HeyJaredStorytime with Writers' Playground
Listen to the winning stories, by writers from around the world, from our Playground Challenge: A Fiction Short Story Writing Competition. Follow us on our website for more: www.writersplaygroundllc.com
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 6
- Latest publication
- Sep 24, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 16, 2026
Latest episodes
Iguana Summer by Darcie Johnson (opens the original)
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A story about a young girl being raised by her aunt, when her mother comes home during a rainy summer with a pet lizard that this young girl falls in love with... "Iguana Summer" won 1st Place in our Second Playground Challenge... Darcie Johnson is a stay at home mom, an avid reader, and a talented writer from Tallahassee, Florida and you can follow her on twitter @darciewrites - You can also read more of the winning stories from our challenges on our website, writersplaygroundllc.com
Forever Amber by Charles Sayers (opens the original)
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Fleeing through the Maurepas Swamp, a fugitive finds refuge in a child’s treehouse above the floodline. But in a land where nothing stays bound and buried, shelter comes with a price... "Forever Amber" won 9th Place, out of 697 entries, in our Eleventh Playground Challenge... Charles Sayers is a talented writer from Atlanta, Georgia, and he has a novel called Break a Wish that is now available for preorder. You can find it on Amazon , and it will be fully available on September 30th… It follows
No Such Thing as Serendipity by Dan Davies (opens the original)
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In the faraway land of Flarce, in a faraway time long past, Gumbil Fig prepares himself for the Trial of Wisdom... "No Such Thing as Serendipity" won 10th Place, out of 553 entries, in our Fourth Playground Challenge... Dan Davies is a talented writer from Armidale, NSW, Australia… He was the winner of the 2022 New England Thunderbolt Prize for the Crime Writing Emerging Author Award, and he currently has a fantasy novel in the works… Make sure to check out his website, https://6340bbb317ff6.sit
A Mother’s Vigil by Zelda C. Thorne (opens the original)
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A sleep-deprived woman goes to pick up her daughter from the train station after a prolonged absence... "A Mother's Vigil" won 2nd Place, out of 606 entries, in our Seventh Playground Challenge... Zelda C. Thorne is a talented writer from Norwich, UK... She has been published by Northern Gravy , Off Topic , and JAKE , and she was also shortlisted for the Olga Sinclair Prize ... Her speculative piece, "Star Status" was featured on the USA science fiction podcast, Tall Tale TV, and it is the title
A Suitable Realm by Sara George (opens the original)
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A psychiatrist visits with a patient who believes he is a wizard... "A Suitable Realm" won 7th Place, out of 462 entries, in our Fifth Playground Challenge... Sara George is a talented writer from Concord, North Carolina and she has two novels available, Wish Wrecked and Semi-Psychic Sally . They are both contemporary fantasy, meaning they are set in the present-day world but contain a little bit of magic or mysticism… Wish Wrecked is a modern-day genie tale and it concerns an unremarkable deadb
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