[2013 Watty Finalist] Thea Gibson lives a normal life. She waitresses at her local bar, pays her bills on time, has a secret crush on Detective Josh Cooper and let's her friend Shae drag her to parties when she'd rather be curled up at home buried in the latest paranormal fantasy. In one night though, her life becomes a paranormal fantasy when she is attacked by Titans and saved by a man claiming to be Hermes, Messenger of the Gods. Hermes tells her she is a reincarnated deity, with latent powers she must remember so she can return the recently escaped Cronos back to Tartarus. Thea refuses to believe such nonsense but with the strange things happening around her, Thea begins to discover that fantasy is more closer to reality than she once thought... Note: Some myths have been altered for this story. Please do not presume to correct them as they are altered for the purposes of my story. Forsaken Deity Copyright © Melissa Lucas 2013 All Rights Reserved. No part of this literary work may be reproduced or used without written consent from the author.

Fantasy worlds... (2013) A writing exercise in visual sensations.

[Completed] Cursed as a child, Cinder Valentine lives life as beast, forced to perform in a traveling carnival. Only on the night of the full moon does she change back to her human form. The carnival travels through the Kingdom of Edenraye on the eve of the Prince's Ball. Every maiden in the kingdom is invited, but the full moon is the night before, and Cinder will be in her beastly form. Thanks to the carnival gypsy, and a moonstone necklace, Cinder will have one night to live life as a normal human. But, when the clock strikes twelve, and the moonstone fades, will her curse destroy the kingdom? ***Winner of @_Once_Upon Dark Fairy Tale contest.*** **COMPLETED**

*A Cinderella Retelling* A young woman in a beautiful blue gown. A prince bored with his birthday ball. All is as it seems. Except for three things. One's a vampire, the other is a wizard, and they both have missions that center on the other. The problem? Only one person can walk away from their encounter alive. ----- One of the winners from @_Once_Upon's dark fairytale prompt. Cover made by @shadowsleek! Full-length novel is up on my profile under the same name but with "novel version" tacked on and with a different cover!

When Penny Hale's not-so-imaginary friend shows up in her bedroom, he pulls her into a whirlwind summer adventure of magic and bees and romance. This short story first appeared in @RebeccaSky's Sunkissed Summer Fantasy Anthology.

As Clementine Bell has learned, running a successful NYC patisserie is tougher than it looks. Even with training in classical French baking from the best school in the world, getting people to walk through the doors to the Clementhyme Bakery proves much more difficult than drawing millions of viewers to her sensational baking vlogs. With the overdue rent piling up, Clementine's mother has the idea to enter her into a televised baking competition with a staggering $250,000 cash prize. Clementine isn't thrilled with the idea of competing on national television, that is until the producers let slip that her infuriatingly talented pastry school classmate and rival has been invited to participate. Sequestered on set in a partially renovated chateau in southern France, all of Clementine's knowledge of pastry is put to the test, but can this pastry purist outlast her competition to save her bakery in an arena where the culinary arts have become a spectator sport?

After the war, London is in chaos. Packs are battling it out for dominance in the streets, lycans are killing each other in illegal fight dens. The Royals are being murdered. All Juliet wants to do is forget - forget Sebastien, forget the war, forget everything she's learned about her parentage - but fate has other plans. At 21, she's the sole guardian of her royal, half-brother Theo: a boy she almost killed but is now sworn to protect at all costs. But Theo's blood has painted a shiny target on his back and Juliet knows it'll take a miracle to keep him safe, which means dragging herself back to the old motley crew, once led by Sebastien, for help. But the war has changed a lot more than pack territories in London and protecting Theo might come at a higher cost than she's willing to pay... Like her life.

1558. Elizabeth, the last of King Henry's heirs, is a traitor's daughter. Now, she is England's last hope. After five gruesome years, Bloody Mary is on her deathbed. She lives her sister Elizabeth a daunting inheritance: the throne of England. The bishops will not anoint a heretic. A foreign queen plots for the throne. And Englishmen and foreigners alike are starting to notice Elizabeth's growing infatuation for a man who spent his youth in a traitor's cell. And the people demand a prince to fill the empty throne by Elizabeth's side: a husband that may wrest away every morsel of her power. Tides are turning in England, and no one is safe. Not even the queen.

#WATTYS2014 HQ LOVE AWARD! There's a darkness that lurks in the City of Light Seventeen-year-old Connor Lewis is chased by a memory. On his first day of kindergarten he bit a boy hard enough to scar the kid for life. Since then he's been a social outcast at a New York private school. Through an unexpected turn of good fortune, he lands a scholarship to study in Paris, where everything starts to look up. On the first day he befriends two military brats, and he may finally get a taste of what it's like to be a normal teenager. It doesn't last. His host family - an alluring young tattoo artist and her moody, handsome boyfriend - inadvertently introduce him to the underworld of werewolves where there are two types: the born and the bitten. Those born to it take the form of elegant wolves, while the latter are cursed to transform into the half-man, half-beast creatures of horror movies. The bitten rarely survive. Unfortunately, Connor is on the wanted list of a four hundred-year-old bitten human who's searching for both a cure and a means of wiping out werewolves for good. Connor's loyalties are tested as he becomes embroiled in a conflict where werewolves, mad science and teen angst collide. POSTING ON TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS! Originally published by Fierce Ink Press and in translation from Random House Germany. My books are available in print and as ebooks on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters Indigo and other retailers. The paperbacks are Collectors Editions that come with extras like a signed bookplate and extra content from me. You can also visit my English language publisher to pick up the entire box set at a discount: http://fierceinkpress.storenvy.com/collections/267139-the-magdeburg-trilogy *** If you enjoy the chapters, likes and comments are appreciated ***

"Why do I remember every detail of the day I was born? It's not just because of the dream; it's because today, October 10, 1997, will be the seventh time." Eleanor Blackwell is turning seventeen and although excited about her birthday, she already knows what it will bring. At seventeen Ellie will meet the boy of her dreams, get swept off her feet, and fall in love. But Ellie won't get her happily ever after, because right before her eighteenth birthday she's going to be murdered. How does Ellie know this? Because this isn't the first time she's lived this story...it's the seventh. Every time Ellie is reborn she finds herself surrounded by the same souls of both her friends and enemies, the same love and, ultimately, the same death. Will Ellie be able to discover the secrets those closet to her are hiding? Will she finally be able to change things enough to alter her destiny this time around? Or, is she cursed to repeat the same mistakes she's made seven other times before and return once again? THE SERIES READS AS FOLLOWS: THE RETURN THE RESURRECTION THE REVIVAL THE RESTORATION