2025 Golden Author Award
With the wind in her hair and the salt tickling her nose, a Captain heads out for a day on the brine. A story within a story, rhythm, rhyme, and repetition introduces life forms found in the Indian Ocean, while the imaging hints at the cycle of life.
A bored housewife finds herself trapped in a vivid dream—one that thrusts her into a mesmerizing, perilous fantasy world where every step promises mystery, magic, and the adventure she never knew she craved.
A touching, delicate story of a fateful encounter: Mourning the death of her son, Brigitte has been driving around France. In Dijon, she meets Christian, a passionate bookseller, struggling with his own demons. Bonded by their losses, they cling to each other looking for hope. As a storm approaches.
Italy 1949 Crowds flock to witness the mysterious visions and miracles of a fragile girl, Elisabetta. But her only friend, Adelina, has doubts. The consequences will last a lifetime, through to 1990s England, and provoke a reckoning with the haunting secrets of the past.
Jungle Jim takes Fred and his friends camping. They went for walks, learned about mushrooms and berries, tried hang-gliding and white-water rafting. And a cookout. "Having finished all the chores, it's surely time to make S'mors. Marshmallows with chocolate bits taosted by the fire on sticks"
The Earth’s magnetic poles reverse, civilization has its clock reset to the cosmic flashing 12:00am from a million years ago, and everybody is forgetting everything it learned since then—everybody except Hertell Daggett who decides to start civilization over again. What could possibly go wrong?
A mutilated body, a missing colleague, a bent copper and school children being groomed for organised crime. The common theme is revenge. Then as Greg moves fast to rescue a friend, his riverside home and everything he loves are targeted.
Against the backdrop of Prohibition-era Oklahoma City, Thea Carter conceals her struggles behind a façade of a normal life while navigating school, friendships, and first love.
After a mystical clan saves the life of an 18th-century archaeologist in the Amazon jungle, it sets off a series of events that impact the supernatural world two centuries later, when a contemporary guardian of the fae is approached by the Amazon clan's leader to help fight for their survival.
In 1945, a commander defies orders to save a young man sent to a suicide mission. Seventy years later, his estranged brother returns to uncover the truth and face the past.
Comedy crime. The most dangerous gig of his life. A fading British rock star finds himself on the run, framed for a political assassination in the Caribbean.
As Napoleon rises from the French Revolution’s ashes, 3 women dare to spy against him—a former countess, the daughter of the man who sends thousands to the guillotine, and a formerly enslaved woman—all must choose between love, duty, hope and despair to save their families and community.
As Paris descends into a vortex of suspicion and terror, Geneviève’s heart wages a war between loyalty and a forbidden desire that threatens to consume her. Hunted by Revolutionaries, she fights for her life, and the lives of those she’s come to love, and confronts the dangerous truth of her heart.
Three lost travellers on the edge of time. Three nations in a post-Armageddon cold war. Can they rise above themselves to save what's left of the world?
The sudden death of the passenger in the seat opposite seriously disrupts Detective Sergeant Chris Mathews' rail journey home. Worse is to follow.
There’s an inter-dimensional war brewing. I’m slap bang in the middle of it… and it’s my fault My family are killers, kidnappers, slavers. It’s up to me and my collection of misfits to stop them. We fought, until something unthinkable happened. We lost one of our own How can we save mankind now?
“Seeing all humans removed because of an Event I rubber-stamped... How do you think that felt?” As if an alien Reset of Earth alone isn’t bad enough, Caila must select seven companions for a human restart. And what lies hidden in her (pilfered) DNA could spell the end of humanity altogether.
Jayne Doxtater had a fulfilling career in aesthetics, two wonderful children, and a loving marriage with the man she was sure was her true soulmate, Rick. But when she finds a box in the closet of their cozy ranch home that’s full of women’s lingerie, she is stunned. Is he having an affair?
It only took five days to conquer Earth. Humans had no choice. Numbed by the horror rained down on them, they capitulated. All except a few groups of resistance fighters. Like us. It came with a price. One that broke me. But we won’t give up. We can’t. The future of humanity depends on it.
As the relentless march of AI creates alarm in the government, a ruthless adman comes up with a solution that may be too good for its own good.
A magician walks into a cupboard and is never found… A cat-lover suspects her husband of murder… From noir and dark satire to spies and off-beat crime, the seven short stories in this compact, yet perfectly-formed, collection brim with excitement, invention and compassion.
Moira, Deirdre and Nuala are at it again as they help unsettled spirits in their journey on the Otherside.
TWO SISTERS. ONE DISAPPEARING BODY. Estranged sisters Julia and Frankie take part in a murder mystery weekend. The playful intrigue turns deadly when they stumble upon a real corpse. With a killer on the loose, a body that vanishes without a trace, and trust in short supply, Frankie and Julia must...
A global pandemic, two missing children and a reckless arsonist are trouble enough for DCI Geldard. Then his investigation uncovers long buried crimes and he’s hit by a personal disaster.
This is an expository book about the scientific nature of the Bible. I found the atom hidden in biblical parables, and as I chased it through the stories, I accidentally found the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of Life, the Garden of Eden, and the Ark of the Covenant. The main character is the Atom.
When a black GI in 1943 is unjustly accused of murder, will the inhabitants of the Devon town in which he is based put aside prejudice to uncover the truth?
When Captain follows a mysterious tail into a dark cave, she and her dad discover a magical world.
The big man is dying, again. We must convince him to go through hell again. The Establishment is on our tail with orders to bring me back home, to my own dimension, because I’m adamant to bring down their inter-dimensional slave trade. We're here to stop that. …If we can stay alive long enough.
The Macbeths you’ve never known: Destined to unite Scotland, they first had to survive as pawns in a dynastic struggle.
Defying all odds, Karen Meades transcends boundaries and embraces a fearless journey of resilience and determination, redefining what it means to live without limits.
Rival clans on a dying planet must put aside their differences to confront a common enemy. When all seems lost a secret is discovered which could secure the safety of their people but may have a dark side that threatens their survival.
Finding herself under suspicion, Rita, determined to clear her name and expose the real villains, embarks on a perilous hunt for the truth. She swaps Wellington's mean streets for a Cambodian rehab, but the bodies keep piling up.
Betrayed and haunted by the fear of losing everything for herself and her people, Joliette Verzat faces impossible choices and dangerous enemies. She risks her life saving her forbidden lover, defies tradition, reclaims her legacy, confronts her own desires, and embraces the true meaning of family.
An unexpected encounter jolts space pilot Russ Atkins out of his dreary existence, but restoring a telepathic adolescent to her clan in defiance of Union law is not what he had in mind: defiance means death - only if they can catch him.
Hertell Daggett discovers a lost civilization, and they've been living beneath his pet cemetery due to some bad information they got back in 1963 about the end of the world. He leads the duck-and-cover civilization into the glorious, mystifying, and often dismaying modern world. What could go wrong?
After a devastating divorce, a military wife swaps city life for the Appalachian Mountains where she navigates disastrous and hilarious attempts to start over, faces heartbreaking loss, and inspires resilience with optimism and uncommon humor in her haphazard challenge to move on. She's a mess.
A murder he can’t remember. A truth he might not survive. On trial for murder, Detective Inspector Ross Blackleigh has only one defence: finding the truth hidden in his own mind.
In Wicked Shadow Whispers, the line between salvation and damnation is heartbreak-thin. Whether it’s a new race born from the climate crisis, a lovesick vampire, a lover come back from the dead, or a cursed Halloween prank, each story pulses with raw emotion, eerie magic, and high-stakes decisions.
Desperate to save his career, a local journalist stumbles on a scoop that could make his name, but to sell it he has to tell a small lie - and put a boy’s life at risk.
A disgraced former agent tumbles into a web of betrayal and greed as he investigates the brutal murder of Russian undercover agents. He’s led to the shadowy side streets of Copenhagen, where he confronts a trio of unsavory characters and his own past… and may become the next victim.
Seven women, bound by tradition yet driven by desire, reveal the untold truths of love and intimacy in their African homeland. In a world where passion collides with cultural expectation, their voices weave a tale of longing, defiance, and the silent battles fought behind closed doors. This novel...
Abandoned as a newborn, Anita’s only clue to her ancestry is a pendant, until, lost in Dancing Valley, she spies a fairy, a creature she'd seen as a child, but was told she'd only imagined, who leads her to Caroline, a guardian of the fae, and together they discover Anita’s heritage and her destiny...
Personal storytelling with profane wiseassery, Aim for the Middle chronicles how I overcame personal, medical, and financial adversity by aligning expectations and aspirations with abilities and potential for a life of realized adequacy that proved far more fulfilling than one of elusive excellence.
A reporter survives back to back 9+ earthquakes, that remind him of a 30-year-old CIA coverup. Is there a connection to the present? Chance encounters lead to his understanding the plan to subjugate all of humanity. Can he expose the dark plan?
Visit the Bronze Age Aegean, where perfect blue waters hide pirates and blades, raiders and slaves, love and loss, and sin. The kings are guilty. No one is innocent. Their war is real. Their gods are not. What really happened? Four Stories. Four struggles for freedom.
Aliens are all around us. They have been for centuries. And they are not benign. Far from it. They are slavers. Assisted by humans and shrouded in mystery, aliens have harvested young men for hard labour in other dimensions since the Middle-Ages. It’s time for change.
When 12-year-old Rebecca finds herself alone in the world, she takes her horse Flock and rides east, hoping to connect with other survivors like her. At Hever Castle, former home of Anne Boleyn no less, she finds new friends and gains respect from humans and extra-terrestrials alike. #CompanionNovel
What if time travel wasn't just possible, but happening right now? Tachyon Tunnel 2: The Daklin Empire is an uplifting intersection of science, romance, adventure and fantasy.
Moira, Deirdre and Nuala Gallagher, the three-sisters team of Gallagher Investigations, experience more encounters with troubled spirits needing their assistance before they can move on in the Afterlife.
Spirits, little people, witches and fetishes fill the pages of Five Stories Short, A Supernatural Quintet, where truth and fiction meld and magic happens throughout, with the premise that the mystical world is closer than you think
In 1779 British-occupied New York, a young woman pretending to be a loyalist to the Crown wants to avenge the death of a Patriot soldier she has befriended by joining George Washington’s spy network known as the Culper Ring.
Greg and Chris take a campervan holiday to Cornwall; but when a murder turns their getaway into a hunt for a killer, the real mystery isn't who did it - it's who is the real victim.
Austen's most intriguing characters interact with those in her other books. Her LADY SUSAN as a young girl. EMMA told in alternation by the brilliant Jane Fairfax and little Harriet Smith. DARCY in his own words, from his journal. Plus a series of P&P-based short stories.
The Good Children is an emotional heart-warming life story of two very special dogs and their reluctant new pack member Skye, as told through their eyes.
Sophie & Matt West are expecting twins—a hopeful new chapter. As old adversaries resurface, Eastwood Minster hums with its own dramas. The 3rd Eastwood Story brings relatable characters and touching moments celebrating the beauty and messiness of life.
Geneviève commits treason to save the life of a man she hates, but she knows he’s innocent. Her heart wages a war between loyalty and a forbidden desire that threatens to consume her. Now hunted for her crime by relentless Revolutionaries, she is forced to accept his help—but can she trust him?
Retired reporter Jake Scott narrowly escapes a near-hit car accident, only to witness the explosion of his B&B, killing five. Detective Dani Perez, doubting a gas leak, enlists Jake's help. As he investigates, Jake uncovers sinister secrets bubbling beneath the surface.
Warning: Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll! Fearless young photographer Maddy Garfield shoots love-ins and police riots in the turbulent 1960s, and deals with bikers, rock stars, arrogant diplomats, egotistical actors, and enigmatic Rastas in the '70s. But every time she encounters charismatic-but-elusive...
This is the true story of a life shared and a relationship formed over twenty years, between Morag Higgins and her companion, a horse called Bruja. At times humorous, often deeply emotional but overall one woman’s story of a lifelong bond between her and a horse from which she learned so much.
Personalities class and relationships explode when Maggie is forced to choose between the man she hoped to marry and her dream of becoming a thoroughbred jockey, and she learns some horsemen will do anything in the pursuit of success, but one man will do anything to win her love.
This workbook is designed to help authors discover how and where they can best connect with potential readers. Every book is unique, as is every writer. Connecting with readers costs nothing more than investing your time and very little money for the tools to implement your strategy.
Career U.S. Navy JAGC officer Lt. Duncan Carmichael and an American Civil Liberties Union volunteer lawyer, Sydney Warren, form an unlikely team defending a young sailor accused of a vicious murder on a U.S. Navy base and find themselves thwarted at every turn by the military command.
A Yandar ambassador on a human spaceship in uncharted space encounters her ancient enemy, the one with the celestial cannons—but this time, she, too, has the use of big guns.
Moira Gallagher has been conversing with ghosts since she was five. Now as an adult, she's finally putting that gift to good use.
Imagine a world where the West was never won, where the colonists were confined to the original thirteen colonies. Now, imagine that 250 years have passed…
Aliens are stealing human souls to reincarnate them as slaves in another dimension How do I know? …I’m one of them. My narcissistic father is central to this scam. I’ve had enough. My friends and I are going to bring him down. …If my violent, pain-in-the ass, human partner doesn’t kill me first
‘Written’ by Kurt, one of five disadvantaged teenage boys from a poor, crime-ridden inner-city area, this is what happened after one of them was abducted and forced to join a terrorist group and how all of them came to meet older men and learn trust, respect, hope and inspiration.
On a staycation with their families in Llandudno, Pearl, Primrose, Milly, and Reggie discover what happens to imaginary friends when they are forgotten about.
