[ONC 2021 Grand Winner] After the events of Ragnarök, the God Vidar has settled in the nice and quiet city of Antwerp where he keeps an eye on the local paranormal community. Nearly a millennium later, Vidar is a grumbling bookstore owner by day and a lazy paranormal detective by night (albeit a slightly furry one dur...
Despite the fact their hearts no longer beat, vampires really aren't all that different from human counterparts. Some are kind, some are vile, and most are stuck trying to navigate the muddy middle. Enter our two vampires: One would never manage to fit all the candles on her birthday cake even if she desired to celebr...
[The Nano Watt 2023 Shortlist] [ONC 2021 Longlist] The world as Evren once knew changed massively from doing homework to fighting for survival in a zombie infested planet. Countries were wiped out within months some even days. Bringing a global impact on food and resources. But the infected wasn't the only thing Evr...
Four years after her mother moved away, Diwa's father is finally getting remarried. Diwa's life as she knew it is getting invaded by monsters. Again. *** Eight-year-old Diwa has never met her mother: she left long before Diwa could even remember. All Diwa's life has been just her and Papa. But that life is threatened...
*Translation of the German ONC GRAND WINNER "Findet Gretel"* Germany, 1881 When Leopold Mernick, imperial spy, arrives in Nuremberg to pay a visit to his sister, he immediately finds himself as a witness in a murder investigation. A well-known gingerbread baker and her apprentice are dead and someone is leaving strang...
Zaketa presents a carefully crafted mask to the world; one of sharp edges, privilege, and bravado. Only those closest to her, her most loyal guards, know the real Zaketa. And she is so much more than what her warlord father has crafted her to be. In the somewhat distant future, disease and hunger is commonplace. The c...
When a simple job goes horribly awry, ghosthunter Anya must prove she has what it takes to do spirit work or risk losing her job, her brother, and a second chance with the One Who Got Away. *** Second-rate ghosthunter Anya Iteri comes from a family of metalweavers -- powerful mages who can forge iron, shape steel, and...
A fisherman catches his wife in the sea. ONC entry for prompt #29 "I am in the mood to dissolve into the sky." (Substitute 'sea' for 'sky'.) Cover by @AuthorLilyXu
He's never been one to break the rules, much less get in trouble with the law. But after receiving a mysterious message at the airport, Claude Wintsor finds himself in an unimaginable situation. He is forced to complete six, high-crime jobs in exchange for his freedom. The one catch: Claude has only twenty-four hours...
1969. It was the year of Manson's helter-skelter, the year we put a man on the moon, and the year two strangers watched the world end in a mushroom cloud of nuclear war. 1966. This was a much better year. Well, for everyone except twenty-two-year-old Annie Edwards. Because it was the year she first saw the blonde-hair...
*entry for ONC 2021* prompt thirty-three: when a loved one dies, the person is lost. until, they find a jar of fortune notes which leads them to read each one every day. how does the journey start and end? ▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂ Milana Fallaci doesn't believe in love. After the death of her mother and the heartbreak left...
|| ONC 2021 HONORABLE MENTION || ONC 2021 ROUND TWO FIRST PLACE WINNER || Three friends. One secret. Thoughts of a summery vacation in the middle of winter sounded fantastic until all plans to enjoy the Caribbean sights were thwarted by an unexpected tropical storm, keeping everyone inside. Normally spare time without...
{ONC2021 2nd Place Overall, Round Two Ambassador Picks & Shortlist} When Max O'Brien receives an almond with a skull painted on it, he initially plays it off as a prank. But, after his wife leaves town, he begins discovering more of the nuts hidden around the house. More disturbing than that is that some unseen intrud...
ONC longlister! Yay Featured on @YA @newlywrittenbooks @Storiesundiscovered (December) @Teenfiction (wicked little creatures) When a drastic soul-wrenching incident takes place in Aini's life, she decides to take a leap into her life and move on. All goes well until one night, she dreams of a horrifying dream within...
Purely physical. Until emotions get in the way. *** After a humiliating divorce, Nita swears off men. Resolved to never suffer again, she builds a fortress around her heart and prepares to celebrate her first Valentine's Day alone. Except a handsome stranger lands on her doorstep in the midst of a snow storm. As she e...
After an offended Greek goddess sends Kenna back in time to Elizabethan England, she discovers she must stop the theft of Shakespeare's best known tragedy before returning to her century, all while resisting the charms of the theatre's Romeo. ***** Af...
The stories sung of the one born under the constellation, that only graced the sky for only a minute, once every millennia. The one who would be all-powerful, who could banish all evil from the kingdom. The One. She is not that person. Instead, Evaine Gill has spent her whole life in her village, her plans mostly invo...
Jen Morse and Jake Miller had known each other their whole lives. Living across from each other on the shore of Jen's beloved Stone Lake, they grew up and fell in love. But when tragedy pulled Jake away from the lake, Jen lost him. Now, she is forced to relive the highs and lows of love while watching the man she love...
BOOK 2 OF THE AOTUROAN FAIRYTALES Rosettia was named after a beautiful yet hardy flower. And like her name, she loved the outdoors, constantly going for hikes and exploring her land of Atlantis. One day, she found a cave she had never noticed before, and there, her life took a 180 degrees turn, until she could no long...
The dancing prowess of Jun and Odile paved the way to fame for musician Vincent Friday. Seven years on, as his album sales stagnate, Vince summons the stars of his best-known music video to stage a one-night-only reunion show in Vegas. That night, however, ends in tragedy. Grief-stricken Jun swears the body in the mor...
*ONC 2021 Shortlist and Ambassador's Pick* For 200 years, Victor Cunningham has lived as a soul trapped within a common kitchen knife after a fortune-teller cursed him. The curse keeps his blade unbreakable and sharp but makes his life unimaginably dull. Sure, there's been brief moments of excitement, but he's spent m...
Ian's senior year and all plans for the future are cut short when a car accident ends in a tragedy, forcing him to become his family's caretaker. He doesn't notice an anomaly in his new life until a cute girl enters the picture and unravels the layers of denial that have protected him from the pain of loss. There wi...
❝ MAYBE THERE ARE NO GOOD GUYS ANYMORE. ❞ Mere weeks after the start of sophomore year, Angelina Jung awakens in the middle of the wilderness, stranded with no explanation. When she finds three other college students in the same predicament as her, she isn't sure what to believe. With all their recent memories erased...
⋆☆⋆ ONC 2021 Longlister ⋆☆⋆ #1 on the #Opennovellacontest2021 on December 6, 2021 Gāyathri is a strong willed girl. A survivor. And an orphan. Bruised and broken from the accident which claimed her parents' lives, she is unsure of her future when she learns of the terms of her father's will. She is reluctant to stay...
ONC 2021 contest prompt 64 What should have been a simple task for a trio of ghosthunters becomes something for which the term "Worst Case Scenario" is the mother of all understatements. Sandra, Amelie, and Candice are the three tough women who run "Third Eye Investigations". Recently, ghosts have been popping up eve...
I felt a sneaking suspicion crawl up my spine. "The exam was way too easy." About 100 years ago, a strange meteor crashed into the Earth's surface, and a baby boy with special abilities was born shortly after. Since then, only fifteen percent of the children born after the meteor's landing had unique special abilitie...
In a world much like our own lives the happy couple of Death and Life- Oh? They're not a happy couple? What? They broke up months ago? Why didn't anyone tell me? -cough- When a great opportunity to visit the people of Earth, Death jumps at it! Besides, who wouldn't want to spend a week with the beautiful homosapiens o...
WARM BODIES meets THE BREAKFAST CLUB meets ZOMBIELAND in this YA apocalypse story full of fluff, comedy and humans biting back. ✿ "When I imagined my high school crush would be dying to eat me, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind." ✿✿ Ava Sterling never expected she'd be the one solution to the zombie apocalypse...
A bastard by birth and orphaned at twelve, Charles has learnt to fend for himself in 1660s London. Homeless, he seeks shelter for the night in some canvas aboard a barge on the Thames. In the morning, he tumbles awake when the sail is hoisted, and the captain presses him to work as they move away from the wharf. Trapp...