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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#5: Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway's novella The Old Man and the Sea was published for the first time in Life Magazine on September 1st, 1952. The story went on to win the Pulitzer Prize the following year, turning Hemingway into a bonafide international celebrity. And remember, this story was published decades after some of his now most famous works, like A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bells Tolls. A good reminder that it's never too late to achieve literary acclaim!

To celebrate the last full-length work published during Hemingway's lifetime, this week's prompts reflect topics and themes from some of his best-known works. (No need to have read any of Hemingway's books to use these prompts, but if you're looking to get better acquainted with his works, check out this Hemingway reading guide!)

🥇 Winner

“World Got Smaller” by Yves. ♙

🏆 Winner of Contest #5

“And now Ben’s coming to the wedding with—I don’t know, some girl from Facebook, and I’m going to look like an idiot going alone. Because I am an idiot. Because I’m the one who dumped him. Christ, I’m an idiot.” Charlie groans and falls over onto the bed. “Oh, it’s not that bad,” Scarlett says, opening the curtains. They take a seat on Charlie’s wire-strewn desk. “It is that bad,” Charlie insists. “No. You don’t get it. If I ditch now, it’ll look like I’m a pathetic gay idiot. If I go, I look like even more of a pathetic gay idio...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Runner” by Matthew Langford

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

Mark had a dream a few nights ago. There is no explanation as to the circumstances that gave rise to this event and I am reluctant to make an attempt to interpret its significance. I have always found Freudian arguments unconvincing and never quite believed that Joseph, he of the multi-colored coat, predicted seven years of famine and plenty after listening to the over active imagination of a pharaoh. This skepticism is reinforced by the nature of dreams as transient images: details disappear with the dawn of a new day and the best we...

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“My Father Fought Dragons, and I Do Dishes” by Adriana K. Maxwell

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

She had only agreed to the cat, and that quite reluctantly. She was fond of cats in general, particularly her Siamese, Mojo, after he passed the frantic kitten stage. But this cat-Nal or something-that was a completely different issue. She was cross and ugly, a scraggly orange mess. It was rather a surprise she hadn’t been euthanized already.But the boy had asked so nicely. And she was retired so it wasn’t that much work. By the second day, she was chewing her tongue in frustration. Nali had scratched Mojo,...

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“The Big Race” by James Offenha

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

The iditarod would be in two months and Finn was forty pounds underweight and considered too small for the competition. Finn, a half chihuahua, half corgi, was not the usual candidate for dog racing and besides, dog racing became illegal in Florida in the last election, but Finn and his owner really enjoyed dog racing and Alaska is the only state where it’s still legal. Finn had always dreamed of racing with the big dogs, being one of the two dogs at the head of the team, leading his team. He saw the dogs fight each other for ...

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“Tired of (Daily) Life” by Kate Osment

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

When Hal Goodman returned home from a plug-ugly, lemon cleaner and dry air-smelling container of a building in which they had spent the past ten hours, otherwise known as work, their girlfriend started crying. Nothing to do with Hal, it should be added. The cause of her distress was a news bulletin hissing from the radio, about an arson case up north. Three Poles or something similar, judging by the sound of their names, had apparently set fire to their shop in the hope of getting an insurance pay-out and the flames had spread to the house n...

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“The Many Lives of William Foster” by John Gaus

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

It was a sticky day in July when William Foster’s heart decided to stop beating. He was tending to his tomato plants when his heart muscles contracted and his body broke into chaos. The steady stream from the watering can began to shake, and he fell to his knees as his body shut off. The last thing he saw was the summer sunlight dancing off the window of his studio apartment. * * * He was floating. His body was lighter than air—no longer burdened by loneliness and old age. His eyes were closed, ...

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“Shuffling” by KD Live

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

6:15. Wake up. Everyone has some sort of ritual in their life. 6:20. Wash face. Brush teeth. Jeremiah Lee was no exception. 6:25. Stretch His days had been the same everyday for many, many days. Most of the time it was like running on auto-pilot. 6:40. Morning run around the block. It was simple, comfortable. Familiar. Predictable. 7:00. Return from run. Grab today's paper on the way in. St...

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This week's prompts

Write a story about someone who finds life meaning in an unexpected place.

Fiction – 34 stories

Write a story about two unlikely people falling in love.

Romance – 40 stories

Write a story about someone who decides to confront their fears head-on.

Character – 35 stories

Write a story about someone striving for a "comeback."

Adventure – 11 stories

Write a story about someone who is tired of their day-to-day routines.

Sad – 36 stories

Stories

“World Got Smaller” by Yves. ♙

🏆 Winner of Contest #5

“And now Ben’s coming to the wedding with—I don’t know, some girl from Facebook, and I’m going to look like an idiot going alone. Because I am an idiot. Because I’m the one who dumped him. Christ, I’m an idiot.” Charlie groans and falls over onto the bed. “Oh, it’s not that bad,” Scarlett says, opening the curtains. They take a seat on Charlie’s wire-strewn desk. “It is that bad,” Charlie insists. “No. You don’t get it. If I ditch now, it’ll look like I’m a pathetic gay idiot. If I go, I look like even more of a pathetic gay idio...

Read story

“The Runner” by Matthew Langford

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

Mark had a dream a few nights ago. There is no explanation as to the circumstances that gave rise to this event and I am reluctant to make an attempt to interpret its significance. I have always found Freudian arguments unconvincing and never quite believed that Joseph, he of the multi-colored coat, predicted seven years of famine and plenty after listening to the over active imagination of a pharaoh. This skepticism is reinforced by the nature of dreams as transient images: details disappear with the dawn of a new day and the best we...

Read story

“My Father Fought Dragons, and I Do Dishes” by Adriana K. Maxwell

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

She had only agreed to the cat, and that quite reluctantly. She was fond of cats in general, particularly her Siamese, Mojo, after he passed the frantic kitten stage. But this cat-Nal or something-that was a completely different issue. She was cross and ugly, a scraggly orange mess. It was rather a surprise she hadn’t been euthanized already.But the boy had asked so nicely. And she was retired so it wasn’t that much work. By the second day, she was chewing her tongue in frustration. Nali had scratched Mojo,...

Read story

“Coffee” by Amy St. Pierre

Submitted to Contest #5

After I lost my job, I measured my time in coffee. When I made my last cup of coffee from my coffee stash, that’s when I knew it was bad. That’s when it was time to panic. And not the watered down, mild version of panicking I’d been doing over the last six months, real panicking, where am I going to live, how am I going to eat type of panicking. That morning, I woke up to my cat stepping on my head and meowing at me, rudely asking me to get up and feed her breakfast. After five minutes of trying to pet her into submission, she won. I stood u...

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“Wall and Plaster” by Juliet Martin

Submitted to Contest #5

Eventually, my bookshelf got so heavy that it fell from the wall in the middle of the night. The crash jolted me awake. I jerked upright, my eyes straining wide against the dark before I realised what it was. Even then, my heartbeat clattered around the room for a few more moments before reason managed to tame it. I didn’t know what to do: it was the middle of the night and there were books all over the floor.In the morning, I realised with a kind of morbid awe that the shelf had torn a great chunk of plaster out of the wall with it. It had ...

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“The Big Race” by James Offenha

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

The iditarod would be in two months and Finn was forty pounds underweight and considered too small for the competition. Finn, a half chihuahua, half corgi, was not the usual candidate for dog racing and besides, dog racing became illegal in Florida in the last election, but Finn and his owner really enjoyed dog racing and Alaska is the only state where it’s still legal. Finn had always dreamed of racing with the big dogs, being one of the two dogs at the head of the team, leading his team. He saw the dogs fight each other for ...

Read story

“How to Build a Boat” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #5

1I knew I was in for a spot of bother when the plane’s left wing exploded. There had been a violent shudder, an audible churning sound (krr-rrr, krr-rrr, krrrrr), then a few seconds of respite… and then KA-BOOM!I remember looking out of the passenger window just as the thing blew up; first a few licks of orange flames were spat out of the spinning engine, and then there was a blinding detonation of dark reds and yellows and other autumnal hues. Almost immediately after, dark, thick smoke began pluming out of the turbine – but by then making ...

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“What is Your Name?” by Flora Posey

Submitted to Contest #5

He didn’t know why he kept looking up there. No matter how many times he checked, the time on the clock didn’t change. 6 o’clock. It always said 6 o’clock. It was a lie of course. One of many that was in place to herd the “undesirables” more easily towards the completion of the “Final Solution.” He had known about the Final Solution almost half his life. Since starting out in the Hitler Youth at the age of ten they had drilled it into him. Nine years later it was all he knew. Not only did he know it to be true but his belief in what they wer...

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“HH-SGF-CM” by Christina Steele

Submitted to Contest #5

Tabitha slid one finger and opened an eye to see through her hands, covering her eyes. Mom sat in front of her assuring her that Dad did not turn into a monster.“Yes, he did,” Tabitha argued. “When I went to bed on Christmas Eve, he was fine. But this morning Dad is missing, and a monster is trying to look like him. Except the monster has bumps, and red eyes, and yells, and tried to swallow me whole.”“Tabitha, he did not try to swallow you whole. You were running through the house, and your dad picked you up, lifted you above his head and ov...

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“A Melody of Death” by Azton Burke

Submitted to Contest #5

He was not a boy many stood around. He was an apprentice detective, who had already solved a few murder cases. Salem didn't understand why, fully, it was creepy to others. He just saved them all from a murderer, yet they find him scary as hell. He didn't understand this at all. She was a musician everyone loved to hear. A pianist with a voice of an angel. Kat had such talent that even as a little girl, adults would listen to her songs. Salem came to her show once, but not like why everyone else did. He was there to find a person who called a...

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“Unmatched” by Christina Steele

Submitted to Contest #5

The agony always began at 10:45 PM for us runaway socks. That’s when Sara, the laundry attendant, wiped the exterior of every washer and removed lint from every dryer. But horror surfaced at the sight of the long-unfolded hanger. Sara scraped the floor under the machines running the long metal hanger along trying to drag out any dirt or “lost” clothing. We weren’t lost. We know why we ran. But humans never accepted sock-loss. Humans say dust to dust. Our equivalent is lint to lint, and our biggest fear is not a sickness, but a hole. Though t...

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“Porch Love” by Christina Steele

Submitted to Contest #5

Circled. Karen circled every fourth word of his last message. A code long ago crafted by those in espionage to convey secret messages. A simple have you read Persuasion by Jane Austen would inform the other to find the book, then using a count circle the words to reveal a secret message. Tim and Karen used their code to conceal a secret love affair. In their notes to each other, they would circle every fourth word; fourth as in forever. The last seven circles she received from him read, Wait, I’ll be yours, in seven years, I promise. Silly t...

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“Tired of (Daily) Life” by Kate Osment

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #5

When Hal Goodman returned home from a plug-ugly, lemon cleaner and dry air-smelling container of a building in which they had spent the past ten hours, otherwise known as work, their girlfriend started crying. Nothing to do with Hal, it should be added. The cause of her distress was a news bulletin hissing from the radio, about an arson case up north. Three Poles or something similar, judging by the sound of their names, had apparently set fire to their shop in the hope of getting an insurance pay-out and the flames had spread to the house n...

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“Jimmy the Hammer and the Quality of Mercy” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #5

“Our numbers are in the toilet! What do I need to do? Set you on fire?”Jimmy glowered at his assistants. They cringed inside. He needed a break. The day to day grind was getting to him. And then to see their numbers circling the drain depressed him. Jimmy hated working in collections. He couldn’t wait to get to Del Mar.He continued, “We’re in a rut, guys. What can we do to get things moving? Leon!”Leon flinched. “I don’t know boss. How about burning their cars?”Jimmy did a face palm. “Arson is old hat, people...” Leon kept going. “But you sa...

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“331 North Horton St.” by Arthur Tiberio

Submitted to Contest #5

The door was of black varnish, very fine and just old enough to have class. It opens now, inward, admitting not just decadent snow and the sounds of traffic and life, but the bundled figure of a man, his overcoat providing not nearly enough protection against the deadly chill of the city. Perhaps, then, the sigh is one of relief, for as he hangs the garment upon a hook he feels the warmth of the nearby hearth, the smell of cooking stew from the kitchen close by.He walks there now, a small smile upon his face, and his shiny black shoes thump ...

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$50

Prize money

156

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 06, 2019 EST

Won by Yves. ♙ 🏆

Title: World Got Smaller

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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