Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a Western-inspired story in a new genre or setting (e.g. a space western, fantasy western, etc.)

Posted in Fiction on Jun 23, 2023

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 78 stories

“Stare of Steel” by James Robinson

Submitted to Contest #204

All went silent.  The crackling of candle flame was all that filled the newfound emptiness, yet it drew no attention from the countless heads that had turned to face the doorway. Within the rotted doorframe of the shabby bar stood the silhouette of a man, prominent against the harsh trails of sunlight which seemed to cower behind him.  The man’s steady frame was highlighted by a fine leather cloak, covering a baggy brown shirt. Upon his head sat a large, brimmed hat, casting a shadow over his bearded face. His boots were made of ...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Metal & Faith” by Bronwynn Maher

Submitted to Contest #204

The harsh, inhuman scream ripping through the air nearly had Monica doubling over as her bloodied fingers fought to pull bullets from her bandolier. Rumbling a curse that didn’t meet her ears as she fumbled, the small divot made in the sand by the round she’d dropped filled her belly with rage and frustration. Dropping her revolver at her side, Monica wrapped a hand around the wooden handle of her knuckle knife, pulling the blade from its sheath as she stepped out from the small doorway she’d hidden in. Monica’s eyes instantly locked onto th...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Hated Hauntings” by Joseph Stephenson

Submitted to Contest #204

The cool ocean breeze swept through the streets of Angel’s Landing, dissipating the heat that seemed to bull through the town from the badlands to the northwest. Though for many the cool was not a signal for well deserved rest, but rather an invitation into temptation and debauchery. And despite the law’s iron fist being on the keg’s tap at the behest of North Mar Government, there were many hole-in-the-walls and speakeasies that prided themselves on procurement of such once prominent potent punch, for a price. And so, In spite of the protes...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Bear, the Wolf and the Martens” by Gianluca Angelucci

Submitted to Contest #204

---Disclaimer: I intended to write a children story, but it lacks the hopeful tone those stories frequently carry. Also my writing style probably fails to meet the "kids" criteria. I leave it to the judgement of the reader, and won't tag it as kids--- The checkerboard was lit by the afternoon sun, tinted green by the canopy of leaves of the oak forest. The brown paw of Bear moved a piece, capturing a white piece. -And that’s it Wolf, eh!- Bear gloated, staring at Wolf’s sorry snout -What’s the score now, 8-2?- A low growl from Wolf is the ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Bandit Dogs” by Jason Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #204

On a rainy ancient Roman night two outlaws sneak into Julius Ceasar’s palace. Their bandit outfits which include two broad-brimmed black cowboy hats, cow skinned ponchos, dark jeans and black boots with golden spurs keep them hidden in the dark halls that lead to a room of treasures. This room had the size to fit three elephants inside. The bandit that holds the lamp is the newly broken hearted, mustached heroine that leads the two, Wyatt O’Donell. Behind him with a sack ready to be filled with gold is the clumsy, clean shaving youngster th...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Zane Grey & Chesterfields” by Richard Nelson

Submitted to Contest #204

WRITING PROMPT #353 Wild, Wild West “Zane Grey & Chesterfields” Growing up in Boston everyone played cowboys and Indians. We all had a cowboy or Indian costume: hat/headdress, gun/tomahawk, cowboy boots/moccasins and more. We played for hours around the neighborhood, onto the playground or school yard. Everywhere! Our parents kept an eye on us. They wouldn’t give us a B-B gun despite pestering. When we were good we got a movie allowance down the Village that featured monsters or westerns. It was before the era of “spaghetti westerns” s...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Encounter With the Rebel” by Joseph Peck

Submitted to Contest #204

The sun was slipping beneath the horizon when the strangers came to the village. As golden rays of light set the skies ablaze, three men rode into the settlement  astride tall horses, two of them armed as if for war and all coming one after the other. Their shadows stretched across the sandy streets, as tall as the men who gave them shape.  The first man wore a hauberk of riveted maille, covered by a surcoat emblazoned with the sigil of a winged serpent in flight. A forest green cloak hung at his shoulders. Slung across his back wa...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Into the Madlands.” by Jack Sink

Submitted to Contest #204

A small lizard sluggishly scurried from a dead bush to beneath the floorboards of the stairs of an old rusted saloon. The heavy footsteps sounded like booming quakes to the reptile's ears. Its sand-colored body sank in with the ground around it acting as a makeshift shield against the eyes of the large predator. The lizard began to slow in its march to the stairs. Finally, its overheated body stopped completely, and the predator closed in. The lizard desperately tried to carry itself away, but the harsh sting of the sand beneath it and the b...

3 comments 3
Read story

“A Hanging in Tula Rosa” by Gary Mann

Submitted to Contest #204

The barkeep at the Three Jacks saloon in Tula Rosa cast an impatient glance towards his only customer. He wanted to be gone from his place of work and out into the street with his fellow citizens, this was a mammoth day for the town, and he wanted to share it, but he found himself having to serve this solitary man.  It would have been bad enough had the man been drinking hard liquor, but he was nursing a Lukewarm mug of coffee.       Fresh noise filtered into the saloon and the barkeep found his attention d...

0 comments 0
Read story

“MERCY” by Jodi Ford

Submitted to Contest #204

A civilization wrought with greed and infested with the idea that progress required taking nature into their own hands. Scientists resurrected extinct flora and fauna in labs that, once released from captivity, soon replaced links in the food chain. Fracking and mining had ransacked the planet continually depleting the ground of any and all valuable deposits. Then it happened. One day in 3019 the seven continents became one again as volcanoes situated all over the world simultaneously erupted and fused the puzzled patchwork globe back t...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Dusty Chrome” by May Gables

Submitted to Contest #204

Moxie had been to a lot of places in the West and most of them looked just like this. Dusty and sad, with people clinging desperately to what was left of a once-bright future. Corps had swept in about eighty years ago, long before she was born, eager to strip the land. But by the time she was barely ten, most of the corps had cleared out, abandoning their towns and leaving their company people to rot.  It was a tale as old as time.  The last time Moxie had been this far West, the only chrome on her body had been the replacement i...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Spurring Fate” by Sam Porter

Submitted to Contest #204

In a pearlescent white room with walls spanning the height of three storeys, Jackson Jones took his seat alongside nine other trainees. Of course, Jackson Jones wasn't his real name but the one assigned to him for his new job as a Time Correspondent. The trainees were being inducted into the Agency of Time Travel, an inter-governmental organisation established in 2582 with very limited resources and extremely strict restrictions around travelling through time. Agent Chiu, their supervisor, paced the area in front of their desks.“Ti...

1 comment 1
Read story

“A Twist on The Wild West” by Corinne Arrowood

Submitted to Contest #204

Twisted Wild West Since he’d been a teenager, Adam Pierceson had heard stories of exaggeration of magnitude proportion about the mysterious Decadence, Montana. It was one of those strange tiny towns that were divided in every way possible. Half of Decadence was in Wyoming and the other half in Montana. Everything about the small town presented a dichotomy. The halves were divided by Crossed Line Avenue with an inn on one corner across the street from The RagTag Bar. The other corner provided a family-owned drug store complete with a soda b...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Forged in Dust and Steel: The Rustler's Redemption” by Sofia Albertini

Submitted to Contest #204

Sweat dropped from my forehead, sticky and warm, forming a puddle at the base of my nose. The salty sting awoke the cuts that slashed my skin. Them miserable Martians had tied my hands in a tangle, and strung me up from the tent’s ceiling, like cattle. No, worse than that, like one of their trinkets. Ain’t nothin’ worse than bein’ owned. Rage rattled within me. “So this is how the infamous Rustler dies, huh?” taunted a short Martian with a strict ponytail. “Pathetic. We’ll start with you, so your men can watch their leader perish.” His ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Ephemeral West” by Daryn Schvimmer

Submitted to Contest #204

When Hiram woke up, the first thing he saw was another face, inches from his own. The face belonged to another boy who seemed to be roughly his age, with a pitiful feather-duster mustache and one of the more ridiculous outfits Hiram had ever seen.  The guy dressed as if a cowboy and a circus clown combined styles. It didn’t work. Bright blue suspenders clashed with a ruffled, cream-orange shirt. His jeans were the wrong shade of blue when compared to his robin's egg suspenders. The monstrosity was topped off with black, spurred cowboy...

0 comments 0
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a stranger coming to town and shaking up the order of things.

Character – 56 stories

Set your story in a desert town.

Adventure – 52 stories

Write a story about someone undertaking a long, dangerous journey.

Adventure – 39 stories

Write a story about someone seeking revenge for a past wrong.

Dramatic – 73 stories

Contest #204

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Wild, Wild West

$250

Prize money

298

Contest entries

94

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 30, 2023 EST

Won by Katy B 🏆

Title: The Ungentling

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢