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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!)

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

“In the Snow” by Maddie Logemann

Submitted to Contest #5

People always said that those with a lot in common fell in love. Or that opposites attracted. But what was to become of those in the grey area in between? Yuki and Izumi lived in the grey. Not like minded. Not hot and cold, but moody and tired respectively. They weren’t compatible, by any means. Not with each other, and not with anyone else either. So perhaps it was fitting, that winter, that they lived beneath the overcast sky and amidst the fog and flurries. Because rosy wasn’t for meant them. It was cold, on the streets. Breat...

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“Dawn and Dusk” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #5

DAWN AND DUSKThey were called Dawn and Des, but there was a certain inevitability about them being nicknamed (affectionately, of course, their friends hastened to reassure themselves) Dawn and Dusk. At one point it had been considered very original and witty. They knew about it, of course, and didn’t seem to mind, though most people went through the motions of not saying “Dusk” to their faces. The nickname had turned into a constant, but that did not mean there were not shifting sands and conflicting nuances....

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“Art and Life” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #5

ART AND LIFEEstelle had stopped asking people if they remembered her. It saved both her and them embarrassment. Yes, she lived in hope that someone, entirely of their own volition, would exclaim, “Weren’t you in Donington Drive?” Surely, given all the TV channels there were, there was one still showing reruns of it! It had quite a following in its time, even if it wasn’t gritty enough to be gritty and wasn’t glossy enough to be glossy, and nobody was either very rich or very poor. Estelle had played Mrs Carraway the ...

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“Unwanted Guests” by Keturah Tea

Submitted to Contest #5

The last has now arrived. All seven suitors that are aiming for the hand of the girl who is now my daughter. She’s so young. Too young, as young as I was when I was first wed to a man twice my years. He hadn’t been a disagreeable husband, but our marriage hadn’t been as long as I had imagined. Now here I stand, the last night of mourning for the passing of my second husband, the king. A man I could have grown to love if we’d had the time. Time. There never seems to have enough. If we’d been able to produce a son, the halls of my new home wou...

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“I WILL NOT FEAR” by AL Paradiso

Submitted to Contest #5

“Get in the harness,” he says. Ten of us were on the three-foot platforms hanging on every word. “Step in, loop the straps around your thighs. Ladies, adjust the braces so they won’t crush your breasts when the chute snaps open. Men, reach in and adjust your privates so the straps don’t crush the boys when the chute snaps the straps harshly around your thighs.” How the hell did we, I mean I, get here? Why am I taking this class? Oh, I know why. Just so my thrill seeker girlfriend doesn’t know how much of a wimp I am. I remember challenging S...

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“cruel summer” by Brenna Brandes

Submitted to Contest #5

We always meet at night, our voices hushed and footsteps soft against the sand. The waves crash and shush us, as if I need a reminder this time. It's not like I'm actually saying anything— we're sitting on the beach with the moon casting a gentle light on our bare feet. He's got a glass of wine in his hands and our legs are so close, they're nearly intertwined. He's watching the water and I'm trying not to watch him. A wedding reception buzzes above us in the restaurant on the side of the mountain. Traditional Greek music is muted but still ...

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“The Rut” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #5

THE RUTLook, I’m not saying my life was boring. Okay, I AM saying my life was boring. Not unpleasant, not arduous, but it made the hero of Groundhog Day seem to live a positively unpredictable and spontaneous existence in comparison. For days, weeks on end, it didn’t bother me, at least not on the surface. There was something comforting, or at any rate, something that meant I never had to feel uncomfortable about it seeming like a major event if I changed my breakfast cereal (and I didn’t really like cer...

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“Clouds of high” by Temilade Adetona

Submitted to Contest #5

"Choo, choo", the long awaited spry blue diesel train brushed menacingly against the weeping tracks as it came to a halt. Tightly clutched to the blood inked Chanel 2.55 garnet bag anchored on the crook of her arm, Sloan hurried through the aghast horde of people, as she headed towards the faint hued entryway. Disquieted, she gazed through the square casement with her quivering fingers partly shielding her panicked look, watching as the ticketers placed side by side on the cemented floors the fatally scarred bodies of two middle aged men - h...

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“A Star-Crossed Love” by Sonika Rao

Submitted to Contest #5

Manik winced. It was December. The moon didn't set yet. The birds were still sleeping. The temperature dropped down to below 10 sometime during the night. It was the coldest night he had experienced during his brief stay in Silchar. The bullet in his leg was making him difficult to walk around but he was stronger than a moment of rogue blood or pain, the words from a near past echoed in his brain. He pulled out his revolver and dragged himself around the unknown place. After minutes of struggle, he realized he was in some sort of cave. The o...

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“Going up in the World” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #5

GOING UP IN THE WORLDMargaret was claustrophobic. She admitted to it, but always said things along the lines of “it’s fairly low-grade” or “it doesn’t affect my life”. It was absolutely fine to admit that she would rather sleep on a park bench than live in a basement flat, as in the first place it was hypothetical (or at least, for the foreseeable future!) and in the second place many would agree with her, and there would be empathetic nods. And a lot of people didn’t like tunnels, though they didn’t, perhaps, go quite to the ...

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“The Morrison's” by Royce Holland

Submitted to Contest #5

My name is Richard Morrison and I was born on Sunday, August 5, 1934 to my proud parents Arnold and Martha Morrison in Paterson, New Jersey. Being my parents’ only child afforded me many opportunities to learn different things in life. Since I enjoyed working with my hands, I took to making different things out of wood and working on cars. I would tinker with just about anything I could find. In fact, that is how I met Emma.While I was attending East Side High, I took up shop class because it allowed me to continue to work on woods and metal...

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“An Epiphany” by Tammy Filipkowski

Submitted to Contest #5

An epiphany: The awakening of ones senses; a brilliant light, a realization of enormous proportions. I can say I experienced such an epiphany when I was at work in the United States about a year ago. It was awe-inspiring and moved me to the core. There I was sitting at my desk on a particularly uneventful day, my phone silent, and just a few voices buzzing like flies around the perimeter of my ears. I had spent a quiet morning surfing the internet for flights to India. And yes, I just did say India. I knew tha...

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“FACING HER FEAR” by Musfira Afzal

Submitted to Contest #5

"Sarah! Wake up!" she could hear her mom's distant voice but her body failed to respond."Sarah!" her mom shouted, shaking her shoulders with extreme force. Sarah's eyes flew open and she stared at the ceiling, beads of sweat trickled down her face. Her mom sat there beside her, quiet as a church mouse. Sally, Sarah's mom, stood up and left the room giving her sixteen year old daughter space.Sarah sat up on her bed and looked around her room. Everything was still the same, the dirty blue curtains, the old wooden dresser, the white paint and a...

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“Golgotha” by Jeff Donnelly

Submitted to Contest #5

Lester was so casual standing in the middle of the Bald Crown Bridge, tying Birdy to a six-foot fence post he’d plucked from the ground using a tow chain and his 2004 Malibu Maxx. The span was still used to get rail cars across the river just like it was back in the day, there just weren’t many trains traveling through anymore, particularly not at 5:52 in the morning. His little brother Dennis watched as Lester lashed the man at the waist to the six-foot length of lumber, still attached to the bulb of concrete that had anchored it. Den...

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“Opposites attract ” by Lilith Molina

Submitted to Contest #5

My name is Parker June, a normal teenage High school kid. You see I play football, I’m the quarterback of the team, the handsome devil every girl wants. I make good grades & kick ass at football! I got detention last week for picking a fight with one of the school weirdos since he felt the need to verbally harass me, god I hate that people treat me less human because I play sports. That’s beside the point though. Saturday morning came and I sat in the back so no one would bother me, the desk I sat at had these weird starts and foreign wo...

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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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