A cunning Pirate's long-lost treasure. A three hundred-year-old curse. A wicked taste of rum. ------ When dangerous paranormal activity threatens her life, teen psychic, Lizzy Summers, decides to quit her job with Boston's Chills N' Thrills Ghost Tour franchise. She starts a new life in the Bay Area with her boyfriend, Dylan Grant, working for an eccentric bar owner. After moving into her dream apartment in Boston's eclectic Fort Point neighborhood, Lizzie soon discovers a young man who lived in the waterfront premises has been murdered. The renovated loft is not only haunted; it holds a deadly secret. Not everything's as it seems as the mayor starts buying up surrounding real estate and bodies begin piling up. Lizzie and her friends must solve the murder and the mystery of Blackbeard's treasure, using an antique bell from her grandmother's attic, before they become the next victims. --- ONC2023 Prompt 30: You purchase a new home and during renovations discover a human skeleton buried within your walls. Prompt 75: You have a family heirloom, it's been passed way long before anyone can remember. You inherited this object and discover its secret. This secret will twist your life and change it forever. [Rated PG13 for language, intimacy.]

Grimhelde didn't choose to hunt the creatures of the night. Even though her family had been hunters for generations, she chose to leave and lead a normal life. But, as it often happens, she found love and it destroyed her plans. Young Grimhelde finds herself longing for the king in the castle she chooses to work in, but there's something strange about his wife. She knows the signs, blood red lips, pale skin, an aversion to sunlight. The signs of a vampire. To save the man she loves and his daughter, Heldie slays the evil monster. Happily ever after isn't the next step for her, and now she'll have to decide what to do with the child. A Snow White retelling...with vampires. ONC Shortlist 2023

Fate decided that their paths should cross. | For friendly, hard-working Sua, the only things that matter in life are the happiness and safety of her friends and family. She's more than content to manage her late father's inn with her pet antula by her side. However, being an innkeeper in a small town isn't always easy... or safe. There's danger lurking in the woods, and only she is allowed to stop it. Through a twist of fate, a mysterious traveler comes along and distracts her from the threat to her home. Sa Gin's new, handsome face becomes the talk of the town overnight. What's more, he has a charming personality, a purse full of money... and a weapon on his back. Can Sua trust this stranger with her burden and her heart? Or does the newcomer already have enough secrets of his own?

This is my submission for the Open Novella Contest 2023! Maggie is fresh out of med school, hoping to get in some time with her friends and go on a few dates before she moves out of town for her internship. After a particularly bad date, her best friend Becky, with the help of her boyfriend Kent, set Maggie up on a blind date with one of Kent's friends. The problem is, Kent is a frat bro, and so are his friends. Maggie while on the blind date just can't seem to connect with her blind date. She is about to write the night off as a failure when she is approached by a tattooed biker. He gives her a choice, stay with the frat boy or go with him.

🏳️‍🌈ONC2023 Shortlister [A queer retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in modern day California.] Tate Parker and Alex Benitez are sworn enemies, but it's not a battle line they've drawn. As the sons of warring co-workers, the pair are destined to be at odds by association. With this comes inherited rumors and social stigmas that each is desperate to break. But when the opportunity arises, their newfound kinship threatens one's redemption by putting them in a situation where the rumor about them might become true. And for the other, he must choose which to sacrifice in the court of public opinion, his father or friend? Both come at the risk of driving their families to the brink of war. PS - Nobody has to die at the end. Yay.

Three women. Three secrets. Three tangled lives. Prompt 15 for the ONC 2023 Neledh | Three in Sindarin (Tolkien) - Eira a child of war. Nadine a child of life. Tiffany a child of humanity. Brought together by fate, yet separated by the world. - A lot of people die in this story for varying reasons. If you don't want to read about that, you might want to skip this story. Though several of them aren't very permanent. - Part of the same universe as: Temptation, to Walk on Water, The Aftermath and o'Reilly's secrets

▪︎ Deep in the Zimbabwean bush, a lion roars, a woman screams and two men hunt down their human prey. ▪︎ When a group of friends goes for a weekend away in the middle of Hwange National Park they expect to see some animals, play some drinking games and escape from their daily lives for a while. What they don't expect is to stumble upon two poachers who are determined to keep their illegal business a secret. Surrounded by bush and wild animals, trapped in a rundown lodge with two psychopaths who have decided on a new type of 'prey', it seems that there is no escape. As their weekend of relaxation quickly turns into a deadly game of man-hunt, decisions need to be made. Which would you rather face; the predators outside? Or the ones within? •Based on Prompt 13 - You were at the wrong place at the wrong time and now you are running for your life• [Ambasdador's Pick ☆ Shortlister]

***2023 SHORTLISTER FOR THE @OPENNOVELLACONTEST & FEATURED ON (FORMERLY) @STORIESUNDISCOVERED'S 'FEAST ON FICTION' READING LIST IN OCTOBER 2023*** Born and raised within a few steps of Hollywood's golden gate, Arlene Berkshire always knew she wanted to be an actress. After some minor roles in overlooked features, Arlene gets her break at last when she secures a role in Forrest Washburn's highly-anticipated directorial debut. Asked to play opposite a veteran actor who seems to stray from the script only in her presence, Arlene soon finds herself at the cusp of a blossoming affair with the famed Norman Stillwell himself. Yet it is not long after their affair's beginning that an individual reveals a secret that could bring ruin to Arlene's career before it's even started. Thus torn between the man she's fallen for and her reputation, Arlene realizes relatively quickly that no script could have prepared her for what turns out to be her own Hollywood scandal. AN OLD HOLLYWOOD NOVELLA & AN ONC ENTRY.

| 3x Featured | | ONC 2023 Shortlister | "I'm not scared of heights. I'm afraid of falling from them." - - - A love-cynical high school athlete and a helpful, ailed high school senior work together, maintaining a dating platform to escape family and forget time, but distraction isn't the only thing that awaits them. - - - When sixteen-year-old love cynical Natalie Greene takes a job with a dating company, it's not because she wants the job. Rather, she wants to escape from her new reality. What's more, Natalie knows the recruiter, a lively acquaintance from school. The acquaintance, Winn Elsher, a boy of seventeen with bright eyes, a sunny smile... and cancer. Even though his time here is short, Winn acts like his world is right as rain, keeping his illness under wraps. But he may not be able to hide behind over helpfulness forever. Natalie wants a distraction. Winn wants to help. Tangled in the dating company's regular recruiting procedure, they are destined to spend more hours together. And before they know it, feelings spark. But Natalie doesn't believe in love, and Winn isn't keen on sharing his secret. They are both afraid of falling... and not just for each other. - - - ONC 2023 entry. Prompt 57: Unknown to everyone you are battling a life-threatening condition. With only a couple of weeks to live you help your friend get the partner of their dreams, except they're in love with you. Completed: April 30, 2023 Word Count: 35,000 - 40,000

ONC Shortlister(✓) Won The 2023 NanoWatt Awards in the category Novellas. August 1st, 23: Featured on @StoriesUndiscovered - Tales of Adventure. September 1st, 23: 1st place in the Vampire/werewolf category in the Lavender Awards hosted by @grandeur_cat with the highest score: 95.5% September 11, 23: - 3rd place winner in the fantasy category in The Book Awards hosted by AlexandraLing2000. - Featured on @adultfiction - On Stranger Tides September 13, 23: featured on @SpeculativeFiction - Fantasy (mature reads) September 15, 23: featured on @Fantasy - Romantasy September 23: featured on @HighFantasy - fair Verona (romance) May 8, 2024: featured on @DarkFantasyReads on two of their RLs: "Myth and Folklore" and "Fantasy Romance" ------------------ The moon. The moon. The moon. So bright. Rays bathing the earth beneath, illuminating paths, and breathing life into barren lands. However, what about the dark side of the moon? Spending a thousand years stuck in an abyss of nothing but emptiness, loneliness, and darkness is the only life Adaliah has ever known...until she grants someone the gift of life and he grants her the gift of love in return. ------------------ Warning: Violence, death, gore, blood, and...sexual tension. + If you are reading this on any site other than Wattpad then it is being unlawfully shared. Mirror sites often contain malware so please protect yourself and the work of this author by reading only on Wattpad. ------------------ [ONC entry - 1st draft - unedited]