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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#41: Fuzzy Friends (or Foes?)

Hey, writers! I'm Tracy Gold, an editor, writer, and mom to a toddler, horse, and dog. And this week, I'm taking over Reedsy Prompts!

As an editor, I've enjoyed working on young adult fiction (like Amanda Searcy's Watch You Burn), non-fiction (like Gary Vikan's The Holy Shroud), and sci-fi/fantasy (like Nikki Richard's Demon in the Whitelands). Visit my Reedsy profile to learn more about me and my work!

My theme for this week is "fuzzy friends." From Hedwig in the Harry Potter series to Enzo in the The Art of Racing in the Rain, nothing captures hearts like a beloved animal. Animals can be powerful antagonists, too: just look at Jurassic Park! Perhaps what I love most about books featuring fuzzy friends (or foes) is that they mine the depths of the human heart by exploring how we interact with animals. I hope these prompts help you sniff out a good story!

This week's prompts

Write about an animal who changes a person's life (for better or worse).

Kids – 232 stories

Write about an animal species that doesn't exist in real life — an alien, new discovery, imaginary creature — it's up to your interpretation!

Middle School – 145 stories

Write about an animal who goes on a journey.

Kids – 69 stories

Write a story featuring an animal who subverts expectations (like a snuggly tiger, or something more magical, like a literal fish out of water).

Kids – 69 stories

Write about an animal who causes a huge problem.

Middle School – 99 stories

Stories

“All that is solid melts into air ” by Malu Belo

Submitted to Contest #41

I was born by the sea. In a fisherman’s house off the northeastern coast of Brazil. Like most seafront villages in this region, we were ruled by seasonality. Summers were crowded, full of foreign bodies and excessive accumulation of trash. It is the time when I have to bathe on the river because water always runs out- our towns were just not made for that many people. Still, they come as surely as the rhythmic tides that mark the hours of our days. During these seasons, mornings are spent helping mother weave embroidery on tablecloths to sel...

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“How I met Coco.” by Luciel Frazer

Submitted to Contest #41

The problem started when I left home that Saturday morning and did not bother to inform anyone to inform anyone about my whereabouts. Living with my brother and his wife was starting to become a bore. I was not sure whether I was the one causing the tension in their household or perhaps they had their own underlying issues and I was just the scapegoat. After all usually I spent my days at the college which was located in the central business district.My brother did not own an automobile so I hitchhiked to and from college everyday. I ensured...

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“The Black Cat” by Lisa Breen

Submitted to Contest #41

When Midnight started to show up every so often- stalking behind me on my walk to the bus station, lounging on my deck furniture, terrorizing the local rabbit population- I was concerned. Don’t get me wrong. Midnight was a great cat. He didn’t meow all night begging for food, he tolerated me when I moved in with his owner, and he didn’t tear up the leather recliner. The key word in all of this is was. Midnight died a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, he’d had some sort of cancer, and we’d euthanized him to put him out of his misery. My gir...

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“Into the Unknown with Wally Wylde” by LeighAnne Ferreol

Submitted to Contest #41

"This world is full of creatures both strange and mysterious. Some have existed millennia, some as little as a few centuries. With each passing day, mankind discovers more and more of these fascinating creatures. I’m Wally Wylde, come with me today as we venture Into the Unknown.” The camera swept the field from end to end. Beautiful sprigs of wildflowers dotted the tall grass with flashes of reds, yellows, and purples. It was flat enough to see the mountains and forests in the distance. A clear stream curved gracefully through the land. The...

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“Vappy and Me” by Jayla Davis

Submitted to Contest #41

Today is the day of the market. Mum sends me every year and every year the market gets bigger, more people from all over trading things that I have never even seen before. This year, Mum got a garden and grew some purple weeds, Vartines, that help with different stuff. I don't know how she can tell the difference between any of the weeds, they all look the same to me but it is like she has a third eye that gives her information about these plants."Remember," Mum croaked. "Keep the Vartines in their separate jars, you don't see them like I do...

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“Explosion” by Sandra Claros

Submitted to Contest #41

- no,! It can not be 27.It is 28! - mended the greenish three legged old parrot, mending the figures of the century that whole ring of that planet was in, while it tore a pillow with the beak and glue it on his bidimensional and shiny body.- fine, Bill! - his colleague, a mutated dog with three and a half legs, no tail and a furry nose, named John, sat beside himSuddenly they saw a huge explosion.on the dark sky.- it is our original planet again.- how come again? It...

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“Something Amazing” by Madisson James

Submitted to Contest #41

Hi there. I am Nezzy. I am the only one of my kind. I want to share the tale with you- no pun intended (seeing as I do have a tail)- of how I saved my little friend Josh. Josh and I were fated to meet. Why, I’m the best thing that ever happened to him really. Josh is nine years old and he is a coward. Well, that’s a good thing. If he wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to appear to him at all. But cowards are brave creatures that just haven’t been given a chance yet.Josh lives with his mom and dad on Parlay lane. He is the most easily shaken kid that...

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“'Fizzie' The Purple Fuzzy Animal ” by Dawne Thompson

Submitted to Contest #41

When Tia turned two, her parents took her to the Condominium in the Caribbean. They went every year for vacation. The young child loved to play with her purple pails in the sand. But, she loved being in the water the most. On Tia's sixth birthday in June, her parents took her to the Condominium to celebrate, which was earlier than their usual vacation trips in late August. They had a few friends over for a light lunch and celebrated with a lovely chocolate cake with purple flowers on...

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“The Wolven ” by Bettina Karpathian

Submitted to Contest #41

It had been a beautiful spring morning when they set off. Now icy needles of rain from a sudden late spring storm stung Madrigar’s face as she struggled up the narrow, muddy path. Clammy fog rolling down the mountainside reduced her vision to a few yards. Pebbles bounced off into grey silence below as she slipped. Groping along the slick rockface with her fingertips, she suddenly fell into emptiness, landing hard on her knees. Recovering her breath, she realized she was in a small cave. Grateful to be out of the bitin...

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“A Real Daughter” by Zara Bertram

Submitted to Contest #41

I have been called by many names, but never had a name to call my own. Instead I’d always known myself as my father’s daughter. The details have long escaped me, but in a blurry, distant way I can remember being born. Being pushed forward and tumbling out onto a white hospital bed. The feeling of stretching my small limbs and blinking open my bright, shining eyes; bright, white light and hot breath fanning across my tiny face. Being greeted into the world by a cold, analytical face and a violent, never-ceasing tapping that could’ve...

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“The Great Poan Hunt” by Garrett Hastings

Submitted to Contest #41

“PULL OVER!” The sheriff’s car raced down the road in hot pursuit, dust spouting up behind it. The whining siren and flaring headlights savagely beat the night into submission. The wheels screeched, and the stench of crying brakes filled the small car. Sheriff Rod Stern rolled down his windows to feel the cool of the evening rush in. He veered a sharp left with the road, and the man in the gray sedan in front of him had some difficulty but maintained his distance. The sheriff spun into the curve hard, and his Great Dane, Snout, yelped, as he...

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“The Fairy's Garden” by Tomika Darden

Submitted to Contest #41

“I’ve had it!” I groaned, to no one in particular, as I walked into my bedroom, and after dropping everything previously held in my hands on the floor. At work my boss man had insisted that I work with Brian. Brian is the most conceited man I’ve had the displeasure of ever working with, and for some reason I end up doing it often.We work for a few minutes and then Brian sits on his butt and talks about the other women who work with us. I’m the one focusing on staffing issues, sorting through endless applications noting who needs to be hired,...

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“The Time Frenzy” by E S

Submitted to Contest #41

Tiny yellow spheres pepper the moonlit sky. The illuminating orbs look more like planets than stars. I am grateful for the increase in light even if it is so minuscule. The foreign shadowy terrain sends chills snaking down my spine and a wave of panic pulsating through my body. What do I do now? Am I stuck in some mystical world or alternate universe or a dream? How did I end up here? A few minutes ago I was doing laundry at my house. An odd sound emanated from the washer and said, “Beware Timefin.” The next moment I’m here. Questions jerk t...

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“A Tale of Fin and Fur ” by Paul Murufas

Submitted to Contest #41

After a great flood, a whole fresh ocean of water began to sigh, heaving its shoulders downward in reluctance. The tree tops were sopped like wet towels, but the flood-line dropped day by day as the great tide funneled itself into vertiginous streams and that tumbled over the cliff edges in foaming white. Sighing, relenting, the great flat lid of the flood began to swirl itself into whirlpools over the expanse of a great bat cave, the entrance a mere recess between two sheer rocks. Air hung humid in the lightless air, so that even the bats f...

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“The Glockborogon” by Gareth Baldrica-Franklin

Submitted to Contest #41

There’s nothing I can tell you about the glockborogon the town gossips haven’t already sung. I don’t wish to repeat their words. Not to someone with teeth as white as yours. Pieces of cloud, they are. Have you not a single false tooth? Not gold or silver or wood? My granna always said only learned folk had good teeth, and they were less trustworthy than a cock that didn’t crow. What’s that? You say you’re hunting the thing? Ha! Damned bit of good a flintlock will do. Or whatever foul bottles clink in your rucksack. I’ve seen your kind befo...

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$50

Prize money

614

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 15, 2020 EST

Won by Jack Basson 🏆

Title: A Cat of Ganymede

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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