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Jo Freitag

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2024

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77 Stories

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The Fog Lake Ferox

Weekly Contest #332

Regina Penman, the secretary of the ARC Arthurian Readers Club, blew in through the door of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, accompanied by a flurry of leaves. She pushed the door shut with her hip and stood leaning against it to get her breath back. “So, the climate is still not so ‘Camelot Perfect All the Year’. The wind was never like this in the past!” she observed. “We call it the Fog Lake Ferox” said Little Plump Jo, who was the current Artisan in Residence in Cloudbank Cabin. “They say we have only had winds th...

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The Wrath of Malory

Weekly Contest #326

Mimosa Minipas and her yappy handbag dog fled screaming from Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, pursued by a swarm of fairies – cute little fairies with spiky pink hair and big blue eyes, towering, menacing fairies with dark, dark eyes and coal black curls, and translucent fairies tripping on the hems of their papery gowns. It was completely dark inside Cloudbank Cabin except for the lights twinkling on the photocopier and the paper shredder, as if all the electricity in the place had been concentrated into the operatio...

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Maybe It’s Malory

Weekly Contest #325

“Mimosa Minipas has won a Fantasy Short Story competition at the ARC Arthurian Readers Club. Her prize is a week’s stay at Cloudbank Cabin” Little Plump Jo told her five canine writing companions, the Dabrowski Dogs. “Regina Penman, the Secretary of the ARC sent me an email about it, asking me to welcome her and organize the room for her.” Little Plump Jo was the current Artisan in Residence in Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies. She had met Regina Penman when she attended the ARC Arthurian Readers Club Conference. Befor...

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A Kick in the Pantsers

Weekly Contest #324

“Still waters run deep, you know! She is probably just thinking and mentally outlining her next chapter.” “More like stagnant waters don’t flow and she is stuck in some sort of boggy plot hole without the inspiration, inclination or impetus to get herself out.” The five Dabrowski Dogs, Imaginational, Intellectual, Emotional, Sensual and Psycho Motor, were sitting in a semi-circle in front of their mistress, Little Plump Jo, peering anxiously at her. Little Plump Jo was the current Artisan in Residence in Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for...

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What profits me my name?

Weekly Contest #322

Imaginational Dabrowski, the little Bedlington Terrier, was lazing on the couch in the lounge of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies. His front paws were crossed one over the other in a decorative fashion. He was still wearing the collar of flowers he had sported at the previous day’s wedding of Jovial Janny Joiner from the Tavern to her beau, Dashing Danny Dubglas. Eyes closed and a blissful expression on his face, he was happily recalling the events of the day and envisioning a glowing future for the young couple. The f...

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The Blame Game

Weekly Contest #321

“Let’s review yesterday’s debacle!” “I would prefer not to do that right now, Malory Tennyson!” “Understandable, Lancelot, and I appreciate that you may not feel ready to discuss it yet. But I think we all need to review the past couple of days, while they are still fresh in our minds, to see where the blame lies, to avoid a recurrence in future.” “I do not see any need to discuss it any further. Surely nobody else is to blame if I do anything foolish or lacking in dignity. If it is a matter of paying compensation for the expenses incurred i...

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Promises to keep

Weekly Contest #320

The woods are lovely, dark and deep But I have promises to keep And miles to go before I sleep Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening The woods are lovely The scene in the Fog Lake was one of a knight cantering along a path in a sunlit forest, with his companion dog running beside the horse. Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence in Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, assumed that this must be one of Malory’s exercises in writing a description of landscape, as there did not seem to any plot wort...

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Ai Lemur Seeks Sanctuary

Weekly Contest #319

“Oh yuk, Psycho! What is that? Don’t bring it in here!” Psycho Motor Dabrowski, one of the five canine writing companions of Little Plump Jo had just strutted through the door of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, with a bedraggled lump of thick brown fur in his mouth and deposited it on the floor in the middle of the lounge room. “I found it on the doorstep. Can we keep it? Please! Please!” Psycho Motor had a habit of bringing his smelly, wet, ‘strictly for outside’ toys inside. But this did not seem to be a shredded t...

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Interview with Sir Bors

Weekly Contest #318

Brief mention of suicide “Make sure Lancelot is there in time for the Trial by Combat in the Land Dispute for King Bagdemagus, Bors!” called out Malory Tennyson, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies. “Already organized,” replied Sir Bors de Ganis. “I have sent him off to sleep under an apple tree or by a hedgerow, to be captured by Morgan LeFey and three other Witch Queens. I have arranged for King Bagdemagus’ daughter to be there at Morgan’s castle, ready to free him in return for a kiss and the promise that ...

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Where were you when…?

Weekly Contest #317

Intellectual Dabrowski had instigated a research project. He was investigating the effects of traumatic events and social change on the characters who participated in the re-enactments of the Arthurian legends in the Fog Lake at the foot of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies. Intellectual was one of the five canine writing companions of Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence in Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies. Because dogs hear a different range of sound, the Dabrowski Dogs were attuned...

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The truth about true love

Weekly Contest #316

“There it is – the Love At First Sight Moment!” shouted Malory Tennyson, leaping up to bounce excitedly with Psycho Motor Dabrowski, on the porch of Cloudbank Cabin. “Did you see it, Little Plump Jo? Did you write it?” Malory, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies was watching the picnic, being held by the Arthurian characters in the Fog Lake at the foot of Cloudbank Cabin, to celebrate the inaugural Iteration Day. Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence in the cabin and her five overexcitable canine ...

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Happy Iteration Day!

Weekly Contest #315

It was two days after the Midsummer Tournament. King Arthur was in a cheerful mood. “Happy Iteration Day, Lance!” “Iteration Day?” “Yes. I have just legislated the inaugural Iteration Day. It will be a day to mark the transition from one iteration of Fog Lake reenactments to the next. It will be a day to remember the events of the previous and make resolutions about the iteration to come. We will celebrate the day with a picnic in the woods. Lady Charlotte-Elaine of Charlotte’s Web Weaving has made up lovely moss green woollen tunics and le...

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July and August cannot be too hot.

Weekly Contest #314

The weather in Camelot had been legislated, by a law made a distant moon ago, to be perfect all the year. As this ruled out the extremes of heat usually found in summer, the only way to gauge the time of mid-summer in Camelot was to observe the stars. When Sirius, the Dog Star would rise just before the Sun in July, it would indicate the time surrounding the middle of summer, the dies caniculares, or ‘dog days’. Malory Tennyson, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, was doing just that. He was particularly ob...

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All together now. On the same page. In the same iteration.

Weekly Contest #313

Look at me now! (I mean ‘look at Sir Lancelot now’) crowed Malory Tennyson. “little need to speak Of Lancelot in his glory! King, duke, earl, Count, baron—whom he smote, he overthrew.” Malory Tennyson, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, was reclining on the porch of Cloudbank Cabin, watching all the Arthurian characters demonstrating their martial skills, in a practice session in the Fog Lake at the foot of the Cabin. With him were Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence at the Cabin and her over...

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Quest for a Galahad

Weekly Contest #312

My good blade carves the casques of men, My tough lance thrusteth sure, My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure. “That was from Sir Galahad written by Alfred 1st Baron Tennyson in 1842,” informed Intellectual Dabrowski. “And that was what Malory Tennyson read out first. Then he put out a call for people to audition for the role of Galahad for the Fog Lake re-enactments.” Intellectual Dabrowski and Psycho Motor Dabrowski, two of the five overexcitable Dabrowski Dogs, canine writing companions of Little Plump Jo, the cu...

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