Write a story featuring an element of time-travel or anachronism.

Posted in Science Fiction on Jul 8, 2022

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✍️ 68 stories

“Only A Dream” by Luwana Ransier

Submitted to Contest #154

Only a Dream There it was standing in the middle of the meadow. Nobody knew what it was, or where it came from, only that it had been there for forever. Kids used to play around it until weird things started to happen. Now it just stands there all alone. It was 1850, in New Hope, Ohio. Folks were just getting by, farming their lands and basically trying to survive. The cholera outbreak of 1849, took most of the population of New Hope, but there were still a few survivors left. The dead weren’t forgotten, but life had to go on. “Aggie?” Jo ...

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“Musket on the Ledge” by Daltin Danser

Submitted to Contest #154

I think I woke up around midday. I was prostrate in the grass, blowing as hard as I could through my nostrils. I must have sounded like an angry bull, but I couldn’t get rid of that damned smell. When I say ‘damned’ smell, I am not being unnecessarily crass. This was a smell only the Devil himself could produce. Dead bodies and gun smoke… more than I thought possible. I was far from the battlefield, as far away as my legs were able to carry me. Still, the Damned Smell lingered. Would there be anyone searching for me? The General thoug...

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“Sanctum” by Taylor Van Horne

Submitted to Contest #154

The boy dashed up to the priest. “Quick, Father. Fetch the key.” The priest raised his eyes. He lifted his hands that had nested in his lap and let them drop to his sides. “What is it? Why the hurry?” The young boy panted after his run. His bare feet were dirty from the dust of the dry forest path. “Faranji.” The priest smiled to himself, and the smile came slowly to his lips. Faranji, yes. Always the foreigners. Always in a hurry. His parishioners ca...

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“Tomorrow ” by Julia Timlin

Submitted to Contest #154

“What if we kill her?” Nadja’s words ring through a groggy Archer as she rises, before the sun can peek through the tall pines and creep into her lonely little cabin. Cold water hits her face like an electric shock to her system and she stands, muddy eyes staring back at her from the cracked mirror above the sink. “Are you insane?” Archer’s own hushed hiss had snapped back, fear and paranoia making her swivel her neck around in every direction. But Nadja’s laugh, like a bark, had startled her into meeting her gaze again. ...

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“The Sentry” by Isa C

Submitted to Contest #154

{content warning: brief mentions of violence} The forest of Sho Prar, brimming with life, secrets, and treasure. The trees speak to the ferns and the moss, sharing gossip and daily news. The nymphs and the fairies meet up to play music by the creek, attracting all sorts of woodland creatures. Explorers congregate with local foxes, inquiring why their compasses are spinning in all sorts of directions. At night, the canopy of leaves is far too thick to see the stars, so the fireflies have taken it upon themselves to compensate. They float a...

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“Dalliance of Nin-khursag” by John Hanna

Submitted to Contest #154

Content warning - mature like a dirty joke Enki is an Anunnakis, an alien who emigrated from Nibiru 'The Destroyer' planet during the last pass near Earth almost 3600 years ago. He is royal, son of Antu, mated to Anu the king. His half-sister Nin-khursag is on the planet with him as is his half-brother Enlil. He is a hunk of a man, eight feet of muscle with long brown hair and combed beard under the traditional silver crown anchoring the chain mail dropping across the back of the neck and to the shoulders. He has leather sandals and is nake...

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“Finding Nemo” by Faith Gathigia

Submitted to Contest #154

Finding Nemo“Don’t come back here, Sandy. Ever”Emmanuel scolded her as he fumbled with the key in the dark, trying to open the apartment’s gate to no avail. The watchman heard his struggle from outside and offered to help by using his own key, but even then, the door was resistant. Sandy found herself wishing the lock would jam completely, then they would be forced to go back to Emmanuel’s house and spend the night there. They stood in silence, waiting, as it was awfully quiet in the complex. The only noise was the occasional cough by the wa...

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“Harbinger” by April Lillard

Submitted to Contest #154

A few college students of geology and history were granted access from beyond the great wall to study the land of the “old world”. One of the students, Liza, was collecting dirt samples and discovered a very old door in the ground. She called to her twin brother, Kevin, to come over to help her open it to explore what was inside. "Liza, you're always getting me into trouble," he said as they pried the door open. To their surprise, it was like stepping back in time. In much excitement, Liza scrambles to find a flashlight to show...

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“Emerald Flame” by Gordon K

Submitted to Contest #154

When I was a young boy, there was a creepy old mansion not too far from the school I attended that all the children were afraid of. It wasn't just creepy because it was old and abandoned, but because it was on fire, and had been for thirty years. The story goes that the fire brigade had spent weeks trying to put that fire out, but it just couldn't be distinguished. The fire never spread beyond that building, though, so it was decided that as long as it was contained it wasn't a threat. It didn't give off smoke either, so there were no inhala...

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“Visiting Home” by Ian Stobaugh

Submitted to Contest #154

The heavy air blanketed the neighborhood, seemingly suffocating everything around it. The humidity made it hard to breathe, forcing me to inhale much more than I’m used to. Despite the conditions, only a small amount of fog had formed. Although it wasn’t much, it was enough to give the surroundings a strange atmosphere. It was worse that I was already here under strange circumstances. My friends and family found the idea dangerous, but I’m not particularly known for being cautious. Recently, my childhood home had been declared as an abandon...

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“Harper's Ruin” by ErikAnne Davis

Submitted to Contest #154

September 28th, 1982The world wouldn’t have blinked if Tommy hadn’t broken his leg...They’d been out fuckin’ around in the woods near their neighborhood, he and his friends, pretending to be shipwrecked pirates exploring the dangerous island. His friend, Harper, who was the Pirate Queen (mostly because she came up with the game and partly because she was kinda mean when she needed to be) had agreed to let him and Marcus climb a nearby tree to scout the area. Marcus had successfully argued that the Pirate Queen would order her minions to do s...

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“The Trunk” by Gina Burke

Submitted to Contest #154

The Trunk By Gina Burke “Wow, this yard sale has a lot of cool stuff, doesn’t it, Ethan?” “Oh yeah. It’s great. There are some tools I want to check out on that table over there. I’ll meet up with you.” Carly enjoyed watching her husband excited at yard sales like a child on Christmas morning. Not only did Ethan love a good yard sale, but he also loved to collect just about anything. As Carly watched her husband inspect everything that would undoubtedly end up in one of his collections, she chuckled and thought, True, I’ll eventually n...

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“Milk Run” by Samuel Yates

Submitted to Contest #154

Milk Run Somedays, I really enjoy these so-called ‘Milk Runs’ to the Mars colonies. A Ten-hour flight there and back with an overnight layover at one of the luxury hotels under the dome. Easy peasy job; even a cadet could do it in their sleep. I made my run, delivered the twenty-four tons of cargo at the spaceport, and had a nice dinner at the little café overlooking the city. Life was good. The Martian government was doing a great job building more domed cities to make it feel more pleasant now like Earth used to be before overcrowding...

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“The Fog” by Kathleen Shapona

Submitted to Contest #154

The party was in full swing when I arrived. Most of the crowd were from my rowing club, catching up and swapping rowing stories. A few of us were standing in a small circle enjoying a glass of wine and chatting when Jonathan, our team captain, joined us. “Did you hear about Allison?” “No, what about her?” I inquired. “She took out one of the small wooden row boats two days ago and hasn’t returned. They sent a search party out but haven’t found her or the boat.” “That’s awful. What do you think happened?” “Who knows. No one has heard fro...

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“THE HITCHING POST” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #154

Lydiana’s love of horses seemed to have always been a part of her being. While in high school, most of the others in her birth group couldn’t care less about these long-ago legendary creatures that were often in stories from the Before Time. Her birth-groupers were passionate only about the latest tech inventions created for “Get-Aways,” where they could virtually exist as if in a real world without real world consequences. Admittedly, “Get-Aways” were tempting, but then, her birther group members hadn’t experienced anything else, so w...

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Write a story featuring an element of time-travel or anachronism.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 68 stories

“Only A Dream” by Luwana Ransier

“Musket on the Ledge” by Daltin Danser

“Sanctum” by Taylor Van Horne

“Tomorrow ” by Julia Timlin

“The Sentry” by Isa C

“Dalliance of Nin-khursag” by John Hanna

“Finding Nemo” by Faith Gathigia

“Harbinger” by April Lillard

“Emerald Flame” by Gordon K

“Visiting Home” by Ian Stobaugh

“Harper's Ruin” by ErikAnne Davis

“The Trunk” by Gina Burke

“Milk Run” by Samuel Yates

“The Fog” by Kathleen Shapona

“THE HITCHING POST” by Julia Corliss

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone saying, “We’re running out of time.”

Write a story about someone who feels increasingly irrelevant.

Write a story — romantic or not — about two characters who can’t find the right timing.

Write a story about an object that has been around for centuries or passed down generations.

Contest #154

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

112

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: