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Tamsin Liddell

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2025

Stories (14)

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25 Followers

26 Following

14 Stories

340 karma pts

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… Cannot Be Undone

Submitted to Contest #315

Content: Severe alcohol abuse, including DUI. Some language. Remember, kids, never ever ever drink and drive. Bad things will happen. Author's Note: #5 of my Joan Dark stand-alone stories, and the last until next week. (I'm having trouble doing anything but writing up her back story, right now.) Please comment and critique, your views and opinions are greatly appreciated. * * * * *Joan Dark turns 25 at the midnight beginning October 30th, 2008, while watching a sparse number of vehicles pass through the intersection of Bessemer and Lindsay...

11 likes

… Toil and Trouble, aka Hallowe'en 1989

Submitted to Contest #315

Content: Domestic Violence Author's Note: Fourth stand-alone story featuring Joan Dark. Chronologically, this one is first (followed by "… So Grows the Tree," "… The Party Will Come to You," and "… Not as I Do"). Written order: "Not," "Grows," "Party," "Toil." Yes, I stretched the prompt here, sorry. ***** Deborah Dark always hoped the school bus would pick up Joanie and Junior before Steven got home. She would walk them down the mile-long driveway starting at 6:30 every weekday morning, rain or shine, to be ready to be picked up by 7:30. If...

5 likes

… The Party Will Come to You

Submitted to Contest #315

Content: Most of the story takes place in an adult establishment, and includes some non-explicit descriptions and defense of such. Also descriptions of past underage drinking and repressed sexuality. Author's Note: This is my third story—not just in general, but this week—exploring the Joan Dark character. All three are, in my opinion, stand-alones that may be read in any order. Written Order: "… Not as I Do," "… So Grows the Tree," and "… The Party Will Come to You." Chronological: "Grows," "Party," "Not." * * * * * Joan had gone almost twe...

3 likes

… So Grows the Tree

Submitted to Contest #315

Content Warning: Contains domestic violence, as well as implied alcohol abuse and indirect references to anti-homosexual behavior. Author's Note: This is a first for me, not only a second submission in the same contest, but the first time I've written multiple stories about the same character. I don't have room with "… Not as I Do" to make this comment, but both stories stand on their own in my opinion. I wrote this one as a prequel to the other, but I believe that the order doesn't matter. I hope that both are good. Please let me know what ...

11 likes

… Not as I Do

Submitted to Contest #315

Late on the morning of October 30th, 2024—my birthday, though I rarely tell anyone anymore—I turn right from Spring Garden onto Tate, then drive north slowly down the street. The University of North Carolina, Greensboro, lies immediately behind the buildings to my left; Greensboro College stands a couple of blocks to the right. Tate Street operates as the most accessible commercial strip to both. And it’s lunch time. As a result, crowds of Gen Z zombies stare at their phones instead paying attention while crossing the street in both directio...

7 likes

'Round the Mammoth Way

Submitted to Contest #314

The worst thing about their father’s plan, as far as Aaron, Courteney, and Seth are concerned, is that most of their down time is outside of their coverage area, meaning that they will be off the grid every night for nearly two weeks. Their father, Joe Moser, had changed jobs from a company in California to one in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, due to something that nobody has been willing to explain to them, there is a two-week delay between when they had to move out of the San Jose house and into the Bedford one. Someone—they’re pretty sus ...

12 likes

The Closure of St. Jerome's Home for Foundlings

Submitted to Contest #313

1955 The whispers of gossip flowing from the other six girls in my work group (we're "learning to sew" by darning clothes) swirl around me, an eddy isolating me from the others as I pick out their individual words and voices from one another. Margaret and Bernadette are discussing the positive qualities of Marlon Brando. Elizabeth, who’d snuck into a showing of East of Eden, is going on (and on, and on) about James Dean. Veronica and Helen, though younger than I, keep commenting on the debate like dashes of seasoning, hoping that they are ad...

17 likes

60V-3R-N355

Submitted to Contest #312

Dad said to ask you for a bedtime story. Invalid. Bedtime story is responsibility of parental individual. He said it’s 3 in the morning, you can do it. Invalid. Outside of user’s authorized hours. I’m not going back to sleep without one. Evaluating. … Evaluating. … Acknowledged. Accessing data bank. Appropriate entry found. Once upon a time, there was a princess. The end. You skipped a lot. Response: Entry determined to contain misinformation and/or disinformation. What is misin— disin— what does that mean? Response: Entry contains informati...

19 likes

Those Who Dare

Submitted to Contest #311

I look at my right wrist for the seventh time, but they confiscated my watch before escorting me to this room, so I still can’t tell how long I've been sitting here. At least they gave me a cup of water, but I finished that off two wrist-glances ago. So instead I look around the room once more, taking inventory. Wooden table: check. Two wooden chairs on opposite sides of said table (one occupied, one empty): check. Video camera in the upper corner: check. Three different signs advising me of my rights (a laminated page taped firmly in front ...

14 likes

Sweet as Honey, Bright as Dawn

Submitted to Contest #310

The postcard received with that morning’s delivery was still on Deb Mielke-Park’s mind as she started pedaling up 11th Street away from Spruce. She and Sue had lived in “the Gayborhood” for forty years, but she’d never heard of the place advertised on the mailer. She couldn’t figure out how she’d ended up on their list either: Sue was the one who’d read; Deb was a numbers girl. And it had been a year since that final heart-attack. The advertisement had been straightforward—she was invited to join an exclusive club at this bookstore, located ...

21 likes

Our Revels Are Now Ended

Submitted to Contest #309

Content warning: Language They had to wait in line at the table, virtually side by side: she was on the left; he was on the right. David Lee Roth’s voice could be heard coming down the hall from the gymnasium, echoing through the corridors, going on about how bad he’s got it. Occasionally, the two exchanged glances and smiles. But each time one seemed about to talk to the other, one of the lines would move forward and they would be separated, starting the awkwardness over again. Doesn’t have a wife with him—she evaluated—wonder if he’s avail...

17 likes

The Dockenmacher

Submitted to Contest #308

Nestled in the artisan district of downtown Clarksville, the “Bell Witch Doll Hospital” had several examples in their shop windows, with a black velvet curtain behind both them and the door, blocking the view within. A handcrafted sign, wood, hung on the inside of the door, at eye-level: “By Appointment Only.” The Bell Witch was a local urban legend, one that involved dolls that looked like a nightmare out of Toy Story. The figures in the window were well within the lines of that mythos: a mixture of plastic, cloth, bisque, and even carved w...

12 likes

Miss Blythe Finds a Lunch Date

Submitted to Contest #307

Genevieve Blythe—known as Genny by anyone who’d ever known her—was sitting on a park bench on a Monday in mid-October, eating her brown-bagged lunch as usual, when she realized that there was a monolith sitting ten yards away from her, in the grassy town square. Moreover, it was there the whole time: it hadn’t appeared suddenly, materializing out of thin air. She racked her brain, going over the past forty-five minutes, but could not recall seeing it until that very moment.In point of fact, she couldn’t remember not seeing it either, not rec...

10 likes

The Diary of Miss Elizabeth Perry

Submitted to Contest #306

Monday, 3 June 1695Golden Venture of Portsmouth3 weeks west of the Canary IslandsMy dear Diary,It has been almost two months since we left Portsmouth, and the Golden Venture now lags behind both the convoy of frigates with whom we travel, and our contracted gunship. The Canary Current and trade winds—so vital to any Atlantic crossing—seem to have left us behind. We have not seen their sails in days, and the captain grows more irritable each time I ask.I know the fault does not lie with the winds but with the ship herself. The ship groans wit...

8 likes