Dark Tales from the Tarot

Dark Tales from the Tarot is a recurring competition for flash fiction horror, with each contest driven by the themes of a randomly drawn tarot card. Our use of the tarot is not meant to be understood as a divination practice, but rather as a means of incorporating symbolism and random chance into the act of horror fiction inspiration and writing.

Previous winners for Dark Tales from the Tarot are published below.

The Biggest Loser

Author: Cullen Wade
Card: Ten of Wands

The way it works is this: everybody sets their weight loss target and we all pay into the pot. If you don’t meet your goal, the money you put in gets evenly distributed to everybody who does. But here’s the secret: Americans are weak.

#NoFilter

Author: Ria Hill
Card: Two of Wands

On my second day at Weatherford Prep, Kara Bailey pulled me into the girl’s bathroom.

“You look basic as hell,” she said. “Why be drab when you could be sparkling?”

The Fall

Author: Demi-Louise Blackburn
Card: The World

“Don’t ever go looking at your reflection,” Nana Eddie once said, pointing at the stagnant garden pond. “Won’t do you any good. Some things we aren’t meant to know about ourselves.”

Sangre del Diablo

Author: Rae Patterson
Card: Nine of Cups

Others had tried to find the wreck, others who believed the rumors that the legendary ruby, the Sangre del Diablo, had been on the Doncella when it went down so many years ago, but no one had ever come back with anything, not even information.

No Matter

Author: C.J. Subko
Card: Ace of Wands

Follow your instincts. Follow your gut. That’s what the motivational speaker had told me, the lady in the television who speaks only to me.

Passion. Intuition. Force.

Better Alone Together

Author: K. A. Roy
Card: The Hermit

There were five instances where my companion came screaming out of me in all her glory. Red and luminous, pulsing with hunger, and so, so angry.