* 2017 WATTY WINNER!* Blurb: Humans are at the top of the food chain and always have been. But what if they weren't? What if another took our place and decided to raise and exploit us as we have every other animal on earth? Welcome to a world after humanity... No one is exactly certain where the sibla came from. Some say they evolved from humans long ago, slowly taking power as their numbers increased. Taller, stronger, and longer-lived, than homo sapiens it isn't too hard to imagine. Now humans must face a reality in which they are no more than animals, domesticated beasts bred for their master's various needs and hungers. Rachel Turner is only eight years old. Born in Demin, one of the last remaining free human settlements on earth, she has never been forced to face the reality of life under a sibla Master, living a carefree existence in her hidden village. Magnus Kendrick is a sibla farmer with a sizable estate on which he raises all manner of livestock, from chickens, to sheep, to...humans. He is also the man destined to purchase Rachel's life. *Warning: This book contains a certain degree of gore and disturbing themes Beautiful cover by @my_fairytale 2016 Fright Fest Gold Winner Cryptic's Choice 2017 WATTY Winner ( Story Smiths category) *All Rights Reserved

Each baby born beneath the waves is killed--with one exception: the one hundred thousandth is spared. There's one rule shared between the island's tribes: don't touch the water. When Cressa-la breaks this law, her world, and body, changes. Sure, change is normal... but when has growing scales ever been normal? • • • Watty Award Winner 2015: Best Use of Visuals • • • Each baby born beneath the waves is killed--with one exception: the one hundred thousandth is spared. Among the spared, magic chooses a rare few, connecting them to the moon or sea. These are the One-Hundreds, mermaids and humans with the power to save the world-or corrupt it. When Cressa-la breaks the first rule of her tribe and touches the water surrounding her island, everything she knows turns on its head. Talking, sinister dolphins, mind control, and a whole world just under the waves await her on her eigteenth birthday... but she never asked for any of this. All she wanted was to become a Tribe Leader and take care of her village. It's amazing how one screw-up can change everything. A relentless darkness reaches for her, wanting her affections for his own twisted purposes. In opposition stands a fractured light, haunted by a painful past where corruption eroded friendship. Unless Cressa-la can bring the darkness to his knees and fight the war raging inside, the world is doomed. • • • Content warning: This story contains themes of depression and violence.

"Okay, where do you want me to start?" "Anywhere you wish." "There were five of us. Dani, Elizabeth, Audrey, Taylor and me. We spent about 9 months in the basement. The walls where cement. The floor was cement. We each had our own chairs. Dani had her baby blue chair with white roses in the upper right corner. Elizabeth had her pale pink chair with white daiseys in the lower right corner. Audrey had her yellow chair with white roses in the upper left corner. Taylor had her black chair with red roses in the lower left corner. I had a white chair with sunflowers that sat in the center, the very center of the room. Each of us had a light above our heads. There were no covers in the lights just the wires losely hanging with the light attached at the end. The front legs of all our chairs had buckles that when we sat down they were right where our ankles were like he knew just were to put them. There were buckles on our arm rests that when we laid are arms on them the buckels our wrist were in the perfect spot. I think its funny how we all never made the conecction." "What conecction would that be?" "That we all have brown hair, blue eyes, were 5'5, all weighed 130. That when you put the first letter of each of our names together it spells Death. I love how at one point we all thought something, right before we were taken. Dani thought she was going to get mail. Elizabeth thought she was picking up dinner. Audrey thought she was going to class. Taylor thought she was taking her dog for a walk and I thought I was going to marry him and that I loved him with all my heart."

For months Summer is trapped in a cellar with the man who took her - and three other girls: Rose, Poppy, and Violet. His perfect, pure flowers. His family. But flowers can't survive long cut off from the sun, and time is running out...

RANKED #11 IN HORROR Pain? Loss? Insanity? Please. No one could even begin to think about that. True pain is when your entire body goes numb in surrender, when your brain gives in and you find yourself choking on regret, when you are so helpless your mind can't even comprehend what's happening to you. True loss is when you're holding someone you love in your arms, your clothes stained in their blood just waiting for them to open up their eyes and tell you they're okay, desperate for them to give you a smile, twitch their fingers, anything! And true insanity is when you lose every emotion you once had, every memory you made and every person you cared for within the length of one heartbeat. Kathryn Blue is kidnapped after working a late shift at her job one night. After waking up in some stranger's basement with some new allies and finding out things about the world that she can't quite accept she must escape the pain and torture of her tormentors 'games' and figure out a way to see the light of day again before it's too late.