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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#48: Superpower

The faces of superheroes have long emblazoned everything from our t-shirts to our lunch-boxes. For over a decade, the Marvel movies have dominated box offices, and for almost a century, superhero comics have remained prized possessions.

A Smithsonian article describes the broad appeal of superheroes: "At their best, superhero origin stories inspire us and provide models of coping with adversity, finding meaning in loss and trauma, discovering our strengths and using them for good purpose. (Wearing a cape or tights is optional.)"

This week's prompts are for anyone who's ever wondered, "If you could have one superpower, which one would it be?" And as always, our prompts are open to interpretation! Whether your entry includes familiar superhero tropes, or ends up being a piece of literary fiction about someone who just so happens to move faster than the speed of light is up to you.

This week's prompts

Write about someone who has a superpower.

Middle School – 333 stories

Write about someone who always comes to the aid of others.

Teens – 108 stories

Write the 'origin story' of a person who goes on to achieve great things.

Fiction – 128 stories

Write about a person who collects superhero comics.

Middle School – 89 stories

Write a story that features a protagonist with an archnemesis.

Character – 112 stories

Stories

“The Origin of McCool” by Iam Danger

Submitted to Contest #48

There is no 15 minutes of fame anymore. It had been shortened to 3 minutes, the average length of a viral video.The video was a wide angle shot. The caption was “Fat Funeral Fail!” It was a celebrity funeral of an 800 pound professional wrestler, so their was video. The oversized casket must have weighed a ton. The pallbearers carrying the casket down the aisle and up the platform built to accommodate the large crowd were all family members, 8 men, 7 of whom were in excess of 450 pounds, the runt of the litter looking diminutive at 200 pound...

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“Psionic” by Carynn Bohley

Submitted to Contest #48

Fragments of broken memories always played through Katherine’s head when she slept, and she could never figure out how to connect them. Perhaps they weren’t the shadows of real events, but of dreams. They were a mere illusion crafted by her subconscious to entertain her mind throughout the night.At least, this was what she told herself.Katherine’s parents passed away when she was little. She didn’t know how they died, and she didn’t want to. It was easier that way. She had lived with her adoptive mother, Molly, for as long as she could ...

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“Pause Button Man” by Barbara Eustace

Submitted to Contest #48

It’s not all it’s cracked up to be, this superhero lark. I mean, not all of us get our deserved recognition. Take me. What do you mean you’d rather not? Okay, I’m not your traditional superhero, your 6ft, 185lb, looks good in tights type. Or 6ft 3in, 235lb if you’re Superman, the man of steel, everybody’s favorite hero. Okay, I can top that, I’m 250lb. But then again I’m only 5ft 6in, so hardly the ideal muscular physique you associate with superheroes. I don’t get my superpowers from an experiment gone wrong, l...

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“Heavy” by Daniel Dontay

Submitted to Contest #48

Even though I know my own judgment is laughably fallible, the story I tell myself every day is that I've done more good than evil. More righteous acts of justice than horrendous mistakes that cost unknown plethoras of lives. But for some unknowable reason, the pain of all my failure still weighs far more on my heart than the glory of my victories could ever lift, even with all my blasphemous might and power. The story I'm about to tell you is the greatest of all my tales. The one I'm known and loved for, as well as the one which all of my en...

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“Believe-me-not” by S. LaRue

Submitted to Contest #48

What defines a lie? It is a statement that is counter to the truth, yes? But then, what defines the truth? The truth is, in general terms, what is known. It is the general consensus of a population regarding an experience. This population can be anything, from the population of cells that make up a human brain to the population of humans that make up a country. Likewise, this experience can be anything, from a simple statement to the state of the universe itself. We believe truth to be absolute only because we believe our perception to be eq...

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“ANALOG PROPERTIES OF DIGITAL CIRCUITS” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #48

ANALOG PROPERTIES OF DIGITAL CIRCUITS By Andrew Paul Grell “First, let me say good work being able to contact me. But why on earth would I need a mask? I don’t leap over tall buildings in a single bound, you know, or wear my underwear on the outside, either. And I’ll save you the trouble of asking your next question. I don't have an origin story. I have a hypothesis about what happened. One hypothesis. Obviously neither collectively exhaustive nor, of course mutually exclusive. A sufficient but likely not ...

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“Clorox Wipes” by Sarah A

Submitted to Contest #48

“Where were you all day?” My mother asks when she comes into my room that evening. She asks with an air of a mother that kind of wonders, and she’s not sure if she really wants to know the answer, but she’s also curious. She trusts me to live my own life, but at the same time, we’re in the midst of a global pandemic, and even though life right now is really more about millennials trying to shut our baby boomer parents in the house, instead of vice versa, I was the one gone all day, not her. I shrug. “I just went ...

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“New Existence” by A.J. Eckardt

Submitted to Contest #48

“Elijah! Elijah! Are you okay?”I hear a voice, dully cutting through the ringing in my ears, but I don’t recognize the name it’s calling for. I’m disoriented. Smoke fills my lungs and my vision is blurry as I slowly regain consciousness.” “We need to get out of here, now!” The same voice calls out, “This whole place is going to collapse on top of us!” A blurry figure comes into focus, standing over me, hand extended. She stands at medium height and exudes a strong sense of confidence. Her long dark hair, resembling t...

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“A Night at the Diner” by Casey Smith

Submitted to Contest #48

"Refill?" the bartender asked the man sitting by himself. The bartender was old and bald, but the white employee's cap gave the illusion of graying hair from a distance. He was wearing a white coat similar to what you'd see in a laboratory. "Oh, yes, please," the man said timidly. He already felt he was tipsy, but he needed a distraction from prior events. The man was wearing a simple blue-green coat and a beige fedora hat. He seemed to anyone looking through the window of the bar area to be either deep in thought or depressed. He very rarel...

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“REDEALLA : The Redheaded Detective” by Damian Lagennusa Jr.

Submitted to Contest #48

REDEALLA The Redheaded Detective The big light over the garage was casting a shadow on the side of the house. This image can be, to some with a sharp imagination, a shadow of a person wit...

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“The Step-In” by Michelle Reynolds

Submitted to Contest #48

Who watches the watchman? Who helps those who help others? Actually, there is a name for those people. Niko has a mouth full of slightly stale ramen noodles when the symbol lights up the city sky, brighter than any streetlight. It’s Captain Greatness’ symbol. Someone’s in trouble. Niko slurps at his bowl in a not so graceful fashion before getting up from the table and grabbing the remote, switching to the local news channel. “The First Bank, ironically on Second Street, has just been robbed by no other than Sticky Fingers, the ruthl...

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“Loretta” by Victoria Nuzzi

Submitted to Contest #48

Hello, listeners. Come sit with me by the fire I’m sorry it smells so bad we are burning garbage after all. Let me tell you a story about one of the kindest people I have ever seen. My intent is to tell you her story so at least her name lives on. The story of Lorretta Joplin.Now Loretta was not like you and me. She had a soft life with a soft bed and never had to even think about sleeping on the curb. Her father and mother had a handsome amount of dollars and they spoiled their two daughters Loretta and Jean heavily. Though as Jean began to...

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“Reflections of a Heroine” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #48

Reflections of a Heroine I As the gamma radiation caused by the death throes of its twin suns flooded the sixth planet in the Zetar system, the last survivor of the calamity released her hold on life. The broken spirit of Ondina Rvaga, reluctant princess of the planet Zecor’s totalitarian western faction, rose from her ravaged body. Ondina paused to kiss the cold forehead of the tall, slender, flaxen-haired elfin man who lay to her right side. She caressed the cheek of the small, wizened, dark-haired elfin man who lay in an eternal embrace ...

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“Nursing Passion” by Anna Irwin

Submitted to Contest #48

Emma’s eyes sparkled as she intently listened to her teachers smooth words, telling the story of her new hero. Her classmates around her laid on their notebooks or doodled absentmindedly onto the desks. Her history class usually resembled a sleepy meadow with her colorful personality popping up in curiosity. Later that day she climbed up into her mom’s car and she spoke unnecessarily loudly saying, “I’m gonna be a people helper someday!” She sat down in the chair of a sterile hallway, her thoughts far from that moment of passion 15 years ...

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“The Past” by Brin Lonsway

Submitted to Contest #48

Our pasts are funny things. They define us, and yet we spend lifetimes trying to undo the habits we created then, cope with the relationships that crumbled, and mend the damage done to us by others. The past makes us, yet at the same time there's always opportunities to redefine. Ivy Keller was born in Cleveland, Ohio; a city, but lesser known than, say, New York or Chicago. Nonetheless it was a city, full of all the wonderful, and not so wonderful, aspects of city living. And while Ivy’s suburban raised parents may have ...

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$50

Prize money

770

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 03, 2020 EST

Won by Jeff C. Carter 🏆

Title: Primum Nil Nocere

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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