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Are you dead or alive, or somewhere ... else? This is the question on most people's minds throughout the Outcast Realms, even more so for Althea Dawnwind, a made up name for a made up character that finds themself within the deadliest of games.Lost in a world that shouldn't exist, with no memories but that they certainly weren't a woman in the real world, Al fights against everything they believe to make sense of the world.Accompanied by Drok Dor, an eighteen year old girl in a male dwarf's body, with a complicated history of her own, Al has to fight endless hordes of monsters and his own self-doubts to reclaim the memories of another life and answer the ultimate question in the Outcast Realms: Am I alive, dead, or in some kind of limbo in between?…

JansOtherStories

Genevieve Moore isn't exactly a failed author, but when her sapphic romance debut novel, set in 1920's America, performs poorly, her publishers turn down her second novel and even her agents begin to turn away from her, she starts to wonder whether she should simply return to a life of even more obscurity.When she sees a woman on, the train to a literary festival, reading her novel, Genevieve wonders if the smiles the woman is wearing are through enjoyment of the book or amusement at Genevieve's failure.It's a long journey and there's plenty of time to ask, but does Genevieve want to know the answer? And the woman being extremely attractive has no impact upon how the conversation goes. None at all. Unless ...A gently humorous sapphic romance novella for ONC.…

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A year has passed since Kayrian 'Kay' Doattachild fought and defeated the Shade of Xirasir, the God of Despair, and returned magic to the world. In that time, he has failed to secure any of the Candidates to replace the Pillars of the Gods, a group of mortals who give their entire lives to holding the gods at bay outside the world with a barrier formed from their own life forces. The Pillars are dying and, without them, the destructive, capricious gods will wreak havoc upon the world.Caught in a long and brutal war with the Gaele, a race related to elves, Kay is forced to return to his task of finding the Candidates, but, to do so, he must chase the villainous Gaele, Islathir, who once sought to usurp the power of the gods for her own ends.An epic journey follows, taking Kay and his companions across the world in their search, but with a traitor in their midst, untrustworthy followers of Kay's oldest friend, Miraveh, aiding him, ancient monsters and countless barriers in his path, the task may prove too much even for the bane of a god.The second book in the 'God Pillars Trilogy'.…

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Miraveh had watched as Kay, the Seeker of the Shards Of Mirrorwood, her best friend, defeated the Shade of Xirasir, the god of Despair. She had thought that the end of days filled with war and death.She thought wrong.Now magic has returned to the world, other dangers now threaten to destroy everything Miraveh holds dear. But the long years fighting Xirasir's forces have taken their toll upon her and she wants nothing but a life of peace.When her former leader, the Witch, Yusuvur, tries to compel Miraveh to join her in searching for replacements for the legendary Pillars of the Gods, Miraveh refuses, choosing to run and make her own way.With Yusuvur's student, Sialira and the thief, Daras, joining her, Miraveh finds that she may not have a choice at all and her own burgeoning magical powers could prove an even greater threat than anything she has encountered before. And what do the mysterious Hunters O' The Dark have planned for the Witches of the world?The first book in a new epic fantasy story, from the author of the "Patrons' World" series.Soundtrack available on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jangoeswriting/sets/pillars-of-grace-soundtrack?si=c327106f814b4963980d69853fa3abf7&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing🏵Featured by @WackyWriters - Undiscovered Gems Under 1k - Feb 2023🏵Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture.…

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Shion's life changed the day the world experienced the Blackout. Awakening to find her father ensorcelled (it *is* a word), Shion joins a group of adventurers, Dave, Jova and Jova's twin sister, the group leader, Mila, in order to find a mage powerful enough to break the spell.She soon finds that her father is not the only one suffering under the spell, but she soon learns that Mila, Jova and Dave have deceived her. Now lost in a sprawling, lost, underground city, infested with the darkest, most horrific creatures, the group fight for their very survival.Along the way, Shion has to examine everything she believes in, what she knows is real and what isn't and her true place in the world.Also, there's Bob(s), Trevor and Bernard to deal with. This complicates things.(TW: Foul language throughout)(Cover created in Canva, using Logokit for text and a stock photo adapted by AI)…

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Felicity 'Fliss' Farrah Fields embraced life. Truly, dearly loved life, but she loved her little florist shop, 'Petals', more than anything. Passed on to her when her parents retired, 'Petals' is everything Fliss could want from life.Except, perhaps, finding love. Finding women to sleep with, those wonderful ''Ms Right Now"'s, was remarkably easy. Finding that one, elusive, forever love was a little harder.Introduced to a new dating app, 'WaitDate', Fliss chooses temporary celibacy and enters into an anonymous relationship that has all the markings of something promising, but, coincidentally, she also meets Mia, a funny, vivacious girl Fliss chooses to remain only friends with, and the incredibly beautiful, billionaire corporate shark, Henrietta 'Harry' Marsh, who seems intent on stealing 'Petals' out from under Fliss.'Petals' follows Fliss' attempts to remain frustratingly celibate in the face of so many gorgeous women and her fight to keep hold of something more important. Her little shop. And she wonders which, if any, of the girls she meets can become her forever love.…

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[Wattys 2022 Shortlister][The Ambys 2023 Top Pick (Romance)]River May Dorsey loves tea. She loves it so much that, after her grandmother left her a substantial inheritance in her will, River decided to open a little tea shop where she sells tea from around the world.When one of her customers, Celeste, loses her job, a late-night conversation leads her to ask River to join her on a journey that could take them around the world, seeking out new teas for River's shop. A journey that River cannot turn down when the prospect of new teas beckons.But, tea isn't all that River wants.Along their adventure, she learns that there are more things in life than tea. And more things to love.🎉Featured on Ambassador's Romance profile, 'Rainbow of Love' reading list - July '22 🎉🎉Featured on Ambassador's Romance profile, 'Rainbow of Love' reading list - Jan '24🎉Cover created in Canva, using a Pixabay stock picture.…

JansOtherStories

Luke had always struggled with a sense of himself, fighting to reconcile feelings that threatened his relationships and his identity. After years of pushing those feelings deep down inside, and after losing his wife in a tragic accident, those feelings he thought consigned to the past begin to reemerge.When a night turns terrifying and traumatic, he is saved by the statuesque Helen, who recognises his struggle and supports Luke on a spiritual journey in search of his true self. But his search for meaning in the bittersweet emotions that are blossoming within threaten to destroy his friendships, his home life and his resolve to become the person he had always known himself to be. Or, rather, who she knew herself to be.A sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes heart-lifting, sometimes harrowing and sometimes touching tale about accepting who you truly are.🏵Wattys 2023 Shortlist🏵🏵Featured by FreeTheLGBT - Diverse Literature - July 2023🏵🏵Featured by Stories Undiscovered - Jan 2023🏵🏵Featured by @WackyWriters - Undiscovered Gems Under 1k - Feb 2023🏵🥉3rd Place - General Fiction Category -Pretty In Punk 'Punk Rock Awards' Apr 2023🥉Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture.…

JansOtherStories

A hero once stalked the streets of Bohemia City.Tommy Thornton gave his body, his looks and his future to a nation at war and then they abandoned him when they realised they had created a monster, not the super-soldier they could use as the rallying cry for the nation.Taking the name 'Gang Smasher', Tommy returned to his home town, and the deprived area of Hatchet Row to fight the ever-burgeoning gangs that had turned the district into a pit of despair, depravity and squalor, fighting the good fight without any praise or acknowledgement until the world's greatest super-team, Bastion, came calling. Then, after Tommy kills a vile, murderous super-villain, they, too, abandon him.Shunned, held to a promise never to play the hero again, Tommy diminishes until he comes to the aid of a young BCPD cop, Barbara Montoya, daughter of an old friend. In the aftermath, she persuades him to take up his old mantle to fight a new kind of gang. Gangs using deadly, temporary supers with ties to Gang Smasher's dark, distant past.Along with Regan, a polymath ex-lover of Montoya, the three of them chase down the architect of chaos bringing ruin to the Row, but it may cost all of them more than their lives.They could pay with their humanity.…

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[ONC 2024 Round 2 Ambassador's Pick & Longlister]Zjahn Zjmit, AKA Sean Smith, AKA Psycona. Alien refugee from a destroyed world. Peacemaker. Superhero.The life of a superhero isn't everything Psycona thought it would be. He feels unappreciated, undervalued, and sits in the shadow of other heroes. Heroes that he could beat with little trouble. Though he remains committed to the life of a hero, something is missing.When the world's greatest hero, Principle, must go off-world to save his loved one, Psycona takes the opportunity to prove to the world that he is its greatest hero. All he needs is a villain only he can defeat.As a plan formulates, Psycona will become the world's greatest hero, even if he has to become its greatest villain to do it.ONC 2024 - Based on Prompt 49 - Being a superhero is just too boring. Let's be a villain!Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture and text through Logokit…

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Caitlyn Carter never expected to see a battle between a superhero and a villain. When the hero, Black Staff, dies before her eyes, saving the lives of Caitlyn and her classmates, she soon finds that the hero's strange, shape-changing suit has chosen her as heir to Black Staff's mantle.Trying to juggle school, her social life and her new hero responsibilities, Caitlyn hides her double life while attempting to learn how to use the suit's super capabilities.Through several battles, Caitlyn gains new allies and friends, but greater troubles are on the horizon when a new villain appears in New Hastings city. As the villain wages a personal campaign of terror against Caitlyn, the stakes are raised to ever greater heights bringing Caitlyn to the brink of madness and horrifying losses.Only by using every ounce of her newfound strength, and her natural intelligence can Caitlyn hope to prevail against the greatest threat New Hastings city has ever faced.Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture and text through Logokit…

JansOtherStories

Demi had tried to atone for her criminal past, but when a bold, adventurous, slightly insane narcissist of a Captain, Frisson 'Friss' Packlightly, falls into her orbit, she finds criminality has not finished with her.Along with Lap, a two-dimensional, very opinionated being who only Friss can understand, their found (stolen) Galactic Navy corvette (Zapasnoy), Bognrd BloodRage, an ultra-violent chef, Briyun, the rodent-killing stoat-like creature who talks exclusively in questions and Lodka, Friss' lost, organic ship that Friss has an 'interesting' relationship with, they must find a way to break into the most secure facility in the entire Galaxy.A facility located in the very centre of the Black Hole at the galaxy's core.Demi must navigate intimate relationships, blaster fire, wormholes that really don't like people using them and mathematics that would make most people's ears bleed, in order to find a cure for the disease that ravages her brother and sister. Except, they have no idea who she is.🥉3rd Place, Sci-Fi Category in Banana Awards 2022 (10th Oct. 2022)🥉🏵Featured - Ambassador Profile - Humor - Nov 2023🏵🏵Featured by Ambassador Profile - Science Fiction - Jan 2023🏵Cover created in Canva, using Pixabay stock pictures.…

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In the days of the Old West, an unexpected event changes the world forever.When the dead rise to feed on the living, humankind congregate within swollen communities and only the very brave, or the very stupid, wander into the vast landscape now populated by creatures of nightmare.When Henry Pierce, intrepid reporter from back East, arrives in Prescott, Arizona Territory, he chances upon one of those brave souls and senses an unfolding story that could make his name. Following the bounty hunter, known only as 'Annie', out into the wilds, he finds himself caught in a deadly race to find three murderous men, led by the villainous Arthur Shipton.The hunt takes Henry and Annie into the very heart of the terrors that grip the New World, from the horrors of the shambling, glutinous Drifters, to a mountain under the thrall of the monstrous Skinchangers and on, to the fortress of Shipton and the blood-drinking creatures there.Can Henry survive to see his story published? And who is Pitchfork Annie? A ghost of a long-dead woman, a relentless predator of cutthroats and thieves, or an angel of righteous vengeance?Only Annie knows for certain.Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture.…

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After his parents' divorce, Frederick Douglas finds himself in a wholly unfamiliar part of the country. Gaining friends proves difficult in an area where people like he and his mother are very different from those around them.When he sees his new neighbour, Mr Dibbs, he expects the old man to treat him as badly as everyone else, but Mr Dibbs proves that not everyone judges someone by what they look like.As Frederick tries to come to terms with his new life, Mr Dibbs becomes his only friend, though the challenges of living in so different a place could prove too much for Frederick, his mother and Mr Dibbs.Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture.🏵Featured - @Wattpad Outreach - Best Of Outreach Hidden Gems - Oct 2023🏵…

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When international superstar, Laila, decides to ignore all warnings and fly to her next gig in a storm, she finds herself lost on a mysterious tropical island with no hope of rescue.With only her uncompromising pilot for company, both women must learn the secrets of the island in order to escape back to the modern world. Preferably without killing each other.As the mystery deepens, however, the two find common ground and learn that certain others may be trying to stop their escape. But why?A gag romance mystery for ONC, using Prompt 47: "A famous singer and their pilot crash land on a tropical island. With no-one else around, survival isn't their only challenge."…

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A battle trading card company creates the ultimate battle game, and people of all ages flock to play the new, immersive game of monsters and tactics.When Charli finds her new game board and limited edition card set destroyed by bullies, a friend steps in to help her out. Only, he can only give her a beta test version of the battle board and a children's card set.With the inaugural battle competition set to begin, Charli must use her wits to make her weak card set work well enough to enter the competition, but she faces people with more experience, more cards and better battle boards.Can Charli make her way through the stages with only a children's card set and a basic battle board, or will the competition prove too much?An ONC novella, based on Prompt 67: "A trading card game company creates real-life versions of their creatures. What started as fun and games quickly spirals into something far more dangerous."…

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[ONC 2024 Longlister]The heir to the kingdom has been kidnapped!Many great and powerful adventurers have tried to find him and bring him back to the loving arms of his father. Unfortunately, though great and powerful, they are also very much pitiful failures.When Luthiriensis, an elven tourist, and Mott, a perpetually aggrieved dwarf, are recruited by a mysterious patron to find the child, they soon find themselves in far more trouble than they could ever have imagined.Also, their recruiter is a dragon. So there's that to deal with too.An ONC novella based upon Prompt 21 - A dragon, an elf, and a dwarf embark on a quest to find the lost heir to the kingdom. Formerly "A Tale of Three".Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture and text through Logokit.…

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[ONC 2023 Shortlister]When the world screams, only the dead will know silence.After an unexplained event occurs, people across the world begin to scream. And never, ever stop. As the world falls into chaos, Henna Blackmore tries to survive, looting and scavenging what she can, when she can, but the screams never stop.When her military ex-girlfriend, Cassie 'Cas' Anderson, shows up at her door, Henna isn't certain whether she is friend or foe, but Cas has information. Vital information that could save the world.They only need to travel half-way across the country to deliver it.And the Screamers are moving.Based upon Prompt 16 - The world did not end with a bang, or a whisper, but rather, one scream at a time.Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture.…

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After losing her husband during the pandemic, Runa MacCabe moves herself and her children to the remote island that her husband's family had owned for centuries, hoping that she, her daughter, Hertha, and her son, Stigr, can find some kind of peace and closure.When the island is rocked by an earthquake and a terrifying storm on the first night, Runa believes their new life may not be as peaceful as she hoped. Especially after her children tell her that they were saved from the earthquake and storm by a big dog that now lay injured in a mysterious cave.Only, there were no dogs on the island and the only other resident of the island had only livestock animals on his farm.Insistent, Hertha and Stigr persuade their mother to see the big dog, only for Runa to find something far stranger and far more dangerous than she could have ever feared. Something that could spell destruction for the entire world.A novella, written for #ONC2022. Based upon Prompt No. 13 and in the Creature Feature category.Cover created in Canva, using a Pixabay stock picture.…

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When a strange old woman comes to the village of Little Plimpton, her arrival sparks a conflict that could bring the entire population to the brink of war. And by 'war', read 'a series of petty grievances aired in public'.Humphrey, caught in the middle of the ensuing whirlwind of accusations, threats and mildly aggressive and/or violent actions, must try his utmost to bring Little Plimpton back to some semblance of serenity and, if he has his way, at least quiet.If only so he can read his newspaper in peace.A novella, written for #ONC2022. Based upon Prompt No. 6 and in the General Fiction category.Cover created in Canva, using a Pixabay stock picture.…