Horizon 2040 is a fiction writing contest operated as a joint effort of Motive International and Small Wars Journal. The contest was  designed to capitalize on the capability and creativity of amateur fiction writers to help our community imagine the future of psychological operations and irregular warfare. Fiction is an essential part of the discourse. The perspectives of these writers brings an array of ideas and new angles, unconfined by insider knowledge of protocols or scenario and training development.

In the fall of 2024, hundreds of aspiring authors submitted their stories. A panel of judges determined the winners.

These are the winning stories.

The prompt

A contest for dominance unfolds in an emerging international order. Nations, corporations, and independent actors vie for influence over civilian populations in an effort to mold these populations’ behavior and thoughts to fit their own subversive aims.

Under the weight of these strains, societies struggle to maintain cohesion in the face of influence efforts of malign actors, foreign and domestic.

Rapidly progressing technology and a growing emphasis on the cognitive domain of warfare has centralized the human mind as the most contested battleground.

Truth is a whisper drowned in noise.

Two plus two is five, up is down, and the sky is red.. depending on to whom you listen.

Even while the character of warfare has evolved with technology, its basic nature remains immutable—

a contest of human will.