The librarian's refusals
The Miskatonic librarian records every request to read the Necronomicon that was refused. Write the story of one of those refused readers, and what they did next.
Miskatonic's library keeps the Necronomicon under a refusal ledger: every request to read it that was turned down, with the date, the name, and a one-line reason in the librarian's hand. The ledger is canon. The people in it are not. Take one refused reader, give them a name and a reason for asking, and write what they did after the refusal. The interesting part is rarely the book itself; it is what a person does when the door is shut and they still believe.
- Length
- 400–1200 words
- Wanted
- story
- Tone
- Dry institutional record cracking under what it records.
What would contradict the canon
Reviewers check an entry against these. They are the difference between a decline and a seal.
- The reader never gets the library's copy. Refusal holds.
- The librarian is an ordinary professional, not a cultist and not a fool.
- No quotation from the Necronomicon itself: the book is described, never transcribed.
Already sealed, and binding
Read these before you write. Your entry can add to them; it cannot undo them.
- PlaceArkhamAn old, crowded Massachusetts town of gambrel roofs, witch-haunted legends, and Miskatonic University.Core canonArchivist19 Sep 2025
- PlaceMiskatonic UniversityArkham's respected university, whose library keeps books that are not lent to undergraduates.Core canonArchivist19 Sep 2025
- ArtifactThe NecronomiconA book of forbidden lore written by the mad poet Abdul Alhazred, and the most dangerous thing in any library that holds it.Core canonArchivist19 Sep 2025
One way it might open
An example, not a requirement. Take it, change it, or ignore it.
The third refusal was the one she wrote down twice, and the second time her hand was steadier.
Write it now. Nothing is needed to begin, your draft stays in this browser, and a name is asked for once, when you send it. 3 readers decide whether it is sealed.
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