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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#60: Face Your Fears

This week is a special edition of the Reedsy Prompts contest because our friends at IndieReader are taking it over with their own theme, prompts, and bonus prize! We'll let them take it from here...

Hi! Amy from IndieReader here. If you’re not familiar with IR, we’re one of the original (paid) review services for self, hybrid and independently published authors, providing professional book reviews since 2009, in addition to unique marketing and distribution solutions.

We know that 2020 has been a memorable (aka stressful) year for many. According to experts, one of the recommended ways to manage stress and anxiety is by thinking about what scares you most and then writing about it. So fittingly, this week’s theme is post-apocalyptic stories.

Don’t worry if that doesn’t sound like your genre, as we’ve written 5 prompts below that work whether you’re into that kind of thing or not. So pour a glass of wine, take a few deep breaths, and start typing. And we wouldn’t be surprised if, after you’re done, the world around you doesn’t look so bleak. At least there aren’t any zombies!

(As a bonus prize, the winner of this week's contest will receive a discount code for 20% off an IR Pro Review.)

This week's prompts

Write a funny post-apocalyptic story.

Funny – 110 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic story that features zombies.

Science Fiction – 178 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic story triggered by climate change.

Adults – 134 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic thriller.

Thriller and Suspense – 144 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic romance.

Dystopian – 196 stories

Stories

“The Patchouli Boy ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #60

Kit and kaboodle Pop goes the poodleRound and round the booboo bush And never let it drop. I wish I was up I wish I was down I wish we could go round and roundSpinning like the colorful wheelThat never ever stops. Do you have an issueWhat is the deal If I have an orange Than I’d need to peelUnless I just bit The whole thing throughCause that seems like something I would do. She never meant to go to the carnival that night. She would have never left her room, never flicked off Netflix and...

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“Silent Death” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #60

I cross the street to Rafael’s house, holding the file in my hands and carrying the bag on my shoulder. I try to ignore the empty silence of the morning, the stench of wilting plants, and the lack of vehicles on the street. I fail as usual. I open the door, greeted by the aroma of pancakes filling the air. I go to the dining room and find the rest of them sitting at the table, eating breakfast without saying a word. I stand there for a while, wondering how to announce my arrival when Marisa notices me and nods with the faintest of smil...

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“...And that's how we met” by Authoring Studio

Submitted to Contest #60

James rubbed his eyes. His wings were nearly drooping. It had been a long day. He looked around him. His bedroom was always a comfort. He sank back into the plush pillows which he had just got up from. He stretched his arm in front of his face, examining his palm. “What am I even doing?” he mumbled to himself. He hadn’t signed up for this in the first place. It was all his parents’ doing. Meet James, a devil-in-training…. In his teens. His parents had been assistant devils, and they wanted him to carry on the legacy after they retired and th...

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“Forevergreen” by Rayhan Hidayat

Submitted to Contest #60

This again.Water, cradling me like a newborn. So soft. So soothing.So suffocating.Every time, as solemn heartbeats accompany my descent, I search the blueness. And every time, like a pair of ghostly wings flitting through the dark, my gaze lands on the lights dotting the surface.The surface that is a million lifetimes away, blurred by eternity but nevertheless… there. Calling. Signalling. Beckoning.More than anything I want to kick upwards, to tear the surface open, to have the lights and all their secrets wash over me.But my questions drown...

108 comments 108

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“The Stone Lion” by Kristin Neubauer

Submitted to Contest #60

Cupcakes.I have to make cupcakes for Jason’s class. Today. Right now. Vanilla, nut-free, white frosting, rainbow sprinkles. Vanilla, nut-free, white frosting, rainbow sprinkles. Vanilla, nut-free, white frosting, rainbow sprinkles.A whooshing sound penetrated my sugar and flour dreams.The fridge? The a/c? Oh God, I hope it’s not the a/c. I hope it’s not broken. I hope….The fog cocooning me between waking and sleep dissolved, leaving me shivering. I was lying on my back. Gusts of wind swept over me and I opened my eyes to see only a...

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“End of the World” by Lauren :)

Submitted to Contest #60

“ZOMBIES!” yelled my best friends, Brooklynn and Charlie. At first I thought they were joking. They always play pranks on me but, the way they ran to the tree house was telling me they were not kidding around. This is it. The end of the world. I can’t believe it. I thought that I would be one of the first to go. The first thing I think to do is pull the ladder up and lock the door in our tree house once Brooke and Charli get in. Next I wonder if there are any more survivors hiding...

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“A Crazy Zombified Bad Romance ” by Jessica Primrose

Submitted to Contest #60

I remember the first moment I saw her…Her beautiful blonde hair glistening in the sunlight.Blue ocean eyes twinkling like diamonds.Well, her beautiful eye…I guess I probably should have mentioned she’s a zombie. Yup, with grey patchy skin, bloodied black nails, and large yellow fangs. Her human days were definitely something in the distant past. The really distant past, but she’s still my girl. Who cares if she has a missing arm and maggots in her eye socket? Love is blind, goddamn it. And if I want to date a zombie, I will do it. ...

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“2021” by Mandy Kehoe

Submitted to Contest #60

“Voice memo- Timestamp- 21:43, December 31, 2021. Hole in my shoe. Hole in my shoe. Hole in my shoe. Damnit. Cold outside. Cold. My thoughts tend to flutter a bit nowadays. You get a little off your rocker when you have been completely alone for such a long period of time. You would think my introverted spirit would thrive during times like this, but then again I have always been just a little bit psycho, at least that's what my friends used to jokingly remark when life was normal. What a word, normal is. What a goddamn word. Honestly a bit ...

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“PARADISE AWAITS...” by Simon Walter

Submitted to Contest #60

1We all saw the sign that read PARADISE AWAITS. Well, one hundred thousand of us with the money to afford paradise did. It was the last vestige for humanity. Our last-ditch effort to save the human race.A team of scientists began to develop an A.I called M.O.N.A which was short for, Meeting Our Needs Always. A silly name but the principle was sound. M.O.N.A was tasked with creating a bubble of sorts for the surviving humans to thrive in, that would have everything we need, always...

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“Butterflies” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #60

Act I Otis whistled, so keen and clear it could twist the smirk off the valley’s face. The hills shuddered with their orange shoulders and pat the artificial breeze on the back to keep it from crying. Red came up behind him, slipping her hand into his. Eyes dry from just a few feet away, hidden behind the velvet curtains, I wished I was that guy. Tugging on thick ropes like the sun’s burning arms, I heard chirps of anxious birds. The sun’s patch was ripped raw from the quilt of the sky. It swung down to quarrel with the humans and mi...

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“The New Deal, But Wrong” by Meggy House

Submitted to Contest #60

Adults weren’t lying when they scoffed at the youth for not knowing how to use rotary phones. Mish thought rotary phones were like VHS tapes and individual slide projectors: nostalgic items for her parents and teachers. Yet here she was, in an actual government office, trying to figure out how to dial a rotary phone as two very tall suited men stood intimidatingly over her desk and requested to speak to the person in charge of tax returns. &n...

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“Face your Fears” by Vicky S

Submitted to Contest #60

This is the room where she’d be spending the rest of her life.The tiny window had been boarded up by an unknown person or people long gone and only a tiny sliver of dimmed light shone through.Dust particles floated in the air, landing on the grimy, stained mattress lying in one corner and adding to the filth already carpeting the floor.Hastily, Jazzy pulled down the mask she was wearing and breathed deeply. The air felt fresh compared to outside where the sky remained a dark grey at all times and from being behind the mask which was drenched...

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“The World Was Over and They Were Not” by Adriana K. Maxwell

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #60

The world was over and they were not. It did not matter how. The reporters, videos, and politicians had all argued and pointed blame, but they hadn’t listened. They were young and powerless so they decided not to worry. And after everything fell, it didn’t matter what happened first. They were tired, hungry, and wanted a hot shower, but they were not over. They were lucky, they knew, but that is logic. And logic is not much good for slim stomachs or heavy eyelids. They had been hungry almost until t...

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“Dating at the End of the World” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #60

I’ll be honest—the dating game’s gone downhill since the end of the world.And it’s not like it wasn’t already tough for someone like me. Average-looking guy with an online gaming addiction and mild paranoia issues? It all worked out great when the world went to hell—I was hunkered down in my apartment, surrounded by canned food, long before the disease spread.Finding a girl, though? Give me another apocalypse.I’d tried the whole online dating thing, too, where ‘someone finds love every 14 minutes.’ Yeah, right. If that were the truth, I woul...

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“The Water-Riders” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #60

My arms burn, but I don't stop pushing.Forward, back, forward, back.The rowboat inches toward the beach, barely missing the skyscrapers that peek out of the waves.“We need to go faster,” says Cyrus.“Do you want to do it?” I snap.He holds up a hand in apology and I grit my teeth. I had to cut off his left arm last year, when a rogue fishing hook ripped it to shreds. It was a close one; he’d lost enough blood to alert every shark in a ten-mile radius.“We’ll get there…when…we get there,” I say, panting. Water-Riders are allowed to stick our boa...

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$50

Prize money

762

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 25, 2020 EST

Won by Ruth Midgley 🏆

Title: Unpaving Paradise

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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