Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of adventure short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

8570+ Adventure Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From riding the high sea to climbing behemoth mountains, there isn’t any action that’s out of reach when it comes to adventure stories.

Adventure Short Stories – Page 210 of 572

The Last of the Glory Days

Submitted to Contest #163

The sun broke through the trees and streamed bands of gold in through the tent window and into Jay’s eyes. He tried to turn over but the direct sunlight was making his head hot. ‘I just need to get up and get going’ he thought as he tried to find a way to get comfortable on his old Army cot. He hated that cot, because it always smelled of mildew from years of storage up in the rafters of his garage, but he hated sleeping on the ground even more.As Jay sat up he felt the blood rush from his head, making him a little dizzy. “I drank too much l...

9 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

The Bold and the Bashful (or Time Fortunate)

Submitted to Contest #163

Time travel isn’t supposed to be possible. Hell, it’s not even probable. In fact it’s damn near the most improbable thing you’re expecting to hear about, especially given my situation. I’ve been in some tight jams before. But this? This one really takes the cake. Hell, this one takes the cake, the whole cake and nothing but the cake. If I was a gambler then I would comfortably tell you to put your money on my happy ass having extreme difficulties figuring out how to get out of this one. There I was: shirt untucked, pants down…did I mention I...

9 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

A Man of Business

Submitted to Contest #162

Selected Excerpts from the Travel Log of Mr. Charles Edward Rutherford December 2, 1826 Johnson announced he would turn back today. This late in the year, he said, there’s no chance we shall find passage across the Teton Range before the snows come. He pleaded with me to join him; told me the chances of a greenhorn like myself surviving a snowstorm in the wilderness are exceedingly slim. But I promised Fisk that I would not return to the Colorado settlement without documenting a route through the Tetons. Competition in the fur trapping b...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

I Am A Savior

Submitted to Contest #163

I am a savior.You might recognize me as Dr. Aldaine.My self-healing books touched millions. Their voices flutter, grasping at a rope I provided. Tears from calloused eyes ripple like waves in my soul. It’s easy. Too easy. Psychology is an easy subject. It’s so moving.Saccharine words echo from a hollowed mouth. My mouth. Words don’t need to have any meaning. A person on edge looks for any hopeful glimpse—like a tightrope walker. Their minds, beaten with despair, glisten with rage.Rich authors can write poor characters. Pigs can feast like gi...

26 likes 13 comments 13
Read story

Carnation Falls

Submitted to Contest #162

Rachelle peared over the top of the diner menu at her newlywed husband Mathias. He was carefully reading the plethora of options to find some much needed breakfast. "See anything good?" Rachelle had already made up her mind on pancakes and breakfast sausages.  He grinned and kept his eyes on the menu, "I'll let you know soon." It was a running joke that she was always first to decide about anything they did. After they were married, Rachelle and Mathias immediately left for the Canadian north to search for a legendary ghost town. ...

11 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

Cheesy Kid's Stuff

Submitted to Contest #162

By the time Gilbert Einstein opened his eyes, the sun had already risen and with it, birds were singing songs to their loved ones. The rustling of leaves accompanied nature’s orchestra and was crescendoed by children’s laughter, and a cloudless sky perfected the scene. For Gilbert, this was icing on the cake, for what made today great wasn’t the weather. It was Saturday. No school, no homework, and best of all, no spelling test. Not wanting to waste a second of his free time, Gilbert jumped out of bed, greeted the poster of his honorary un...

12 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Lead Salad Anyone?

Submitted to Contest #162

“It’s perfectly tender now,” said the mother. “Peeling off the bone. Just how you like it.”            “Not overcooked, I hope,” said the father. A dribbling tongue scraped across chapped lips.            Flames licked at the meat on the spit, turning black and glistening with fat. Splitting, cracking sounds from the fire echoed back from the silhouettes of the trees around the clearing. Stars winked down from the distant p...

31 likes 37 comments 37
Read story

The Brave Lad & The Chef

Submitted to Contest #162

“Eat every single dish that you find across the lands, and you will surely find that these chef’s two hands. Make better than any elf, dwarf, or human chef of expertise The yummiest and most delicious sandwich of gooey grilled cheese!”‘Twas the boasting of the great and prideful orcish chef.Across these wild lands, they all say he is the best.But the brave little lad had no spare time to lend an ear,for a quest he was pursuing and off-track, he would not veer.For the land that he came from, his hometown was at stake. He mustn’t dawdle one mo...

12 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

My first Day in the kitchen!

Submitted to Contest #162

                Have you ever gotten that tiny little sensation where it feels like butterflies tickle your stomach? Normally that would mean you’re feeling anxious, nervous, or just worried about what’s to come, but I’ll be honest…This, was different. It was my first day working in a real kitchen—and not just one of those run of the mill restaurants that you see on the side of the main road in any given city, but actual fine-dining! I was static, like I was at t...

14 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

Fear in the Dark

Submitted to Contest #161

Akari was panting hard as she looked at the creatures around her. Some were on her side, others were her attackers. The stupid bush-faced mayor. He sent out a child in the place of an adult. She was a sacrificial lamb to these monsters in a sense, because she was an orphan. Very few would miss her. She knew it to be true. Her sword was covered in the blood of the monsters before her, both parties still standing despite injuries. She swung her sword once more, clearing a path for her dog and herself to run. She was a beast tamer, but sometime...

3 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest

Submitted to Contest #161

         Now, this fairy tale here concerns a young fellow named Frankie Lee and his encounter with the mysterious Judas Priest. Well, saying Frankie Lee lived a charming life would be an understatement. He had more money than his grandchildren could spend and a red-headed gal that would soon become his bride. She was finer than frog’s hair split four ways. Bless her mighty soul! Ya’ll folks wouldn’t believe me if I said this, but Mary Ann was the prettiest gal from Texas all the way to West Virgi...

5 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Hidden Power

Submitted to Contest #161

    At the far end of the garden there stood a stone wall whose ancient edifice was covered by creeping vines. A stately elm tree grew just outside the wall on the bank of a brook that ran East to West along the length of the property. Robert had often sat with his back against that wall in the shade of the stately elm, listening to the babble of the brook, while reading a favorite book. Unlike his school books, which he despised reading, the stories he read by the wall were full of adventure. They contained stories about boys...

5 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Funny Man

Submitted to Contest #161

The steam from his breath collected into a condensation on the window and it would disappear and reappear every time he inhaled and exhaled. When it would appear, it encircled his face and mask the world outside.His fifth avenue apartment view stretches across Central Park and out to the New York City skyline.He presses his forehead on the glass window. Feeling the cool air that slips through the spiderweb cracked glass, gazing below counting the yellow taxis that drove by.One. Two. Three.But he lost count.One. Two. Three.His apartment, donn...

3 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Swings and Roundabouts

Submitted to Contest #161

A bird’s eye view of suburban city streets, dotted with pocket parks, the streets mainly gridded, with occasional smaller streets jutting off at odd angles; at the center, a roundabout with four exiting streets from the circle, the small park in its center about a half block in diameter. From above, the bushes are like broccoli crowns that encircle the gnarly limbed old oak in the center. The branches between the leafy canopy appear black. There are old fashioned iron framed park benches facing the western and eastern streets.A small re...

4 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Shrimp Incident of '92

Submitted to Contest #162

The Shrimp Incident of ‘92 It was the spring of 1992 in my third year of Hotel and Restaurant Management school when two other students and I were chosen for a weekend internship at a fancy resort on Lake Powell. Lake Powell is the largest lake in Arizona and is most famous for its Rainbow Bridge. There was no way that I could have known that this would forever change my life. After they had bought us breakfast and introduced us to the various department managers, we started our internship work. It was mostly shadowing the managers to se...

9 likes 2 comments 2
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.