, I’ll tell ya!I like to get away from it all, but hell is a little too far.Now that I'm back, I’ve been catching up with all the new technology. I’ll tell ya, it’s a nightmare.I got my first smartphone. I asked my buddy how to use it, and he said, 'Just touch the screen!' — Touch it? My wife tells m...
Submitted to Contest #288
The Pampero Wind of Buenos AiresProfessor Hu stood at his office window, watching dark clouds gather over Buenos Aires. Pampero winds sweep in at the end of every summer, bringing rain and relief from the scorching temperatures of summer. At 38, Hu was a renowned biologist at Buenos Aires University—wealthy, handsome, and respected—yet each morning he awoke feeling alone and empty.Despite his accolades and a successful career, he felt a profound discontent. So he did what everyone seeking human connection did, he turned to DeepSage.➡️ DeepSa...
Submitted to Contest #287
My Kind of PeopleThis interlude of my life began on a Saturday morning when Michelle, my wife, burst into the living room with the kind of energy one usually reserves for a winning lottery ticket. “Wake up! We’re getting new neighbors! Their moving truck is in the parking lot!”I look up from the couch, where admittedly, I’m half-asleep watching endless episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants with my 3-year-old daughter, Megan. She woke me up at 6:30 AM, one of the joys of parenthood.“So?” I reply, unsure why having a new neighbor warrants su...
Submitted to Contest #286
When he got pulled into the scam, young Junyu was a college grad living in Shanghai. At 22, he still lived with his parents and spent most of his time in his bedroom covered with pop star posters, the windowsill lined with collectible toy figurines.Junyu’s mom walked in. “You need to find a job,” she said, for what felt like the hundredth time. He had modeled for a few e-commerce shoots, but he hadn’t landed a spot for months. The Chinese economy was cratering, everyone said.“I’m a model,” Junyu groaned. “I need to focus on auditions. Rememb...
Submitted to Contest #283
Maybe I was just trying to escape from my problems–'doing a geographical’ as the self help people say these days. Or maybe I just wanted to have some fun. Regardless, in my early 20s, I decided that immersing myself into a foreign language and culture would be a therapeutic escape. After digging through a mountain of application paperwork, I landed a scholarship to study geology at Hiroshima University. After my first busy year of study, and facing the butt end of my savings and my student visa, seemingly out of nowhere, I was offered a...
Submitted to Contest #282
Life in darkness is filled with terror. An unseen itch could be a piece of sand, or a rat chewing on skin. In the dark, when I jolt upright, I hear vermin skitter away. As sleep is impossible, I live in an interminable nightmare.A factor that might explain the downward course of my life is my father’s uncanny ability (if that’s what it’s called) to get into arguments with everyone he came into contact with in our hometown. They assumed the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and took it out on me. Guilt by association. They say children sh...
Submitted to Contest #281
Being Fashionable I’ve learned that discussing things I find on the internet with my wife Liz is like tossing a match into a pool of gasoline. Liz works in corporate PR. In loyalty to her paycheck, she embraces the corporate establishment’s narrative. When I read the news, I like to take time to figure it out instead of taking it at face value. You might call me an “Internet Dad”. I hope to one day find the right moment to talk some common sense into her. Maybe that moment is today.My computer screen shows 10:59am. I promised Liz I’d be...
Submitted to Contest #280
It’s time to get going. Can you get off your elliptical machine and get ready? I just need ten minutes more to reach my target heart rate. Can you please not push that–Don’t give me your infamous glare, just because I cut short your elliptical session. I am trying to keep this family running.Well, it was fortunate that my PT had me working on running after all, wasn’t it?I think you need to lose some belly fat first, if you want to outrun anyone. Speaking of food, tonight is pizza night, right? It's Wednesday.I’m sure we can ...
Submitted to Contest #279
I made it to Lamma Island the day the ferry stopped. I’m an American who has lived in Hong Kong since high school, I know the territory, and I choose my escape route carefully, though I admit I barely speak a word of Cantonese. I made the right choice. It turned out that Lamma Island, green, sparsely populated and just two kilometers off the coast, might be the best place on earth to survive a zombie apocalypse. Let me explain more. Banana and papaya trees pepper the jungle here, and the South China Sea teems with sea life. In an apocal...
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