Hunter

rose bay

PHOTO PROMPT © Rowena Curtin

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Rose Bay was one of those posh Sydney suburbs great for tourist shopping and loaded with outdoor activities. It had golf courses, tennis courts, and of course, the beach. Walking down the narrow alley splashed with color, Demetrius Lauer was not entertained. This was the way he went. Unless Dem could surprise his prey, it would get messy.

Despite Aus’ gun laws, he’d managed to buy a Colt 1911M from a “collector” he knew. Ethan Keating was a dangerous serial killer and fugitive wanted in five countries. The bounty on him was dead or alive. Dem didn’t care which.

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Grandma’s Birthday Party

jen

© Jennifer Pendergast

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The table had been set with elegance but was overwhelmed by the rather bizarre lighting appliance hanging from the ceiling.

“Do you really think Grandma will like it?” Karla’s voice carried her doubt.

“You know how the old girl adored the Avant Garde.” Cornelius had been the favored grandchild, so he had made all the arrangements.

“Mom, Dad, and the rest of the family will be arriving soon. Grandma aside, I don’t think they will like it at all.”

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Take Me Out to the Ball Game

royals stadium

© Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

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A ball game’s a ball game even at “The K” in Kansas City.

Jeff scored a hot dog and watered-down beer and relaxed back into his seat. The Royals were playing against the Texas Rangers but that didn’t matter much to him. It was kind of strange to be watching baseball in February, but it was in the low 50s, so he thought a light jacket would do.

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The Others

aj

PHOTO PROMPT © Alicia Jamtaas

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Downtown passersby were aghast as they watched a man wave goodbye to the woman with one leg dangling out of the second-floor window.

“Do something! She’ll fall.”

Instead of responding to an emergency, the man in the baseball cap smiled. “No, she can’t fall. You see she’s…”

Sirens approaching from the east told the gathering crowd that someone had called 911.

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When My Daddy Found Me

J Hardy Carroll

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She dreamed of this all her life and now, she’d found it. A burned out brick building next to a concrete bridge. Emily had searched photographic archives from all over the world before discovering the object of her nightmares in rural Ohio. She had to push the overgrown foliage aside just to get a look at it. She didn’t know how she remembered, but she put her foot on the edge of one of the lower windows. Then she heard a newborn baby cry. Her mother had abandoned her there. Her “Daddy” was the firefighter who found and adopted her.

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Ken in a Barbie World

load

PHOTO PROMPT © Na’ama Yehuda

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Okay, fine. I’m a “Ken” in a Barbie world. How did that happen? Darn Rochelle and her writing prompts, anyway.

“It’s not Rochelle, Grandpa. It’s me.”

“Dani, have you flipped? You can’t leave me like this.”

“I turn Grandpa into a Ken doll.”

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Last Exit to Babylon

© Fleur Lind

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Taylor knew she was in a different universe when she was driving on the wrong side of the road.

“It finally worked.” She was grinning and her heart was hopeful. Maybe she’d finally found the way back home.

But crossing the infinity line was only the beginning. She had to find and take the right exit, which meant using the wrong ones to change all history. Getting the Greek civilization off the ground in 1600 BCE, watching the birth of Buddha in 486 BCE, publishing Einstein’s theory of special relativity in 1905.

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Running on Tuesday

train

PHOTO PROMPT – © Jennifer Pendergast

Fourteen-year-old Jerry Craft had shoved his mask deep into the back pocket of his dusty stained jeans five-hundred miles ago. He’d scurried into a boxcar at Denver and the inspectors hadn’t found him when they stopped in Salt Lake. Now somewhere in Nevada, August heat scorching him clean, he felt free. “No COVID’s gonna get me.” He suddenly coughed, doubling over and nearly falling from his perch just above the car coupling. Sitting down, his inner demon quieted and let him speak once more. “With Ma and Pa already dead, ain’t gonna let COVID get me before the cancer does.”

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“Dark X-Mas” Bargain!

dark xmas

Promotional image for the published anthology of drabbles “Dark X-Mas.”

I just found out that the ebook for Eleanor Merry Presents: Dark X-Mas Holiday Drabbles will be offered absolutely free on December 25th and 26th. I’ve contributed two “dark” Christmas tales among the vast multitude of 100-word tales of Yuletide horror.

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Two of My Tales to be Published in “Dark X-Mas Drabbles Anthology”

dark xmas

Promotional image for the soon-to-be published anthology of drabbles “Dark X-Mas.”

Not one but two of my drabbles have been accepted in the Eleanor Merry Presents Christmas Horror anthology “Dark X-Mas”.

According to the blurb for Dark X-Mas Drabbles Anthology:

I’m dreaming of a Dark Christmas
With every little tale that I read
When the knife blades glisten
And scared children listen
To hear slayers in the night
Where sugarplums can be gory
In the frightening elf story
And trees eat favorite household pets
There are gifts on all the pages
Of terror through the ages
Told of gift giving regrets
I’m dreaming of a Dark Christmas
With every little tale I read
While the bright lights shine
And the family dines In the soft fireplace glow
So hold loved ones tight
It’s not Santa visiting tonight
Death lies buried in the snow.

I actually don’t know a whole lot about co-publishers Eleanor Merry and Cassandra Angler, but some other authors I’ve been published with before, including David Bowmore and Shawn Klimek, are participating, so I figured “what the heck?”

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