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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

“Whose Rage Is It Anyway?” by Ellen Neuborne

Submitted to Contest #204

She wanted to punch him in the nose. Hard, right in the nose! But she couldn’t, because she wasn’t tall enough to reach that far. From her position in the passenger seat, she could only get her right fist to his shoulder. And it’s useless to hit a grown man in the shoulder. Even if the man was 60 and a lousy street fighter – 30 years of marriage and you learn a thing or two about a guy. Also, his right was the only hand on the wheel at the moment. She wanted to get from Phoenix to Las Vegas in one piece. Hitting the driver on his drivi...

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“A Blue, Ceramic Vase” by Joy Noble

Submitted to Contest #204

There it was again. Window shutters slammed against their panes, while the wind howled like a crying cub away from its mother. There weren't supposed to be storms in Oklahoma that time of year. Everyone in the dusty little town was fast asleep, not yet woken by the beginnings of the storm. That is, everyone except for Avery. She squeezed her eyes closed, shutting out the sounds from outside her window and the memories of the night before. It wasn’t working all that well. The wind sounded too much like his scream. “Avery, ya okay?” her broth...

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“Inspiration” by Gregg Voss

Submitted to Contest #204

The barkeep was short, rotund and nearly bald, wearing a hound’s tooth vest over a crisp white shirt with black armbands. A pair of pince-nez spectacles appeared to be drifting down his nose toward the shot glass he was wiping. Levi ordered a bourbon, tossed a few buffalo nickels on the bar, and was in no mood for chit-chat. “We ain’t seen rain in, Lord almighty, almost two months,” the barkeep s...

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“The Gunslinger of NeoDyne City” by Brendan Sanders

Submitted to Contest #204

The dusty streets of NeoDyne City hummed with an electric intensity as neon lights flickered and dust covered holographic advertisements painted the night in vibrant hues. In this sprawling metropolis, where advanced technology and lawlessness coexisted, there lived a lone gunslinger named Jake Steele. Clad in a trench coat, his eyes concealed behind a pair of augmented reality goggles, he was a relic of a bygone era—a cowboy in a world of artificial intelligence and cybernetic enhancements. Jake had witnessed the transformation of the West ...

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“Tomb of the Dusty Prisoner” by Dempsey Hyatt

Submitted to Contest #204

Kira had seen droughts on Tomb. He was immortal; he had seen rain, rivers, oceans, and lakes too, but now the planet only had dust to offer. That's how he knew the town was damned.Kira did not worry about the damned. As he sat on the porch of yet another saloon in yet another town along yet another dusty road, he thought,Why should I care about these walking dead, these people who suffer time as if it's a sickness?Perhaps there was a time when Kira would have felt superiority to humans, but no longer. Being a prisoner of endlessness made him...

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“Colton, Nevada” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #204

Colton is a ghost town in the middle Nevada’s of the Great Basin. Under normal circumstances, I would have never been aware of this fact, but two years ago when my Honda Civic broke down driving north on Highway 93. After seven years as a Las Vegas dealer at one of the major casinos, I saw things I did not wish to be a part of any longer so I decided to head back east to be closer to my own family. It was when I noticed a rise in my engine temperature gauge that I began to worry. With the outside te...

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“Dusty Wings” by Maria DiFranco

Submitted to Contest #204

The moonlight turned the man’s hair the color of the sun. Large wings draped over his shoulders matched the dusty sand of the road before him. His feet dragged. So did his horse’s hooves as he led the mare into the empty town. The man gazed at the buildings as he passed, his eyes in the lamplight turning the color of the wings across his shoulders. Casually he read each sign: the tanner, the smith, the healer he all passed, though blood speckled the feathers at the edge of his cloak, and the hand not holding the mare’s reins hung lim...

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“An Egg for a Sword” by Mitchell Duckham

Submitted to Contest #204

Regan’s chewing tobacco pinged against the spittoon. The stuff tasted awful, though not so awful as to send him back to the smokes. Gods, he wanted one though. “Another?” asked the barman. “Aye.” The old fellow obliged, moustache bristling as he sloshed out another measure. Regan swished the cheap whiskey in his mouth, let it subsume one bad taste with another. He peered about the saloon. It was a particularly dusty, particularly empty hole, even by frontier standards. Flies buzzed lazily in the midday heat and the smell of horse droppi...

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“That Kind of Outlaw” by C.F. Biemer

Submitted to Contest #204

I’ll never forget when my son Will said, “I’ll be an outlaw when I grow up.” We were in the center of town, on the sand-filled main road, in a crowd of a thousand people, watching a hanging. Some families had picnics with a nice spread and chairs, but most of us stood. The angrier folks were pushing against the makeshift fence that surrounded the gallows and was guarded by some men the sheriff deputized every Saturday.It was what my son said that I remember. When he said it I felt a shiver run down my spine, but he was young, only seven year...

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“Brooksville” by Maria Babar

Submitted to Contest #204

The town of Brooksville was a serene haven nestled amidst rolling hills and lush green meadows. Its residents, numbering just a few hundred, led peaceful lives, their routines following a predictable rhythm. Yet, as fate would have it, a stranger was about to arrive and shake up the order of things. One sunny morning, the townsfolk noticed a figure in the distance, approaching with purpose. As the stranger drew nearer, they saw a young woman with a wild mane of golden curls cascading down her back. Her eyes shimmered with an indomitable spar...

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“Lucy” by Chrissy Winters

Submitted to Contest #204

"Dr. Cooper, the patient in room four is ready." Lucy gripped the hospital bed rails and gritted her teeth. Beads of sweat fell down her face. An equally sweaty nurse named Jen who had a practical short haircut and was wearing Christmas tree scrubs, hung up the phone and came around the bed, placing her cool hand on Lucy's forehead.“It’s so damn hot in here!” Lucy groaned. “I know, honey. The air conditioning in the maternity ward is on the fritz. They should get it fixed soon.”“It’s 100 degrees outside. They better get ...

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“Life and Death in the Desert” by Kasper Vincent Pardoe

Submitted to Contest #204

I stood at the top of a dusty mountain, the searing afternoon sun high above me, and the endless, unforgiving desert below. Mountain. To me it was just some long dead thing; a giant, crumbling form of rock and dust and nothing more. There was no life as far as my eyes could see, like the remains of an ancient and far-off world, void of the necessary ingredients and conditions to create and sustain life; its punishment absolute after some ruinous cataclysm, now mine to bear alone. I took a deep breath and let it out in a long, exasperate...

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“Cowboys, Indians, Zane Grey & George” by Frank Bosworth

Submitted to Contest #204

(In the late 1800's cowboys, real cowboys of the ol' West, were a dieing breed, 'til there was only one left; he had to be shot.) "Well, shoot, damn you! My piles is killin' me, an' my coffee's cold! Take much longer...I don't care how dead your aim is...I'm gonna come over an' beat what li'l lead you got outta your pencil! Hear me? Go on, shoot!" "Now that I found you, I'm in no rush. I've been looking for you a long, long, time." "You ain't been lookin' for me." "Sure I have." "No. You ...

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“Going to be First” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #204

Going to be the FirstThe SituationI have long wanted to be the first one to do something memorable. And now I am just about to do what no one on my planet has ever done before. But I’m not so sure that this is something that I want to do, certainly not alone as I am now. I had known about the exciting possibility of this great event and worked towards its likelihood for years, from boy to man, from school to experience. But now I do not feel completely comfortable or ready for it, especially in the present circumstances.&nbsp...

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“The Dog Statue” by Naomi P

Submitted to Contest #204

CW: mentions of pet death, physical violence/harm, bloodIt may have been a 10-inch tall porcelain statue, but it meant everything to Jack and his family. It was white, shaped like a dog, and decorated with tiny painted pink and purple flowers that circled its neck like a collar. Its eyes were painted black and seemed to be alive, watching over the family with benevolence.It had been given to the family after their dog, Buster, had died in his sleep one night. Ever since then, the statue had become their most prized possession.Jack was dreami...

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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!

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