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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

“Fight or Flight” by Zudo Muldoon

Submitted to Contest #134

Seconds after takeoff I realized controllability was an issue. It was the first flight of a radio controlled, balsa wood and tissue paper covered P-47 model that I had spent months building. I was 13 years old and nearly every kid from my block was there for the event. I had gained popularity by crashing model airplanes. Before this flight I had assured my friends that things would go well this time.The P47’s engine’s throttle had stuck wide open and it was leaving the earth at an alarming speed. The engine had come from an earlier...

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“A Short Walk Across Eternity ” by Devin Walker

Submitted to Contest #134

Breathing is so important. I've only done this a few times before, and the first time I pulled this off I found myself at the bottom of a pool. Coughing up chlorine for a minute, and sneezing out the rest over time. The trip was short though, whipping back home once my sinuses stopped burning. Still learning the ropes of this nee ability of mine, and you would thinking being able to teleport would be easy. "Just think of a place and go." I always thought from reading comics, and new age websites. The sites would say 'Visualize' or som...

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“Where is She?” by Mark James

Submitted to Contest #134

Author's Note: Contains Sensitive Content - Sexual Assault and Suicide/Self-Harm Ben looked through moist eyes out his fifth-floor apartment window in Brookhaven. Tears streamed slowly down his face as he sipped his morning coffee. He couldn’t stop the tears. They came all too easy these days, and he knew he shouldn’t try to stop them. “It’s natural and what I need to do,” he told himself. The sun barely peeked over the horizon, beginning to illuminate the city below. How strange it was. The world continues on as if nothing had happened. ...

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“Chapters” by Rachel Kenley Fry

Submitted to Contest #134

She could not wait to leave home. At nearly nineteen, she could not stand being told what to do by her parents, who were well-meaning, but who nagged incessantly and were, quite frankly, out of touch with the real world. She boarded a red-eye flight, bound for her brand-new life, and watched through the window as the lights of the city faded to black. In the morning, everything would be different. In the morning, the next chapter of her life would begin.She loved college life. She ate take-out pizza at least twice a week and joined an improv...

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“Gordo Series #2: A Research Synth Awakening” by Bruce Friedman

Submitted to Contest #134

Author’s note: The Gordo series is a set of stories about Gordo, an AI Synth. In the one below, his role in academic research is the major plot element. Although all of the stories will involve him as a major character, each of them stands alone and can be read independently. At a time in the near future.My name’s Gordo and I’m a Research Synth, often referred to as an RS. My specialty is Astrophysics and I was recently purchased from Stanford by the Physics Department at Cantwell University. My role is to assist the flesh-and-blood (Fa...

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“NOT JUST ANOTHER DAY” by Darrell Grant

Submitted to Contest #134

I’ve known for a few years now, that my life was only as good as someone’s imagination. It was made up and I had to live it by following a script or face possible death. I was surviving by playing my role in my new life like a seasoned actor. At least that’s the way it was until my world was turned upside down starting with a note that was slipped under my apartment door. It said two things, “I will kill you at 6am a week from now” and that he or she would finish their steak first and then shoot me in the head if all went as...

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“When Michael Learned to Fly” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #134

I met Michael LaRoos when he moved up to Pilot Knob after his mother and father were killed in a horrific traffic accident on the Long Island Freeway. He had come to live with his Grandpa Keller who owned one hundred acres north of our home. He was twelve, the same age as I was when he came to the eastern shore of Lake George. Named for the King of England before the Revolution, my father boldly claimed the lake was named for him whenever the out-of-towners walked into his store. Who was I to doubt him since&nb...

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“Ally's perfect gravity” by Cassandra Chi

Submitted to Contest #134

Waiting in line for our turn into the elevator, I constantly check Ally's mood. Since she is not feeling great, I start exploring options. After all, she is my most important significant other, my soulmate, my Angel and it is my only concern to do my best for her well-being. Ally is getting old, brave and generous as she is, I can see she is in worse shape every day. Her back feet are getting insecure and standing up looks really painful, but she never complains. She is in my life for 13 years now, since she was just a dumb puppy. Grew up to...

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“Dyna 4 (Look Up Contest)” by Stacey Iannazzo

Submitted to Contest #134

I rushed into the small cafe and at once spotted Lynn. She was sitting in our favorite corner, sprawled out in an oversized armchair, her hair pulled up loosely with an elastic, a book resting on her knees while she examined something she had just plucked from between her teeth. Stopping quickly to place my order, a double mocha latte with whipped cream and chocolate Jimmies. I threw myself into the chair across from her. Without wasting another moment, I reached for a chocolate chip, chocolate dipped pastry from the overfi...

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“Gods cue ball” by Edward Savage

Submitted to Contest #134

I boarded the train, from Liverpool Street Station to Cambridge at three of the afternoon on a cold but clear skyed Thursday in March, early in the fifth decade of Victoria’s reign, at the behest of my good friend Professor Rupert Armitage, head of the University Observatory. Armitage had invited me to join him and the distinguished astronomer, William Lassell, FRS, FRSE, FRSL, FRAS, at the observatory. Lassell was the recipient of an honorary degree from Cambridge but the elderly gentleman asked, no demanded, to see th...

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“Eye In My Eye” by Deb Broughton

Submitted to Contest #134

As I gazed up into the heavens, into the black velvet night sky, I observed the glittering diamonds of stars, planets, and galaxies, and I felt my excitement begin to rise. I placed my eye tentatively upon the telescope’s eyepiece. My eye was drawn to the same place I had been watching for quite some time. There it was again, that flash of reflective light. A small glint letting me know what I sought time after time, was indeed there now. I strengthened the Celestron magnification, sharpened th...

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“Erudition” by India Lee

Submitted to Contest #134

“I will take the tower,” Alvar Montalvo shouted over the courtyard below his stairway climb. Wooden cases swung stiffly in each hand while scrolls threatened to burst from the crates wedged between ribs and arms. “No other room shall do.” He stared at the blue trim of his shoes while his haste turned to huffing. The black satin of his doublet burned as he crossed out of the shade and into bleaching sunlight, high enough now that he could spy the steeples of Ronda over the tiles of his family's villa. “Won’t they look for you here...

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“ONE LITTLE THING APPEARING AND DISAPPEARING” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #134

ONE LITTLE THING APPEARING AND DISAPPEARING Grandpa Freddy almost never dared to go beyond ( outside) the solar system during his daily observations of the celestial vault. He , every time, remained ( was) too enchanted by the sandstorms on Mars, by its dark orange. Not to mention the moon…oh what shock , after having always seen it bright of a soft light in the sky at night, when( looking it with the telescope), its hard, rocky surface hit you like a punch, inde...

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“Do stars ever align?” by Alvin Frost

Submitted to Contest #134

“Ok, first look through this one,” said Samara. She was a petite girl with deep dimples as she smiled. She pointed to what looked like a rifle scope attached to her telescope. She had frizzy brown hair in a ponytail and prominent eyebrows. “I guess I thought telescopes looked different than this. You know how they are in the movies, metal tubes. Big glass cap at the end. This is more like a bazooka,” said Jackson. He was a farm boy, Carhartt jacket over an athletic frame. He had a boxy face and gelled-up spiky hair with frosted t...

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“Welcome to HEATHERGATE -where the streets have no name ” by Chacha Jaramillo

Submitted to Contest #134

It has been two weeks since Garrett started carefully watching the workers on the field at the bottom of the creek. This creek starts at the top of the backdrop of Mount Geneve, for some reason Garrett sensed that something was wrong. Typical man, dressed up with dark brown trousers and jacket, slim built dark brown jacket, he looked like Indiana Jones to me. No whip, no hat. His expertise in hydraulic engineering degree was telling him there was something wrong with that permanent suspension bridge. He needed to contact the builders at the ...

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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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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