Seventeen-year-old Aemilia, an orphan raised at a secretive Scottish academy, becomes obsessed with an ancient arch hidden in the nearby woods. When she deciphers its forgotten inscription, it opens a portal to a magical medieval kingdom. There she meets Brian, a young prince she cannot forget. Back home, the young man she had been enamoured of for years, Francis, finally returns her affection-but Aemilia's heart is divided between two worlds. As she continues crossing the portal, Brian's hidden destiny awakens: he is a dragon shifter whose power threatens both realms. When he is declared an enemy, Aemilia must choose-destroy the dragon to save her world, or protect the boy she loves. My entry for the ONC 2026.

From the stone spires of the floating Capital to the neon-lit, subterranean Underworld city, this anthology gathers tales of love, power, and destiny across ancient Atlantis. These stories follow the hidden bloodlines and forgotten heroes of Atlantis, including children who defy odds and survive elite cruelty, a scholar who uncovers ancient secrets and struggles with love, a halfbreed who defends his kind, a farmer who simply wants to make an honest living selling flowers, and many more. Each short story opens another door into the vast universe, where myth and science meet, and nothing stays buried for long. If you've read a novel from "The Third World Universe," you'll enjoy "Short Stories of Atlantis," which features characters and moments connected to "The Halfbreeds of Atlantis," "The Sky Gods of Atlantis," and "The Flames of Atlantis." All short stories fall within the science fantasy genre, set in "the Third World Universe" created by author Sunny Ghauri, offering a fantastical retelling of the stories of Atlantis.

In ages past, humans were sacrificed to dragons, but somewhere in this dark history a miracle occurred. A dragon was tamed by its intended victim and its human heart triumphed over the beast within. No longer victims, these tamers became Divas, experts in taming their Dragon oppressors. Sacrifice evolved into marriage between the Dragonborn and humans. Many of the Dragonborn willingly entered into alliances with humans and others not of dragon blood, grateful that their bloodline survived extinction and that their painful savagery could be quelled. Many, but not all. Among the Dragon Lords were those who still favoured their beast over their humanity, equating it with power, wilfully ignoring the pain and mental instability that came with it. So, when the Chief Dragon Lord, Pen Draig Selwyn, chose to sign a treaty with Tweldor formally aligning the Dragonborn with the Angelic Guardianship of humanity, his grandson, Ninian with help from the Demonic Realm leads a rebellion against him. But all is not as it seems...

TEGSA2026 Fleeing her abusive boyfriend, Merinda searches for her dead mother's best friend, hoping to start a new life and free herself from a past filled with pain. When she meets Cree Boland, another man with issues, Merinda's resolution to stay away from men weakens, and she can't decide whether to give him a chance. Just as things look like they could work between them, Merinda's ex, Jeff, resurfaces, threatening her newfound peace. Will Cree save her from her past or let her be dragged back into darkness?

Astoria Muir, daughter of a dark-magic witch mother and light-magic druid father, never quite fit in the world. But to the hidden covens, she was an abomination, carrying within her an anti-magic power they both feared and sought out. When a mysterious man appears at a party claiming to have information about her long-missing mother, Stori sets out on a quest to find her. But like most life journeys, the path is made easier with the friends made along the way. An urban fantasy written in episodic style. [Previous titled Fantasmical Tales, and re-edited]

(X) CLOSED for new entries / first five prompt chapters are due by midnight EST on August 31st. (GMT -5) Welcome to The Ever-Generating Story Awards! TEGSA 2026 is here! Can you craft an entire storyline based on ten prompts in a specific order? It's not as hard as it sounds. (Really, it's not.) A song will be assigned to each of your ten main chapters. You may use their titles, the names of the songwriters/performers, or meanings to create your prompt. The best part? You have the freedom to interpret them in any genre you want. You know the prompts are calling your name. Are you ready? (Fanfiction is welcome as long as it's read as a stand-alone, and readers do not need prior knowledge of the original fiction to read it.)

Short Stories from all genres

Rambling ruminations, words of wisdom and awesome alliteration from your favorite coyote. An experiment, not so much a story as a stream of consciousness focused on human folly. Please enjoy the silly similes and playful, philosophical, political, provocative, purposeful, and pensive prose, pontifications, parables, philippics and polemics. As with Schrodinger's cat, everything is uncertain until you take a peek. Spoiler, the cat is alive. What happens to the rest of us is the uncertainty.

let me. let me begin. let me begin again.

Poems. I read poems sometimes, but I do not consider myself a poet. I will not publish fiction here for awhile. Maybe I will manage an occasional poem. No promises though.