Write a story set in a world with a dying sun, or where light is a scarce resource.

Posted in Science Fiction on Jan 5, 2024

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✍️ 65 stories

“We, The Left Behind” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #232

We are the left behind, the ones who didn’t make the cut, the unlucky.When The Arc was created, they said the positions on board would be determined by ballot. Funny how that random selection process took one hundred percent of the rich and famous, the billionaires, the influencers, the celebrities and politicians. Oh, they took others too, the unnamed and unknown. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, all randomly selected. Families were torn apart by the horrible choice, either stay together and die, or separate for a chance at life. M...

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“The Sinners of a Planet Gone Dark” by Susy G

Submitted to Contest #232

[Content warning: mild physical violence, death] Apocalypses don’t happen in sudden, drama-injected catastrophes like in the movies. They happen slowly—painstakingly—while half of the planet tries to convince the other half that it’s all a hoax, that the sun can’t possibly go out, that it’s just a government plot to drive up stock prices or hide trackers in our drinking water or whatever the conspiracy theory of the day is. The sun might not have technically ‘gone out’ yet, but it’s close. Each morning grows that much darker. Kids don’t e...

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“A Crying Shame” by D'Spencer Luyao

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #232

Trigger warnings: main character death, murder, implied suicide. The sun was always there, and it was an unsung luxury to not have to think about it. I wish I knew enough about it to tell you why we started to. I wish I had known enough about it to do something. Maybe I did. Maybe we all did. The concern began long before I was born: Global Warming. Always talked about in big, important letters, everywhere that...

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“The Thief” by Emily Heneisen

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #232

I duck behind a crumbling wall, dropping to my knees on cold dirt. The sharp edge catches my shoulder, the jagged brick ripping open my skin. Burning pain shoots through my arm, a silent cry squeezing its way through my throat. And that’s all it is: a soundless echo of pain, a reverberation that I refuse to give voice to. I clamp my mouth shut, hoping my moment of shock was inaudible in the night air. The taste of metal– of copper– coats my mouth and I realize I’ve bitten my tongue in the frenzy. I open my mouth again and spit crimson onto t...

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“We Are Sorry for the Inconvenience” by Jeanne Savelle

Submitted to Contest #232

This is what we tell the newborns. We apologize for the inconvenience. We don’t explain. We just tell them, hoping that one day they will understand. We had to go underground to survive. We were the hunted, relentlessly so. That was 40 years ago, and still, we remain out of the light of the life-giving sun. There will be no reprieve. Those who remained on the surface blotted out all joy. Those of us from before, the ones who remember the sun and the moon, most of them went insane. I was there at the beginning of our exile. I was 9 ye...

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“The Eternal Light of the Ten Song Lantern” by John Werner

Submitted to Contest #232

Darkness lay like a blanket over the peaks and valleys of the Spires of Hildefund. The pale moonlight bounced off the ribbon of the snow-crusted pass, Gelvira’s crunching footprints the only blemish upon the pristine meandering track. It was rare that the Sisterhood of the Ten Song Lantern sent its priestesses above ground. Rarer still was it that they were sent without the accompaniment of a Swordsinger, those brave and noble warriors who were sworn to protect them.Gelvira’s boots were warm, crafted in the way of the People of the Hovihar, ...

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“Rebirth on Xenoscythe” by Kevin Marlow

Submitted to Contest #232

Jagged spears of light sliced through the dome of the cavern. The planet Xenoscythe's sun, Aerialis spun in a perpetual dance with its barren rocky surface. Its scant rays fed the underground cathedral rock amphitheaters through rifts in the crust, allowing life to survive under the surface. Vast rippling pools of fresh water were ringed with igneous rock formations bursting with gold and green mosses, giant leafed ferns, purple flowers, succulent fruits, amphibians, and tiny flitting red finches. The sounds of the waterfall splashing into t...

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“Dusk to Dusk” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #232

It has taken three years to reach this shitball of clay. The mining company I work for had sent a rover in advance to look for precious ores. The report they received back from the rover was that the upper regions of the planet consisted primarily of nickel. It also reported that it found no forms of life. With that information under their belts, they assembled a crew of miners, of which I am one.The planet is RKT 607, and it circles a red dwarf sun. The planet rotates just enough to have a small amount of gravity bu...

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“Illuminance” by Malia Kao

Submitted to Contest #232

The digging call reverberated throughout the network of tunnels. Kitsi filled his lamp with the pieces of illuminance he had placed next to his resting pad and a dull red light emanated from it. It felt warm and comforting as he briefly held it against him. He carefully crawled out of the hole leading from his living quarters. Further into the tunnel, he saw the dim glow of the other lamps as they emerged from their holes. He skittered over to meet them as they began funneling to the assignment room. They flowed like a river of red down the ...

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“Lightning Thief” by Fi Brie

Submitted to Contest #232

1023 P.N 21:00 I failed. I failed Her. And now I am running, chest heaving, stumbling over peaked dunes, kicking up the red dirt on Surface Hill, aware of the shouts and pounding feet behind me. My heavy sack bangs against my legs and I consider tossing it into a crate, but the precious cargo within will take me an eternity to gain back. I have a lengthy run ahead - over a mile, across unstable Surface terrain, down sandy banks, through my hole in the boundary fence back into the Depths, then along backstreets until I reach my ...

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“Outbreak on TRAPPIST-1e” by Sara Thomas

Submitted to Contest #232

Aquarius Constellation: TRAPPIST-1 - Red Dwarf. Spectral class M8.0±0.5.TRAPPIST-1e – Exoplanet.40 years after the crash landing of the Res Obscura. Crew: 22,300. Survivors: 20,987.*** Zora was already starting to regret her actions. She marched quickly down the semi-dark corridor. Thin tubes of dull blue light pulsed in the floor and the ceiling.Zora’s hand brushed periodically over her pocket. Still there. The relief was short lived and moments later the urge to check again was overwhelming. The thud, thud of her boots and the swish o...

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“The Sunpeople” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #232

“Come on, let’s get these lines pulled.”Brady checked his watch. “You still want to get this delivery done today?”“I do. They’re waiting for us, and I don’t want to disappoint them. I feel sorry for them in a way.”“Who? The sunpeople? Or the staff having to deal with them?”She sighed. It was a conversation that would no doubt turn into a debate, and she was in no mood. It was almost 10:30 and they only had ninety minutes before the sun came up and her to do list was longer than she would have liked. Sh...

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“The Light in Burning Eggs” by Jacqari Hill

Submitted to Contest #232

She contemplated going back to sleep. She should have. The smell of something burning is what made her toss the covers back and hop out of the bed. “Mom?” Someone was cooking. Her dad didn’t cook, so it had to be her mom. As the smell of smoke became stronger, she lowered her mouth into the crook of her elbow and coughed up a lung. As she rounded the corner, the unmistakable cloud of smoke wafted up from the kitchen. Waving smoke out of the way, she went to see what it possibly could be, and she was greeted with a pan on th...

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“Forever Ochre” by Tim Dudenhoefer

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #232

To be honest, I feel a little hornswoggled. That’s a great word, isn’t it? Roll it around in your mouth a little bit, “Hornswoggled.” It’s a mouthful and sounds lovely, so impressive and playful. It simply means hoaxed. And if you think about it, the word lives up to itself. It’s a game of a word, sounding cute and fun, that you can use to trick someone into doing things. Pretty sneaky, if you ask me. Anyhow, paint me hornswoggled. I took the job—well, l was talked into taking it—by my very persuasive agent, Stella. “Girl, it will be gre...

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“Residuum” by Joseph Manopello

Submitted to Contest #232

Most of us believe - or hope - that at least some aspects of our lives and the world around us hold a degree of permanence. Though we exchange idioms such as "nothing is certain but death and taxes," we also say "the earth will keep turning," and put some faith in immutability - the love for our children, the phases of the moon, the certainty that the sun will predictably rise and set every morning. However, the universe also seems to tell us that absolutely nothing is unchangable, that nothing remains as it is forever. Hang around long enou...

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Write a story set in a world with a dying sun, or where light is a scarce resource.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 65 stories

“We, The Left Behind” by Michelle Oliver

“The Sinners of a Planet Gone Dark” by Susy G

“A Crying Shame” by D'Spencer Luyao

“The Thief” by Emily Heneisen

“We Are Sorry for the Inconvenience” by Jeanne Savelle

“The Eternal Light of the Ten Song Lantern” by John Werner

“Rebirth on Xenoscythe” by Kevin Marlow

“Dusk to Dusk” by Ralph Aldrich

“Illuminance” by Malia Kao

“Lightning Thief” by Fi Brie

“Outbreak on TRAPPIST-1e” by Sara Thomas

“The Sunpeople” by Hannah Lynn

“The Light in Burning Eggs” by Jacqari Hill

“Forever Ochre” by Tim Dudenhoefer

“Residuum” by Joseph Manopello

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story during polar night.

Write a story about someone witnessing — or trying to witness — a celestial phenomenon.

Write a story about someone who has been tasked to keep a flame burning, surrounded by total darkness.

Write a story about someone looking for a sign in a dark sky.

Contest #232

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

106

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: