Menu

More apps built by Reedsy

Assemble a team of professionals

The writing app for authors

Writing courses, events and memberships

Get your book reviewed

Weekly writing prompts and contests

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

Fantasy Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Though fantasy is well known for its epically long sagas, fantasy short stories can deliver all the genre’s best attractions with one punch — or, shall we say, in one fiery dragon breath?

Fantasy Short Stories – Page 9

The Weather Phenom

Weekly Contest #368

The Man Who Never Misses The KWYN studio lights burned hot over Jaxon Rainwright as the seven o'clock forecast rolled live. Behind him, the radar map churned with an angry red line of thunderstorms sliding toward central Iowa. Every competing station in Des Moines was calling for severe wind, hail, maybe a tornado or two before midnight. Jaxon looked into the camera and smiled like a man discussing tomorrow's sunshine. "This system is going to weaken considerably before it reaches us," he said. "By the time it crosses the county line, you'll...

13 likes 10 comments 10
Read story

The Hungry Waiter

Weekly Contest #368

The Hungry Waiter Steven sat in tattered chair in the small breakroom at Minnie’s Diner listening to Arnold, the owner, deliver a gloomy forecast to the staff about Minnie’s financials. Arnold’s monologue was interrupted by the loud growl of Steven’s stomach, “Sorry, forgot to take lunch today,” Steven said. Everyone knew this was a lie. They all suspected Steven had an eating disorder, or maybe an illness that caused him to have an almost skeletal appearance. What they didn’t know was that he’d been fasting for almost five days and had bar...

12 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Last Love of Snezhana

Weekly Contest #368

“Grandpa, tell us about that little pot-bellied foal-girl,” Sashenka asked with a sly smile. “About Lastochka.”“There’s no such word as foal-girl,” Marat said with a smirk. He was the oldest of them all and had turned twelve just the day before, so now he liked to put on airs.It was a bright, sunny day. A few clouds hung in the sky like little heaps of snow, and the whole world seemed glad that spring had come.The children sat on the low ledge along the stable wall, watching the older pupils lead the horses out for exercise. And, naturally, ...

11 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

A Court Date Is Still a Date: The Divorce Lawyer with a Love Potion

Weekly Contest #368

A courtroom. To most people, it is a mundane place: fluorescent lights, wooden benches, stacks of paperwork, and people waiting for their names to be called. But I have always found the courtroom magical. On one floor, two people who, against all odds, found each other are getting married. On another, paperwork, yes, boring paperwork, is being signed to give a child a family. An adoption is occurring. What was once merely a fact in two people's hearts, I belong to you and you belong to me, is being legally announced to the world. It is a bea...

11 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Number B-142

Weekly Contest #368

Number B-142By eleven-thirty on Tuesdays, the Department of Motor Vehicles had usually misplaced at least one person’s name. Names slid off applications. Addresses changed themselves in the printer tray. Dates of birth migrated by a year or two when nobody was looking.Most employees blamed the machines. I knew better.The building had moods. On humid days, the ticket dispenser printed numbers warm and slightly damp at the edges. The vision-test lenses fogged for people refusing to look directly at something. The camera at Station Four had onc...

11 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Trooper Gets His Name

Weekly Contest #368

“Could you leave it a little longer at the back this time? I didn’t like the way it felt when I scratched.”  I put the clippers on the table and faced my client. “Your lady likes it short, she’s the one who pays me. Sorry Roscoe.” I give him a quick scritch on his head and turn the clippers back on. He emits a sigh from the depths of his fuzzy belly and accepts his fate.  Soon his cut is finished, and after a brisk brush-out, treats are given. I take Roscoe’s collar from the basket and slip it over his boxy snout. A gold tag...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Hidden Light

Weekly Contest #368

"Are you deaf or just plain old stupid?”The words felt like jagged glass sliding down Alyssa's back. She blinked hard and rubbed the fabric of her apron between her fingers. She took a deep breath, smiled and replied, “Sir, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from insults to the staff.”“Well, I'd appreciate a cup of coffee made the way I asked for it. Large, hot, black, and four sugars! No synthetic sweetener! I can taste the difference." He slammed the cup down on the counter so hard that some of the coffee spilled out of the lid and...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Lady Mimi’s Shop

Weekly Contest #368

Lady Mimi was an unusual character who owned and practically lived at her sewing shop in Greenville. Her age was never divulged by her, but that didn’t keep people from guessing (She is most definitely a young fifty-three!; Not a day under seventy, that woman!; Sixties, you mark my words!) No one agreed on the topic, concluding only that the owner of Magic Threads was somewhere between the ages of forty-five and ninety. But most all concurred that the woman was strange, with her odd clothes and almost indifferent demeanor. Today, Mimi was l...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Curious Case of Chakraborty Babu

Weekly Contest #368

Disclaimer: Contains gore and brief dark material Laguna Beach, 2005 Chakraborty Babu has been driving for Laidlaw about 20 years. His grandpa came to the states in 1956 as the first wave of immigration hit New York. Ajantha, his father, was only two years old when he was orphaned as his father lost his leg in a steamboat accident and became paraplegic. So it was upto Ajantha's business acumen to live the American dream and build an empire of laundromat from ground up. Of course, the first time he sold his smoke shop franchise in 1973 to a L...

6 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Lab Rats

Weekly Contest #368

Trigger warning: discussion of animal death Fate begins before life does, or so the theory goes. Sperm touches egg and a north star is born. Chemicals cascade from that contact point, spreading throughout the egg cell, concentration falling with each nanometer. That dying light (composed of fibroblast growth factors 1-18, bone morphogenic proteins, secreted frizzled‐related proteins etc.), creates a cartography. Cells divide into being knowing where they sit on this map and thus, what they must become. You, the spinal nerves. You, the bones...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Extra Special

Weekly Contest #368

There is no going back, it is a phrase from the Department of the Mysteries. It wasn't a very quotable line, but it describes the work environment that I entered every day. I wanted to quit but that isn’t a possibility anymore. I have lost interest in people who look at my job and expect me to say I was exaggerating but it is not exaggeration to say that I would kill anyone if I had to look at another tax report. Yes, that is my job. The Department of Mysteries is a government agency that looks after the wishes made by every citizen, and I d...

5 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

There’s a Dragon Slayer in my school!

Weekly Contest #368

There’s a Librarian in our school. Her name is Ms. Lee. She’s not like other Librarians. For starters, she doesn’t wear horn rimmed glasses or shushes you at the slightest pin drop. Although she does have a navy-blue cardigan that’s snug around her sculpted shoulders. She’s really tall but don’t let her size fool you.  As the only Librarian in our school, she’s really busy. I used to think that it was the best job in the world because you could read books all day long but one day while coming back from recess, I saw her tottering out of...

5 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Good Luck Shop

Weekly Contest #368

I walk through the door like I would on any other day, and the bells in the top corner of the doorway jingle. It’s early November, so the sun hasn’t risen quite yet but there’s that grayish-blue hue, that crisp stillness in the air. I carry a travel mug that holds steaming coffee with lots of cream and sugar in my right hand, and the key to the shop in my left, which I use to unlock and open this door. The door is very tall, with emerald-green paint that could honestly use a fresh coat. There are some chips here and there. It’s a heavy door....

5 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Heaven

Weekly Contest #368

There was once a woman who lived in the south of France, and in those days there were no office jobs so she sculpted for a living. The woman became famous for this and all over the world all kinds of people asked her to make something for them. She was famous for the realism of her sculpting as though she was the creator of nature herself, and for this reason she was especially loved by lovers who wanted their love’s face or body sculpted so they could immortalize each other’s beauty. The woman watched as the years passed and millions of lov...

5 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Gromble's Pet Palace

Weekly Contest #368

Gromble sat behind the counter dejected. Business had been abysmal. Everyone had warned him no one would buy a pet from a demon, but he liked to believe that folks would see past his hideous face and the three horns on his head. So far, everyone else had been right.He surveyed the new stock and shuddered. How could anyone think those things were cute with their pasty, mostly hairless skin? And the godawful noise! Personally Gromble like them better voiceless, but he couldn’t singe or rip out the vocal cords like they used to. Those “Hum...

5 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The best app for fantasy writers

Craft characters, plot story beats, and finish your book in Reedsy Studio.