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

Posted in Mystery on May 17, 2024

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✍️ 64 stories

You Two Make Horrible Nurses

Submitted to Contest #251

A dragon flew from his nest atop an island mountain to do a little fishing. He reached into the waves and snagged a big one with his back claw, and ascended into the sky. As he did, he saw an odd stick floating in the water. What made it odd was that it was vertical instead of the more acceptable horizontal position. However, his attention quickly returned to his catch as it fiercely struggled to escape. He flew back to his clan's nest, securing the fish with both claws and forgot all about the strange stick in the sea.He would have known it...

40 likes 20 comments 20
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The Passing

Submitted to Contest #251

The PassingThe Passing has been passed on. The title is an obscure lost manuscript written by an infamous novelist who has promised it will never be published. Being the first ever penned by this well known best seller one can only imagine what genius it may harbor. Every published book has struck immediate notoriety. Eleven of these masterpieces have been adapted to successful draws at the box office. After thirty years of producing flawless works could it be possible the first would not live up to the last twenty five? Should the author be...

38 likes 41 comments 41
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The Lost Journal of Love on the Mystical Coast

Submitted to Contest #251

In the second half of the 1800s, Penelope’s family in Illinois sold their property, loaded up several covered farm wagons with supplies, rounded up their eight children, dairy cattle and chickens, and set off for Independence, Missouri, to join wagon caravans on the Oregon Trail. Harley Wilson, Penelope's Papa, spoke to his family at supper. “The trail is over 2,000 miles. Prairies, mountains, rivers. When we get to Oregon we will set up a homestead and start a big dairy farm."“But we’re leaving Grandpa and Grandma, the rest of the fami...

28 likes 35 comments 35
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Malik in Wonderland: A Professor Deshpande Mystery

Submitted to Contest #251

Malik had never favored dinner with “the boss.” Most of his past bosses had, at heart, been cops. His SAC at the FBI Art Theft Program had lived up to his acronym with a simmering case of Islamophobia. This despite Malik Aboud bringing a CV that included the University of St. Andrew’s, New Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiques Unit, and INTERPOL’s Stolen Works of Art Database.But after a day in ballrooms and breakouts with panelists convinced they were solving world hunger instead of exhuming dead artists, dinner with Chairman Deshpande provided ...

25 likes 13 comments 13
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Book of Hours

Submitted to Contest #251

 Manuscripts are from the devil, I’d been told, but I felt it too, evil emanating out like heat from a fire. I wrapped it in cloth to be safe, tucked it in my satchel, and now I wait.I had a few hours, enough time I’m sure before my Master discovered my absence, and my theft. I drank my beer down to forget the past, to focus on my future, my hope brightening the walls of the dark Public House.My eyes followed Evelyn as she moved around me, cleaning up from the night before. Her dark hair pulled back tight showed her pale beaut...

24 likes 16 comments 16
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The Blossoming of Gerald Bloom

Submitted to Contest #251

There is a book whose title is untitled, whose author is unknown, and whose language is not language. J.D. Salinger is said to have caught a glimpse of this book's untitled title page before fading from public view; Hemingway kept a few pages tucked away in memory before it all overflowed; and Homer made it through an entire chapter before going blind. And as for Gerald Bloom, well, he intended to read the whole damn book. A daunting task to be sure, but Bloom had one thing going for him: He wasn't a writer. Like the ageless book itself, Blo...

23 likes 12 comments 12
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The Last Chapter

Submitted to Contest #251

The Last ChapterCategory Prompt: A story about a Lost ManuscriptBy Jim Kokoris So it was good. More than good. Sitting on the dusty floor of the attic, his back against the dusty wall, he had to admit that. Accept that. While reading the first four chapters, his surprise had turned into amazement, before morphing into full throttle astonishment. Mother’s book about a young Southern woman living on a plantation in post-Civil War Alabama was Gone with the Wind excellent. Its mere existence defied belief. He knew, of course, that Mot...

22 likes 13 comments 13
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The Manuscript of Kashi

Submitted to Contest #251

There are places where the veil between the known and the unfathomable is perilously thin, and it is in such realms that truths are best left forgotten. Ancient Kashi, now Varanasi, conceals more than history in its name. With dusk settling, the city wraps itself in a twilight shroud. Smoke threads twist through the air, blending with murmured prayers, thickening the atmosphere with an almost tangible sense of mystery.The Ganges River reflects the glimmering lights of ceremonial fires along the ghats, where the sacred and the profane dance i...

21 likes 21 comments 21
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The Bookmarks

Submitted to Contest #251

THE BOOKMARKSShe unpacked her bag and placed each item carefully on to the kitchen table. She had bought more than expected, but the estate sale's treasures were too good to pass up. Despite her tiny apartment, she always found room for them. Many items just needed a little TLC and a good home. That's how she viewed her weekend shopping sprees. Her mom once called her the ‘Indiana Jones of bargain hunting’ saying, "It's like you're always searching for that special artifact, and you won't stop until you find it.""Everything has a story, Mom,...

18 likes 21 comments 21
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The Bestiarium of Shinsuke Manu

Submitted to Contest #251

The Bear Inn, Oxford, Nazi-Occupied Britain, 1947SS-Sturmbannführer Ewald von Haupt walks into the pub.In one moment, a pleasant, warm cacophony — loud voices, clinking glasses, laughter, singing — in the next, a chilled sudden silence, heads turning and all eyes darting in the tall, blond man's direction, then eyes lowering, shoulders hunching, heads down, subdued conversations re-starting in lowered voices. A faint smile curls von Haupt’s lips as he goes to the bar and orders an ale. He scans the room with pale blue eyes. Spotting the...

14 likes 7 comments 7
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The Six-Toed Muse

Submitted to Contest #251

The sound of the ringing phone filled the room, prompting me to reach out and answer it. The voice on the other end was urgent, every word punctuated with a desperate tone. It belonged to my realtor, who had experienced every aspect of the real estate market, selling houses in every nook and cranny of this scorching town. “Listen,” he said, his voice filled with excitement, “I’ve got something special for you.” Leaning back in my chair, I could feel the warmth of the slanting sunrays as they streamed through the blinds, casting long, dark sh...

14 likes 9 comments 9
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The Lost Manuscript of Orville Langley: A Madcap Tale

Submitted to Contest #251

The Lost Manuscript of Orville Langley: A Madcap TalePrologueNo sane person would willingly venture into the dusty attic of a decrepit Victorian mansion, but sanity had never been my strong suit. My name is Jack Turner, a struggling writer with a penchant for trouble and an unhealthy obsession with lost causes. So, when I inherited my great-uncle’s estate—a sprawling relic in the backwoods of Vermont—I knew I was in for a ride. What I didn’t know was that I’d stumble upon a literary treasure that would send shockwaves through the world of li...

13 likes 3 comments 3
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The Voynich Incident

Submitted to Contest #251

"Sharon..." I called, projecting my voice behind me while I stared, wide eyed, at the body in my living room. He appeared to have crumpled dramatically into a pool of his own blood, a tangle of limbs wrapped in a loose robe or cloak. His face was obscured, but he was definitely dead. There was a mangled, gaping cave in his back, exposing parts of his innards that I had only ever read about in text books."What is it babe?" Sharon emerged from our bedroom stretching and shuffling her feet. She froze.I had stepped carefully around to try to get...

12 likes 5 comments 5
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The Abyss

Submitted to Contest #251

Trigger warning: the following content contains references to physical violence and suicide. My moments of lucidity are increasingly scarce, so this might be the last coherent message I will ever write. And although this text contains elements of narrative writing, I assure you that it is as close to reality as I remember it to be. It may very well be regarded as the incoherent ramblings of a madman, but I believe that bringing clarity to the events that led to my institutionalization is of utmost importance.  As a professional courtesy...

11 likes 4 comments 4
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The little one

Submitted to Contest #251

My grandfather always kept a little brown leather journal in his chest pocket. It was his constant companion, the one I would see in the evenings and the one that, at dinner time, peeked out of his shirt, playing hide and seek with me. I always wondered what secrets it held, what adventures it chronicled, and what cheeky details of adult conversations it concealed. But he did not write that; all he wrote were lists. He did not write about anyone or anything that had happened. There were no fantastic stories to tell me about. He wrote the thi...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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