If dish soap, rutabagas, and firecrackers aren't an essential part of your zombie apocalypse kit, you better grab them now! Season 1 of The Virus Within (SERIES IS COMPLETED!) * * * * * * * Trinity fights against the bloodthirsty influences of the zombie virus as she searches for her sister, hoping to find her still alive among the scattered survivors. But even if Trinity manages to find her, how will Jess react when she discovers Trinity is a zombie? When a group of survivors gets stranded by a vehicle malfunction, Trinity decides to guide them to safety. Rediscovering her sense of humor was the last thing she ever expected, but it just might be her best defense in keeping her humanity, especially on a zombie-infested road trip with more bad luck than potholes. But time is running out as the third wave of the deadly outbreak rapidly spreads. Trinity must decide if she can trust a backwater scientist who thinks she can help her new friends, all while combating the effects of the virus that threatens to steal what's left of her humanity. Cover designed by Marie Tilmant

EPILOGUE WILL BE FREE STARTING JUNE 29TH, 2023! Diana wakes up in pain, tied to a bed and unable to escape. She's been trapped by a group of surgeons with a twisted passion and she's their next victim. ***** Diana Slater, a typical University student, wakes up in pain, tied to a bed and unable to see. After a mysterious figure, known only as Dr. Sweeney, nurses her back to health she finds out the truth. The Doctor has kidnapped her and given her a cat's eyes as part of a larger ploy to turn humans into collectibles. Now she's being trained by Ben, another patient, with the skin of a snake, on how to behave. Diana and Ben are forced to work together to try to escape the murderous doctors - until she discovers Ben might not be the victim he makes himself out to be. The only person Diana can trust is herself, and if she fails, her eyes won't give her another nine lives. [[Winner of the 2018 Fiction Awards for Best Horror Story]] [[word count: 80,000-90,000 words]] Cover designed by Holly Thurston

He gave her his heart... and now he wants it back. Delilah is running for her life. And from it. Six days ago, she made a terrible choice, one that has endangered every person she loves. Her only chance to protect them is to stay as far away as she can, with only the pulsing shard of crystal in her pocket as dreadful company. And for six days, her plan has been working. But that could all be ruined by one nosy, arrogant, stubbornly chivalrous earl. Frederick Ascott never forgets a face, and yet he can't figure out where he's met Delilah before. And that mystery is the only reason he can't stop thinking about her. It has nothing to do with the haunted look in her eyes, or the fearful glances she tosses over her shoulder. And it especially has nothing to do with the way her face lights up when she smiles at him. As Delilah and Frederick are thrown together, Delilah's past grows ever closer, threatening the safety she's found within the earl's walls. As the red crystal warns of her enemy's approach, she is left with a terrible decision: to run and save the man she might be falling in love with, or to fight and risk shattering them both. ~~~ This is my 2024 Open Novella Contest (ONC) entry, based on prompt #33 - A broken heart beats with all its pieces. And it still wants the same person. It's a gothic, historical romance with a touch of sorcery and the paranormal. I hope you consider giving it a read, and if you're also writing for the ONC this year drop me a message and we can give each other some feedback!

Occasional poems and reflections

Short spooky story about a girl and woodland animals

Emma calls the Ghostlight Girls together and they reveal their powers to each other at last. Now they must use them to try to change Ms. Johnson's fate.

Emma learns that her powers do not come without a cost.

Hana causes a stir when she joins the wrestling team. Meanwhile, she and Emma strike up a relationship closer than the other girls...

Lluisa discovers a book of demonology that was donated to the school library. It includes a detailed description of how to summon one of the Forsaken.

#99 The royal family needs a male heir to the throne, and they're willing to accept any boy, even if he's born to their least hinged relative. ~~~ When family is twisted around madness, dark things happen. But is it really madness, or the symptom of a deeper truth than the world could bear? Ivan the Bloodthirsty rebelled against the crown and was locked up for his misdeeds. King Boris and Queen Radoslava were as unworthy of the crown as Ivan, but as they wee the couple in power, they wrote the rules on who was fit to rule and who was not. Ivan's half-brother Andrej and wife Nadia rose to power after Boris died, but as they tried to have children, every chance for an heir failed. Andrej knew what his mother, Radoslava, had done, and blamed The Cup of Madness, a demonic chalice that warped the world into bouts of decay and destruction for their current misfortunes. As he felt injustice was wrapped around their futures, he chose to secretly gain an heir off his mad brother, which meant having a woman, Milena, seduce him while he was imprisoned. Raising Prince Laszlo and Princess Leena would have been a fairytale in a happy kingdom, but decay rots their world, men are monsters, and the only protection for a little girl in need comes from the demon within the chalice. And it only holds enough power to make more demons, in order to save the world. Will the child drink deep from the cup and sacrifice herself to fix what went wrong? Trigger Warnings: Mildly Graphic Murder,