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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#262: Turn Up the Heat

What’s not to love about summer? There's something so wonderful about spending lazy afternoons taking a stroll in the sunshine or cooling off with an ice-cold drink by a pool. I can still remember how excited I would feel on the last day of school, just hours away from barbecues, beach days, and family picnics.

With summer in full swing for many of us, let’s write some stories that center around long, sweltering days. Will your tale take place at a fancy resort or a crowded park? How about a county fair or an island getaway? No matter what you choose, make sure to bring on the heat!

This week's prompts

Write about a summer vacation gone wrong.

Summer – 66 stories

Start or end your story with a heatwave announcement.

Summer – 34 stories

Write about a character who is allergic to heat.

Summer – 26 stories

Center your story around an unexpected summer fling.

Summer – 53 stories

Set your story during the hottest day of the year.

Summer – 88 stories

Stories

“A Real Hot Corner” by Thomas Wetzel

Submitted to Contest #262

The tall and dark-haired NYPD officer who clicked the cuffs on Gabriel and stuffed him in the back of the patrol car clearly looked Italian and he was almost certainly from somewhere in Brooklyn or Queens based on his accent. He was a nice enough guy though and didn’t get rough or angry or anything like that, but this was Gabe’s third pop in the last year or so. They wouldn’t be seeing him out on the block for a while. He wasn’t gonna make bail. He was going to Rikers, and then somewhere up north for a while.Angel came back out and sat on th...

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“SUMMER HEAT” by Glenna Agnew

Submitted to Contest #262

SUMMER HEAT “It's so hot you could fry an egg on the asphalt today.” gasped Kirk Greene as he entered his house and dropped his messenger bag and mail onto the floor. His pitbull stared at him in stunned surprise. Something was not right. The mail and bag were always placed neatly on the console table just inside the front door. The mail was sorted into various categories depending on its importance and urgency, then placed into the letter trays to keep it organized. The house was only slightly cooler than the temperature outside. Kirk...

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“The Never Queen” by Jane Cantor

Submitted to Contest #262

THE NEVER QUEENOne Summer’s day, when the city was a smouldering inferno of superheated alleyways, scorching brickwork, blinding glass, wilting people, she fled, not to the burning wildfires of the country, the charred destruction of centuries-old woodland lost in minutes, but to the basement, the blessedly cool, dark, silent room that few knew and fewer visited. The light buzzed annoyingly, but she could live with that. The heat it gave off irritated her, but not enough to worry about. She wandered through the aisles, through ages of histor...

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“The Man at the Door” by Matt Pearson

Submitted to Contest #262

Refusing to get out of bed, Alan stared up at the ceiling fan and watched the blades spin with a low hum. His procrastination was brought on by something he tried to avoid whenever possible: family drama. Unfortunately for Alan, that was something he would have to face today. Just not in the way he expected. Alan was also not looking forward to enduring the thirty-year high temperature forecasted today. But the weather would be the least of his worries. Savannah, Alan’s seventeen-year old stepdaughter, was caught with some friends in the sch...

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“Milagro Means Miracle” by Abby Branco

Submitted to Contest #262

Milagro stared at the giant tubs of ice cream stacked in the case in front of her. It was all she could do to keep from covering her nose and gagging. This ice cream made her sick. She hated the texture. She hated how artificial the flavors were. She blinked back tears as she thought of her mother’s homemade chocolate ice cream made from fresh cacao beans grown on their farm in Antigua, Guatemala with milk from their cow Flor. But this gooey sugared substance? She swallowed, trying to hide her distas...

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“summer love” by Rudy Greene

Submitted to Contest #262

Could she be waving at me? There’s no way! She’s out of my league. Or so I thought. I was sitting on my orange ground sheet on the very green grass in a park in Oxford, England. It was July and I was on my first trip to Europe. To my surprise, I found a Jewish delicatessen near the college. It had the best pastrami I had tasted in years, and I decided to purchase a sandwich and picnic at the park, Munching on the gargantuan sandwich and engrossed in a Dickens novel, I only looked up when the buzz of touring students caught my attention. As t...

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“What We Have and What We Have Lost” by Jaal Mola

Submitted to Contest #262

tw: brief suicidal thoughts, verbal abuse, war and mentions of death It was impossible to think in this sticky heat; but they had had but five hundred arrows left to defend themselves with. In disbelief, Seung read the report once more, feeling the paper stick to his thumb. The sun had risen just an hour ago, and yet its warmth was already making his hands clammy, “Is this really all that we have?” He tried to keep his voice steady, but they wouldn’t last a day with that number. So his hope to survive this siege for another month...

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““SHE”” by Crymes King

Submitted to Contest #262

With nothing but smolder encompassing this beautiful August day; equally too an electrifyingly exciting Friday evening, “Power Station” nostalgically emits from surrounding systems.“The Station” currently streaming glorious; equally glorious being the structured Annunaki-styled sculpted beach-side resort.80’s music enthusiasts savvy enough can vouch the sentiment of that hit song to match the scorch of the day. As stated by Mr. Palmer himself, some like it …A...

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“Can't Escape the Heat” by Kyle Kaye

Submitted to Contest #262

When most other students think about this time of year they think, ‘classes are out and it's time to hit the beach.’ Parties, swimsuits, and relaxing rule their lives. Not for me, though. I loathe this season. I live for the cool mornings and evenings of early spring and late fall. The mild temperatures that keep my body in check. They keep me from losing myself and feeling like I want to crawl out of my own skin. My parents are the only ones who understand my allergy to the heat. Friends ask me to do so much during the summer without ...

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“"Kitty"” by Nick Physick

Submitted to Contest #262

"'It'd Be Shrewd Not To: Money Saving Tips for the Budget-Conscious Traveller'", Ryan muttered, examining the cover of the chunky paperback that had monopolised Lisa's attention for the last twenty minutes. "Ah, so that's why we're not in the Maldives.'Lisa tipped her head and eyed him over the lens of her sunglasses. "You're burnt," she said.He flipped the camera on his phone to check his face. Beet red. With a grunt, he hoisted himself up onto his elbows, squinting down the beach towards the lapping waves, where Bailey and Sarah franticall...

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“Not The Chickens ” by Sydney Nyberg

Submitted to Contest #262

It was noon by the time Jesse finally got out of bed, when the heat in his room had become unbearable and even the air seemed to stick to him like a thin film of mucous. He hadn’t stirred once in the night and into early morning, and as he pushed his way through the ripped screen door out to the front porch, he wondered if a fox had gotten the rooster. “Y’all seen Mohawk?” he asked. His brother, Joe, sat reclined on the porch steps, one arm propping up his head, while the other held a whittled twig that he used to pick at his ...

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“Fractured Fairyland.” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #262

Let's all sit down and practice our silent literacy, much desired skill. Open this magical tale, written with pixies on a keyboard these days. It is telling of impossible things, a story of love which is inherent in our human race. Our heroine today was known as Stacey S. Snow. Somehow, by flawed mischance and bad luck, she had wandered down some lane in the magically enchanted world that exists in Fractured Fairyland. She had been on her summer vacation, but her plans went astray, her happy holiday had gone all wrong.Down on her luck, seek...

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“Flares of Exodus” by Daniel Brandt

Submitted to Contest #262

"Good evening, this is the headlines for tonight. Our top story: humanity's final chance for survival. In a historic and unprecedented effort, millions of people are set to leave Earth aboard massive colony ships as a catastrophic solar flare threatens to scorch our planet with a brutal heatwave set to scorch the earth. The International Space Agency, in collaboration with global governments, will send some 10 million to ensure our species' future on 100 potentially habitable planets. Cryo-sleep technology, still in its experimental stages, ...

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“Moving On Up” by CJ Sieling

Submitted to Contest #262

Being born in Florida in the late 21st century seemed to be a difficult enough burden for anyone. That didn't seem to be enough for the powers in charge of this world. The first adventure I had in this crazy and broken world was nearly my last. My well-intentioned parents put me in the best stroller technology had to offer at the time. One-handed fold, dual cup holders, diaper bag slot with fold-out changing tray, and a phone holder with solar panel charging station made it top of the line. It even had a little spot left over for an in...

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“Pushing Daisies” by Horace Auldwyn

Submitted to Contest #262

As the temperature in the city rose to a historic high, Carl and his half-charred companion raced against the clock. It was just before noon on the August long-weekend and the insatiable picnic, beachgoer, and birthday party crowds were ringing up for pizza at an alarming rate. Carl had been unexpectedly dispatched by “Pepper’s Only Pizza” on 4th street and Main. Mr. Pepper was a proud man who had painstakingly built his pizzeria from the ground up. Throughout the decades his once jet-black hair greyed and his defiant stance settled into a c...

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$250

Prize money

267

Contest entries

91

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 09, 2024 EST

Won by Tess Ross-Callahan 🏆

Title: Hair-Dryer Day

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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