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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#134: Look Up

This Friday, the 18th of February, marks the 92nd anniversary of Pluto being discovered — and though it’s no longer considered ‘big enough’ to be an official planet, it will always have a big place in our hearts. With it’s hot-to-cold cycles and snow-capped mountains, this almost-planet almost looks like home. (That said, we still wouldn’t recommend it for your next vacation!)

To mark the occasion, this week’s prompts are a love letter to our favorite forgotten planet, and the spirit of discovery in general.

This week's prompts

Your character, by chance or habit, peers through a telescope. They see something unusual — what is it?

Dystopian – 53 stories

Set your story beyond our own world.

Science Fiction – 50 stories

Write about a character who has a ‘hot and cold’ personality — or is affected by someone like this.

Character – 30 stories

End your story with a character looking out on a new horizon.

Narrative – 63 stories

Write from the POV of someone, or something, that experiences gravity differently.

Science Fiction – 27 stories

Stories

“The Rocks” by Jordan Williams

Submitted to Contest #134

It was a Tuesday morning that everything changed for Maddie. It wasn't really Tuesday morning, that was just the time it was back on earth in Houston. Up here on the ESS, it wasn't Tuesday morning anymore than it was Christmas eve. Thinking too much about that gave Maddie a headache though so she tried not to concentrate on it. She was preparing for her daily observations, part of her routine dictated by a room full of people a lot smarter than her, when she saw it. The thing that changed everything. It didn't look like muc...

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“Monocular-Telescope Points The Way” by Rick Mullholand

Submitted to Contest #134

Rob was beside himself. He couldn’t believe that he finally had obtained a Monocular-Telescope that is ideal for bird watching. It cost less than twenty dollars, which was also a pleasant surprise. Rob lived south of Chicago near Riverwalk Park. It was ideal for bird watching because of the dense growth that lined the walk near where he lived. One day, as he was watching the birds, he noticed that a dog ran out of the bushes with a bone in its mouth. He thought it was strange that a dog would have buried a bone in th...

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“The Observer ” by Cora V

Submitted to Contest #134

His head was absolutely pounding. Evan Myers glared against the offending office lights while doing his best to ignore the dangerous churning of his stomach. Confined to the rickety rolling chair at his desk, he made valiant efforts to sip at his lukewarm tea as his only defense against his splintering skull. His thick rimmed glasses did little to shield the bags under his half lid eyes, while his thinning hair attempted some interpretive dance atop his head. In conclusion: Evan was a mess. It was the best he felt in a long time. ...

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“Pit Fuel” by Jane Thomson

Submitted to Contest #134

A dribble of light like spilt milk. Is that what I think it is, asks Gabriel, scratching under his wing. Could be gas… Fix my left eye to the telescope again. He says, let's get this up on the screen, boy. You can see the little space-tracks they leave, shooting through the vacuum. Soul slime, we call it, up here in the Watch Tower. Doesn't happen often, he says. Maybe only once every thousand years or so. Some wiseass convinces them there's a way out, I guess, and off they go, wiggling into the darkness like so many spermatozoa. Headed for...

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“Worlds Apart” by James Miller

Submitted to Contest #134

M. Francois-Marie, I hope to satisfy your gracious inquiries about my Uncle Isaac. Of course, all the world is coming to know him in a sense, well beyond the shores of our Great Britain, but I do perhaps have the unique perspective of being the only such person to sit upon his lap, look through his scope, listen to his debates with great men in Woolsthorpe Manor, and perhaps even contribute to his lore. He is rapidly ascending into the clouds like Elijah, and few are left who can tell the real biography. Whether or not that’s what I ...

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“Hidden In the Corners” by Alyssa Tsang

Submitted to Contest #134

The candle-lit room smelled of old pine, musty books and dust, a comforting assault on her senses. Dim light and silence were an enjoyable change from the bustle of jealous and loud colleagues. Wrapped up in a silk dressing gown and a wool jacket, she glimpsed through the telescope. Each planet and star glowing faintly through the glass. "Little star, little planet, where are you? Are you close? Are you far?" She sang to herself softly. She always wondered what exactly she was looking at through the telescope and if humans would ever be able...

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“Pools of Honey” by Madisen Thomson

Submitted to Contest #134

I often wonder to myself, is there more than what meets the eye? From the very moment I became of existence, I have felt trapped as though I was looking from the outside in. And it had never dawned on me that maybe I really was. July 6th, 2004 at precisely 8:07 A.M. was my first sense of consciousness when the image had begun to reveal itself, a small creature laid before me. Its’ eyes sparkled into pools of honey, it was as though I had seen them before. Comfort engulfed me, my first emotion was it? I still am unsure at this point in m...

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“Moonstone Match” by Jeannette Miller

Submitted to Contest #134

In three days, Amy would be married to a young man two years younger than her in order to keep the population of the colony prospering. Amy didn’t want to marry him. She didn’t want to marry anyone. Not yet anyway. It was going to happen on her 18th birthday. She was supposed to be excited, but instead, she felt like she was being sent to her death. She wanted to know more about the people in Earth’s history, why people did the things they did, and why she was being compelled to do something she didn’t want to do. Amy’s parents had one of th...

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“Distant Horizon” by Rob Ryter

Submitted to Contest #134

2068: Destination I got the best view in the god-damned solar system. From here, I can pinch the whole shebang between my thumb and first finger; sun, planets and all. And I got the rest of my life to enjoy it. Human eyes have never before seen this blue and black horizon. It goes from pale sunrise to full dark every forty-five minutes. The Sun is pretty weak here, though you still wouldn’t want to stare at it without your shades. At this distance, anything I send home takes four and a half hours, more or less, at the speed of light. I su...

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“The Last Day on Mars” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #134

Attention:Martian language and measurements have been translated to English and Imperial System of Units, for earthly comprehension purposes.Androse watched helplessly, as the asteroid barreled towards Mars. “Isn’t there anything we can do?” he asked.Mandera wrapped is two left arms around his son and sadly replied, “We’ve done all we could. The rest is left to God.”A tear ran down Androse’s face, as his voice cracked, “I don’t want to die.”The urge for Mandera to hold his son until the end was tempting, but there was still work to do. ...

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“The oddest of all planets; Earth” by Vaibhavi Jha

Submitted to Contest #134

There I was, sitting on a picnic bench, looking up at the sky. It was beautiful, the starry night, the spaceships flying by, and who could forget the sound of the chirping of the little birds. You could even see Neptune in the distance and imagine a powerful storm was occurring. Astronomers here on Pluto have been, for decades, studying Neptune and other planets like Jupiter, Saturn, and even this bizarre planet called Earth. Scientists say Earth doesn't qualify as a planet because it is too watery and doesn't have enough landmass or ga...

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“The Eighth Wanderer” by G Suzanne

Submitted to Contest #134

For eight years, or nearly a third of all the time I've been alive, I, along with every other human in existence, have been running from Sun Death. Millions of years ahead of schedule, our life-giving star became the end of Earth, consuming the inner planets entirely and forcing us to flee before the wave of deadly radiation sweeping across our solar system. My home is dead, and soon I will be, too. Myself, my mother, and my younger sister Clara were among the 5,000 people with the correct combination of connections and skills to secure a p...

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“Night Sky Of Faith” by Charlotte Kelly

Submitted to Contest #134

My body was bruised and sore. The water was running in the bath, and I could smell the vanilla candles burning sweetly through the air. It had been 3 days since I left my family home and came to the hotel room with him. When I had gone home over a week ago, I told them all I was just home for a surprise holiday. How could I be honest? They loved Dave, almost as much as I did. When he arrived at the house, he was angry. I could see the fire in his eyes, but he played it so relaxed and cool in front of everyone that I almost thought it might b...

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“Girl-Shaped and Glowing” by Audrey Shaw

Submitted to Contest #134

I have lived in the same town my whole life, and my whole death too. It’s the kind of place that you live to be somewhere while being nowhere, so I couldn’t tell you where I am, not really. I could say something about the span of the crescent valley, scooping through hills of cold earth where I’ve come to travel with an audience of sheep. Trodding alongside icy rivers and jumping streams, floating up rocky slopes and alongside mountains. The larger rams will let me ride on their backs and sometimes I fall asleep there for hou...

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“Limbo” by Lauren McGovern

Submitted to Contest #134

I am a ball of light. I am a glare in a slate of blue, like the plasma white of the sun. I am now aware of my awareness. I ask myself why I am aware. I am not alone. The base of my form rests on a bed of white clouds. Every particle to my core is vibrating. My light is taking shape. ...

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$250

Prize money

223

Contest entries

128

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 25, 2022 EST

Won by Story Time 🏆

Title: The Hovering Age

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

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