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

Posted in Mystery on Mar 22, 2024

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?

✍️ 50 stories

“The Perfect Moment” by Scott Taylor

Submitted to Contest #243

In the year 2027, the fabric of time frayed. It began gently, like a whisper in the wind, but soon, the world felt its tremors. The study of Wandering Black Holes was primarily focused on by celestial physicists and science fiction writers. The cessation of communication from probes sent to the solar system’s outer regions prompted swift action from NASA and the military complex. Using their state-of-the-art space-based telescope, Ginger Johnson, a NASA expert in celestial mechanics, studied a recent phenomenon that appeared in the night s...

8 comments 8
Read story

“Potential Representation” by Audrey Knox

Submitted to Contest #243

“Amira?” the assistant in the office-appropriate pencil skirt beckoned with a smile. “Zoe’s ready for you. Come on in.” The nervous yet hopeful young woman sitting in the lobby stilled the impatient bouncing of her leg and hurriedly stood up—water bottle in one hand, Book of Shadows tucked in the other arm. “Great, thanks,” Amira said. The assistant led her up the sweeping marble stairs, out of the intentionally intimidating high-ceilinged lobby. Once in the main work area of the building, they wound past desks of busy assistants and coord...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Sleeping through” by Kai Dao

Submitted to Contest #243

Zahng shades his eyes against the sun reflecting off the ice and bounces the backpack against his back. He readjusts his grip on the sled’s reins. On the sled sits his husband, bundled under his favourite fur-lined blanket. The walk across the frozen lake from the mainland is long, but the ice isn’t thick enough for an ATV.“I can see the cabin from here!” Zahng turns his head to speak to Jax. “You still awake back there?”He isn’t surprised when there’s no answer. Just in case, he listens, hoping Jax is not in full Hibernation. Jax spends eno...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Have It Your Way ” by Kat Palmquist

Submitted to Contest #243

I remember when this place used to make me the dinner-time savior. Back then, a man could become a hero to his family just by clutching two greasy-bottomed bags of Burger King on a weeknight as he walked into his house. The wife would put out and the kids would shut up after a stunt like that.  But I doubt any of these people -these kids- could even fathom a time when this building used to be anything but the F.E. building. They sit here glumly in white plastic folding chairs scrolling their phones and waiting for their number to be cal...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Unwanted: A Prologue” by Denise Glickler

Submitted to Contest #243

In 1923, the first extended discussion of artificial wombs was given. The speaker, one J.B.S. Haldane, who was an English biologist, proposed that an egg could be fertilized outside the womb. He gave his speech, which was entitled “Daedalus, or Science and the Future” from the viewpoint of a student in 2073 writing about advances in biology over the previous 150 years. His theories of ectogenesis were largely controversial. In 1929 an English memoirist named Vera Brittain wrote an essay that warned that in the wrong hands it could create “de...

3 comments 3
Read story

“BEAUTY CONFRONTING MONSTROSITY” by Aaron Bowen

Submitted to Contest #243

Little Lissa rose from her bedroll in the closet as the first lights of morning crept beneath the curtain that divided her domain from the cathouse beyond. Out there, the air would be breathless with the memories of swirling silk and the creak of boots on floorboards when patrons had danced the girls to the rhythm of Annie’s mandolin. Ghostly aromas of whiskey and perfume still clung to the air, a grim reminder that Lissa’s days of wearing finery and being courted for her favors were over, dead as the dust that coated everything in...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Asylum” by Jarrel Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #243

From the beginning, my favorite place to visit in the Neuroscape was the Asylum, a caged room where the other mes and I go the fight one another. The caged room stands at some street corner where it’s always night, illuminated by the orange glow of a streetlamp and sometimes plagued by heavy rain. When signing up to participate, the wait time to enter the cage typically lasts one to two weeks, depending on the number of mes looking to take part. The longer the wait time, the more likely a me will resort to dirty or barbaric tactics while fig...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Life, Like” by Danielle Barr

Submitted to Contest #243

Defiant, I dive deeper into delicious oblivion, even as the mist of sleep begins to part, my conscious brain pulling me, unwilling, toward the surface of another gloomy daybreak, Helga Storborg’s bright, chirruping voice slicing through the feathered edges of sleep.“Those angry clouds from the past few days are gonna move on out, and we’re expecting some absolutely beautiful skies this afternoon, Ron.” Defeated, my right eye creaks open, just enough to see the light from the alarm screen dancing across the corrugated metal walls. Helga’...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Sablewood Calls” by Raven Jade

Submitted to Contest #243

I had once loved Sablewood. The line of live oaks and their branches waved you in, beautiful and tall. I walked slowly towards the giant manor, and admired the way the statues in the front garden managed to look both ancient and modern, as though someone had plucked their stone faces from the past for us to enjoy in the present. Sablewood Manor had an ethereal beauty that you couldn’t help but appreciate. If only I didn’t see my dead sister leaning against the columns on the porch. She had appeared almost the moment I parked, and had been wa...

2 comments 2
Read story

“wings.” by Lara Deppe

Submitted to Contest #243

Myia threw her bag into her trunk and dropped into her car with a sigh of relief that she had survived the day. And that everyone else in her office had as well. She loves her co-workers and her job on most days but today had tried her patience. She was inches from an explosion of frustration and luckily everyone else had slid out of the office before she was ready to leave so she didn’t have to talk to anyone on her way out to the parking lot. She looked at her watch and read her daughter Teddy’s text: where are you, Mom? Please hurry. She...

6 comments 6
Read story

“Survivor” by Jack Karolewski

Submitted to Contest #243

​The global pandemic was unstoppable. ​As soon as one vaccine was developed for the deadly air-borne scourge, the virus mutated, and the race was on to develop another. But it was a futile battle against time and statistical certainty. The human species was in a fatal downward spiral. Nature had outwitted medical science. The deaths came in a tsunami of disbelief, horror, and despair. ​Businesses closed for lack of workers. The world economy collapsed. Governments gradually shut down. Police and fire protection dwind...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Pillows” by Brittany Mackeown

Submitted to Contest #243

Trigger Warnings: mental health, suicide/self-harmThe house was small, the sky blue paint faded to robin’s egg. Haden parked under the carport, the brakes squealing like a newborn. He came around and opened the door for Veronica. She had no idea who he was, and that wasn’t even an exaggeration. She slid out of the car, clutching the strap of her purse. The purse she didn’t remember getting because it hadn’t happened yet. Yesterday, she had been sixteen, sunbathing in her backyard and listening to cavity-inducing pop music from when she ...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Sewardism” by Stardust Rubino

Submitted to Contest #243

Although I never met the man himself, I and the rest of my comrades were determined to get James Seward into power. My name is Alex Belken, and I am a Sewardist.   Seward was the revolutionary General Secretary of the United States Communist Party, who would be the antidote to the iron fist of David Westler, the then sitting president of the United States, who created the Turning Point Party after running independent. They tried to beat us, to torture us, to enslave us, to kill us, until only they walked the lands we lived on.&nbsp...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Screen Out of Time” by Tee Farewell

Submitted to Contest #243

As it descended through the swirling vortex of time, the time machine trembled and groaned, its steel frame ripping apart one screw at a time. Inside the cramped cockpit, Benjamin and Nora held onto each other. "We're almost there," Benjamin said over the cacophony of sound. Nora nodded, her knuckles white as she gripped the edges of her seat. The maelstrom outside the window seemed to stretch on for eternity, a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes that danced and twisted with dizzying speed. And then, with a sudden lurch, the chaos ceased, rep...

1 comment 1
Read story

“A Dream in the Stars” by JP G

Submitted to Contest #243

At 9:30 in the morning, darkness still enveloped the surroundings. Marvin peered through the skylight of his apartment loft, catching a glimpse of Saturn’s rings. On Earth, such a time would have been greeted with radiant sunlight, but on Titan, it was a different story. The moon was entrenched in its seventh year of winter, plunging its inhabitants into prolonged darkness during fall and winter. However, signs of the season's transition were evident as temperatures began to rise slightly. Today, the forecast promised a relatively mild -169 ...

0 comments 0
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Dystopian – 24 stories

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

Narrative – 120 stories

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

Science Fiction – 50 stories

Write a story where time functions differently to our world.

Science Fiction – 43 stories

Contest #243

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Re-Imagining Our World Through Speculative Fiction with Alice McIlroy

$250

Prize money

286

Contest entries

113

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 29, 2024 EST

Won by Thomas Iannucci 🏆

Title: Ke Kulanakauhale ma ke Kai, or The City by The Sea

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 ⭢