Shawn Forno

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2020

Stories (4)

4 Stories

598 karma pts

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“Unraveled” by Shawn Forno

Submitted to Contest #186

Greg saw it begin to unravel. A loose green thread tickles his palm as it dangles from the chunky oversized sleeve. He’d worn this same ugly sweater every Christmas for ... what ... twelve years now? Thirteen? He counts back from his visit home senior year, just before Dad– just before his brother Pete got married. Yup. Thirteen years. He only wears the sweater for a few days each year, the rest of the time it’s stuffed in a box in Mom’s garage with the other holiday swag awaiting his annual return. But even a few days of drinking eggnog and...

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“Far from the Tree” by Shawn Forno

Submitted to Contest #175

“I never thought of Dad as a ‘tree guy,’” Paul said. Paul’s eyes were bleary. They’d left before he had time to make coffee, and his chin rested on his hands perched atop the shovel handle he was leaning on. Puffs of misty breath wafted from his nose and lips in the early morning air. “Yeah, me neither,” agreed his sister, Elise. “But Dad always was full...of...surprises.” She timed the last few words to her breathing as she knelt to scoop out handfuls of dark soil from the bottom of the shallow circular hole Paul had just dug. A...

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“Second Opinion” by Shawn Forno

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #167

Brett’s carbon fiber ice ax slams into the translucent frozen waves of the icefall. Flecks and shards of brittle blue ice tinkle against his polarized goggles and the frozen rivulets of breath that coat his impressive beard. He kicks spiked crampon-covered boots into the uneven ice, anchoring him to the frozen waterfall hundreds of feet above the valley floor. In the spring, this icy cliff will be a deafening waterfall. But for now, the landscape is silent except for Brett’s ragged breathing as he climbs. Brett lifts his left foot and ...

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“Burt Brain” by Shawn Forno

🏆 Winner of Contest #73

There’s no sound on earth quite like a bird flying into a sliding glass door. Unlike the white noise of mass extinctions and vanishing rainforests, the singular thud of delicate avian bones against shatter-resistant Duraplex glass is impossible to ignore. It's the sound of the natural and man-made worlds colliding, like the off-key fervor of a bronze temple gong struck by a fresh-faced initiate. Burt Frumbder was savoring the second sip of his first cup of coffee when this one-of-a-kind sound made him jump, spilling this same cup of cof...

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Author bio

Recovering travel writer and content manager with a passion for short stories, science fiction, and poetry. Asimov, Heinlein, Robbins, Quinn, Dahl.

Winning 1 story 🏆

Contest #73

Burt Brain – read story

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #167

Second Opinion – read story