3570+ American Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for great American short stories you can read for free? Whether they’re written by American authors, set in the USA, or just have that ever-elusive quality of Americana, this is the page you’re looking for.

🏆 Winning stories

“Hearts Are Trump” by Sarah Coury

🏆 Winner of Contest #246

Uncle Abe and Uncle Will haven’t played cards together in years. If you want to get real technical about it, Uncle Abe and Uncle Will haven’t even shared the same room in years, but that ain’t news to anyone east of Livernois. By now, the entire city of Detroit knows about Abraham and William Haddad—at least those who regularly stop into the family party store for their weekly supply of meats, spirits, and fresh-baked pita. It’s old news. Two bitter brothers broken up over a girl who left town anyway. It’s been ages and the aunties need fres...

83 likes 59 comments 59

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“Multiple Choice” by Zack Powell

🏆 Winner of Contest #198

Okay class! Pop quiz. If you've been doing the readings, this should be a piece of cake. Remember to fill out both sides of this paper. You have the whole class period to finish. Good luck.1. Christopher Columbus first traveled to the Americas using which means of transportation?A) A cargo shipB) A steam locomotiveC) A Boeing 747 airliner D) A vintage red 1985 Camaro with a crack in the middle of the windshield and no heated seats2. What is the term for the pilgrims leaving England to journey to America?A) ImmigrationB) EmigrationC) Mig...

257 likes 186 comments 186

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“The Bullet that Esther Stopped” by Delbert Griffith

🏆 Winner of Contest #196

II shot papa square in the heart but he didn’t die. That damn bible he carried with him saved his life. I was considerable lucky that papa had his axe at hand, and that he kept it sharp. I picked it up. It was a heavy thing, so I swung with all my might and put it right through his head. Seein’ his brains made me throw up. I moved away so it wouldn’t get on papa. That would be disrespectful.Papa was a big man. I couldn’t bury him like that, so I started choppin’ off his arms and legs with the axe. I was down to the right leg when Sheriff Cul...

163 likes 208 comments 208

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⭐️ Recommended stories

“Mandy Could Shoot” by Frances Gaudiano

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #255

Mandy could shoot. She could shoot better than any girl she ever met, any man too, but you didn’t go around telling men that. Men around here wouldn’t date a girl that was better than them and she did like going out on dates – getting all dolled up with her best outfit and putting on make-up. She liked when they picked her up in their newly cleaned truck and took her to dinner, or the cinema and they paid her way. Men around here were old-fashioned. That was fine with her. She’d smile, showing off the dimple in her left cheek and say, ‘Sure ...

22 likes 6 comments 6

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“Mike Buford's Last Life” by AR R

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #246

I’m standing on the corner of 48th and 8th outside of Duffy’s Ale House, waiting for Buford to light a cigarette, knowing that, like most things he attempts, eventually he’ll succeed. But it won’t be easy. Not because it’s complicated, but because Buford complicates the uncomplicated. He creates pitfalls and snags and obstacles if only because Buford won’t attempt anything unless it’s handled like one exhaustive, endless, mind-numbing game.“You have to fuck them to win, Muck,” Buford says, cigarette dangling from his rubbery lips. And they a...

16 likes 7 comments 7

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“Polar Night” by Nick Baldino

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

“Give me that thing” Chunhui grabs the cigarette from Bobby’s hand. There is a moment where their fingers touch, the warmest feeling in Alaska’s Northern Slope, and then it is gone. “No need to get handsy,” Bobby says to her. His voice is a dead whisper against the sweeping brown coastline, but she can hear him. They’re sitting shoulder to shoulder on the dried-out vertebrae of a bowhead whale. “You wish, cheechako.” Her lips are around the filter now, pursed in a way he has never seen. Bobby is glad to be under six inches of parka- hi...

18 likes 6 comments 6

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✍️ All stories

“A Kind of Magic...” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #281

Okay, this is really not my fault.I am now in a very different spot than I’m used to (buzz). And I really did not expect the screaming and the trip through the air like that (buzz buzz). So dark, too…But let me talk a little about myself and you might have a bit of sympathy about my plight.Buzz…Many years back (buzz), according to my manufacture date, I was put together in a factory in (buzz) a country that many of you read about online, and yet know so little about. It may seem strange that I can remember my (buzz) date of birth – such a st...

14 likes 10 comments 10

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“The Vending Machine ” by Abby Harris

Submitted to Contest #281

The wind blew through the open window of my shabby motel room. The window, not by choice, had been ajar due to its age and the cracked seal around it. I hadn’t anticipated being snowed in for three days on my journey back from Chicago. Life had been full of surprises. My stomach growled in protest at the lack of food it had endured during those days of being snowed in. There had been no delivery services in that little town, and there certainly hadn’t been a cab willing to brave two feet of snow to take me to the nearest fast-food restaurant...

4 likes 0 comments 0

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““Sayemontess- The Death of a Loved One.” #ReedsyHoliday” by Tucker Sloan

Submitted to Contest #281

“Sayemontess- The Death of a Loved One.” Trigger Warning: this short story contains Strong Violent Content and Gore, Sexual Content, Nudity, Harrowing Situations, and Suspence.As Sonja blared Maria Callas’s, “Tosca, Act II: Vissi d’ arte,” she took to the stage at Sayemontess. It was located in the beautiful rose-filled courtyard that had wonderfully creative statues of sweet cherubims. This was where all of the events would take place- from public humiliations, plays, executions, and so forth. Fun stuff. “Richard,” said Sonja, and...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“The Old Guard” by David Ader

Submitted to Contest #281

Rufus woke with another itch. It was the weather, of course, and the room. The room was too hot, the weather too dry, and he itched. He itched to the point of scratching away skin, bleeding on his bed, and feeling embarrassed by it but not nearly as ashamed as when he fell asleep on the couch. Incontinence. That wasn’t the first time; there’d been more “episodes” as the others would say. Poor old codger. Rufus wasn’t getting old; he was already old. It must have been yesterday surely when he’d had the energy to play with everyone. Laugh when...

12 likes 4 comments 4

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“Eve of Repentance” by Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #281

New York City12/24/1928 Ritzy piano fills the halls of Benjamin’s mansion with a bombastic tune of Jingle Bells. As the exquisitely tailored host himself peers from the top of his staircase upon the sea of glimmering acquaintances, prancing with drinks in hand, Benjamin M. Kent thinks how thankful he was to be in here rather than in the unrelenting Christmas Eve cold. How gracious was he to invite so many to this party on such a harsh night. How lucky was he to carry such distinguished company, Benjamin told himself, coming down the stairs t...

5 likes 4 comments 4

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“Migration” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #281

The gull saw the husband explaining why he didn’t know how to change a tire. He had told his wife on their first date seven years ago that he knew how to change a tire. He crowed about it over linguine at Nino’s Bistro. Somehow, in all those years, neither he nor his wife had ever gotten a flat tire. Now, they were on their way to her mother’s house for a holiday dinner, and the passenger’s side tire was a goner. There was a spare, but the husband didn’t know how to put it on, nor did he have the proper tools. He could have used the tools as...

15 likes 6 comments 6

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“The Boxer” by Tom Moser

Submitted to Contest #280

The signs were all there for the educated eye, starting with the footwork, the timing, the breathing. There was no snap to his jab, no crack in the right hook that his opponents had feared in the past. His gloves were increasingly used to shield and defend places not protected by headgear. The sparring partner danced around the aging boxer, effortlessly throwing punches at the shoulders, head, and midsection. Jake knew what he was watching as the two men continued working the ring. He had been a trainer for long enough to recognize the decli...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Lion's Den” by Nicole Ashcraft

Submitted to Contest #280

The erratic hum of chaos grows on the lawn outside my window as dozens of staff members scramble to finish last-minute preparations. The scene reminds me of when I kicked over anthills as a kid and tried to crush as many of them as I could while they searched frantically for their queen.Cupping my hands around my mouth, I chuckle and whisper, “Your king is here!”I never lost hope in the years leading up to this moment. When they had my back against the wall, I didn’t tap out. No one expected me to make a comeback, but the numbers didn’t lie ...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Lunch Date ” by John Affleck

Submitted to Contest #280

Oh, look. It was here, right here, that’s the place I met your father. That school right there. Which is strange because I know we’re in Canada and we aren’t Canadian. Those damn Canadians, always thinking every place is their country, Hahahahaha, see I can joke about it even though it’s strange. Like so many things are strange. Laugh in the face of fear, I’ve always said. Because he who laughs last laughs last. Canadians. I could teach them all a thing or two. And that’s funny, you know, because see that sign over there? It says Home of the...

5 likes 0 comments 0

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“There's Not A Ghost in My House” by JC Forrest

Submitted to Contest #280

"Sally, Sally, are you running from me, Sally?""I'm not running, Jessica.""You tried to leave before I could catch you.""I'm busy, Jessica. I work.""Meaning I don't work?""Let’s say you don’t do a 9 to 5?""Oh, I work, Sally. I work plenty. I work around the clock working.""If you call what you do work.""So that's another rumor you've been spreading about me? I’m a bum now?""I don’t spread rumors, Jessica.""My name is Jesse, and you know it, since you throw it around a lot!""You’re paranoid.""Oh, really? I’m paranoid? That’s why the whole con...

5 likes 0 comments 0

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“Listen to My Voice” by Pete Gautchier

Submitted to Contest #280

Prompt: Write a story that includes someone (or something) saying, “No don’t.”Listen to My Voice I was standing on the edge of the cliff when I whispered to myself “Go ahead jump. No one cares.” Then from out of nowhere I heard a voice shouting, “No don’t.”  I was shocked to hear a disembodied voice call out here in the middle of the wilderness. Why would anyone really care? My life has been a hodgepodge of shambled affairs. Why would it really matter if I jumped? My life has been filled with my own insecurities...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“The Bloody Ghost of Magdalena” by Poe M

Submitted to Contest #280

Trigger Warnings: This story contains references to but not depictions of underage drug/alcohol abuse, inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature towards a minor, and suicide. “There’s supposed to be a sword down there.” “A sword? In the well?” “Yeah. Way at the bottom.” “Like, a choppy, stabby – ” “Yeah. One of those.” “ – King Arthur dealies?” “Yeah. Like Excalibur.” “Or Ice.” “The Sword of Omens.” “Oath Keeper.” “Uh, Master Sword.” “Needle.” “Is that the only show with swords you’ve watched this century?” “I’m reading the books, give me a ...

7 likes 2 comments 2

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“THE CROSSING” by Aaron Schuck

Submitted to Contest #280

“You think the water’s gonna be this choppy the whole way?” “Would it matter? Ain’t like we’re turning back now.” “Don’t say that, man. Just trying to keep my breakfast where it belongs.” “Better get used to it, buddy. Breakfast might not be the only thing you lose.” “Come on, leave him alone. We’re all thinking it.” “Thinking what?” “That this is it. No more training exercises. No more drills. The real thing.” “Yeah, no kidding. The real thing. Bullets, bombs, and Krauts waiting to punch a hole in us soon as they get eyes on this tin can.” ...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“"Sayemontess: The Musty Dungeons." #ReedsyTalk” by Tucker Sloan

Submitted to Contest #280

Trigger Warning: This short story contains Mature Themes, some Strong Language, Sexual Content, Nudity, brief Suicidal Ideation, Alcohol Use, and Violent Content.“Sayemontess: The Musty Dungeons.”I thank the Lord for saving me from the dungeons. I was there for less than a day caught up in the labyrinth. I became heartbroken at the sight of many tortured corpses. I prayed. I prayed for my God to help me. How long must I stay here? Then I remembered I had absinthe. A gift. The perfect gift. I ingested the entire bottle straight. I could not f...

4 likes 2 comments 2

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“BJ in the Park” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Submitted to Contest #280

Sexual encounter Hi, I really like your dress. Oh yeah. Are you a dress maker? A designer A playboy?  What? None of the above. I’m just a guy with an eye.  Aha. I am going to let that one ride. Thank you for the compliment. Have a nice day. Wait. I have more. You’re beautiful, I can tell you are quite intelligent. Clearly you dress and I noticed that you are an elegant walker. And I can leap over tall buildings in a single bounce. God man, are you obtuse or what? Well, look, it’s not my fault that you are so beautiful. I just...

6 likes 0 comments 0

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