#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

“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

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“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...

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“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

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“The Stars Above, the Stars Below” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #39

NOTE TO READERSI have checked with Arielle and she says it’s okay to write a story in verse. That was how this one presented itself to me. Still not sure how well it works, but thanks for your patience! Debbie________________________________________________________________________________The harbour lights reflect in night-dark waters, boats, never wholly at restsway and dream of distant shores, and moon-tinged ripples crestand fall and dance, and other lights, lights distant beyond distant casttheir gleam upon the waters...

4 comments 4

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“The Good that's Left in the World: A Post-Apocalyptic Love Story” by Mrs. Moroz

Submitted to Contest #39

Earth's last Civil War had finally come to its catastrophic end, after fifteen years, in the year 2095. There had been repeated negotiations between sides. Eight years in, polling showed that over 90% of the human population had been very hopeful of a truce. Then, came the acts of eco-terrorism. Farms were bombed. Grocery stores set ablaze. On-and-off-and-on-again blockades were imposed on the internet and electricity in cities that were found to be not in compliance with the new set of federal regulations. Humanity, then at its apex of tech...

2 comments 2

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“The view from up here” by Emma Ingram

Submitted to Contest #39

The view from up here. They are solemn. Peaceful. Obtrusively gentle. They are a finger tracing the runes of her spine. They are the hills climbing upon her back. A heart swelling over the edges like dough in the oven. A pair of light blue eyes. The narrow slits forming. The wide moon uncovered amongst grey skies. A girl with a red scarf boarding the&nbsp...

5 comments 5

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“By the Light of all the Lanterns” by Arthur Tiberio

Submitted to Contest #39

He had been gone a long time. Even now, after all this time and all these many seasons, he was not quite sure that he was back. He stood at the end of the world and the edge of the world (for all worlds have an edge, just as they have a center or a sky), and he stood so firmly that the stones groaned and shifted under his weight. When he departed, there would be left in his wake two footprints, left as clearly in the rock as if the hard granite had been dust on a windless moon. Today there was a firm breeze from the north, which forced him t...

3 comments 3

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“If the World was Ending ” by Ivy Moonlit

Submitted to Contest #39

If the world was ending, would I know? Would I feel that uneasy pitt in my stomach and that gut feeling something was wrong? Would the world be twisted upside down? If the world was ending would it be quick and painless, or would it be painfully slow? Would the world just stop spinning? If the world was ending would the sun rise in the west, would hurricanes and floods take over or would it act as if it were any other day? If the world was ending would there be a panic? Would I understand what was going on? Would I just los...

5 comments 5

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“Rise and Set” by Abigail O

Submitted to Contest #39

After the blackness of night, Earth's star rises on the horizon, spreading her gold in every direction. She comes in the way that natural forces do, needing not invitation yet feeling her welcome. The light is her gift, bold and free, for anyone who cares to open their eyes in the dawn and watch the world awake. This is our sun, a fire ignited to bring warmth to creation and inspire us to seek our own beauty within.The sunrise is the warmest hues of the rainbow, the colours that bring a gentle passion to the soul. It is the calling of the sk...

10 comments 10

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“The Last Companion” by Saranglogy R

Submitted to Contest #39

He was roaming around the streets by looking at the places which were once beautiful. It had been years since he had met someone. He was waiting for his days to come. But to his luck, there was no one except him on this earth.Or so he thought.All the species went extinct on the earth, by leaving out only him.The buildings, theatre, malls, houses, empty plots which humans bought were useful for no one. They all gone dead without enjoying those. But he did, he knew it was not his property neither anyone's. He didn't know which country it was n...

2 comments 2

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“A God's Chariot is Change” by Chelsy Maughan

Submitted to Contest #39

Atlas placed the unbearable weight on his shoulders on a white pillar, its large expanse still spun brilliantly. Exhaustion filled his body, this punishment seemed too much for one to bear. He stretched his large golden biceps, no one would notice if he took a short nap, maybe a few hundred years would do. Leaving his post meant he might receive a more brutal punishment, he didn’t care. He paused to look around, no other Gods were nearby. Atlas laid his massive body on his small cot, and fell asleep quickly. His loud snores attracted the ire...

10 comments 10

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“Starry Love” by Neha Dubhashi

Submitted to Contest #39

There are two lovers in the wind: one whose hair shimmers like spun gold, and the other, whose beauty is less vibrant. The other has a more subtle type of beauty. Her skin sings with starlight promises, with a softer, more mysterious lilt than her lover. Her lover is more outgoing, more passionate. But she is more loyal. More kind. For the fiercest power lies in being gentle. The lovers leave the other for several hours. The vibrant girl smiles, saying her time away does not seem as long as it is. In fact, she enjoys her work as much as her ...

7 comments 7

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“Prophecy of Old” by Neha Dubhashi

Submitted to Contest #39

The rope chafed against Ezette’s hands as she slid down, leaving poppy-red and bone-white marks across her palms. She wasn’t holding the rough rope correctly, immersed in a particularly wonderful daydream involving lemoncream pastries and blackberry cider. The ground rushed up to meet her feet. She landed a bit sloppily, her knees buckling under her. Dark obsidian spires towered over them, holding the cavern aloft. A dim sconce sputtered to life. Ruelle’s face was surrounded by an orange glow. At the end of the cavern lay a dark mantle ...

5 comments 5

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“Stars and Scars” by Emili Silvi

Submitted to Contest #39

I stare up at the stars, thinking, tired. My whole life, all twenty-three years of it, measured up to nothing compared to the stars'. It was hard to comprehend that they had been here billions of years before me and they would still be here billions of years after.I examine my cracked, ruined nails. I am breathing heavily and my clothes were caked with blood. I am a mess. I am ruined. I am broken.I have thought over and over how I could've done this day different. And I have come up with nothing. I have not thought of a single thing I could'...

5 comments 5

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“Solo Flight” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #39

So far as Jenna could remember, nobody had said, “You must be mad,” or “You’re joking!” – or at least, not to her face, when she had announced that she was going to take flying lessons and hoped to gain her private pilot’s license. But nor had anyone told her she was a natural and they weren’t remotely surprised and it was a wonder she hadn’t done it before. Her older sister Kaye had pointed out, in the way older sisters do, even when both sisters are in their fifties, that Jenna had needed three attempts to pass her driving test (...

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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

“Beautiful, twisted soul” by Rachel MacLean