Teenaged cook prodigies are invited back to the show that kickstarted their journey to fame six years ago. *** Quinn Murphy is successful in his career, even at the ripe age of seventeen, even after getting involved in a physical fight in front of a live audience six years ago. It's thanks to his skill as a chef. Oh, and also his well-off, privileged family from Montgomery, Georgia. When he's invited back to the show that hosted the unsanctioned fight, of course he accepts. His long-distance best friend-and secret crush-is going too, after all! Jeevika Modi is on the opposite side of the class spectrum. Having lived most of her life sifting through foster home after foster home, she knows how to take care of herself. And that includes the delicious meals and desserts she makes. She's also rapidly aging out of the foster system, so of course she accepts the invitation to come back to Tiana's Kitchen for a followup episode. She's in it for the money. He's in it for her.

||WRITTEN FOR TEGSA2025|| ❀ ❀ ❀ Ash Kincaid lived by three truths: 1. Family was a conditional, temporary arrangement. 2. Trust demanded wilful blindness. 3. Ash was what remained following an incineration of life. He'd perfected the art of tolerance. After a lifetime of abandonment, first by blood and then by those who promised to keep him, his survival depended on one thing. No attachment. No promises. No hope. However, when the college dorms close for Christmas, he's forced into the chaotic Rossi household where encroaching is the norm, solitude is next to impossible and there's Lala- the Rossi sister who just sketches in furious silence. The quiet is a sanctuary, their coexistence effortless. He doesn't ask about her paintings and she doesn't pry behind his walls. Until a silver SUV pulls into the driveway and the woman Ash once called "mother" steps out. Rundown: chapters 1 and 2 - major chapters 3 and 4 - minor chapters 5 and 6 - minor chapters 7 and 8 - minor chapters 9 and 10 - major

This book talks of dark trials - low days, mind storms, hurtful bonds, and trust lost. But it also holds light: joy, bold will, strong roots, and loyal souls. This submission work is for TEGSA2025 (I know this is both first and final turn I talk of that lost symbol - but I must stay loyal to this constraint.) Hi! I am Aurora! Although most call tags as Aura or A. Now, you may ask - what's so distinct about my story or this book, that you'd want to flip through it? Truth is, you must find out for your own mind. But I can vow this - you'll spot a thing or two worth your focus. And if not? I still think you'll dig how it's told, as this book follows a bold constraint. Yup - this is a lipogram. So, try it as a fun trial: scan for any word with that symbol that lands just aft of "a, b, c, d..." No, I won't say it. Not now, not at all.

Despite still being an emotional mess from his breakup, losing his car to an abomination made of multiple deer, and injuries from both the car accidents he was in. Travis refuses to die in this backwater town as the dead stitch themselves into fresh horrors. Miss Della spent decades building her diner and sewing herself into the fabric of Red Oak Valley. Seams tore to shreds, the patchwork monsters ripped them asunder and mended them into their disturbing embroidery within her business. Kendra wanted a change, but got it in the worst way. She and the few survivors of the diner turned slaughterhouse are now looking for help, but is there anyone left to save them? Burdened with the knowledge of what will befall Red Oak Valley, Tiffany needs to return to her radio station for what's coming. As these abominations overtake the town and their numbers grow, can anyone survive this town turned hell on earth?

(Entry for TEGSA 2025) Alejandro is a man. However, his mother can not see that. Nor has he ever met his "father" ("sperm donor" is a more accurate term). But a summer full of moving boxes, annoying siblings, and an unopened letter finally gives him the chance the meet the man he spent his life without. But how trustworthy is a man that was imprisoned for a felony-murder? Potential triggers: Panic attacks Violence (at least implicitly) Transphobia Anorexia

"What she is hiding could change their world. What he is hiding could destroy it." Lyra Winslet is anything but normal. Since she was a child, she has been able to feel what others are feeling. It's only when she inherits her parents' beaten-down record shop that she can put her empath powers to good use. She counts on her appearance to be deceiving to hide what she can do. But when a drunken customer stumbles into her shop one sunny afternoon, she finds herself entwined in a story beyond her control. Everett Williams used to have it all - a well-paid job, an expansive home and even a fiancée. But one mistake turned his world upside down and forced him to return to Marigold Trek. Spending most of his days in his cramped childhood home, his mother sends him out to find a record. He finds himself in Lyra's record shop, but can his well-crafted sense of self hide the truth? Join Lyra and Everett on a personal journey of healing, while finding a place where you can belong no matter what happened in your past. (Written for TEGSA 2025)

Johanna of West-Francia is once again stuck in the waiting room of her father, the Frankish king. Will he marry her off for a 3rd time or will he send her to the convent of Senlis? Neither option sounds appealing, so the young widow decides to take matters into her own hands. She has learned a thing or two from her time in Wessex and more specifically from her late husbands' negotiations with Northmen. West-Francia too is plagued by Viking raiders and in an attempt to prove her worth to her father, she explains to him the advantages of a hostage exchange. One of the advantages being the opportunity to spy, she doesn't stop there and volunteers to be the first Francian hostage in her father's dealings with the Vikings. What she didn't count on though was Tyr of Danmark, the Viking leader's infuriatingly attractive son and his lack of decorum when dealing with a Frankish princess. If only he would stop calling her Tove, she might be able to focus on her mission and return to her people a heroine, but Tyr seems to have his Gods and their magical powers (aka an obnoxiously persistent white dove) at his side, chipping away at her resolve one brooding gaze at a time. #TEGSA2025 @officialTEGSA Content Warning: since it's Vikings ... probably some violence & gore, since it's me ... probably some (consensual) smut (but more romance, always more romance)

She's seventeen-finally free from a mother who never loved her. But instead of staying in the dark, she chooses to imagine a better world. One filled with light, love, and small miracles. Because deep down, she still believes in kindness, true love, and happy endings. He's twenty-one-born from betrayal, and carrying a curse that was never his to bear. After heartbreak, his mother turned to black magic... and accidentally trapped his spirit inside a black rose-one that feeds on the pain of those he loves. When they meet, the curse wakes up. The past unravels. And the barrier between love and destruction disappears. (Written for TEGSA2025)

This is my entry for TEGSA 2025. --- Melissa is the only one who knows her dad didn't kill her mom. She knows a monster did it. She saw it herself when she was nine years old. Or so she thinks. Now, being twenty-three and fresh out of college, she knows there is no such thing as monsters. There weren't any voices to hide from under her blanket, there weren't any shadows chasing her in the halls, those were all fantasies of a kid with too much imagination. Yet, she is still determined to find out what really happened to her parents, and most of all, why. Because the one thing she does know, is that people have lied to her. All of them. All the time. --- 🥇First place in the Hollowed Verse Awards (min 1k reads category) 🥉 Third place in the Moonlight Trove | Astania Awards 2025 (Mystery)