#39: Earth to Writers

This was a big week for celebrations. Wednesday was World Earth Day and yesterday was World Book Day.

But to us voracious readers, doesn't every day feel like Book Day? So for this week's prompts, we're giving a big shout-out to the little blue dot in space we all call home.

(And if you'd like to combine your World and Book Day celebrations, here's a sci-fi reading list that's out of this world.)

This week's prompts

One day, the sun rose in the west and set in the east.

Fantasy – 72 stories

Write about a person experiencing the 'overview effect' (a feeling astronauts report having when they first view Earth from outer space).

Science Fiction – 48 stories

Write a story about a Google Street View driver.

Adventure – 39 stories

Write a story that begins and ends with someone looking up at the stars.

Teens – 388 stories

Two people who thought they were the last people left on Earth end up meeting by chance.

Science Fiction – 147 stories

Stories

“The Town that Defied the Laws of the Universe” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #39

The inhabitants of the small Norfolk seaside town of Breezehaven wouldn’t have been human if they weren’t occasionally jealous of their near neighbours in Hunstanton. Oh, there were no barriers or riots, or anything remotely like that, and it was by no means unknown for there to be what were called (only in jest, of course, people hurriedly added) mixed marriages. The good folk of Breezehaven even sometimes expressed a certain pity for their counterparts in Hunstanton. “We can live perfectly well without being the answer to a ...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Immunity” by Courtney Haynes

Submitted to Contest #39

As I stare across at a peaceful blue sky and watch the birds whiz through the air with a sense of wonder, the wind caresses my face like a long lost lover. Not a single care left, I close my eyes, lean back, and fall from the rooftop to my death. Then, something strange happens. Unexpected. It seems the laws of nature have taken a break. My preordained demise is seemingly postponed, for I have stopped mid-descent. I release my eyelids to see the reason for this development: a dark man with panicked eyes and arm muscles rippling in full ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Stars are better with friends” by Hannah Reitz

Submitted to Contest #39

She looked up at the stars, tracing the constellations with her eyes. She listened to the crickets chirping and closed her eyes. She sighed, finally some peace and quiet. Lina hadn’t been sleeping well for the past few nights. Her mom had just given birth to her baby brother. And while he was cute, he was loud. Very loud. So loud that he woke everyone in the house up at night.After many restless nights, Lina had decided she’d lay in her backyard, since it was warm enough for it. She’d hoped that she would get tired enough and when...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Eagles Eye” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #39

The magnificence of this mountaintop high in the clouds distracted my mind, gave me moments to think. I sat now on the top most branches of a wind blown and twisted Bristlecone Pine. My mind reeling, I felt so out of control, it was as if every one of my previous adventures had led me to this moment, this place, but I tremble violently realizing I am no longer in control!I look out from such a height that what I see is a world in miniature, more correctly it is almost as if everything is microscopic. But t...

20 comments 20

Read story

“Overview ” by Amy DeMatt

Submitted to Contest #39

The fear electrified her fingers. She felt the prickle of urgency throughout her arms and legs. In training, she'd been taught to modulate herself, to notice when her heart began to race. "Our emotions interfere with our ability to think and problem solve," the trainer had said. "You must use techniques to calm yourself." For her, the most effective had been box breaths. She inhaled to a count of eight, held it to a count of eight, breathed out to a count of eight, and paused for eight before inhaling again. Then repeat. Then repeat ag...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Player 2” by Kaveen Selvi

Submitted to Contest #39

The ecstatic feeling and the rush of energy coming from carefully patterned sound notes blaring in your ears is something of an acquired taste. A far better remedy to let off the day’s strain than listening to singing bowls and people whispering in your ears. I like to pretend I’m doing something and being busy while I’m listening to songs. So I write and keep scribbling in my fancy diary, what I call my “brain trash”. It’s hard to be organized with the notebooks and have them used for one specific reason when you’re a notebook hoarder....

4 comments 4

Read story

“The Starry Highway” by Felicity Edwards

Submitted to Contest #39

Groping his way to the front of the enormous cave and stepping around the low individual family hearths, the old shaman carefully lifted the Auroch hide hanging over the entrance. He stood for a while gazing up at the pallid full moon hanging like a gossamer orb in the pearly dawn sky. For weeks, clouds hid the sky and its stars. Now, at last, they had drawn back to reveal this glorious pale moon and her twinkling handmaidens. It was still bitterly cold and he shivered, despite his warm fur jacket, as he silently made his way over to h...

4 comments 4

Read story

“For Sale” by Zachary Appleby

Submitted to Contest #39

I’m not certain why I responded to the ad. After all, I definitely, absolutely, did not have the space. My wife, children, dogs, and the cat would agree—and they’d do it all pressed up together in our very modest condo. I’d gotten the condo at a bargain deal. My wife did not appreciate that.Still, there I was, waiting at a local coffee shop for the man to arrive. I was excited. The way I used to get on Christmas Eve because my mother always told me what she’d gotten for me—which she’d done because she was excited as well.I ordered a coffee w...

0 comments 0

Read story

“I have a tangible effect on you; Believe me!” by SHARDA MISHRA

Submitted to Contest #39

As a google street view driver, I received my daily quota of getting around before I switch out.For the most part, I pick more common roads, things people want to see. I may like a neighborhood, but no one wants to see residential streets.I try to plan out my trip from point A to point B and stick to that.As long as I cover the main roads and hit the data quota, I am fine.I started the day : mostly non-rush hours.Picked a comparatively secluded area, although lots of tourists come here every year from all parts of the world.However&nbs...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Scarce To Be Counted” by Ed Vela

Submitted to Contest #39

They were always brighter out here. City lights would dim their brilliance, but out here in the vast expanse of desert that his favorite uncle had taken him to for a guy's weekend the stars were ablaze!His name was Bentley, and twelve years ago his way too ambitious father had named him for the car that he would surely own one day, but it was a rusty Ford truck that would end that dream when Bentley had just turned two.Bentley never knew his Dad, Franklin Costas, but he was very glad he had his father's brother Gabriel always at his side, in...

3 comments 3

Read story

“In The Rain And Under The Stars” by Neisha Williams

Submitted to Contest #39

Whenever there's a clear night sky like this one tonight I always look up to see those bright dots. According to the astrology classes I took once some of them are planets, some of them are suns like ours and this always makes me think about how much we appreciate the magnificence of the things that appear small in our life's which might just be major.I personally think that modern humanity has become very materialistic, and has forgotten the importance of the stars, both energetically and symbolically. My grandmother use to say that 'the sy...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Glancing ever starward” by Tim Law

Submitted to Contest #39

1914 - JuneA cloudless sky, the blanket above twinkled. Annie cast her sea green eyes above and thought how lucky she was to be spending this perfect night with her best friend. She had caught Herbert’s eye during their collage years and they had been close friends ever since.“Annie, darling,” coughed Herb, drawing those sea green eyes back to his own and away from those twinkling specks.Annie gasped as she discovered the young man was on his knee, a tiny box in his hands opened and thrust towards her. The diamond set upon the ring within wa...

6 comments 6

Read story

“The Last of Them” by Sami Dodge

Submitted to Contest #39

I stare up at the black void known as space. It seemed to be taunting me, mocking me. The stars glow bright, thousands in the sky while I’m all alone sitting with no one around me. Tears start to fill my eyes as I remember the sad truth. Everyone I loved, everyone I cared, everyone I knew, gone. Coronavirus. The coronavirus took everything from me but it wasn’t like that mattered now. I’m the only one left. I was spared. But why me? Why was I the only left? I can’t question myself again, I can’t go back. I must look forward to survive. ...

1 comment 1

Read story

“"To think or not to think that is the question"” by Taskin Hasan

Submitted to Contest #39

" All the time the stars dazzle the sky. The only difference is that the day-star do not shiver like the night ones...". Maybe I'm the only one thinking such looking at them...... The helipad above a hill, probably the best place to look for the drama, the drama of the nature. The night, the best time to search for the lights.I closed my eyes to enjoy every bit of the nature and its charisma. With eyes closed, I imagine the nature to be what it could be.Hushhush! Hear... can't you hear that sound? The tune of wolves walking down the hilly fo...

2 comments 2

Read story

“THE LAST TIME I SAW THE STARS” by Duong Duy Khang

Submitted to Contest #39

THE LAST TIME I SAW THE STARSMargaret, Alex’s girlfriend, she had just died a week ago. He and her mom were cleaning Margaret’s room together when he went by Margaret’s diary. He opened and read the last lines she had written:“When I was a child, my father would tell me a story every night. I still remembered every story ended with dad telli...

4 comments 4

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

694

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 01, 2020 EST

Won by Masha Kurbatova 🏆

Title: sole mate

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!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

#39: Earth to Writers

This week's prompts

One day, the sun rose in the west and set in the east.

Write about a person experiencing the 'overview effect' (a feeling astronauts report having when they first view Earth from outer space).

Write a story about a Google Street View driver.

Write a story that begins and ends with someone looking up at the stars.

Two people who thought they were the last people left on Earth end up meeting by chance.

Stories