Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

3890+ 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.

American Short Stories – Page 3 of 260

The Seventy Mile Per Hour Blur is the Big Event

Submitted to Contest #301

I drank a vanilla milkshake at the Dairy Queen, walked down the sidewalk to the liquor store, bought a fifth of Cutty Sark scotch, went back to my motel room, stripped off my clothes, and lay naked on the bed. I hadn’t touched a drop the whole way out here, but now I needed a shot or two to fall asleep.For the past two days, all I wanted was to see was the world streaming past me from the cab of my pickup, the steady growl of the engine purring in my ears like a big cat. I watched the tree-covered mountains of northern Georgia flatten into t...

7 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Het Cingel

Submitted to Contest #301

This isn’t what I signed up for, not even close—internalizing now the soon realized sentiment. Lance Fortnite watches; Wall Street sizzling in debauchery, all too manipulation, greed, and corporate theft. Thinks, pays well yes, but morals that float afar from its compass never maintain. As well being an African American in the late 80’s he could not blind eye the related trauma of deception, only now he sits on the scopes “other side”. Morals shaken about as if cupped in the palms of dice players rolling for wins—lucks assisted fortunes.Octo...

3 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Gremlins of Fate

Submitted to Contest #301

“Wait, you’re charging me $2,150? Seriously?” The service associate behind the counter kept his cool and tapped the customer bill with a manicured nail. “Yes. Parts, labor, shop fees. Your car was leaking oil, so we had to replace the head gasket.” Like everyone should know what a head gasket is. Isabella gulped. Staring at the total—$2,150—didn’t help. Nothing changed. With her MasterCard close to maxing out, she had to do something. He handed her the bill. “I just need you to sign here, please.” She went for a pleading puppy look, eyebro...

3 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Sound of the Broken Glass

Submitted to Contest #301

It was a regular Tuesday at the end of summer in Winter Park, a typical small village lost in the hills of Colorado. Children attended kindergarten and school while their parents worked in stores, markets, etc. The town was bustling with its usual activities.Anna woke up early, her mind filled with the day’s tasks. Monotony settled over her as she thought about her daily routine. After completing her hygiene chores, she mechanically prepared breakfast for her children. It was such a smooth-running occurrence that she could do it with her eye...

4 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Monday Morning

Submitted to Contest #301

I spilled his coffee this morning. On the sun bleached marble, in the kitchen he paid for. My husband sighed deeply behind me at my mistake, while sitting at the island, checking work emails.While scrolling and tapping he said, “You should eat, babe.” Cause I’m always so shaky. He says I’d have anxiety if it actually existed.I placed the coffee pot back in the machine, picked up his black Sunriver mug to rinse out in the sink. Coffee had spilled along the exterior, and my husband likes clean things, so I must clean this before I pour him ano...

3 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Chickenhawk

Submitted to Contest #301

The Chickenhawk An Anecdotal Short Story By Gus A. Miklos 3 May 2025 William “Onion” Blessing was 10 years old when he had his fateful encounter with the chickenhawk. His nickname was “Onion” because he was fair-skinned and freckled, with a mop of red hair that he wore in a spiked flat-top, so he looked like a little upside-down green onion. He was also not the brightest bulb in the Blessing household. He lived on a nice farm in the Midwest that consisted of the main house, the barn, other assorted buildings, and som...

7 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Little Max

Submitted to Contest #301

Little MaxTrigger Warning- Inspired by true events, this short story contains violence towards insects. If you love insects- you might want to read something else. Otherwise, I would rate this story R for Disturbing Content. Now buckle up for a fun ride where nearly every quote is from real life.Part One- The Misery is Real. If You Don’t Kill Them- They Can Kill You.I’ve killed hundreds of thousands of hideous insects, because I find them disgusting. You kill them when you drive. You kill them when you walk. You kill them when they climb out...

3 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Perfect

Submitted to Contest #301

“Thankyouthankyou, Trinity!” Claire stands in the Town of Buck Rub’s Country Club lobby, looking like Bridal Guide Magazine threw up all over her. “I know it should’ve been Mom who organized the wedding, but she’s busy with Husband Number Five—” (eye roll). “In Paris.” (Second eye roll).Yeah. Merci, Mom.Claire continues. “So, I really, really appreciate my wonderful big sister taking charge of pulling this off. I can’t believe it! Bob and I are getting married in thirty minutes!” She squeals, clutching her lacy, white dress, sounding 16. B...

3 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Guaranteed Ones

Submitted to Contest #301

The day was the fifteenth of September 2025. The location bombed out London. Through the teeth of the American machine the Houthi Rebels made their advance. Gaining military might with every passing day. First came the jets. Then the submarines. Then the laser weapons.In fact, there was talk that the Houthis had developed a machine that could destroy continents. The Americans wanted to help, but earlier in the summer, the country was hit with a series of six nuclear weapons spread out across its continental area. The nukes all went off withi...

5 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Birthday Nightmare

Submitted to Contest #301

“If you’re finished daydreaming over your needlework, get in the ring. Shilla’s waiting for you!” It was the tone more than the words that snapped me out of my frantic crocheting. Not a good look for an MMA gym. Still, I only had two weeks left to finish my brother’s birthday blanket. I’d come up with a very intricate pattern since it was his tenth birthday behind bars in the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center. The least I could do since I’d abandoned him to his fate was provide him with a pretty blanket. “I said MOVE,” Doctor Death...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Sound of a Cat Laughing

Submitted to Contest #301

The Sound of a Cat LaughingIt had been a stressful time for Angela between late hours at work, an old house in need of repairs, and too much time with a man who didn’t love her. After a rather boring dinner, during the washing up, Angela did what every blogger and TikTok warned against. The long term boyfriend stood next to her as she rinsed their wine glasses. She had smiled and asked, “Where do you think this relationship is going? Do you think you’ll ever love me?”After a long pause, he answered, “No.” No, he wasn’t ever going to love her...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Lyle's first day of the Jazz age

Submitted to Contest #300

Lyle drove slowly through the residential areas of St. Louis. He still couldn’t believe he was here. In St. Louis. In 1922, with a beautiful woman, one he didn’t know. He risked a sidelong glance, she smiled. “I’m Ellen, Bobby’’s wife’s cousin. You are?”“I am Lyle."“We’ve known Porter Jones for a long time, Robert said he recommended you. Turn, here!” she pointed and waved excitedly at the rear bumper of the car Robert was driving. Lyle's face turned red and not just from embarrassment, he forgot that there was no power steering in 1922. He ...

9 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

WHERE THE SEA CAN FIND US

Submitted to Contest #300

He owned a costly but quaint hilltop abode that he would tramp down from to a sun-darkened town to shop and drink and socialize. People in Seabrook generally saw Elliot Flynn as a writer of little merit, the struggling sort who wasn’t really a writer except in his own eyes. Since everyone knew he had only sold a few stories to an online magazine, with a modest handful of subscribers—Elliot had blabbed about this, drunkenly, on multiple occasions—he couldn’t argue with their assessment.With Elliot’s sizable family inheritance at his disposal,...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Teacher, the Starfish, and the Fire Eater

Submitted to Contest #300

Mia never understood why her principal told the starfish story every year on the first day of school. She heard it seven consecutive Septembers until she finally had a theory as to why he chose the starfish story for his annual start of the school year stump speech. Standing tall on stage like an opera star about to begin his aria, he’d smile at all the teachers from behind the podium, tap the microphone a few times until it echoed throughout the auditorium, and then he’d start. “A young man zealously runs along the beach with hundreds of...

7 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

A Song for the Road

Submitted to Contest #300

Mickey looks down into a pair of bright, beseeching amber eyes as Piper circles by the door of the campervan, giving him the look. With a sigh, Mickey switches on the blinker and lumbers over into the shoulder lane. Once the door is opened, Piper zooms out, intent upon her business. She disappears into the line of underbrush, stretching the retractable leash to its full length. Leaning against the hood of his dear Great West, Mickey pulls out a road map. Moving his finger along the red-markered line, he traces their progress. “Memphis is jus...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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.