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

150+ 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 7 of 10

The road to Tickety-boo

Submitted to Contest #306

Kangaroo Point, April 1983We are about to leave Kangaroo Point in Brisbane and continue our journey north. The nights are getting cooler now and the sleeping bag is not enough. We need extra blankets. I let the sun warm me as I sit on the step outside the flat, sipping tea and looking out at the frangipani and paw paw trees where the fruit bats have done a raid through the night, leaving half eaten fruit all over the ground. We have spent almost four months in this old wooden collection of buildings from the 1920s, built on stilts to keep th...

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The Diary of Miss Elizabeth Perry

Submitted to Contest #306

Monday, 3 June 1695Golden Venture of Portsmouth3 weeks west of the Canary IslandsMy dear Diary,It has been almost two months since we left Portsmouth, and the Golden Venture now lags behind both the convoy of frigates with whom we travel, and our contracted gunship. The Canary Current and trade winds—so vital to any Atlantic crossing—seem to have left us behind. We have not seen their sails in days, and the captain grows more irritable each time I ask.I know the fault does not lie with the winds but with the ship herself. The ship groans wit...

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Mystery Musician

Submitted to Contest #306

It was wrong to look at someone’s journal. I knew that. Everyone knows that. However, it had been sitting in our lost and found for two months. Every month, I cleaned out the lost and found of the thrift store I worked at, gingerly fingering through each little trinket. There was a pacifier, a keychain with no keys attached, a single earring, and that journal. I threw all of the items in the trash- except the journal- with a forlorn sadness. I have always been the sort of person who believes even the smallest item is a reflection of its owne...

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What awaits beyond

Submitted to Contest #306

Login failed.What the –Login failed.No, why is this happening right now? I force the password aggressively down the neuralink again and retry logging in.Login successful with errors.Okay, whatever. That’s never happened before.The familiar path appears between the trees, and I advance quickly to the stone tower. I barely take in the arched trees and empty loot chests anymore, I just need to reach the Rift before the mission starts. Or I’m on my own with the mobs again.Welcome, weary traveler. Stupid unskippable NPC. Enter town, enter town, ...

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Thank You Mr. Bradbury

Submitted to Contest #306

Thank You, Mr. Bradbury 5 April 2025 Dear Lord, It has been a long time since I have written in this journal. However, it seems like my life has been full of pretending to be something I am not. Especially when it comes to the business, writing, and being a doctor. I really do enjoy writing, and I am being inspired by the different authors I am reading about or listening to on MasterClass, such as James Patterson, Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, Judy Blume, etc. It is very fascinating how they can create wonderful stories from their minds. ...

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Unfamiliar Sky

Submitted to Contest #306

[ FIELD LOG - S.S. HALFLIGHT ][ ENTRY 01 | 14 S.C.D. POST EXTRACTION ] I didn’t plan to write these. Another thing I left behind.I guess old habits really do die hard. You spend enough time in the field, and it becomes part of who you are. Log everything. Distance traveled. Supplies used. Enemies Killed. Your value, shrunk down to a series of clean, reliable numbers.No one is reading these logs. Just me. And the kid, maybe. If I don’t make it.Anything is better than what they want to make me.By my best estimate, we are about eight cosmic day...

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The Big Catch

Submitted to Contest #306

FADE IN: EXT. SEAPORT DOCK - DAY (ESTABLISHING).A FISHING BOAT docks on the pier at dawn. Fish are dumped off the boat and weighed dockside in a bin with a scale meter.The camera pans to where a large plume of black smoke hangs in the air inland off the bay.A MAN DRIVING A FORKLIFT drives a large crate of fish down the pier while seagulls hover. The forklift disappears into a bay door of the fish market compound. INT. FISH MARKET - DAY.Inside the fish market, WORKERS break down pallets and set up a fish stand. THE MAN WITH THE CLIPBOARD mark...

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The Volunteer's Diary

Submitted to Contest #306

Arrival: December 28th 2:37AMBaghranHelmand ProvinceAfghanistanCurrent time: 9:22PMMalvici's Salamander Minutes after our preservation team reached the temporary accommodations outside the village, a sandstorm blew in. No progress made towards specimen recovery. December 29th 5:19AM The sandstorm stopped. Offloading sand from tents and equipment. Not really sand, more of a fine silt. Like pulverized clay. It sticks to everything. Found the housing for a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) stuck in a drift of sandy silt next to my assigned Jeep. ...

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Into the Heliosphere - The God Particle Expedition

Submitted to Contest #306

May 13th, 2050 I will attempt to recreate yesterday’s events, though uncertain I can truly convey what we experienced. The day began at 0700. A quiet, somber atmosphere enveloped the galley as the team gathered for breakfast. Each member sat lost in thought, contemplating their role in the upcoming experiment. Anticipation and worry were etched on their faces. Some had been part of the Hadro project before, witnessing failures and the loss of colleagues in the pursuit to understand the universe. Others harbored doubts about the existence of...

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Quest For Inbox Zero

Submitted to Contest #306

Quest for Inbox ZeroLevel 1 – Tutorial ModeStanley Ruggles had worked in the Accounts Reconciliation Unit (ARU) of Finitech Solutions for five years. That’s what his employee file said. But today, something was off.When he woke up, he immediately tripped over his own feet getting out of bed, knocked his glasses off the nightstand, and burned his tongue on lukewarm coffee. This was not unusual.What was unusual was the floating text he could now see in the corner of his vision:OBJECTIVE: REPORT TO FLOOR 17 – “THE GRID” REWARD: 100 XP + 1 BAGEL...

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The Magician

Submitted to Contest #306

FADE IN: INT. THE MAGICIAN’S TOWERA young knight, LEO, stands in the center of a small room. The walls and doors are covered with long, thick, writhing green vines.Leo is short and strong, with light blonde hair and bright eyes.Leo swings a sword at one of the vines in front of the small door. The vine falls to the floor. Leo waits a moment, then hangs his head as the vine grows back, along with seven other vines.Leo gets to work cutting the vines again.Finally, Leo cuts the correct sequence of eight vines, causing all of the vines to withe...

4 likes 2 comments 2
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The Wizard Next Door Has WiFi

Submitted to Contest #306

Grindlelight was currently residing at Sunset Spoons Magical Retirement Village™—a name that, much like its wallpaper, had not aged well. It was less a retirement village and more a retirement sardine tin, where the prevailing philosophy seemed to be: how many sentient beings can we cram into one building without technically violating any housing policies? At least not too egregiously.A proud cog in the ever-churning Spoons Care Consortium™, Sunset Spoons was one of a dozen near-identical facilities sprinkled across the continent like mildew...

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Your pet has been found

Submitted to Contest #306

From: lostandfound@urbansafarirescue.orgTo: a.kapoor96@gmail.comSubject: URGENT: We’ve Found Your Pet Greetings Mr. Kapoor, We’re happy to inform you that Bartholomew has been found! Our volunteer Ajay located him near the Japanese Gardens on Sinhagad road, approximately 7 km from your registered address. He appears a bit disoriented but otherwise in excellent health. He even had his monocle intact when we found him, looking as distinguished as ever. Please confirm a time for pick-up. He’s been asking for you. With warmth and whiskers,Aditi ...

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Echoes of Plano

Submitted to Contest #306

Echoes of PlanoOptions:New Game: Begin your Resonance journey.Load Game: Resume a previous play through.Settings: Adjust Resonance Sensitivity, UI Aesthetics, Ambient Sounds of Plano.Prologue: The Lingering Note (Tutorial Level)Objective: Decipher the Resonance of your Graduation Cap.Cut scene: Your character, Echo, lies in bed, sunlight filtering through the blinds. A notification pops up on your internal "Resonance Reader" (visualized as subtle shimmering overlays on the environment): Object Resonance Detected: Graduation Cap.Gameplay: You...

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Lincoln's Special Horses Team, Mission Sheri Lynn, a silent film

Submitted to Contest #306

Lincoln's Special Horses TeamMission Sheri Lynn***These days, folks are well aware of elite Special Forces units. Few people are aware of President Lincoln's covert Special Horses Team and their early martial arts training. One team specialized in covert Congressional oversight. During my time at the National Archives, I discovered, buried deep in the basement, a report from a Black Ops Unit penned by Captain "Doc" Elijah Humphries. The sole report referencing the team, I assume, was misfiled from its proper place in the President's archives...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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