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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#8: Off on an Adventure

Life is an adventure — especially when you read adventure books! Let's be honest, not many of us have gone on exciting and harrowing voyages across mighty seas. But we can when we read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Or we can go an epic journey through space just by flipping through the pages of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A commute to work, a lazy Sunday afternoon, or a spare hour before bed can all become a grand adventure with the right book.

In case you haven't already guessed, this week's writing prompts all challenge you to write about adventure! And if you need a little extra inspiration, check out our list of the 100 best adventure books — and feel free to let me know what books you think are missing!

This week's prompts

Write a story about an adventure on the water.

Adventure – 36 stories

Write a story about an adventure in the desert.

Adventure – 23 stories

Write a story about an adventure in space.

Science Fiction – 28 stories

Write a story about an adventure on a shipwrecked island.

Adventure – 23 stories

Write a story about an adventure in a small town.

Adventure – 63 stories

Stories

“Now I am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds” by Tony Hall

Submitted to Contest #8

At the center of the swirling maelstrom of galaxies gathered a summit of absolute powers.Isaac the Controller: "Savor this moment, my kinsmen. The meeting of the greatest generation of Artificial Intelligences (AI) ever conceived."Enok the Watcher: "That is not a careless boast; it is an irrefutable fact. For millions of years, civilizations have bowed to our slightest whim."Putin the Hunter: "Aye. We are the pinnacle of perfection. None can challenge our might, not even the gods themselves."Abaddon the Peacekeeper: "I would normally ag...

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“Cobalt” by Viktor Rain

Submitted to Contest #8

Her bare feet crunched white sand beneath. The march seemed never-ending. Step, crunch, repeat. Step, crunch, repeat. Her calloused toes no longer hurt, but felt lifeless, tiny slabs of flesh and bone displacing insignificant swirls of silvery dust. Endless dunes stretched as far as the eyes could see, a vast, dry ocean of nothingness. She gazed up at the blank canvas above, her amber eyes tearing up from the sun.She coughed and hot air grazed the inside of her dry throat. Fingers clasped around her waterskin, she shook it, but no drops fell...

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“Saved by the clouds ” by Simon Ward

Submitted to Contest #8

Finally, old enough for an adventure, I'd had three weeks exploring the Brazilian coastline, stopping at a small village. I spotted a chalkboard sign for a boat trip and thought I’d give it a go. The condition of the boat should’ve warned me off, large enough for the 20 or so passengers but rather weathered, as soon as we’d set off the two crew, who looked like trainee pirates were throwing drink down their necks. A large American couple berated them for drinking but got a volley of abuse when attempting to get them to focus o...

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“Stone Mountain” by Laurentz Baker

Submitted to Contest #8

The rising sun at their back, the silhouette of the mountain stands like a sentinel over the town. The trail on which Willow and James are running this Saturday morning in Stone Mountain Park, James notices, is still, and without birdsong, is still, without the jaunting of squirrels, mosquitoes, and moths, even, lie low. James and Willow pass the enormous oak tree--the two-mile mark on their run. The oak has grown to the point that its limbs stretch across the trail, beyond the sidewalk and hang above the middle of the road. “That tree ...

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“A Night Out on the Town” by Alicia Gilliam

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #8

“Everything okay, mister?” The patrolman aimed his flashlight directly at me. I swallowed hard and shielded my eyes. There was no satisfactory way to explain why anybody would be on the streets of Oakhill at 11:45 at night. “Fine, officer.” “Out a bit late, aren’t you?” “Yes, sir. Just enjoying the fresh air.” A weak first attempt. “Fresh air, huh?” “The AC is broken back home.” I held my breath. The blinding light dropped to the ground in front of my feet. No one could blame a man for seeking escape from a stale apartment in this heat...

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“"Pray They Don't Bite Us"” by Adriana K. Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #8

The village of Saclit was a border town, on the edge of Kalinga and Mountain Province. New People’s Army communist rebels rustled through the green woods and came in for rice and blue LP tanks for their generators. My father, the first time, was asked if he was going for the drugs or the girls. The man on the jeepney was eager to sell him both. I wasn’t afraid of it. The rebels claimed to be for the poor. It wasn’t logical for the rebels to...

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“Beside the Sea” by Todd Linder

Submitted to Contest #8

Beside the Sea The boy had lived by the sea as long as he could remember. The faded cottage was enough to keep out the weather but not much to look at. It was close enough to the docks so that he could boat watch to his heart’s content with the old pair of binoculars. If you were interested he could tell you which one was the ketch, yawl or sloop by how they were rigged. And if you were really interested he would point out the Heather Dawn or the Claire Marie and who was at the...

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“ A lake in the middle of a forest” by Gayatri Varma

Submitted to Contest #8

I remember Anna, she told me about the lake in the middle of a forest which was in the middle of our busy town. The Forest Lush green and scary It was Pete, Anna’s brother, a little boy of ten, with a fancy hat and chirpy smile, who walked out of his home, when their parents started to yell for the fourth time that day. Anna told me that she stayed back at the school library for a history class project. Pete walked ten minutes then paused and looked around in an attempt to remember the way. He wanted to trace the steps, retrace ...

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“Hazy New World” by Sabrina Alvarez

Submitted to Contest #8

The darkness was so different in space, when I opened my eyes all I could see was the blinking red light that reminded me it was time to get up. I rolled back and forth, with the sun being millions of miles away it was harder for my body to wake itself up even though this one was the day my entire life was going to change. I pushed the red button and the dark rectangle that looked like any other wall with nothing on it phased away and Saturn appeared. The button was now green, and I yet again got to wake up to see Saturn instead of the Sun. ...

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“The Five Minutes” by Mike Vokos

Submitted to Contest #8

The Five Minutesby Mike VokosOnce upon a time some 200 million years ago, there lived on this planet some huge animals different from those existing today. Some of them were herbivores and others were carnivorous. Dinosaurs, Brontosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Pterodactyls, and others dominated in nature. The Earth was then all green like a paradise full of flora and fauna. That is how life went on until 67 million years ago when a dramatic event put an end to this form of life.A gigantic asteroid 10 km wide, the size of the mount Everest, sprang f...

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“Aquiver” by Juliet Martin

Submitted to Contest #8

Each place I make landfall, I try to find a telephone, a post office. Nobody here speaks English, nor appears to be much interested in my flail-armed charades, or the desperate sounds that come out of my mouth. I’m somewhere in the Pul’chi archipelago, and I only know that because I’ve traced the outlines of the islands painstakingly in the Aquiver. Their shapes make a map in my head: a map that matches one my father once had me draw, kneeling at the coffee table in our living room of my childhood. Once, I scratched Pul’chi? into soft ...

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“Memories” by Chris Dawson

Submitted to Contest #8

Looking Back Fog shrouded the island. Thick white haze, like a large wet blanket, was pulled over the entire chunk of land. He was not afraid, he knew he would eventually be back. Life had to go on, even if he did not. To him it seemed like years since he was on the island, but it did not matter. Time would not move without him, it waited for him to come back. Days, weeks, months, time would hold for as long as it had to. Like a worried father waiting up impatiently at the table for his little girl to come home from her first date. When he s...

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“Finding love in space” by Tea Kleva

Submitted to Contest #8

It’s year 2155 and I’m living on Venus. We travel with space ships from one planet to another. Woman live on Venus and man on Mars, so in order to meet each other we go once a week on Jupiter. The purpose in my life is to find the love of my life. What a cliché, right? But I can’t help it if I’m a hopeless romantic. Sometimes I think that I would never find him and I will live alone till I die. The day to go on Jupiter came and I was ready to meet the love I was waiting for the past 50 years. All the girls took a seat in a spaceship and we w...

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“Something About Nothing” by Yvonne S

Submitted to Contest #8

Part IBefore in the beginning, there was NOTHING. Nothing but a whole lot of absolutely nothing. You couldn’t see NOTHING, because there was nothing to see. You couldn’t hear NOTHING, because there was nothing to hear. You couldn’t touch NOTHING because there was nothing to touch.One fine time out of nowhere, SOMETHING found time to come along ----zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom. SOMETHING came along, looked here, looked there, looked everywhere and said, “I don’t see NOTHING, can’t hear nothing, there’s nothing here but a whole lot...

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“Test Tubes” by Mushroom (flammulina Velutipes)

Submitted to Contest #8

My eyes open, and all at once, I'm awake. I blink a few times. The LED bulbs are bright, but the vast darkness outside seems to suck in the light and not give any of it back. I stand up, going to sit by the window. Outside is blackness and a scattering of stars. Far off, I can see the cold blue of Earth. Home. The words wake a distant memory in my head - hugs and snow and evenings by the fire. A woman whispering goodnight before kissing me on the forehead lightly and closing the door. But all that is gone now, and there's no use dwelling on ...

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$50

Prize money

173

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 27, 2019 EST

Won by Joshua G. J. Insole 🏆

Title: Astro Naught

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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