[ONC ROUND ONE WINNER: 4th place] When he discovers his husband has been replaced, an android hunter must find the impostor in time to rescue the man he loves. SynTracker is one half of a duology of novellas. Both follow the same sequence of events from different PoVs. SynTracker is Ian's tale; BioSynth is Quentin's. Collectively, they're known as Syn. ≡≡≡ Ian Morgan is a man who does the wrong job for the right reasons. Honour-bound to keep the streets safe, Ian is a SynTracker: someone whose job is to hunt down BioSynths - obsolete yet incredibly dangerous synthetic self-aware weapons - and return them to the government, to be reprogrammed and repurposed. It'd be an easier task if they hadn't been programmed to mimic reactions that allow them to pass as humans, complete with tears. Deeply in love with Quentin, his husband of eight years, Ian's home life more than makes up for the work that wears him down. But a car crash that could have killed Quentin reveals a shocking truth: his husband has been replaced by a BioSynth. With the impostor on the loose, Ian must now Track it, knowing he needs to comb its memories for any clue regarding Quentin's whereabouts - if he's even alive. ≡≡≡ SynTracker was written for the Open Novella Contest 2021 and is based on prompt #4: You're a weapon, and weapons don't weep. It features a romance between two men. ≡≡≡ ONC Round One Winner: 4th Place Speculative Fiction Awards, Utopia/Distopia: Runner-Up R4R Awards, Sci-Fi: 2nd Place

When the only man he's ever loved, once a millionaire, ends up homeless, a palliative carer must let go of the past in order to help him get back on his feet. --- There's a delicate balance between self-preservation and self-isolation. Palliative carer Josh Winters has dedicated his life to bringing joy to someone's final months. His nurturing nature finds an outlet there for all the feelings he refuses to attach to anyone with a full life ahead of them. It's easier that way, simpler. Former millionaire Emery Hall has his own ideas about ease and simplicity, and they created an unspeakable rift with Josh in their past. Josh can never forgive him, but when he discovers Emery has been homeless for months, he will do everything in his power to convince the proud man to accept his help. Between his conscience and his lingering feelings for the man, he can do no less, not while he has a roof to offer. His only goal is to help Emery get back on his feet and let the past stay in the past, but he should have known better than to believe he could be unaffected by the only man he's ever loved. Torn between his inability to forgive and his need to help, escaping this situation with his heart intact may be more than Josh can hope for, especially once he discovers that there are still things about Emery he doesn't know. --- Gorgeous Cover Art by @kataraqui https://www.instagram.com/kataraqui/ Theme Song Lifeline by Tiago Barbosa https://youtu.be/yYBIWrRim14 http://www.tiagobarbosamusic.com --- Utterly Forgettable started out as an Open Novella Contest 2020 entry. It made it as far as the longlist, and had 40k words at the time. This is the expanded version, complete in just under 99k words.