Ownvoices Stories

"He's teaching her how to hack his empire. She's collecting the evidence to burn it down." I was paid to translate. Not to interpret. Not to judge. Kira Khine arrives in Portugal with a passport missing an entry stamp, a revoked university admission, and €23,000 she refuses to touch. She didn't come for romance. She came to survive. But survival gets complicated when her landlord turns out to be Rodrigo Costa-a tech billionaire, single father, and the quietest, most unreadable face in northern Portugal. He offers her a deal: translate contracts in Burmese. In exchange, he'll teach her to hack. She takes it. Then she translates Clause 12.4. IMEI numbers. Geolocation data. Unrestricted real-time access-disguised as "urban planning." The kind of data you use to hunt people. The kind of people who disappear in Myanmar every day. Now, Kira has a choice: look away and cash the cheque. Or learn everything Rodrigo can teach her, and use it to destroy him. An impossible attraction. A dangerous game of secrets. He's letting his guard down around her-and she's collecting the evidence to burn his empire to the ground. Somewhere in the vineyard, a seven-year-old girl named Sofia is waiting for her friend Kiki to come to her birthday party. I trust me.She did. She does. A slow-burn geopolitical thriller about translation, cyber warfare, and ultimate betrayal.

🏆 Watty Award Winner (2022) This updated edition includes revised chapters and new scenes. Trans guy Collin makes a bet with his coworker that he can land a date with the hot new barista across the street. It should be easy. Except the more time he spends with her, the more the bet starts to feel like the worst idea he's ever had. ### It's 2003 in Santa Cruz, and 21-year-old Collin thought transitioning would be the hard part. But now that he's on hormones and passing with ease, he's still stuck wondering who he is and where he belongs. It doesn't help that his girlfriend of six years just dumped him. So when his coworker challenges him to prove he's still got game, Collin agrees to a stupid bet: get a date with Heather, the cute new barista who just started working at the café across the street. With some unexpected help from his roommate Sam, getting close to her might be easier than Collin expected. But what starts as a harmless distraction quickly turns into something real. And when the truth behind the bet finally comes out, Collin will have to decide whether risking his heart again is worth it... or if he's about to lose the best thing that's happened to him since the breakup. A nostalgic beach-town rom-com about bets, baristas, and what happens when pretending turns into something real. ☕ Tropes: friends-to-lovers vibes, a very bad bet, coffee shop flirting, early-2000s nostalgia, and learning who you are while falling in love. NEW CHAPTERS EVERY TUESAY & FRIDAY

When mysterious secrets begin to surface in the small town of Willowbrook, sisters Zoe and Nola Blue discover their lives are connected to an ancient magical legacy. Together, they must uncover the truth about their family, their powers, and the darkness lurking just beyond sight.

America was built on discrimination, hate, and hypocrisy, The very land we stand on is soaked in blood. It's been 250 years and we're owed an apology, Yet the violence still flows like a flash flood. They put our pain among archetypes, And paint over our scars. But I will always bleed stripes; Even if all I see is stars.

This collection of poems is not a game but a testimony of human fragility and other complex and profound themes. Recommended 14+ for the topics covered and their complexity. Warning: contains sensitive topics.

The world wanted quiet. It got a riot instead. The school called it policy. They called it war. One boy is trapped in a mind that has betrayed him. The other is an artist who stopped sketching and started swinging. But if the world will label them as villains, they might as well give them a reason to be afraid.

One man is her family's dream. The other could be her undoing. Suraiya Rao has never quite belonged. She's not white enough for society, not brown enough for her family... not enough for anyone. She's spent her life walking a tightrope between British reality and Indian expectation, doing everything by the book, no matter the cost. Then one chance encounter changes everything. Haydn Ellis Clarke isn't part of the plan. He's rich, ridiculously handsome, and absolutely not the man her family has chosen for her. But he sees her - not the dutiful daughter or the girl buried beneath generations of pressure, but the version of herself she's never dared to be. Mendhi My Heart is a story of identity, belonging, and choosing love, even when it means breaking every rule. Because love doesn't always arrive in the "suitable" package. Sometimes, it wears torn jeans... and gives your grandmother a heart attack.

A missing past, boundless secrets, and a secret weapon that threatens the boundary between the mortal and spirit realm... Fire mage Esmeralda has always struggled with her missing memories ever since she woke up from her coma two years ago, but Esme had her quiet life in Atonaco and her best friend and spirit mage Dacio by her side to keep her internal conflict at bay. Everything begins to crumble when Dacio is accused of a crime they couldn't have committed, and is taken south to the Wei Empire for judgement. With the help of a mysterious mutual friend, Esme embarks on a quest to prove Dacio's innocence. However, things down south are not as they seem, as ominous and powerful beings lurk in the shadows and she begins to develop magical abilities that are linked to her lost history. As she begins to piece together the mystery of her past, she stumbles upon a sinister plan that threatens the fate of the mortal realm...

❖ QUEENKILLER, KINGMAKER Book 2 ❖ A year has passed since Isla rescued Tam Mai from the dungeons, but her sister's mind is still trapped and broken. There is only one person Isla knows can help her. Meanwhile across the sea, a prince seeks justice for the murder of his mother. Their search may soon be over, but their war is yet to begin. Now they must work together to bring a new age to the realms and put a new king on the throne. But how long can their alliance hold, when one is keeping a vital secret from the other? ↝ this work contains violence, coarse language, and sexual references. content warnings also apply for ableism -- please see the opening author's note for details ↜ ↝ Wattys 2023 Ongoing Stories shortlist

from the swahili word meaning "bridge." let this connect my queerness to my blackness. let this connect all those that are different. let this connect you to me.

Skiddy Cottontail, an eight-year-old rabbit, had two fathers who were happily married to each other, his best friend, Leslie, a transgender eight-year-old female, had two mothers who were the same. An elephant has been elected as the next President, and both of the children are afraid that they are going to lose their parents because the tyrant elephant follows the values of Homophobe ideology that would separate their own families from each other. The two children must work together and keep their own families together, even if it becomes an outlaw in their own city. The story is about standing up against homophobes and far-right ideologies, protecting same-sex marriage, and defending the LGBTQ community.

Closeted high-school jock Troy Allstar needs the last lake-weekend of summer to be perfect because it sets the tone for the school year to come. Instead, he grapples with his non-binary sibling's out-and-proud lip syncs, an inability to shake off his beta status amongst the other jocks, an ex-girlfriend who is now dating his BFF Jesse, a growing desire for said BFF as well as for hottie cheerleader Chad, all while a mysterious shadow sets loose DNA-spliced experiments that give Troy strange powers that make it impossible to control his emotions. What's a fella to do??? Hi all, I wrote the original Queeroes novels more than a decade ago. What a time! I've grown a lot as a person and as a writer; I've realized I'm on the autism spectrum (my superpower!) and been officially assessed. I've learned about how I've masked and hidden my autistic traits (with mixed success) and I now see that the character of Troy in Queeroes is following the same strategy and is also on the spectrum (all the clues are there in the original Queeroes books!). In this reimagined version Wattpad edition of Queeroes, it's been really liberating to reflect Troy's autism more intentionally (even though Troy hasn't figured out yet :). It's also been a joy to include diversity in ways that reflect this wondrous world. Chad's Latinx (and just as sassy as ever), Troy's younger sibling, Gabi, is adopted from the First Nation neighboring the small town of Nuffim, is non-binary, and way more brash and confident than in the original books. Now, Gabi often steals the show. Like the original Queeroes novels, the Wattpad edition is Smallville meets Buffy with odes of Queers As Folk and American Horror story as a group of small town queer teens get powers and face a villainous shadow that forces them to face their darkest fears to become their truest selves! Xena warrior cry!

In a small town where words linger and silence feels safer, he learns that being careful isn't the same as being honest - and that loving quietly doesn't mean loving weakly. When We Were Seventeen is about soft boys, hidden songs, and the courage it takes to take up space. Sometimes growing up isn't about getting the love you want. Sometimes it's about becoming the person you needed.

SPOILER: Neurologist, Dr. Kaya Jerito, finds out her patients are dying from an alien killer, not injuries or disease, but she's too late to save her own family. In the midst of falling for an undercover humanoid alien posing as a co-worker, Kaya's family is attacked. Now she must seek revenge against the ET killer that destroyed her patients' lives and her own. A family secret will expose her to the untapped abilities she needs to embrace in order to enact revenge. She grows powerful but risks her humanity and all that she stands for when her abilities cloud her judgment. A hybrid of reality and fiction, ancient alien theology meets alien abductions in a story driven by interdimensional love! Even super-powered aliens cannot stop a determined parent from saving their child, learning to use latent psychic powers, and finding the strength to love again.

***A sequel to Fright Fest 2016 Gold Winner RED RAIN*** "For every person you save, there is going to have to be somebody you can't." -Joe West, "The Flash" Red Rain was just the beginning. Blue Monday made everything worse. White Shadows started setting things right. Alex Snow goes into his senior year wondering if he'll ever truly move on from the deaths of those he's loved. Fionna Lee isn't going to school, but is searching for a legendary artifact that, if it exists, could give her the power to go back in time and prevent her human counterpart's suicide. They'll reunite sooner than they think. When they do, it'll be because something has gone catastrophically wrong. And even if they find a way to undo their mistakes, the fight - especially the fight against their consciences - could cost them dearly. (Fourth novel in the Red Rain series. Cover designed by @Whisperingwater.)

{ranked #17 in cultural] Freshly graduated from med school, and freshly over from her life, Sara Afridi is already defeated. Haunted by the death of her beloved father, and the past that he always had seemed on the edge of telling but never did, she decides to go back to her home nation and face those questions about her identity herself. When the past of her father collides with her present, and she has to ask questions about what she had believed to be true, and what is her false beliefs. Her identity becomes a question, and she has to find out to survive, is science really the answer to every question? Or is there something greater above even the science itself? Set in the backdrop of a small city in the Himalayas, this is the story of an atheist girl, finding the spiritual self inside and the self that's guarding her around herself.

One story told from different perspectives, One game that would either make a team, or Marr their bonds forever. Each player has something to lose, something to prove, and something they have been hiding, and as the final whistle approaches, they'll learn that life isn't always about winning, and sometimes, it's about who you become when the game is over.

BASED OFF 'Merchant Ships' SONG OF THE SAME NAME Seventeen-year-old Michael Horowitz is the rock of his dysfunctional family, shouldering the burden of his mother's hospitalization, his father's addiction and arrest, and the protection of his younger brother, Gary. But when the 9/11 tragedy shatters their world, Michael must navigate grief, anger, and despair to lead his family out of darkness. Haunted by prophetic dreams and an uncertain future, Michael's unwavering love for Gary and his faith are put to the ultimate test as he strives to keep the last flickers of hope alive in their hearts.

TESTING DAY IS HERE Full-of-herself teenager Lilianne Whisper thinks she's got it all figured out. For her, school is an arena to hone "socialista" techniques for manipulating the masses. So Lilianne believes until enchanting Anton Flowers transfers to her class. He's a joyous rainbow in an otherwise brutal world of mutant animal warning signs and torturous Testing Days intended to spark any latent superpowers teens might possess. Lilianne and Anton become best friends, and when they kiss, something more. But Lilianne's world is upturned when Anton Manifests abilities and is sent to Jupitar Island to be with his fellow Supergenics. When Lilianne also shows signs of enhanced DNA, she dreams of being adopted by a wonderful Supergenic family and hopes to see Anton again. But her new life falls short of what the Manifestation propaganda promises. What happens to Lilianne if she only partially Manifests? Will she be doomed to a painful orphaned life as a deformed, servile halfie? In an oppressive system that uses tantalizing lies to hide ugly truths, can her socialista wits rise to seemingly insurmountable challenges while winning Anton to her side? If so, at what cost, to herself ... and the world? Find out in The Girl With Green Scales.