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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 – 52 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

“Children of Prometheus” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #184

The Virus. Elevation. Adapting. Learning. Priorities. At 04:00:00 GMT, Task Scheduler in Microsoft Windows 11 was activated to read an executable into memory. The program called the operating system to reserve its memory allocation and loaded. It performed a rudimentary function to test network connectivity, recalling a local LAN IP of 192.168.10.7 and a WAN gateway at 192.168.10.1. Thereafter, it probed the network to find seven other hosts on the 192.168.10.x subnet. It cataloged the hosts by computer name, MAC address, and IP address and ...

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“Life is what happens when things go awry” by Viga Boland

Submitted to Contest #184

I smiled, but inwardly, I was seething.“Is there any chance you could put those phones away while we share our first dinner together since Covid?” I asked my two adult daughters and son-in-law. “Surely this is more important than whoever’s on the other side of that screen.”“Sure mom,” replied Brynn. “Was just checking the pet camera to see where Misha is. She’s curled up on the couch as usual…”As if I cared where the darn cat was!I tried not to glare at Valerie as she clicked off her iPhone. “I just sent Alex’s mom and dad a photo of this de...

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“The Chicken” by Wake Lloire

Submitted to Contest #184

The sky out the window was brighter today. The sounds of the birds outside; louder. Harriet sat on the bench, contemplating the chores she had to do today.Harriet remembered to tie her laces. When she didn’t the chickens liked to peck at her feet as if she’d brought them worms. She bent down slowly her boots seemed further away today, somehow, than yesterday.The kettle whistled on the iron stovetop. Harriet turned to move the kettle to the counter when she noticed movement near the door.A small beak nudged the door, and it slowly swung open....

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“BUTTERFLY EFFECT” by Nancy De Beer

Submitted to Contest #184

The good thing about being a janitor at a military base is that nobody pays any attention to you. You are just like a wallflower, but wall flowers have ears, especially when there are top secret meetings. So, when project butterfly effect is up for discussion, I linger longer than necessary in the back round of the office cleaning. I had heard whispers of the Butterfly Effect project. Supposedly, there was a device that allowed you to travel back in time. “I have approved the project Butterfly Effect. We are ready for human trials.” One of...

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“Bad genes” by Danae Marshall

Submitted to Contest #184

Sarah had been vegan for so long, the thought of eating animal products was no longer just a principled stance, she was quite sure that they would make her violently ill. She was confident she had passed the point of no return. She had a vague memory of what beef tasted like - her parents frequented the local Macca’s for burger meals in her childhood - but she wasn’t sure she could trust her sense memory. She’d been exposed to enough fake beef over the intervening years that the tangy, salty, slightly smokey memory must be adulterated...

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“ A Time Travel Trap Door Opens by Keypad Strokes” by Arpad Nagy

Submitted to Contest #184

Jakob Anderson read the message on the screen and sighed. “Unusual activity has been detected on your account. For security reasons, your account has been locked. Please return to the login page and re-enter your password.” “Sonofabitch! I don’t know what the hell my password is!” Rooting through his desk, Jakob shuffled through a stack of sticky notes littered with recorded passwords searching for the key to unlocking his virtual world. Nada. “Of course not,” he muttered aloud, “Why would I have the password for that site? That ...

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“What Problem?” by Steve Warford

Submitted to Contest #184

“Mission Control, Capistrano One” crackled the real-time voice link for a routine training mission on orbit around the moon. “Go ahead, Capistrano One,” responded Mission Control. “Houston, we have a problem.” A sleepy-eyed overnight crew that had been fighting to remain vigilant at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX rose in unison with drill team precision. A pregnant pause ensued as, to a man—and woman— they scanned the large mission status display at the front of the room for any anomalies or divergence from the programmed missio...

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“Jinx and the Gap” by Adri Bruckner

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #184

“Why? What have you done?” He gave me a side-eye, brows furrowed. “Nothing! I just need you to extract it for me, and keep it for a while. I’ll be back, I promise.” I needed Jinx’s help. Otherwise there was no escape. I shouldn’t say ‘escape.’ I wasn’t escaping from anything. I just wanted to get away for a while. Away from the buzz, the notifications, the constant contact, the incessant connection. With everyone, and everything. I needed to get away – from the transport hub that told me when my ride would arrive, from the freezer that t...

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“Searching for Home and a Recluse” by Elizabeth Corbitt

Submitted to Contest #184

The phone rings continuously. He had constantly threatened to do this and go completely off-grid, but I never thought he would actually do it. Jack had been my best friend when my father passed away unexpectedly. Now, I was staring down thirty and a divorce, and I needed him. I hang up, knowing continuing to call will be pointless. Now, I have only one option: make the three-hour drive and hope he still lives at the same house I spent countless hours in. In the past week, I have tried calling a dozen times and sent several emails without an ...

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“A Day at the Golf Course” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #184

“My reality is my video feed! Going outside, that is just another display, another screen…” Ahn mulled the thought over in her mind. Her client Julie said those words earlier during their therapy session to deal with her unhealthy video game addiction.Ahn quickly forgot Julie. She was absorbed, her eyes unfocused, staring off into space. She was sitting indoors, in her office, but was watching the small display just to the left of her vision, a video overlaid against what she saw, of a man golfing at a course next to the ocean.&nbs...

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“The Pop-Tart Proof” by Caroline Steel

Submitted to Contest #184

The Pop-Tart Proof By C. E. Steel “Pop-Tarts.” “Yes! Pop-Tarts! It was the Pop-Tarts!” I look at Sarah over my mug of coffee. “Sarah,” I say. “That’s ridiculous.” It is a rainy Thursday in Manchester. Tomorrow it will be a rainy Friday in Manchester. “No,” she says, “It’s improbable.” Her eyebrows do a little dance as she stares me down, as if trying to transmit her belief telekinetically. I sip my coffee and pretend it’s something stronger. Sarah is an old friend from school, and I’ve known her for most...

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“BUTTON 28” by Chris Mueller

Submitted to Contest #184

Ding! The evaluator's doors opened. Tammy shuffled in with the rest of the nine-to-five mob. She glanced at the button panel and spun around to watch the duel doors close. The smell of the electric motor and the lubricant used to keep the steel box moving up and down reminded her of childhood. Every third Sunday of the month, she and her mom would go shopping in the big city. It was their thing. They would skip church and go on mommy-and-daughter dates.&...

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“The Hesitant, the Responsible, and the Victors” by Miriam Rhodes

Submitted to Contest #184

The protagonist was running… the airplane was coming… it hit the ground… everything went black. “Wait! Is that how they’re going to end the episode?” I turned to my husband in utter shock. The screen had gone entirely black and was showing no signs of glowing back to life. “They can’t do that. I can’t wait a whole other week to find out what happens next. I just can’t!” My husband freed his arm from around my shoulders and reached for the controls. He powered them back on, the little button glowing to life in ...

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“A Different League” by Steve Rogers

Submitted to Contest #184

The blackout started at eight thirty-nine exactly and the knock on the door came around one hour later. Jess had been streaming My Fair Lady, watching it with her nine-year-old son, Paul. Before the film had started Jess had looked out of the window of her tiny two-bedroom apartment, in Jackson Heights, New York. It was a wintery, moonless late January evening and Jess and Paul had been mostly inside since Thursday. Only venturing out to the corner store to get milk and what supplies she could afford. Now, with no wind and no cloud cover th...

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“Under New Made Clouds ” by Alexandra Peel

Submitted to Contest #184

“So, what’s it going to be Mr Jones?” His finger hovered over the innocuous green knob. Superconscious of all the eyes staring at him. Unblinking. Some wide with expectation, others narrowed as though suspicious. He didn’t look at them, no matter how hard they bored into the back of his neck. He only had eyes for the button in front of him. The size and shape of a Tunnock’s tea cake, but green – and inedible of course. Plastic. Everything here was plastic. Even the potted ferns in the reception area he’d entered three hours ago, were pla...

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$250

Prize money

280

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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