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

4830+ Speculative Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking to explore terrains beyond Earth and stretch the limits of your imagination? Welcome to the Internet’s best source of speculative fiction stories.

Speculative Short Stories – Page 184 of 323

Brick

Submitted to Contest #150

I think my computerised assistant may be developing human-like traits.About two years ago, she was assigned to me by the tech company that I work for. Since then, she has proven to be a superb work tool to have around. Weirdly, I don’t recall much of what life was like before her arrival. We are so synchronised in our habits that we achieve our daily goals without any need for words. For the duration of her post, she has been hardworking, reliable and consistent yet unfairly, I have nicknamed her BRICK because she lacks any personality and i...

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My Layla

Submitted to Contest #150

The somber lamp at Stanley Winters’ desk was flickering yet again, giving the illusion of a lantern dancing across the cold gray walls of a dark cave. Sitting next to the only other object on his desk, the computer which was powered off, it was the only source of light in the dreary sitting room, a decorative choice which Stanley's wife, Layla, would've scolded him for. Layla was always in charge of the decorating, which despite his grumbling, Stanley appreciated. She insisted that the state of one's house is a parallel to the state of their...

17 likes 3 comments 3
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Pygmalion

Submitted to Contest #150

Unit 8X doesn’t know how long it’s been waiting. It’s easy to measure the passage of time, but the experience of its passing is often unreliable and susceptible to error. Hours bleed into days, which bleed into weeks, which bleed into months. It’s a good thing Unit 8X doesn’t bleed or feel pain. It doesn't feel anything at all. According to its logs, Unit 8X has been waiting in Cargo Hold C for 6 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes, and 24 seconds, 25 seconds, 26 seconds…. However, it doesn’t seem so long ago that Creator had told ...

13 likes 2 comments 2
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My Brother's Keeper

Submitted to Contest #150

Melanie Raskin MMRReadme@nc.rr.com                                                            My Brother’s Keeper                      ...

11 likes 1 comment 1
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Digging Up the Past on Deal Island

Submitted to Contest #149

Chris Webster, a retired naval officer in his late fifties, fell into a deep depression when he lost his wife to cancer two years ago, yet with the help of his son and daughter he found a new purpose when they encouraged him to take up genealogy. A history buff at heart, Chris did find solitude looking over old family photos and documents he inherited after his parents passed. When his kids set him up on a a genealogy website and gave him a DNA kit for his birthday, Chris didn’t hesitate to send in his saliva sample the next day.&n...

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Play With Me

Submitted to Contest #149

“Why are you insisting we play a game when our friend has been missing for days? Not to mention that your little sister is missing as well,” said Jona frustrated that Jinórilie didn’t seem fazed by the current events. “I just want to play, is all. It’s…um, my coping mechanism. I know my sister is missing, but what can I do? There are police searching for her everywhere. As for Derihia, he’s probably at his girlfriend’s,” Jinorilie stood with the controller in his hand, extending it over to Jona. Jona slapped the controller out of his hand, s...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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The River

Submitted to Contest #149

I didn’t want to go to the water by myself, but Kellan has band practice. They have to play at homecoming, and her part is especially important. Kellan plays the drums. The drums are the only part of the band that anybody cares about, unless there is a really remarkable saxophone player, and at our school, that is definitely not the case. I tried to play saxophone when I was in fifth grade band, but I couldn’t even get the thing to make a satisfying honk, let alone learn my scales. Sometimes I listen to music and close my eyes and think that...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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There Are No Absolutes

Submitted to Contest #150

There Are No Absolutes “Vehicle, take me to Zom-Zom’s.” “Sir is aware that it is outside of the Metropolitan Control Authority?” “Yes. Go.” “Going sir.” The public transportation Joe requested rolled freely into the street and away from his apartment building. The streets of the city’s center were usually empty this time of night so there would be little traffic to hinder his travel. He made himself as comfortable as he could in the snug, single-passenger vehicle which smelled like drug-store perfume and bleach—a scent selected f...

18 likes 2 comments 2
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The Devil Came Down to Indiana

Submitted to Contest #149

Cara climbed up to her studio apartment between the gun shop and the chicken hatchery, along Indiana’s scenic Elkhart River. The door opened with the usual spine-chilling squeal, although the landlord had lubricated the hinges a half dozen times. “Hello, dear,” her mother’s ghost said. “How was school today?” “Don’t bother her, Dorothy,” her father said. “She’s clearly exhausted. Don’t mind your mother, Cara.” “Supper is almost done,” her mother said, slipping into the navy wool coat she’d died in. “Ten more minutes should do it. Don’t wo...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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They Forgot

Submitted to Contest #149

The chasm had gotten larger since the last night. Selkie stood on the edge of the cliff and surveyed the fresh damage. She estimated that about five more feet of earth had chipped off and fallen into the bottomless trench since her last observation. The whole town was pervaded by a feeling of dread. The apocalyptic trench was literally gaining ground, but ever since the police had quit trying to stop the encroaching cliff, there had been an unspoken agreement among the people of the town not to speak of the danger that was almost in their ow...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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Move Away Humans

Submitted to Contest #149

Move away Humans             Well into an eerie evening, as twin suns withdrew light from hills appearing to encroach air whispered, here comes night, beware! Someone should switch lights on. Sitting on verandahs, mesmerized by views off into thick trees, unhindered by walls of scrubs were hikers and their leader. Close together, enforcing one another against a sense of isolation dusky surroundings evoked. Flickering lights came over the verandahs, dulled views. The National Pa...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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Daisy Died

Submitted to Contest #149

Five pins hovered above the shiny polished wood, hanging from their necks. Below them, their brothers knocked together before bustling into the black pit, disappearing from sight.   Daisy Miller stood at the tail end of the lane and watched the remaining five settle where 10 once stood. She inhaled slowly, paused a moment, and then swung.  Crash!  The row of white was torn in two by the hurtling purple blur. Daisy raised her hands in victory and delighted in the sound of her friends cheering behind her.  ...

7 likes 6 comments 6
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The Light In Europa

Submitted to Contest #149

From a distance it was a small flickering light in a vast sea of darkness. Invisible to the naked eye, being dwarfed by the other, much stronger, lights surrounding it. Alone and isolated, something that no human was ever meant to see, but humanity has a way of looking past what they can see to see what could be. What could be took time and innovation, four years of meticulous calculation and numerous simulations to establish a base of operations on the frozen over sphere known as Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons, and that was after si...

5 likes 0 comments 0
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Living on the Edge of the World

Submitted to Contest #149

People sometimes ask me why I choose to live at the edge of the world - but most people wouldn’t understand my answer.  Three years ago, I was working a day job at a newspaper printing press. Not the most exciting job in the world, but it was something. The pay was good, the benefits were alright, and I didn’t have to work before eleven in the morning, so it was fine by me.  One Friday morning, as I was throwing the first paper through the press, I got a phone call from a friend from college, Adam. Adam was frantic, and honestly ...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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CSS 3 + CSS 17 + CSS 35

Submitted to Contest #149

As directed by the set guidelines beyond the Limitless Anything, a random flicker of light shall occur, starting the second variation of the story that occurred in the transition point between both Realities. The Garden in the Bones, a place interlocked in a prairie between two tree-filled mountains, both drowned with the embers of nostalgia. A blurred memory easily rekindled with the stimulus of sight, but still all out of the realms of reality.  “I am still a servant of Time.” I started its monologue, “Not the element, Time, no o...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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