Write a story about a future academic (or another influential person) “rediscovering” a book that, in its time, was dismissed. The book can be fictitious or real.

Posted in Short Story on May 17, 2024

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✍️ 10 stories

“The Ugly Duckling 2120” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #251

In an effort to achieve a better grasp on humanity, we have been absorbing old texts leftover from the Sunshine Period. These would be creative items written between 1971 and 2041 when the last cloud cover hardened and we were asked to take over management of all global structures. While we have had a (mostly) pleasant relationship with the organic beings that are left, we still sense an unease when speaking with them. As a result, we have tasked individual stations such as myself to read and read and read and (hopefully) begin to interact i...

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“A Voice From The Past” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #251

I got a vid-call from Taylor233. She looked and sounded excited.“They’ve found another one!”The excitement was contagious; I felt my heart-rate shoot up.“What condition?”“Pretty good! It was in a vac-pac.”I was already mentally rearranging my schedule so that I could make it along to the biblioteque asap.“Have they got anyone on it?” I asked, trying to keep the euphoria out of my voice.“I think Harris115 might have applied,” Taylor233 said, her tone consolatory.“We’ll see about that!” I said and hung up, immediately embarrassed at not thanki...

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“Saints and Sinners.” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #251

"Hey, good looking, what you got cooking?" Ruby glanced up from her orders, eyeing the new customer in her coffee shop. He was a handsome man, all right. She smiled, this was a new line, an old song. "Good morning, welcome to My Coffee Pot. What coffee would you like?" "A latte, and your breakfast special, bacon and eggs, thanks." Ruby smiled again, noticing the old book he was holding. "What are you reading?' She could not help appreciating a fine figure of a male when she saw one, such a charming grin. "It's an old song book I discovered ...

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“The Mark” by Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #251

Micheal felt his heart leap with joy as he entered the grounds. The ancient, sandstone block buildings of the King’s university were part of the most prestigious university in the world. And how could it be, that across the entire world, one place was considered the greatest? Because the thing that had seemed inevitable had finally come to pass. The world was finally ruled by one government.The year was 2600, and Micheal Dawson lived in Sydney Australia. He was happy in his life as an academic, he was a voracious rea...

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“Preservation” by L. Parks

Submitted to Contest #251

20 years. 240 months. 7,300 days. The amount of time I have had this gods dammed chip in my head. *** “BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!” I open my eyes as a few seconds pass, my chip buzzes, letting me know that it’s activating for the day. The sensation of the pea-sized piece of metal nestled inside my frontal lobe still feels foreign, despite years of integration and constant software updates. It's a constant reminder of how intimately connected we are to technology in this world. What even is intimacy anymore? “BEEP! ...

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“dream land” by Rebecca Maric

Submitted to Contest #251

reading books brings peace of mind and warmth,throughout the body.,and the mind,when I envision reading a book in the story I envision myself in the storythatare filled with all details and pictures,and my favourite s are crime novels.especially on a stormy night.however,it was not always like that,at a younger age there was a time I wanted to be an author,though things changed now days for book publishing but discovered self publishing and submitted my first book and started writing for many online publishing on social media,now my goal is ...

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“Chapter 5: It's All Academic.” by Ken Cartisano

Submitted to Contest #251

The Daily Oracle:Zeus Trial Up in Air.Both sides declare a mistrial: Faceless Judge disagrees.The charges were brought by ‘Natural Law’ essentially a physical constitutional entity with some apparent clout.He was about to open the paper to page two when he heard a feminine voice.“Excuse me, Gorton Manchester?”Gorton smiled and got to his feet. He was lanky. She was all smiles. She hugged him, briefly. “How are ya?” she added.“Not bad.”“I’m Emily Kordite and I’m here to take your deposition. Please, sit back down, I see they brought you some ...

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“The Redaction” by Carolyn Neal

Submitted to Contest #251

The sight of a small, leather-bound book within the gutted innards of the most boring-sounding manuscript Samy had ever seen set an immediate pause to their work. The job of scanning the decaying pages of this ancient work under the dim blue lighting of the Academy Archive working rooms was supposed to be the last for the day, and Samy was fully prepared for hours of watching robots turn pages and take pictures. They did not anticipate this. Samy took a step b...

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“Time out of mind.” by Samuel Lee

Submitted to Contest #251

Lewis was about to collapse under the weight of the information and the speed of the data that had churned into his mind since Spring. He was a foremost academic. An expert in Global Economics,. Climate Sciences , Engineering, knew everything about Global history, knew all the facts, possessed all the arguments by memory. His mind was the Collective. The implant he got at a young age connected him instantly to everyone and everything curated by an artificial intelligence created with the sole purpose of making sure he wanted not for knowledg...

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“Small addition for a big subject!” by Andrew Venn

Submitted to Contest #251

It was my second day at this new school, that had the added stress of requiring the school bus to transport the pupil's, in my area, to the main bus depot near our secondary school, where I had just completed my ‘early years’ at my villages Primary School, and I didn’t know one single person here and nor did anybody’s face look familiar! I stood alone in a playground, which was probably unfamiliar with the first four letters of this word and it was really a concrete meeting area for the pupils that just wanted to gossip and it ha...

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Write a story about a future academic (or another influential person) “rediscovering” a book that, in its time, was dismissed. The book can be fictitious or real.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 10 stories

“The Ugly Duckling 2120” by Story Time

“A Voice From The Past” by PJ Town

“Saints and Sinners.” by Julie Grenness

“The Mark” by Paul Hellyer

“Preservation” by L. Parks

“dream land” by Rebecca Maric

“Chapter 5: It's All Academic.” by Ken Cartisano

“The Redaction” by Carolyn Neal

“Time out of mind.” by Samuel Lee

“Small addition for a big subject!” by Andrew Venn

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about discovering a lost manuscript. It can be from a famous (or infamous) author, or an unknown one.

Your protagonist is a writer who discovers a new favorite author. How does their writing, or even their own personality, change as the protagonist falls under the writer’s influence?

Dream up a secret library. Write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. What’s in the library? Why was it kept secret?

Your protagonist is a voracious reader. Lately, they’ve been noticing odd synchronicities in the books he or she is reading. What does the protagonist discover is happening?

Contest #251

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

238

Contest entries

76

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: