2016 WATTY AWARD WINNER - HQ LOVE THE TERM SHEET is a fast-paced technothriller about entrepreneurship, startups, encryption, and the delicate balance between national security and individual privacy. Its complex characters explore thought-provoking questions about the role of technology in an ever-changing society. Step into the high-stakes game played by today's technology innovators, who push the envelope and risk it all. Get ready, this thrilling book gives you a taste of what startups are really like. _____________________________________________________ David Alexander, a young programmer in Portland, Oregon, loathed his job. Computer programming had always come naturally, but being an employee never suited him. So he tried entrepreneurship instead. After making a series of embarrassing blunders, David finally hit on a startup idea that stuck: encrypted chat. Sure there were alternatives, but as Edward Snowden has shown us, most of them (willingly or unwillingly) have backdoors for spies and bad guys. A new approach made David's app one of the most secure options out there, which caught the attention of many people, including Shawn Douglas from the Secret Service. Shawn Douglas worked with eight different presidents, preventing twenty assassination attempts, forty-three terrorist plots and two bullets. When he was promoted to a desk job overseeing and organizing travel, he picked up on a cryptic email thread that hinted at a threat to the President's life. In a race to unravel the conspiracy, Shawn and David both have to make some difficult decisions. Will Shawn stop the terrorists in time? Will David be able to navigate his startup out of a crisis and keep his entrepreneurial dream alive? Or will fate deal them both a crushing hand? Read the book to find out.

Samuel Brandt woke up with his thoughts written all over his body. His brother woke up with his head missing. His sister woke up to find that her skin would crack open unless she stayed in water. All of the other children in the secluded Iowa town of Oak Knoll woke up having undergone strange transformations. Now, they are all forced to live at 407 West Marshall Street, the mysterious house outside of town. With the new name of The Boy with Words for Skin, Samuel wants nothing more than to hide from his new life. He painfully and unpredictably sheds his skin, there is a Voice in the entryway closet that is often cruel, and-perhaps worst of all for a naturally shy boy-the other children look to him as a leader. As his seven-year-old brother struggles with their new life, as terrifying growls start to come from the pitch black basement, and as his feelings for a girl begin to grow, The Boy with Words for Skin realizes that he wants to change. He wants to put others first, learn from his peers, and let himself hope that things will get better. The Boy with Words for Skin is the first book in the 407 West Marshall Street series. Each book will advance the story but be told from a different character. Book 2 will be The Girl without Eyes.

Reece Bremer goes through life with a scowl and cold personality. Jessica Andrews goes through life with a glowing smile and positive outlook. Reece looks at life with dull, judgmental eyes that make him hate the world and the people living in it. Jessica, well... She looks at life through a camera. Literally. They're polar opposites, and that's what sparks Reece's immediate hate for Jessica the moment they meet. All he sees is a girl with the best life, put in the category of those who get everything handed to them on a silver platter. But who says Jessica's life is like that? Just like a photograph, there's more to the story than what you see. Stumbling across one of Jessica's hidden portfolio might reveal that her happiness isn't all that true. Behind that smile and each picture she takes, holds a thousand words of a very big secret - one that Reece is determined to find out. And who knows? It just might change everything between them. cover by dysanic || 2015 watty's winner for talk of the town ||

Wren Martin is socially awkward. She blocks off herself to the world, hiding behind her favorite hoodie. All she wants to do is keep a low profile, and graduate well enough to qualify for a college scholarship. But then a babysitting job leads her to cross paths with Asher Reed, Eastview Highʼs notorious athlete. When a field injury kickstarts his senior year, heʼs turning his free time and attention to Wren. And maybe she might not want to be invisible after all. ***** [Watty's Collector's Edition Winner] [TFA Runaway Prize Winner] [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]] Cover designed by Ashley Santoro

"A nice girl like you shouldn't be in this kind of neighbourhood," a voice warned. I turned around and saw Hayden leaning against the brick wall of a run down house. He looked incredibly hot with his dark jeans and black leather jacket hanging over his naked chest. He took a drag from the cigarette between his fingers and studied me. "Who said I was a nice girl?" I asked. He chuckled and dropped the cigarette to the floor, stepping on it to put it out. "I just can't believe you'd be anything other than a nice girl." "Well then you obviously don't know anything about me." _____________________ K.C. moved to a new town with her dad. But nobody ever moves here. They are the first since the last 50 years. But why? The town is separated into two sides. The east and the west. The elites and the bandits. The upper and lower class. One wears polo t-shirts and the other leather jackets. The two groups can't stand each other and will do anything to show their dislike towards each other. But what happens when K.C. has to choose between these two groups and doesn't know what to do? And even worse, what is she going to do once people start being killed one after another? _________________________ Thank you to @EmosRGreat for the amazing cover!

In the process of reconstructing and editing. Banner by the wonderful @splashyashy

-Story #2 of Nerd in Disguise- The name's Naomi Jax Smith. People call me Jax for short. The dude to my 3 o'clock is my twin brother Robin Matthias Smith. People call him Rob. We all have our own secrets. Our family has secrets--ones people kill for. Some secrets are meant to be hidden away in a deep, dark abyss. Some are meant to be told.

"Kiss me." He orders, slamming my locker shut. "Is she coming?" I ask, turning my head to look behind me, but he grabs my face and makes me look up at him. "Yes, now kiss me." I do as told, getting on my tippy toes as I lean up to kiss him. He kisses me back slowly, before he pins me against the lockers and deepens the kiss. My eyes widen and I try to push him away. This isn't part of the deal. He pulls away, a full on smirk plastered on his face. "I lied." He confesses, turning around. "She wasn't coming." Then, he walks away.