Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

4840+ 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 195 of 323

Mosquito Men of the Mata Atlântica

Submitted to Contest #134

Okay, so there wasn’t actually an astronomy salesman at the store peddling telescopes and promising me a wonderful evening on my balcony watching celestial objects like the moons of Jupiter. I dished out two thousand reais–roughly three hundred and sixty dollars–for a StarBlast refractor telescope because the picture on the box showed a father hovering over his son who looked through the telescope with his lips pursed in a ‘Wow’ moment and the father pointing up to the Milky Way galaxy at the other end of the glossy box, which, probably glow...

16 likes 13 comments 13
Read story

Be Wary of Crooked Halos

Submitted to Contest #134

“Just press that button there and it all restarts.” A man dressed in shimmering white robes appeared in the distance. He smiled. A crooked halo sat on top of a head of fluffy brown hair.  He raised his hands in the air and a beautiful world came to life. A forest of trees sprouted to the skies, their leaves dripping with god-like power. Streams of crystal blue water flowed to the right, and to the left stood white-tipped mountain ranges. Beyond the conjured horizon, the arms of lively flames moved with the breeze. All the elements in ...

15 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

Gordo Series #2: A Research Synth Awakening

Submitted to Contest #134

Author’s note: The Gordo series is a set of stories about Gordo, an AI Synth. In the one below, his role in academic research is the major plot element. Although all of the stories will involve him as a major character, each of them stands alone and can be read independently. At a time in the near future.My name’s Gordo and I’m a Research Synth, often referred to as an RS. My specialty is Astrophysics and I was recently purchased from Stanford by the Physics Department at Cantwell University. My role is to assist the flesh-and-blood (Fa...

10 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

The oddest of all planets; Earth

Submitted to Contest #134

There I was, sitting on a picnic bench, looking up at the sky. It was beautiful, the starry night, the spaceships flying by, and who could forget the sound of the chirping of the little birds. You could even see Neptune in the distance and imagine a powerful storm was occurring. Astronomers here on Pluto have been, for decades, studying Neptune and other planets like Jupiter, Saturn, and even this bizarre planet called Earth. Scientists say Earth doesn't qualify as a planet because it is too watery and doesn't have enough landmass or ga...

10 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Island of Women

Submitted to Contest #134

Once upon a time in a kingdom far from here there was an island and on that island lived a tribe of women who were so beautiful it is said you would not want to leave the island but would want to lie in their arms forever being caressed and loved. The women are tall, slender, with tanned skin, long dark wavy hair, blue eyes, small noses and full lips. It is also said that the waters around the island are treacherous, filled with sunken sailing ships that floundered on the jagged rocks and all on board eaten by the sea monsters that swam ...

12 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Observer

Submitted to Contest #134

His head was absolutely pounding. Evan Myers glared against the offending office lights while doing his best to ignore the dangerous churning of his stomach. Confined to the rickety rolling chair at his desk, he made valiant efforts to sip at his lukewarm tea as his only defense against his splintering skull. His thick rimmed glasses did little to shield the bags under his half lid eyes, while his thinning hair attempted some interpretive dance atop his head. In conclusion: Evan was a mess. It was the best he felt in a long time.  ...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Gods cue ball

Submitted to Contest #134

I boarded the train, from Liverpool Street Station to Cambridge at three of the afternoon on a cold but clear skyed Thursday in March, early in the fifth decade of Victoria’s reign, at the behest of my good friend Professor Rupert Armitage, head of the University Observatory. Armitage had invited me to join him and the distinguished astronomer, William Lassell, FRS, FRSE, FRSL, FRAS, at the observatory. Lassell was the recipient of an honorary degree from Cambridge but the elderly gentleman asked, no demanded, to see th...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

I am a Cloud

Submitted to Contest #134

I am a cloud. I was not always a cloud, but now that is what I am. I was born a little girl and was given my grandmother’s name. I still find it funny that my name was not even my own. Anyway, it doesn’t matter because I don’t go by anything now and soon it will slip my mind.  My life is a peaceful one. I linger above in the great blue and I see the whole world. In the summertime, I would go cloud gazing with my brother on lemonade filled days but now I go people gazing. It’s more boring than I thought because nobody ever seems to ...

16 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Green Door

Submitted to Contest #134

Adam stared at the keyring handed to him by the estate lawyer, Saul Kroll. He felt empty of thought and emotion until that point, but suddenly had the desire to stab Saul in the eye with the large skeleton key. “Better not,” his mind whispered wisely, “your brothers are watching.” Adam Everclay was the eldest son of Juniper Rollins Everclay – the billionaire investor. His two younger brothers, Troy and David, were each two years apart. His mother, Darlene, was dead. “Well, then,” he croaked, “that seems to be that.” Everyone stood up, excep...

13 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

House that Moved

Submitted to Contest #134

House that Moved Well into an eerie evening, as twin suns withdrew light from hills appearing to encroach air whispered, here comes night, beware! Sitting on verandas, mesmerised 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. The National Parks, established to preserve first nation’s lands, even on this planet, circled settlement fringes, only a short distance from their hostel now serving as a begin...

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Broken

Submitted to Contest #134

[TW: Child loss] She was broken when I found her.I first glimpsed her frail form at the edge of the beach, where sand gives way to sea. The dauntingly unchanging vista, the site of my nightly penance, had become indelibly etched into the dark crevices of my soul, so it took a moment for me to register something was amiss with the scene that fateful night.When the fact of her pitiful presence lodged itself firmly into my consciousness, I hastened forward, a sick, familiar dread churning in my gut. Hampered by the gusting wind, I crossed ...

34 likes 22 comments 22
Read story

Peering through a Telescope.

Submitted to Contest #134

PEERING THROUGH A TELESCOPE By Professor Alan Dale Dickinson (Copyrighted) Wow! There it was just like she said it would be! It, was something, very, very unusual, to say the least. Dr. Lynn K. Graham, the national Director of the world famous ‘Griffith Park Observatory,’ which was located very close to the famous Hollywood sign in L.A. (Los Angeles), California. The quite lovely and very old, Observatory Looked down upon the ‘City of the Angels,’ and looked up into the Galaxy, of which our little Earth, was but a speck on the never-endin...

10 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

A Sky So Clear

Submitted to Contest #134

The sky was so clear you could see a million winking stars in an ocean of inky black. The heat from the desert subsided as the night had fallen, which forced her to pull her winter coat and hat on as she set up her telescope in its usual spot. She’d been fascinated with worlds beyond her own since she was old enough to admire the sky. In her pursuit of finding the answers to the unanswerable questions, like are we alone or where did life start, she’s traveled all over the world, but this spot of land in the middle of nowhere was the place th...

12 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Almost Like Home

Submitted to Contest #134

Almost Like Home (1001 w) “Commander? Permission to enter the bridge?” Cool, odourless wafts pulsed through the doorway like sighs from the console-filled room, along with ponderous, mechanical, hum. “Yes, Doctor, do come in - it seems we’ve entered orbit just in time.” He smiled down at her. “Are you well? Has the morning sickness worn off yet?” “Yes, thank you, Sir. I’m … fine.” she nodded, following him to the huge viewscreen. The circular room resonated beneath their feet as the Commander spread his long, gloved arms ...

11 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Our Own Horizon

Submitted to Contest #134

I wanted something different; but this, this is an opportunity that is equal to a coin flip. It’s hard to make out anything clearly here. I couldn't tell you the color of a single particle here. Light gray and darker grays, that’s it. I wouldn't touch anything closest to black, that I've learned from a quite difficult situation. So to not be interacted with, is to not interact. An introvert’s wonderland, that would be the easiest way to describe this atmosphere. I've seen dark oceans reflecting an iron sky. Trees wickedly branched out, like ...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.