🏆 WINNER of the 2021 Ambys! Historical Fiction genre & Contest! Something is amiss within the halls of Elsinore Manor. Something that cannot be defined. With her husband away on business, Gertrude Bard awaits his return in their manor in Cornwall, England. She spends her days in the company of her three children - Ophelia (12), Rosen (8), and Gilbert (6) - and her husband's younger brother, Claude, who has come to stay with them during the patriarch's absence. Not long after Claude's arrival, strange and unexplainable things begin to occur. Objects go missing, the piano plays on its own, and Gilbert has a sudden imaginary friend who may or may not be a ghost. Claude claims ignorance, and Gertrude begins to doubt her sanity. Is the new darkness enveloping Elsinore Manor the product of calculated deceit? Or is the truth something far more sinister and otherworldly? ~ ~ ~ HIGHEST RANKINGS ~ #1 Period Fiction #1 Hamlet #1 Jane Eyre #2 Haunted Mansion #3 The Ambys 2021 #4 Ghost Story #4 Red Room

"There's no place like home." When his hot air balloon crashlands in East Egg, Long Island, Nick Carraway is dumbfounded by the colorful world of wealth and opulence in which he finds himself. Shortly after his accidental arrival, Nick makes the acquaintance of the bubbly Daisy Buchanan, the statuesque Jordan Baker, and the ferocious Tom Buchanan. Like Nick, each of them is missing a vital attribute. Alongside his trio of unlikely companions, Nick plans to enlist the help of the mysterious and indecently rich Jay Gatsby in his efforts to return home. However, during his strange journey, Nick discovers that in the rivalry between old money East Egg and new money West Egg, obscene wealth does not necessarily guarantee happiness. __________ A retelling of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, substituting the characters and setting of "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. HIGHEST RANKINGS ~ #1 Opium #1 Emerald City #1 Wizard of Oz #1 Classic Literature #4 Great Gatsby #5 The Ambys 21 #19 Fairytale Retelling

A Sci-Fi retelling of "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë. { 🏆 ɢʀᴀɴᴅ ᴘʀɪᴢᴇ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀ ᴏꜰ ʀᴇᴡɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴀꜱꜱɪᴄꜱ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇꜱᴛ 2022 } In the future, androids are part of everyday life. Brontë Incorporated, an Artificial Intelligence Goliath, systematically engineers and manufacturers the most advanced androids on the planet. Brontë Inc's latest and greatest android creation, The Governess, is in its testing phase, and prototypes are given to select individuals for use in their homes. One such individual is old-money aristocratic Edward Rochester. He and his daughter bond deeply with their Governess, JN-1 (or "Jane"), amidst a myriad of frightening incidents orchestrated by the sentient smart system in his ancestral home. After Mr. Rochester is saved from a fire by Jane, the pair fall in love. But Brontë Inc. issues a product recall for the Governess androids, deeming them "too human." Can Mr. Rochester and Jane find a way to remain together? Or will a particularly apathetic analyst named John Rivers bring about the end of their unorthodox love affair? || A sci-fi romance told in retrospect, this short story is written for Rewind the Classics contest, 2022. 4150 words. ||

Chartreuse ® ~ A Universal Solution* *if used as directed In an alternate dimension similar to our own, the mobile city of Neo-York is held hostage by its oppressive warden, a mysterious woman known only as "Big Sister." Little is known about Big Sister, but her rule is absolute, secured by synthetic military forces and advanced citywide surveillance. Those who oppose her are vaporized, their existence wiped from history. Neo-York citizen Nova Herdeem has had enough of living in fear. At great personal risk, she procures the assistance of the Negotiators: a trio of unlikely allies comprised of a samurai, a vampire, and a cyborg. Armed with their collective skill sets and Nova's knowledge, the Negotiators agree to end the tyranny of Big Sister. As they proceed in their reconnaissance, the Negotiators discover that there is far more to Big Sister than a power-hungry dictator, and the omnipresent and multifaceted product line known as "Chartreuse" may be the very key to her rule. || George Orwell meets Philip K. Dick meets classic literary and film characters in potentially the weirdest most tongue-in-cheek book on Wattpad. This novella is written for ONC 2022, and I'm pleased to say, made the LONGLIST!! || HIGHEST RANKINGS ~ #1 George Orwell #4 cosmetic #6 ONC 2022 #48 Android

In a land of swordsmanship and myth, three English children are about to change the course of history... ~~~ Colin, Madeline, and Brian Evans have always sought adventure. But try as they might to find intrigues and escapades at their ailing grandfather's estate, their quest continues to prove fruitless. Until one day, a misplaced door leading to a misplaced stairway takes them to a foreign world of warriors and legends. At last, an adventure seems within their grasp. In the beautiful and mysterious land of Makoto, the Evans children meet a pair of young samurai - siblings Shin and Min Kazuo - who show the children that Makoto's peaceful beauty is nothing but a façade. The country is plagued by unpredictable raids, a clan of merciless bounty hunters, and a faction of sinister Shōgun. When Min is captured and taken to the Shōgun's palace, Shin teaches the art of swordsmanship to the Evans children, and they begin a perilous journey toward freeing Makoto. However, the origin of the Shōgun's rule is far darker than the Makotan people know. Evil forces are at work. And amidst the war for freedom, the Evans children discover that no adventure comes without danger or cost. {For fans of Narnia, Oz, Wonderland, Neverland, and Japanese history & culture.}

☆ ᴡᴀᴛᴛʏꜱ 2024 SHORTLISTER!! ☆ A tragic misunderstanding. A murder. A secret. An unlikely partnership. A spirited countess and an enterprising racketeer. ~~~ Manchester, England. May 1925. The Roarin' 20s. An era of glamor, decadent parties, jazz music, flowing booze, and opulent wealth. Possibilities are endless. Anyone can be a success, even families once seen as working class. But beneath the glittering exterior lies a world of corruption, prejudice, and civil unrest. When the disappearance of a Russian refugee brings Countess Rose Sinclair to the doorstep of known racketeer William Mercer, neither party is prepared for the significant changes a single encounter can inspire. Blackmailed by William into employment, Rose receives a swift and unwanted education regarding a side of the class struggle she has never before experienced. As she unwillingly ventures deeper into the precarious world of the Mercer family and their notorious gang the Deansgate Streeters, Rose finds herself torn between her moral compass, her suppressed rebellious youth, her growing love for a motherless toddler, and her mounting attraction for William, a man she has every reason to despise. ⚠️ Read with caution: foul language, violence, trauma, and sexual content (fade to black only) within. This book is intended for readers 21+ ⚠️

Don't start what you can't finish... ~~~ To the outside world, young novelist Cristina Castillo appears to have nothing but success. With four published works under her belt, she is a literary wunderkind. But behind closed doors, she has a secret shame: countless notebooks filled with unfinished stories. Cristina's waking mind is plagued by the underdeveloped characters, incomplete plots, and cliché themes of her countless abandoned and discontinued tales. Dreams of fiction, reduced to scrap paper. While attending the release party for her latest published novel, Cristina comes face-to-face with none other than the handsome protagonist from one of her most beloved (and unfinished) passion projects. He tells Cristina that he wants an ending for his story. And he warns her: he is not her only forsaken character seeking fulfillment. As Cristina's vengeful creations begin coming out of the woodwork, she is plunged into the depths of her very vivid imagination. A journey of humor, adventure, terror, love, and startling self-discovery ensues as Cristina tries to return to reality. She soon learns, however, that the only way to escape the fictional worlds she dreamt into being is to appease her creations by writing their endings. {Rated MATURE for language}

Tiffany Cotton was not who she said she was. The peculiar woman had shown up in Ravensfield one night, wielding a pistol with a familiarity that odd, run-of-the-mill spinsters shouldn't know how to do. She was bizarrely intelligent, wore gowns that were two sizes too big for her, and a smile that transformed her face. Kaede C'Lainn had a difficult time noticing anything anymore since he drank of a liquor that had been tainted with an enchantment, forcing his hand in an act that riddled him with guilt. But he noticed Miss Cotton. Particularly how she had the penchant to show up in places that she shouldn't be. There was something about her that spiked his intrigue... and suspicions. And after the last bout of recklessness on his part, he was not about the make the same mistake twice. He believed Miss Cotton to be part of a syndicate to end his brethren's life, and Kaede wouldn't allow that to happen again. Even if it meant apprehending the one woman whose kiss put all his broken pieces back together again in a world that rejected his kind. This is a fantasy-historical-romance with a lot of steam and a lot of romance! FMC is motivated to do some serious butt-kicking and MMC has a tail... :)

'Don't look, Lillian. Never look into the eyes of a Sin-Eater, you will be as cursed as he is and will forever languish in darkness.' Lillian Elmes remembers the warning her mother gave her about the town's Sin-Eater only too well. How could she not when she'd ignored it as a child, only to find herself plagued with nightmares when she'd seen with her own eyes what the dark work of the Sin-Eaters entailed? Now an adult, Lilian's curiosity still burns deep, especially when she crosses paths again with the town's freshly-appointed Sin-Eater, the mysterious and strangely alluring, Daniel Carver. Desperate to find out whether the rumours about the dark priests are true, Lillian makes the journey into the forest to spy on Daniel in his woodland cottage, only to realise that she really should have heeded her mother's warning all those years before. For Lillian Elmes, looking into the eyes of the Sin-Eater is going to bring her far more than she had ever imagined it would - murder and mayhem, ghosts that just won't lay to rest and an attraction that might just be more lethal than the undead who've started rising from their graves.

Celestina Crivelli, a young and recently widowed woman, has spent her life trapped under her father's iron rule; and her once change of freedom left her haunted and tormented. But when her loyal maid convinces her to sneak out to see a secret midnight performance in the city's underground catacombs, Celestina thinks she's finally tasting freedom, even if it's only for one night. Instead, she awakens in a cage. Kidnapped by Severo, the charismatic and vengeful ringleader of the Seven Wonders, Celestina learns her abduction is more than ransom; it's revenge. Surrounded by Severo's troupe of dangerous and dazzling misfits - from the merciless masked knife-thrower to the mysterious half-man, half-puppet guard whose wooden hands both terrify and intrigue her - Celestina must confront betrayal, fear, and the limits of her own will to survive. Because Severo's show is only just beginning. And this time, Celestina is the star.