Shortlist Stories

[Book Five of the "Patrons' World" series.] In the snow blasted wastes, far to the west, Únik, a woman with a tragic past and a terrible secret, becomes reluctantly charged with accompanying an exotic prince to her destiny as the concubine to the king of an opposing nation. As they take a long, circuitous journey to the capital city of Star Harbour, Únik finds herself pursued by relentless, implacable foes who seek nothing less than the blood of her charge, Hatyara. Accompanied by her faithful sled dog, Barsa, Únik learns nothing and no-one are what they appear in a desperate race to stop a war that could destroy two nations. A war that some people would do anything to ensure it happens. A fantasy tale of two people caught up in events beyond their control, set in "Patrons' World". 🏵Wattys 2023 Shortlist🏵 🏵Featured by Wattpad - Feb 2024🏵 🏵Featured on Ambassador Profile - Highfantasy - Jan 2023🏵 Cover created in Canva, using a Pixabay stock picture.

Game of Thrones meets Pirates of the Caribbean in this thrilling tale of war, revenge, and adventure on the high seas! Lilyth the Red, an elite assassin, made a promise to her family. She failed to keep it. Now, she will stop at nothing to hunt down the pirates who wronged her-even posing as the champion of a goddess, brainwashing an army of cultists, and igniting a war so ruthless that it threatens to awaken the ancient horrors of the Drowned Sea. Erin Rose, a street urchin, only ever cared about picking pockets with her father. But that's no longer an option. Alone, the price of survival is costly, paid in flesh and brutality. The only question is whose blood will be on her hands: her own or her newfound friends. First Mate Jameson, a pirate-turned-storyteller, left a life of violence behind him. Or so he'd thought. But life on the sea is crueler than it has ever been. Trapped between sea monsters, cultists, and pirates, Jameson's stories might be his only salvation-and the ruin of the gods. War ravages the Drowned Sea, monsters rise from its depths, and heroes drown in them. In this world where land is sparse and gunpowder rules the sea, only the villains will survive. Lilyth is coming. No one is safe. All will drown.

Basically entries to various contests here on Wattpad. Feel free to check them out! 1. Clairvoyant (World of Words, winner) 2. Mirror (#ThePowerWithin, shortlisted) 3. Windwood Tale (Whispers of Autumn) 4. Pied Piper's Red Sun River (Fairytales Beyond the Veil) 5. To My Beloved, My Best Friend (Forever Grateful) Best rankings: #16 in Contestentries out of 1.24k, 13/01/2024 #1 in Contestwinner 01/04/2024 #2 in Contest winners 20/10/2023 #8 in Shortlisted 19/12/2023

In a world where the majority no longer dream, and happy thoughts are easily lost, nineteen-year-old Eli sells memories. With no family or home, the young man travels the country dealing to those in need. When he runs out of memories to sell, Eli heads to the town of Los Demonios hoping to find someone to harvest from. Ashlyn carries dreams which others have lost inside her. Her thoughts are filled with recollections belonging to people she's never met. Haven is an albino Kadisin, a half-mortal, half-angel who must kill in order to survive. He is a man plagued by seventy years of things he's seen and done. Welcome to my entry for the 2021 ONC! I'm using prompt number 29 "I am in the mood to dissolve in the sky." -Virginia Woolf ONC Shortlister 2021. Added to The Badass King reading list on @BadassReads. Second place in the @PrettyInPunk Mystery and Thriller awards. Warning for typical Christine darkness, swearing, some sexual and romantic themes.

*wattys 2018 shortlist* *writer's awards sci-fi winner* It all started with an accident. Through vast consolidation begets a single empire bordering on the mere idea of war with an enemy threatening to destroy its entire existence, starting from the inside. Many call it tyranny, others, vengeful menace, but it's taking them down. One by one. A series of events follow, including a spy, a plan destined to fail and a desperate offer that puts everything on the line. She wasn't what they were hoping for. But they take what they can get. Once rejected by the place they called home, five estranged teens jump at the opportunity for an escape. Thrust into an unknown underwater society at random, it's a gamble for life and death, win or lose. Fast forward to friendship, rivalry, loyalty, borderline sorcery, and a second home that'll change their lives as they know it. But as the days grow by, and the game of cat and mouse breaks its final straw, blending in a world not meant for them is not as easy as it seems. Especially when you try to save a colony whilst saving yourself. *this story is/will be rewriting. [minimal changes] The plot will generally be the same, I'm just removing some plot holes and grammatical inconsistencies* #974 dysotopian - out of 1.8k stories #442 science fiction - out of 5.9k stories

Shortlist Finalist in 2024 Nano Watt. Iron Man's plan to build an Iron Man legion upsets Count Dooku and many United Republic Senators. In addition the increasing reliance Chancellor Palpatine has on Iron Man and Shield is the catalyst for the formation of a new government called the Confederacy of Independent Nations. The Confederacy of Independent Nations seperates from the United Republic. Deemed Seperatist by a suspicious pro Republic media, Shield declares war along with the United Republic against the Seperatist. To expedite what is projected to be a long war; Shield Director Nick Fury reveals Agent Phil Coulson is alive. Coulson is ordered to lead an elite squad of Shield Agents: Melinda May expert field agent and pilot, Grant Ward an elite espionage agent, Leopold Fitz engineer, designer, and physicist, Jemma Simmons Biochemist, and medical expert, and a hacker named Skye who was hired by Dooku's apprentice Asajj Ventress and is conscripted by Phil Coulson to join Shield. This group will work with Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and Skywalker's new apprentice Ahsoka Tano to stop Count Dooku's quest for data related to the secret project Iron Man is working on to strengthen his powerful Droid army. The new team's first lead is a mysterious agent of Dooku's named the Clairvoyant. The Clairvoyant seemingly can predict Coulson's moves and evade Kenobi and his Jedi allies. Coulson soon learns that his mysterious resurrection from death is connected to the Clairvoyant and could be the key to ending the Clone Wars.

Marithyda Skyelorn has learned the hard way not to trust royals, but to defeat the wicked King Harlan she may have no choice but to turn to the ruler of a mysterious kingdom across the Sea. ***** With the help of an unexpected ally within the castle, Marithyda and Sabin have barely managed to escape imprisonment following the disastrous Royal Exposition. Racing against King Harlan's forces, they aim to discover the truth once and for all about the kingdom of Magus Opté. Meanwhile, Princess Taileen Winship, the newly-appointed Commander of the Karvothian military, only has two directives: continue to hide her powers from the rest of the Kingdom, and recapture Marithyda Skyelorn. In the long-awaited sequel to Shadow Witch, powers will be tested, unlikely romances will blossom, and allegiances will be changed forever. (Book Two of the Skyelorn Chronicles trilogy) [[2022 WATTYS Winner, Sequel]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: Some scenes contain violence and mentions of self-harm that may upset sensitive readers [[Word Count: 90,000-100,000]]

Luke and Naluma have had a rough year, but their Force-bonded love has gotten them through the death of a student a few months earlier. However, Luke's worried about Naluma, who is trapped at the Jedi Academy with two dozen Padawan driving her crazy in the dead of winter. He surprises her with a long-overdue vacation for just the two of them, the first one in the four years they've known each other. However, their idyllic love is tested when Luke refuses to give Naluma what she desperately desires: a child of their own. When the Force gets involved, the couple learns that imposing the words of man on the will of the supreme power in the galaxy is never going to work--and the Force plays dirty when accomplishing its will. Luke and Naluma don't stand a chance. This isn't going to go the way they think. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Open Novella Contest 2021 Entry Prompt #17 Your main character is in an idyllic relationship. Your task? Make - then break - the ship. (It ends HEA, so no worries my Romance readers.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cover by author.

Willow Beck would do anything to prove that the Westbury Faery exists, but Willow's desperate hunt for the truth might cost her everything. ⭐️This is a short story WINNER for the Westbury Farey writing contest. Now published by Tiny Owl Workshop. The full book may be purchased on their website.⭐️

Shortlist Story

A story loosely based on a dream I had that takes place where everyone are trolls from homestuck. (Similar to them)

In Imperia, power is a delicate, all-consuming game. So when young Lady Sylnavi's father commissions her to quietly destroy a political rival, she's thrilled. Impress, and she earns her place as her powerful father's right hand. Fail, and -- well, there is no such thing as failure, is there? But when the rival turns out to be the first person she's ever met who can match her own ruthless cunning, the plan gets more complicated. After all, if he's smarter than her father... wouldn't it make more sense to switch sides? As her father and his rival vie for her loyalty, she must decide what is most important: family, love, or her own unending ambition. ~ * ~ Shortlister in ONC 2025 Prompts 52 and 123 Main: Let's play the game of colors: you paint me red because you love me, and I'll paint you black because I want you gone. Secondary: »I'm unstoppable. I'm a Porsche with no brakes. I'm invincible. Yeah, I win every single game« - Unstoppable by Sia

[WATTYS 2018 SHORTLIST] 125 years after the total collapse of society and government, North and South America unite into a singular technologically sophisticated Continent. Their once closed doors now open to the rest of the world, the Continent is a safe haven for asylum seekers from other war-torn countries across the Atlantic. However, the Continent hides secrets behind smiles, and deceit behind decency. A short, one-part story about a young refugee in seek of utopia, and instead discovers not everything is as it seems once you look beneath the surface.

|Round 2 Winner| |Round 3 Ambassador Pick| |Shortlist| Rhiannon "Banjo" Hart is a professional thief working her last ever job. The Hawk has promised a massive payout if she can steal data from Concorda International and Banjo needs the money to help her Mum get hospital treatment, but she is not sure The Hawk will stick to the adage of "honour amongst thieves". In her escape, she meets an android that adds complication after complication to her already complex life. Banjo needs to outrun the authorities, Concorda's security and The Hawk.

*A Watty's 2021 Shortlister* Three months and twenty-five days. The last time Hadley Brown saw her brother alive. When Tanner commits suicide, the entire town is shaken but no one is more lost than Hadley. Grief-stricken and aimless, Hadley's life seems likes it's stuck in a never-ending replay of her brother's death. But when Tanner reappears in the form of a series of tasks inside of thirty-one carefully constructed letters, she is forced to confront her fears of living life without her brother by her side. With a goal to finish all of the letters by the end of summer and the help of a boy who just can't seem to stay away, Hadley embarks on an epic path of healing and love. ________________ *Note: this novel discusses themes around suicide, grief, healing, love, and personal growth. While the main intention of the novel is to focus on the grieving and healing process that occurs after losing a loved one, aspects of mental health and suicide are prominent throughout the entirety of the novel. This could be triggering for some readers so please be advised of these themes before reading this novel. *Cover made by the fabulous @aneonsky*

In a world held together by ancient magic, one girl's forbidden power could be the key to everything-or the catalyst for its destruction. Fourteen-year-old Thea Presten has never left her secluded ranch, let alone practiced Alchemy. But beneath Bergen, Norway, in the hidden halls of Blackthorn and Burtree, she's about to discover a gift that defies the very codes of magic. As war looms between the Keeper's Animarum and the Shadow Alchemists, Thea must learn to harness her dangerous abilities in secret. Thrust into a world of Conversion Circles and Alchemical beasts, Thea realizes she's been unknowingly breaking the laws of Alchemy her entire life. As she struggles to keep her powers hidden, she finds unexpected friendship with two fellow Spectrum Scholars. But with the Code Keeper and Code Breaker both potentially interested in her abilities, Thea must decide who-if anyone-she can trust. The Code Keeper has manipulated every aspect of Thea's life, pushing her towards a destiny she never chose. As global battles rage and the Earth itself seems to rebel, Thea's decisions could tip the balance of power. The Shadow Faction's leader would stop at nothing to possess her gift, while the Keeper sees her as the key to saving the world-but at what cost? Will Thea's reckless quest for control over her own life unleash a power that could mend their fractured world-or shatter it beyond repair? ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ This book is a preview of the Amazon exclusive. You can find this book on Kindle Unlimited. Thanks for your support! ~A.C. Sutliff 🏆 2021 Wattys Shortlist 🏆 🏆 2023 Ambys Top Pick Winner 🏆 🥇 2023 NanoWatt Winner 🥇 🥇 First Place in the Creative Awards 🥇 🥈Second place in the Pink Cloud Awards ☁️ 🎖️Featured on Wattpad Fantasy's List for Young Adult Fantasy 🔖 💎 Featured on Undiscovered Fantasy Gems 💎

Aled is a gay man in a soldier's uniform. Unhappy with the turn his country is taking, Aled seizes the opportunity to enter a mysterious portal into the strange, primitive world of Thera. Finding himself trapped there, Aled discovers Marius, a man left to wander blindly in the wilderness. Surrounded by intrigue, Aled and Marius must find a way to trust each other, to save both themselves and Thera's Lady. 2022 AMBY AWARDS Winner for Alternate Universe stories. Finalist for the Open Novella Contest 2017/8. Sci-Fi and LGBT ♥ **Edited version now available on Amazon etc with the title PORTAL**

[Watty's 2021 Shortlister] Two girls. Separated. Connected. For Anna, her world is one of privilege and safety. A lonely prison. Ken lives with complete freedom, but her world is one of darkness and danger around every corner. When their worlds collide, neither knows if the other is real or only a dream. To find out, each must undertake a journey that takes them far from the worlds they know, into the unknown. 🥇1st place in the Sci-Fi category of "The Temeraire Awards"! (1 Mar 2021) 🥇1st place (tied) in the Sci-Fi category of "The Rainbow Awards"! 🥈2nd place in "Hello 2021 Awards"! 🥈2nd place, Sci-Fi category, of the "One In A Million Awards"! (11 Oct 2021) Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture.