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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#184: Technical Difficulties

If you’ve ever experienced technical difficulties, you know the boundless frustration it can cause. Glitches, bugs, constant buffering, or — worst of all — no connection whatsoever; these small inconveniences can throw our days off balance (and make us want to pull our hair out). Taken to the extreme, technological failures and a breakdown of the internet infrastructure could have far-reaching and devastating consequences on a global scale.

This week’s prompts are inspired by technostress and issues of connectivity, inviting you to take your frustration out on the keyboard — or even imagine a world without the internet! 😱

And psst! While we have you, remember to check out your free digital copy of PROMPTED — a new literary magazine, featuring winning stories from weekly Prompts contests just like this one, edited by Reedsy professionals.

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone saying “Houston, we have a problem.”

Dialogue – 41 stories

Set your story during a complete city or nation-wide blackout.

Thriller and Suspense – 51 stories

Write a story about a character who is experiencing glitches in their reality.

Mystery – 81 stories

Write about someone who has chosen to disconnect and live an analog life.

Character – 36 stories

Write a story where a character has to decide whether to press the button or not.

Science Fiction – 70 stories

Stories

“Technical Difficulty” by Gabby Agho

Submitted to Contest #184

“Houston, we have a problem! Houston, Houston, come in!” “Houston, Houston Come in”. Captain Charlie McHue barked into the mike once more. Then crackling static cut short any further communication. McHue looked over at his co- pilot John McAlister, almost screaming at him. “Ease down on the throttle. We’ve got to land this thing soon. We’re losing altitude!” “The gears are stuck, nothing’s happening.” “ Try getting Houston International again. This time you’d better be suc...

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“Another Shot in The Dark” by David B Fraser

Submitted to Contest #184

“You should have shot him.” I heard the man say. I was lying in my bed with my window open. I had a third story walk-up apartment and he had the house behind me, and we had never met, and I could hear him in his backyard with whoever his acquaintances were. “No, you’re supposed to shoot him.” He repeated. He had some European accent that I didn’t have the ear to pinpoint. “Maybe he kill you.” It was the second night of the east coast blackout, August 15, 2003. I couldn’t sleep because...

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“Black Out” by K Dutta

Submitted to Contest #184

The lights went out just like I knew they would. We had a howler of a storm out there, and I was prepared. I lit an oil lamp with a fresh wick I had installed hours before. I had 3 bottles of lamp oil, 3 oil lamps, and 5 wicks. Which should last me a week. If I'm sparing. Hopefully, I won't be waiting that long, but if so, I'm prepared. I have a glorious wood stove. I will have to be sparing with that, too. By the time I got to the hardware store, they only had 3 cases of bio bricks left. That leaves me with 9 bricks. That'll last me 5 days ...

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“The Shadows Before Sunrise” by Clare McCarthy

Submitted to Contest #184

“I’ve always found the lights to be overwhelming.” “They always seem to be shining into my eyes, blinding my vision and reasoning. The lights are probably my biggest enemy, the obstacle on my path to success. I don’t see why we need the light anyways.” “On the other hand, the darkness lets me feel free. Void of any and all color, it feels as if real life… isn’t real. In the darkness, I can feel my consciousness floating into the air, and time seems to stop. I feel as if I can do anything if I don’t have to see the world around me. I wonder w...

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“Scarararcarsarjarcar” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #184

I don’t remember a time when I was truly sane. Perhaps when I was very small.I woke up on that Brunsday at eleven in the morning in one of Vulane’s many opium palaces, merely four blocks from Veilwinter Temple.My turban was full of wine so, of course - not wanting to be rude - I drank it. I then touched the huge paw of the creature beside me.“Spar,” I said. “Spar, you awake?”Spar, a huge black bear in armor, lolled his head to the side - a little trickle of spittle coming out of his maw. I looked around me at the other myriad creatures splay...

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“The bubble” by Oliver Rich-Jackson

Submitted to Contest #184

This was inspired by a Star Trek episode called “remember me” A short story by Oliver Rich-Jackson Dr. Plato Capti began his day the same as any other. As he got dressed in his usual white coat, slacks, and button-up, he took note of his form. Capti was a slender man, standing at around six feet. His shoulders were slumped, and he had sunken eyes, weary from the hours of research he conducted day after day. He began walking through the narrow hallways to the lab. The small station was orbiting Earth's moon and there were only ten o...

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“Déjà You” by J.J. Erwin

Submitted to Contest #184

I thought you were my greatest love story, but it turns out you were just a brain tumor. Now I’m lying here on the operating table waiting for them to take you away from me. Of course it was the first day back to the office after three years away. What could be more triggering? I had déjà vu twice before falling on my face in the middle of the office.This wasn’t so foreign to me. Several times when I was young it happened that whatever I was doing, no matter what it was—walking into a room, doing my homework, playing my favorite video g...

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“My Tether to Reality” by Augustine Maddox

Submitted to Contest #184

(Story contains allusions to mental health issues, substance abuse, and suicide, though none are explicit) Now that I’ve realized I don’t exist, I see the signs everywhere. The barista at the Dancing Goat cafe forgets my order two seconds after taking it. I waited for like ten minutes today before speaking up, because surely this time he would remember. No, it took three reminders before I got my coffee. I keep running into dog walkers, because the dog and the walker pass on either side of me, and I get caught up in the leash. My compu...

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“The Temptations” by Gustavo Ortiz

Submitted to Contest #184

The girl with purple hair winks at me as another Ben. E. King song trickles out of the speakers. She’s been playing him for the past hour, my favorite artist. I don’t know how, but a part of me feels like she knows this. It only makes me love her more. Wind blows in through the doorway, and the candles set at each of the tables flicker in response to the cool breeze that whispers at it, the yellow flame clinging desperately to the wick. I pass my finger slowly through the flame. It’s cold. I hold my finger over it, and then even...

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“What Have I Done?” by Joseph L Floyd

Submitted to Contest #184

What Have I Done? She never used credit cards and generally paid in cash. Her monthly retirement and pension payments were automatically sent to her bank account. It was an ordeal to send someone to the bank to withdraw the money she would need for the next few weeks. Since her illness worsened, she was forced to account for trips to the doctor, medicine, and other medical payments. She was tired, and now the hospital was forcing everyone to pay electronically. Unfortunately, she had no ATM card, credit card, or internet access. ...

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“All cried out” by Marlise Pienaar

Submitted to Contest #184

“I quit”, Hannah said, her voice trembling as she slid her hastily written resignation letter across the desk.Her boss sat back in his chair and clasped his hands together over his large belly. He looked at her with pity and something else. Disdain maybe. Hannah looked down at the letter on the desk and just for a moment she doubted whether she was doing the right thing.“Do you have another job offer, Ms Pearce?” He was undressing her with his eyes again. This just made Hannah more resolute to leave this forsaken place.“I have plans,” she re...

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“Mr. Cain to Your Able” by Chris Rohe

Submitted to Contest #184

Throughout his life, he thought back and viewed all the calamities within the world. He had been a cop on the beat within the metropolis for twenty years. He had seen depravity on a scale that would dishearten any optimist for the future of humanity, then come home to troubled family life to turn on the news and see the horror happening throughout the world without any surprise or feeling of care. He sat in front of the TV set, watching the broadcast of masses being slaughtered in some far-off land as he took another drink while hearing his ...

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“The Other Side” by James Beamish

Submitted to Contest #184

Max was alone now. He could feel it. There was no one else. Not from his side anyway. His side. Sides. What did that mean anyway? Everyone was an individual, so different; what made them all band together into a side so united and so opposed to another that they could fight a war? He looked over to his left. Jenkins – or what was left of Jenkins – was in that direction. Jenkins had known what to do. He had been so certain about everything. Jenkins had convinced him to si...

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“Phone Booth” by Anthony Dayton

Submitted to Contest #184

The antique store’s delivery truck, looking kind of antiquey itself, Nick thought, wheezed along the driveway to deliver his latest acquisition. The driver claimed that it was the phone booth used in the TV Superman series starring George Reeves; Nick doubted that, but he didn’t care anyway, its attraction for him being that it was a piece of his past, something solid to anchor unsubstantial memories that otherwise might only be dreams. Hard to believe, he mused, that an entire way of life can be plowed under in less than a lifetime. &n...

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“The End of the War” by Noah Aylward

Submitted to Contest #184

The war was over. The struggle between the two great super-states of Arktis and Nirix had left the whole world scarred, diseased, and irradiated, but the war was over. Nirix was no more, and Arktis was now the United Earth. At long last, the whole human species was united under a single banner. Never again would a son be set against his father, nor a daughter against her mother. War would never again mar the planet Earth, except perhaps in small rebellions which the United Earth would easily crush. Peace with no end in sight had finally brok...

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$250

Prize money

279

Contest entries

121

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 10, 2023 EST

Won by Michelle Oliver 🏆

Title: All the Lonely People

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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