53-Word Story Contest
Each month we offer a prompt to subscribers of Prime Number Magazine to write a 53-word story—no more, no less—and send it to us by the fifteenth day of the month. Our editors select one winning story, and the author receives a book from Press 53 as well as publication in Prime Number Magazine. Want to play along? Subscribe to Prime Number Magazine and we’ll send you the prompt on the first day of each month.
Scroll down to read our winners for July, August, and September 2021
Greg Hill
July 2021
Prompt: Write a 53-word story about a train
The Buzz about the Wedding
As the groom speaks haltingly but lovingly at the outdoor reception, everyone assumes the tears which bedew the radiant cheeks of his bride’s smiling yet stoic face reveal her elation, not realizing the train of her dress has disturbed a nest of ground hornets, now assaulting her legs, trapped below layers of tulle.
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53-Word Bio
Poet, writer, and adjunct professor of English, Greg Hill lives in West Hartford, Connecticut. His work has appeared in Six Sentences, Otoliths, Visitant, Past Ten, and elsewhere. He has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He and his wife enjoy the struggle of raising three determined feminists. Twitter: @PrimeArepo
Hayley Igarashi
August 2021
Prompt: Write a 53-word story about ripening
Ship Seeking Ship
“We were like two trains passing in the night,” Fiona told her sister. This was after their first bottle of pinot, but before karaoke.
“Ships pass in the night,” Mabel said.
Fiona imagined lovers bobbing by on wine-red waves—instead of barreling through on immutable tracks.
“Well,” Fiona said, “that explains a lot."
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53-Word Bio
Hayley Igarashi is a full-time writer, part-time kayaker, and one-time trumpet player. She started her editorial career in Silicon Valley, but has since adapted quite well to remote work life and is never, ever going back. She now lives and writes near a lake in Maryland with her partner and very good dog.
Sandra Burley
September 2021
Prompt: Write a 53-word story about an order
Equine Knocks
It is hot, humid August, the smell abominable. The debate on horse-drawn tourist carts had raged throughout Spring. Being a tourist guide in Charleston, I was undecided. Money was tight. We needed the business. But the poor horses! In the end, the activists won. Hoisting the handles of my rickshaw, I began trotting.
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53-Word Bio
Sandra Burley lives near, but not near enough, the beach in South Carolina where she raises cats, cacti and a very small amount of cane. Sandra has been published in a collection of memoirs. She is currently at work on a novel and short stories about nightlife in Charleston in the last century.