Vanessa Waltz

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2020

Stories (5)

5 Stories

116 karma pts

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“The Ghost of Edward Abbey” by Vanessa Waltz

Submitted to Contest #82

You walk the mile-long walk to your mailbox, six inches of new snow soaking through last year’s boots, purchased in the fluorescent glow of a consumerist shrine to the great outdoors. On that rare trip to town, you’d watched latte-sipping millennials drive their SUVs around the loading dock for $10,000 worth of shiny plastic camping gear. You chuckle, wincing at the memory. Abbey would laugh too, or at least shoot another few holes in his wheezing Frigidaire.“Uncle,” Julia had gasped over the landline. “Whaddya think of all this? Are they go...

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“Mercy” by Vanessa Waltz

Submitted to Contest #77

As soon as I see that another foot of snow has fallen overnight, I know this will be a busy day. I learned quickly after being assigned to NorthWoodsZone713 that weather changes make for an increased number of subjects. So on days when I sense a storm, I’ve made it my habit to wake well before my shift begins, taking a few slow moments all for myself to watch the sun rise before I head out.It’s still snowing gently as the sun shifts up breaking over the mountain crag, and the wind whips the whiteness into tendrils. It’s beautiful out here, a...

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“Moon Water” by Vanessa Waltz

Submitted to Contest #74

I think back to the five New Year’s Resolutions I had on 1 January 2020: “Lose 40 lbs.! Travel a lot! Start dating again! Stop drinking! Get Susanne to teach me about witchcraft!" Ha! How attainable those goals had all seemed at that moment, and how simultaneously silly and sad they seem at this one, on the evening of 29 December, annus horribilis finally drawing to its end.One of the goals, at least, has been accomplished – and ironically, it’s the one that I’d thought would be the most difficult. When I was sick back in March, the 40 lbs. ...

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“The Daemon Lover, 2020” by Vanessa Waltz

Submitted to Contest #74

Somebody’s having her first night chatting with Jamie right now. He’s charming her and she’s already getting hooked. He’ll tell her that he likes women who smoke, and he will tell her how rare that is, to find a woman who smokes cigarettes in 2020. She will be pleasantly surprised, and she’ll open right up to him, and a few days in, she’ll comfort him when he tells her that his mom died when he was young, and she’ll think it’s sweet when he asks for her opinion on the sweater he might order.A week of morning messages, three hour chats, littl...

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“Nesting Failure” by Vanessa Waltz

Submitted to Contest #73

Leda is getting ready, brushing her hair, fretting over which shoes she’ll wear. The green dress will bring out the color of her eyes – and would look best in the photos that will undoubtedly be taken – but she doesn’t have a nice pair of pumps to match. A black dress seems too somber for such a festive occasion. She imagines Brant will be wearing plaid, the Cobham family tartan, so her floral dress would clash.She smiles, thinking of Brant. Tonight will be the night, she thinks, it has to be. She’d thought it might happen on her birthday – ...

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Author bio

Vanessa Waltz has worked professionally as a journalist and technical writer, and has occasionally written a bit of fiction and poetry over the years. Since being trapped in her house beginning March 2020, Vanessa is focusing on exploring fiction writing in an attempt to escape the dystopian hellscape of late capitalism, if only for brief moments here and there.