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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.

150+ 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 10 of 10

Not Every Picture Tells a Gory

Submitted to Contest #330

CW: Contains themes and/or references to emotional manipulation and implied violence Two side by side emojis—one a waving hand, the other kissy lips. Garth York stared at Labonita Cruz’s cryptic reply to his text, “Where R U?”What the hell? Cursing Labonita under his breath, York sent her back an irritated face emoji.Where was she, anyway? His side piece was never late. Self-absorbed and temperamental, yes, but never late. York strode to the hotel window, parted the drapes, and looked out at the deserted ski runs. Now that the sun had set, s...

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Seven Seconds

Submitted to Contest #330

The station groaned at 0400. It was a thermal contraction, the titanium ribs of the hull shivering as Kalindi-4 passed into the shadow of the dead star it orbited. The sound wasn’t a creak; it was a deep, resonant boom that vibrated through the floor grates and up into the sleep restraints.Vesper didn't wake up because of the noise. She woke up because the silence that followed was heavy enough to crush her.She unbuckled the sleep webbing with fumbling fingers. Her hands were numb again—peripheral neuropathy, the medical database called it. ...

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Code Poltergeist STAT

Submitted to Contest #329

CW: Physical violence, gore or abuse, body horror Logline: A nightshift hospital worker who can see ghosts ropes a newbie nurse and her spectral coworkers into exorcising a demon from a patient. Most healthcare workers hate the chaos that comes with shift change as staff change hands with the night crew. Sarah was one of those few techs that actually loved the insanity she stepped into when her white sneakers hit the unit floor. It was the only time the ghosts laid low. “Hey y’all.” She said in passing after tapping her badge onto the timec...

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Upload

Submitted to Contest #330

Upload “I don’t know who sent the link but it wasn’t my daughter.” Olivia tried to keep the anger out of her voice. Even AI operators had zero tolerance customer service policies these days. Raising one’s voice was flagged, resulting in a warning and an abrupt end to the call if she raised her voice again. “I understand your frustration, let me look into it. Please hold.” Olivia did “feel” frustrated, although she’d been told any physical sensation she experienced was purely imaginary. Her consciousness only existed in “the cloud,” accord...

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Tall Grass and Purple Flowers

Submitted to Contest #330

I am alone in a field of tall grass and purple flowers. Irises, petunias, lilacs. The sky is clear above, save for a few wandering clouds, stretched thin, like pulled cotton. I hear only the breeze and feel only the tickle of the tall grass on my palms, the earth below my feet. I have been here for a lifetime and could stay here for eternity. Where the air is warm and I am free. I could run, I could sleep, I could sit still and breathe. Suddenly, I feel something I've never felt before – the cold. It trickles down my spine like a sharp nail...

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The Glass Between Us

Submitted to Contest #329

The apartment was too quiet for sleep. Wait, scratch that. It was the wrong kind of quiet. The kind where you can hear your own thoughts bouncing around like pinballs, each one lighting up another worry you'd forgotten about during the day.Susan lay in bed staring at the ceiling. One-thirty in the goddamn morning. The radiator was doing that clicking thing again, tap-tap-tapping a language she didn't speak. The bathroom door was open just a crack because she hated sleeping with it fully closed (childhood thing, don't ask), and the mirror in ...

17 likes 8 comments 8
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Strange, a beautiful happening in my village.

Submitted to Contest #329

Strange, but beautiful happening in my village The pesky alarm sounded, another day had begun. My arm and hand stretched out to silence the sound. I turned over to embrace my wife with a morning kiss. She was still fast asleep. I lay there for five minutes looking up at the ceiling. My first thought was that I realized I had a full day of work before me.Then images about my life collected in a series of memorable snapshots. I was the only son of the owner of the village's largest dairy farmer. I had lived in the village all my life, apart fr...

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Count Dracula’s perspective on his age and his early memories

Submitted to Contest #329

Count Dracula’s perspective on his age and his early memories The year was 7823. To God’s great surprise and unpredicted even by the most prominent politicians five millennia ago (who forecasted much doom and gloom during the 3rd millennium AD), the Planet Earth was still blue when viewed from deep space. At that time, Dracula, the Eternal, Grand Master of the Undead, and the world’s most famous and infamous vampire, was celebrating his 5672nd birthday. Over 2000 years passed in just 7 days, from the initial fuss to the moment God could ma...

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The Black Dog

Submitted to Contest #329

CW: Body HorrorHis head hurt.Pain was the first sensation he recovered. The building behind him was crumbling. It had clearly been caught in a raging fire, and no one had been brave enough to try and put it out. He couldn’t remember much other than the fire itself and rushing to escape it. He wasn’t sure who he was or even… what he was. That was until he noticed his reflection in a shattered window. Much to his surprise, he was a dog. A black dog. A black sighthound of some kind.A borzoi. The specific breed came to mind but was remembered in...

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Dead of Night Diggers

Submitted to Contest #329

“Are you sure this will work, Kyle?”“Yeah. Trust me it will. Remember last winter when I won the lottery?”“Yeah. That changed your entire life. Of course I remember.”“Well, how do think I did it. I went back in time and changed the numbers on the ticket I bought to the ones I knew would win.”“Really, it was that easy?”“Piece of cake. You’ll be bouncing that little kid on your knee in no time.““Yeah, I hope so,” Jimmy says as he hops off the bus, “I really messed up back then. I can’t mess this up again.”“Well, that’s why we’re here,” Kyle sa...

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The Moth

Submitted to Contest #329

I stepped in yet another puddle on the cobblestones as I trudged through the pounding rain. My walk home felt longer than usual. Not even my umbrella could protect my coat from getting soaked. I passed house after house, each dark and quiet at this time of night. The only light I was given was that of barely lit streetlamps. When I reached the end of the street, a chilly dampness overcame me. My beard was coarse and rough as I dragged my hand along it, exhausted. At this rate, I was bound to get a cold. I had begrudgingly taken another step ...

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A visit With Saul

Submitted to Contest #329

The other day, I asked Daddy about this memory that I have. He shook his head and said, “I never understood why you’re always diggin’ up the past, son!” Here’s what I know. As far back as I can remember, I had heard the adults in my family talk about my father’s second cousin, Saul. Saul had moved to the Cleveland area to work in a factory. His mother had begged him not to go up there. She said he belonged down here in Kentucky with his family, not up there with strangers. Saul moved anyway. He was doing well. He made plenty of money and wou...

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Turning

Submitted to Contest #329

CW: Themes of substance abuse, brief gore The blinker clicked and Krystal turned the wheel to circle the block again.“I don’t think you get it,” Britney repeated. “I have a problem.”Krystal puffed her cheeks as she let out a long breath. She was trying to hold an inviting tone, but she hadn’t spearheaded this conversation before and uncertainty kept creeping in. She had already cataloged a few snarky comments to give Shari on their nightly call later, for coercing her into this situation in the first place.“I understand better than you migh...

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In the Hours After Midnight

Submitted to Contest #329

The building liked to settle a little too much after midnight, which is why I was always sure to clock in to my shift in the power plant’s security office no later than 11:48 P.M. It gave me enough time to brace myself for another graveyard shift. The smell of oil and metal in the air. Another shitty coffee. Another night of listening to her voice.I said goodnight to the swing-shift guard as he left, then sipped my black-tar coffee. It was the kind that the white collars in their white offices graciously supplied to us lesser folk, but they’...

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Serendipity

Submitted to Contest #329

Serendipityby Scott Speck October, 2025My death came suddenly. It happened one sunny, windy day in October while I whistled a merry tune and strode down Main Street. The air around me was filled with the delicious aromas of wood fires and fermenting apples. The sidewalks and streets were alive with the skitter of vividly colored leaves.Then, ten feet in front of me, a man appeared from a doorway. He was short and thin and, most alarmingly, wore a black ski mask. I stopped dead in my tracks as he sprinted past me and was gone. Then a policema...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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