Reedsy – Page 4

Read my dark comedy, ‘A Long, Narrow Box’: The entry for this week’s Reedsy!

25th Jan 202027th Feb 2020Leave a comment

So, how are you doing? Had a good week? Fantastic. I’ve had a semi-stressful week, trying to balance my creative hobbies (this blog and my WIP) along with regular life. I’m hoping to rectify that in the near future! I really want to get a first draft of my novel done soon(ish), so I’m going to have to buckle down and get on with it… This might mean that Bite-Sized Horror may not make its return for a short while, but I’ll still keep churning out my short stories!

This week’s Reedsy theme was ‘resolutions’. I chose the prompt, “Write a story about someone in the self-help aisle of a bookstore. What book do they pick up?” I wrote a dark little comedy called A Long, Narrow Box. As is always the case, you can read it here on WordPress or over on my Reedsy profile.

Marvin needed help, and this seemed to be the place to get it. He looked at the laminated label on the bookshelf. SELF-HELP SECTION. He nodded to himself. Yup, this was the right place all right. He held his hands behind his back – neatly, as Mother had taught him – and surveyed the books on offer.

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I had a lot of fun writing this, chuckling to myself maniacally as the words bled from my fingertips. I hope it’s an enjoyable read!

‘Something Swims Behind (Still My Sunshine)’: My aquatic entry for this week’s Reedsy!

19th Jan 202027th Feb 2020Leave a comment

Ah, here we are! All caught up, at last! Made it! How are you guys doing? Still with me? Still reading these inane ramblings and occasionally perusing my mad scribbles that I’m trying to pass off as “writing”?

This week’s Reedsy theme was ‘genre-blending’! How exciting! I chose the prompt, “Write a sweeping romantic tale of two lovers who must overcome the horror of being hunted by an unseen foe…” Naturally, the allure of horror drew me in to this prompt. Did you expect anything less? 😉 The title of my story is Something Swims Behind (Still My Sunshine), and — as always! — you can read it here on WordPress, or over on my Reedsy profile!

We were just entering the hadal zone when we realised, we weren’t alone.

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As mentioned in the last post, this story was written with plenty of time to spare, and I think it really shows. I hope you guys like it — I had lots of fun writing it. I just love the ocean, even if it is an utterly terrifying place!

Well, until next time… stick to the shallows, and if something starts knock-knock-knocking, you best get the hell out of there!

‘Onwards, Towards the Witch’: My magical entry for last week’s Reedsy contest

18th Jan 202027th Feb 2020Leave a comment

Whew! We’re getting there, aren’t we? Almost done! This story was written for last week’s Reedsy contest (just one more short story, then I’m all caught up!). This story was written for the Reedsy theme ‘winter wonderland’. I chose the prompt, “You go for a walk in fresh snow. Suddenly you realise you’re not leaving any footprints.”

This story was written shortly before the deadline of the contest, but it wasn’t quite as last minute as the previous one (although I did cut it close!). I feel that this is a better story somehow… it feels more ‘complete’ — even though I’d have liked more time on it. The title of the story is Onwards, Towards the Witch, and you can read it here on WordPress, or over on my Reedsy profile.

I see you, child.

The words slithered into her brain, as if they were her own thoughts. The world flashed a momentary red. And then they came again.

I see you, child.

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Well, I hope you guys like the story! From this point on, I’m hoping to have more time to dedicate to my short stories (as well as my main WIP — progress for which has recently stalled…). Indeed, the one I wrote for this week’s contest was complete by Thursday. Until next time, guys! Have a good’un, and always pay attention to the warnings of your fairy!

‘Returning the Favour’: My first Reedsy story of the decade

17th Jan 202027th Feb 2020Leave a comment

So, here’s another Reedsy short story, as promised! This one was written for the theme, ‘Auld Lang Syne’, for the new year. I chose the prompt, “Two strangers meet at a New Year’s Eve party. They spend the party together, and then never see each other again…”

As mentioned with my last Reedsy story, this was written mere minutes before the deadline, as it was a very busy period. I pondered not doing a story, as I wasn’t sure it’d be up to my standards, but I decided to do something. After all, the worst thing you ever wrote is better than the best thing you never wrote. The title of my story is Returning the Favour, and you can read it here on WordPress, or over on my Reedsy profile.

“Don’t panic,” said the man with my face, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

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I hope you guys like the story, despite it’s length and rough, sketch-like nature. I think if given more time, I could have made this much better, but sometimes life gets in the way of our art. Even though I know it’s far from my best, I’m still quite happy with it.

Until next time, guys!

Read ‘When the War Falls Silent’: My last Reedsy story of 2019!

14th Jan 2020Leave a comment

Ah, not doing very well at uploading these at a steady rate, am I? I’ll chalk it up to still waking up after the excesses of Christmas, NYE and my birthday (which was yesterday)!

This particular story was written for the Reedsy theme of ‘that holiday feeling’. I chose the prompt, “Write a short story about an innkeeper wondering whether this will be their last holiday in business.” The title of my story is When the War Falls Silent, and it was the last story I wrote in 2019. You can read it here on WordPress, or over here on my Reedsy profile.

It’s worth noting that this story (along with the two Reedsy stories following it — they’ll be uploaded in the upcoming days, keep an eye out!) was written just an hour or so before the Reedsy deadline. I like the idea(s), but I fully admit that I should have dedicated more time to the actual writing process. Alas, this piece (and the other two that will follow) are a bit rough — so keep that in mind! You might be thinking, Josh, if you didn’t have the time, why did you try and squeeze a story in? Why not just wait until you can work on your stuff? And the answer to that is, I like writing one short story a week (at the very least) — I find it’s good practice! I don’t want to get lazy with my craft. Even if the work isn’t quite up to the standards I set for myself, I like the idea of putting something out there on a regular basis. Anyway, this has been enough of a rambling post. I’ll let the story speak for itself…

When the men from the Otherworld arrived, they brought death and destruction with them.

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I hope you like the piece! Even in spite of the previous ramble, I’m quite happy with it, considering I spent about 40 minutes on it. Who knows, maybe I’ll polish this (and the others) when I’ve got more time?

Read ‘The Dead at My Door’: My Reedsy story based on a nightmare of mine!

9th Jan 20202 Comments

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, hasn’t it? Thought I’d better get on with uploading ’em, before the backlog gets any bigger! This short story was written back on the 18th December, for the Reedsy theme ‘quite the character’. I chose prompt #2 — “Write a short story about a character experiencing anxiety.”

The title of my story is The Dead at My Door, and it is based entirely on a nightmare I had a few weeks back, beat-for-beat. The dream was quite vivid, and I did my best to transfer the feelings and emotions I had upon waking to the reader. I am currently living in Austria with my partner, but this dream was set back in England, where I grew up… You can read it here on WordPress, or over on my Reedsy profile.

They were still following us. We hadn’t managed to lose them, despite our best efforts. I could hear their frenzied footfalls and their growls filling the wintry night air, just behind us.

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I hope you guys like the story! Even though it was based on a nightmare, which, at the time wasn’t very pleasant, I had fun writing the story. Read into this whatever you will about the state of my mind. 😉

Until next time, be sure keep your windows and doors locked and your ladders handy…

‘A Heart Is Not an Orange’: My strange entry for this week’s Reedsy contest!

14th Dec 2019Leave a comment

Well, here we go again! How are you guys? In the Christmas spirit? As if there’s only a handful more of these Reedsy short stories left of 2019… It’s hard to believe that there’s less than two weeks left of this decade!

Anyway, this week’s Reedsy theme was ‘talking shop’. After some deliberation, I chose prompt #3 — “Write a short story about someone watching a convincing infomercial.” Even by my standards, the story I wrote is a little strange… It’s about a vampire who buys a fruit juicer. No, I’m not joking. The title of my story is A Heart Is Not an Orange, and you can read it here on WordPress or over on my Reedsy profile.

Martin Wilson never returned from his student exchange program abroad. This is mostly due to the fact that he didn’t escape the vampire.

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I hope you guys like it! I did laugh to myself once or twice whilst writing this. I did mutter to myself, “What the hell are you writing, Joshua?” on more than one occasion. But, I had fun. And really, isn’t that the goal of this hobby?

Also, I hope everyone is enjoying my little Christmas tale — Yule Be Sorry: A Very Bite-Sized Christmas. I’m having a blast with it!

Read ‘Timebomb’: My fast-paced space adventure, written for this week’s Reedsy!

7th Dec 20195th Dec 2019Leave a comment

Hey, guys! How’s everyone doing? We all in the Christmas mood, yet? My partner and I bought our very first Christmas tree the other day, so we’re feeling quite festive!

This week’s Reedsy theme was ‘Pocketful of Sunshine’. I had a hard time picking which prompt I wanted to write to, but I eventually went with #2 — “Your fingers tensed around the object in your pocket, ready to pull it out at a moment’s notice.”

I really liked how the story turned out, and I feel that the characters and worlds have the potential for many more stories. I definitely want to pay these guys a visit again, at some point in the future. I think a prequel or a sequel would be in order… The title of the story is Timebomb, and (you know how it goes, by now!) you can read it here on WordPress, or over on my Reedsy profile.

There were too many to fight. He was outnumbered ten thousand to one. He watched as they all raced towards him, vengeance in their eyes and murder on their lips.

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Well, that’s it for today, guys! Oh, and I hope you’re enjoying my little Bite-Sized Xmas series! If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can read part one of Yule Be Sorry: A Very Bite-Sized Xmas right here!

‘Honesty in G# Minor’ was shortlisted for the Reedsy contest!

2nd Dec 20192nd Dec 2019Leave a comment

Well, I’ve been shortlisted for the Reedsy competition again! This is the third time I’ve been shortlisted, now. I’ve won it twice, and would love to win it a third time, but being shortlisted three times isn’t anything to sniff at, either!

Honesty in G# Minor was a bit outside my comfort zone as a writer, so it was really nice to know that people actually enjoyed it! If you haven’t already, you can read the story on here, or over on Reedsy.

“Think of it like painting a picture.”

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If you’re interested, you can check out my other stories which were shortlisted:

As It Ends — WordPress | Reedsy
What Did We Do? — WordPress | Reedsy

And my stories which actually won:

The Things That Do Not Float — WordPress | Reedsy
Astro Naught — WordPress | Reedsy

Read my quirky little entry for this week’s Reedsy: ‘Frank’

30th Nov 2019Leave a comment

Hey, guys! So, here we are, the final day of NaNoWriMo! But… I’ll be making a post about that another day. Today is Reedsy short story contest time! The final Reedsy during NaNoWriMo! I’ve found it a little bit exhausting to maintain all my side stuff alongside NaNo, but I’ve made it!

This week’s Reedsy theme was ‘All the Fixin’s’ for Thanksgiving! As a Brit, I don’t really know what it’s exactly all about, but I was more than happy to pen a story under the theme, nonetheless! I chose prompt #2 — “Write a story about a family dinner that includes someone unexpected showing up.”

The title of my story is Frank, and, as always, you can read it here on WordPress, or over on my Reedsy profile!

We all thought that Frank was dead. Had we known that he wasn’t, we would have killed him again.

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I wrote this piece in a really short space of time, due to my NaNo commitments — it came together in the space of an hour or so. I think it’s got quite an off-beat vibe! I hope you all like it!

Stay tuned for more posts as NaNo comes to an end!