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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

“Nothing” by Vincent Paiement Désilets

Submitted to Contest #232

Polar bear or snow gust? I play that game every time something moves in the distance. I take off my sunglasses and expose my eyes to snow blindness as I try to focus. Until a shape detaches itself from the barren, obscenely white landscape. Heart rate goes up. My hand tightens on my rifle, ready to send a warning shot. I both hope and dread it’s a bear. I’m either about to face the biggest challenge of my life...

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“When the Lights Disappeared” by Shawna Du

Submitted to Contest #232

The sun was dying. And that means our world was too. Some people believed that the sun would explode and we'd be in the blast radius with hardly any time to feel terror in our last moments of life. Others believed that it would just turn off, leaving plants to die and begin the collapse of the food chain which would lead to the painful starvation of the populace. And the wealthy of the world, with their vast resources, made plans. They created strongholds dug deep into the ground and stocked it with technologies that they hoped would allow...

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“The Damnation of Utu” by Aaron Chandler

Submitted to Contest #232

Sumer (modern day Iraq), 2004 BC. Little is known of the once mighty Sumerian people. This dominant, primordial civilisation resides in the captivated imagination of millions today, embroiled in legend, myth and even fantasy. Meanwhile their languishing presence echoes distantly into the confines of our modern world, dripping with wisdom which has long since vanished into the sands of time. Along with their knowledge, the truth of their miserable fate has escaped the hungering grips of the modern world too. A fate condemned upon them by th...

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“A silver lighter.” by Hannah Labouchere

Submitted to Contest #232

Stellar nebulas, the nurseries of stars, are landscapes of whirling solar winds and scalding rivulets of radiation, meaning light is only conceived in the coldest, darkest throws of infinity. "Hasn't the world ended? You shouldn't be here," you say, voice spilling into the apartment, battering the crags built by darkness, and it occurs to me that this is the first time I've heard your voice in over a year. "I know," I reply. "You're wasting both our time." Hidden away in the labs, sitting tranquil beneath a telescope, med...

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“Life Light ” by Catarina Amado

Submitted to Contest #232

In a vast and endless white void, an immaculate palace made of jade, and white marble stood majestically above the rest. Countless flowers, of various colors spread between trees and streams in a boundless garden that stretched further than the eye could see. Two children about 4 or 5 years old sat across from each other. Their nearly identical faces betrayed the fact that they were twins. Though, other than that, the pair couldn’t be more different. The older of the twins had dark brown eyes and raven black hair, that cascaded t...

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“Inner Light” by Franco Lopez

Submitted to Contest #232

No one remembers a life without the howling winds from the north, bringing about the Earth’s endless winter. Everyone used to be so caught up in their daily commute, social media, and paying bills that they forgot about the things that mattered in the world. News of the initial solar flares were ignored, just like every disaster on the news in those days, and before they could respond, humanity was left in the dark. At first, they were in the dark due to the fried power grids. Then, they were in the ...

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“Black Moon Pupil” by Gray Brokaw

Submitted to Contest #232

Blue sky like printer paper. Flat and forever. Vinny stared at a dog hair sticking out of the windshield air vent. She imagined it was a match. She jilted her head to strike a flame on the strip of pavement and set the sky ablaze. Except the sky only stared back. Unamused. She had been driving for eons. "No, I was listening, I just didn't hear you," Vinny lied. "I said, it's a coincidence that they overlap perfectly. Considering the star is about 400 times larger than the moon,” her sister said. "It's called the sun, Julie....

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“Isaiah's Sky” by T. B. Spruiells

Submitted to Contest #232

Ablaze with infernal fire, the moon wept molten tears onto the sleeping landscape. Mr. Dalton limped into the sitting room. Alice, his wife, paralyzed from succulent lamb, turnips, and biscuits, stirred in her seat and turned toward the window, away from the darts ready to launch. He slammed his hat down and took out his meerschaum pipe, hoping to drown out the distant sound of singing and clapping from the slave quarters. "They're at it again with their 'church,'" he sputtered, pacing the wooden floor with creaks now singing in the backgr...

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“Journal of A.” by Sarah Anthony

Submitted to Contest #232

Day One… I’ve decided to keep a journal of my time out in the darkness, as I cannot think of any other activity to take up the time. I’m only assuming this, but I believe it has been almost a day since my companions left me with the task of keeping our fire lit. It’s hard to keep track of days when the darkness still lingers, but I’ll try my best. In case my companions do not return and a stranger finds this journal, I guess I should address why I’m out here all alone in the snow tending to a fire by myself in the pitch black darknes...

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“A tragedy as beautiful as it was terrible” by Wesley Rock

Submitted to Contest #232

The tranquil lab was violently disrupted by the piercing ring of my phone. I quickly snatched it, knowing who was texting, my heart hammering. A digital drum roll building up to the defining milestone of my life's work. On the screen, the numbers displayed something unbelievable. My fruit flies, tiny symbols of my toil, had surpassed our most aggressive estimates for their lifespan, flourishing into their fifth year. They had defied time, living thirty times longer than usual, still buzzing in their enclosures showing no sign of age. New...

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“Light-Keeper” by Rigel Rae

Submitted to Contest #232

LIGHT-KEEPER By Rigel Rae My name is Marta. I live in a village very far north. A watchtower stands guard many miles away, at a mountain pass. For three months out of every year, someone in my family stays in that tower, to keep a light at its very top. For those three months, winter is at its most brutal, and there is no sunlight. The tower was built many centuries ago as a way to help traders and travelers over the treacherous mountain pass as they made their way to and from our villa...

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“keep the fires burning” by Robin Turner

Submitted to Contest #232

I am nobody but I work for somebody. My job is fire starter--keeper of the flames. It's a shitty job, but somehow it keeps me alive and keeps all of my wealthy clients alive. We are in a terrible predicament. Hampstead, England has been hit quite hard and my services are in demand. I am getting wealthy from this disaster but fear if one of my clients dies, someone in his or her family will throw me into one of my own fires. That is because no one values life these days. Once powerful, England is on its knees. Nothing but chaos around me and ...

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“A Lesson in Meditation ” by Jessie Garza

Submitted to Contest #232

I don’t like silence. Silence invites in too many thoughts that I prefer to drown out. But I understand the importance of silent moments, which is what brought me here. To this dark room, the only light available is that of a single candle that burns in the middle of the room. My task, to not let the flame go out. There’s a window somewhere in the room, it’s night out, I can feel a breeze and every now and then I have to lift my hand up to cup the flame to protect it from the breeze. I don’t look for the window, there’s really no point...

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“Bleeding Colours ” by Slap Ikone

Submitted to Contest #232

He never wished for destruction yet it followed him like a shadow, an inseparable companion woven into the fabric of his every step. He could see manifestations of ruin everywhere. The once-vibrant earth now bore scars of conflict, with craters dotting the ground like wounds inflicted by some unseen giant. Tangled masses of barbed wire, twisted and gnarled, served as metallic reminders of a desperate attempt to control the chaos. And the forest, once green and breathing with life, was a sad mere semblance of a once flourishing ecosystem. ...

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“The Hooded Man” by Ryan Hodes

Submitted to Contest #232

The Hooded Man I tried talking to the hooded man once, many cycles ago when he came to replenish my wood supply. He always comes from behind, slow and icy as a glacier, silent as the Mariana Trench. That day, I felt his merciless chill slink up beside me. “Why am I here?” I asked him, gazing at his misty figure. His cloak was even blacker than the sea of darkness that surrounded us. Where his face should be was only a clouded opening, its mist opaque but tantalizingly fluid. Behind the cloud of his face I sensed the answer to my que...

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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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