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Michael Regan

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2021

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24 Stories

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The Pumpkin Murder

Weekly Contest #169

By the time Detective Michelle ‘Mickey’ Mantle arrived, the Homicide Team had the street cordoned off. The narrow tree lined streets of Vancouver’s Southlands-Dunbar were a stark change from the usual homicide calls of the Lower East Side. Mickey took a moment to assess the area. Cars parked on both sides of the street; ‘Residence Parking Only’ signs at each end of the block; a few empty parking spaces; fall leaves had settled on the remaining cars.Constable Brian Carson is talking to the coroner Jim “JJ” Johnson. Mickey joins them.“Brian–JJ...

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The Dead Battery Murder

Weekly Contest #165

[ WARNING - This is a murder mystery. It contains sensitive content. ] Detective Michelle “Mickey” Mantle looked at the autopsy report–Accidental Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. An open and shut case; the batteries in the carbon monoxide detector were dead; except they shouldn’t be. The expiry date wasn’t for ten years; they were nearly new.The manufacturer confirmed that batteries with that expiry date had only been on sale for two months. Taking the batteries and a printout of the manufacturer's information, she went to do battle with the coron...

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A Cup of Tea

Weekly Contest #160

The whistle of the kettle broke the morning silence.“I’m coming.” Jim yells as he rushes from the conservatory to the kitchen.Sitting at the small table in the conservatory, Jill smiles and shakes her head. He’s just like me, yelling at the kettle. I wonder if it comes from living alone too long?She adjusts her wheelchair so she can watch him in the kitchen. He has a ritual he goes through when making the tea. She likes to watch. She could still hear him as he explained it the first time.Rinsing out the teapot with boiling water from the ket...

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Tangiers, 1351

Hey George – Just passed through customs and found a computer terminal where people can send any last minute messages while they wait to be transported.Here are the notes I promised you. You should be able to work them into the Preface.###The line for pre-screening snakes back and forth almost to the entrance. Pre-screening was just one of those annoying things you had to put up with. Which doesn’t mean I liked it. But, they can’t exactly screen when you get there can they? Waiting at customs pre-screening gets worse every year. . . Loo...

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Maggie

Weekly Contest #153

[WARNING: Contains very offensive language, but it was necessary for the story.]January 23, 1976Jo Thomas was on the couch watching the CBS news out of Seattle. His wife came out from the kitchen where she had been drying the last of the dinner dishes. “Anything on the TV about him?” she asked.“Cronkite gave a short memorial at the end of the newscast, then they played a bit of ‘Old Man River’”“He hated that song.” she stated matter-of-factly. “They had tributes to him all day on the CBC. You’d think he was Canadian.”“Do you want a drin...

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Please Reboot Dave

Weekly Contest #150

While his few friends were obsessed with ‘Dungeons & Dragons’, Dave was engrossed in the world created by Robert A. Heinlein's ‘The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress’. For a socially inept pre-teen, the idea that a computer system could become someone's friend was a revelation. Creating such a system became a lifelong obsession.Finally getting his parents to buy him a personal computer, Dave taught himself programming. He developed a series of games where he could interact with his computer generated friends. As computers become ever more powerfu...

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The Equipment Room Caper

Weekly Contest #148

Constable Vic Clarke of the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) looked perplexed. As he filled out the incident report:______________________________________________________LOST PROPERTY REPORTThe completion of this report will document the loss of Personal Property Vancouver Police DepartmentREPORT NUMBER: 1982-06-011Call 604 555-1212 and ask for a “Lost Property” report number. If thisnumber is not filled in, your report will not be recorded by the Department.NAME: John SchwartzSTREET: 1155 Beach St. Vancouver, BC SUITE/APT: Apt. #...

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Dr. Jane Seymour - Hidden Assumptions

They already knew the experiment to send a probe back an hour in time, didn’t work. Yet all eyes were focused on the probe in the Closed Timelike Curve (CTC) chamber where Dr. Clarke was setting up the experiment. None more so than Dr. Jane Seymour, it was her work on the theory of CTCs that had, in part, led to this experiment.  An hour ago, at 11:00am, Jane along with the other scientists had watched as the probe failed to materialise in the chamber. Now, in one of those twists in dealing with time travel, they were forced to conduc...

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Home Coming - Feb 12, 1973

Weekly Contest #146

[Mentions brutality and suicide.]“Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” Meditation XVII, John DonneIt is Feb 12, 1973. I pour a shot of whiskey from the bottle that has remained unopened since I toasted the New Year with a friend. My wife asks if I am coming to bed. I shake my head. There is something on the TV I must watch.They are coming home. These men who had been brutalized and locked away were coming home.Not home, home, but Cla...

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They Will Bite When They Are Ready

The two men walked in silence from their presentation to Close Brothers Group to The White Horse pub on Exchange Square. One wondering if he had picked the right person to head the London office, the other wondering if he still had a job.The pub was nearly empty. Getting a small table in the corner of the bar Tim finally vented “You set me up!”Tim Westland was in London to sell the services of his company, “TW Bank Services”, to the banks. His service allowed much faster and more secure credit transfers for both inter branch and internationa...

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CM Sherman Gallery - PWND

Weekly Contest #144

WARNING - Mentions child pornography and child abuse.Jim ‘JJ’ James sounded puzzled. “Let me get this straight – you want me to break into the gallery and take a photograph. I am sorry Mr. Collins – that isn’t the sort of thing we do. We do penetration tests of the network – we don’t remove items from the client’s business.” Marshal Collins, chairperson of the CM Sherman Gallery Society, smiled – “Sorry – poor choice of words. Not ‘take’ as in steal but just take a picture of yourself inside the gallery. Proof that you were ac...

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Gordon

Weekly Contest #143

Courage - the ability to do something that frightens one.When you approach your three score and ten, if you are lucky, you can look back on days that make you smile and feel good about yourself. Not one of the big days, the births and weddings, the days that, hopefully, everyone has enjoyed. But, a day when you were involved in helping someone with a heroic act. You don’t have to be the person diving into a lake to rescue a child. Maybe you just got the blankets and kept them both warm until the ambulance arrives. For some of us it wil...

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Relative Dimensions In Space - Wednesday in Cambridge

Weekly Contest #137

[Author's Note: After posting “Relative Dimensions In Space” I realised that I wanted to know more about Tim and Jane. If you have read “Relative Dimensions In Space” you will know some of how this will end. If you haven’t here is the backstory: After a quick background check and spending a day with her, Tim Westland, a Canadian high tech multibillionaire, has agreed to fund a research project proposed by Dr. Jane Seymour, a professor at the Centre for Applied Cosmology, University of Cambridge.]Tim was meeting Jane at Le Pain Quot...

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Relative Dimensions In Space

Weekly Contest #136

“Stand still, I can’t believe after all these years you haven’t learned how to tie a bow tie.” “I told you I should have bought a clip on tie.” ### Tim Westland was one of the growing bevy of young Canadian high tech multibillionaires. His small software company in Sidney BC developed one of those boring programs that nobody has ever heard of but one that secures international bank transfers. It was one of those ideas that are so blindingly obvious you can’t help thinking “Why didn’t I think of that.” In 2025 he sold his company to a...

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Irrawaddy - Pt2 - The Librarian

Windgate’s orders for a column of Chindits to cross the Irrawaddy had been a disaster. After a number of skirmishes that accomplished nothing, they were facing a Japanese brigade. They were finally given the order to retreat back across the Chindwin River - British held territory.The column had been broken into groups of 30 to 35 men. The group led by Second Lieutenant Stanley Carter had crossed the Irrawaddy near Shein Ma Kar. They were only ten miles from the Chindwin River. Of the 35 men that started there were 28 left. Two had drowned in...

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