Iman's insides were turning to clouds again. Julien asked her, ducking his head and looking at her from underneath his eyelashes, "Am I happy in your present, Im?" She hesitated. "I don't know," she said, but she had no way to know if he heard it, because by then time had already called her back. ---- Time is a different beast for Iman and Julien. A natural-born time traveler, graduate student Iman Patel loses her grip on the present often enough that it's nearly part of her routine. More often than not, her travels land her at one yellow door-a door belonging to vampire Julien Morales's apartment. The two find themselves captured in an unusual friendship spanning many decades and locations, until they one day meet again in the present. As a strange illness threatens Julien's food supply and Iman's time traveling becomes threateningly unpredictable, Julien, Iman, and their friends may be facing the end of life as they've known it. Loyalties are rearranged, morality is questioned, trust is betrayed. Can the bond between Julien and Iman stand the test of time? --Some language. As always, please like and comment if you enjoy!--

❛the ends justify the means.❜ ( part two of deadwater kings ) The board is set and Shabina chose her side. The better world she dreamed of is finally within her grasp, but she struggles when the path to victory seems to be paved in blood. The longer she hesitates, the bolder her enemies become, giving room for monsters to creep from the shadows. Lin is left shattered in the aftermath of her last battles, having lost more than she thought she could survive. That just means she has nothing left to lose and a vendetta. She's now a free agent, and she uses that freedom to do the same thing she did before: hunt.

"I'm not star-crossed. Not unless you cross me." Ro is a Montague who killed her father to inherit the drug-running business and their considerable stash of bio-tech. Jules is the heir to the Capulet Casino and the single rose of the blood-stained, rotting streets of New Verona who wants to escape their captive world. But will the rose smell as sweet if Ro steals them away? *** Two crime lords, both alike in villainy, In New Verona, where we lay our scene, From older murder leads to new misery, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From the delinquencies of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd felons take their fight; Whose misadventured bio-tech overthrows Do with much death bury their parents' might. Let the tech war into brothels, casinos, and fatal masquerades, And in the shadows of the city's cruel rage, Aside from their vendetta's end, nothing could remove, Turn now your consciences from this page; The which if you, with patient eyes attend, The past is gone, this dark future we must end.

*ONC ROUND ONE QUALIFIER* *ONC ROUND TWO QUALIFIER* *ONC AMBASSADOR'S PICK* *COMMUNITY CURATOR PICK -- JULY 2020 & FEBRUARY 2021* *MINI AWARD WINNER FOR BEST DIALOGUE -- OPEN DOOR AWARDS 2021* *SUN WINNER - FIRST PLACE FOR FANTASY -- OPEN DOOR AWARDS 2021* ❝ how can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state? ❞ | IN WHICH THERE IS A WAKING, AND A DREAMING, AND A RETRIEVING OF MEMORIES, AND THOSE WHO SPEAK IN DREAMS DO NOT EVEN KNOW THEIR OWN TONGUE | ❝ there are no witnesses to a dream. ❞ (#ONC prompts #15 & #30) (cover by @TahliePurvis )

An African Folklore story about three sisters, entitlement, beauty, and jealousy.

"Farzaneh..." I pull her to me, flinching when my sleeve rolls back, her eyes drawn to the markings. On my bare skin's a map revealing a different tattoo, one for every person I killed. I hate looking at the running tally of tattoos on my body. It reminds me of how many I've murdered. Reminds me I'm a human with a death goddess. My hakama, the color blue, blends into the folds of the red cloak around her, the effect like fire and ice. I bat my lashes, flex my muscles, all wiry from climbing the rigging when I get bored. "I'm just a boy." The look on her face is cruel. It reminds me why those chains are on her wrists. We're both cursed. Dark fantasy PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN with an LGBT+-ensemble *** Trans Captain Lucky Dice's enemies know him as a gambler, playing a game with a cursed set of dice that kills the losers instantly. The only person unaffected is Lucky, who's said to have sold his soul to the Rahasian goddess of death to get the dice to kill everyone but himself. But now, on his eighteenth birthday, the goddess of death calls on him to return the favor. The Divine princess, Kaliya, is trapped in the body of an all-devouring serpent, cursed by the Witch Goddess, the Matriarch of Truth, to weaken and murder her own godly parents. The gods are dying. And the world is truly ending if a pirate, a cursed witch, a vengeful warrior, and a con artist have to save it. (UPDATES DAILY) COPYRIGHT 2018 BY SOPHIA WHITTEMORE. All Rights Reserved. HIGHEST RANKING: #245 in Fantasy on April 21, 2018. #31 Mythology on May 27, 2018. #59 Gender Fluid Sub-Category on May 8, 2018. #22 in Journey on May 27, 2018. *** COVER CREDIT: PrinceOfRedroses and Rinmaru (further details inside)

RUMPELSTILTSKIN RETELLING. "I challenge you to find my name, princess. Three tries." Light flickers beneath the recesses of his mask, the wooden fangs and shadowed eyes. "Think you can beat me?" *** A witch doctor, user of dark magic, terrorizes a local village, killing children and turning their blood to gold. But when he's threatened with execution, the Dukun throws out one final challenge. Whoever owns his name, owns his soul. The Dukun's all set to die, until one stubborn princess takes him up on his challenge. Her journey forces her under the looming threat of war and execution as she stays in the palace of the mysterious sultan across the sea, a man also desperately searching for answers. And when it comes to love, will she choose Zahra, the woman warrior who's sworn to protect her, or Harto, the handsome sultan with a gods-defying secret? In the battle between a witch doctor owned by the gods, a sultan marked by the gods, and a princess cursed by them. Who shall prevail? (UPDATES DAILY) COPYRIGHT 2018 BY SOPHIA WHITTEMORE. All Rights Reserved. HIGHEST RANKINGS: #11 Mythology on July 28, 2018. #3 in Dark Fantasy on July 30, 2018. #17 in Elements on July 10, 2018. #49 in Diverse-Lit on May 9, 2018. #19 Epic Fantasy on May 27, 2018

An Eluki citizen is willing to sacrifice anything for the well-being of the country. It was Eluki Code to sacrifice your privacy and, when it is necessary, your body for the nation. Anyone not willing to do so is worthy of investigation. Xander Long, a new Ini Soldier, is no longer willing to do so. The idea of lending personal data didn't bother him, but the promise of human "upgrades" from KaiHue Inc. and Ini Corps sparks his distrust. As Xander crosses the line between dedicated patriot and country conspirator, the No Sleep Society mantra bangs in his ears. No Sleep. Eyes Open.

Enfri is the last sky woman of her village. She is a healer, herbalist, and midwife. The day she is visited by Jin, a beautiful assassin in service to the king, Enfri starts down a path towards the truth of her heritage and the reason why she has been condemned to die by the crown. Using her wits and the magic of a scholarly dragon to survive, Enfri flees into the desert from a coterie of beast-eyed killers. (New and revised version is now available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.)

"The Blind God walks around me, and I feel my mind prodded again like it was in the cavern, a spider weaving a tangled web. "Would you do anything to be remembered, Ode, even play a villain, the one who rises against the Chosen One?" In answer, I draw my dagger and make a slight incision against my thumb. Blood drips down, hot against my flesh. I hold my hand out as an oath, a promise. My ghouls hiss, yearning to drink. "I would rather reign over darkness than grovel as a servant to the light." *FEMALE ROBIN HOOD MEETS ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS* Ode Ngayoh is the only child of a bloodthirsty desert warlord. When the Blind God chooses her as champion, she's deemed a dark witch, a blemish against the Empire for her necromantic powers of summoning ghūls, the undead. Facing off against the prince and his handsome lover, Ode stands alone with the cursed god's favor. However, the more Ode defends the outcasts of the Empire, the more she finds herself being labelled a villain... (UPDATES DAILY) Highest Ranking Fantasy #16 on November 30, 2017 #1 in Dark Fantasy on July 13, 2018. #1 in Desert May 16, 2018 #6 in Kingdom COPYRIGHT 2017 BY SOPHIA WHITTEMORE. All Rights Reserved.