**Winner: Licking River Writers Contest** After five years away, Jacks returns to reclaim his life- only to find a lush accountant with curves that fill out her clothes living in the apartment over his folks' pool house. Oh, the attraction is there- but Jacks doesn't believe in love anymore and Sophie can't trust her heart. Amidst murder, deception, mafia threats and a final race to claim the object that could redeem one of their lives- just one, not both- Sophia and Jacks struggle to define what love is, who they can trust and, in the end, exactly the price they may or may not be willing to pay for it all. Jawdrop2012 xii.Life's a Game We're Meant to Lose part 2 pg 2-4

[season 1] In the near-future, mankind succeeds in curing A.I.D.S. However, something much worse fills the void, an aggressive sickness that only affects females. Though only 50% of Earth's population is at risk of contracting M.A.I.D.S., the illness impacts everyone. World War III begins as panic-stricken governments seize healthy females in order to ensure the survival of their people, but even warfare and forced breeding programs can't halt the inevitable: mankind is dying out. An international team of scientists combine existing technologies, theories, and desperation to create Synthia, a synthetic human female capable of M.A.I.D.S.-free existence and, most importantly, reproduction. Biomechanical humans, dubbed Synthias, are mass-produced, and mankind's population begins to slowly increase after being decimated by the illness and war. The cost of salvation is souls. Synthias are denied basic human rights because they are manufactured, not born. After staging an unsuccessful uprising, the facilities where Synthias are mass-produced undergo great changes. Synthia manufactories are re-opened as boutiques where a man's mate can be custom-ordered, right down to the various skills and knowledge the Synthia possesses. A truly male-oriented world emerges around this new technology. Adam, the first son of a Synthia, wants something more than a mere breeding machine. He wants a true partner and something like the "love" he only knows about from pre-war media. The Synthia he creates is something new that threatens to destroy the status quo... Adam's Synthia is not an it. Adam's Synthia is a she. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- M.A.I.D.S. is the winner of two Watty Awards (2011).

Phoenix is a young Fire Elemental from a city in the fire country called Yaag. He has the altogether unheard of ability to receive fallen Elementals powers for a short time, as long as he is in close proximity to them at the time of their death. A bone chilling prophecy will turn him into a seemingly power hungry villian, but what are his real motives for the atrocities he is committing?