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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#159: Money, Money, Money

Like it or not, money makes the world go round. And while it (supposedly) can’t buy happiness, it can certainly change your life — for better or worse. This week’s prompts have money on the mind; whether your characters are winning big, or down to their last dollar, it’s time to start counting your cash.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character accepting a bribe.

Adults – 48 stories

Set your story in a world where the currency isn’t money — or at least not money as we understand it.

Fantasy – 62 stories

Write about somebody down on their luck who unexpectedly comes into a large amount of money.

Teens – 49 stories

Your character checks their balance at an ATM and is surprised by the number they see.

Adults – 32 stories

Write about a character who’s never encountered a problem they couldn’t buy their way out of — until they do.

Angst – 25 stories

Stories

“When Charlie Met Polly” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #159

Charlie Bemis tugged at the celluloid collar around his neck as he waited for the judge to grant him a private audience. He peered out the tiny window at the people on the dusty street of the mining town outside. A man was arriving on horseback; two others were preparing to leave. Women in bonnets and long aprons carried woven baskets as they stepped carefully around horse-droppings. “Next!” said the clerk and soon Charlie was ushered into the judge’s chambers, sparsely decorated with a 44-star flag, a map of the Idaho Territory, and a pictu...

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“Jay Cee.” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #159

Surprise! The hairy, bearded, dissident little prophet did return to the noble land of Israel. It all happened, some when. He went by the name of Jay Cee, in the world of the 21st Century. He appeared, quite unannounced, in his modest and humble manner. Israel had changed so much. It was, 2000 years later, a vital strategic base for the Pentagon and Judaism in the current world. Jay Cee gathered a few like-minded friends and distant relatives around him. He went around the land, sharing and caring, doing great work for his beliefs. The gover...

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“What's In a Name?” by Angel Strong

Submitted to Contest #159

“You’ll need to spell that for me, Dear.” Grey hairs stick to the man’s scalp with the desperation of a child refusing to let go of the carousel when it's time to go home. He wondered why he had all but stapled the thinning strands to his balding head; counterproductive, and in denial. With a strong jaw, and wise eyes, he would suit the greying look. “A-R-A-S-E-L-I,” His insides squirmed, suddenly forced to reconcile with the deception he was putting forward. Creaky fingers stamped in the letters, a grimace tugging at his lips as the displ...

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“The Memory Marauder” by Daryn Schvimmer

Submitted to Contest #159

“I don’t think I’ll have enough for this,” you remark, fumbling around in your purse, trying to produce the coins necessary to purchase the blanket you had your eye on from the moment we walked into the store. I smile at you, my eyes gleaming in a way that suggests I know more than you. You furrow your brow at me, as your face scrunches together in the expression I’ve grown so fond of as we’ve traveled the world together. I chuckle, and walk over to you, as you turn back to examine the blanket. I swipe my finger to your foreh...

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“The Late and Great Job: What Went Wrong?” by E Moss

Submitted to Contest #159

(Tw: suggestive violence, nightmarish imagery, amoral and wanton displays of greed, necromancy) Throughout a brief notoriety during that heightened forest of chiseled moon dust lay on the brickyard stockades: Weimar: burnt-out. 1923. Small children, holes in their faces, are a cherubim so wan and fragile. Seven days did me and Seleck sit squat in the shinola of the straightway into a puddle of hellwater. It was after many hours mired among the cabaret moribund whereupon we were promenading, penniless, peering for some...

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“Fragments” by Christopher Katalinas

Submitted to Contest #159

[Content Warning: Contains sexual and other mature themes]I’m Buying for the first time today. It doesn’t hurt, or so I’m told.You shouldn’t blame me. I held out for nearly twenty years. But eventually even an interesting life becomes routine. Evidently it hasn’t been interesting enough.I can’t help being nervous on the walk over. I’d Sold before, but I have no idea what to expect from Buying.The prospective Seller waits for me at the coffee shop near the waterfront. She’s wearing a suave, form-fitting blue dress that compliments her gold ea...

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“A New World” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #159

New Earth is what we call our new utopia that rose from the ashes of a world that was corrupt and scandalous, a world that used money to benefit themselves and let the poor suffer. New Earth grew from this corrupt society to form a new identity where all the people young and old would live a life that benefits the good of society and not themselves. Money for us is a thing of the past. Money blinded our ancestors to the point where they becoming greedy wanting more. In our new society our currency is not money but how you can better soci...

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“Extinction H2O” by Erriel Roberson

Submitted to Contest #159

I throw my keyboard across the room so hard it cracks the mirror and breaks my coffee mug that rested innocently on the conference table. My too sweet French vanilla brew coats the corner of the table, the pile of environmental reports, and drips liberally onto the floor. Normally the mess would be my focus, but not today. Especially not after that phone call. How did we get to this place so quickly, I grumble under my breath to no one. I’m talking about the undressing I recei...

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“Emotional Rescue” by Simon Kent

Submitted to Contest #159

All anyone wanted was to feel something and Patrick Chancellor, Agency Detective with the City East Constabulary, was no different. He had been saving up so that he and his family world be able to feel something this summer. Maybe excitement, possibly an hour or two of joy but, if at all possible, a week’s worth of happiness. So far it was looking good – they were dipping into a weekly ration of anticipation and looked set to ramp this up in good time for his summer leave. It wasn’t easy of course. Agency Detectives didn’t earn as many emo...

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“VOGUE-00” by R. J. Garron

Submitted to Contest #159

Popularity was destiny. Stenn-5.8813 knew. Walking around as an advertisement was tiring, even though it was the end of the day and 'they' were eager to continue jaunting until the wee hours of the morning. There was still work to do. They flipped on the internal HUD appearing in their field of view. Rostering through the persona index containing the day's ego-dumps, they carefully itemized a pair of hip luxury slippers—were they wire mesh stilettos?—check, and they took a toll on the wage rew...

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“A piece of soul” by Lau G

Submitted to Contest #159

A new moon watches over people tonight. Everything seems enchanted under the moonlight, maybe it’s not appearance but rather magic revealing itself in the dark hours or just fate running its natural course. Somewhere far away in a forgotten kingdom, on a narrow street, at the death of night, two people met for the first time. A thunder breaks the silence as their destinies crash into each other. A girl with eyes brigh...

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“Encounter in the Park” by David Ader

Submitted to Contest #159

The senior partner raised his glass for one final toast to the departing 3L, a third-year law student who’d come in for the Christmas Party. He’d just been offered a position to start at the end of the following summer with a salary of $150,000 and a signing bonus of $40,000. It would pay for the kid’s final year at Harvard and give him more than enough funds to travel in style after graduation for a trip he had talked about incessantly, and it would leave him with enough for a “kick-ass” apartment with all the accouterments, one fitting for...

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“Driving a Truck Full of Money ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #159

See I wasn't straight when I wrote that I was carving a name And I was praying that no one was ever gonna love me again And I was late for somethin' Every hour of every day And completely lonesome out on the prairie With a truck full of money (Truck Full of Money by Donovan Woods) I have discovered that life is a whole lot better when you are driving a truck full of money. How that came about is still beyond me, because, you see, I am not known as the lucky kind. But just this once, God shined His light on me and here I ...

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“The Bet” by Nathan Truzzolino

Submitted to Contest #159

Football, they say, is a game of inches. A single dollar bill is roughly 6.14 inches long and 2.61 inches wide. If one were to stack 10,000 one-dollar bills on top of each other, that would measure 43 inches high or 3.58 feet, a shade over a yard. 1 yard, three feet, or 36 inches was the difference between putting $16,000 in my pocket and getting my hand broken with a ball pin hammer. The NFC conference championship game was decided by one yard. With 12 seconds left in the contest, the running back dove forward with the b...

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“The jackpot” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #159

-"Old men die, “Nat sighed, "they just die. They must." Nat stood with James, his lawyer, watching his mansion from a distance. Nat lived there alone. He always had. Not that this had been his first choice. But over the years it made him more and more uncomfortable and sad, that his family, and those who believed that they had a branch on his family tree, had but one thought in their head: When will he kick the bucket and how much would he leave me? Nat was a rare individual. Always had been. He was a scientist by trade and had earned ...

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$250

Prize money

216

Contest entries

88

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 19, 2022 EST

Won by Daniel Allen 🏆

Title: Blood and Cookies

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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