Write a story imagining 'what if' one historic invention had never happened. How would our world be different now?

Posted in Dystopian on Mar 22, 2024

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✍️ 24 stories

“The Horseman” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #243

The man on the horse was an odd one – I could tell that even as he angled his quarter horse into my beams like it was his turn in the center ring. An Easterner, which maybe 10 years earlier might’ve seemed even odder. Little dressier than the average rancher; handled his animal like he knew how but had learned it someplace else.“Saw you from the rise,” the man said. Easterner, all right – kind of horse-faced fella with a government haircut and a big nose that reminded me of the Jew families that’d passed through the dust and winds and Pop’s ...

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“Black Places.” by Claire Trbovic

Submitted to Contest #243

The Farne Islands are black places. Most places in the North Sea are. From their black cliffs a small fishing boat travels precariously between the rocks in the local harbour to Inner Farne on the near horizon. Around the boat, little black specs tornado in unison, their wings silhouetted against a thick sky.The boat eventually finds it’s mooring and a woman comes into view, her long blond plait falls from under two hats pulled low to her face. A seal breaks the water to watch the newcomer, buoyed in the angry water like it’s riding a wave m...

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“Cold is the Absence of Heat” by Jack Kimball

Submitted to Contest #243

Commander John Forebear re-enters the airlock to Novac 3 and takes his place at the bridge's command module. No sooner is he settled in than his headset sparks in static."It's a blue line here, John. Ice to every horizon, kind of mist-like, an artic blue, mythical. It's really something."The Commander smiles. Just like my science officer to admire the view. I love him, but it's another thing to keep him focused on the task at hand."I can see," the Commander replies. "Your visuals are coming in fine, but you're not on vacation, are you O...

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“Life in the Woods with my Microwave” by Robert Egan

Submitted to Contest #243

In 1845, a journeyman by the name of Henry David Thoreau set out to tame nature. In his head were plans for a steam-powered chainsaw. His goal? To prove that one man alone could level an entire forest and remake it in his own image. Within two year's time, Thoreau had toppled every tree for miles around and built a boardwalk empire that spanned Walden Pond, a place of power where cheerful clouds of smoke replaced woodland canopy and sounds of industry blighted out birdsong. So began the Age of Mechanicism as America freed itself from romanti...

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“The Orion Effect” by Laurie Spellman

Submitted to Contest #243

World Log Entry: February 29, 2164As we zoom in on the planet Natura Martis, divided by the vast Aetheric Sea, Abeona and Adiona, two distinct continents, come into focus where the airplane was never conceived. I am Abeona, a Roman deity who created this world. The continent that bears my name is the land of outward journeys. Rugged landscapes, steep mountains, and deep valleys divide the terrain. The mortal inhabitants are brave and adventurous. On the other continent, Adiona, named after the Roman Goddess of safe return, is home ...

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“Innovation is Afoot” by Jorge Soto

Submitted to Contest #243

The rocket was sweating in the Florida heat like a bottle of cola released from an icy cooler. A few hundred, dressed in shorts and vacationer wear, watched from a distant dirt lot. Set in rows along the silver bleachers, their prim shaded gazes reflected a pale imitation of the clear blue sky above them. The televisions and screens around the world watched in suspended awe, as an invisible voice by the slick giant announced a string of monotone brevities to the busy platform before takeoff. On a summer street corner in a far city, a cr...

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“Remove One Thing and Change a Landscape Forever” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #243

Isla awoke in her closeted existence. She’d always lived, safe and sound, with her family. She was thirty-three, but she felt no inclination to leave, or to travel further afield. She didn’t know what was out there, and that scared her. Some people are made to be adventurers, but she was a homebody. She loved it all: the scent of the coal fire that came from the living room downstairs, the sense of community in her closeknit neighbourhood, the fact that the sick cared for the sick; they didn’t just run and dig their heads into the ground lik...

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“God-Bald” by Ev Datsyk

Submitted to Contest #243

He remembered the day God found him and the way God found him. Under a storm-bruised sky, he was standing in uniform, shuffling after the mourners. Their voices beat back the thunder as they rose in funerary song (O, Roc, Of The Blackest Cap). The Proclaimer of Grief, a boy not yet twelve, stood with the solemnity of his elders and clashed a pair of cymbals at the door. The God-found man did not sing. It was not very becoming of him, but he just moved his lips. He had always been self-conscious of his voice. Should he, at least, ha...

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“DEJA VU” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

Submitted to Contest #243

Five bone dice crumbled to dust before their eyes.“What was that?” Thom’s mouth gaped.Silence descended. No insect or bird sounds. Then it started; the earth beneath them vibrated, then shook perceptibly. The three looked at each other.“I don’t like this,” said Victoria.“I think you should both leave the Island. Who knows what will happen? I’ll have to stay,” said Marcus.“What about the others?” she said.“They’ll fend for themselves,” said Thom. “There is the boat and a plane if they decide to go. This dilemma will distract them. What will y...

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“We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled History…” by Samuel Jackson

Submitted to Contest #243

October 30th, 1938… It was supposed to be a harmless radio broadcast, or so they say. None of us really knew at the time. The blackout came without warning, cutting off the radio’s descriptions of an extraterrestrial ship which had just landed in Grovers Mill, New Jersey. As far as we could put together, aliens had just come down from space, and shortly after, we’d lost all power. The assumptions were widespread, resulting in a mass panic that had struck the city of Mobile, Alabama within minutes. A once beautiful city, now suffering the sam...

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“GPS Into Another Dimension” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #243

As my car crept along a deserted road in the Virginia-North Carolina countryside, the passing scenery reminded me of the forest scene from "Deliverance." To add to the negative atmosphere, I had agreed to allow my fellow Realtor, Jill McIntyre, to partner with me on the trip and act as my navigator–more on Jill’s sterling character and background later. Back to the drive–the stillness on this Saturday night made me feel like a solo mortician closing up s...

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“Grandeedee's Last Stand” by Teirrah McNair

Submitted to Contest #243

I am going to take a chance and tell you something even though Mom says I talk too much. Some things you just can’t keep quiet about and it’s something so scary happened in my house a while ago that I got to tell somebody. We called the police and the fire people and the ambulance and I wanted to call the FBI too but Mom said no. All I got to say is if you got a treasure in your house and it’s worth more than 7900 trillion dollars and something happens to it in the middle of the night you supposed to call Jesus and everybody else too.Before ...

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“The Unproverbial Platform ” by Addison Ava

Submitted to Contest #243

Try to imagine a world as we know it now, if there was no social media. For us born before the 2000's its not difficult. We did ok without it. Actually, life did great not having it. We had no idea what went on outside of our every day lives. We knew there was crime and evil somewhere because we read about it in the local newspaper. We watched the 11 o:clock news. Perhaps we had relatives or friends that lived in other states or even countries and informed us of what was happening in their neck of the woods. Little did we know or even have t...

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“The Dangers of Not Being Straight” by Dr. Stephen A Salaka

Submitted to Contest #243

The Inter-Dimensional Talking Head Box 3000™ flickers to life in your living room, its glow promising escape from the ordinary. Remote in hand, you embark on a cosmic channel crawl: alien chefs flambéing unidentifiable space-critters, galactic gladiators battling with laser-tridents... it's all delightfully bizarre. Then, something truly peculiar catches your eye. As you flip through the channels, something makes you pause: a cityscape so angular it could slice bread. Buildings pierce the sky like colossal geometry sets, vehicles lurch forwa...

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“Enigma Within” by Sophie Chipping

Submitted to Contest #243

In the suffocating confines of an office tower, where the air pulsated with the dissonant symphony of ringing phones and clicking keyboards, I found myself immersed in a world of concealed machinations and sinister undertones. Amidst the labyrinthine maze of cubicles and flickering fluorescent lights, I prowled with silent intent, my long auburn locks a flame in the dimness. My light blue eyes, like frozen pools of uncertainty, held secrets buried deep within the recesses of my soul. As I meandered through the shadowed corridors of the offic...

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Write a story imagining 'what if' one historic invention had never happened. How would our world be different now?

Submissions are closed

✍️ 24 stories

“The Horseman” by Martin Ross

“Black Places.” by Claire Trbovic

“Cold is the Absence of Heat” by Jack Kimball

“Life in the Woods with my Microwave” by Robert Egan

“The Orion Effect” by Laurie Spellman

“Innovation is Afoot” by Jorge Soto

“Remove One Thing and Change a Landscape Forever” by Keelan LaForge

“God-Bald” by Ev Datsyk

“DEJA VU” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

“We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled History…” by Samuel Jackson

“GPS Into Another Dimension” by Bob Faszczewski

“Grandeedee's Last Stand” by Teirrah McNair

“The Unproverbial Platform ” by Addison Ava

“The Dangers of Not Being Straight” by Dr. Stephen A Salaka

“Enigma Within” by Sophie Chipping

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story with a strong sense of place. How is the setting of your world the same as, but different to, our own?

Write a story from the point of view of a non-human character.

Write a story about a character who wakes up in space.

Write a story where time functions differently to our world.

Contest #243

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

283

Contest entries

113

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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