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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 185 of 323

D8

Submitted to Contest #148

“Let me call you back in a few minutes, okay?” “Okay. Bye.” As soon as she hung up, Terrence sighed and threw his phone on the plastic wrapped couch. Hands on his waist, he took his time examining the empty white walled apartment he had just moved into. Walking past the furniture, he slid the floor to ceiling doors apart and admired the view of the evening sky’s reflection on the man-made lake across the streets adjacent to his apartment block. “Something new,” he said to himself. He had just got accepted in a new firm and had to move halfwa...

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Unlocking the Door

Submitted to Contest #148

Gripping the reassuring weight of the heavy silver key, she makes her way through the gate, letting it clang shut behind her, hoping the tenants might hear her approach. She tries to remember the last time she was here, turning the key over and over in her pocket as if that will unlock the memory, but it stays stubbornly shut. A year ago? The inspections used to be annual, they were hardly needed more regularly when the House was brand sparkling new, all fresh paint and glittering windows.Of course, she remembers a time when she’d been summo...

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Leave the Dirge for the Birds and the Bees

Submitted to Contest #149

Anna plays the piano, and looks outside for inspiration, hoping to find something strange, tragic, beautiful, interesting. Maybe a suicide? But when the depressed man jumps out of the window, he floats down gently. He is perplexed at the outcome, and walks to the nearby cafe, never to attempt suicide again. Instead, he orders an espresso and reads the newspaper. A new railroad is being built somewhere in the west. “Perhaps I'll move to the west” he thinks, “and take up farming. No man can be depressed while he has his nose to the soil and wo...

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Derek

Submitted to Contest #149

Derek was snoring when I crept in into his bedroom a bit before 8 am. His sandy hair had tousled itself into one big cowlick. His eyelids clamped shut, fighting to keep the day at a distance.  “I’m going to look at your sketchbook, ready or not,” I announced loud enough for him to stir. He had sat past midnight on the floor in his room, scribbling on 15 by 15 sheets of paper. The oversized tablet and one black pencil laid on the floor next to his bed. He always refused to sit at a table. He drew, watched movies, and ate on the floor...

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Shady Maples

M B

Submitted to Contest #148

I don’t know what urge sent me there that evening, but I’m glad I went. They were tearing down Shady Maple Apartments - my first apartment. I pulled over to the side just to see the old building one more time and reminisce. The property was sealed off by a chain-link fence where construction - or rather demolition - workers, along with their bulldozers and backhoes, were all about the building complex. Already the car port was collapsed and the parking lot was being torn apart. Dust drifted into the air along with sounds of the ongoing d...

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The Writing on the Old Man's Wall

Submitted to Contest #148

The Writing on the Old Man’s Wall Hello fellow physicists. My name is Harry and my associate’s name is Sue. We are here to present to you how we were able to make our unbelievable discovery. We will begin with a story, in order that we can give credit where credit is truly due. In the language of baseball, we are the closers, not the one who pitched the first eight innings. Our story begins two years ago. Neither one of us could believe that it was on the marker. Not only that, but it was at a price that, be...

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Demo Day

Submitted to Contest #148

They all knew this day would come; the signs had been there for years. At first the walls started to change color. After years of various occupants and their habits, stains and various odors had begun mounting the walls. The ceilings went next, weak from the weight of numerous families relying on its sturdy wooden hold to keep them off the ground at night. Of course there were leaks as well, reminding everyone that they weren’t in paradise but that was more bearable than the elements beyond the walls. The lighting had never been the best, an...

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Two Stubborn Women

Winner of Contest #148 🏆

The night is thick and heavy with clouds when I paint the front of The House yellow. I paint quickly and quietly. I don’t want to wake my neighbor up. The brush goes shhh shhh against the wall and even that is loud.  My feet crunch on gravel as I finish up and slip into my home.  My neighbor’s cursing wakes me up in the morning. I hear fuck! and shit! I split the blinds with two fingers. The sun shines very bright and I squint to see my other neighbors file outside. They see the yellow paint and shake their heads. One of them point...

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The Mysterious Case of Nancy Silverman

Submitted to Contest #148

Lightning struck the night sky, illuminating the silhouette of the monstrous tower. On the street below, a pale moon-lit face was upturned to the sprawling edifice. It belonged to a teenaged girl, standing outside the wrought-iron archway in the downpour, clutching her small valise white-knuckled. Sodden from head to toe, her hat was limp and soggy against her wet hair and face. Streams of water ran down her coat, dripping down the coattails, mixing with the mud. The girl stood still, her face fixed with an odd look, as one who is lost in th...

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The Time James and Hannah Visited Baldwin Hall Apartments

Submitted to Contest #148

Not having any luck in their apartment search, James and Hannah gave in to letting a mutual friend of theirs make arrangements to check out a newly renovated apartment building called Baldwin Hall Apartments. Agreeing to meet with the friends contact, an employee of the apartment building, Hannah and James arrived early the next day to scope out the building and then meet the employee. The two drove by the front of the brilliant brick building with stone accents before parking noticing how it looked old and modern at the same time. The a...

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The Crimson Diary

Submitted to Contest #148

Lady Brackvark had sent her manservant to the constables to complain about her neighbor, Lady Razia, and her raucous party. This was nothing new: Lady Razia was always throwing parties of some kind in her salon, and Lady Brackvark was a jealous, acrimonious old badger who longed for the days when she would be invited to such parties.This party was unusual, though, as it had been snowing heavily: Enough to deaden most noise. The constables - mostly collies and a few bloodhounds - assumed that Lady Brackvark was simply complaining again and ga...

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The Soul Within

Submitted to Contest #148

I have stood on this stone foundation for as long as I can remember. I remember the men and women who brought me to life all those years ago with hammers and nails, cement and brick, paint and gold filigree. They built me over long nights and days, one wall at a time. They painted my walls and ceiling, filled me with religion and children, singing and knowledge. I have been home to many things over the years, gutted and rebuilt to make room for something different. I was a marvel for years, evident in the stares of those who would stop on th...

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The Adventures Of Captain Dither: Origins

Submitted to Contest #147

Captain Dither drove his truck up to the white warehouse in the middle of nowhere. He parked. He thought he was lost for a moment and rechecked the navigation on his phone. This was the right address, but Captain Dither could see no signs or markings identifying the address. Not even house numbers painted on the side of the building. “Oi!” He sighed, "Why couldn't people understand that addresses needed to be marked for delivery drivers to find them?" He saw a metal door that might be an entrance for people. He got out of his truck and tot...

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Stay Awake

Submitted to Contest #147

At least five minutes must have passed by now, I thought. This was dangerous territory. It was way too cosy. Too comfortably dark. The popcorn smell caressed my nasal passages and combined, harmoniously, with my snoozing breath. No. Wake up. You’ve got no more chances with this girl. If you fall asleep tonight, you will die alone! But sleep was more tempting to me than a woman. I scoured the earth for she that would accept a man that only wants to watch movies and sleep. To no avail, had been my efforts.  So I accepted my fate. I m...

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Dr. Sickle Part 2

Submitted to Contest #147

After the ceremony ended, Dr. Sickle headed for his limousine to return home. As he drew nearer to his means of escape, The Medal of Freedom he so proudly adorned around his neck, had morphed into an unwanted burden. The ribbon binding the medal to his neck felt as if a hangman’s noose, choking, forcing Dr. Sickle to struggle, gasping for each breath of air. Oh, how he wanted to rip away that torturous object and cast it out of his life, but as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t raise his hand to his neck. Strange, what pride can make a man ...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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