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

7430+ Science fiction Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Whether you’re looking for daring space battles or chilling “what if” glimpses of the future, you’ll find what you’re looking for in our collection of free science fiction short stories.

Science fiction Short Stories – Page 369 of 496

Opening Portals

Submitted to Contest #75

"Jackie, what do you think is happening to you?" Star Phoenix, expert child psychologist, gazed patiently at the squirming boy sitting in front of her. Star's office was all grey. A bleak, cold grey, which muffled the sunshine and made another monochromatic world which seemed to be drowning in silence. The cat clock's eyes ticked back and forth. Jackie Sloan was seeing portals everywhere since his parents went off the grid. He believed that one day, these doors would lead him to them. When asked why he couldn't open them yet, he always said ...

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Down a Narrow Lane

Submitted to Contest #75

“We’d have never taken that oath before—” “Quiet, Sarah. They’ll hear.” Anthony shoves his clammy hand over my mouth. I consider biting it but know that we can’t draw attention to ourselves. The time for childish retaliation is long gone. Anthony seems to sense that I’ll remain silent and slowly moves his hand back to his side. We continue to walk, side by side, down the narrow lane. We have a little over a mile to go before we can speak freely. This is part of the test. They dumped us off and are now watching us as we trek to the House....

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A New Year in New York

Submitted to Contest #75

A New Year in New York He left Mary in Japan, a week had not given her enough time to explore, so she decided that it would be far more interesting to stay a while longer. ‘Besides,’ she said, ‘New York would be loud and obnoxious, especially on New Year’s Eve.’ At first, Alex thought she was joking, then when he’d exhausted himself trying to convince her to travel with him, angry words were exchanged. Mary was adamant and nothing was going to change her mind. She agreed to meet him in New York in a few days, so he reluctantly boarded a pl...

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A Better Man

Submitted to Contest #75

On the semi-terraformed planet of Mars, a middle-aged man enters the Red Rover Casino via an oversized pair of sliding translucent carbyne main entry doors. The traffic noise from the protected electric vehicle and pedestrian path briefly mingles with the ding-dong ringing of electronic slots and the metallic jingle of token payouts before the doors glide shut behind him to latch with a buzz. Ever since the invention of the Liberty Bell slot machine in 1895, the basic function of these mechanical monstrosities has remained essentially unchan...

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Perennial

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: mentions of domestic abuse   There’s a child in front of him. They’re looking around his office in awe at how unreal it seems, which is to be expected. His office is literally made out of clouds. “Hi,” he waves when the child finally notices his presence, offering a small smile when they wave back enthusiastically, the usual response. “Can you sit down in that seat please?” he asks, like usual, pointing at the fluffy cloud shaped into a seat in front of his desk. The child obediently sits, sinking in the cloud. He feels...

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The Barbershop Closet

Submitted to Contest #75

Start your story with one character making a vow they never would have made the year before.Never in my life did I expect to be behind the wheel of a spaceship, 70 lightyears from Earth, vowing to never again step foot into a barbershop closet. And it all began with a bad hair day.Picture a warm summer’s day, ice cream dripping off the freckled chins of girls, boys screams chasing one another through grass, a feeling of joy in the air. That afternoon, I decided my hair was too long.It stuck out in jagged peaks, tangled too easily, was a nigh...

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Conservation

Submitted to Contest #75

Jameson followed Hendricks down the metal stairwell. The structure around them creaked and groaned with the strain. Their footsteps clanked and thudded. The sounds echoed and reverberated through the foundations. “I thought you’d have gone ultra hippie since we last spoke, with your dreams of peace and love and interspecies cooperation. Looking at this place looks like you’ve gone very corporate.” Hendricks smiled and said very little. She continued to lead Jameson down into the inner heart of the place. At the bottom of the stairs, th...

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Death Edits

Submitted to Contest #75

Death Edits“Do you feel as though spirits have been visiting you in your dreams lately? Do you or anyone you know find themselves inexplicably cold even with the thermostat cranked up? Have cups and plates mysteriously been broken even though you had a firm grasp on them?It might not be a ghost, but a haunting of a different sort.” “Ghosts don’t exist...” a skeptical Marilyn Monroe lookalike exclaims.“Depends on what you mean by exist.” I quickly fire back. I pour some water in a cup and look at the dozen or so people in the room. ...

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The Three O'Clock Customer

Submitted to Contest #75

Normal business hours are almost always dry. Most other places like mine don't bother staying open at all while the sun's out, but apparently I've got nothing better to do than sit in an empty office and read during the weekday. This depressing aspect of my life might be considered reasonable enough cause to try out my own services, but as a rule I don't get high on my own supply. On weekends it doesn't pick up until nine o'clock at night. There are always a few in the early morning with bad breath and red eyes looking to forget who they ...

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L.I.M.B.O.

Submitted to Contest #75

content warning: suicidal ideation     Roland sits at his desk, sipping his coffee, watching as the sunrise overtakes the sky. From his office on the top floor of the building, he watches as the pinks, purples, oranges, (salmons? He thinks salmon), and reds change and shift in the expansive and endless blue. The colors touch the tips of trees and roofs of buildings first, the kisses of a careful lover, before engulfing the rest of the city below in morning.     Roland's tie drapes carelessly ...

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Atam Corqain is the seventeenth "God of Mursi"

Submitted to Contest #74

>76-30-19,023 >Aquila Constellation >Star: (Altair) # RA 19h 50m 47s | Dec +8° 52’ >Third sphere: “Proxima” Progenies of Mursi/Proxima New World Settlers Dept. of Relevant Accord   ♮♮♮ Documentation: Gen. Atam Corqain faces ascension trials to become the seventeenth member of the Mursian elite defenders: “The Gods of Mursi” This is an official recorded observation of Atam Corqain’s performance in module #2 of the ascension trials: Twelve undertakings in ten cycles   As observed by: Lt. Marclyn Cooc...

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The End of an Epoch

Submitted to Contest #74

Liam Hepworth was a toddler when his father helped to save the planet from the Millennium Bug. However, Chris Hepworth’s Y2K triumph was only a temporary fix as the world’s Unix computers retained their life expectancy of 2,147,483,647 seconds. This time span may seem like forever, but at precisely 03:14:07 on January 19th 2038, every 32-bit computer will automatically reset to December 13th 1901 and chaos will ensue.#Liam embraced a career writing computer code and pursued his late father’s long-term goal of averting disarray at t...

29 likes 8 comments 8
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KING v. DARKNESS

Submitted to Contest #75

Max King was driving his son to school when it happened. The father enjoyed making his child laugh. He made a vow that he would quit smoking before New Year's Day. He also promised his son that he would take him to Disney World during his time off from work. A bad driver took Max's attention away from his son. Max blew his horn at a motorist who was driving too slow in front of him. He didn’t know things would get worse. The trouble began when Max went to pick his son, Aaron, up from school. He was told by Aaron’s teacher that a woman c...

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In Search of a New Life

Submitted to Contest #74

The countdown started with a booming voice that flooded the shuttle’s deck.“10…” My teeth were chattering. My bones were vibrating as the engine growled beneath our feet. It was loud. Too loud. I wanted to scream, but there was nowhere for the sound to go before it dissolved into nothing - the same way that I would, like so many had before me. “9…”There were a hundred of us altogether, bound for a new chapter on a new planet. Bound to our seats by plastic handcuffs. Bound to servitude in the new world, should we arrive safely. We w...

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Survival

Submitted to Contest #74

Day 1I woke up with a start. My heart was pounding. I looked around at my surroundings. Just sand. I then looked at myself. Thoughts spread into my mind. Where am I? What is this place? Who am I? Why don't I remember anything?I got up and started walking around the area I was in. Broken buildings were everywhere, along with cars and street lamps, all covered by sand. I slowly walked near one of the buildings. I found a sign on the building and read it.NYSESuddenly, random memories started forming in my head. I remember being in school. My so...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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