On the eve of her twenty-first birthday, Carmilla Beaumont is convinced it will be her last. Her candle has nearly burned to the wick, her ticket already scratched. For most witches, a twenty-first birthday marks the threshold of womanhood-the night her magic awakens and she inherits the full measure of her power. But for Carmilla, each passing day only brings her closer to the fate she has dreaded since childhood. For Carmilla, it is the night she expects to die. But what happens when she catches the eye of a centuries-old vampire? Marcel de Bellac has slept for a hundred years. He awakens on the night of Carmilla's twenty-first birthday, having waited a century for the witch foretold to him. There is only one problem. Her soul has already been claimed by the Devil. And neither of them is willing to share. Set in the Deep South, where the nights are hot, the men are hotter, and secrets run as deep as the roots of the cypress trees, The Devil always comes to collect what is his.

oh, romeo!

A collection of cautionary tales inspired by the classics. For lovers of the Brothers Grimm.

❝ Things are only as beautiful as you make them, Charlie. Including murder. ❞ It's the opening night of Burton Abbey's production of Romeo and Juliet and all is going smoothly - that is until the climactic death scene. Romeo takes a big gulp of the poison to be with his lover, except it really is poison and Elijah, who plays Romeo, is now dead. Charlie Monet, in charge of props, is the first suspect but soon the suspicion around her turns to worry as it seems she's the next target. Khaleel Rahim, an aspiring writer, is dying for a mystery to solve at his new school. When he sees Charlie sneaking around at night he thinks he's finally found something worth writing about. After discovering Charlie's ability to see visions of the past, Khaleel decides that they're the perfect pair to solve the mystery. With threatening notes, a quiet library and poison disguised as props; somebody in the school is blurring the lines between theatre and reality and the fast friends are about to discover that there's more to boarding school than just silly rumours. [2022 Watty's Shortlist]

A young woman in 19th-century London becomes the object of affection for a reclusive yet ostentatious young man. But a murderer is terrorizing the streets, and all of London is in a panic. While the grisly crimes mystify some and terrorize others, plagued by demons of her own, Lavinia is forced to confront the dark mysteries that stain her city red. London society is riddled with secrets, some of them bloody.

"Still the phoenix sits upon / The world in fearsome form, / With a crown upon her head / And the beauty of a storm." Newfound World, c. 1699: A phoenix nests on the roof of a house in a small colonial town, sending ripples throughout the community. Why is the phoenix here? Is she friend or foe? Heaven-sent or hell-bent? The town will grapple with the bird's presence in heated clashes of suppositions, superstitions and science. _____ HIGHEST RANKINGS: #1 in Allegorical (July 2020) #1 in Cautionary / CautionaryTale (June 2020) #1 in Didactic (June 2020) #1 in FantasyPoetry (August 2020) #1 in Iambic (April 2022) #2 in NarrativePoem (June 2020) #2 in Postcolonial (August 2024) _____ AWARDS: 🥇 1st place in Poetry | Autumn Awards (2020) | @GinaCharlotte 🥇 1st place in Poetry | The Talent Awards (2020) | @TheTalentAwards 🥉 3rd place in Poetry | Star Gazing Awards (2020) | @StarGazingAwards 🥉 3rd place in Poetry | The Sunshine Awards (2020) | @SunshineAwards2020