#prebrackets

[shortstorytournament]

Pre-Tournament: Edgar Allen Poe Brackets

Round 1

Metzengerstein

The Cask of Amontillado

Voting ended onJun 15, 2023

METZENGERSTEIN (1850) (link) - tw: death

The origin of this enmity seems to be found in the words of an ancient prophecy- "A lofty name shall have a fearful fall when, as the rider over his horse, the mortality of Metzengerstein shall triumph over the immortality of Berlifitzing."

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO (1846) (link) - tw: death

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

[shortstorytournament]

Pre-tournament: Edgar Allen Poe Brackets

Round 1

Hop-Frog

The Raven

Voting ended onJun 17, 2023

HOP FROG (1849) (link) - tw: ableism, death

I never knew anyone so keenly alive to a joke as the king was. He seemed to live only for joking. To tell a good story of the joke kind, and to tell it well, was the surest road to his favor.

THE RAVEN (1845) (link)

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

[shortstorytournament]

Pre-Tournament: Arthur Conan Doyle Brackets

The Adventure Of...

The Musgrave Ritual

The Copper Beeches

The Speckled Band

Voting ended onJun 23, 2023

THE ADVENTURE OF THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL (1894) (link) - tw: death

“Whose was it?” “His who is gone.” “Who shall have it?” “He who will come.” “Where was the sun?” “Over the oak.”

THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES (1892) (link) - tw: death

“I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of sacrificing it in this offhand fashion."

THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND (1892) (link) - tw: death

"At first I thought that she had not recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out in a voice which I shall never forget, ‘Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!’"

[shortstorytournament]

Pre-Tournament: Edgar Allen Poe Brackets

Round 1

The Oval Portrait

The Tell-Tale Heart

Voting ended onJun 21, 2023

THE OVAL PORTRAIT (1850) (link) - tw: death

The portrait, I have already said, was that of a young girl. It was a mere head and shoulders, done in what is technically termed a vignette manner; much in the style of the favorite heads of Sully.

THE TELL-TALE HEART (1843) (link) - tw: murder

True! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily — how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

[shortstorytournament]

Pre-Tournament: Neil Gaiman Brackets

Round 1

Click-Clack the Rattlebag

Making a Chair

A Study in Emerald

Voting ended onJun 20, 2023

CLICK-CLACK THE RATTLEBAG (2013) (link) - tw: death

"I don't think it should be too scary, because then when I go up to bed, I will just be thinking about monsters the whole time. But if it isn't just a little bit scary then I won't be interested."

MAKING A CHAIR (2011) (link)

Making a book is a little like making a chair.

A STUDY IN EMERALD (2003) (link) - tw: death

A murder had been committed in that little bedsit. The body, what was left of it, was still there, on the floor. I saw it, but, at first, somehow, I did not see it.

[shortstorytournament]

Pre-Tournament: Neil Gaiman Brackets

Round 1

Chivalry

The Problem of Susan

Witch Work

Voting ended onJun 19, 2023

CHIVALRY (1992) (link)

Mrs. Whitaker found the Holy Grail; it was under a fur coat.

THE PROBLEM OF SUSAN (2004) (link) - tw: death

None of the bodies are human; she can see a centaur, its throat slit, on the grass near her.

WITCH WORK (2012) (link)

The witch was as old as the mulberry tree She lived in the house of a hundred clocks She sold storms and sorrows and calmed the sea And she kept her life in a box

[shortstorytournament]

Pre-Tournament: Ken Liu Brackets

Round 1

Quality Time

Ask Emily

The Algorithms for Love

Voting ended onJun 21, 2023

QUALITY TIME (2020) (link)

“Like all their competitors in the Valley, they’ve got the shuttle buses and free nuts and fruits and ToDoGenie credits, and I’m sure they’ll give you as much responsibility as you can handle, plus the stock options to keep you here. But no one really succeeds here without believing the One True Myth.”

ASK EMILY (2012) (link)

Dear Wishing, Every month I get more questions about these memory-erasing machines. You're lucky that I'm very familiar with them, as I have a weekly appointment to erase truly disturbing letters from angry readers.

THE ALGORITHMS FOR LOVE (2004) (link) - tw: self harm

"I love you." He says this quietly, the way he has always done, as if it were the sound of breathing and heartbeat. I wait a few seconds. I picture myself opening the door and throwing my body onto the highway but of course I don't do anything. I can't even surprise myself.

[shortstorytournament]

Pre-Tournament: Edgar Allen Poe Brackets

Round 1

The Masque of the Red Death

Ligeia

Voting ended onJun 19, 2023

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1850) (link) - tw: death, disease

It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.

LIGEIA (1838) (link) - tw: death

How poignant, then, must have been the grief with which, after some years, I beheld my well-grounded expectations take wings to themselves and fly away! Without Ligeia I was but as a child groping benighted.