A 2019 Watty Winner. For fans of Allison Pataki and Philippa Gregory, THE NYMPH OF VERSAILLES is based on the true story of Madame Montespan's rise and fall at the court of King Louis XIV. Being the Sun King's mistress is a coveted position in a court full of greedy courtiers vying for power and Athénaïs de Montespan won't let anything stand in the way of her stealing the king's heart-not even poison. When the king's interest in his mistress Louise begins to wane, Montespan sees the position as a possible escape from her husband's mounting debts and loveless marriage. Her strained friendship with Louise doesn't stop her from charming the king. However keeping his heart is tricky in a court full of plotting beauties eager to have him for themselves, especially with her jealous husband bent on ending her seduction. Then her children's governess becomes an unexpected rival for the king's heart and the only woman who can contend with Montespan. With the court swirling with rumors of poison, Montespan finds herself caught in the web of accusations. Her position with the king begins to crumble as she fights to hold on to the life she's built. Without the king's love, she fears she will lose everything as she falls from grace.

A secret program in the United States seeks to replace human militaries with artificial intelligence-driven machines, but the machines aren't so willing to play along. *** Picture a world where humans no longer fight wars. No more families missing loved ones. No more veterans with lifelong mental and physical scars. No more conscription. For the super-secret End of War Project inside the United States government, such a reality is already here. The project models out how artificial intelligence can overcome dangerous and morally sensitive war scenarios with algorithms and automation. The centerpieces are "autonomous combat machines," or ACMs, that look like humans but function like supercomputers. After a string of brilliant successes in the field of combat, the End of War Project is preparing to reveal itself to the public, but something unusual stands in the way. Against their programming, the ACMs start exhibiting all-too-human signs of apprehension, guilt and compassion as they're pushed to perform ever more extreme tasks. The human leaders of the End of War Project race to find who "hacked" the ACMs, but what they find is even more startling--and revealing--than they could ever imagine. ***2019 Watty Award Winner - Science Fiction***

Incipience (\in-ˈsi-pē-ən(t)s), noun: the act or process of bringing or being brought into existence. The meteors came without warning. Hundreds of thousands of them came raining down to the Earth, but they did little damage to the planet itself. It's the people that they brought ruin to. Upon impact, the meteors combusted into this fine powder that saturated the planet in its entirety. Within a few weeks, billions grew weak, millions were sick, and hundreds of thousands were dead. That's when they came. These beings from across the stars, the Inovarians, landed on the UN's front lawn with technology capable of fixing the planet within a few weeks. People around the world celebrated until we realized what their help would cost: us. Follow Charlotte-Amalie, a teenager from the USVI, as she feigns assimilation into Inovarian society and races against the clock. She has a year of experimentation to survive through before having to face an ultimatum: be drafted into the military to fight the Inovarians' war or forced into their breeding program. With the help of a covert rebel sec of the military, Charlotte-Amalie may just be able to beat the clock in time to get her and a few of her fellow Earthlings out before the battle begins. Book 1: Chapters 1-12 (Complete, publishing with New Degree Press Winter 2021) Book 2: Ongoing (Update Hiatus to meet publication deadlines for book 1)

A young archeologist is launched on the adventure of her life when she joins a mixed crew of humans and aliens on a mission to atone for the failings of Earth. *** The Terra Prospect Mission offered humanity a chance at space travel, technological advancement, and enlightenment courtesy of its alien benefactors who made first contact thirty years ago. Daran Chree brought that mission to a fiery end when he crashed the Terra Prospect spaceship into Gate Delta Eleven. Now, it's humanity's second and final chance to prove they're ready to journey into the stars. Nineteen-year-old studying archeologist Sofeta Prenares finds herself not only drawn to the mission, but on a collision course with the fate of the galaxy. 2019 Watty Awards Winner For Sci-Fi! Content warning: This story contains reference to self harm and intense combat scenes.

A campus thriller: suspense, murder & one handsome roommate. ***** When Haley Bell is offered a scholarship to study at the exclusive Woodcreek College, famous for moulding the world's brightest thinkers, politicians and entrepreneurs, she jumps at the opportunity. Except when she arrives, the murders start. In a campus hidden from civilisation in the mountains of Colorado, Haley's classmates are slowly turning up dead. As the bodies pile up and eyes of suspicion turn on her, Haley finds that there's a reason why she was brought to Woodcreek. And it wasn't to study. "That opening line will hook you (I still think about it) & it DOESN'T STOP! I binged this like crazy" - Leah, Sr. Editorial Manager @ HQ [[word count: 90,000-100,000 words]] Cover designed by Ellie Sita

Henley agrees to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for a fee, falling in love as she wonders - how is he involved in her brother's false conviction? ****** Henley Linden's brother is in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and she'll take any job to raise the money needed to free him. Soon, she's agreed to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for ten thousand dollars, so his mother will ease up the pressure on him to find a wife. But once Henley is enmeshed in Bennett's world, he falls for her, and she starts to have feelings for him as well. Despite her romance with Bennett, as she grows closer to the Calloways, Henley realizes they are somehow involved in her brother's conviction. Journeying deeper into a world of wealth and conspiracies, Henley is forced to rely on Bennett, though doing so could cost her everything. [[word count: 200,000-250,000 words]]

She isn't short. She is bite sized. Anita Rosaline Nightshade has always been small. 4'11 height but a 6'7ft attitude. She might be small, but she sure is feisty. But no one knows of the feisty little beast, because no one ever made her angry. Until he steps in... **** "Stop picking me up!" I whined, pouting. His eyes turned a shade darker as a small smirk played at his lips. He bent down and kissed my cheek. "I can't, your so tiny." I huffed, crossing my arms. "I'm not tiny. I'm average." "More like bite sized." He laughed. "I will call you My little bite size Anita." But everyone knew she was the Little Bite Luna.

{Highest Rank - #2 ALPHA} COMPLETED|☑️ Elisia Knight, an undefeated warrior in the US and the first ever female warrior. The Imperial Pride Pack opened their arms to her when she was abandoned on their territory as a baby. After hearing rumors that there is a female warrior from The BlackShadowed Pack claiming to be 'better than her', she decides to accept their match request to put the rumors to rest. As someone who has never been interested in romantic relationships, she didn't expect to find her mate. She never imagined being paired with an Alpha, let alone the most powerful Alpha in the country. Especially not Alpha Theo Hunter. Hesitant to initiate anything with him, she focuses on preparing herself for the match. However, she soon finds out that the female she will be up against, is obsessed with being in a romantic relationship with Alpha Theo. The longer she stays on their territory, the more secrets start to get unveiled. Dark and disturbing secrets that, unfortunately, ties her's and Theo's family together in the worst way possible. What does fate have in store for them?

After Denton foils a terrorist attack at an Intergalactic sporting event, he finds himself racing to save his homeworld from a plot of betrayal and revenge. ***** When Denton Staxx, a special agent with the Orbital Security Services, discovers the Intergalactic Olympic Games have been targeted by a terrorist attack, he rushes to Earth to try and stop the event before it's too late. But what he discovers on earth is far worse than he imagined, and Denton is quickly pulled into a galaxy-wide conspiracy that takes him from one solar system to another in the search for a mastermind that will stop at nothing to get his revenge on the richest man in the universe -- regardless of the innocent people who die along the way. [[Wattys' Shortlisted]] [[1st place, Month Elimination Awards, Sci-Fi Category]] [[Best Plot Development, Iced Tea Summer Bash Awards]] [[Best Adventure Scifi Story, The Ooorah's SciFi Awards]] [[1st place, Rebel Awards, Sci-fi Category]] [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

A possible future in less than 500 words, if plastic wins. This was my entry for the WattPad/National Geographic #PlanetOrPlastic competition back in late 2018. It reached their Top 10 Submissions which, given that there appeared to be well over 5000 entries, was a very pleasant surprise! The competition itself had a limit of 500 words so, for those who keep asking if I intend continuing the story, the answer (for now!) is no - unless I can find a very good reason for adding any more. Many thanks to everyone reading and voting on this story and getting it to number 1 in the #sciencefiction category in May/June 2020! I did try to thank the voters individually on their pages but Wattpad have a daily limit on the number of times I'm allowed to do that and there are now too many of you (not that I'm complaining)! Here's the top 10 submissions page: https://www.wattpad.com/list/738243473-planetorplastic-top-10-submissions If you want to read the story in Polish please head over to https://www.wattpad.com/story/236405960-m%C4%85dro%C5%9B%C4%87-staro%C5%BCytnych-t%C5%82umaczenie-pl where @juliatlumaczy has done a fine job - thank you, Julia! @juliatlumaczy has now sent me a version of the cover she used for her Polish translation - thanks again, Julia! @alex_sokolova has also translated the story into Russian as well. You can read that here: https://www.wattpad.com/976002417-мудрость-древних - many thanks, Alex! We now have a third translation! @AlfonsoLucassen has kindly translated it into Spanish and you can find it here: https://www.wattpad.com/1063634347-la-sabidur%C3%ADa-de-los-antiguos