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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about a librarian that doesn’t fit into the common librarian stereotypes.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 62 stories

“The Librarian” by Cassie Landrum

Submitted to Contest #142

  Micah frowned at the looming red brick beast and huffed while the morning drama replayed in her head.    “*Go this way, go that way. Don’t just sit there like a piece of furniture. Get out of the house for awhile,” Mama commanded, pulling cookies from the oven. “The fresh air will do you good.” “But I’m just getting to the really good part,” Micah whined, snagging a snickerdoodle. “I’ll read outside, okay?” “Micah,” Mama insisted, “find someone to play with. You need friends. We’ve lived here for months now, and ...

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“The Librarian with a Ponytail” by Cara Fidler

Submitted to Contest #142

I first saw him on the campus of a university in Florida. He was drop dead gorgeous with dark hair and beautiful eyes and he had a long ponytail and was wearing cologne. He was the librarian. When I checked my books out, I said hi and gave him my best smile. His shoulders were broad and he wore a tight red short-sleeved shirt that was open at the throat revealing some chest hair. '"Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked, smiling. "Yeah," I said, I racked my brain trying to think of a way to extend the conversation and asked, "A...

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“The Library on Planet Triyn” by Michael Danyluk

Submitted to Contest #142

The hormanchers always come in and start a big ol' rally-o-rips, and it's my job to see to it they don't go hankacher the place down. I'm a librarian by trade, but sometimes I feel more like a body-protector. As the oldies sit and read—and sip on their glourp—it's my job to round up the rough-neckers and throw them out on their zizzerts. But these hormanchers were much too big for me to handle myself, and there were three of them tussling and knocking down selves as if this were the local fight square. I had to get Fitty to help me round the...

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“Not Your Everyday Librarian” by Deb Broughton

Submitted to Contest #142

When you wake with a smile, every day is a good one. When you love your job, it isn’t work. When you are happy with who you are, you will always be yourself. Did I fit a mold? Oh, no! I guess my taste, my clothes, my hair, and my life was a bit eclectic. Some say I have the soul of a gypsy, the heart of a hippie, and the spirit of a fairy. I tend to agree with it all.     The birds were warbling sweet notes of sunshine. The water in the pond reflected light as though little dia...

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“ "On my last visit to the library"” by Fortunatus Eze

Submitted to Contest #142

Honestly, I do not remember the last time I visited the library since I moved from my old apartment in Florida State to live in Arkansas as a kid. I guess it was at age 8 or 10 not too sure. Well doesn't matter, my father had decided at the time, that we give up on our old cramped apartment for a new spacious one that would be fit to accommodate our six members family to live in comfort.However, i do remember and possibly will never forget even at age 110 (by then, already struck by the aging curse of dimentia), how the interiors of a librar...

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“The Librarian” by Jim Loughran

Submitted to Contest #142

The LibrarianI have been going to the local library near the Court House in Omagh, County Tyrone for the last twenty years, since I was a teenager in fact, when it became my retreat from the world. The library is housed now in a modern red brick building but at that time it was in a rather run down Victorian building in the centre of the town. There was a reading corner with a bay window overlooking the busy main street and it provided an oasis of calm where I could read books on anything from the collapse of the Assyrian Empire to the rise ...

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“The Sword Swallowing Librarian” by Gary Robinson

Submitted to Contest #142

The Life of a Sword Swallowing Librarian Duke leaned out the bay window and inhaled the smell of the warm ocean air. His heart fluttered and he smiled. Duke knew any sign of spring meant him returning to the streets to perform his sword swallowing act. Duke looked below to the crowded sidewalk. “Good money to be made today,” he thought. He had a special skill that allowed him to earn cash on the street. There were only fourteen sword swallowers in North America, and none of them performed on the urban center sidewalks. With his act and cur...

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“Afternoons with Ms. Witherspoon” by Courtney Renee

Submitted to Contest #142

Activity hour was a sweet solace, promised to me at 2 pm of every workday. For an hour I sent the children to another instructor for a break from the mundane. This was my time to recuperate, grade work, and restore the day’s destruction upon the classroom.  Monday, they played music. Tuesday was art. Wednesday was athletics. Thursday was spent with the guidance counselor. Friday was with the librarian, Ms. Witherspoon. My second graders, naturally full of excitement, would return from activity hour with stories to tell, regardless of...

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“Shaping Summitville” by Alex Wheatley

Submitted to Contest #142

“No, Mr. G!” His fourth graders were seated on the checkered carpet. He perched on a stool in the back of the stuffy library, his back to the whiteboard and children’s books A-K to his left. He watched the fan spin overhead, trying to keep the kids from seeing whatever emotions flitted across his face. “You can’t leave! You just got here!” The other kids shouted their agreement. As he brought a stern finger to his lips, the cries continued at a slightly lesser volume. “Where are you going?” “But we haven’t finished Henry’s story! ...

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“The Reality of Fiction ” by Carmen Lee

Submitted to Contest #142

“Hey yeah, I wanna shhh, baby. Here I go, here I go, here I go again. Shhh shhhh ba-doop.”“Yes, here you again,” she remarked to herself through gritted teeth. For the last two hours she had been listening to this man turn Salt N Peppa into a quiet joke that was ironically not quiet at all, the cadence of his deep voice crescendoing and decrescendoing as he roamed up and down the many lanes of bookshelves. All she wanted to do was put her head down and finish this project. Is the library not the place for this exact situation? Peace N Quiet ...

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“The Keeper of Books” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #142

“This time, can you pick out a fictional book, one with chapters, please?” she says, prodding and impatient. Both boys stop short in front of the glass doors and look back at her, silently pleading. Their bodies instinctively turn toward the section filled with factoids, statistics, and world records. Their shoulders slump and they sigh, eyes rolling up in disgust, but stubbornly they move along.The automatic doors swish open, bringing a gust of air inside with them, a spill of summertime humidity thick as glue. The circulation desk sits emp...

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“Baby Blue ” by Ashlyn Cave

Submitted to Contest #142

The old red door creeks as Kate opens it. The smell of books and Mrs. Jenkins candle of the day fills the library. Kate inhales and smiles; her first month working at Golden Creek Library has been the best. Customers of all ages, locals and travelers visit the library year after year. Kate is still working to prove she belongs; some welcomed her with others arms, others couldn't see past her baby blue hair , her jet black Chevy Silverado that she drives to work every morning, and the few tattoos that she has. Golden Creek is in a beauti...

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“I love Tigers” by Jacob Mathews

Submitted to Contest #142

Computers, old and new, grab your attention when you walk in. Behind them, 32 rows of knowledge fill the brown and grey concrete/brick building. The boring texture of the walls exuberate the uniqueness of each book. The best ones usually had their plastic coating ripped. They were used and withered. I drug my fingers across the covers waiting for my movement to catch a noticeable imprint. There are always so many. I never know what to choose. I read the descriptions of at least 30 books. I guessed the ending for all of them and assumed I was...

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“An After-School Lesson” by Dave Bede

Submitted to Contest #142

The city library wasn’t in the worst part of our town. But it was close enough to always double-check that I’d locked my bike before I went inside. That spring, I’d taken to always riding down there after school to do my homework. Though I was from the right side of the tracks – barely – I wasn’t scared of the ride not quite into the slums. It was where most of my friends lived, which was one of a hundred reasons why my mother and I didn’t get along at all lately. Another was my avoiding spending time at home after school. “You ought to fa...

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“The Misdemeanours Between Two 17-year-olds and A Library ” by Alexandra Lehene

Submitted to Contest #142

“May I help you?” I startled slightly, swivelling around to face the deep voice that addressed me. I come face to face – or rather, face to chest – with a guy. He might’ve been around my age, about 17 or a bit older, with black mussed-up hair and tired eyes. “I’m looking for the librarian,” I say meekly, hiding behind a curtain of my hair. His eyes lit up, apparently amused. “Never seen a librarian so young, have you?” His taunting tone grated my nerves, and I grimaced. “I was hoping to find someone that fits the description, you know? ...

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Contest #142

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