[ 2nd Place Winner ONC 2025] Salt destroyed the world. Now, he must sacrifice everything to save it. -- A fatal drought ravages the land after Salt insults the water god. Jaded, reluctant, and driven more by obligation than hope, he travels the dying land in search of the solution: a favor from a god, which he can gain by resurrecting one. Unfortunately for him, gods need bodies. Even more unfortunately, his wife makes the perfect cadaver. With the help of Calista---a witty delegate to the death god---they set out to track down the fallen goddess of peace, love, and war. But when a mysterious force rises, bent on wiping the gods from the playfield forever, Salt realizes that to restore water to the world, he'll have to confront more than just a rebellion. He'll have to confront the past. A fantasy humor novella about grief, gods, and doing the right thing too late. ONC Prompt (2025): When you challenge a magical being, the rules are simple: you must finish what you've started, no matter the cost. ONC Awards (2025): ♫ Round 1 Winner ♫ Ambassador's Pick ♫ Second Place! ♥♫

Caeryssa's quest for relaxation spirals into chaos, entwining her destiny with the infuriating playboy prince whose smile conceals a dark vendetta that will shatter any possibility of their soulmate connection. *** On Oenone, where lush forests meet pristine beaches, Caeryssa, a xenobotanist on a rare vacation, finds herself entangled with Zaen, the celebrity prince of Penates. Between losing her upgraded room, being forced to deal with crowds of his fans and paparazzi, and a spa disaster that leaves her glowing in all the wrong ways, Caeryssa is beyond annoyed with the flirtatious male who has destroyed her long-awaited bid for tranquillity. But that's nothing compared to Zaen's rage at recognizing Caeryssa as the daughter of that bastard assassin who shattered his family. As animosity sparks and vengeance looms, the threads of fate weave Caeryssa and Zaen ever closer. Nothing will deter him from his deadly plot. Not even the revelation of a chilling truth-she's his soulmate. After all, his heart died with his family. *** Winner - Round One Open Novella Contest Heir Of Violence is a Dark Sci-Fi Romance enemies-to-lovers story using ONC prompts: #9-After some long months of working harder than ever, you finally get to your well-deserved vacation getaway but when you arrive at the hotel there is this one star that brings all the paparazzi and trouble with them and makes your vacation a one to remember. #15-Why are you glowing blue? #25-Soulmates are real and dangerous. They hold the power to bring you back from the brink of death or tear your soul in half. And a devil with no heart is the soulmate that awaits you.

[ONC 2023 SECOND PLACE WINNER | AMBASSADORS PICK 2023] An unwilling but gifted geneticist must find a way to safeguard humanity against the deadly pathogen she's forced to design or die trying. *** The planet's population is pushing past 11 billion and counting. With resources spread thin, widespread famine, and health systems crippled everywhere, the governments of the world are running out of ideas. Then a scientist proposes a controversial solution and the classified Project Rescue is born. But when the lead scientist on the project and his entire team mysteriously die, his young microbiology prodigy is brought into the secret government agency to take over where he left off. Ezra Mayur always hoped that her brilliance in pathogen studies would land her a secure job one day. This seems like a dream come true. Full food rations and safety for her struggling family, and a job in the field she is the most interested in. But the project is not quite what Ezra expected and her moral compass is tested when she has to choose between protecting her family or the world. *** PROMPTS that will make an appearance: 12. An evil sorcerer offers you an immense amount of power--but it comes with a price. (Modified: an evil corp offers you an opportunity of a lifetime, but it comes with a price.) 5. Flip the coin and make a life choice with it. Two choices, one coin, and no turning back. Do you dare? FEATURED ON: @ScienceFiction 'Pandemic' list (Oct 2025) @ScienceFiction 'Viruses & Zombies' list (Sept 2024) @dystopianapocalypse 'Pandemic&Outbreak' list. (May '23) @fright 'AAPI: Celebration' list. (April '23) [NOTE: Trigger warning may apply. Violence and gore. This work is solely the property of Eva Acharya writing as E. A. Martin, and thus, no translation, copying, or distribution in part or whole of this story is permitted.]

In the far past of a millennium, where the ages become muddied through history, there remains yet a universal question; how does those of the past become greater, bigger, and more mythological than they were in life? In a world where history has been lost to the depravity of the monsters born of obscured echoes, hungry for magick. Evyriaz as a Wyvern. Euron as a man, the young prince of the olden days of Naveera, one who time turned into myth, no more than a young boy with bigger dreams, one of two kings. The First Flame lights up the deep crack in their world, where they too, live with the knowledge of their own myth -- and their burning world, all to save what may rise out of the ashes before they are nothing more than ashes themselves.

History is never wrong, until there's a god in your closet. Millennia ago, when the Age of Gods was a reality, where one could still see their dragon forms twist in the sky and see their miraculous powers for themselves. Until Asen'Orilion, the tyrant titan of the lightning strewn clouds, threatened to bring doom upon the world. Resigned to their fate, the other gods of the world banded together, to curse Asen'Orilion to a perpetual prison. They faded away into time, the dragons no more, and the world shattered. One fateful storm, and history begins to change. (Cover by Crimson_Graves)

A famine. A foreign land. A love that defies tradition. In the days when judges ruled Israel, famine drives Elimelek, Naomi, and their sons into the heart of Moab, a land of strange gods, unfamiliar customs, and unspoken rivalries. Amid indescribable grief and uncertainty, two worlds collide. Naomi, a broken Israelite woman. Ruth, a young Moabite woman, who is no stranger to grief. One knock on her door, not only from her son, but from the woman he risked his life to save, and then went ahead and married. Naomi could not have imagined the gravity of the woman with the dark eyes. This reimagining of the timeless story of Ruth blends romance, faith, and resilience into an unforgettable journey. Step into an ancient world of devotion, sacrifice, and destiny. Discover Ruth's story as you've never seen it before.

Cover by: @glueckschmerz PREQUEL TO STARFALL MATURE THEMES WITHIN. Keren, the youngest son of a crime family boss, wants nothing but to escape the life his family is a part of. When there is no other choice, all you have left to turn to is family. For there is no escape for the unfortunate many, and no escape without scars for the lucky ones.

☆ AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON ☆ ↳ DETAILS ON MY AUTHOR'S WEBSITE [ 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙-𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙖 ] ❝ Some pasts are better left buried. ❞ ▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ The only thing that lazy liberal arts graduate Maya García can find any purpose in, is video games and her part time position at the Mexican Society of Archaeology. Since she was born, she has had the strange ability to sense buried things. Cursed to, she would say. From lost keys buried by overexcited dogs to dinosaur bones from the Jurassic period, Maya can find anything, anytime. An abrupt invitation to a potential site near Aztec ruins then pulls Maya to Isla Cozumel, just off of the coast of the mainland. But there's something off about the eerie vegetation and crumbled temples. Something sinister, festering and impatient. The ancient warning texts are enough to unnerve her. Worse, the jade snake that haunts her dreams has begun to leak into the real world. For the first time, Maya has found something that she shouldn't have. [ WORD COUNT : ~ 21 000 ] ▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ Where mysterious magic waits for a curse to awaken, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘺 meets 𝘛𝘰𝘮𝘣 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳. ____________________________________ Copyright © 2020 Stacey Willis, Ear to the Serpent. This is the beta version, and not the final book. ____________________________________ • Cover ; by sarabatdesigns

AVATAR meets Greek mythology in this fantasy parable in which a dryad reveals herself to protect her best friend from destruction. ___ Dryads have one rule: Never reveal yourself to the enemy. Tied to the tree who loves and guards them until death parts them both, these dryads--or hidden hearts--breathe life and consciousness into the natural world. When humans arrive to destroy Cassie's forest home and threaten her childhood friend, she can no longer stay silent. She swallows her fear and stands up for her loved ones. But will it be enough? __ Written July 20, 2021 for the "Of Monsters and Us" fantasy contest Word count: 999 words Status: completed Cover: made using CANVA PRO on July 20, 2021