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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#90: Down to Earth

On April 22nd 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated in the US. More than 50 years later, this annual event unites millions across the globe, as we turn our attention towards climate action and building a safer home for ourselves and all life on Earth.

Earth Day provides an opportunity for each of us to reflect on our relationship with the planet — and what better way to do that than by writing about it? Whether you follow in the footsteps of the Romantics, who believed in the rehabilitating powers of nature, or the SFF giants whose dystopian novels have long forewarned the demise of Earth Prime, let’s join in the spirit of Earth Day and get closer to nature with this week’s prompts!

This week's prompts

Write a story that weaves together multiple lives through their connection to a particular tree.

Spring – 246 stories

Write a story in which an endangered species (of plant or animal) plays a central role.

Middle School – 94 stories

Set your story in a world living with the consequences of a climate apocalypse.

Science Fiction – 133 stories

Write about a community that worships Mother Nature.

Summer – 82 stories

Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.

Spring – 258 stories

Stories

“ A misplaced stroke of white paint ” by Kiki Shanae

Submitted to Contest #90

Cynthia let out a grunt as her trembling hands ruined her painting of an ash tree. Her once perfectly painted ash tree now had a misplaced stroke of white paint in the trunk of the ash tree. She examined her painting once again, contemplating on whether to continue or to disregard it. A tall Ash tree stood in the middle, with its ever so green leaves covering its branches. Cynthia then remembers how Ash trees looked like this during the summer. The Ash tree had only one straight trunk and a misplaced stroke of white paint."why did ...

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“GOING GREEN CLAN” by Elendu Chikaodiri

Submitted to Contest #90

GOING GREEN CLAN. I am Okoro. I am here to bring you my world and my existence. My Dad is Nkwu- the palm tree. You may not be familiar with palms, but you can ask those your earthly friends in Africa-Nigeria. My Mum once told me, I was about being weaned, when Dad took her to this foreign planet. Now, we are citizens. Fully-son-of-the-soil. Dad died when I was just twelve. Mum said “He turned into a palm tree”. She pointed towards a Palm tree gallantly standing at the centre of our compound; next to our green hut. As a boy of seventeen, I do...

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“Mother Earth” by Alayna Snedden

Submitted to Contest #90

TW: Gun violence. Every year temperatures rise across the globe. This year was the year Earth’s Ozone layer gave through. A solar massacre swept our planet. Our immune systems weakened, and disease spread. It started with our crops, then the livestock. This caused a massive shortage in our food supply. The survivors started getting desperate and began to riot, steal, then kill for their food. There is an increasing amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation poisoning the Earth and everyone on it. It is only a matter of time before Mother Nature ta...

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“Homo Sapiens Nescium” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #90

Extinction. There’s a certain finality to the word, that summons a primordial sense of dread and doom to the core of our being. It means the end of a species. Not just the happenstance death of a few individuals you don’t even know, but the final, irreversible end of an entire world population of a species, meaning there would never be such a life form ever again. Uniqueness, lost forever due to the very trait that made it so special in the first place. Extinction is happening all the time. It didn’t just happen to the dinosaurs and it...

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“She Who Sleeps” by Emmett Wrighter

Submitted to Contest #90

“Kireama, wake up.”The mountain quaked around us as Isapoinhkyaki, the mother of my father, called out to it, her aged face creasing into a smile repeated as many times as there were wrinkles of her skin. She stood tall despite the years that threatened to bow her back, despite the trembling of her hands as they wrapped around my shoulders.I was hardly more than a toddler, then, and had begged my “Aana” to take me up the mountain to the “magical place”. She had told me countless stories of adventures as I grew up, of adventures, people, crea...

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“The Mother's Children” by Andrea Itt

Submitted to Contest #90

Alice wanted to curl in on herself as she sunk into her chair. She tugged her hair out of stress, a bad habit she needed to stop. People always talk about how moving to a new place was difficult. Alice liked this town, but lately… Lately she felt as though she were seeing things in the corner of her eye. Things like flowers going from buds to blooms in mere moments, but that was probably the wind. She also felt vines wrapping around her legs when she walked along the sidewalk. But she was sane! Those things were tricks of the light o-o...

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“The Cheerful Slug” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #90

The Cheerful Slug is so named because the slug is so vastly unappealing. It was discovered in the 1890’s by Marvin J. Freddermeier, an explorer who is known for mapping out large swatches of the South American rainforest and for being stabbed by all three of his ex-wives during their various divorce proceedings. Freddermeier was searching for a fabled red anteater that was rumored to live in the densest parts of the terrain, but after months of failed expedition, Freddermeier found himself in his tent one night when he heard what he thought ...

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“Inconceivable ” by Jeremy Johnson

Submitted to Contest #90

Everyone knew we would eventually kill the planet; we just didn’t think it would happen like this or this quick. Industrialization in all its glory, allowed for easier living for all of humankind. Machinery lifted the burden from the individual to complete daily tasks which allowed for more idle time. We invested our efforts into that idle time to come up with more ways to make life easier yet. It was no secret the industrial machine would eventually consume all resources, or the wars we fought over those resources would ...

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“Reject The Heat, Please” by 🌺𝔹𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕪 𝕊🌺

Submitted to Contest #90

The screams that day. They could shake the earth. Maybe they did. Scientists didn’t understand the sudden change. How it went from seventy to a hundred-seventy. People slammed their doors, closed their shutters. Death after death after death. The Earth was slowly vanishing. Layla didn’t know what to do. ~~~~~~ It was Day Forty-Two for Layla Foreman. Her father had already died because with his disease his body couldn’t restrain the heat. Her sister was sick because they didn’t have any food. Nobody could go ...

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“Daniel” by Alex Auclair

Submitted to Contest #90

Daniel was a student that gave teacher’s a hard time. I would be lying if I said Daniel didn’t give me a hard time every now and then in my biology class. He was the kind of kid who would stand up in the middle of a lesson, stretch, and yawn loudly just to get a laugh from the other students. Daniel made me laugh too, but as the adult in the room, it was my responsibility to remind him to stay on task and do his work. I’ll never forget the day Daniel had his head down on the desk, eyes closed. “Daniel are you sleeping?” I asked. “Nah...

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“Repent!” by MD Guerrero

Submitted to Contest #90

The pot had just begun to boil. An aroma of savory sauce still waded softly though the air as Julia turned off the stove. Making this particular ramen was a two-part process that she cherished. First is the broth, roiling in the warm water, was a dash of soy sauce, green onions, a cutting of yellow, aromatic ginger, and fresh shitake mushrooms. The noodles, boiling in a separate pot, were just about perfect. Experience has taught her to time the boil so the noodles were soft with an ever so slight bite to them. The steaming noodles filled he...

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“Dyna ” by Karim Gamal

Submitted to Contest #90

Do you want to die here or to die outside in nature? Wh..what ..what are you saying ?I’m asking a simple question; do you prefer to die here or to die outside ? Anthony please these things aren’t funny at all and besides I am very busy right now.So please tell me what you want rapidly “Dyna is dying “he said agonizedly.The ruler closed the door of the room and sat down in a sigh with some fury.“Who Did it?” He asked. “We still don’t know anything but I was checking it while the flowers were starting to wrinkle and also th...

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“Miles from Freedom” by Megan Malone

Submitted to Contest #90

For the past eleven years, humans have been forced off their food chain throne. Now, civilization exists within small bubbles of their former glory, and the animal population roams the globe without fear. How the tables have turned! Cupido has free range of the settlement, as his job requires. He can wind between vibrant tents. He can snuggle down by a bonfire. Yet, as always, he paces along the chain fence encompassing the entire settlement. His eyes remain in a constant shifting state, and his ears flick in all directions- every sen...

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“The Tiger who built a Temple” by Marie McLaughlin

Submitted to Contest #90

The Tiger who built a Temple. Deep in the Jungles bordering Ancient India and Ancient Thailand, a Tiger chased down a Malaysian Tapir for food. Once the Tiger caught the Tapir in it's claws, it snapped the poor animal's neck with it's mighty jaw and feasted. The Forest had seen better days lately, trees chopped down, Shrub and brush lost to man made fires and storms. Prey had been hard to come across as a result. The Tiger walked a very short distance until he found a temple dedicated to the Buddha that had seen better days due to neglec...

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“Wichita Beach” by Mike Garrigan

Submitted to Contest #90

A sandpiper scurried up from the ocean. It nipped at the hunk of bread dangling from Malcolm’s hand. Malcolm had fallen asleep in his beach chair. “Hey!” Malcolm said to the sandpiper. The tiny bird scurried back toward the water with a chunk of Malcolm’s baguette in its beak.“You OK?” TK said. “Yeah. Damn bird.” “Seltzer?”“Sure.”Tatiana Karenina handed her husband, Malcolm P. Sharpe, a glass bottle of homemade seltzer. The cool bottle beaded with condensation. Malcolm up nodded, turned the cap, listened for the fizz, and took...

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$50

Prize money

813

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 23, 2021 EST

Won by Nina Chyll 🏆

Title: The Tree Surgeon's Dictionary

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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