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

150+ Historical fiction Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Whether you’re looking to step back into ancient civilizations, the 19th-century, or anywhere in between, our collection of historical fiction stories is here to keep you riveted.

Historical fiction Short Stories – Page 3 of 10

The Hidden Pearl Revealed

Submitted to Contest #316

Even Tomas did not know his true identity. Everything changed for the quiet deckhand on the wooden sailing vessel after the new travelers joined the next voyage. Tomas had hair that looked like the wet ropes he coiled on the decks and his pale eyes were the color of the sea in the fog. He seemed very ordinary. “So quiet, almost like a clam,” said one of the other sailors, nodding toward Tomas. “Yes, but I bet there are no pearls inside that clam,” said another sailor. The two sailors laughed. Tomas pretended not to hear them, although their ...

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The Lonely wader

Submitted to Contest #316

Their boots vanished into the brown waters, the wavelets gently lapping at their feet. The tide was low, no higher than their ankles but raising, and as they walked, the mud resisted their steps, holding on with a vacuum-sucking squelch. The man in front slowed, and as he crouched down, he shifted the weight of his gun from one tweed shoulder to the other. He raised his hand, and the other two men bent down behind him. The reeds swayed as they waited, their hands buried in their armpits, resisting the cold. The glass of their binoculars caug...

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Following the Familiarity

Submitted to Contest #317

The way she looked, spoke, acted was all too familiar. It was as if looking into the past, seeing what could’ve been, but never will be. I followed her around for a little while; not in a peculiar way, but one driven by longing. Keeping my distance, I watched as the short girl with dark, long hair traveled with her clique. I didn’t know if I should stay, but I did anyway. She hadn’t seemed to notice me yet. As I followed the woman, feeling that sense of familiarity and nostalgia wash over me, her crowd slowly dissipated. With each ope...

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What Have You Got to Hide? A prequel to The Battle of Maidstone. 1st June 1648 (warning- violence and sexual references)

Submitted to Contest #316

Nell gives her husband a quick peck on his cheek as he steers the boat towards the jetty, allowing the sail to collapse and the boat to lose way and bump gently up against it.‘Don’t do anything silly love,’ he mutters, for her ears only. ‘I’ll be back for you this afternoon.’ She hands over a sixpence with a great fuss, slipping him a sly wink as she disembarks.‘Thank you for your service, sir, I will recommend you when I return to Rochester,’ she says, to no-one in particular but as loud as seems to her appropriate for a well-to-do tradeswo...

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Interview With A Suspect

Submitted to Contest #316

Rosie was at a complete loss for words. How dare that miserable creature call her obsessive! It was hardly her fault if she was the only person across this entire god-forsaken campus that understood the severity of this situation. A student was missing, and she has been missing since the first week of term. Yes, Althea Morrigan was as desperate for attention and popularity as any woman comes to be during her academic years- it’s a cutthroat and competitive environment, after all. And yes, she had a reputation of stepping on other people’s to...

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The Shadow in the Frame

Submitted to Contest #316

The old portrait gallery was Elias’s sanctuary. Dust motes danced in the slivers of afternoon light, illuminating the stoic faces of forgotten aristocrats and long-dead merchants. He was the curator, the quiet guardian of these captured souls, and he knew each of their stories as if they were his own. He spent his days in careful restoration, his delicate brushes coaxing life back into faded canvases. But his nights were spent with her.She hung in the most secluded alcove, a woman in a sapphire gown, her face a symphony of secrets. The artis...

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The Apollo - A Millennium Vertere Story

Submitted to Contest #316

CW: Some sexual content and mention of suicide The meteor had passed the moon, estimated time to earth twelve hours. It is seven miles wide, and hurtles through the vast ebony with great ferocity. All the tinkering of man, all his built and gathered wisdom, it cannot stop it. I stand atop Mount Everest, the air frigid, and cold, my mind knows, but my face barely feeling anything. That which I do feel I suspect to be a placebo. I gather all my might, all my energy, and ascesnd like lightning, or something quicker, into the atmosphere and soon...

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The Veil Lifted

Submitted to Contest #316

The Veil Lifted Floating along the cobbled main street, I hover outside the Black Bull, where once I entertained punters with ghostly tales. My behaviour was the subject of endless discussion, but my friends knew the truth. Others were more than happy to indulge in conjecture or false reports. Biographies of my sisters only made matters worse — they rarely did me justice. More often than not, I was cast as the villain of the piece, a disreputable figure incapable of fulfilling his artistic dreams and bringing shame to his family. Yet it didn...

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Lovers and Lies

Submitted to Contest #316

Lovers and LiesBy Mark L Barie Sergey Bogdonovich worked as a laborer on a cargo ship.He rarely spoke to his coworkers. Except for the boss, no one talked to the quiet giant from Moscow. As the largest man on the ship, Sergey stood six and a half feet tall and weighed more than 250 pounds. He wore a permanent five o’clock shadow and sported a four-inch scar on his right cheek. Ship gossip attributed the old wound to Sergey’s previous occupation. The 48-year-old hulk supposedly served with the Russian KGB, a long time ago. Moscow was the home...

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Story of an Arrival

Submitted to Contest #315

Your faces tell of forgotten things. You stare out, your large, hungry eyes hollow from your crossing, from bad food, illness, and your ill-shapen clothing threadbare and stained from overwearing. One of you, dark hair peeking out from under the edges of a head scarf, you hold a tiny, sleeping infant as tenderly as if she were a sack of seedling potatoes. The babe is so new, so ethereal and small she looks premature, her early delivery brought on by your terrible seasickness, one that made it impossible for you to hold anything down, especi...

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Matthew (1)

Submitted to Contest #315

Matthew (1) 5:1 - 2 He found his way over the sharp rocks. His sandals might as well have been his bare feet, they were so shabby and thin. It was a pain that might discourage other men, but He was driven by the words in His heart. The words burned His lips. The pain of His body would not challenge His faith until much later when His arms are hanging from the nails piercing His wrists. The word "forsaken" had no meaning to Him now. It hid in the shadows of His mind and on the other side of this mountain. Today He climbed the bright side, wit...

18 likes 9 comments 9
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Pain and Penance

Submitted to Contest #315

CW: Themes of PTSD Pain and Penance While attending a convention in Washington, D.C., my wife and I planned a day to mingle with the other tourists. After all, there are dozens of impressive statues to visit—former presidents, venerable statesmen, and military heroes with somber faces—many in full uniform atop charging horses. However, there is one D.C. monument I didn’t want to see; the Vietnam Memorial, often called the Wall. Three years earlier, I had struggled for months to finish a book about my time in war. When I began, I was sure I c...

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One Cup

Submitted to Contest #315

One Cup By J. Arthur McGee Consciousness dawns slowly. Intense heat comes with it. The heat constricts my chest. I can only take shallow, wincing breaths. Slowly, I open my eyes. I blink against the bright sun. Shimmering before me is a vast, barren landscape.Closing my eyes against a pounding headache I struggle to piece together what happened and where I am. Images and sounds flash like lightning through my mind.Parlor tunes on a square piano. The ace of hearts. An Angel? No, Angel Springs. And then I remember.I choose towns with the easy ...

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The Flood (Part 1)

Submitted to Contest #315

CW: Physical violence and sexual violence Warning: This story explores the idea that it would take a despicable, hard edged person with very few morals to sit safely on a ship (an ark) and watch everyone on earth be killed by a flood. G-d would have to choose a monster of a man to build the ark for only pairs of animals and his own family while He destroys the earth with a flood. Every neighbor, every friend, every stranger will die as Noah and his family sail safely to a new Eden. This story is not meant to offend, but if you prefer to see ...

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Lost in the Middlelands

Submitted to Contest #315

Private Eugene Crawford was lost. Stumbling over the uneven terrain, he had become separated from his unit during an attack on the German lines. It was a frosty morning, the kind that numbs you to the bones and stings your lungs each time you breath in. Fog mixing with gun powder from the battle had obscured his vison as cloud after cloud rolled on through. It seemed to him that his comrades took the high road, and he took the low road during the fiercest part of the fighting. Going over the top, he felt was nothing but utter suicide. B...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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