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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#204: Wild, Wild West

The days of the old American West have long held weight in the collective imagination of storytellers. There’s a mythic power to it. Tales of survival, revenge, and itinerant gunslingers still draw us in, whether for a bit of adventure or to ask deeper questions about morality and philosophy. 


The desolate desert landscapes, the struggles and conflicts between settlers and Native peoples, the wandering heroes, all these elements and more have inspired writers across genres, from George Lucas to Stephen King. Perhaps the best thing about a Western is its malleability and creativity: its ability to be set anywhere from America in the 1800s to a galaxy far, far away. So this week get your cowboy hats (or space helmets) ready as we go to explore the great unknown.


Plus, you're invited! 🎉 

The second issue of PROMPTED, our literary magazine, is coming soon — and to celebrate, we're holding a live online event next Thursday! Find out more and get your free ticket right here.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a stranger coming to town and shaking up the order of things.

Character – 56 stories

Set your story in a desert town.

Adventure – 52 stories

Write a story about someone undertaking a long, dangerous journey.

Adventure – 39 stories

Write a Western-inspired story in a new genre or setting (e.g. a space western, fantasy western, etc.)

Fiction – 78 stories

Write a story about someone seeking revenge for a past wrong.

Dramatic – 73 stories

Stories

“Saddlesore, Arizona” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #204

Out in the middle of western Arizona sits a lonesome little town called Saddlesore. Founded in 1864 by a couple of prospectors looking for copper and gold, it eventually grew to a population of one hundred and ten. It consists of a general store that sells just about anything a person could need, as well as a small five-pew Baptist church that hardly anyone attends. There is also Chinese laundry and a schoolhouse. At one end of the street is the Sheriff’s office.  At the other is the most prominent building in town- ...

2 comments 2
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“Costco Cowboy” by Quinn Neubert

Submitted to Contest #204

Costco Cowboy “This town ain’t big enough for the both of us, pardner,” Jeremy announces with all the authority he can muster.. “This isn’t a town,” responds Shelby, his babysitter. She’s glaring at the three-pound bag of Kirkland in-shell pistachios she has under one arm, her eyebrows pinched together. “This is a Costco.” It is, indeed, a Costco–– but it is so much more than that. It is wild, untamed terrains, vast deserts of deals, plateaus of palettes, and valleys of bountiful bargains, and Jeremy–– his Party City cowboy hat sitting ...

7 comments 7
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“I have a gun ! ” by Dimitra M.

Submitted to Contest #204

Tony bandaged his hand with a dirty shirt, threw his fist through the glass, unlocked the door and went in. He patrolled the house, checking for living or dead. Since the beginning of the pandemic, he quickly learned that neither could be trusted. He found there was plenty of food in the pantry. Canned foods, preserves. Even water bottles. At least he could replenish his stock here. On the ground floor, there was only the kitchen where he stood and a living room. He quickly looked around but the furniture was so scarce and the rooms so small...

4 comments 4
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“EVEN DROIDS HAVE FEELINGS” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #204

EVEN DROIDS HAVE FEELINGS Jasper White was a drifter. Always had been, trying his hand at most things without any luck -poker, mineral prospecting, ranching -always drifting from town to Texan town. Back then, in ’45, it seemed like most o’the bad men had chosen to hang out in the vast state o’ Texas and, if’n they didn’t get ya, the booze and diseases from poxed up whores, surely would.  Yessir. But, somehow, ol’ Jasper just drifted through all that, flitting from place to place, avoiding any&nbs...

4 comments 4
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“There are People here” by A. L. V.

Submitted to Contest #204

       A bag of silver coins dangles from my hip, completely worthless to me in its current state.             I tie another bag closed, full of old steel utensils, and let it hang from the saddle. I know of a man in a nearby town that can melt scavenged metal into bullets for a decent price. I've given him ample business, and just through seeing his clients I've wondered how many of his bullets have been used to kill people.   ...

3 comments 3
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“GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL-A STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?” by Marvin Furman

Submitted to Contest #204

GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL: A STRUGGLE OVER RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?                One of my favorite actors was Hugh O'Brien, who starred in the old Wyatt Earp series on TV. And it was that show that got me interested in the life of Wyatt Earp. That led me to read Stuart Lake's biography on Earp. But, as I discovered years later, Lake's work putting Earp on a pedestal was a lot of fluff, leaving out some of the sordid details of Earp's life. Lake met Earp near the end of...

6 comments 6
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“THE UNPREDICTABLE JOURNEY ” by Suruthi Sukumaran

Submitted to Contest #204

It was brass-monkey weather around Matterhorn Mountain in Switzerland. The trees, ground, and houses were covered with a white blanket of snow. The battering gusts were awful. When both members of the carriage decided to take some rest, the carriage breaks with high force. The place was crowded with hundreds of people. Some of them were sitting around small tables in groups of four with cups of tea, showing the steam from the tea. A beautiful couple an old lady and an old man were selling bread and cheese. The children were busy playing...

2 comments 2
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“Dusty Poem of Wittleburg” by Steffen Lettau

Submitted to Contest #204

The Curator, who wishes to remain nameless and identify only by his title, has come forward and laid out a discovery from a historian who claims that his ancestors were involved in one of the biggest cover-ups during the final years of the American Civil War. Since then, the place was reclaimed by the wild and remains as part of the scenery, but the historian swears adamantly that the spot is actually a grave site of the innocent commune, hard-working farmers and ranchers and store owners, whose only crime was defending their homes and thei...

4 comments 4
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“Flight to Freedom” by Gloria Dawn

Submitted to Contest #204

Flight to Freedom (based on a true story) November 1898 Chills ran down Bluebird’s spine as she heard distant rifle fire. The sound of death and destruction seemed to come from the direction of her village. Their grandfather had heard talk that the soldiers were destroying all spotted horses, considering them a symbol of Native culture. Wisely, he’d urged Raven and Bluebird to spirit their small herd of Appaloosas to a hidden canyon with rich grass and a spring-fed stream trickling through it. A rock overhang and tree-covered walls protec...

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“Coyote” by Sophia Jowers

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #204

TW: Animal death, violence“Coyotes have the gift of seldom being seen; they keep to the edge to the edge of vision and beyond, loping in and out of cover on the plains and highlands. And at night, when the whole world belongs to them, they parlay at the river with the dogs, their higher, sharper voices full of authority and rebuke. They are an old council of clowns, and they are listened to.” —N. Scott MomodayAlan shot the coyote on a Saturday, just before sundown.It was a good, clean shot, maybe through the heart. He’d been sitting out on t...

4 comments 4
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“The Girl on the Train” by Shelley Gill

Submitted to Contest #204

      "Settle down, everyone! Please, settle down!" Sheriff Bowman's words didn't travel far. The church that doubled as a schoolhouse during the week was small and sat forty people at best. He addressed the man behind the pulpit. "Reverend, you take it from here."            Reverend Mark Wilcox nodded and searched the crowd, looking for someone, anyone, to raise their hand and volunteer to help.           ...

2 comments 2
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“World at Knife’s Point” by Kay Reed

Submitted to Contest #204

Naya holds a dying man in her arms.It was reckless to save him.More than reckless – unlawful, punishable by death. Or worse, expulsion.She pulls at the collar at her neck, presses a shaking hand to the man’s throat. His pulse picks up, flutters like moth wings against the light pressure of her fingers.No one has ever entered her world before. It is sealed shut with magic – a great domed barrier that swirls like a vast oil slick against a desert sky, a bowl clapped down over its skittish prey.Her people talk of Outsiders entering their world ...

10 comments 10
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“Lamplight” by Troy Van Zandt

Submitted to Contest #204

The rider pulled back on the reins, and his mount came to a slow stop next to the stream. Across the water stood a dark, forlorn and utterly beaten down shack. Behind a dirty pane of glass burned the faint orange flame of a lamp. A light rain pelted the flat brim of his hat, and his horse’s ears twitched and moved about. He had been by this place only once before, and that was during the day. The trail was narrow, and the many low-hanging branches a constant bother. A series of minor calamities had put him behind sch...

2 comments 2
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“Bad News Comes to Buzzard Gulch” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #204

Bad News Comes to Buzzard GulchExcept for the fun-starved, thirsty, horny (on steroids) cowhands from the surrounding ranches, no one ever comes to Buzzard Gulch. There’s no point to it. One dilapidated hotel, two run-down saloons where the booze flows faster than water over Niagra Falls and the “women of the night” work day and night upstairs (and sometimes in the woodsheds out back during the rush hour), a blacksmith shop, a general store, a feed mill, a school with a fifth grade average age of 27, and a church where the good Reverend Barn...

4 comments 4
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“Through the Valley of the High School Parking Lot” by Allan Bernal

Submitted to Contest #204

Sam knew he had to time his escape from last period gym class perfectly. Too early and he risked getting run over by reckless seniors desperate to flee St. Anthony’s. Too late and he’d get caught by Brett and his cronies, who took gym with him but loitered in the locker rooms afterwards. He only had one ally - the ice cream truck that occasionally pulled up in the student parking lot. With enough students flinging pocket change at the truck, they’d form a line and force the traffic to slow down. With enough luck, it’d distract Brett too… H...

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$250

Prize money

298

Contest entries

94

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 30, 2023 EST

Won by Katy B 🏆

Title: The Ungentling

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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