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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

790+ Black Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Discover the best new stories by Black authors, written to themed prompts and curated by our judges.

Black Short Stories – Page 43 of 53

What the #@$%!

Submitted to Contest #78

My six year old son Barful comes home with an animal in the hood that me and his mother were blown away from. That animal must have come from a different planet so we thought. I’m shouting well above the threshold of hearing myself at 1000 Hz in which no father should talk to his biological son like that, while my better half repeatedly shouted calm down dude. I say that thing ain’t staying in this house. We argued all night long until Sheba my wife, as always eventually won out. Now I know you as a writer or reader, you’re probably wonde...

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Samuel was at a convention for a hobby most people have never heard of entirely.

Submitted to Contest #78

A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment during leisure time. Hobbies include collecting theme items and objects engaging in creative and artistic pursuits playing sports or other amusement. My story is entitled Samuel was at a convention for a hobby most people have never heard of entirely. Samuel thought of new ways to spend his free time. Also a particular active person may have tried alot of different activities. There are some that are rather unusual and unknown as of hobbies most people have never ...

15 likes 1 comment 1
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Tamara Nelson doesn't do hobbies

Submitted to Contest #78

Last night, I wrestled a brown bear in the woods. It was in my dreams but I wrestled one in the woods. I had it in a tight headlock by a river because it claimed I couldn't stick with a hobby, that Tamara Nelson doesn't do hobbies. That's when it clawed my forearms and a list of all the hobbies I quit sprung out and rolled through the trees past the river from pole dancing to needlepoint and axe throwing. And then I leaped awake with an urge to tackle a mess of hobbies and that nosy brown bear.  Tennis There’s a tennis court some mi...

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What Next?

Submitted to Contest #77

Everything in here is all shaken up. I honestly never thought I’d survive that blizzard. It’s one of the most intense I’ve ever experienced. I get up from under the table to examine the rest of the cabin. Every damn room is a mess, with one of the bedroom windows completely smashed. I hate cleaning, hate it so much, but this is beyond me. Now, where is that vacuum cleaner? The last time I was here was almost five years ago and I can’t remember where everything is, except the broom that I found by the front door, but I don’t want to use that...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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Pouring Passion

Submitted to Contest #78

I have always struggled with turning my hobby for writing into a career while living in a house that isn't my home. It feels like a place that is just passing time at a rest stop on the freeway to freedom. Everyone in the neighborhood thinks this house is perfect, living with a great family. But just because the house is perfect outside doesn’t mean it is perfect inside. No one realizes what happens on the inside. Just him, my best friend Tyler. He knows the whole situation. My struggles, my fears of success. Everything. This evening, I...

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ON THE WHITE BLANKET OF SNOW

Submitted to Contest #77

ON THE WHITE BLANKET OF SNOW The sky was still an uniform blanket of gray, without even a mottle, or a little opening , without a minimum space (area) of a tone slightly lighter or slightly darker. The compact gray of the sky loomed like a heavy hood over the snowy landscape she was looking at from the large French window. It had been snowing for hours, it kept on snowing.  Now the snow was falling like thin rain, in gusts and sprinkles. While until a little ago she had seen it falling in fluffy flakes...

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The Office

Submitted to Contest #77

It’s 23:58 and Ronda is finishing off one last email before she can call it quits. If only she could take leave for tomorrow. There’s nothing for it, it will have to be five hours of sleep and be back at work by 08:00. Done, Ronda sends the email and pushes her chair back from the desk, stretching her legs, wiggling her shoeless toes and ankles in mid-air. Ronda clasps her hands at the back of her head and whistles. She swivels her chair from left to right then spins herself around to face the large windows behind her. The company she works ...

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The Music of Love

Submitted to Contest #78

Addae’s worn dark hands closed around the covered box. Based off of the online picture, it was old, rust already creeping up the ornate metal designs. It had taken him a while to find the right box, but Addae was glad he had waited.  He hadn’t seen a box like this one since his childhood, back when they were still in use. It was difficult to find a music box, these days. The musical wonders of his childhood had been sold off, replaced with shiny electronic rectangles without buttons or cranks. Addae still preferred the boxes, however. ...

10 likes 1 comment 1
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On Ice

Submitted to Contest #77

Unpeg, clothing and basket. Unpeg, clothing and basket. Unpeg the clothing, fold it and place it into the basket. One after one, I removed clothing from the line. The freshly parched material of the clothing welcomed my inquiring hand. The short green grass of my lawn cushioned the toughened soles of my feet. Peach-brown walls surround the rectangular lawn. A sun-bleached white tool s...

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A friend for each snowflake

L M

Submitted to Contest #77

She had been here for five days and hadn't yet set foot outside. She wasn't scared she assured herself, just cautious recalling her first night as she made her way from the car to the door dragging her luggage and almost slipped. Surely this snow, practically frozen rain, was dangerous.They had no snow where she came from. It was all sun and heat and drenching rain all year long. But she had needed a better life, a brighter future, so to speak and when the opportunity had presented itself, there had been no hesitation of packing her off and ...

16 likes 5 comments 5
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WHAT I DO NOT KNOW

Submitted to Contest #77

 "You cannot tell children to change their hearts with their minds!" that was grandmother's voice in the cabin. Wait, was she yelling? I asked myself. for some minutes my thoughts told me she was not playing with my mind either sending mixed feelings. Convinced was me in my head. wait- well, for gate that but do I have to trust a weather man? None of us knew it was going to rain so badly. It is hard to catch what you do not see. Ooh I know those eyes would ask me why I said that. Well here is what I tell you, in Africa trusting a weathe...

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First Timer

Submitted to Contest #77

   Little white angels fell from the sky. They had amounted to a big mass of what seemed to be a large cloud. I giggled softly as I noticed a few had landed on my windowsill. What was this glorious element that seemed to send shivers along my spine whenever one would land on my fingertips? They would only stay for about a second before melting away. I was awestruck. I had never seen such beauty in an eerie yet golden way. The sun had completely hidden itself as if afraid to face this newly found weather. A soft breeze ble...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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Regrets, Hallucinations, and a Winter Cabin

Submitted to Contest #77

Your life is filled with regrets now. You are now stuck in a remote winter cabin, with no electricity, no internet, no phone service, no food, no water, no people to talk to. Just you and the winter cabin, strangled in the middle of the woods. Trying to survive. Now you wish that you never listened to that fake poster. But, you can't blame yourself. You needed money anyway. You needed to help your mother to be healthier. You had no money to do the operation for her. So you thought that the poster was your only chance of earning som...

64 likes 37 comments 37
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Climatic climax

Submitted to Contest #77

I stood mopping at what was dropping on our cell window. Everywhere were white, it was like it started while we were asleep. It was our third night in the new environ of North china hebei province. We the fresh arrivals from South had never as African inmates seen live snows, only in television. The structure of the temporary foreign district, for we were housed in district 2 instead of 4 that were for foriegners, were very nice for first encounter and inevitable experience we had. The rooms were built in ‘you face me and I face you' styl...

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Red Snow

Submitted to Contest #77

On days like today, Taci tried to remember how much she used to like her job. She sat behind her desk, hands clasped in front of her, trying to bring out the shining, white grin that the parents of Personville students had come to expect and love. It wouldn’t come. Instead she shuffled through her notes, thinking about what she would say to each couple at today’s parent-teacher conference. She reflected on the observations she had made on each child and, in doing so, thought about the carefully curated half-truths that the notes represented....

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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