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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about someone trying to raise the dead.

Posted in Halloween on Oct 20, 2023

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✍️ 50 stories

“The Obsession of Dr. Gemmel” by Gavin Gifford

Submitted to Contest #221

Friday, January 11th, 1985 Ned stood still, watching Eliza wheel in the newest cadaver. The diminutive assistant worked with expert efficiency, using the hydraulic pumping mechanism on the gurney to raise the body up before undoing a latch and sliding the cadaver onto the rubber coated metal table at the center of the room. At the far wall, Dr. Gemmel sat hunched over a keyboard in front of a wall of monitors, checking all the programs and sensors, an almost frantic and frazzled air about him. It was a cramped and cluttered laboratory, wit...

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“Old Friends” by Josh Ziegelbauer

Submitted to Contest #221

This story contains some swearing and brief horror. “There’s been many tools that were meant to raise the dead, but there is one sure fire way you can.” Bill says in his Texan Twang. Bill is what you picture when you hear ‘cowboy.’ Six foot five with a muscular frame, he is never afraid to shoot from the hip and ‘give it to ya straight.’ He never goes anywhere without wearing his cowboy boots and a ten gallon hat, they’ve just become part of him. He is sitting around a small table with two similar ‘cowboys’ who usually take everything he ...

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“Until our Souls meet again” by Rya Johnson

Submitted to Contest #221

  “It has to be on the full moon tomorrow night, Saanvi.”  Mia Kimmons explains as she hands Saanvi Khaliid the beautifully wrapped little box.  “All the components and instructions are inside.  Are you sure about this?”   “You have known me my whole life Mia, have I ever done anything spontaneously?” Saanvi responds quiet as she holds Mia’s hesitant stare; her hands tightly gripping the red satin cloth wrapped around the box.   “I know but you know the trade.  And it’s fo...

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“Hollywood Undead” by Sabrina Rose

Submitted to Contest #221

It was a calm, dark night, calm before the storm as they say, which was reported for that evening, which also happened to be Halloween. The clouds hung thick in the air of the Hollywood cemetery as Colin, Stefi and Jimmy walked through, passing beautiful mausoleums and weeping angels. Colin took a deep breath.   “I love the smell of stormy night.”   “I love that white hue of the moon peeking through even though its half hid by these clouds.” Stefi admired the reflection in the pool of water nearby.   “It is nice...

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“Please Resurrect Me” by Malcolm Carter

Submitted to Contest #221

Please resurrect me. The prompt for this story is: “Write a story about someone trying to raise the dead”; but if you’re me, and I am, you’re writing this prompt: “How to be pretentious in 1000-ish words with roughly 15 minutes to spare before the deadline". My cat, Lucy, died last November. She was close to 10 years old. She wasn’t doing so well, and it got to the point where she didn’t want to eat, so I took her to the emergency vet, who told me they thought she had cancer and that it had spread. I made the choice to have her euthanized....

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“Give Me My Crown” by Isabel Kizer

Submitted to Contest #221

“I can’t get the blood out of my floor.” On the other line, Georgie was a mess. Mason could hear her sniffling and blubbering every time she opened her mouth. “Just– just use bleach or– fuck, I don’t know Mason– this is insane.” “It could be worse,” Mason answered, balancing the phone between her shoulder and her ear and she scrubbed at the carpet. The threads were bright red, and her towel was smeared with crimson. “He could’ve tripped on his shoelaces or something. Can’t imagine he’d live that down.” “He won’t be living shit down, Mason...

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“The Glyph” by Christopher Morrow

Submitted to Contest #221

Master dreadtrician Nadia Chu followed her team down the stone steps to the catacombs. The steps were not dusty, neither was the stairway dark, it was well-lit and clean. The dead were citizens in Rothgan and were given appropriate respect. The stewards kept the catacombs as livable as the rest of the estate. It was clean, well-lit with oil lamps, and free of rodents. It still smelled damp, that couldn't be helped. As the retinue reached the final resting place of Queen Agnol the Belligerent (as she was known to all but herself), the apprent...

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“A Pinch of Salt” by Austin Baker

Submitted to Contest #221

“A pinch of grave soil freshly turned, the feather of a raven… or was it a crow? Three pinches of salt, or to taste… uhm…” “You’ve no idea how to do this, do you?” The question was punctuated with a thud, the tip of the spade biting deep into earth. The gravekeeper paused there, planting the heel of his boot against the wooden haft. “Grave soil, check. We got plenty of it. And that’s a raven’s feather, so I hope that’s what you wanted. But salt? Really? I always heard it was supposed to keep away ghosts.” “I wasn’t aware I hired an expert to...

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“Mara, the Lady of the Dead” by Dan Pratt

Submitted to Contest #221

In the land of Ocitta, everyone knows that the dead do not rest easy. From old wives' tales and children’s bedtime stories to sketchy first-hand accounts and scholarly discussions, the land was full of stories of animated skeletons, shambling corpses and the dark forces that commanded them.  Although many of these stories have become embellished or exaggerated over the years, they often have a basis in truth. This is one of those stories - the story of Mara, the Lady of the Dead.  Mara was a young woman of wealth and fortune fr...

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“Morgana the Necromancer” by Allana Dehart

Submitted to Contest #221

This story includes descriptions of blood and rotting flesh and tortured souls as well as physical pain. Morgana stood in the catacombs, both hands on top of a stone coffin, her head was bowed, her long dark hood covering her pale and cracked face. Years of magic had not been kind to her but she was determined to accomplish her goals before the dark magic circulating through her veins killed her first. The body before her was less of a body and more of a skeleton, the bits of rotting grey flesh still clinging to its ribcage and face the on...

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“The Fen Beast” by Noah Aylward

Submitted to Contest #221

The frigid night sky was alight with a living sheen of deep blues, sanguine crimsons, and greens as deep as the densest jungles of Lon Dar. In the silver moonlight, the snow pouring down in great torrents seemed to be of the finest powder, but not a speck of it fell upon the cowl of the sorcerer Yonar Helthris. In better days, Yonar Helthris had been a court magician to the emperor of Herud Hiti, but the coming of Mal Char-Nal had wrought an evil doom for the wizards of that city. Not with all their strength combined could they have put up e...

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“Leila's Big Idea” by Aditi Kumar

Submitted to Contest #221

As soon as Leila heard the phrase, groaned in exasperation by Mr. Ray to Mr. Joby when the end-of-recess bell rang for Little Flowers Nursery, she knew what she had to do.Leila raced all the way back to her classroom, heart thumping in her tiny chest. The idea flashed in tandem through her mind; it was clear and beautiful, like the perfectly formed hibiscus Mummy had once pointed out in their garden. Leila imagined her idea sprouting, then growing into leaves and stems and petals as soon as she told the others.Her squeals startled everyone w...

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“At Any Cost” by Sarah Dean

Submitted to Contest #221

Jameson wasn’t the best necromancer out there by any stretch of the imagination. Her Nan had told her so many times that he should leave that to her brother. ‘Necromancy was a man’s art,’ she’d say. ‘Women create and deal with giving life. Healing, for example. Not death and certainly not bringing the dead back.’ Thinking back, maybe Nan had been trying to look out for her, attempting to get her to let it go so she would lead a normal life. She certainly would’ve benefited from a little bit of normalcy from time to time in the past thirteen ...

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“Symphony to Chaos: A tale of Darkness” by Debora Carvalho

Submitted to Contest #221

The wind howled in despair, whistling like a runaway train. A symphony of fear penetrated the bones of the living beings forced to cross the line, making them vibrate at the same frequency until they turned into dust. The darkness was thick, like a heavy, impenetrable curtain, and no star dared to lend its brightness to illuminate the path. At the foot of the highest mountain, a faint greenish light indicated that the final destination was approaching. The wooden hut profaned the air with its poisonous thorns embedded in every wall. They ha...

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“Chapter 25” by Danielle Azoulay

Submitted to Contest #221

The February sky hung over my shoulders like a velvet cape. Frosty tidbits of clouds tiptoed eerily across its surface, seemingly collaborating with the nipping winds and threatening a terrible storm.I grinned. My favorite weather. The Broken Horse was bustling with the usual Saturday night crowd. Young hipsters decorated with gold-rimmed glasses, glittery girls with pleather pants that looked painted on, and the occasional shifty-eyed couple, completing an unspoken trust exercise with their partners near a busy, horny crowd.I slinked r...

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Contest #221

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