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.

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

Welcome to the Second Quarter Quell... When 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy is reaped for the 50th Hunger Games, he faces a surprise twist: forty-eight Tributes will be sent into the arena in place of the typical twenty-four. While battling twice the amount of deadly adversaries, and his beautiful yet treacherous surroundings, Haymitch must navigate a deadly game of strategy, alliances, and sacrifice if he wants to make it home alive. What he doesn't expect is the brutal truth behind the Capitol's long-running agenda, and the lengths they'll go to keep the districts in line. ONC 2024 prompt 52: "And that is how that world was lost and a new one, our world, was born." This is a Hunger Games fanfiction and is meant purely for entertainment purposes. My intention is not to infringe upon any copyrights or claim ownership of the original material. I'm just writing the prequel I wanted to read.

When Bryony -- herbalist extraordinaire -- goes missing, Bella knows one suspect stands above the rest. The village's aspiring second witch, Daphne, comes from a family that's tried to take Bryony down before, and Daphne seems determined to carry on that legacy. For someone who's always been terrified of Bryony, she's a little too keen on looking into the disappearance. There's just one problem. Bella's insufferable fellow familiar thinks the kid is innocent... and he's been right about worse things before. If Daphne herself is to be believed, clues on the disappearance lead a whole lot closer to home than Bella would like. As the evidence mounts, Bella must choose to either stand by her values and the woman who raised her, or seek what might be a truth she would rather not uncover. Prompt #81: The town's witch has gone missing and no one is looking for her but her two familiars - a crow and a black cat, plus the teen who has always been scared of her. ❖❖❖ Written for Wattpad's 2024 Open Novella Contest. Longlister. Complete. Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :)

Grady just wants to grieve the loss of his ex in peace, but then Quinn's younger sister, Taryn, whirls into his Texas hometown, looking to stir up the past. She brings in a wave of goons with her and a mystery that's well beyond his pay grade. Still, it's Grady's job to serve and protect, and as much as he may want to, he can't deny his involvement. Or Taryn's plea for help. Quinn's life may depend on it... | Featured on @Romance / Romantic Suspense | | @Mystery / Book of the Month / Stand Out Mysteries (April 2025) | | ONC2024 Round 2 Ambassadors' Pick |

After one of the most awful days in her life, Eva Romney goes for a relaxing run on the trail behind her house. Cursing her failing life and her toxic boss, she fails to notice the clouds gathering above her. That is until she gets struck by lightning. Overcome by her luck to still be alive after the shock, she leaves her toxic thoughts behind, finishes her run, and then returns home, as always. The next morning, she is the calmest she's ever been. Surviving has turned her recent sulkiness into the purest happiness, and everything seems to be going right for once in her life. At least until she finds the windshield of her car covered in blood. Struggling to remember whether she had anything to do with it, she starts down a path in which reality is twisted. Soon after, people begin to disappear, and everyone claims she is to blame. As Eva struggles to find the truth, all clues lead to one conclusion. Everyone could be right. She might be the guilty party. 💀💀💀 Nope, this is definitely not me jumping on the ONC hype train. Come to the OMC side. We have mangoes. No, that is not a typo #ifyouknowyouknow

(ONC 2024 Longlisted) Not all fairy tales have happy endings, which Arthur is about to discover in a big way. After an especially bad day of work, he makes a wish on a star that all of the magical stories his Nana used to tell him when he was a boy were real. Life in the mundane everyday world might not always be great, but fairy tales might not be all they're cracked up to be either. Can Arthur get things back to normal or is he going to be stuck in a fractured fairy tale world (not so) happily ever after?

[ONC Longlist 2024 | A Medusa Retelling.] Sydney 2112. Young men are disappearing without a trace. On the other side of town, an up-and-coming sculptor's works eerily resemble the missing men. Can the Inspector solve the riddle before her son joins the collection? *** Keya Sapkota needs to create artworks for her first sculpture exhibition at the prestigious Museum of Contemporary Arts, but a recent date-gone-wrong has left her a mess. She has no memory of what happened, but a feeling that something horrible transpired that left her with broken lips and bruised body. Keya hides in her loft, chipping away at her marble columns on autopilot. The more she chisels the more lifelike her statues become, ones she can't remember carving, but does she care? She needs exhibits for her show and the strange figures may as well be her pieces. The new Stone2Stone sculpture exhibition at the MCA catches the eye of Inspector Reina, who is desperately searching for her son who disappeared from a nightclub on his twenty-first birthday. Reina can't put her finger on it, but the sculptor, Keya, seems strange. Then there's the eerie marble statues that share their likeness with young men who have recently disappeared. Inspector Reina is determined to find answers before her son's sculpture turns up in the artist's collection. --- ONC Prompts: 60. "Look what you made me do." -Tayler Swift 3. Your greatest fear is monsters in the dark. The last thing you expect is to become the Monster in the dark. 95. "I will become as monstrous as I must." Features: - @Fantasy - Urban Fantasy (Oct 2025) - @paranormal - Investigations & Academies (Sept 2024) - @action - Thriller (Aug 2024) - @APIFantasy - API Fantasy & Science-Fiction Entries (March, 2024) Trigger warning: Slight depictions of SA. Please read at your own discretion. [Strictly no copy, translation or adapting of this story in part or whole is permitted without the author's permission.]

Two dueling tornado chasers compete to impress a famous self-taught scientist and storm-chaser, follow in his footsteps, and become his renowned protege. *** Twenty year old Halle Brennan's obsession with mega storms was born out of intense grief and feelings of powerlessness after her mother, Magenta, died in a sudden tornado. Dissimilarly, her nemesis, James Winter only embraced his famous father's storm chasing legacy out of duty. Despite a shoestring budget and and her youth, Halle exhibits an uncanny ability to track down deadly twisters. With her scientific mind and uncanny intuition, she intimidates James and his wealthy cohorts who rely on technical equipment and an expensive armor-plated all terrain vehicle instead of sheer guts and expertise. As a deadly storm descends on the Oklahoma plains, Halle, James and her best friends Amy and Naseem, are thrown into a monster, rain wrapped tornado that wants to kill everyone in its path. ONC Prompt No. 85 "If you do that again, I'll throw you out the freakin window. "What are you doing?" "Checking how high the drop is to see if it's worth it." *Cover models are from the movie "Divergent".

He might become the next small town hero with stars in his eyes... and a monster in his veins. Good has a dark side. Evan Mack's football coach will do anything to win. He has the formula for success that took last year's starting quarterback, Xavier Rhodes, to the state championship and beyond. If Evan participates in the coach's secret fitness and diet program, money and fame, and even his high school crush, the girl of his dreams, Lexa Thorn, will be his for the taking. By winning all the big games, he could become a small town hero. But having your dreams come true, comes with a price, a dark side. Austin Campbell, this year's starting quarterback was found dead under mysterious circumstances, opening up the starting position for Evan. Rumors circulate that his death wasn't an accident as the police reports claimed. There could be a murderer lurking in their small town. Evan's greatest fear is monsters in the dark. The last thing he expects is to become the Monster in the dark. Problem is, that monster wants out, no matter how hard he tries to keep it locked in its cage. And when it comes out, no one is safe, not even the girl of his dreams, or the other girl-next-door with the glasses and straight A's who happens to think the world of him. Open Novella Contest Story Vampire/Werewolf Prompt #3 3. Your greatest fear is monsters in the dark. The last thing you expect is to become the Monster in the dark. Small Town Hero Cover Credits © <a href='https://www.123rf.com/profile_virtosmedia'>virtosmedia</a>, <a href='https://www.123rf.com/free-images/'>123RF Free Images</a>