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

4900+ 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 301 of 327

Paper Animals

Submitted to Contest #75

As Entrant #38267 left the small, gray cubicle, Oscar allowed himself to let out a long breath. He had one more Entrant to settle before he was able to take a break, and he was looking forward to loosening his belt and reading a few chapters from the new book he’d picked up yesterday. He could see it sitting on the small table next to his desk, a red paperback, the brightest spot of color in his otherwise muted office. There was no rest for the weary in the Department of Emigration After Death, affectionally shortened to the “DEAD” by its e...

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I Lost Myself in the Dark

Submitted to Contest #75

Francisco appeared in my dream that night just as he said he would. He came to me in the black robes of the ferryman and led me by foot across the surface of holy water, silent yet demanding as he ever was in his lectures. Gently, he pried open my mouth and pressed his forefinger to the back of my tongue. A terrifying pleasure took over me as my limbs multiplied and my neck looped incessantly. I awoke feeling as if my blood had turned into a separate creature writhing inside of me. I awoke knowing I couldn’t turn him down. To tell the truth...

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Distant Song of Remembrance

Submitted to Contest #75

Sometimes I wonder what happened that caused people to speak with hushed whispers around me, casting fearful glances my way as if I could kill them by just looking at them. I wonder what I could possibly do to cause this, or what trouble I had gotten myself into before the accident. Oh, the dreaded accident! All I remember is smoke, billowing to the top of the ceiling, suffocating everything in the room. I remember standing there, in the middle, with something in my hands. I remember there were screams, and that was it. I don’t know if I ev...

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A One Way Ticket on the Neo Kosmo (A Neo Kosmo Story)

Submitted to Contest #75

Roland stepped forward, shouting into the throng of people trundling past as he stood beneath the kaleidoscope of neon shop lights that filled the Central London Shopping Centre. “Step right up! New opportunities, new horizons, a whole new life awaits! 34 days until the Neo Kosmo departs to Lamperi Gi, the first habitable exoplanet, and spaces are available!”  A few faces turned from amidst the sea of people. Roland smiled, scanning for anyone who looked to be just inside 30 years old. Younger people had too many living relatives. O...

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Newlife Inc

Submitted to Contest #75

"I want to experience life as a woman." Sonya looked up from her computer and blinked in surprise at the man staring at her from across the counter. Usually when someone born into a male body braved the imposing, grey cinderblock building that housed Newlife Incorporated to request a female body, they came in female dress and wearing full make-up, having taken hormones and lived as a woman for several months. The man before her now looked more like he had escaped from a Mad Max movie in his black jeans and T-shirt with the sleeves rolled...

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Abandon your old life, and start a new one here!

Submitted to Contest #75

My name is John Maddon, and my job is to help people leave behind their old lives.My office is located in a small, inconspicuous space in a crowded commercial building, in the middle of one of the busiest areas in New York City—Chinatown. I picked this spot when I first started my business five years ago, as my profession demands the privacy of my clients be held at the forefront of my priorities. But if privacy is important, why select such a crowded place to settle? My response to that comes in form of a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald's Th...

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Warlord and the Enemy

Submitted to Contest #75

This is a record of a forgotten history, in a forgotten world. Written by an invisible writer, a forgotten writer. Warlord Steins sat lazily on his chair situated at the balcony of his castle. Beside him stood one of his trusted generals—one of the few—bearing a grim and morose countenance.“I assume,” said Steins, swinging his wineglass in a circular motion, “That they lost?”“They did,” curtly answered the general.“As expected,” muttered Steins, taking a sip from his glass of wine. “I had planned their defeat from the very beginning. General...

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Repentance for Your Sins

Submitted to Contest #75

The man stared at the crumpled sheets of yellowing paper with fiercely glinting eyes, the frown deepening upon his features.  That damn bitch found a way to do it again--to make his life a living hell! It was bad enough she was retiring, and now, this. He was being laid off. Effective immediately.  The quaint little bookstore on the corner of Fletcher's street was bankrupt. Its doors were closing, its employees terminated, and its manager was retiring. He flung the note aside, raking his fingers through his hair, ...

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The Judgment Is Yours

Submitted to Contest #75

WE WERE HERE FOR YOU      The giant neon sign was large enough to be seen for miles. As Gestas stood in line he thought, "well, this is going to take forever. " As far as lines went, this fell somewhere between the DMV and Black Friday at Walmarket. About thirty feet ahead of him was his "partner in crime," Dismas. He tried getting his attention, but thus far he could not get him to acknowledge him. He gave up when he saw what appeared to be the man in charge heading towards hi...

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Lost at sea

Submitted to Contest #75

She stared down at the neon green speech bubble itching for a conversation with her, prompting her to tap it with her index finger, the finger on which the nail polish always chipped faster than any other finger. She looked through the names that flashed back at her... sweet Claire from her yoga class in Tampa, shouty Kelly, her high school friend in Raleigh, dimpled Sachin, a friend of a friend in San Francisco. The list rambled on as if narrating her life back to her - where she had been, who she had been.  But none of these peopl...

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Remember to Forget

Submitted to Contest #75

“May I remember to forget” she vowed in firm resolution, even as a stranger peered across at her almost invasively. Chipped nails adorned the hand that rubbed blearily as the owner struggled to comprehend the image ahead. Weary eyes, wrinkled skin, chapped lips and frown lines told the tale of a soul beset with hardships.  She turned away from the mirror; its ornate frame glinting contrastingly against the grim image it showed. There was a startled yell as someone dropped yet another vase but she cared little; they were not hers to cr...

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Life and Death

Submitted to Contest #75

"Please, it's not my time yet!" People tell her that a lot. But it is, and what can they do about that? She's not who they think, though. They think she's Death, and she can't blame them for that. No, she really can't blame them. She looks like what people must think Death looks like- dark, long cloak, sorrowed eyes- but she's quite the opposite, really. When she comes for the people, the ones who beg for her to go, leave them for a few more years, she never knows what to say. It's not as if she actually can say anything, though...

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Strangers on a Train

Submitted to Contest #75

“Some birds sing when the sun shines bright. Our praise is not for them, but for those who sing in the dead of night. We raise our cups to them.” Suyin plopped herself down by the train’s windowsill, gazing out the reflective glass to see shimmers of rain falling down from the clouds. From the right angle, she could almost see her own reflection in the window, right above the bronze colored wood. Sighing, she stared out at the rain as it poured like a paint dripping down a canvas onto the streets of Ophirie. Signs blew in the wind, the rai...

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The Transformation Station

Submitted to Contest #75

Oh Hello. So nice to finally meet you. I’ve had you on my schedule for some time, so it’s nice you’ve finally arrived and we can get you moving again in a good, orderly direction. Well, that’s not quite the *right* way of saying that, haha, LOL, and all that. No, really, this is more about me giving you all the signs and you making decisions based on the best information you’ve ever received. No really, like, ever. I can see you’re skeptical, I know, I’ve seen this before. In fact, believe it or not, I’ve been in your shoes. Yes, yes! I kn...

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Life Changer

Submitted to Contest #75

It is on the first day of the year, every year, that my job comes into effect. For the rest of the year, I prepare. I am like that painter that spends days looking at her subject without touching a brush and then, when she is finally ready, finishes her painting with a few, rapid, master strokes. A person comes to me, they want to change their lives completely, and I do just that. On the first day of the new year they are someone different. My job is done, I disappear. Almost no one has regretted it and asked me to go back to their previo...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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