The Kaidankai Presents Unpleasantville
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The Kaidankai podcast started on August 1st of 2021. Based on the Japanese hyakumonogatarikaidankai (100 ghost stories), we did 100 stories between August 1st and Halloween. This year, I'd like to collect 31 stories to make a modern version of Spoon River Anthology, that is, ghosts reciting their epitaphs (fiction, of course). And there are only a few rules:
1) Between 500 and 1000 words (title doesn't count) 2) All characters must be fictional. You can reference famous people or well-known events, but the epitaph must be about a fictional person. 3) First person point of view only 4) Any genre, any style is ok. Be creative. Multiple submissions are ok |
5) Title must be in the form of character's name, date of birth (1960 or later) and date of death
6) It's an epitaph, so it has to summarize or encapsulate something about the character's life and/or death.
7) Something related to the town description (below) must be part of your submission. It can be a location, a key feature, history, reference to the seasonal conditions...how you incorporate that information is up to you--direct, indirect, major or minor role, etc-- but if there is nothing that grounds it in Unpleasantville, I can't use it.
8) DEADLINE: June 30
9) Post your submission in the body of an email (no attachments) and send to: kaidankai100ghoststories @ gmail.com.
Recipients of the newsletter will have their work prioritized. Also, submissions by a group of writers whose epitaphs refer to each other's characters will be prioritized (please submit all as a collection in one email, NOT AS INDIVIDUAL SUBMISSIONS BY DIFFERENT EMAILS). One thing I love about Spoon River Anthology is how events are seen from different character's points of view and characters refer to each other in their stories, so send me some, please!
6) It's an epitaph, so it has to summarize or encapsulate something about the character's life and/or death.
7) Something related to the town description (below) must be part of your submission. It can be a location, a key feature, history, reference to the seasonal conditions...how you incorporate that information is up to you--direct, indirect, major or minor role, etc-- but if there is nothing that grounds it in Unpleasantville, I can't use it.
8) DEADLINE: June 30
9) Post your submission in the body of an email (no attachments) and send to: kaidankai100ghoststories @ gmail.com.
Recipients of the newsletter will have their work prioritized. Also, submissions by a group of writers whose epitaphs refer to each other's characters will be prioritized (please submit all as a collection in one email, NOT AS INDIVIDUAL SUBMISSIONS BY DIFFERENT EMAILS). One thing I love about Spoon River Anthology is how events are seen from different character's points of view and characters refer to each other in their stories, so send me some, please!
Town Description
Name: Unpleasantville
Population: 666,000
Climate: Four seasons--extreme cold in winter with plenty of snow; hot, humid summers with stinging insects and slithery creatures; wet, muddy springs with plants--many of which are unknown outside of Unpleasantville-- that have extraordinary features; dry autumns with pop-up fires, shadows that grow like mold, and the strange plants prepare for the coming winter.
Key features:
A deep, still lake
an empty house at a cul-de-sac
a town center where witch burnings once took place
a park with a huge black monolith at its center
a thick forest at the north end of town
a meandering river that floods during the spring
a shopping center with more stores than seems possible for its size
a city hall, police station, court house, city hall
a golf course/club
restaurants that are NOT part of the shopping center
a farming area a few miles outside the city limits
the Stay Inn Motel (pronounced by the locals as the Stain motel)
the Grimley's Hotel
The Poisonwood Pub
a suburban development
all the amenities of a modern town (electricity, water, wifi--although wifi didn't arrive until after 2010)
The Mortimer Burnside Funeral Home/morgue (run by Mortimer "Mort" Burnside)
an abandoned warehouse
a graveyard
a church with a crypt
I think that gives you plenty to work with. If there is anything you would like added to the town features, please email me.
Feel free to be creative. Use this information in any way you choose. Although the town is unpleasant and some of the features lend themselves to horror, this does not have to be horror, but it can be horror. As long is it follows the rules outlined above.
I hope you find this project interesting and will contribute despite it being unpaid.
I look forward to reading your work.
Name: Unpleasantville
Population: 666,000
Climate: Four seasons--extreme cold in winter with plenty of snow; hot, humid summers with stinging insects and slithery creatures; wet, muddy springs with plants--many of which are unknown outside of Unpleasantville-- that have extraordinary features; dry autumns with pop-up fires, shadows that grow like mold, and the strange plants prepare for the coming winter.
Key features:
A deep, still lake
an empty house at a cul-de-sac
a town center where witch burnings once took place
a park with a huge black monolith at its center
a thick forest at the north end of town
a meandering river that floods during the spring
a shopping center with more stores than seems possible for its size
a city hall, police station, court house, city hall
a golf course/club
restaurants that are NOT part of the shopping center
a farming area a few miles outside the city limits
the Stay Inn Motel (pronounced by the locals as the Stain motel)
the Grimley's Hotel
The Poisonwood Pub
a suburban development
all the amenities of a modern town (electricity, water, wifi--although wifi didn't arrive until after 2010)
The Mortimer Burnside Funeral Home/morgue (run by Mortimer "Mort" Burnside)
an abandoned warehouse
a graveyard
a church with a crypt
I think that gives you plenty to work with. If there is anything you would like added to the town features, please email me.
Feel free to be creative. Use this information in any way you choose. Although the town is unpleasant and some of the features lend themselves to horror, this does not have to be horror, but it can be horror. As long is it follows the rules outlined above.
I hope you find this project interesting and will contribute despite it being unpaid.
I look forward to reading your work.