[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."

LGBT/DYSTOPIA: Luke and Aiden escape the small community they helped build years after an apocalyptic event devastated the world, leaving the survivors to endure the wrath of their new leader, Santos. But with Santos and his men tight on their heels, Luke and Aiden hide out in an old, abandoned lighthouse where their trust for each other quickly grows. But can they face their ultimate fears to rescue the remaining survivors and survive another day? A story of building and rebuilding what was lost, with a haunting twist ending. ----- Highest rank: #872 in General Fiction (Thanks, readers, for pushing this story into the top 1000 of its genre!) Copyright © by Leslie Lee Sanders

Connor and Vince fight their forbidden attraction as they attempt to rescue themselves and fellow residents of the underground Refuge facility from a toxic breach. ***** Connor Nichols spends his days alongside several young cadets training to become a future peacekeeper of the underground Refuge facility, but his nights are spent dreaming of his forbidden romantic past with best friend Vince Moore. Risking his quality reputation among Dr. Randolph and the leaders, he pursues a secret relationship with Vince until a sudden toxic breach threatens to poison the occupants of the facility and places Vince in immediate danger. To give him and Vince a fighting chance at a solid future together, Connor puts his life and love on the line to expose the truth about the toxins, the leaders, and the history of the Refuge. ***** CONTENT WARNING: Contains some language, mild violence & mild sexual references. ***** Copyright © 2021 by Leslie Lee Sanders

Nathan is a pop star trying to finish his album. Elijah is a reporter gathering insider info. When they start fake dating, their worlds turn upside down... ***** When Nathan Lowe and Elijah Scott agree to stage a relationship for publicity reasons, both of them are striving for their own goals. Finding love is certainly not one of them, and yet it is only a matter of time until the lines between pretense and passion start to blur and what started as a PR stunt soon turns out to be more than they bargained for. Before they know it, they find themselves caught in a web of lies and intrigues, mind games and manipulation, until the only thing they can know for sure is this: Nothing in Hollywood is ever quite the way it seems. Content and/or trigger warning: This story contains scenes of sexual activity and drug use, which may be triggering for some readers. [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]] Cover designed by Ashley Santoro

British band Purple Envy are heading for the States, and Scott Connors, Oliver Godfrey, Luke Cartwright, and Demitri Fitzpatrick are quickly becoming the most famous people in the world. They have the world at their feet and their roles to play: Luke; the lead, Oliver; the eye candy, Demitri; the mystery, and Scott; the talent. But across the pond, lust, greed, envy and lies await each member. For some, it's drugs, for others, the pressure of fame. But for Scott Connors, it's falling in love with best friend and band mate, Oliver Godfrey. Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/holliepop4/playlist/1NDwGDV1BxhWEiHD0xqVjI

At first glance, nobody would be able to tell that Nathaniel Jean had a problem. Or second glance, or third, or fourth. After all, he had everything. He was a captain of his school's soccer team and one of the top players in the state. He had a big house and money to spend. He had family, he had friends, he had fun, he had faith. He never meant for it to happen. He never wanted to look at another man in the way he should have been looking at a woman. The idea had disgusted him for most of his life - living in a heavily Catholic town with heavily Catholic parents, homophobia was the only response he knew. That didn't change when he first realized that he didn't like girls. No, Nathaniel Jean was still homophobic. He hated the idea of a man sleeping with another man. He was raised on the notion that all gays went to hell, and he believed it. He despised them, and so he despised himself. Nathaniel Jean was more fortunate than most, because help did arrive for him. Help by the name of Lucas Morgan, they boy he'd always known but never known. The boy with big dreams and bigger talent. The boy that changed Nathaniel's life over the course of their thirty-six week long senior year.

This wasn't Cody Lim's first funeral. Cody Lim never imagined having to bury his younger twenty-three-year-old brother, Clarence. He thought he was through with burying family members, but the universe had dealt him a shitty hand. This time, guilt plagued him more than he thought, knowing he had willingly walked away from his brother six years ago-a relationship he could no longer rekindle even if he wanted to. When Ezra Davey had learned of his roommate Clarence's heart condition, he had begged him to reach out to his estranged brother before time ran out. Ezra had been lucky to have six great years with him, but he didn't expect he'd have to make the harrowing call that Clarence's heart had given out before either brother could reach out. Death had been the guillotine of a relationship Cody could never rekindle, but it's what Clarence left behind that makes the journey of moving on a little easier. -A Novelette- -A Gen 3 2023 entry-

Ethan Wong, an ex-prodigy violinist, thinks it's not meant to be. After his latest mental breakdown at his last violin competition, where he placed tenth out of ten contestants, he's not sure why his music professor appointed him the soloist for their New York concerto. Cameron Langley, the star college baseball athlete, believes it's meant to be. After being completely ghosted and shut out of Ethan's life after high school, he's finally found the man at a chance encounter at an overbooked hotel. More determined than he is to win his college's first championship, Cameron is desperate for answers and another shot at love with the guy who stole his heart. Will they face the music or strike out from each other's lives for good? -An Open Novella Contest 2023 Shortlister-

WATTPAD BOOKS EDITION. Love is a chemical reaction. When Jordan Hughes arrives at Pinecrest High School, Elliot Goldman's graduating year suddenly gets a lot more interesting. Smart, good looking and charming, Jordan isn't exactly the kind of person Elliot's used to having as a lab partner. But when they start acing their assignments, life is suddenly about more than boring lectures, bad cafeteria nachos, or relentless bullying, and for the first time ever, Elliot can't wait to get to chemistry class. As they start spending more time together outside of school, Elliot realizes he's never met anyone quite like Jordan. And then everything changes one night when Jordan kisses him, making Elliot question everything about their relationship and about himself. The butterflies start to make sense-the trouble is, right now, nothing else does. Love was the last thing on Elliot's mind. But as he begins to figure out how he really feels about Jordan, he realizes that sometimes the last thing you are looking for is the one thing you need the most.