Nerd Church - Short Story: The Lady Klara, The Prince Matteo

This is a fantasy short story that first appeared in the 'Promptly Written' publication on Medium, in response to the following prompt by Ravyne Hawke:

Conceptual theme — Villain
Twosome — Dreadful and Deadly

I'm actually quite proud of this one, so I hope you like it! 😅

Warning: general violence (mostly of the stabby kind,) blood, injury, murder, implied war, loss of autonomy

The Lady Klara, The Prince Matteo

Image by Enrique Meseguer from Pixabay

Nerd Church - Short Story: Unwitnessed

Originally published in Promptly Written on Medium, for this prompt by Ravyne Hawke:

Write a ‘moody’ piece around any of the following:

— a fresh perspective
— a lingering thought
— a lost moment in time

Warning: implied violence

Unwitnessed

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Nerd Church - Short Story: Gravel-Crunch

This is another Anna Sinclair short story - if you don't know what that is, then you may or may not want to read the previous stories first.

If you do, here they are:

• New Money

• Living the Dream

If you don't - the briefest of re-caps:

Anna Sinclair rocks, she swears a lot, and she's got some kind of feud going with some rich boys called Miles and Tony Addison, relating to some money. At least some of said money is currently down Anna's bra.

Now you pretty much know everything I do about her 😅

Warning: alcohol

Gravel-Crunch

A short story about one Anna Sinclair.

Image by André Rau from Pixabay

Nerd Church - Short Story: Everyone Is Born With A Void

This story was originally published on the Promptly Written publication on Medium, in response to the following prompt from Ravyne Hawke:


Write a story around the following:

— a bottomless pit
— a moment of despair
— a hopeful or hopeless outcome

Warning: this story contains injury imagery, including acid burns, and also centres on mental health issues (depression,) and hopelessness.

Everyone Is Born With A Void

This is Emmeline's.

Nerd Church - Short Story: Living the Dream

So this is another instalment of my 'Snapshots of Anna Sinclair' series from Medium.

If you want to see the first one - New Money - on Dora Reads, then you can do so here.

Hope you enjoy!

Warning: brief references to domestic violence and prison

Living the Dream

Good morning, Anna Sinclair

Image by Marco Wolff from Pixabay

Nerd Church - Short Story: Mornings Dawn, Whether You Want Them To Or Not

 

Originally published in the Medium publication Promptly Written, for the quote-prompt '“Some people live just looking for someone to die for.”― Dominic Riccitello' set by Ravyne Hawke.

Warning: this story deals with grief a lot, as well as generally discussing death and related topics.

Mornings Dawn, Whether You Want Them To Or Not

Image by Martina Bulková from Pixabay

Nerd Church - Short Story: Bex Is On Her Own

Originally published in the Medium publication Promptly Written, for the following prompt set by Ravyne Hawke:

Use any or all of the following concepts for a story:

— ancient runes/ruins
— a ghostly appearance
— danger is afoot!

Content Warning: I’m not sure what happened to this woman, but I don’t think it was anything good — I felt like I should add a warning, but it was kind of difficult to figure out what for exactly. So just be *waves hands* generally careful!

Bex Is On Her Own

A horror-ish short story

Nerd Church - Short Story: Some Space

A short story originally published in the Medium publication 'Promptly Written,' and based on a prompt by Ravyne Hawke.

The prompt:

Write a ‘moody’ piece around the following:

— out of this world
— wonderstruck
— a dark night

Some Space

Path descending towards the Rhondda Valley by Gareth James, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Nerd Church - Short Story: The Greatest Thieves

A short story originally published in the Medium publication 'Promptly Written'

The Greatest Thieves

...do not take jewels.

Image by Enrique Meseguer from Pixabay

Nerd Church - Short Story: New Money

This was first published by me in the Medium publication Promptly Written.

This is the first story I wrote which featured a character called Anna Sinclair - to date, I've written three stories about her, and given her her own Medium list titled 'Snapshots of Anna Sinclair.' (She won't leave me alone, so I've given in and accepted it.)

Content Warning: one potential drug reference. (Yes, I said ‘potential’ — it’s a little ambiguous, even to me 😅)

New Money

Image by André Santana AndreMS from Pixabay

Nerd Church - Short Story: Crystal Clarity

 

This story was originally published in the Promptly Written publication on Medium by yours truly, in response to the prompt 'Either dream or reality' from editor Ravyne Hawke.

Crystal Clarity

Image by meineresterampe from Pixabay 

He stepped out onto the crystal deck. Unable — unwilling — to look through the refracted layers of light beneath his feet.

It seemed so fantastical. A miracle of modern craftsmanship and engineering, they called it. He hated it.

Layers of quartz and glass melded into one another to create this sturdy viewing platform, over the crater. It didn’t seem real. And yet… it was strong beneath him. Physical.

He wouldn’t look down, through the surface, the prism, the light. Instead he looked across at the crater itself, ragged, raw, a bleeding wound on the landscape.

They told him the platform was very beautiful — stark contrast, they said, with the catastrophe it looked out upon. But he kept his eyes resolutely ahead, away from the glimpses of sublime achievement beneath him.

Beauty had no place here — not like this. No matter how much the tourists clicked and clacked across the quartz and crystal, oohing and ahing, he would not look down.

He wondered how many of them had even taken a videogram or a panoramiograph of the real attraction — the reason the platform was even here: the ugly crater which once held so many hopes, dreams, lives. None of them seemed to care.

They’ll tell people they visited this place. Not quite the truth.

If you enjoyed this story, please consider buying me a coffee here.

Whatcha think?

Talk to me! 😊💬

You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Pinterest, and on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page

Previous Short Stories on Dora Reads:

• Nerd Church - Short Story: The Midday Sun

• Nerd Church - Short Story: A Broken Princess

Sharing and commenting is a welcome boost to my fragile writer's ego! 😅

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Nerd Church - Short Story: The Midday Sun

 

I have a bunch of stories from Medium that I was thinking about posting here once a month-ish, because why not? (Possibly gonna regret asking that! 😅)

This story was originally published by yours truly in the Promptly Written publication on Medium, for the following prompt, set by Ravyne Hawke:

‘Write a ‘moody’ piece around the following:

— a monumental decision
— confusion
— a fork in the road’

The Midday Sun

Image by Ruben from Pixabay 

Nerd Church - The Black Phone: The Film Adaptation of A Horror Masterpiece

 

The Black Phone is one of my favourite short stories of all time, from one of my favourite authors of all time, Joe Hill.

I've read the collection 20th Century Ghosts (where The Black Phone appears,) more times than it's truly a good thing to admit to - it's my comfort reading, don't judge me.

So I love this story. It's a masterpiece.

Not perfect, no - it mentions how fat the villain is at least six times too many, for a start - but a masterpiece, all the same.

And I'm fully prepared to admit that I'm entirely biased when it comes to this story. So be aware of that. 😅

Nerd Church - Short Story: A Broken Princess

This is a (very) short story, first published by yours truly in the Medium publication EwhyE after I found it languishing in an old notebook.

Content warning: refs. to violence/murder. 

Also whatever spell my mother put on me to stop me from swearing doesn't seem to work on fiction, so this is quite sweary - and without *'s for once!

Image by Ruth Archer from Pixabay 

Nerd Church - Short Story: Girl, Alone

 

'The neighbours have come home. I can hear Mr L pulling his filtration system off – the sound seeps through the walls. Our walls are so thin – doesn’t seem like it could keep what’s going on out there at bay, does it?'

About mid-week this story was slammed into my brain, without warning, by the universe.

And I am but a simple writer - the universe calls, and I answer.

So... have this sci-fi-ish/dystopian-ish short story, I guess! 😅

(Bo Burnham's Inside (especially All Eyes On Me,) was pretty much my writing soundtrack for this - for anyone who finds that sort of insight interesting! ...Plus, it, uh, might explain a lot 😅)

Content Warnings:

- isolation

- life-threatening climate/environmental catastrophes

- brief non-sexual nudity and mentions of anatomy

- life-threatening heat and physical stress

- implied physical disability/health condition

- mental health issues/extreme stress

...I've never done a full Content Warnings list like this for one of my stories before, so be careful and tell me if I missed anything that needs to be listed!

Mini-Review! - Dat's Love and Other Stories by Leonora Brito

**This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.com (US). I earn commission from qualifying purchases**

Title: Dat's Love and Other Stories

(Also published as 'Selected Stories)

Author: Leonora Brito

Genres: Anthology, Short Stories, Contemporary(-ish,) Historical Fiction

Buy now on Amazon.com

Month in Review(s) - September 2018

Ohmygod September.

September was a f**king rollercoaster. The type where you throw up a lot.

(I'm actually kind of quietly impressed with this graphic that I threw together in like, 15 minutes! Lol.)

On the good side:

It was my birthday! Woop!

(If you wanna give me a present, you can get me a coffee here! If not, I still love ya! 😊)

Really Mini-Reviews! - The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen and The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

I have two reviews for stunning collections of short stories by Asian-American writers for you today dear nerdlets!

Check out my reviews of The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu:

Month in Review(s) - November 2017

November was one of those super-busy months where I barely had time to think!

As such, guys, I apologise if I've been a little more AWOL than usual.

I haven't had much chance to be social and all that - so, hi! I am still here! XD

Mini-Review! - The Wooden Heart by Daniel Abrahams

Title: The Wooden Heart

Author: Daniel Abrahams

Genre: short story/novella, contemporary, horror*, fantasy* (*ish) 

Amazon: UK - USA