Sjan Evardsson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2019

Stories (235)

235 Stories

2712 karma pts

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“Insomnia” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #67

Unable to sleep again, Miria padded around the escort cruiser Karan barefoot. She wasn’t due on shift for another four hours, so she wandered with no fixed destination in mind. Stopping at one of the viewports, she touched the control to turn the window clear. The even, dull grey of super-c travel filled the view; changeless in all directions and so flat in color that the distance of the warp bubble wall could be just outside the window or hundreds of kilometers away. She knew the distance to the bubble, of course. From this section of the ...

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“Carla's Well” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #66

I'm going to die. The thought that ran through my head. No matter how hard I tried to shake it, the words echoed like a dark mantra.The sun hung low in the sky, daylight running out on me. Force of will kept my legs moving, a long-stride lope that ate miles faster than it ate my energy. My only hope for survival was the fact that I had survived this long already."Clara, it's up to you," Micah had said, his long grey beard flapping with every word. He fixed me with his steel-grey eyes, his oil-tanned leather face craggy with years of exposure...

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“If You Could Live Forever...” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #65

After the old man across the street died, his house went up for sale. The sign came down after the first day. For three weeks landscapers made the neglected lot respectable while crews toiled inside the house. Carpeting, drywall, and fixtures were hauled off as it was stripped to the studs. A steady stream of deliveries brought electrical and plumbing fixtures, wood flooring, appliances, drywall, and lumber. Early in the morning the day after the crews left, a moving van arrived, followed by a short, muscular African American woman in jean...

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“Legacy” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #64

Rita and Paul walked in silence, avoiding the crowds, turning at random. At least Rita tried to keep it random, but she always ended up at the same place. “We’re here, again.” Paul stepped aside to let her pass, and she entered the storefront, nothing more than a small sigh to signify her defeat. They passed through the cafe in the front and entered the bookstore proper. Rita knew there was no longer any reason to deny what drew her and went straight to the new releases. The book sat before her, pompous and arrogant, the author’s face surr...

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“Coffee at The Crossroads” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #63

Nexus Coffee Bar sat in a place of pride in the middle of the Nexus. Situated at the crossing point between Earth and the outer planes; between Heaven and Hell. It sat at the crossroads of reality. As such, it was frequented by customers both Celestial and Infernal, not that one could tell the difference by looking. In fact, I blended right in, and I am neither.Long ago, I discovered I could walk out of Hell uncontested. I never made it further than the Nexus before finding myself back again, though. Each trip I could spend more and more tim...

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“Rules of Holy Procedure” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #62

Those defeated in battle, along with their families, lands, and properties, shall become the spoils of the victor for ten generations. All generations from the eleventh on shall be free. So demands the God of War. — Book of War: Chapter 37, Stanza 19 The flags of the world government, red stripes top and bottom on a white background with a black skull in the center, flapped in the arid winds off the desert. Gulls called from the shore of the ocean that lapped against the city’s edge. Other than the birds, the streets of the city were silen...

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“As a Family” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #61

The attempted assassination of Prime Minister Haidara on my seventh birthday, a bright Thursday morning, stunned the Federation and brought the city to a grinding halt. School was disrupted by the news, and the instructor left the holo on all day as we waited to see if she would survive. By the end of the school day it was obvious she would, and we went home. Throughout the block adults were crying, wandering around in shock, or silently drinking with nothing more than a sad nod between them. As children, we understood that it was an importa...

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“Leaving the Desert” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #60

The boy sighting down his rifle beside me was barely fifteen. "Do you think they have any?”"Water? Not likely." I was looking at the defensive lines ahead of us through a sniper scope. I might have felt better about the situation if I had the rifle to go with it. "Maybe some food, probably ammo, too.”"So why are we…” the boy began."Hush, Jordan." Satisfied that nothing was happening ahead I lowered the scope and met Jordan's eyes. "Either we take them out, or they take us out. That simple.""Wouldn't it be better to join up, work together?" T...

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“Smokejumper” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #59

The day after finishing her basic firefighter training, Maya Estrada travelled farther than she had ever before. Under her uniform she wore a ring on a chain. It had been her father’s, but her mother had passed it on to her when she left for mandatory service. Probably as a reminder of what could happen, she thought. Maya knew her mother wasn't happy about her choice of service, but she wasn't one to intervene. "You are your father's daughter," was all she said. Maya was to be a firefighter, like her father before her. He had started in his...

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“Cold Black” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #58

Quiet, too quiet. The engines were never audible from the bridge. The low vibrating hum that travels through the decks, up one’s bones and into the back of the subconscious, though, was painfully obvious in its absence. If the missing vibration didn’t make the situation clear, the sudden drop out of super-C combined with the loss of artificial gravity and all sources of light did. The Tahiti Sunset was dead, adrift. The cockpit canopy was darkened. Without power to force a state change it would be as long as an hour before it would become t...

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“Spotlight” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #57

Fame: many claim to want it, a few would kill to get it, I just want it to stop. Every time the story comes up I want to crawl in a hole and disappear. There's no way I can live up to something I never did. Perhaps I should back up a little. This all started four years ago. I was sat at my laptop in a 24-hour diner, working late into the night. I had a tricky bit of code I was trying to coax into shape, and chose a booth near the back. The quiet, and the low lights, combined with a double-order of fries and non-stop coffee was the perfect s...

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“Small Town Values” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #56

Few things require the level of careful discretion as Tamara Pike’s life. As a sheriff’s deputy in a lazy backwater in the middle of the Bible Belt, who happens to be African American, and a lesbian, and kinky, it meant hiding. She couldn’t hide her color or her gender, but everything else about her personal life was sealed up tight anywhere within a 100-mile radius of home. She spent weekends with her “boyfriend” Thomas in the city, bringing back pictures of them out to dinner, with friends, with his family. He’d even visited her at work a...

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“Extensions” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #55

“The Librarian” wore a dour expression on her lined face. Her grey eyes glared above the half-moon glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. A blush of pink rose with her ire in her porcelain cheeks. “What do you mean, another extension?” Samuel shifted nervously from one foot to the other, careful to look anywhere but into those piercing eyes. His short stature, thin frame, and smooth, dun skin belied his true age, but fixing his deep brown eyes to her gaze still made him feel like a child. “There’s… extenuating circumstances,” he offered...

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“North Dakota Grannies Knitting Circle” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #55

Six elderly women, all carrying large knitting bags, five walking and wearing pink parkas, the last in line pushing a wheelchair with the sixth in a blue parka, filed out of the Senior Center restaurant. They passed by the tax preparer’s office and turned into the closed quilting store beside it. The store was closed, but open for them every other Sunday. As they entered they removed their parkas and hung them on hooks by the door. Alinta went first, revealing a shock of white hair, and rich, red-brown skin, heavily creased by years and sun...

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“Atonement by Proxy” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #54

It's odd that the things one has little to no control over can produce the most profound guilt. The same guilt that had Lily's guts in knots. Her client was dead. If she had been there a few minutes earlier she could have prevented it. Lily checked her outfit, crisp western-style suit in a medium brown-grey. Her porcelain-pale skin, pale blue eyes, and white hair with spiked blue tips contrasting with the warm brown. As a member of the Board of Security Professionals, this was to be her first time to stand on the other side of the bench in ...

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Author bio

Writer with an alter-ego as a software engineer. My degree is in Information Security but my heart belongs to my spouse, my daughters, and science fiction. My first published short story is available > https://books2read.com/DSPSpirit My second published short story is available > https://books2read.com/SpaceBound

Winning 1 story 🏆

Contest #156
We/I – read story