I’m doing a thing with some people to do 31 horror story concepts within October…

SPOOKTOBER DAY #21 — Historical

TITLE:  Theban Serpents

PREMISE:  To complete my penance for concepts involving transmisogynist violence, I use the Historical prompt to spin some fiction about the blind prophet Tiresias.  I’m stretching the definition of historical here because this is from Greek mythology, but history and myth have a fuzzy boundary.

Tiresias is a blind oracle of Apollo, respected for his gifts enough to get kind of a big head.  One day he’s out for a stroll and comes across some snakes.  Somehow he figures out they’re fucking, and that skeeves him out enough to brandish his cane and whack those bad boys.  Hera says no, let my snakes fuck.  She punishes Tiresias by turning him into a lady.

At first she’s like, oh no.  Then she slowly realizes she’s always been kinda flexibly gendered in the brainpiece.  A suitor named Manto wins her over and she lives as a lady for a time, having kids and all.  Several years later she finds a snake being attacked by a bird and saves its life.  The snake goes off and fucks the nearest snake, bc you didn’t know it but snakes are hella horny all the time.

This catches Hera’s attention and she releases Tiresias from the curse.  She’s sad and afraid to go back to the fam, but they accept she now has a trans body, and they live happily ever after.

HORROR ELEMENT:  Oh yeah, this is supposed to be scary.  Maybe the snakes are real freaky, or Hera looks like a goblin or something.  I dunno.

SPOOKTOBER DAY #22 — Haunted House

TITLE:  Bad Wiring

PREMISE:  A tenement building in Hong Kong has bad wiring.  People die from shocks, or freeze or overheat when heating or AC aren’t available, and so on.  But do they die?  A community is growing within the walls – an endless ballroom of waltzing spectres in copper and gold, always in motion, always looking for fresh opportunities to add revelers to the party.

HORROR ELEMENT:  Zap.  Zip.  Snikkkk Pop Hiss.  Zip.  Zap.

–