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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#232: Polar Night & Northern Lights

Winter solstice has come and gone here in the northern hemisphere and we’re slowly heading towards brighter days. Above the arctic circle, however, inhabitants will have to wait a bit longer to see the sun. There, polar night — where the sun doesn’t rise for months — still keeps its grip. Inhospitable as this may seem, entire communities have adapted to the long night, and the northern lights playing across the sky provide a reminder that light will eventually return.

This week's prompts are inspired by polar nights, human resilience, and, most of all, the glimmers of hope that make it all worthwhile.

This week's prompts

Set your story during polar night.

Winter – 37 stories

Write a story set in a world with a dying sun, or where light is a scarce resource.

Science Fiction – 65 stories

Write a story about someone witnessing — or trying to witness — a celestial phenomenon.

Adventure – 38 stories

Write a story about someone who has been tasked to keep a flame burning, surrounded by total darkness.

Character – 84 stories

Write a story about someone looking for a sign in a dark sky.

Angst – 56 stories

Stories

“guardian” by Lara Deppe

Submitted to Contest #232

The darkness is pierced by the flame below us. Every time it sputters, my heart sputters with it. The hopelessness rests on our shoulders and is squeezing in like the loops of an anaconda around us. I hold Ori’s left hand on my right side and Aleena’s on my left. We circle the turret hand in hand. I know every person in this circle who is defending the light. We all know what is at stake if The Flame goes out. It is a circle of trust. If any one of us break it now, there is no way we could keep the fire burning. We are shoulder to shoulder a...

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“The Story of Prometheus and the Humans” by Amna Khan

Submitted to Contest #232

Everything was dark. There were no words to describe the feeling. The utmost horror realizing that part of your life had been stolen from you. The once lively world plunged into an abyss of nothingness. This morning's events played through his head on a loop, Prometheus doubted he would ever forget them. Even now he could feel the slithering cold along his spine as he clutched the letter demanding his presence at Olympus. ‘Masking his fear with a confident stride Prometheus entered the Olympus courtyard, the gods' usual meeting plac...

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“Scraps of Light” by Barbara Nosek

Submitted to Contest #232

Suggestions of swear wordsI’ve never had to grapple with a problem of this magnitude in all my 64 years. And I see no way out. Nothing in my experience has prepared me for solving anything like this.Friends, siblings, children, have about as much chance of getting me out of this as does my beautiful Himalayan cat Dulcy. I know they would try if I told them what was threatening to tear my life apart. But I haven’t. The truth is I’m more than a little ashamed of letting myself even get into this awful mess.It’s noon now and the bright sunshine...

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“Questions in the Night” by Elise Gilmore

Submitted to Contest #232

Taylor wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck as she moved forward on the walking trail. Her thoughts were flying around in her head, making it a challenge just to put one foot in front of the other. But she kept trudging on, her eyes peeled on the night sky, a vast darkness looming above her. This was her third lap and she still hadn’t seen exactly what she was looking for. “Please give me a glimmer of hope.” she pleaded with the night. She shook her head to herself, glad no one was around to hear her asking the sky for a favor. How si...

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“My Day with Jesus. ” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #232

"I heard you!" Young Andrew was speaking too loudly, being a bit rude to his parents. "I know it's a school day. I don't want to be there. I hate Grade Six, I hate teachers, the kids are mean! I'm staying in bed." Andrew was called Young because his name was his father's name. His dad was now known as Old Andrew. His father looked worried, he had been trying to get counselling for Young Andrew's school refusal. But all the appointments were taken for months. Young Andrew's mother said, "Look, you only went to school for one week. Some kid...

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“War's Ember” by Rose Winters

Submitted to Contest #232

War's EmberGibad clung to his fuzzy bamabat toy—what was left of it. Just a black jeweled eye hanging by sinew and a fearsome claw extended from a paw where there used to be eight. Stuffing and filth. But most importantly, a dull red patch of intact plush fur that Gibad kept pressed tightly against one ear, his other little tangerine-colored hand held against his other ear. He didn’t want to hear the bad sounds, so he’d hidden in his tiny cave.Gibad was afraid of many things. He’d been afraid that morning when Daddy and Uncle Roft had holler...

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“Rilestone's Reach” by Steffen Lettau

Submitted to Contest #232

Author's Note: This is another excerpt from the Rilestone stories, one that is a "Part 2" of the "Rilestone: Fullfillment" short story. It has been over a week since the vision came unto Rilestone, one that raised more questions than answers even from those that were older and wiser than him. His parents could not answer for this alleged prophecy, nor his uncles or aunts, nor his cousins or friends. Even the people working at S.U.I.T (Super Uniform Individual Tactician) could only speculate; his friend, Jist, had an idea that it had to...

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“The Thaw” by C.E Chase

Submitted to Contest #232

The cartilage in my nose and ears beg and ache for warmth. I tremble as I shake the lick of shivers down my spine. And the tips of my fingers turn a pale scarlet I’ve never seen before. Snow milked the floor of the Taiga, replacing the moss for white fur. My boots grind into the snow, feeling like thick salt beneath my feet. Everything was blue, dipped and glazed in a myriad of dark. Rosetta’s hair is too red. It’s too red like the red in my fingertips and cartilage. It’s so red in almost black as it bounces in soft longing curls down her ba...

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“"Polar Night"” by Domika Stewart

Submitted to Contest #232

Last night we sat along the lake for a view of polar night. The temperatures had dropped in the low twenties. The weather was cold and it showed us a beautiful setting of lights. We lived out in the country skirts near the mountains. This was the northern part of the state, where things are isolated. You could see the greenish lights in the atmosphere. The streaks of lighting looked so reachable that I lift my hands in the air. Everything seem very still. You could hear the coyotes howling at the sky. The universe had shown us it's beauty in...

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“TITUS” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #232

TITUS So, when all is said and done, this is how it’s to end? Is there no hope? None it seems. I am done for anyway but I am determined that Titus Oates will not be blamed for holding back the others. How did I end up in this God forsaken place with these people, these idiots, for whom I have no respect whatsoever? Under the dire leadership of this vain, self-glorious, mis-trusting, neurotic who has, somehow, led us to...what, our doom? Was there ever a chance that our quest, years in the planning, could, in reality, be achieved? Th...

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“Death's Embrace” by Makadewaandegekek H

Submitted to Contest #232

Death’s Embrace“You can’t save her Adrian… it’s the death mark.” Ignoring his fellow thief’s rebuke, Adrian continued to gently wipe the sweat from his sleeping twin’s brow; her fever was growing worse. Softly, haltingly, he half sang the enchanted words of healing under his breath, secrets he’d stolen from the temple's priest, though he knew they would only delay the inevitable, and not stop it, prolonging his sister’s agony, if no cure was found.He’d been so proud of his magic too, for what other boy of thirteen and a half summers could cl...

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“Polaroid Night” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #232

How I ended up on Svalbard simply comes down to work. I was given an assignment to cover the Northern Lights. I had photographed so many things in hot, dry countries the world over, but I’d never been a fan of the cold. It was something that filled me with dread: going to stay on a remote island where Winter reigned, and darkness dictated the unfolding of our days. I knew it would invite depression, just being there for a number of weeks. I knew not a soul there, and that hadn’t mattered on any of my other assignments, but there was somethin...

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“The Kaamos Murders” by Barry Starcher

Submitted to Contest #232

The Kaamos Murders My name is Lars Jokijen, and I have spent most of my life in Finland. The capital of Lapland, Rovaniemi, was where my mother, father, and two older siblings lived. After retiring from the army, my father became the principal of the high school. Years later, he tried to teach me ...

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“Frozen Whispers in the Polar Night” by Richard Zahra

Submitted to Contest #232

October I have been living alone in Grandpa’s cabin for over a month now. The long days with golden sunsets have gradually faded, and the nights are getting longer and longer. Yesterday, when I turned on the satellite phone, I found three messages from Mum, asking me how I was. My reply was very dry: “I’m fine, don’t worry.” She had tried to dissuade me from embarking on my arctic pilgrimage to the island of Svalbard from the very start. She had told me that for a young woman like me, accustomed to living in a bustling city, that remote p...

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“Polar Bear's First Sunrise” by Sarah Dinkel

Submitted to Contest #232

All the little polar bear cub wanted to do was see the Sun. He was born during the polar night, when night could last for weeks or even months. He had never been able to see the sun, so his mother told him stories of the enormous, bright ball in the sky that made the whole world bright. The mother bear would wrap herself around her cub, and as she prepared him for bed, she would lull him to sleep with her wondrous tales. “When it rises, it makes the snow twinkle like the stars, and makes our fur shine beautifully” she explained. “And when i...

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$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

106

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 12, 2024 EST

Won by Jonathan Page 🏆

Title: The Lantern of Kaamos

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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