The greatest tragedy the world has ever known turned out to be the ultimate catalyst for change. In the wake of World War III, which decimated most of the world's population, the remaining survivors vowed to not continue to repeat the same mistakes of the past. Fortunately, they had something previous generations did not have - advanced technology. The year is 2117 and this once shattered civilization has become prosperous again. Innovative forms of technology have enabled them to abandon the old model and re-engineer a better way of living for all. Brain implants and genetic modifications have made an entire population educated, healthy, and kind. Despite the benefits of this technology, it has created some unforeseen side effects that threaten humankind's existence. When technology proves to be inept at solving the world's problem, a new hope emerges in the unlikeliest form - a young orphan girl. *** Cyberpunk, dystopian, technology, future, futurism, scifi, heroine, prodigy...

The future isn't friendly. People in Meta are dying from a mysterious disease and Sean wants to know why. But in the Core, asking the wrong question can be dangerous. Pursuing the answers, Sean and his friends embark on a perilous journey that will put them on a collision course with the malevolent Niles Galvin, the most powerful and treacherous oligarch on the planet. Could Susan's Plague be something more sinister than they thought? Will they discover a much darker side to the oppressive oligarchy that rules them? Sean finds himself caught up in the complex machinations of an evil man bent on seizing and controlling the power of the past for his use to rule the present. With their lives hanging in the balance, Sean struggles to save himself and his friends when he realizes the truth has dire consequences. By Rick Chisholm Copyright © 2014 Rick Chisholm All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or in any means – by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission.

A young man and his mother move halfway across the country to escape his abusive step-father. With his mother's new dream-job at a tech firm, their new life together is off to a great start... But they soon learn that dreams are often too good to be true. Isolated in a new town with no one to trust, they must dig up the past to escape the far-reaching grasp of the hand that feeds them. #Wattys2016 #Writing-Contest

Kayden Lee is a girl from New Jersey with newly divorced parents and an annoyingly perfect cousin staying with her for an entire summer. Blaze Merg is a wizard... but not a particularly good one. He's still surprised that he managed to graduate, and finding a job has proved to be a lot more difficult than expected. Their lives become intertwined just as the magical world erupts into chaos. Spells begin failing, people start dying, and the two are magically bound together against their will. As the magical community struggles to survive without magic, Blaze and Kayden try to find a way to break the spell that has physically bound them together. But as they navigate through magical politics, they must also control their growing attraction to one another, which may just be another unfortunate side effect of their spell gone wrong. * * * Awards and Featuring: Ranked #13 in Fantasy (Dec 2016) Wattpad Featured (Dec 2016) Editor's Choice (May 2020) Featured on @ContemporaryLit (Jan 2020) Featured on @Fantasy (Feb 2021) Featured on @WattpadUrbanFantasy (May 2021) Cover image by @TheRainbowPig

A devastating blast destroys civilization as Beatrice knows it, forcing her to face an entirely new kind of life. But life after the blast has more wonder and hope in it than she imagined. ***** After a series of atomic blasts force Beatrice Hicks and her family into their prepper bunker, they emerge to discover they are among the survivors of a nuclear apocalypse. Soon they find themselves clashing with rogue groups and contending with death in their quest to survive and build a new life in this daunting world. Amidst it all, Beatrice must fight to maintain her humanity, so that she can learn to see the beauty in her life after the blast and even find love where she least expects it. 2014 Watty Award Winner! Content Warning: death, gun violence, and assault

Prophecies don't just fix themselves. For every doomsday that never happened, there is a Fate Cipher carefully untangling the tapestry, unraveling the threads of destiny. When a Valkyrie tracks down Ikepela Ives drowning her sorrows at the local tikki bar, her day goes from bad to worse. There's an old prophecy stirring, a real doozy, and the god responsible for kicking it off has slipped his bindings. It's up to Ives to put the brakes on the latest apocalypse, though she may be in way over her head. There is more to this prophecy than meets the eye. And the god, well, he's a Trickster. ***Project for Nanowrimo 2015. Story is now Complete!*** ***Cover by Krazydiamond***

Ari Callahan has no idea how to talk to boys -- or how to talk to anyone for that matter. Enter Zac, the cute new guy in town who won't stop texting her. But is his interest real, or does he have a hidden agenda? ***** Found as a young child washed up on the beach, 17-year-old Ari Callahan has never uttered a word out loud to anyone -- not even her adoptive family. Psychologists have diagnosed her with a condition called selective mutism, but Ari can't help identifying with her namesake character, Ariel, the little mermaid in the fairytale whose voice was stolen by a sea witch. Mermaid-obsession aside, Ari's silence makes socializing tough. She's never had a boyfriend or been asked out on a date. Not until Zac, the confident new arrival in town, asks for her number. But Zac has his own reasons for texting with Ari. He's part of a movement to sabotage the artificial music app called SirenSong, threatening to render human singing obsolete. Zac's collaborators have scoured the globe in search of a singing voice perfect enough to break the SirenSong spell, and their search has led them straight to Ari's beachside town. Will her relationship with Zac help Ari find her voice and unlock the secrets of her origins? Or will he use her and leave her high and dry? Title: Ari and Zac (formerly The Mermaid Hypothesis) Content Warning: This story contains references to selective mutism, suicidal thoughts, and early childhood trauma.

A down-on-his-luck Necromancer and his dimwitted skeleton companion find a powerful, ancient artifact. But when it accidentally goes off and kills a powerful Paladin, they're forced to flee town. After meeting up with a young woman and her Ogre companion, the Necromancer finds a new purpose and a new life.

Marcie is an oddity in her village, the daughter of a widower with both village and outsider blood in her veins. She cares for her drunken father, and struggles to fit in with the rest of the village. Everything changes when she comes across two dragons, a mother and her new born, and unwittingly becomes the Tamer of the baby dragon when his mother dies. This new unlikely bond completely changes her life and opens doors to her future that she would have never thought possible whilst also causing her pain and heartache.