#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 Stars: Where I Found My Purpose” by Caroline G

Submitted to Contest #39

There was a screech of tires.A crash.Glass shattering. All I could do was lay there on the grass, in the middle of a ditch, on a long country road, staring up at the glowing summer sky. I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t scream. There was no one in sight, of course. I had made sure to choose a quiet place to die so no one would find me and try to keep me alive. It was just me and the stars. All I can think now is, “How did I get here? Am I ready to die?”. Not here physically, but here, in this stage of life. I crashed my car into a light pole on ...

11 comments 11

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“Death isn't easy” by Emili Silvi

Submitted to Contest #39

Everyone had known the world was ending. It was not a secret, much as the government wished it to be. It started four years ago, when I was a child of thirteen and my baby sister was one. The weather started getting funky around Christmas. Birds migrated back because the south was kicking up a freezing blizzard and the north was getting flowers everywhere you stepped it was so nice. Scientists said something was happening with the sun, but what kinds of things would have it snow in the south while the north grew toasty? The icecaps melted, ...

7 comments 7

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“With The Sun I Leave You Here” by Eden Myers

Submitted to Contest #39

On today’s school trip we are visiting the abandoned planet Earth. This trip happens once a year and has always been my favorite. Earth is by far the most different planet to all the others I’ve seen. The sky is a beautiful blue, there are variating temperatures, and even water that falls from the sky. After everyone is seated, my teacher is the first to speak. “Settle down class, settle down. Today’s trip is to Earth. We have a very special destination today. As you know already from Introduction to Universal History, the humans were roughl...

3 comments 3

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“Timemachine Meeting” by NANDINI MUJUMDAR

Submitted to Contest #39

He wondered gazing up at stars, the night sky clear in Timbavati white lions reserve, "Why do people prefer city neon lights to such beautiful natural light"? With a wild life research doctorate, he was always engaged in remote natural spaces. No city professional,media personnel would like to join in with his project,leaving aside the amount offered by the natural environment media channel. He will have to get it done as usual by a local as usual. Gazing at the evening star she wasn't sure why she was sitting in this garden o...

1 comment 1

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“The Librarian’s Favorite” by Jill Howard

Submitted to Contest #39

There weren’t many vivid colors in the Warren. Vibrant hues must have tired of always fighting the drab reality of hopelessness in that place. But one bright hideaway was always there: a cluster of three clumsily cutout stars, faded in the middle, taped to the ceiling of my bedroom. Mother said they had been there when we moved in. She also said- for the benefit of the cameras in every corner of our house, no doubt- that of course their cheeriness was not consistent with real stars, in space. “Those outside elements ne...

4 comments 4

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“Going Beyond the Stars.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #39

“Daddy, what are those lights in the sky?”“They’re called stars, Teddy.”“What are stars, daddy?”“Well, there is a big black curtain up there and behind it is a ginormous light. The curtain is very old and starting to get holes in it, so you can now see the light behind it shining through.”“Why did someone put the curtain up, daddy, wouldn’t it be nice to have light all of the time?”“If there was light all of the time, son, you would have difficulty getting to sleep at night.”This explanation satisfied the five-year-old Teddy, but it also spa...

2 comments 2

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“Lightship” by Iona Cottle

Submitted to Contest #39

The sky was getting dark, a sign of the storms brewing in the upper atmosphere. With a bitter smile Adam remembered the days when he didn’t care what the weather did. If it rained he’d get wet on the way to the office, but there was always somewhere warm to dry off again. Nowadays however, the offices provided no shelter. All the buildings were open to the elements now, the people who knew how to repair them gone just like all those who’d taken shelter for granted. Just like everyone.There was still a way to go before he got to the coast, so...

5 comments 5

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“Spilt Milk” by Victoria Lendon

Submitted to Contest #39

History speaks of the overview effect, which astronauts feel when seeing earth from space. Carl Sagan, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, they all understood. The earth is a fragile blue dot in the midst of an inexplicable universe. In 2160, this fragile blue dot was coming to an end, and the overview effect Mathew Gozen experienced was layered with dread. He sat, with a glum expression, sighing. Looking out of the window. All the tired, wrinkled old man could see, was a once great blue planet starting to burn up in flames, as dark clouds exploded...

7 comments 7

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“The Chance” by Mary Donahue

Submitted to Contest #39

It was the summer of 2045 and it had been exactly 502 days since every human on earth had died from a disease that had been unknown by previous generations. Almost all the buildings had been warn down or destroyed. I had been living in a tint on the bare grounds of Oklahoma since it happened. I had a pretty good setup I was not to far from a store so I had all the supplies I needed to survive. The only reason I lived through the disease outrage is because I went into hiding underground for a long period of time.It was a cold and windy night ...

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“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 ...

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“Too Far So Close” by Joy Barton

Submitted to Contest #39

The small boy sat on the front step that August summer night in 1969. The air was heavy, and only a slight breeze breathed across his face as he gazed up at the dark sky, searching for Deneb, his favorite star. Vega and Altair were just as beautiful, and they fought for the same attention. They were bright, and only because they were closer to the eye. Deneb never sought the attention, she was present, but so far away and yet the most luminous of her sisters. Deneb caught his eye, blue and white she was. 'I'm here,' she seemed to say. 'So...

7 comments 7

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“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

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“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...

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“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. ...

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“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

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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