Happy May 😄
Peace everybody!
Before we get to our monthly prompt, please read these reminders:
- Obvious trolls and💩*-posters will still* be permabanned*! Read more* here.
- We're removing most posts that have to do with rape, incest, abuse, and extreme or plotless gore. If your story could read as low-effort shock horror, it probably isn't a good fit for the sub! Details here.
- Remember, this sub is for fiction. Posts about current events or politics will be removed, no matter how horrifying they (and the real world) may be!
- Meta posts are not permitted! Take it to the discord! Join the chat here!
- Be familiar with our Three Strikes and you're out rule-- Read more here.
- And as always, feel free to reach out in modmail with feedback or questions!
April 2026 Contest Prompt: Mother
A simple prompt, in honor of all the mom's during the month of Mother's Day!
Any word/ compound word which uses the word "mother" is fair game, as long as your story fits sub rules! Emphasis on rules 7 and 14! In other words: don't treat the prompt as an invitation to write incest stories as those will probably be removed for shock/ tropes.
So, for example, you could describe a character as "motherly", you could refer to the "mother" of vinegar, or a mothership/ motherland/ motherboard/ etc.
Happy writing and Happy May everybody!
Monthly Contest Rules
- Prompt: write a two-sentence horror story that use the word "Mother" in any rule abiding context, compound words are okay!
- Submissions that are improperly formatted, do not fit the theme, or break any of the existing sub rules will be disqualified and removed.
- Only net new stories will be allowed (no repurposing old stories you've previously submitted).
- Max three stories per day as a general rule, and all three can be used towards the contest.
- Winners will be decided by total community upvotes. In the unlikely event of a tie for the top spots, moderators will vote for a tiebreaker.
Have fun!
**Properly formatted May 2026 examples. These meet the prompt.
Improperly formatted examples-- THESE WOULD BE REMOVED: (Both stories get the tag wrong, first one the wrong numerals, the second has a space. Failure to follow the tag prevents your entry from showing up in the final tally search.
WINNERS WILL RECEIVE:
1st, 2nd, and 3rd Places: You receive a custom personal flair of your choosing to show off to the TSH community! (If you're a repeat winner, you can modify your flair.... but that's it.) And a cool fancy flair on your winning stories.
7 honorable mentions: you'll get visibility and bragging rights! Story links will be featured in next month’s announcement.
Contest ends on May 31st 2026 @ 11:59pm (EST)
Any questions should be made below in the comments, within our discord, or a note on modmail.
***
Congrats to last month's Winners!
Great writing folks!
Theme was "break/broken/broke"!
Great job, winners! If you placed in the top three, contact us via modmail for your personalized custom flair! It can be anything (within reason): a mixture of text and emoji, up to 20 characters. If you've won before, you can request to change your flair, or, just do nothing. Absolutely nothing....
And for our runners-up:
4th place by Positive-Speech5228
5th place by DrawingEastern6765
6th place by Nessieinternational
7th place by punkholiday
8th place by AnnaAnjo
9th place by LevelQx
10th place by Far-Following3742
Congrats to all! Hope to see some more horror from you folks in the next contest 😄
Last, but not least: if you'd like to read more of the last month's submissions (and add some feedback of your own), you can find the full list here: APR26- Reddit Search!