𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 | 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 When Mara Santiago is laid off from work and dumped by her boyfriend, she moves in with her parents. Struggling to find another job as a ballerina, she begins go-go dancing at Penthouse---a high-end nightclub in San Francisco where her brother Lucas bartends. He warns that underneath the glitz and glam is a dangerous world she should stay away from, but Penthouse pays well, and Mara is determined to get back on her feet. One night, an older gentleman tips her handsomely. At first, it seems like a one-time thing, but his generous tips continue. Curious, she asks him why. After all, she's a go-go dancer, not a stripper. He confesses he wanted to do something kind. However, it's not the only reason. Enzo Esposito is looking for a "companion." If Mara agrees to accompany him to important work events and dinners, he'll pay her a thousand dollars each time: no strings attached or hanky panky. The offer is too tempting. So, Mara agrees. But nothing is ever that simple---especially regarding to whom she entrusts her heart. Not when a murderer is on the loose with sights possibly set on her. 𝙊𝙉𝘾 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙨 #69, #46 𝙖𝙣𝙙 #33

When Jennisa delivers a spaceship database to a suspicious group, she covertly takes a copy of the group's files when she helps them connect it. She gets far more than she bargained for when the young spaceship AI figures out how to use her Bluetooth implant to communicate with her. To further complicate matters, the AI wants nothing to do with the suspicious group and finds her work absolutely fascinating. And the group isn't happy about that... Standalone novella. Spinoff of A Starship Called Starsong. ONC prompt #82: You wake up on a seemingly ordinary day to discover that your thoughts are not private. There is someone else in your head with you. A huge thank you to WingedAlpha for helping me with my cover background, and SayWatt74 for the cover font and alterations! Polished version available on Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. Entire rough draft is left free on Wattpad and Royal Road

|CROSSROADS x LEAP YEAR | Eighteen-year-old April Lewis flees her troubled home, desperate to escape her emotionally distant, controlling mom, and seek out her dad. Little does she know a chance encounter with her classmate will take her on a cross-country ride: a journey that will change April's life forever. A venture that will lead her down a path of self-discovery and unexpected love. *** When eighteen-year-old April Lewis' mom walks around like a zombie, evades all attempts to talk and controls her every move, April decides she's had enough. She leaves home one warm summer evening with nothing but a yellow backpack filled with her coveted dad's letters he's been sending her for the past months, and some bare necessities. She's determined to seek him out and go live with him down on the West Coast, where he has a temporary job. The last thing April expects is almost being hit by a car. The owner of the vehicle? Her classmate, Dave Rivera, a troubled boy whom she almost never talked to before, and who can't be more different than her. After making sure April is just a little banged-up, Dave strikes a deal with her: he'll help her get to the West Coast free of charge, as long as she doesn't report him to the cops. The two embark upon a road trip from NY to LA, navigating through stunning landscapes and meeting a colorful cast of characters. While sharing life stories and exchanging experiences, armed with the wisdom from her Dad's letters, April and Dave discover that they are a lot more alike than they originally thought. The journey slowly becomes more important than the destination, and their path takes an unexpected turn when a shocking secret comes to light. © 2024 EvelynHail Exclusively on Wattpad Based on prompt 4! Which is (I shan't leave ye hanging :P): "When life gives you balloons, you fly up into the sky."

[ONC2024] Everyone can read minds except for Ethan Langdon. And Ethan Langdon has the dumbest (and cutest!) thoughts Lukas Hoffmann has ever heard. ____ Part one complete. Part two updating every Friday until completion (but already fully complete on my Kofi!) ____ Lukas Hoffman's life in Brambleburg is about as boring as you'd expect for a town where everyone can read minds. He's used to his routine of dusting the LPs at the record store where he works and helping out his grandma around the house. Nothing in Brambleburg changes. No one in Brambleburg changes. Until Ethan Langdon stumbles in with the soggy remnants of a paper map, asking for the quickest route to Berlin. Ethan, it turns out, doesn't have telepathy, and as aggravatingly inane as his thoughts are, Lukas hasn't felt the excitement of meeting a stranger since.... well, ever. And the more Lukas listens, the more he starts enjoying Ethan's cute thoughts about life, the universe, and Lukas's dimples. ____ Might bring to mind: "Cherry Magic" but set in a fictive European town where everyone except the love interest can read minds. ____ Written for the Open Novella Contest 2024 using prompts 8, 75, 82, and 85. 8. You start singing along to a movie soundtrack late at night forgetting that your window is open. Someone from the outside starts singing with you. 75. You awake in the middle of the night to a voice saying loudly "May the force be with you..." 82. You wake up on a seemingly ordinary day to discover that your thoughts are not private. There is someone else in your head with you. 85. "If you do that again, I'll throw you out that freaking window. What are you doing?" "Checking how high the drop is to see if it's worth it."

When Sawyer Smith is given a second opportunity at life, she finds herself stuck in the pages of the last book she read--her ex-best friend's rom-com. ****** Sawyer wasn't expecting to be given a second chance after a deadly incident, but she's willing to do anything to get back to her real, normal life. Unfortunately for Sawyer, she finds herself reincarnated in the pages of the last book she read: her ex-best friend's cringey Wattpad romance novel. Even worse, Sawyer only read it because she discovered she was the inspiration for the main antagonist. Which was, she would like to point out, written before their infamous falling out. Now, stuck wandering the halls of this strange, cursed high school--stuck with an even stranger bad boy, who may or may not know more than he lets on, and a frustratingly beautiful but misogynistic Mary Sue main character who will stop at nothing to ruin Sawyer's day--Sawyer must work the system to create her own happy ending ... or die trying. (Potentially.)

LONGLISTED : When Agent Seven Three is sent on his first mission to the past, to sort out a problem with the timeline, he expects to be in and out in a couple of days. Identify what is causing the unplanned divergences and stop it. Simple, right? But when he encounters reporter Jack Brown, he finds the situation is far more complex than he was led to believe. And only when he meets someone he's not supposed to fall in love with, does he begin to really test his limits. SCIFI / TimeTravel / LGBT / Romance

ONC Ambassador's Pick & Shortlister! Rumors. Infidelity. Lies. Secrets. MURDER. And all before lunch time. Who knew being a socialite in 1951 could be so thrilling? ~~~ On a lovely June afternoon, as the oh-so-chic members of the Gilded Grove Ladies' Book Club gather for their scheduled luncheon, they are shocked to receive the news that their vice president, Camilla Otis, is unable to attend. Gossip ensues. What catastrophe could possibly have befallen her to warrant a last minute cancellation? The answer comes by way of two clever, dashing police officers. It seems Camilla Otis has had quite a busy morning, and that the truth behind her absence is far more scandalous than the Book Club ladies could ever have imagined. As the police dig deeper into the events surrounding Mrs. Otis' shocking crime, buried secrets about the other Book Club members begin to surface. None of the women in question are the fine, upstanding ladies of society that the public believes them to be. Each has tarnish on her so-called "sterling reputation." And no one has more to hide than club president Marcella Montgomery. Written for ONC 2024, this is a tongue-in-cheek "whodunit" (in reverse) that will leave you wondering just what a scorned woman *wouldn't* do for sweet, sweet revenge. ⚠️ Warning: many very nonchalant references to murder and death. Very ignorant (era-realistic), inaccurate comments about nationalities/cultures outside the US.

Being a 'difficult woman', Oklahoma farm-gal Mavis wasn't having much luck with the local dating pool. Her Pa signed her up to emigrate to newly terraformed Mars, because 'Mars needs women'. Maybe there she could find a good man to marry. But Mavis had no intention of getting hitched, despite what the legal contract said. Walt, the son of successful Mars merchants, had no intention of going through with a forced arranged marriage. Finding a kindred spirit in Mavis, they chose their own path. A quirky sci-fi romance with a frontier vibe. **** Open Novella Contest Short List and Honorable Mention **** **** Open Novella Contest Round Two Ambassador Pick **** **** Novella Grand Winner - 2025 NanoWatt Awards ****

Round two ambassador pick. Wyatt has just won it big and, in a drunken haze, buys an old, neglected mansion. When she moves in to start renovations, she gets an eerie feeling that she's not always alone-and let's not forget the noises. One fitful night, she heads to the kitchen for a midnight snack and is shocked when a random stranger runs past her in the hallway. A handsome man dressed like Mr Darcy, who disappears like a ghost. After her encounter, Wyatt does some research into the old house, only to discover it has a creepy and troubling past. But that's nothing compared to the revelation that the old antique wardrobe in her room is a secret doorway to the past and the handsome stranger is no ghost, but the son of an Earl looking for his long-lost aunt.