"For a place called Paradise City, this island sucks. I don't think a single day has gone by that I haven't thought about stabbing the shit out of myself," he said. "Especially since I'm forced to live with you every second of every day." "Sh. I'm trying to science," I said, not looking up from my binoculars. "See anything interesting?" "Not really. My vision's a little clouded from the fog and rain clouds you constantly emit." He laughed. "You never fail to amuse me, Rea." "But you just said-" "I just said you make me want to stab myself. Interpret that however you'd like." With a love for whales and all life (besides maybe humans), Reagan Winebrenner had never even seen an ocean until her senior year in high school. But the moment she saw her first humpback, she knew she had found her passion and future career. A few years later and an invitation to Paradise City in hand, Reagan has her entire summer laid out for her, working on the project of a lifetime. But with five other students completing their projects as well, will they discover something worthwhile, or will they end up a psychology lesson for future generations? A New Adult Watty Winner 2019

Cole's life has never been his. For as long as he could remember, his one job in life was to play the role of a copycat. He's had to pretend to be his older brother as soon as his parents realized the two looked very alike to one another despite not being twins. His birth wasn't planned nor wanted so what better way to make use of an unwanted child than to constantly put their life in danger? He swears his parents had the most fucked up logic he's ever heard of but this is his life and it'd continue to be that way until the day one of his brother's assassins finally succeeded in killing him. Well, that's what he thought until he was kidnapped by the Azure Dragon's group and encountered their boss, Eros. Not caring much about who he was, Cole punched him. Yup, he punched one of the largest mafia groups in the U.S.' boss right in the face. But who knew that one punch would, instead of ending his life, change it? --------------- "I have to pee" I said monotonously to the guard in front of me. I could immediately tell he thought that I was hoping to be led to a bathroom so I can find an escape, but I didn't need a bathroom. The bucket would do just fine. And as expected, that's what was given to me. I had relieved myself a few times in the dingy little thing unfortunately but, rather that than piss myself. "You go in there" he said and I looked down at my tied legs. "How am I supposed to pee with my legs tied?" I said and he looked at me confused. "My dick is small" I said holding up my pinky for emphasis and the guy gave me a disgusted look. "Make it quick" he said gruffly after untying my legs and helped me stand up. "Can you turn around?" I asked as I saw the man was just standing there. "No" he said. Whatever, his nose not mine. [Completed. 125k words]

Mazie has fallen in love. Okay, maybe it's with the ghost of a boy from school she hates, but love conquers all, right? ***** Soon after sixteen-year-old Mazie moves to the town of Dorn, she becomes haunted by the ghost of a teenage boy. The ghost doesn't remember anything, so Mazie calls him Jack. Until then, she never knew that ghosts could tap dance, nor that it was possible to fall in love with one! But then Mazie meets Blake, a mean, popular boy at her new high school - and she realizes that Blake is Jack's living counterpart. This means Blake is in grave danger, and only Mazie can help him, but saving this unpleasant boy might kill her ghostly love forever... [[word count: 50,000-60,000 words]]

Luisa Romero had always lived her life alone. Not in a lonely kind of way, but more a self-sufficient way. And she wasn't complaining, she was used to it and she much preferred it that way too. Until she didn't.

She remembered her scent. It seemed to verify her aura. Her scent was cherry Coke and cigarettes. The latter one was passed onto her, especially after she had handed her her first cigarette only three months ago. Three months was all it took for her to develop that bad habit, but it wasn't the first nor the only one she developed in that period of time. Now she laid on the roof where she had smoked her first cigarette three months ago, and she glanced over at the full can of cherry Coke sitting on the concrete next to her, almost as if it were mocking her. A dull ache formed in her heart, a hollow, resounding ache that penetrated her deepest core. The sudden burning sensation in her fingers made her realize that the cigarette was burned to its very end, and maybe so was she. -♤-♤-♤-♤-♤-♤-♤-♤-♤-♤- August is attending Cornell University as a creative writing major, and while at a college party her friends dragged her to much to her dismay, she stumbles upon a gang in an alleyway and sees something she shouldn't have. With her life now in danger, she has to deal with the consequences of that night-which includes the leader of the Blue Porcelain gang, Willow, a tall and brooding woman whose green eyes would put the girl in more danger than being caught in a spiderweb of New York gangs ever could. [tw: violence, sex]

"She had this thought. Not about choking hazards on children's toys or fatal car crashes, but a thought about how Skylar was not entirely a person. He was more like an ocean with violent currents; one of the seven seas with skin and bones and teeth. He was waterlogged with despair; bad weather with the premonition of a hurricane. And she thought that she finally understood why they named hurricanes after humans. But she lived in Arizona all of her life; she had never seen a hurricane, and she found that fitting because she had never seen anything like him either." He was as tragic as a hurricane. She was as volatile as a tornado. But when Skylar and Scout collided, they were bound for the sun. NOTE: Art for book cover by Budi Kwan.