๐—ขwen ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2020

Stories (5)

5 Stories

341 karma pts

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โ€œThe Queen of Marsโ€ by ๐—ขwen ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ

The Queen of Mars walks at ease. She keeps her head bowed as if nodding to those that pass. Her shoes scuff the asphalt. At a dumpster, she raises the lid in hope, but it is empty. Further down, past the Venice sign, closer to the beach, she finds trash cans full of discarded food. Her hair, matted and grey, falls over her face as she reaches inside. Her fingers catch a bag of fries, then part of a burrito wrapped in paper. Straightening, she notices a smear of ketchup in her hair. The Queen of Mars strains it out with her fingers and wip...

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โ€œFireflies of Manhattanโ€ by ๐—ขwen ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ

By the time Iโ€™ve stepped outside, the leaves are on fire, and the autumn light is so clean it could cut you. All around, everything is just dying away in glory on another rainless upstate day. Behind me, the prison gate clangs shut, and the guy in the guard-house says I can catch a bus down the road. So, I search my pockets for money and find it: the fifty-two dollars I had when I went in. And I breathe. I just breathe the air. Itโ€™s clean, and Iโ€™m out, and I feel a bit of hope for the first time in almost a year. I think of Dr Paulsonโ€™s w...

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โ€œAll Tomorrow's Livesโ€ by ๐—ขwen ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ

I am in Colorado, flying above the forest. This body extension is a drone, and I hover above the beginnings of the wildfire that will burn an area the size of Manhattan. There is a plume of black smoke, and the air has become turbulent. Twenty people will die in this fire, most of them firefighters. I can only assume this is the best outcome. I have no access to the information in my past, but if I were to judge by the mobilisation of crews here to fight it, and its proximity to the town of Kittredge, I believe it could have been a high-c...

14 comments 14 SHORTLIST โญ๏ธ
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โ€œThe Euripides Requiemโ€ by ๐—ขwen ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ

[Note: This story touches heavily on issues of depression and suicide.] By the time we had returned from the beach, the Earth was gone โ€” in its place was an expanding ring of debris like a rusting sickle. We knew, of course. Weโ€™d known for months. But we hadnโ€™t been prepared to see it. To really see it.ย The captain had taken the Euripides into a solar orbit manually. The AI, after trying to find an orbital insertion point around a missing planet, had fallen into a hopeless loop...

26 comments 26 SHORTLIST โญ๏ธ
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โ€œPlague Dogsโ€ by ๐—ขwen ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ

ย A series of taps at his wrist alerts Nathan that a delivery has arrived. His vitaband lights up with the checkmark that indicates it is government approved and sterile, so he swipes the alert away and gets up from his desk. He can hear Edgar, already aware of the roverโ€™s arrival, racing back and forth in front of the door with that manic energy that all mini-pins seem to have โ€” tiny doberman pinschers with all the tension of a coiled spring. This racing habit has only become worse now that the lockdown has carried on for so long. Co...

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Author bio

Owen Schaefer was born in a hollow log in a northern country, and raised by wolves. Today he lives in Blackheath, always knows the time, and makes a nice carbonara like nonna used to make. He is not Italian. โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€” On a more serious note, he is also a freelance writer and editor, a poet, and is on the editorial board at Prism International literary magazine. He is a ReedsyPrompts contest judge. There is a brief portfolio of published work at owenschaefer.com Currently, he is bashing his head against a keyboard in the effort to finish his first novel. Wish him luck before the concussion sets in.

Shortlisted 2 stories โญ๏ธ

Contest #62
All Tomorrow's Lives โ€“ย read story
Contest #44
The Euripides Requiem โ€“ย read story