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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#189: Remastered, Retold

Books, as a medium, have remained virtually unchanged over centuries, even with the advent of ebooks and audiobooks. Our way to enjoy music, on the other hand, has gone from live troubadours and symphonies, to gramophones and vinyl records, CDs and MP3s, and, most recently, streaming apps. To build these virtual libraries, sound engineers have been hard at work remastering older tracks to improve the sound quality to fit our modern standards, preserving and bringing classic albums to the ears of new generations.

Whether you’re a purist who prefers the scratch of an old record or someone constantly looking for rejuvenation, this week’s prompts build on the idea of remastering, asking you to take inspiration from tales old as time and put your (modern) spin on them.

This week's prompts

Write a story where a character must continue to tell their tale to a listener to avoid unsavory consequences.

Dramatic – 37 stories

Write a story inspired by this quote from Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy: “In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.”

Fiction – 51 stories

Write a story about a fox spirit (a gumiho, jiǔwěihú, kitsune, or hồ ly tinh), inspired by, e.g. Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese folklore.

Fiction – 33 stories

Write a modern version of "The Tiger, the Brahmin, and the Jackal," in which someone suffers from their own good deeds and must turn to an unlikely source for help.

Fiction – 17 stories

Start your story with “It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark.” (Hans Christian Andersen, “The Little Match Girl”)

Winter – 98 stories

Stories

“The Smoke of Her Burning” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Part I: It was so terribly cold.It had always been cold in Denmark, especially on New Year’s Eve.The wintry winds brought a desperate chill to those unsettled and impoverished. Wars continued to ravage the land. Treaties were torn up as soon as they were signed. Industrialization poisoned Scandinavian cities and its people. The young moved west for better opportunities in warmer climes, leaving the rich, the poor, and the poor’s children on the streets of Copenhagen. The rich fared n...

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“狐と笛 - The Fox and the Flute” by Russell Mickler

The Fisherman. A Forest Path. Promises. Cherry Blossoms. It was nearing the end of the day, and Henjō lifted his trap from the lowland river. He frowned at his luck as he reeled in his nets and lines from the water. Recovering only two eels and a catfish, Henjō would go hungry today, for his catch would only feed his wife and child. His stomach growled in disappointment. A young man, Henjō wore a green kosode over his hakama trousers, and a round straw hat shielded his fac...

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“Owen in October” by Kevin Broccoli

I had always found Saturday afternoons to be the hardest. Sunday afternoons were for cleaning and Saturday nights were for going out. Sunday nights you unwind and Friday nights you can grab a drink with a friend or see a movie. The Saturday afternoons were what got me. I never knew what to do with them once I was alone. Two days into October, and it felt as though there wou...

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“Simply Sympathy” by Michał Przywara

Who’s the stupid bitch now, Ma? Christine wonders. Her heart flutters as her prospect and neighbour, Mrs. Martinez, holds the jar of Crystal Dreams in her palms, rotating it with her calloused fingers, squinting at the label. At 25 mL it fits in one hand, like an old fashioned ink jar.I’m helping people.“How many can I put you down for?” Christine puts on her biggest smile and takes out an order form and pen. She hopes it’s a big number. At just over $50 a unit, she imagines a big payday – fin...

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“A Blaze of Hope” by Rebecca Miles

It was so terribly cold: I struck a match, but its tiny flame could never warm me.Snow was falling: dreaming of food and a life of plenty, I lit another match; but flame and dream spun into smoke. It was almost dark: the third match sparked, but a complete and final darkness enveloped me. I lost consciousness, gripping my final match. Four matches: four life chances, just waiting to blaze bright, however briefly. Friction made...

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“Escape From a Tagonist” by Suma Jayachandar

Unspoken Antagonist aka Unan should never be spoken to. But what shall a brilliant eleven-year-old do on a summer afternoon when his Mom is busy prepping the delicacies to be served at the house party that night? The mere anxiety of meeting the grown people with whom he should politely converse and little people with whom he is expected to play can stifle him and make him feel a kinship with the socially apathetic...

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“Mitzee's Memoir - a Prequel” by Michelle Oliver

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark. Mitzee watched as Snow did a complicated in air twist, landing lightly on her feet like a ballerina, her thick, white coat gleaming under the streetlamp. Her breath puffed in little tendrils in the icy cold air.“Locked,” she muttered as she walked off the pain of her fall. Nothing shook her for long.“Yep, locked,” Mitzee agreed. “C’mon Snow, this area is the worst for the likes of us.”“Pickings are the best here, though...

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“All is Possible” by Corey Melin

Trigger warning: Physical abuse and thoughts of suicide.              It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark.              Sofia trudged on, wrapping her arms around her body to try to keep herself warm. With a light jacket and wearing jeans with holes in them, she was not prepared for this weather. But she did not care, for she ...

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“Once Upon All Times” by Laurel Hanson

The grandmother had finally rounded up the children and marshaled them through their bedtime routine like a military operation: brushing teeth, scrubbing hands and faces, changing into pjs, locating stuffed animals that had gotten lost in the excitement of the day. But going to sleep itself, that was another matter for three small children in beds that were not their own. A summer with their grandparents was going to tak...

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“Jack and Hans Tell a Wintery Tale” by RJ Holmquist

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark. ***Two ghostly men walked side by side, the powdery flakes passing through their luminous heads and shoulders before settling on the path. Their feet left no prints as they went. “I like the cold and snow,” one man, whose name was Jack, said to the other, “makes a good setting, but I hate the word ‘terribly.’ We’ve got to change that.”“Fine, fine Mr. London,” the other man, Hans, sai...

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“Out of the Woods on Mt Tateshina” by Scott Christenson

Sayako waves goodbye from our apartment window as I pull the car out of the driveway. With one hand, I wave back, feeling slightly guilty about leaving her for the day. But her broad smile transmits an assurance that it’s ok to go on the hike today, she’ll be there waiting when I return.On Sundays, we have an agreement I can take the day to recharge by hiking alone in the mountains of Nagano. Getting out of the car in the empty parking lot at the trailhead, I pack light: 2 liters of water, mobile p...

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“Yes” by Amanda Lieser

Charlotte pulled up to the restaurant, watching the sunset paint the sky from her car window. She opened the mirror in her car and checked her eye liner, lipstick, and blush. She slowly opened her car door before stepping out, her black stiletto clicking on the pavement of the parking lot. Her eyes darted across the parking lot, checking for black ice. The final snowstorm of March had come and gone, but not without leaving behind a few deadly ghosts. Subconsciously, she reached her hand up, running her fingers through her hair. Then, her ...

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“RIDING TRICYCLES IN THE SNOW” by Lily Finch

[CHILD SPEAKS ABOUT HER NON-RELATIONSHIP WITH HER DAD.]Once upon a time.It was so dreadfully cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark. The day my dad was lowered into the ground, we were forced to stand there like pylons all lined in a row. The filthy prick died without having ever looked us in the face as we learned about them. The lucky ones! The two camps as they were, the family with my mother, to whom he was married, and the family of another, to whom he was not marr...

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“The Tale of The Two-Headed Whale” by Chris Campbell

“I am Cap’n Cutlass of the ship Golden Plunderer, an’ I’m in the mood for mischief.” The ale house fell suddenly silent at the large, bearded pirate blocking the only exit from the building. “I have conquered the seven seas, outfought the English Navy, and outrun the fastest of Spanish galleons. Who here can challenge my prowess of the sea?” Drinking, eating, cavorting suddenly ground to a nervous halt. Cutlass was notoriously unpredictable. Rumoured to have once cut a man’s ear off for not listening to what he had ...

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“Wizard of the Lost” by Chandler Wilson

The moment Jake stepped off the trail and onto the narrow path, he felt a sense of foreboding. His brother, Simon, close behind, laid his hands on Jake’s backpack. Drawing short, quick breaths, his dark brown eyes like saucers as he glanced about with uncertainty. The thunderhead in the distance was reshaping in slow motion. The encroaching storm ate up the color of the horizon, more ominous with every passing second. The full moon cast long shadows across the way ahead. Overhead, a malignant sky becoming darker by the minute....

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