#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 Philosopher and Her Stones” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #39

So… apparently there’s this situation, or feeling, called the overview effect. The first thing it made me think of when somebody (I don’t recall who it was but it’s not important anyway) described it to me was something horrific, on-the-edge-of-the-world=like, nauseating. Yes, I felt immediately sick to my stomach, dizzy, like I was about to fall off the edge of the earth. Major vertigo issues. All right, so I admit I’m afraid of heights, really afraid of them, and can end up with major panic attacks in airplanes if the going gets even the l...

2 comments 2

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“To a new starry life!” by Sadie Brooke

Submitted to Contest #39

I lay staring up at the dark blanket studded with sparkling silver. The feeling of paralysis encapsulates me dragging me to the world of dark hell hole. I lay immobile letting my inner turmoil churn till the fire extinguish and what remains is only the smouldering ash. The anguish in me does not simmer but continue to ablaze as I jot lines between events that occurred like connecting the stars to forming a clear constellation. The visions are no longer hazy. As I continue to gaze up at the night sky, I finally let the reality...

5 comments 5

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“The Moonkeeper” by Carmen Friesen

Submitted to Contest #39

The sun had just gone down, and Simon was on the beach, making a sandcastle. A salty breeze came in from the water, and he could hear seagulls in the distance. The sandcastle was in the shape of a circle, and had lots of windows he’d poked in with this finger. There was no moat, but in the middle there was a space in which he’d dug a lake and filled it with water. He was trying to model the castle after one he’d seen in a dream, but it was hard to remember the details. The quiet of the evening was nice. He could listen to the sound of the wa...

6 comments 6

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“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

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“Begin Again” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #39

It was a normal day, just like any other in my life. People were always telling me that I have skill and talent, that I needed to do something serious with my ability. But I was in no hurry to settle down or have a family or anything like a real job. I liked just fooling around with the things that I found pleasing to my eye. Stones and shells, wood carved into rustic shapes, that kind of thing. I had been raised by my grandparents here in the Pacific Northwest and they lived off the land, loved each o...

3 comments 3

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“The Wish” by Adelyn Russell

Submitted to Contest #39

I was lying under the coal black sky, staring at the stars, wishing the ground wasn’t so hard, that crickets would stop that leg rubbing and my parents wouldn’t send me on camping trips in the middle of nowhere. I sighed. No use now. I was stuck out here and that’s all there was to it. I shivered and pulled my cap closer around my ears. The whole reason I was out in the shivering cold, close to midnight anyway was because of our camp leader, Joe Hobbs. He said if I wished upon a star at midnight it would come true. I had laughed, ...

6 comments 6

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“Starry Starry Night ” by AL Paradiso

Submitted to Contest #39

The night sky is always so enchanting, mysterious and full of wonder even to a scientist like me. “Lying on this blanket with you, on this mountain, and watching the sun drop behind the clouds, beyond the horizon below us is a resplendent high. Witnessing the sky turn brilliant oranges, and reds with grey shadows, and streaks of gold is always mesmerizing. When that moment passes and the gloaming sky turns into a velvety, diamond-studded, serene mantle, dreams and dreamers change. Yet, it is still romantic. Isn’t it Dawn?” “Yes, Al. It seem...

7 comments 7

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“With Isabel” by Caroline G

Submitted to Contest #39

The marsh hummed and glittered and throbbed, it crooned and stretched and rumbled, and she could not notice. She flitted between darknesses through the fluttering of her eyes, from the immense blue-black punctuated by dots of light, to the blackness inside her eyelids, which dragged traces of the stars’ glow into her sight. Drops of dew constellated the outline of her horizontal figure. She cast a glance sideways. “Please talk to me.” &n...

3 comments 3

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“Last 2” by Emili Silvi

Submitted to Contest #39

My skin felt like it was being charbroiled. Red and blistered, it baked under the morning sun despite the countless layers of cloth I'd draped over myself to protect myself. I'd looked a few miles back and reminded myself of a lobster. I continued hiking over the ravaged planet, the naked trees and the dry, cracked ground were constant reminders to keep going. I had to find shelter before I died out here. Stumbling, I cursed myself for not resting back at that cave I found about three hours ago. But I'd convinced myself I'd get farther if ...

7 comments 7

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“Touch the stars” by ✰ Jessica ✰

Submitted to Contest #39

The magnificent telescope creaked as Gianna moved it a bit to the right. The stars were so bright and fiery, especially up close. The magnification of the telescope blew her mind. The fact that someone could invent something that made the stars, planets and space junk look close enough to touch boggled her mind. If only she could touch them. Oh, how she wanted to touch them. Gianna imagined the planets and stars as tiny balls rolling around in her hand. What would they feel like? Some hot, maybe. There would of course be some freezing ones. ...

14 comments 14

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“He Stared Up Into the Stars” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #39

He Stared Up Into the Stars He stared up into the stars. It was a clear night in the last week of April. All the familiar sky bodies were twinkling in their usual places. He should know what they are and where they should be. For 60 years now he had barely missed viewing the late April sky on such a night. Now that he was no longer in school, he wasn’t distracted by homework, or the guilt-inducing looks of his parents when they told him he was “night-time day-dreaming” when he went out to look at the stars. Now ...

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“Racing the Stars” by Margaret Kopke

Submitted to Contest #39

Sonnanqua was tethered to a tree, and as he waited, whittling away at the thong around his neck, he gazed up at the stars to distance himself from the horror of what was happening on the earth, to the screams and bloodthirsty shouts coming from the San village. The sky that night was devoid of any moon and there was only the faint light of the stars. He prayed to the great hunter father to help him. Three stars of the great one’s arrow pointed towards the east. Sonnanqua’s own people had been slaughtered only a week before and he...

3 comments 3

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“Finding My Light” by Wency Villaseñor

Submitted to Contest #39

Waking up in a coma is hard for Mariya- a 23 years old woman who has a fair skin, she has mesmerizing forest eyes that everyone liked, a pointed nose, thin lips, and her hair dyes with this description are perfect for gray coverage. Has yellow and blue pigments to cover gray.She is now in a park watching the children play, and waiting for her best friend Vera. They're planning to bond- watch movie, play in arcade, go to her favorite fast food, and lastly picnic- she and Vera loved to go on picnic."BEST FRIEND!!!" the lady shout. When s...

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“Twice born” by Ananya Roy 🥳🌸

Submitted to Contest #39

I feel so light, like a feather. As if I am floating above the land. No scratch that. It doesn't seem like there's any land anywhere about me. My eyes felt drowsy while at the same time there's this bright light coming from somewhere, I've no idea of. This light simply won't let me open my eyes. My body doesn't feel weak and battered like it did some time back, well that's strange. Then I felt it. A push like never ever felt before. It literally threw me off my balance as I felt the same vacuum again. But this time I couldn't feel the pain a...

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“The photographs in the car” by Leila Adams

Submitted to Contest #39

It was a dark night that night, and unusually for the city, the sky was clear, affording a very visible view of the stars. The man noted this as he sat in his car atop of the hill overlooking his hometown. The temperature outside was cold, but not bitterly so, nether-less he’d left his coat on whilst he drove, which was not typical for him. On the passenger seat next to him was a photograph album, snaps falling out of the battered pages. The man slotted a cassette tape into the car stereo, and as the familiar sounds washed over hi...

2 comments 2

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$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!

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#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