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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#213: The Human Touch

For most people, platonic touch is a central part of being human. When words are not enough, a warm hug or a comforting hand on the shoulder can soothe, support, and create a sense of belonging. But the phrase has another meaning; adding a ‘human touch’ to your work and interactions can also be a way to show empathy and compassion without physically touching. And when that ‘human touch’ is missing from someone or something, it can start to verge on the uncanny.

This week’s prompts are centered around the concept of ‘the human touch’, both literally and figuratively — the comfort it can bring, but also that otherworldly and uneasy feeling we can get when there’s a distinct lack of it in the art and creations we encounter.

🥇 Winner

“The Porcelain Village” by Jonathan Page

🏆 Winner of Contest #213

My clay hands are becoming solid porcelain. I have always had potter’s hands. The throwing water absorbs the moisturizing oils of the skin. Leaves the hands rough. The clay paste dries and cracks the skin. Leaving it red. But now my hands are hardening. In the bisque firing, my hands harden like porous greenware. The cremated carbon and sulfur escape, exhuming my soul from the earthen clay, little by little, drawing it back to its source. The soul stews out in a boiling whistle, agitating out from...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Touching Darkness ” by Michelle Oliver

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

Darkness has never terrified me. After all, it’s all I’ve ever known. My world is a vast eternity of sensation devoid of light, but rich in texture and sound and scents. I can feel you enter the room, I can hear your breath, that surprised intake you make when you first see me. I can only assume that I am somehow different from what you expected. “Mr. Jeremy Blake?” The tentative question ricochets through the room. I hide the grimace that threatens to twist my face. How absurd, as if there was any need for you to ask. How many blind men are...

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“The Sculptor of Lyon” by Michał Przywara

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

CW: body horror, gore. Jacques heard someone enter his 5th floor studio, heard the heavy groan of the old wood door, heard the tired thing thunder back into place, slamming with a finality that said ‘no more’, and it was the only thing that stopped him from pitching forward from his balcony into the street below. Rich heels snapped against the scuffed parquet floor, and the boards underneath strained against the weight of every step the stranger took. “Hello?” came a man’s voice. Jacques relit his cigarette for the fourth time and looked o...

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“The Lucky Ones” by AnneMarie Miles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

“She is definitely a robot,” Carly leans in and whispers in my ear.I stifle the involuntary laughter rising up my chest by covering my mouth with one hand, swatting her playfully with another. “Oh my god, Carly, shhh!” I press an index finger over my parting lips.She snickers. “Seriously! There’s no way this chick is real. Look at her,” she’s extending her arm out, palm facing up, gesturing to the woman speaking on stage. “Who looks like that? She seriously hasn’t stopped smiling since she started talking. It doesn’t even look real! That’s d...

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“A Touch of Heaven” by Stephanie Redieske

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

“Look around you,” Grandpa whispered as he gently rested his left hand on my right shoulder, and waved out in front of us with his right. “This is what I see every day now.” I looked out over rolling emerald hills, towering, snow covered mountains in the distance, and glistening, white-capped waves crashing into the sandy coast. I had never seen so much natural beauty in one glimpse. I thought to take a picture, but I didn’t want to move for fear of losing the moment. A warm breeze blew my hair softly behind me, and the faint sound of chir...

Read story

“Anand's Lamp” by Marty B

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

Anand knew the snake wanted to eat him, even if his mother said it only ate the cats and dogs scurrying over the trash pile. Anand held up one open hand, and then a single finger on the other, examining the years of his life in nicked and dirty scars. His family was Dalit, the untouchables, only suited to garbage collection, or cleaning toilets, as anything they touched turned to trash. He wanted to get to two full hands, and then he could join the men picking up the trash in town and not battle against the snake for its ...

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“Good Mourning” by Indee Anna Prosé

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

“Thank you for calling Good Mourning Mortuary. My name is Arin-Inez. How may I assist you today?” The calm, comforting voice flowed through the phone like honey—so smooth and sweet, the artificially intelligent voice box proved nearly impossible to detect. Betty Masters blew her nose, wiped tears from her cheeks with trembling hands and replied, “Yes…my boyfriend just died. I’m not sure what to do.” “I am sorry for your loss,” said Arin-Inez. “May I have your name please?” “Betty—Elizabeth Masters.” “May I call you Betty?” “Yes.” “...

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“ChatGRW: Generative Romance Writer” by Joshua Copus - Oxland

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

> Your conversation has started with boon.ai, the artificial intelligence that writes the best selling romance novels, with 231,984 books in its database. You are logged in as @Harlequin. > Admin access authorised. You can speak to boon.ai, suggest prompts and search their database. To modify and remove components of boon.ai’s behaviour, or format all collected data, please contact @developer for approval. For a list of commands, type cmd_help. “Hello, Boon.” “Hello, Harlequin! It’s lovely to meet an @administrator! How may...

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This week's prompts

Start your story with a character looking closely at something, or someone. They can't quite decide if what they're looking at is natural, or man-made.

Science Fiction – 51 stories

Start or end your story with a character receiving a hug or words of comfort.

Dramatic – 101 stories

Write a story about someone who is losing feeling in their hands and/or fingers.

Character – 46 stories

Write about someone with a Midas touch: everything they touch turns to [fill in the blank].

Character – 39 stories

Write about an AI or person trying to inject a ‘human touch’ into their work.

Science Fiction – 48 stories

Stories

“The Porcelain Village” by Jonathan Page

🏆 Winner of Contest #213

My clay hands are becoming solid porcelain. I have always had potter’s hands. The throwing water absorbs the moisturizing oils of the skin. Leaves the hands rough. The clay paste dries and cracks the skin. Leaving it red. But now my hands are hardening. In the bisque firing, my hands harden like porous greenware. The cremated carbon and sulfur escape, exhuming my soul from the earthen clay, little by little, drawing it back to its source. The soul stews out in a boiling whistle, agitating out from...

Read story

“Touching Darkness ” by Michelle Oliver

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

Darkness has never terrified me. After all, it’s all I’ve ever known. My world is a vast eternity of sensation devoid of light, but rich in texture and sound and scents. I can feel you enter the room, I can hear your breath, that surprised intake you make when you first see me. I can only assume that I am somehow different from what you expected. “Mr. Jeremy Blake?” The tentative question ricochets through the room. I hide the grimace that threatens to twist my face. How absurd, as if there was any need for you to ask. How many blind men are...

Read story

“Angel's Decision ” by Grace Jasmine

Submitted to Contest #213

Angel’s Decision Grace Jasmine Science Fiction 1296 words Gracejasminewritestheatre@gmail.com It was a bitterly cold morning. Dirk woke with a start knowing it was a special day. He crept down the hatch to the stairs to the cabin below and started water for tea. He rubbed his hand against the tiny round porthole and couldn’t see much. It was the same view all the time. Stars. Planets. Occasionally something like space dust or old space station debris wafting slowly through the darkness, illuminated for a moment, and then gone in an instan...

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“The Sculptor of Lyon” by Michał Przywara

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

CW: body horror, gore. Jacques heard someone enter his 5th floor studio, heard the heavy groan of the old wood door, heard the tired thing thunder back into place, slamming with a finality that said ‘no more’, and it was the only thing that stopped him from pitching forward from his balcony into the street below. Rich heels snapped against the scuffed parquet floor, and the boards underneath strained against the weight of every step the stranger took. “Hello?” came a man’s voice. Jacques relit his cigarette for the fourth time and looked o...

Read story

“Good Day, Doctor Easterbrook” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #213

For more years than he cared to remember, Stanley Easterbrook had been a doctor in the village of Newhall, driving every day through rain, mist, blinding sunshine or bone-chilling snow along back roads lined by wild privet hedges to the main street that led to his clinic. He’d served as GP for the small parish town for thirty-seven years and he knew the area inside out, as well as the people who lived there. To him, this was a good thing, as he believed it made him efficient at his job. He knew his patients’ ailments and their maladies...

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“The Lucky Ones” by AnneMarie Miles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

“She is definitely a robot,” Carly leans in and whispers in my ear.I stifle the involuntary laughter rising up my chest by covering my mouth with one hand, swatting her playfully with another. “Oh my god, Carly, shhh!” I press an index finger over my parting lips.She snickers. “Seriously! There’s no way this chick is real. Look at her,” she’s extending her arm out, palm facing up, gesturing to the woman speaking on stage. “Who looks like that? She seriously hasn’t stopped smiling since she started talking. It doesn’t even look real! That’s d...

Read story

“A Touch of Heaven” by Stephanie Redieske

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

“Look around you,” Grandpa whispered as he gently rested his left hand on my right shoulder, and waved out in front of us with his right. “This is what I see every day now.” I looked out over rolling emerald hills, towering, snow covered mountains in the distance, and glistening, white-capped waves crashing into the sandy coast. I had never seen so much natural beauty in one glimpse. I thought to take a picture, but I didn’t want to move for fear of losing the moment. A warm breeze blew my hair softly behind me, and the faint sound of chir...

Read story

“How Do I Make You Feel?” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #213

If I had not been struck in the head by a baseball during the Yankees game and got knocked clean out, none of this would have ever happened. I thought it ironic that there was an art display of jaguars in the lobby, because jaguars are solitary hunters who live alone in their own bounded territories. They blend into their surroundings. They prefer the cover of night. They are rulers of a little space.I feel nothing as I head into the MetLife Building to see the Human Resources Director. Walking through the revolving ...

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“Anand's Lamp” by Marty B

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #213

Anand knew the snake wanted to eat him, even if his mother said it only ate the cats and dogs scurrying over the trash pile. Anand held up one open hand, and then a single finger on the other, examining the years of his life in nicked and dirty scars. His family was Dalit, the untouchables, only suited to garbage collection, or cleaning toilets, as anything they touched turned to trash. He wanted to get to two full hands, and then he could join the men picking up the trash in town and not battle against the snake for its ...

Read story

“Is It Cake?” by Chris Miller

Submitted to Contest #213

“So now, for fifteen thousand dollars, what’s it going to be?”Jamie stooped and squinted at the five objects.“They’re all so real…”“They’re as real as wrestlin’, Jamie,” said the host to a ripple of spontaneous amusement from the audience, “but which one is cake?”Real as wrestling. Jamie knew real when he saw it. When Hulk Hogan hit The Macho Man Randy Savage, hit him square in the eighties (when fifteen grand would have bought a new Corvette), it was real. Really real. The Macho Man staggered like a blasted buck. Stiff legged and rake-in-th...

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“Napoleon” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #213

Jeremiah had no intention of turning his dog into Napoleon. He woke up one day and when Scotch Tape came to greet him in bed with a lick of the feet and a wag of the tail, Jeremiah gave him a pat on the head as he had always done, and the next thing he knew, there was a tiny tyrant standing before him. “Well, now you’ve done it,” said Napoleon, “Look at me. Just look at me. I’ve been dead for almost two hundred years, and you brought me back just to fetch a frisbee.” Jeremiah assured Napoleon that he didn’t mean to resurrect him. He ha...

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“Just A Friend ” by Zach Shapiro

Submitted to Contest #213

Theo was having second thoughts. Erin had been in the bathroom for a few minutes, no longer than a normal amount, but his mind was still racing. Erin was cute, with inquisitive eyes and a charming, big-toothed smile. The conversation had flowed well thus far, about thirty minutes and one drink in. They had a darkly sarcastic conversation about their approaching thirties. But with her away from the table he was now seeing a bit more of the surrounding room and a different perspective of the bar he had chosen. The crowd was slightly younger, w...

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“Hearts A-Pfishing: A Romance as by J.D. Robbed” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #213

Dedicated to and based on a concept by Danschneider Arroyo, for every scammed author and lover everywhere...Chapter 54East Vrmlmelmnsk, SybursloveniaAt last, Alexis’ heart’s desire was within one GPS turn of fulfillment, and her desirous heart thumped rapidly as she crossed the landfill beyond the village bazaar.The trans-Atlantic journey, the loss of her luggage at the charmingly quaint bicycle-powered Aeropotschk carousel, the succession of taxis and taxi robberies, the bribes to countless provincial cops, the chicken she was coerced to bu...

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“The Naked Driver” by Betha Darling

Submitted to Contest #213

Breathe in, breathe out. I prepare myself as I receive a chime notification that my rideshare driver has arrived. I linger for a few seconds, debating if I want to do this today. If scattering, one’s mother has one better day than another. Finally, I hear Mom’s voice propelling me forward, and I grab the urn holding her ashes and lock the door behind me when I leave. There’s a slight breeze outside, and I’m glad I wore a light blazer to combat the chill. I reach the rideshare car. It’s a silver Honda, and I hold tight to Mom’s urn. When ...

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“I Heard Your Voice” by Elouise Woodard

Submitted to Contest #213

I Heard Your Voice as clear as day as I lay silently in my bed reflecting on your recent passing. Tears are slowly sliding down my face as I fight through the pain of losing you so young. I’m sitting here evoking on your laughter, your smile, and your touch. You were the favored brother who consistently made the entire family chuckle. You left your lasting impression on everyone when God decided to call you home. I heard your voice ringing in my ear over and over again, saying God, this pain is overwhelmingly excruciating and piercing. I’m s...

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$250

Prize money

285

Contest entries

124

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 01, 2023 EST

Won by Jonathan Page 🏆

Title: The Porcelain Village

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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