Fable
AI Retold: Little Red Riding Hood. AI-Generated.
[[ This is the first in a series of exploratory short stories where I've just asked an AI (Copilot, in this case) to retell a classic fairy tale, both out of curiosity and interest to see what tropes and details it retains and what it changes. Further works will possibly include analysis sections where I genuinely compare and contrast the AI-generated versus the original, but this one in particular was just a trial run to see how it would turn out. Not bad, overall, but we'll see in the future how it handles more complex stories and what results. ]]
By Taylor Inman7 months ago in Fiction
She Was Never Real
I met her on a rainy Tuesday. The kind of rain that doesn't just fall—it lingers in the air, heavy and cold, like the universe itself is pressing down on you. I was sitting alone in a bookstore café, sipping cheap coffee and pretending to read a book I’d already abandoned. She sat across from me without asking, as if we’d done it a thousand times before.
By Leah Brooke7 months ago in Fiction
The Last Letter in the Bottle
The glass bottle glinted under the fading sun, half-buried in the damp sand of Crescent Beach. Its green curves caught the light like a winking eye, a secret washed ashore by the restless tide. I’d come here every summer since I was six, chasing waves and dreams with my sister, Lila. She’d sprint ahead, her laughter brighter than the gulls’ cries, her bare feet kicking up foam as she dared me to find treasures in the sea’s offerings. Shells, driftwood, once even a shark’s tooth—she called them gifts from the ocean. But Lila was gone now, stolen by a riptide last July, the kind that snatches breath and futures in seconds. I was sixteen, and the beach felt like a graveyard, each wave a reminder of her absence.
By Muhammad Abuzar Badshah 7 months ago in Fiction
The Monkey and the Shark. Top Story - July 2025.
There was once a shark, that was born among the mangrove trees. She had many brothers and sisters and, while she knew she would have to return to the sea when she was old enough, she was enjoying her youth in the root pools.
By ThatWriterWoman7 months ago in Fiction
The King's Night of Revelation**
**The King and the Woodcutter: A Lesson in Humility** In a quaint, serene kingdom, nestled amidst rolling hills and lush forests, there reigned a benevolent king. He was a monarch of many virtues, but among his deepest passions was the thrill of the hunt. It was a sport that allowed him to escape the confines of his opulent palace and connect with the raw, untamed beauty of his land.
By Muhammad Saeed7 months ago in Fiction
Hymen. Winner in The Shape of the Thing Challenge.
They called it The Final Mercy. The books said it rose from the churning blue waters after the Great Flood. It rose up into the air with all the majesty of the humpback whale. The waves subsided and land formed once again. An island twenty-three kilometres wide, thirty-four long. The great Gententia Strip. The promised land. The Fishbone Crown of Mercy had stood on its own pedestal at the centre. Burnished wood a phoenix to a people that would not be subdued. The chosen.
By River and Celia in Underland 7 months ago in Fiction
The Lion Who Lost His Roar
Once upon a time, in the heart of a dense, emerald-green jungle teeming with life, a hunter, known for his cunning and keen eyesight, managed to capture a lion cub. The cub was incredibly young, barely a few weeks old, and still entirely dependent on its mother's nourishing milk for survival. The hunter, envisioning a unique addition to his humble home, carefully brought the tiny, bewildered creature back with him. His own children, a playful and curious bunch, were utterly delighted to see the miniature king of the jungle. Their faces lit up with joy, and they immediately began to interact with the cub, giggling as it tentatively pawed at their fingers. They spent a considerable amount of time captivated by its innocent antics, their youthful energy mirroring the cub's own nascent liveliness.
By Muhammad Saeed7 months ago in Fiction
The Letter She Never Opened
It had been ten years since Daniel’s name last appeared in Emily’s life. Ten years since he walked out the door with a look in his eyes that told her he had already left—emotionally, spiritually—long before his footsteps echoed down the hallway.
By Muhammad Usama7 months ago in Fiction
Thursdays Are for Ghosts
The first time I noticed her was the week after the funeral. A Thursday, to be exact. I was in the kitchen, stirring a cup of tea I hadn’t meant to make, in a house too quiet for comfort. The sugar clinked gently against the mug like footsteps on tile. I wasn’t thinking of her, not directly, not consciously. But there she was. A shape in the hallway mirror—quick, soft, and impossibly familiar.
By Jawad Khan7 months ago in Fiction
The Clockmaker's Garden
There was a village at the edge of the world where time stood still—not metaphorically, but truly. The sun always hovered in the same place. The shadows never grew longer. The leaves on the trees were forever green, and not a single wrinkle ever touched the faces of the people who lived there.
By Lucien Hollow 7 months ago in Fiction
The Lantern of Whispering Trees
by Yahya Asim In a remote village nestled between the emerald folds of two great hills, there stood a forest known as the Whispering Trees. Locals spoke of it with reverence and caution. They said the trees could talk—not with mouths, but with murmurs carried in the wind. Only those who truly listened could understand their secrets.
By Yahya Asim7 months ago in Fiction
The Hollow in the Bed
She had never liked the woods. Even as a child, when the stories were still just stories whispered by the hearth in the dead of winter, she felt something behind the trees watching her; some presence crouched in the shadows, too patient to ever be seen fully.
By Diane Foster7 months ago in Fiction
