Uncle Spot

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2023

Stories (9)

9 Stories

252 karma pts

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“A Final Goodbye” by Uncle Spot

Submitted to Contest #244

Mary sat on the edge of her bed in the nursing home, her beautifully fragile hands holding a well-thumbed snapshot. She studied the fading picture, vague familiarity ghosting her face. Just out of reach, distant memories teased her mind. She didn't remember taking the picture, nor could she recall anything about the day it was snapped, but strong instincts pulsed through her veins with each beat of her heart. Somehow, she knew that the photograph had great importance.Now in quiet communion with her murky past, she had disconnected from the p...

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“The Keeper's Warning” by Uncle Spot

Submitted to Contest #240

The incoming gale was furious, pounding the hurricane-resistant windows lining the south wall of the control room, and howling like a banshee at the front door. Yet, the violent center of the storm, where the wind screamed as if damned to Hell and mountainous waves rolled at sixty feet, was still one hundred and fifty nautical miles out from St. Pierre and Miquelon Islands. It was there the tempest turned its course away from the Canadian Maritime provinces and headed two degrees north. The new line put the storm on the southern coast of New...

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“Welcome to the Mirrorverse” by Uncle Spot

Submitted to Contest #239

Hidden within the tall pines of northern England, Hydanshire lay shrouded in endless twilight, a neglected village veiled in mystery. Its dark charm holds many secrets, but none more puzzling than those within a local establishment called "Essential Relics.” A shop of musty treasures, a haven for the macabre, and a place where the past hung like cobwebs in an antediluvian castle. The sign above the shop’s entrance, weathered by time and half-swallowed by ivy, spoke of spectral beings and soft whispers inside.As dusk settled upon th...

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“But Wait...There's More” by Uncle Spot

Submitted to Contest #234

The chilly air inside the university’s ice arena took on an ominous energy but sizzled with anticipation as the hockey game commenced. The players, clad in jerseys that bore their team’s mascots, burst onto the rink like hungry lions marking their territory, their razor-sharp blades carving arcs in the frozen surface.The horn sounded. The puck dropped. The players surged forward in a riot of clashing sticks and thudding skates. The crowd, a wall of bloated faces with roaring voices, became a hand-waving, chest-thumping insurrection...

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“Bubba's Lung” by Uncle Spot

Submitted to Contest #233

Contains physical violence. A neon glare above the plate glass window lit up the joint's name—Danny’s. In the town’s glory days, it was called Bubba’s Lung, but now only the distant whiff of spilled beer and foggy memories of bare-knuckle fights remain. Bubba’s Lung started out as Bubba’s Lounge, but a faded 'o' and the missing ‘e’ gave the place a more interesting name. Until Danny took it over. He turned the establishment into a meat-and-three.The door swung open, and two dark figures strolled ...

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“Killing Writer's Block” by Uncle Spot

Submitted to Contest #232

I decided to become a writer during the first episode of The Waltons. In fact, in my young mind, I was John-boy Walton. Decades have passed, but John-boy wanders through my psyche like a dream that never ends.In the 1970s I saw myself as a writer of beautiful novels in a style that comingled the literary virtues of my favorite authors—Ernest Hemmingway, Arthur Conan Doyle, JRR Tolkien, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. I have added many more favorites to that list, but back then those men were my shining stars.Toda...

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“When Kundalini Awakens” by Uncle Spot

Submitted to Contest #230

On a chilly December afternoon, with the air biting at her skin and the icy breezes swirling through the Brooklyn Terminal, Diana boarded the Celestial Harmony, a magnificent ship of dreams, for a 7-day Christmas cruise to the Caribbean. Despite the horde of fellow travelers, 5,641 of them, Diana felt a welcome calm radiating from her heart. She couldn’t help but smile.As the Celestial Harmony glided through the blustery New York Harbor, with its unforgiving temperatures and frantic boat traffic, Diana was curled up inside her stat...

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“No Shrinking Violet” by Uncle Spot

Submitted to Contest #227

NO SHRINKING VIOLETContent Warning: This story has some coarse but context-appropriate language and a few racial slurs. January 1, 1980. I opened my eyes to an otherworldly glow in the bedroom. The windowpanes, glazed with astonishing ice crystals, cast a spray of light and color on my walls. The room, a willing canvas of lath and plaster, had transformed into a masterpiece reminiscent of Jackson Pollock.Yet, the splendor before me was overshadowed by a dark cloud. At some point today, I must face the police ...

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“Born to Wrestle?” by Uncle Spot

Submitted to Contest #226

The acrid residue of defeat hung in the air, a bitter undertone for a balmy October evening. Amidst the departing line of cars in the school parking lot stood Jason, our formidable 280-pound state champion; Coach McDonald, a beacon of guidance; and me, a mere shadow in the 160-pound weight class.Coach McDonald's hands, still warm from the intensity of the competition, firmly gripped my shoulders, his gaze piercing through my veil of doubt. "Billy," his voice, rendered raspy after a steady chorus of screams with intermittent cheers,...

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Author bio

Been telling tall tales and silly yarns for more years than I care to count. I'm Southern by birth, and Georgian by choice. I live in North Georgia, a peach throw from the North Carolina line. Writing short stories, for me, is great therapy. I've learned more about myself as a human being and which one of my voices comes through any given piece. I don't always like what comes out, but I hope it is authentically mine.