#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

“Just glad there are stars in the sky” by Rebecca Lee

Submitted to Contest #39

Sarah Chaucer lay back on the ground and twiddled with pieces of grass underneath her. She reached behind her head, and took her long, auburn hair out of its ponytail holder, and let it flow freely on the ground.She could hear her mom in her head. “Sarah, get up. You are going to get your clothes dirty and grass in your hair.” Sarah, now at age 50, laughed, “You are right, Mom, but it is OK. It will come out.” She said out loud to herself. Sarah stretched out her legs - rubbing out ‘imaginary’ wrinkles in her jeans before getting still. She ...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Fascinating First Day ” by Tolu Odel

Submitted to Contest #39

As the orange dawn crept over the west horizon, Fabio slammed the snooze button for the third time. Then the fourth. Then the- Fabio decided the first day of school was a special day, so he got out of bed the fifth time his alarm rang. But Fabio did not know how special the day truly was.This year could be different, it’s fifth grade. Wanda and Maggie had bullied Fabio since the first grade and Fabio would prefer anything -anything- to being thrown in the recycling bin everyday during lunch. Or, at least he thought he would prefer anyth...

7 comments 7

Read story

“The man who wanted to go to space” by Hannah Reitz

Submitted to Contest #39

Alexander closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his stomach doing somersaults, nervous and excited at the same time. He heard the loudspeaker across the courtyard switch on. A booming voice came from it. “Launch in thirty seconds.” Alexander checked if his seat belt was securely fastened for the third time since he got in the spaceship. He gripped the armrests at his sides, trying to calm himself down. The astronaut took deep breaths, he had been waiting for so long to go to space. Ever since he was a kid, his dream was to be a...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Am I Really Alone?” by Aubrey Maria ✌

Submitted to Contest #39

It was quiet. All she heard was the summer breeze, the rustle of the grass, and the sound of her own two feet walking. No birds, no car engine starting, and no humans. This was the first time, quite frankly, that Megan had ever felt truly alone. Where on earth had everyone gone? One moment, there were people walking in the streets, and the next people vanished all at once. Megan knew she wasn’t a scientific genius, but from what she could tell, there is no apparent reason why or even how this was actually happening. Millions of thoughts were...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Somewhere Out There” by Christina Steele

Submitted to Contest #39

The windows rattled. A too familiar sway of fixtures lifted the Grand Counselor’s eyes upward as the Historian Laureate’s walking-on-marbles stride stopped by at last reaching and grabbing the podium. ‘Please begin,” commanded Director Zo “Over time, the top scientist on Venus noted that decreased volcanic eruption patterns corresponded with a declined rotation speed of the planet. While we were busy exploring space, our molten core depleted. In response, the planet slowed, wobbled, then came to a standstill. Eighty percent of our populati...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Blue Marble” by Alice Everett

Submitted to Contest #39

The cold metal interior caresses my skin. I stiffly wriggle my bony hips, shifting them by an inch to the right. Drawing my lanky arms closer to my body, I organise my hands into an upside down ‘V’ under my pelvis in an effort to cushion by tailbone. All in small, mechanical motions. There is limited scope for movement. No matter how minimal, everything seems to translate into awkwardness. It does not take long for pearls of sweat to condense on the back of my thighs which are pushed tightly against the stainless steel-lined pod.Austin sense...

1 comment 1

Read story

“The Starlit Vixen and The Fox” by Christopher G

Submitted to Contest #39

The only peaceful spot to rest your head at Moonlight Vixen’s Gentlemen’s Club was outside on a dead patch of grass. If business is slow, which it has been as of late, I’d step outside and lay my head down, looking at the sky full of stars and the moon. It was full and bright tonight, a stark contrast inside of the Moonlight Vixen’s Gentlemen’s Club. It isn’t the most glamorous place to work. Especially if you’re a stripper—excuse me—dancer. I’ve been interim manager since my dad has been in the hospital for four ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“A Little Bit Of Heaven.” by Estelle Westley

Submitted to Contest #39

Jake and Emma sat on the jetty with a bottle of Chardonnay between them. Their feet dangling in the water. The beauty of the silence made their hearts peaceful.The night was so brightly lit with stars that they had made their way from the main building with no flashlight.'Do you remember the first time we set foot here on the farm?' Emma asked. 'We were glared at by the agent when we insisted on walking down to the river. There were no roads so we had to hike through the shrubs and forest for many kilometres and the agent was not amused when...

4 comments 4

Read story

“Capturing London” by April Moon

Submitted to Contest #39

As a Street View driver, I drove past schools and down hills until I reached the Gatwick airport to capture everything. I captured the planes flying to Greece and Belgium. I captured the planes arriving from France. The airport would fly people away to change their lives, either by starting or breaking them. It broke mine.I had to escape the memories each landscape the West Sussex brought every time I did this. I kept driving away and away till I reached Central London. The roads are always filled with people there, there...

13 comments 13

Read story

“Beside the Dying Fire” by Kevin DuPont

Submitted to Contest #39

It was just last month that I counted three-hundred and sixty-four stars. Now, as the purple chill of the evening air arrived, I began my count again. It doesn’t take nearly as long. 12…13…14. I twisted my lips as I marked the number down in my notes. It seemed to really be accelerating towards the end. Over a dozen stars had vanished from the air space since last night. The black void of the nights sky was once littered with tiny speckles of white and yellow, but now it was me...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Four Scoops, Rounded” by Asher Littlefield

Submitted to Contest #39

“Four scoops, rounded. Tapped twice to make sure all the grounds fall out into the filter, and not onto the dirt, between scoops. Water boiled and poured over the filter in a spiraling motion. Best enjoyed while looking out a sunlit window, with company.”Marvin sets down the instructions Hannah wrote for him six years ago. This is his sixth attempt at pour-over coffee. He hasn’t become more confident with practice. His first attempt was the morning before their first date. It had been bitter, as he’d focused too much on the center of the fil...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Just Another Day” by Laura Elliott-Blood

Submitted to Contest #39

It’s Tuesday. The 13th Tuesday since you left. The 13th Tuesday that I have to get myself out of bed and appear to be okay with life as I now know it. The 13th Tuesday of pretending. The 13th Tuesday of wishing I could have been with you. The 13th Tuesday missing you and our life together.Driving for Google has its privileges. I get to make my own hours, find new neighborhoods and restaurants that I would never know about and learn new routes for when there is traffic. But most of all, I get to be by myself with...

12 comments 12

Read story

“Wanderlust” by Courtney Haynes

Submitted to Contest #39

I fell in love with my wife because she was different. Because her mind didn’t exist on the same wavelength as the rest of us. We poor mortals on this earth cannot comprehend the depth of Brenda. But “depth” sometimes can be confused for a fickle mind.After we built our dream house in the country, I soon regretted including windows. For every night when my wife would look out one of those wretched portholes, she would always get this look and start dreaming. A look of longing. A desire to travel to some unknown place.“I want to travel,” she’...

3 comments 3

Read story

“I'll Put The Stars Back In The Sky” by Grey Oberst

Submitted to Contest #39

The last thing I see is a starry sky. It’s beautiful. Really beautiful. It’s a damn shame that I never took the time to really appreciate it up until now. I should have studied astronomy instead of business. Hell, I should have studied anything other than business. What was I thinking? Wait, no, I shouldn’t be thinking about that right now. The sky is beautiful, and that’s all that matters.As I stare at it, it’s easy to forget that I’m currently bleeding out on the sidewalk. Why is that happening again? I don’t remember. It doesn’t matter.“A...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Beautiful, twisted soul” by Rachel MacLean

Submitted to Contest #39

I used to imagine what I’d say to you. I’ve had more conversations in my head with you than in real life. It was in high school, that day in Mr Roy’s drama class, when I knew I loved you. You were always good at drama, never afraid to be yourself. At least that’s how it seemed. That day I sat like a shadow, hanging in the corner of the classroom. No-one ever spoke directly to me. They called me names, whispered behind my back. You must have heard them, we’ve never spoken about it, but maybe that’s why I never cared about being alone as much ...

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