To the future of the human race, for years now I’ve wondered what humanity did to deserve such a fate as what has happened. When asked the question by another I always answered as if God has had a hand in it but really I don’t believe that. I think it has something to do with the greater picture. We are but mere specks in the open universe, a blip on a screen that makes no difference to anything else around. Evolve, kill, breed; humans will do whatever they need to keep on living and that’s what makes us so special. We are the pinnacle of the universe, one of a kind, and I shall not let what people have done go to waste.

Vires Academy: A school where many of the students develop an unnatural power. Some say it could be called a super power. The school is where they can learn to control and manage these powers in a balanced environment. But what happens when something starts to kill them off one by one. An unkown force is brewing and now the kids are forced to show the world what they are capable of. What happens when these kids must face others with similar powers, others that want more then to just injure their opponent. Who knew super powers could be so interesting.

Jordana Kane is your typical 15-year-old sophomore who’s moving through high school as a part of the in-crowd. One Friday night, her friends make plans to go to the movies, and Jordana’s decision to go with them or not will alter her life forever. If she decides to stay home, she finds herself witnessing a crime happening next door and decides to put on her detectives hat and launch her own investigation. When she chooses to go to the movies, but leaves early, Jordana meets a mystery traveler who wiggles his way into her family’s home and her heart, before she discovers that he’s actually a famous movie star. Choosing to head to her local diner causes Jordana to meet a bad-boy musician who sweeps her into his world of rock and fame, which ends in a record deal and booze-filled parties. And if she stays through the movie, she’ll end up the star of a student film, finding herself acting alongside her number one crush. Which decision is the right one and what will seal her fate forever? You'll have to read to find out!

{Watty Awards 2013 Winner} This is simply a story about a lonely girl who finds love. I was inspired to write this because I wanted to know that there are good things that happen to invisible girls like me. I wanted to write Hope for those who seem hopeless. • • • In March of 2013, Letters was #1 in the short story category. June 2013: Short Story #3 and Romance #40 February 2014: Winner of The Watty Awards 2013 for On The Rise Short Story

Seventeen-year-old April Parker's plan is simple: survive ten more months under her overbearing stepfather's roof, graduate, and get as far away from him as possible. It's the only thing that keeps her going and the reason his cruel expectations haven't broken her. The last thing she expects is to wake up inside an underground facility with dozens of other teenagers for company. Making allies doesn't come easily to her, thanks to her stepfather, and she's forced to hide the stigma of her upbringing to keep herself safe in this new world. But when the stronger teenagers fight for control over the facility, April is left with two choices: to remain the insecure person she's always been or to break free of Sam's chains and step forward as a leader-even if it means going up against the temperamental and compelling Marcus. As conditions within the facility become more stressful and the teenagers' resilience is put to the test, strange powers start to manifest. So do dangerous changes. And if their kidnappers' silence is anything to go by, no one is coming to save them.

Ghosts are in the house! With her parents away, seventeen-year-old Alyssa Dempsey is taking care of her two younger brothers for the weekend. On their first morning alone, Alyssa discovers that her baby brother Sean received a magical, glass wand from a pair of ghosts, who he calls the Buddies. Along with their thirteen-year-old brother Bradley, the three Dempsey children begin interacting with a dark and dangerous spirit-world, in which the sinister owner of the wand lives, and from whom it was stolen. "The Essence (A Ghost Story in Three Days) is a fun and quick read that will entertain young adults and their young-at-heart parents. Author Vel Grande brings his characters to life with dialog and humor and paints both dark and light imagery with deft strokes. Krystle Carkeek's plentiful illustrations capture the emotion of the scenes, cementing each character's details in the reader's mind. The Essence is great escapism." -Gary W. Stout, Readers' Favorite (5-Star Selection) "The narration feels authentic, the characters are likable and loathsome in the right doses, and unlike many other modern young adult books, the charming uses of foreshadowing and suspense are reminiscent of traditional ghost stories, not ultra-violent animes or comic books . . . Vel Grande has succeeded in both building a memorable plot with engaging characters and, more importantly, making me want to know what happens next." - Bruce Duboff, Middler Books and More

[2013 Watty Finalist] Thea Gibson lives a normal life. She waitresses at her local bar, pays her bills on time, has a secret crush on Detective Josh Cooper and let's her friend Shae drag her to parties when she'd rather be curled up at home buried in the latest paranormal fantasy. In one night though, her life becomes a paranormal fantasy when she is attacked by Titans and saved by a man claiming to be Hermes, Messenger of the Gods. Hermes tells her she is a reincarnated deity, with latent powers she must remember so she can return the recently escaped Cronos back to Tartarus. Thea refuses to believe such nonsense but with the strange things happening around her, Thea begins to discover that fantasy is more closer to reality than she once thought... Note: Some myths have been altered for this story. Please do not presume to correct them as they are altered for the purposes of my story. Forsaken Deity Copyright © Melissa Lucas 2013 All Rights Reserved. No part of this literary work may be reproduced or used without written consent from the author.

"It's unlike any paranormal book I've read--very smart, very fresh, and very addictive, and very still in my mind." –And Anything Bookish In 1692, when witch trials gripped the community of Salem, Massachusetts, twenty-six children were accused as witches, exiled, and left for dead. Fourteen of them survived. The Survivors is the first installment of the tantalizing tales of the fourteen ill-fated Survivors and their descendants, who have been content in hiding for over three centuries. Isolated on a Montana mountainside, only Sadie, the rogue daughter, dares to abandon the family’s sacred hiding place. But no matter how far Sadie runs, something always pulls her back. On a muggy summer night in Tennessee, she witnesses a shocking scene that will change her life forever. It is the first in a sequence of events that will drag her from the human world she’s sought to belong to for over a century and send her back to her Puritanical family. Sadie is thrown toward an uncertain future filled with cunning witches, mysterious nosferatu shape-shifters, dangerous eretica and vieczy vampires, millennia-old mythology, and the search for her own mortality. After all… HOW DO YOU KILL A SURVIVOR? The Survivors will steal your heart and invade your mind. Fall into the pages of Sadie’s life, a world so frighteningly similar to your own, you’ll find yourself wanting to go to the Montana mountains to find the Survivors for yourself. And it is only the beginning. "The way Ms. Havard has taken the history of the Salem witches and made it her own is truly fascinating... great debut from a talented writer." –DJ DeSmyter, author of Hunted “[THE SURVIVORS is a…] promising debut and an incredibly unique paranormal romance. Unputdownable, engaging, realistic and dark..." –Fragments of Life Review Blog Can't wait to read the whole story? THE SURVIVORS is available for purchase now through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kindle, the Apple iBookstore, and