[ONC Shortlist | ROUND ONE Top 5 Winner | Based on ONC2021 prompt #13] What would you do if you woke up in a fairytale? A young, fourteen year old Ruby-Rose wakes up in a medieval castle unsure how she got there. But soon, with the help of an unexpected chambermaid and a scary dwarf who isn't a dwarf, Ruby discovers...
James Grafton, Viscount Gowthorpe, needs a wife. Recently returned to London, he reluctantly seeks out Lady Match, affectionately dubbed so by the ton for her excellent matchmaking skills, only to discover that she's the last person he wants to find him a wife; the woman he abandoned years ago in her moment of need. P...
Every now and then, a strange signal blinks on the live-dead map. Question marks above the dot represent how much knowledge about it the Underworld Central's Death Headquarters lacks. Kuolema, the Master Death and ruler of the Underworld, sends out his reapers to investigate, yet each time they come back empty-handed...
When a fun-loving beauty with brains and a stone cold hardliner are forced to work together...the situation will be volatile. Paige Adesanya is a free-spirited, first year Pharmacy student at Landmark University, England. Adulting is tougher than she expected and the pressures of campus life leave her feeling overwhel...
[ONCE 2021 Honorable Mention; ONC 2021 Ambassador's Pick; ONC 2021 Long Lister; ONC 2021 Short Lister] Emilia Vos had simple plans for her future. She would eat popcorn while swiping right on the new dating app Bifrost, where all her mystical love fantasies could come true. And, of course, keep her night job of hunt...
🏆 ONC AFRICA 2021 WINNER (SPOTLIGHT STORY) "Would you sabotage someone's career to protect your own?" Teniola Oyeyinka travels from New York to Nigeria after receiving a call from her estranged, terminally ill father. She is distraught by the experience, but eventually embraces new friends and family and decides not...
| Honorable Mention ONC 2021 | *** Rebecca Smythe has led a perfectly unremarkable life. Unremarkable, that is, until she is accused of witchcraft and whisked away into a world of magic, secrets, and housework. When these secrets begin to take on a life of their own, however, Rebecca is forced to choose between her ow...
Ever since Death got trapped in the mortal realm three years ago, nonstop famines, wars, and plagues have ravaged Earth. Shiori, a budding scientist with a love of snakes and a loathing for small talk, doesn't really care. She can deal with the constant pandemics, bombs, and spider/iguana/fruit fly/crocodile plagues...
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...
(Round 3/longlist Ambassador Pick) Open Novella contest 2021 For seventeen-year-old Toby, it's hard enough being a teenager. But then the world went and ended, and he got turned into a member of the undead community. Now his life consists of chasing his dinner down the road and hiding from gun toting maniacs who are d...
ONC 2021 In the land of Nodin, an outcast fae is used by nobility in many unsavory ways. His strange looks and bird-like wings deem his blood tainted and him unworthy of the respect paid to true fairy men. Ridiculed and sometimes tortured by royalty, his only solace can be found in the ancient fae female who raised h...
Eight years into the Infection, a spunky idealist convinces a hardened recluse to help him save humanity. --- For eight years, Zafaru has fought to survive the freezing cold, constant hunger, and vicious Infected. Armed with a dull blade and sharp sass, he clings to a dream of saving the world. For eight years, Reclus...
[ROUND TWO ONC 2021 qualifier] Young Camille Kamdev is hoping on her sixteen birthday she'll magically wake up as a zit-less, sassy, grown-up goddess, one babes will fall in love with because she finally has it, whatever 'it' is. That or the God of Love will take mercy on her and send someone. Instead, Cammy welcomes...
A badass pirate girl. A crew of bickering men. A missing captain. An iguana. A treasure map. Add to that a mermaid, a bunch of manatees, and perhaps a capybara or two. These are the ingredients to a crazy and unexpected adventure across the seven seas. Will the crew stop bickering? Will they find the treasure? And how...
