Bear Town

Bear Town

4,532 462 4

[🏳️‍🌈COMPLETED: Wattys Shorts Finalist] Following the death of his brother, Drew's parents leave him to his own devices. Unable to cope and incapable of grieving alone, Drew is turning invisible.Forced to relocate for spring break, he stumbles over what could be his salvation in the woods behind his grandfather's house.For Aiden, his former childhood crush that's arrived back is now all sorts of weird. But before he can decide if it's good weird, he's unwillingly pulled into a plan to help Drew keep a secret-one that would put him at odds with his own parents.Written for the LGBTQIAP+ Short Story Song Fiction contest based on a song 🎶 Copyright 2019 S James…

Covet

Covet

4,564 424 31

"Thunder and solar eclipses used to be considered supernatural. It's only a label until a scientist proves it with their biased rulebook. Once they do, it just becomes nature. What if there was a different rulebook?"A PARANORMAL ROMANCE: Homesick for Georgia, Dana must wait three summer months in Benton for probate to clear on her estranged grandmother's estate or face losing her inheritance. Chased by a loan shark she owes a debt to, Dana turns to local mechanics, Paul and Luke, for protection.But when the charismatic brothers withhold secrets scarier than the criminal hunting her, she soon realizes Benton serves another purpose. The town plays by a different rulebook. Dead doesn't always mean buried. Her return may no longer be the coincidence she once thought it was, and the very essence of what it means to be 'free' becomes threatened.************************************************Copyright 2022 S James…

Last One Standing

Last One Standing

89 11 6

[Two rival college bloggers-a lesson in chemistry that neither expected] Rival bloggers, Holden and Millie are forced together on an assignment to investigate whether men and women can truly ever be just friends. With a summer internship at stake and the entire campus taking sides, an all-out war of the sexes catapults them onto center stage.Holden is attractive, respectful, but brutally honest in his assessment of what guys actually want. Millie is smart, strong-willed, and an advocate that not all relationships are sexualized. But when the guy she covets slips through her fingers, where else can she turn but to the blogger she is pitted against who is out to prove there is no friendship without the end goal of doing-the-deed. And when the lines of their own friendship blur, who will swallow their pride first?…

Blackbird

Blackbird

3,805 390 13

🏳️‍🌈ONC2023 Shortlister [A queer retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in modern day California.] Tate Parker and Alex Benitez are sworn enemies, but it's not a battle line they've drawn. As the sons of warring co-workers, the pair are destined to be at odds by association. With this comes inherited rumors and social stigmas that each is desperate to break. But when the opportunity arises, their newfound kinship threatens one's redemption by putting them in a situation where the rumor about them might become true. And for the other, he must choose which to sacrifice in the court of public opinion, his father or friend? Both come at the risk of driving their families to the brink of war.PS - Nobody has to die at the end. Yay.…

Thorns

Thorns

1,164 163 9

[COMPLETED] Adrian's headed for a collision. He doesn't know when; he just knows that he is. With his father ill and his mother devout at his hospital bedside, Adrian is left navigating the world of grief, microwave meals, and first love alone. The sole person who makes him forget is Heather, his childhood crush who is eternally drifting away. When Adrian initiates a dare-to-be-great-moment, although criminal, he holds hope it may just keep her in his life a little longer.LOGLINE: An introverted teen must confront his emotions in order to salvage relationships before his coping mechanisms threaten to destroy them.⚠️ Contains themes of depressionCopyright 2021 S JamesAmbys 2021 Teen Fiction winner…

Wildflower

Wildflower

297 37 2

[COMPLETED - The Ambys21 Horror Winner] After civilization is propelled in a new direction, a cheap, no-frills way of housing the dead is required. A relatively humane solution to a world-wide inconvenience was born in the form of Zombie Park. Compound owners were hero-worshiped, and dubbed America's next generation of forefathers. Miles is a pen-keeper at the weirdest zoo on the planet. In co-charge of the Raptors, Gnashers and New Converts, something unexpected appears on his manifest, and he's forced to face the past he ran from. But times have changed, haven't they? Can you be held responsible for decisions taken to ensure your survival? Would Miles' dead ex-girlfriend think otherwise?Copyright 2021 S JamesHonestly written as a joke…