Ten years after her family avoided imminent imprisonment by sneaking aboard an airship headed for Wyoming, Nova Radcliffe is once again on the brink of losing everything. But things are about to get worse. An outlaw has entered Little River to escape persecution from the powerfully corrupt. Jese Calhoun searches for the only man who can help him, but finds the drunk inventor long deceased, leaving his headstrong, mixed race daughter, Nova, in charge of their idyllic property. Jese soon has her where he wants her... However, he hasn't taken into consideration his wife's stubborn streak. They must learn to trust each other, or find themselves hanging from the noose. ***

**A Blue Beard retelling** Based on Charles Perrault's fairytale, this YA Historical Fantasy short story set in Victorian England mixes romance, magic and mystery. After agreeing to an arranged marriage to escape her greedy relatives, 18-year-old heiress Amelia moves into her husband's manor determined to start a new life. But the gothic mansion's forbidding surroundings, the servants' strange demeanour and her husband's mysterious past soon awaken her suspicions. If Amelia truly wants to become the lady of the house, she'll have to discover what secrets lie beyond closed doors and unravel the mystery of the old house's forbidden room. But sometimes secrets are kept for a good reason... HIGHEST RANKING IN HISTORICAL FICTION # 44 Copyright © 2017. All works posted here are the property of EM Castellan. Please do not use without permission. Any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal. Cover artist: @seventhstar

[Formerly Featured/Historical Horror] Masquerading as a gentlemanly bachelor living in Victorian England, Joseph Redding is a fraud amongst the living. After splitting from his partner in unspeakable, underground crimes, he must now pay the price for disturbing the dead. When a ghastly spectre reveals itself to him one night in hospital, he finds himself hurled into an abstract streak of mysteries and homicides that will begin to unravel his fictitious existence. And it seems everyone is on to him... So begins the sinister fate of Joseph Redding as he is lured down a one-way path of paranormal horror, of secrets, and wanton desire. Discover why readers call this "brilliant", "classic" and "twisted"! -------------------------------------- • @IncarnateMovie Top Exorcisms Reading List • @ParanormalCommunity Ghosts Reading List • @HistoricalFiction Gothic Reading List • @Adultfiction The Gothic Reading List • @ProjectRefresh Refreshers Reading List • @OnlyTheBestNovels Best Horror Reading List • Wattpad Featured in Paranormal • Highest rank #11 in Horror (Nov 2016) PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK: "...I ate the twisted plot right up, relished in the conflicts throughout -- from Joseph's own internalised woes to the cryptic secret brilliantly built up..." FR "...This has been a terrific departure from the norms of horror convention..." IRC "...I loved this story not just because of the horrifying twists but because of the brilliance behind its plot. I've never read anything like it..." RC "...Classic prose, meticulously written, reveals the promise of a chilling tale that begs to be told..." KN "...I loved this original story. It tapped into so many idols of mine, but just saying that does not give the story the weight it deserves..." MB ------------------------------------- 25,000 word novella

2019 WATTY WINNER FOR HISTORICAL FICTION. Charity loves Ian. Ian thinks Charity is an incorrigible flirt and he is certainly not tempted. Not one bit! Or at least that's what he tells himself... Bright, optimistic, and a bit naïve, Charity Crewe has always been in love with Ian Douglass. And it would certainly help if he loved her back... just a little bit! Though Ian was raised on the estate and generously given lessons with the Crewe siblings, no one, especially Ian, has ever forgotten he is the housekeeper's son. Charity might not care what anyone thinks of her, but Ian certainly does, so he is determined to protect her reputation as well as his own. He's worked too hard to secure his position to risk his livelihood, not to mention his mother's. He has discouraged her affections at every turn... with only a few moments of weakness. However, while Charity is away gaining some polish, circumstances drastically change and Charity must decide if she is willing to risk everything, even complete and utter ruin, in pursuit of the man she loves. Authors notes: This is Book One of The Crewe Legacy, a four-book series in progress, involving the Crewe siblings and other characters you'll meet along the way. I hope you enjoy Ian and Charity's story and that everyone else intrigues you! CONTENT WARNING: this story contains some mature sexual content, descriptions of spousal abuse, child abuse, murder, and suicide.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his famous detective.

The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events. The most notable are Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. Darnay is a former French aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Carton is a dissipated English barrister who endeavors to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay's wife. Cover art done by @orangedusk

"A House of Pomegranates" is a collection of fairy tales. "The Young King" tells the story of the illegitimate shepherd son of the recently dead king's daughter of an unnamed country. Being his only heir, he is brought to the palace to await his accession. "The Birthday of the Infanta" is about a hunchbacked dwarf, found in the woods by courtiers of the King of Spain. The hunchback's father sells him to the palace for the amusement of the king's daughter, the Infanta, on her twelfth birthday. In "The Fisherman and his Soul," a young Fisherman finds a Mermaid and wants nothing more than to marry her, but he cannot, for one cannot live underwater if one has a soul. "The Star-Child" is the story of an infant boy found abandoned in the woods by a poor woodcutter, who pities him and takes him in. He grows up to be exceedingly beautiful, but vain, cruel, and arrogant, believing himself to be the divine child of the stars. Cover done by @zonaamind

Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, "Dracula" tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.