Set your story in a desert town.

Posted in Adventure on Jun 23, 2023

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✍️ 53 stories

“Gordita” by Delbert Griffith

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #204

You won’t find it on any map. When spoken of, it’s usually by old men drinking coffee at the local Dairy Queen. The town is part legend, part myth, a relic of the old west that left nothing behind to mark its existence save a lot of old bones and a half-buried, rotted sign displaying the town’s name. Not that anyone has lately seen these bones, or the sign; they are lost in the vast West Texas desert, bleached by the sun and sniffed at by coyotes. The sun returns daily to further ossify the bones, and the coyotes abandon the bones in search...

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“THE BERDACHE” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #204

“Bartender, whiskey, and a jug of water, if you don’t mind.” Wynonna Belle’s lips were parched after a long day trundling through sage brush and dusty trail on her way south toward Fort Apache, Arizona. Her arrival in the sleepy little town of Holbrook bade well for resting her horses and her achy bones. Tired and hungry, Wynonna had initially sought out the hotel saloon hoping for a hot meal, a drink of rye, and a comfy bed for the night. However, she quickly doubted her decision of a drink first when the ornery herd of cattlemen and scally...

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“Saguaro” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #204

She got sent out with a basket of pecan bread and a bad cough. The flu had whipped through and nearly killed Rebecca the same way it had four other little girls in town. This was going to be her first outing since she recovered, and her mother pulled the red bonnet tight on her head as though sunshine might end up bringing back Death to finish the job. “Straight there,” her mother said, “I don’t want to find out you stopped to look at the horses at Friedman Ranch. This is a test errand. See if you can get there and back without collapsing. Y...

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“Varnacular” by Caleb Oney

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #204

THE WESTERN SUN blazed-a-glory. Heatwaves cast against the parched brown grass rose from the caramel sea spanning across Desierto de Chihuahua. The land inhaled and exhaled torrents of brown dust, lifted like twisters reaching for the heavens, forever remaining unsuccessful. The soft wind which whisked against the silence was deafening. Patches of tumbleweed flew in tandem with the floating dirt. Engulfed in these congested clouds were three silhouettes, each stiff and still like a spooked fox confronting a lion. Ain’t he something. One of ...

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“Eid Mubarak” by Anne Shillingsburg

Submitted to Contest #204

CW: Description of animal slaughterThe countryside is not exactly green at home, but the dusty cedars and holm oaks, the upland cherry orchards and irrigated fields of young wheat in oblong patches flanked by the piled boulders dug out to make them possible are some kind of midpoint between the lush Appalachian onslaught of unrestrainable vegetation of my youth and the red-dune Sahara we’re driving into. As we slide out of the forested hills, we go through a spectrum: the fruit-tree green turns to graying olive as the red-tiled roofs become ...

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“The Titty Show: Tinkering Part 6” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #204

Note: This is a companion piece to In Absentia and the forthcoming Tinkering 8.“Indubitably, magic is one of the subtlest and most difficult of the sciences and arts.”― Aleister CrowleyThe JavelinaSaguaro Junction, AZKurt’s third Titty Show went down like mother’s milk, and he rapped the bar for a fourth. Treena, behind the stick, was all about the profit margin and not so much about the shitbags who frequented Saguaro Junction’s least Yelp-ed biker haven. She pulled the Everclear the Javelina’s patrons preferred to Stoli, snagged the house ...

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“The Café” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #204

“Gonna be a hot one, t’day.”“Yep.”“Hmm…”The fly-speckled screen door was flapping lightly in the summer breeze as the last one walked in. That was Sal, an old-timer who still drove his Chevy up to the gas station-café every morning to get his regular cup of coffee and scrambled eggs. Chester and Mitch were waiting for him, already digging into their second cups of coffee and muffins they liked for their breakfast. It was warm, moving quickly to humidity as the sun crawled patiently over the horizon. There was not much else for that sun to mo...

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“There are People here” by A. L. V.

Submitted to Contest #204

A bag of silver coins dangles from my hip, completely worthless to me in its current state. I tie another bag closed, full of old steel utensils, and let it hang from the saddle. I know of a man in a nearby town that can melt scavenged metal into bullets for a decent price. I've given him ample business, and just through seeing his clients I've wondered how many of his bullets have been used to kill people. ...

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“Dusty Poem of Wittleburg” by Steffen Lettau

Submitted to Contest #204

The Curator, who wishes to remain nameless and identify only by his title, has come forward and laid out a discovery from a historian who claims that his ancestors were involved in one of the biggest cover-ups during the final years of the American Civil War. Since then, the place was reclaimed by the wild and remains as part of the scenery, but the historian swears adamantly that the spot is actually a grave site of the innocent commune, hard-working farmers and ranchers and store owners, whose only crime was defending their homes and thei...

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“Saddlesore, Arizona” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #204

Out in the middle of western Arizona sits a lonesome little town called Saddlesore. Founded in 1864 by a couple of prospectors looking for copper and gold, it eventually grew to a population of one hundred and ten. It consists of a general store that sells just about anything a person could need, as well as a small five-pew Baptist church that hardly anyone attends. There is also Chinese laundry and a schoolhouse. At one end of the street is the Sheriff’s office. At the other is the most prominent building in town- ...

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“GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL-A STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?” by Marvin Furman

Submitted to Contest #204

GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL: A STRUGGLE OVER RELIGIOUS FREEDOM? One of my favorite actors was Hugh O'Brien, who starred in the old Wyatt Earp series on TV. And it was that show that got me interested in the life of Wyatt Earp. That led me to read Stuart Lake's biography on Earp. But, as I discovered years later, Lake's work putting Earp on a pedestal was a lot of fluff, leaving out some of the sordid details of Earp's life. Lake met Earp near the end of...

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“Whose Rage Is It Anyway?” by Ellen Neuborne

Submitted to Contest #204

She wanted to punch him in the nose. Hard, right in the nose! But she couldn’t, because she wasn’t tall enough to reach that far. From her position in the passenger seat, she could only get her right fist to his shoulder. And it’s useless to hit a grown man in the shoulder. Even if the man was 60 and a lousy street fighter – 30 years of marriage and you learn a thing or two about a guy. Also, his right was the only hand on the wheel at the moment. She wanted to get from Phoenix to Las Vegas in one piece. Hitting the driver on his drivi...

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“A Blue, Ceramic Vase” by Joy Noble

Submitted to Contest #204

There it was again. Window shutters slammed against their panes, while the wind howled like a crying cub away from its mother. There weren't supposed to be storms in Oklahoma that time of year. Everyone in the dusty little town was fast asleep, not yet woken by the beginnings of the storm. That is, everyone except for Avery. She squeezed her eyes closed, shutting out the sounds from outside her window and the memories of the night before. It wasn’t working all that well. The wind sounded too much like his scream. “Avery, ya okay?” her broth...

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“Inspiration” by Gregg Voss

Submitted to Contest #204

The barkeep was short, rotund and nearly bald, wearing a hound’s tooth vest over a crisp white shirt with black armbands. A pair of pince-nez spectacles appeared to be drifting down his nose toward the shot glass he was wiping. Levi ordered a bourbon, tossed a few buffalo nickels on the bar, and was in no mood for chit-chat. “We ain’t seen rain in, Lord almighty, almost two months,” the barkeep s...

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“Dry” by Howdle Gavin

Submitted to Contest #204

The stranger rode into the desert town of Dry Gulch as the sun was setting, casting long shadows across the sandy landscape. The sky was ablaze with colors of orange and red, signaling the end of another scorching day. As he approached, the town's folk gathered around, curious about the arrival of this mysterious traveler. He was a tall man, with broad shoulders and a sun-beaten face that showed the signs of his many horseback journeys. His piercing blue eyes seemed to peer directly into one's soul, and carried with them a wisdom that only...

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Set your story in a desert town.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 53 stories

“Gordita” by Delbert Griffith

“THE BERDACHE” by Chris Campbell

“Saguaro” by Story Time

“Varnacular” by Caleb Oney

“Eid Mubarak” by Anne Shillingsburg

“The Titty Show: Tinkering Part 6” by Martin Ross

“The Café” by Kendall Defoe

“There are People here” by A. L. V.

“Dusty Poem of Wittleburg” by Steffen Lettau

“Saddlesore, Arizona” by Ralph Aldrich

“GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL-A STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?” by Marvin Furman

“Whose Rage Is It Anyway?” by Ellen Neuborne

“A Blue, Ceramic Vase” by Joy Noble

“Inspiration” by Gregg Voss

“Dry” by Howdle Gavin

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a stranger coming to town and shaking up the order of things.

Write a story about someone undertaking a long, dangerous journey.

Write a Western-inspired story in a new genre or setting (e.g. a space western, fantasy western, etc.)

Write a story about someone seeking revenge for a past wrong.

Contest #204

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

300

Contest entries

94

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: