The Open Novella Contest is back for 2026! Join fellow storytellers and plant the seed of a tale that will blossom into a 20,000+ word novella within 12 weeks! Your epic quest begins February 1st, 2026, so mark your calendars with this date!

Some forests are silent. This one remembers. When Orion Voss's brother vanished into the thicket without a trace, the villagers called it fate. His mother called it a curse. But five months later, the forest is not done with him. Whispers crawl beneath the leaves. Shadows shift where light should fall. The crows scream every night without rest. And when the scream returns,not from memory, but from deep within the woods.Orion knows the forest hasn't taken its last. This is not just a search for a lost boy. It's the unraveling of the dark things of Orion's family, past... Welcome to The Cursed Thicket,a tale of grief, memory, ancient forces, and a forest that sees all... and forgets nothing.