Gentle ripples passed over her, a watery caress that contrasted with her growing unease. Blinking slowly, Eliza tried to make sense of her situation. She found herself submerged, an unexpected aquatic world unfolding around her. Panic crept in as her ankles remained bound, immobilized as if by an unseen force. An attempt to move her arms yielded no results - they were ensnared in an unyielding grip. Seaweed, sinuous and trailing, wrapped itself around her legs with an almost possessive hold. Every movement was thwarted by the constricting tendrils, her struggles mirrored by the rippling sea plants. An urgency to breathe set in, her chest tightening in a desperate plea for air. But the very element that should sustain her had become a stifling barrier. A strand of slimy seaweed clung to her lips, smothering her mouth and nose. It seemed as if the water itself had turned against her, a sinister transformation that threatened to consume her.

Teenage Gerent is thrown into a world of magic where he is expected to be a hero, but he was never a hero, just a clutz and a disappointment. Now with magic to contend with as well can he ever get things right? Unintentionally he starts on the trail of his unknown father but will he ever get home to his twin brother and his mother again?

The deepest darkest prison on the planet is not where anyone would choose to start their day, particularly when they have a job to do. A princess and her personal guards fighting to stop a war, arrested for trespassing; an expert assassin stalking a merciless wizard, arrested for poaching; and a confused boy, utterly lost and severely concussed, arrested for failing to adequately explain who he was or how he came to be lying in a sizable crater. Together this unlikely, and somewhat unwilling, band of allies will perform daring escapes and battle an onslaught of mages, monsters, and malodorous thieves as they race across a continent to save two nations from mutual annihilation.

For shop girl Evin, alchemy is an understood part of life. She learned how to brew superior potions at a young age and can't imagine her life without the use of Alertness, For General Pain, and Menstrual Cramp Cure. Though already apprenticed to a local master alchemist, she can't help feeling that there might be more for her to achieve. In a different part of the continent, Master Bricot teaches alchemy at the University of Craestor and is working feverishly at his residency project--translating the sacred document The Facerum--when a student of his approaches him seeking help on an unprecedented issue. And south of Craestor in Daitak Capital, the Seat of the World, Emperor Regent Bryn Beynon can't stand potions or those who make and sell them, believing their use, especially martially, to be barbaric and cruel. His first act when coming of age will be to begin imposing legal strictures on the use and sale of such items. Out in the Wilds of Tief, Craix, who travels alone, has never been safe. Not since she was born. Forever trying to evade her pursuers, she travels across the country, constantly intercepting important messages. And over all people in the realm of Heladrith, a pantheon of powerful gods sits in judgement and benevolence, silent for centuries--but not for much longer. Potent is an original, third-person omniscient, past-tense, low fantasy tale with an ensemble cast of approximately eight characters of different genders, orientations, colors, and classes. --Seeking beta readers for this manuscript! Please comment and leave feedback!--

Born with a damaged heart, Leanna Weston has lived a sheltered life with little chance at adventure. When she hears that Finvarra's Circus is coming to her small town, she sneaks off to witness the magic first hand, sure that this is her only chance at experiencing true magic-even if the frightening rumors about the heartless Ringmaster, Finvarra, are true. Caught by Finvarra, Leanna is given one chance at survival: she must join the circus. As slowly she becomes part of the strange family, Leanna learns that there is more than magic to this circus, but an ancient curse that has tied Finvarra's life to its rings. If the circus fails, he dies. Leanna vows to save the circus, but when a ruthless enemy emerges, set on destroying it and Finvarra, will Leanna be able to save them both, or will her broken heart fail her just when she needs it most? Cover Artist: Lisa Rhodes

Phoenix is a young Fire Elemental from a city in the fire country called Yaag. He has the altogether unheard of ability to receive fallen Elementals powers for a short time, as long as he is in close proximity to them at the time of their death. A bone chilling prophecy will turn him into a seemingly power hungry villian, but what are his real motives for the atrocities he is committing?

Perses Phillip Alexander has always known there was something different about him. Setting aside his family’s nomadic way of life and unclear stories of their past, the only thing he has had to fear most in his life was himself. Along with haunting dreams which provide him key's to a destination "out of this world" comes a hallow sense that something inside of him is missing and has been since the day he was born. Secrets revealed and the world placed onto his shoulders, the once, semi-normal boy realizes that he has been the key to the adventure he has sought since he was a boy and that no one is who they seem. A continuation of The P. P. A. Project to, Perses sets out to find his sister, save the world and battle a darkness far worse than he or his family could have ever imagined.

In a time when women were little more then objects for breeding, and tools for a mans advancement to higher office, comes the story of two woman, one born a noble women, the granddaughter of Emperors and the sister of one, and a girl born to an enslaved people, forced to fight both for her family and her life in the Arena... The difference in the world between life and death, freedom and eternal slaverey. Then there are those for whom their success in the areana will be more then a bet, and for whom their wager will mean, like the emporer's thumb up or down, more then money could.

Last night I made the worst decision of my life, unbeknowest of the consequences. I can't change it. I can't take it back. That split second of doubt and uncertainty brought me where I am now. Alone. I have no idea what I'm doing. The power of seeing the future is something I never wanted and wish to give back. No one really knows how to help me except some ex-gypsy boy named...well, I don't know how to really pronounce it. And even then, I don't think he really knows what he's doing. He just pretends to it seems like. So here I am with a power I can't completely control and the boy I love on the other side, where I wanted to be. And I'll do whatever I have to to get there with him. But in order to do that, I have to learn things about myself and my family that I never wanted to. That I never imagined were true. But I'll do it if it means I can talk to him again. If it means I can be the person I want myself to be, the person my mother wanted me to be. ~ * ~ Natalie Abernathy has made her choice. Now she is forced to live with it. ~ * ~ Sequel to Life Lines

Natalie Abernathy was born into a world where the lines on your skin tell everyone who you are. They appear like tattoos and change with every choice you make, every person you meet. Only one line remains constant. Your love line. The only colored line on the human's skin, a blood red mixed in with the black. Natalie's world is consumed with The Sickness, the next stage in human evolution that can strike you when you are fourteen. Or doesn't. If you survive The Sickness, you become one of the Elite, faster, stronger, smarter than the humans who don't get The Sickness. The Elite's lines are colorful, beautiful in their own way. A mixture of deepest purples, the darkest blues, and dominate greens. They cover the black lines the Elite were given at birth, rewriting their destinies forever. As Natalie comes to find, the Elite aren't what they seem. The Sickness is not what it seems. Her heart is broken by the loss of her best friend Cecil McCourt, who succumbed to The Sickness days before their shared fifteenth birthday. Her friends surround her, trying to fill the void left by Cecil. Time moved on, carrying Natalie along with it. Now it's three years later, everyone's senior year. Days before school starts, Natalie befriends the new boy in town, Union Davidson. Cecil (now known as Cyrus) is quick to warn her away from him. At first she thinks it's a trick but as things start to happen, Natalie finds herself trapped between the thing she wants most in the world and something else quite darker than she imagined. © SCCourtney ~ * ~ Finalist in the Watty's 2012