Sam is the most promising swordsman among this year’s crop of Paladin trainees...and knows it. Brash, cocky, and unbeatable with a sword (well, almost), Sam is the kingdom of Thule’s best hope against the violence wrought by demons. The only problem is that Sam is really Lady Samantha, daughter of the seventeenth Duke of Haywood, and if her father has his way, she’ll be marrying a Paladin, not becoming one. But Sam has never held much interest in playing damsel-in-distress, and so she rescues herself from a lifetime of boredom and matrimonial drudgery. Pity that Tristan Lyons, the Paladin assigned to train her, is none other than the hero of her childhood. He hasn’t recognized her as Lady Samantha--yet-- but if he does, he’ll take away her sword and send her packing. Sam is not the only trainee hiding secrets: Braeden is a half-demon with a dark past that might be unforgivable. Sam, Braeden and Tristan set out for the western coast, charged with rooting out an infestation of demons that has made the West unlivable. As they travel, they uncover a deep-seated corruption of power that threatens to derail everything they stand for. Rebellion stirs, led by a rival faction of warriors who tempt Sam to join them with an irresistible offer. A war between men is coming, and Sam must pick a side. Will saving the kingdom cost her life -- or just her heart? Reminiscent of Mulan, but with a medieval fantasy twist, Paladin is a tale of adventure, action, and romance.

“ a collection of hallucinations ”

A fear of flying is one thing. Being seated next to a Tetris-addict who claims to be the Reaper is quite another. "He pulled out a business card. Where his profession should have been stated, the card read 'Destroyer of Worlds'. Nodding slowly, I pocketed the card." [check out the new spin off: http://www.wattpad.com/story/19632442-reaper-man] Copyright S.Ranasinghe 2013 HG Wells Short Story Competition [shortlisted]

"This wasn't some story book tale. There were no happy endings. People would get hurt. People would cry. The bad guys would probably win. But for the sake of living up to the reputation children had of being blissfully ignorant, he would pretend that this was a story. The men trying to kill him would be the villains. And he and Wendy, they would be the naively optimistic teens who told themselves they could win despite the odds. Who pretended they had a chance at all. They would be the pretenders. And so begins their story." - The Pretenders.

They say in life there are no second chances. But what if you had blown it with the girl of your dreams? What would you do knowing that she was out there, in other realities, realities you hadn't screwed up? That kind of thing could really mess you up... and it could make you do "some crazy." Down-on-his-luck David Blunt is as loser as a loser you can get; recently kicked out of school and fired from his dead end job, David's been squatting in his flop-house apartment, avoiding his landlord and subsisting on stale fortune cookies and cheap street meat for weeks. But when David reads a fortune that predicts an epic future for him, he starts to think that his luck is about to change. Emma Gossett is a spirited world traveler full of wanderlust, and never stays put in one place long enough to form any attachments. Her lovable and eccentric Gran insists this is because she was hidden from the Norns as a babe to keep them from naming Emma's fate, a fable Emma puts little faith in. But when Emma meets David, her faith in reality is shaken to the core. Does this rambling cynical romantic hold the answer to the prevailing sense of déjà vu she's been feeling lately? Or is it just something else, as her new and mysterious and magnetic acquaintance Gabriel insists? Perhaps he holds the key to the mysterious sensations she has felt of living another life alongside her own. All Your Fates is a multiverse mindwarp with supernatural elements that one reader commented: "This story is twisting into ways a pretzel couldn't even try!!"

Serenity Falls is one of the best, most exclusive and most expensive schools in the entire country - and Olivia Webb has just been offered a scholarship. On the outside, the school is perfect. Brand new, perfect students, perfect results. But on the inside, much more drama goes down than anyone could ever imagine...

All its life, the bird had felt unworthy and plain. Uninteresting and unremarkable. With its beak too long, its feathers a drab color, it felt utterly worthless. And trading being a human at the price of understanding was not too much of a price. Or was it? dedication to Eskimo Curlew bird

"Not just a flavour, but a way of life." When seventeen-year-old Flo Kennedy is forced to up sticks and trade her life in London for a sleepy seaside town on the south coast, she's anything but excited. Walden-on-Sea could win awards for being Britain's dullest town, and with a population consisting almost entirely of over sixties, teenagers are an endangered species. Silently struggling with her parents' death and separation from her sister, Flo's convinced she's in for the worst summer of her life. But when she meets the guy in the ice cream shop, things start to change. It's not long before she lands herself a job, a new set of friends and maybe even the beginnings of first romance. For the first time in several years, she's happy. But Flo knows all too well that things can't stay perfect forever, and after all, being on top of the world only gives you further to fall.

Our memories do not always serve us correctly. But they do serve us kindly.

Ten-year old Peilam wants to see his family again, but he must work twelve hours a day to send them wages. Even the ghost bird, Rasmae, haunting him, wants him to leave his cruel greedy mistress. But there's a cruel difference between needs and wants, the difference between life and death. This story is dedicated to the vulture, which is critically endangered in many areas around the world.