In the Smackdown, we have no idea what might happen! That includes me, as I join the @LayethTheSmackDown and @Ooorah 2026 speculative fiction Smackdown. Join me as we discover, together, where this path might lead!

✨ COMPLETED | Soft College Romance ✨ Short, gentle, and finished - perfect for one-sitting reading 💛 College wasn't supposed to feel like this. Soft glances during golden hour... [and so on] You never meant to be noticed. Then one golden evening on campus, a boy with a camera and a smile that felt like sunlight looked your way-and everything slowed down. A gentle, slow-burn college romance about being seen, about quiet hearts, and about how a single look can change everything

In Noctryn City, secrets are buried deeper than the shadows. Aria Vale has spent years trying to forget the night her mother died and her father disappeared. The past was supposed to stay buried. Until a stranger appears in the rain and calls her by name. Lucien Cross knows things about Aria he shouldn't know. Dangerous things. But he's not the only one watching her. Someone else has been waiting for her to remember. In a city controlled by hidden powers and silent enemies, Aria is about to discover that some truths were never meant to be found. And some shadows don't just follow you. They claim you.

Since she was fifteen, Ria Martin has known one unchangeable truth: she will marry Adrian Morgan. A man she has never met. A future she never chose. A vow she walks into not for love - but for survival. With her family's safety hanging by a fragile thread, the aisle becomes her only escape route. Adrian Morgan, heir to a global empire, has lived his life bound by duty and power. Arranged marriages are nothing new to him. But this bride is different. Why has she never reached out? Why does silence cling to her like armor? And what is she hiding that feels... dangerous? When fate finally binds them, carefully constructed lives begin to crack. Secrets surface. Old wounds bleed. And a quiet storm of betrayal, desire, and buried truths gathers beneath the calm of their union. ✨ Can love grow where trust is fractured? ✨ Can she survive the shadows closing in around her past? ✨ And can he become her refuge... when he may be the very reason she's in danger? A story of forced vows, hidden scars, and a love that dares to bloom where it was never meant to survive.

When a stranger appears at her door on a rainy night, she doesn't just hear a knock-she hears the echo of another lifetime. Bound by fate, tested by time, and haunted by memories that don't belong to the present, their story asks one question: Can love survive between them?

Entry in the 2026 Flabbergasting Flash-Fic Smackdown based another picture prompt from the wild minds of the challenge promotors.

When a grandmother is declared the Chosen One, she abandons her rocking chair to challenge the Dark Lord who plots to destroy the world. -- Formerly a single mother, now a devoted grandma, Granny Thayer has never left her hometown before, let alone slayed a demon. But she'd better learn fast; she's just been selected as the Chosen One, the only hero who can defeat the nefarious Dark Lord of Devnia and avert a zombie apocalypse. Accompanied by a devastatingly handsome prince, a failed bard, and a werewolf with a dangerous secret, Granny Thayer embarks on a quest full of intrigue and love triangles to save her grandson. This is a collaboration for ONC 2022/2023, written by SophieKestrel and Spelunkadunk. Prompt: "It's always what/who you least expected that blows your mind away."

In a land of swordsmanship and myth, three English children are about to change the course of history... ~~~ Colin, Madeline, and Brian Evans have always sought adventure. But try as they might to find intrigues and escapades at their ailing grandfather's estate, their quest continues to prove fruitless. Until one day, a misplaced door leading to a misplaced stairway takes them to a foreign world of warriors and legends. At last, an adventure seems within their grasp. In the beautiful and mysterious land of Makoto, the Evans children meet a pair of young samurai - siblings Shin and Min Kazuo - who show the children that Makoto's peaceful beauty is nothing but a façade. The country is plagued by unpredictable raids, a clan of merciless bounty hunters, and a faction of sinister Shōgun. When Min is captured and taken to the Shōgun's palace, Shin teaches the art of swordsmanship to the Evans children, and they begin a perilous journey toward freeing Makoto. However, the origin of the Shōgun's rule is far darker than the Makotan people know. Evil forces are at work. And amidst the war for freedom, the Evans children discover that no adventure comes without danger or cost. {For fans of Narnia, Oz, Wonderland, Neverland, and Japanese history & culture.}

Don't start what you can't finish... ~~~ To the outside world, young novelist Cristina Castillo appears to have nothing but success. With four published works under her belt, she is a literary wunderkind. But behind closed doors, she has a secret shame: countless notebooks filled with unfinished stories. Cristina's waking mind is plagued by the underdeveloped characters, incomplete plots, and cliché themes of her countless abandoned and discontinued tales. Dreams of fiction, reduced to scrap paper. While attending the release party for her latest published novel, Cristina comes face-to-face with none other than the handsome protagonist from one of her most beloved (and unfinished) passion projects. He tells Cristina that he wants an ending for his story. And he warns her: he is not her only forsaken character seeking fulfillment. As Cristina's vengeful creations begin coming out of the woodwork, she is plunged into the depths of her very vivid imagination. A journey of humor, adventure, terror, love, and startling self-discovery ensues as Cristina tries to return to reality. She soon learns, however, that the only way to escape the fictional worlds she dreamt into being is to appease her creations by writing their endings. {Rated MATURE for language}

✨️🥇First place - The Slowest Burning Romance Book in the Fabulation mini Awards🥇✨️ ✨️🏆 First place - Best original character in the Golden Ink Awards 🏆✨️ She wanted to save her favorite fairytale character, the derelict second male lead. To rescue the kidnapped princess, he went as far as sacrificing his one-of-a-kind magical companion. But at the end, she married the crown prince of the neighboring kingdom. Just because one was born as the king's son, he got the main lead position. The orphan stood at the second place, despite being a prodigy in swordsmanship. She could not bear to see the second male lead dying all alone and broken-hearted. So, I helped her change the fate of the second lead. *************************************************** Book cover by Lyuu @Lyuuxyv Thank you so much for your beautiful artwork, Lyuu! Dear readers, you can go check her amazing ongoing story: "ROYAL BONES - Shattering Tradition, Crowning Justice" Disclaimer: This story will contain depictions of child abuse, violence and death. Reader discretion is advised. I'm not a native English speaker. Please excuse the grammatical mistakes and do not hesitate to let me know if you find one! Best ranking: #1 second male lead syndrom (2025-11-06) #1 magical creatures (2025-11-11) #1 light novel (2026-01-07) #2 fantasy creatures (2025-11-06) #2 swordsman (2025-12-20) #5 phoenix (2025-12-20)