shortstorytournament - Tumblr blog

[shortstorytournament]

so does anyone want a season two

[shortstorytournament]

And the winner is…

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO! 🎉

All our finalists put up a good fight, but Tumblr’s favorite short story has been decided upon as Poe’s work of gothic horror!

Now, CaskFans, I have some celebratory wine to share with you, if only you’ll accompany me down into the cellar-

SHORT STORY TOURNAMENT - FINALS

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO by Edgar Allen Poe (1846) (link) - tw: death

“I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us.”

THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS by Ursula K Le Guin (1973) (link) - tw: child abuse

Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy? No? Then let me describe one more thing. In the basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, there is a room. It has one locked door, and no window. ... In the room a child is sitting.

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1887) (link) - tw: depression, insanity

John is so pleased to see me improve! He laughed a little the other day, and said I seem to be flourishing in spite of my wall-paper. I turned it off with a laugh. I had no intentions of telling him it was because of the wall-paper — he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away.

[shortstorytournament]

SHORT STORY TOURNAMENT - FINALS

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO by Edgar Allen Poe (1846) (link) - tw: death

“I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us.”

THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS by Ursula K Le Guin (1973) (link) - tw: child abuse

Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy? No? Then let me describe one more thing. In the basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, there is a room. It has one locked door, and no window. ... In the room a child is sitting.

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1887) (link) - tw: depression, insanity

John is so pleased to see me improve! He laughed a little the other day, and said I seem to be flourishing in spite of my wall-paper. I turned it off with a laugh. I had no intentions of telling him it was because of the wall-paper — he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away.

[shortstorytournament]

SHORT STORY TOURNAMENT - FINALS

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO by Edgar Allen Poe (1846) (link) - tw: death

“I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us.”

THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS by Ursula K Le Guin (1973) (link) - tw: child abuse

Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy? No? Then let me describe one more thing. In the basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, there is a room. It has one locked door, and no window. ... In the room a child is sitting.

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1887) (link) - tw: depression, insanity

John is so pleased to see me improve! He laughed a little the other day, and said I seem to be flourishing in spite of my wall-paper. I turned it off with a laugh. I had no intentions of telling him it was because of the wall-paper — he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away.

[shortstorytournament]

FINALLY FINALS TIME

hi starlings! sorry i've been neglecting this tournament, but it's finally time for the finals! later today!

After rounds of battles, we're left with three short stories to duke it out! THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO by Edgar Allen Poe, THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS by Ursula K. Le Guin, and THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman!

Now: I'm just gonna say right now, there's not gonna be a season 2. at least not right now! sorry! listen, all i've needed to do for finals is make one poll, and i've been too overwhelmed by school and my personal life to do that. i won't say there will never be a season 2, but right now i do not have the time or energy to put together another thing - i really wanted to, but it's not in the cards. but! at least for now, we have this tournament! finally to actually conclude!

[shortstorytournament]

Ohh the final looks like it's going to be epic

I know right??? It's gonna be amazing. I uh. Haven't actually read Omelas or Cask of Amontillado so I'm gonna be doing that, oopsies

[shortstorytournament]

Hey, are you okay ?

It's fine if you're busy / taking a break from tumblr or whatever but I thought I'd check on you just in case

- a well intentioned anon hoping they soon more concerned than nosy

Hi, thanks for the concern! I'll be honest, I've just been incredibly busy lately - school has been picking up and if we're being honest my personal life has been a lot. I'm doing okay though, and this tournament means a lot to me. THE FINALS WILL BE SOON! I'll get around to posting it as soon as I can. And stay tuned for what happens after this season! Thanks for checking in :3

[shortstorytournament]

Short Story Tournament

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1887) (link) - tw: depression, insanity

John is so pleased to see me improve! He laughed a little the other day, and said I seem to be flourishing in spite of my wall-paper. I turned it off with a laugh. I had no intentions of telling him it was because of the wall-paper — he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away.

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER by Roald Dahl (1953) (link) - tw: death

At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.

[shortstorytournament]

Short Story Tournament

THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS by Ray Bradbury (1950) (link) - tw: death

Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one! But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels. It was raining outside. The weather box on the front door sang quietly: "Rain, rain, go away; umbrellas, raincoats for today. .." And the rain tapped on the empty house, echoing.

THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS by Ursula K Le Guin (1973) (link) - tw: child abuse

Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy? No? Then let me describe one more thing. In the basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, there is a room. It has one locked door, and no window. ... In the room a child is sitting.

[shortstorytournament]

Short Story Tournament

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO by Edgar Allen Poe (1846) (link) - tw: death

“I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us.”

I AM A BEAUTIFUL BUG! by Julian K Jarboe (2019) (link) - tw: bugs, themes of transphobia

Once at the clinic, I brought my copy of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka to my brief pre-surgery consultation. I pointed to the inside cover illustration, and said, “Gimme the works, doctor! Just like Gregor Samsa!"

[shortstorytournament]

ROUND 4 OVER

THE SEMIFINALS START LATER TODAY. Oh my god are you excited? I'm excited.

We're down to six stories! Honestly, now that there aren't many stories left the stats aren't that interesting - EXCEPT! I Am A Beautiful Bug! is the only story left from the 21st century, younger than its competitors by almost 50 years! It's clear that we've been favoring the older classics - The Cask Of Amontillado and The Yellow Wallpaper remain standing from the 19th century. I'm curious to see what comes of this! And just wanted to shout it out for making it this far and make an observation about what's been getting the most votes.

Have a great semifinals! We have some lovely stories to reread and hard choices to make!

[shortstorytournament]

Just wondering if you'd consider running a second version of this tournament! I have a few short stories I would love to see compete, but I didn't know about this blog when submissions were open.

Hi! I'm so glad you're interested :3 I'm not sure if I'm doing a second season! I've had a lot of fun running this tournament. At the same time, my life is a bit busier now that I'm in school, and I don't quite know how much of a demand there is.

Also - this is the big thing - I realized a tournament might not be the best form for what I'm really interested in, which is introducing people to know short stories and getting folks to read more. I somehow failed to predict that the classics would kinda sweep. And that's great, the ones still left are some of my favorites, but there are so many underrated stories out there!

If I continue this after this tournament ends, I'm thinking of doing one of two options. I could run another season exclusively for 21st century stories, so that everyone would be on a more even playing field. I could also switch to just posting a new short story every day, which maybe fits my goal of sharing short stories more but also doesn't quite incentivize reading them? I don't really know! If anyone has any thoughts on what they'd like to see, please tell me :3

[shortstorytournament]

Short Story Tournament

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER by Roald Dahl (1953) (link) - tw: death

At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.

THE NECKLACE by Guy de Maupassant (1884) (link)

She suffered endlessly, feeling she was entitled to all the delicacies and luxuries of life. She suffered because of the poorness of her house as she looked at the dirty walls, the worn-out chairs and the ugly curtains.

[shortstorytournament]

Short Story Tournament

THE PAPER MENAGERIE by Ken Liu (2011) (link) - tw: racism, death

A little paper tiger stood on the table, the size of two fists placed together. The skin of the tiger was the pattern on the wrapping paper, white background with red candy canes and green Christmas trees.

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1887) (link) - tw: depression, insanity

John is so pleased to see me improve! He laughed a little the other day, and said I seem to be flourishing in spite of my wall-paper. I turned it off with a laugh. I had no intentions of telling him it was because of the wall-paper — he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away.

[shortstorytournament]

Short Story Tournament

THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS by Ursula K Le Guin (1973) (link) - tw: child abuse

Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy? No? Then let me describe one more thing. In the basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, there is a room. It has one locked door, and no window. ... In the room a child is sitting.

THE HAPPY PRINCE by Oscar Wilde (1888) (link) - tw: death

The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with pity.

[shortstorytournament]

Short Story Tournament

KALEIDOSCOPE by Ray Bradbury (1949) (link) - tw: death, existential dread

When life is over it is like a flicker of bright film, an instant on the screen, all of its prejudices and passions condensed and illumined for an instant on space, and before you could cry out. There was a happy day, there a bad one, there an evil face, there a good one, the film burned to a cinder, the screen was dark.

THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS by Ray Bradbury (1950) (link) - tw: death

Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one! But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels. It was raining outside. The weather box on the front door sang quietly: "Rain, rain, go away; umbrellas, raincoats for today. .." And the rain tapped on the empty house, echoing.

[shortstorytournament]

Short Story Tournament

A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA by Arthur Conan Doyle (1891) (link)

To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler.

I AM A BEAUTIFUL BUG! by Julian K Jarboe (2019) (link) - tw: bugs, themes of transphobia

Once at the clinic, I brought my copy of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka to my brief pre-surgery consultation. I pointed to the inside cover illustration, and said, “Gimme the works, doctor! Just like Gregor Samsa!"