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

8490+ 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 567

Night Over Odessa

Submitted to Contest #296

"The sea whispers secrets to those who dare, but it keeps the cost for itself." — O.B.Ostap Bender squinted through the haze of cigarette smoke, the tang of salt and diesel thick in the humid air of Odessa's port. It was July 1927, and the Black Sea coast pulsed with life—dockworkers hauling crates, gulls screeching over the waves, and the murmur of illicit deals threading through the chaos.Ostap had drifted into town ten days ago, a lean figure in a threadbare jacket, chasing whispers of a Turkish gold shipment snared by Soviet customs. The...

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Fine China

Submitted to Contest #295

CW: brief mention of death but has a positive endingIn a rural town in Connecticut, there was a sweet-hearted family: The Meads. Luke and Debbie were siblings, 16 and 18. They were visiting their maternal grandmother for the weekend before Debbie's graduation party. They're all sitting in the living room, the white walls brighten the room in the warmth of June. Although the tan carpet and dull sage chairs are enough to bore even the most boring people. The mini television, quiet, playing old cartoons on repeat. Luke crosses his legs and trie...

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The Tyche Effect

Submitted to Contest #295

On the final day of his sabbatical, Ananke of Kvantheim sat inside the window of Flat White Noise, Clatterdown’s finest café, basking in blissful equilibrium.The sleepy, coastal hamlet he’d escaped to following a traumatic ordeal at Axis Spire was his kind of place. Quiet. Slow. Dull with few unruly elements, ones that could be easily tamed. The tide ran on schedule, the weather followed a weekly rhythm, and the library, park, and gallery opened and shut like clockwork, attended by the same faces.Troy Bucknell, owner of the cafe where Ananke...

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Perchance to Dream

Submitted to Contest #296

Hot desert night, the Northern Lights and a hunky guy—I’m there. Or, I’m almost there, because he’s driving my old Falcon wagon and we’re forty minutes out of Tucson, and we’re about to pull off the road and put a bottle of wine and a wedge of desert moon to work. My goosebumps are getting goslings just thinking about it. Well, lemme back up a bit—I don’t want to sound like I’m frothing at the mouth to body-slam a boy I barely know. But hey, I’ve been in Tucson eight months and the only dates I’ve had have been from the deli section. When La...

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The Last Stand

Submitted to Contest #296

Chapter 1: The Precipice of Despair In the heart of a crumbling metropolis, where the skyline was jagged and shadows loomed larger than the sun, twenty-three-year-old Alex Mercer found himself at the brink of survival. The city, once a beacon of hope, had devolved into a treacherous jungle ruled by gangs and corruption. Society, in its insatiable greed, had abandoned its most vulnerable, leaving them to fend for themselves in the ruins of what was once a thriving community. Alex's life had changed dramatically six months ago. He was a colleg...

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What do you do if the heist you are trying to pull off sends you to another realm?

Submitted to Contest #295

“Remember what we agreed on, Gerald?”“Sure thing, Toni. We pop the lock, take the goods and split 50/50”“60/40”“55/45” “60/40”“57.4/42.6?”“60/40.” Toni stabs a glare in Gerald's general direction.“Right… 60/40. You remember the combo?”“Who do you think I am? Yes, I remember. This will be as easy as that one time before.”“What, that one (and only) time you managed to swipe a couple of your mum's cigs but felt so bad you ended up buying her two new packs?”“Shut up, Gerald”. The pace of the rusty old van picks up as they are short on time. HR a...

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Rain, Sleet or Shine; Where to Mr. Postman?

Submitted to Contest #295

Prompt: Write about a portal or doorway that is hiding in plain sight. Rain, Sleet or Shine; Where to Mr. Postman? When meeting someone for the first time a typical question is often asked about their profession or occupation. When I respond that I am a postal carrier I am usually answered with silence or an indifferent, grunting sigh. I unashamedly respond with the postal creed, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays the postal courier from the swift completion of one’s appointed rounds.” I then add, “You would be surp...

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The Villa

Submitted to Contest #296

The Villa ANKEThe Villa wasn’t anything really grand. There was no acreage of grape vines or olive trees or anything exotic, just a comfortable welcoming place, roomy enough with pockets of space to be alone or together, with air to breathe where winds had flirted away the dust. Water pumped from a deep well fed a large pond swirling with colourful goldfish and a fountain spraying delicate mist over the water lilies. It was dreamy and yet real enough to stay there, rustic with familiar edges. It had a good reputation in the Trident Galax...

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Stuck as a unicorn

Submitted to Contest #295

I am Liana. I'm a whopping 930 ibs and have four legs. There is also something pointy sticking out from my head. Yes, I am a unicorn. People say I'm not, but I am. One night I wished on a fairy and I became a unicorn. I think. They destroyed all the mirrors in my house. They said it was ‘for my safety’ but I don't know what they mean by that. People often say "I'm ‘living in a fantasy world” Is that what they call earth now? I wouldn’t know. I’ve kind of been… separated from society. It started a day ago. I was a unicorn living in the pretti...

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EARTH NEVER-MORE

Submitted to Contest #295

“You all knew and revered her as ‘Kah-Mandea Two-Blades’. But my lady… your Queen, will forever be remembered in my heart with the name she was known by in our home-world. My sweet, beloved Amanda.”King Kar-P’Tah paced out the words slowly and deliberately, as his piercing hazel-eyes fought back the well-spring of tears that threatened to overwhelm them. The vast torches that lined the promenade like gargantuan stone sentinels cast an orange hue not only upon the kings’ aged and careworn features, but also the vast mass of creatures massed a...

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Tanzania – The End of the Line

Submitted to Contest #295

“The new colonizers wear suits, not helmets. Laws and contracts are their guns.”– Ch.12: The New EraThe Indian Ocean surged in, its waves crashing against Africa’s shoreline. Furaha curled her toes deep in the sand, feeling the grit as she looked toward Zanzibar. The hot sun pressing down on her shoulders was offset by a cool offshore breeze.She clutched her dad's paperback in her lap. The book had been his and now it was hers. She opened to a page in the last chapter:“Western civilization has a single-minded obsession to “increase the GDP”,...

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Get On Board

Submitted to Contest #295

I sighed while shutting the door to the garage. Another day repairing ships for the Magan Empire, another measly handful of credit to lose towards rent and food (if I was lucky). I looked out to the floating metropolis Siler, capital of the Empire. I was caught in a sea of a faceless mob, a distant star amongst billions in this universe, and I couldn’t be more content with that. Of course, it would help if I had a little more cash, but beggars can’t be choosers. I thought back on today, reflecting on which project to work on first the follo...

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Pot's Plight

Submitted to Contest #295

Considering the available options of what pots had been used for in the past—with purposes varying from fermenting vegetables to holding excrement—this pot in particular found its purpose to be reasonable, for a time. Serving the purpose of holding dirt, plants, flowers, and other miscellaneous gardening endeavors was a simple and calm exercise. One might call it too calm, if they were in such circumstances as the ones this pot was in at the time. You see, before it had come to this monumental occasion, this humble pot had been just that: a ...

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Best Money I ever spent.

Submitted to Contest #295

Dave leisurely strolled through the Home and Garden show, passing booths hawking all sorts of home-related wares. He stopped at a couple of booths, but his heart wasn’t really in them. He’d only agreed to come as an escape from his stressful and tedious job as a programmer.His wife Beth ushered him along, stopping at several more booths offering interior lighting products. “We really need this for the living room,” she said, excitedly jamming the brochure into the bag with the others. “What do you think?”“Whatever you want,” he replied, dist...

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Terrasolis: The Doorway of Dawn

Submitted to Contest #295

“Ivy, table #10 needs more napkins!” the manager shouted in a hurry.It was another busy day at the local café, where Ivy worked. She darted between tables serving food and drinks like a bumblebee.“Coming!” answered Ivy, not sure if the manager was there. He was like a ghost — one moment he’s here, the next he is gone. After years of working here, she had grown used to the chaos and constant motion, but today was especially crowded and worse than usual — it felt like the day was never going to end.Sweat trickled down her forehead slowly as sh...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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