If other worlds exist beyond the looking glass, how do we cross over to those foreign shores? What will we find there in the lands of whimsy and fantasy? What will find us? *** Malachi is a miserable man who's had one too many bad turns. On his last ropes, he's ready to give up the ghost when he finds the green door. Pulled into another world, one of monsters and demons, he is given new gifts and a new purpose. A crumbling queendom needs a hero and Malachi needs a new reason to live. The Sleeper must awaken and save the people of a world that isn't even his own. ONC 2025 Prompt #1: You stumble upon a mysterious door made entirely of briars and thorns. As you step through, you're granted extraordinary powers. But with great power comes great responsibility -- it's now your duty to save the crumbling kingdom.

(ONC 2025 Longlist) "A missing woman. A chain of murder cases where the corpses refuse to stay dead. A cryptic phone. And an infuriatingly vague mystery texter." Superintendent Inspector Ahsan Kabbo has faced superhuman criminals, underground conspiracies, survived Freadmin's tyranny, and-most terrifying of all-Nishi's cooking. But nothing prepared him for this. Nishi Eumireqa-the woman who drove him insane, saved his life, and then disappeared without a trace after their final battle with the Head Father. No body, no farewell, just... gone. Everyone insists she's dead. Kabbo refuses to believe it. Then his phone starts acting possessed. Creepy messages. Random glitches. A mysterious informant who keeps dangling clues in front of him like a carrot to a very skeptical donkey. "Solve this case," they say, "and I'll think about telling you what you want to know." Kabbo would love to politely decline. Really. But he's bad at ignoring puzzles. Even worse at convincing people he's not crazy for chasing after a woman the world has already buried. Now, he's following cryptic songs, investigating a tea shop that shouldn't exist, and chasing the one woman who may not want to be found. And if he does find her? What's next? What awaits them after that? Will Kabbo outwit the world's most annoying informant? Or, for once in his life, will he have to accept defeat? (Mystery? Check. Thrills? Check. Chaos and comedy? Double check. And a detective who'd rather fight a chocolate mascot than his feelings? Check ♾️. If that's your vibe-welcome home, my dear!)

**For the Open Novella Contest 2025!** "A tale as old as time..." When she receives a cryptic but urgent text message from her father, Isla Lamborne returns to her childhood home in Long Island to find her family in crisis: the family business is failing, her mother is suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's, and her father's normally lighthearted approach to life is threatening to crack under the strain. Several years ago, Ned Dunfee was rendered paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident that he barely survived. Given up on the prospect of ever having a normal life again, all while hiding his past under a lie, the last thing he expects is the bookish, smart-mouthed girl that comes crashing into it, quite literally. After a literal run-in at the family bookstore, at first Isla and Ned can't stand the sight of each other. She thinks he's grumpy and rude; he thinks she's clumsy and irritating. But one rainy afternoon, when she finds Ned caught in a sudden downpour, the sparks undeniably start flying. And they both realize that a second chance at life-together-is within their grasps. Finally. (Using ONC prompts 120, 134, and 135, with 120 being the main plot arc.)

#ONC2025 Third Place Winner (Finalist) #ONC2025 Short List #ONC2025 Round 3 Ambassador's Pick #ONC2025 Long List #ONC2025 Round 2 Winner *** After spending 30 years in another world, Ariana wakes up in the life she left behind, only to find echoes of the love she lost in a stranger. Was this fate, or just a cruel trick of her grieving heart? ============= When Ariana opened her eyes in a hospital bed, the world she had known for the past thirty years had vanished. There was no elegant hanfu, bustling marketplace, or warm smiles from her children and grandchildren. Instead, she found herself back in her original life-the life she had lost in a car crash, the life where her fiancé, Paul, had betrayed her with her stepsister, Julie. Her best friend, Tina, is the only anchor in this cold, unfamiliar reality, helping her navigate a world that has moved on without her. But Ariana cannot forget the lifetime she lived in another world, the love she had discovered, the husband she had mourned for a decade before she was ripped away. And then she sees him. A stranger with familiar eyes. A man whose presence tugs at something deep within her, inscribed into her soul. Is he the reincarnation of the man she loved beyond the boundaries of time, or is her grief distorting reality, causing her to chase the shadows of a dream? As Ariana struggles to regain her place in a life she no longer wants, the lines between fiction and fate blur. The past is written, but love might find a way to reshape destiny. ============= A novella inspired by the ONC prompt 129: "The ink of our souls binds us beyond the pages of time," The Ink of Our Souls tells a story of love, loss, and the unbreakable ties that transcend worlds.

PROMPT#11. Vampires are bound by an ancient destiny: their soulmate is always human, and this bond is governed by three rules. The smell of their soulmate's blood is irresistible, its taste sweeter than anything else, and if the love is unrequited, it can be fatal. Fearing this inevitable bond, most vampires try to avoid it. But what happens when one of them discovers that their soulmate is a human who not only rejects them but loathes them? * * * * Maximilian Kreutz passed through Kirovka to take a shorter route to his destination. But unexpectedly, he saw Tatiana Dmitrievna Vasilieva, at that moment, it was not her beauty that struck him. There was something more dangerous, more violent to his senses, the subtle, tantalizing smell that seemed to cling to. The air seemed humming around the girl, and being a vampire, it was a trap he couldn't avoid. His fangs moved spontaneously, his body reacting before his mind could even keep up. The sweet, metallic smell of its blood seemed like an irresistible call, pulling him closer like a storm he couldn't stop. He tried to pull away, steeling himself, but that scent kept enveloping his senses, like a forbidden temptation he couldn't escape. He seemed to be going crazy with hunger and the intense desire to taste the girl's blood. He followed it out of his own accord, as if it were a shadow that could not be avoided. When the sky darkened, under the silence of the night, he secretly entered her room. He knows about the rules of his clan, but he can't control himself to taste her even if he dies. In One step-one moment-and he was about to see the blood that captured him. But at that very moment, Tatiana suddenly opened her eyes and with a skillful move she pulled out a knife from under the pillow to kill him, he was lucky because it did not hit his neck, but he was hit in the chest. At that time, he found out that the woman he wanted to taste blood was a Vampire Hunter. -L♠️

Lost in The Library of All Things Never Written, Draven searches day and night for his own deleted story before it's forgotten, and he fades out of existence. The task would be far easier without Solomon, the ghost librarian, constantly reminding Draven the inevitable fate of deleted characters. Sol is convinced that only Draven's stubbornness has kept him stranded in the library for the past week. But when the hero of Draven's story breaks into the library to vanquish his escaped villain, Draven flees to the real-world dragging Solomon with him. Draven and Sol must find the author who abandoned Draven's story and convince her to complete it, before she forgets about Draven, or her hero wreaks havoc to the library in search of a villain to defeat. **Open Novella Contest 2025 Entry based on prompt 40** NEW CHAPTERS EVERY SUNDAY

[ Dark Romantasy / Mature ] The Vampyres of Gale are amid a flesh-eating pandemic, and Faerie tears are the only known cure. Livinia, a Faerie healer, joined the Human side of a Vampyre war in Nival to avoid scandal and the captivity of an arranged marriage. Upon "Liv's" return to her icy homeland, she gets put into real chains. She may have leverage, but it's not something that will set her free, at least not quickly. The Nightcaster Court is treacherous. They are rich, haughty, and powerful, but they haven't been hostile toward Faerie-kind since the "Vale of Tears" earned its name. It was before Liv's time, but it isn't any wonder why her people fled Crystal Hollows at the first sign of crisis. Liv can try bargaining for the freedom she never had, but, as a rule, the Nightcasters are fickle, cruel, and can't be trusted. To complicate things further, there's Corbin, the ailing heir - gifted, powerful, grateful for a second chance. He's everything his family is not, but a Vampyre is still a Vampyre, and love isn't love if there are chains attached to it. | ONC2025 Shortlist | - Now being expanded into a full-length novel.