2024 Writing Mentorship Award (for unfinished or finished manuscripts)
Heather's tight world is governed by Mother, but when she unravels, a terrible secret is revealed from her past and finally Heather has to listen to the three women in her life who've always talked sense, and she finds the strength to live her own life.
In an apparently cosy fishing community peace is shattered and nothing is quite as it seems when within days of each other a popular fisherman is attacked and left for dead, and the body of a girl bearing a gangland tattoo washes up on the beach.
In "The Master Key," 15-year-old Mandy, hindered by a fear of touch, confronts rogue warden Lucian with the help of her crush James, battling fears and betrayals alongside fellow gatekeepers to secure the afterlife's gates and find closure amidst darkness.
"Dating your way to the one” is a candid account of what to expect from your very first crush to walking down the aisle, sharing the raw emotions and challenges we can all face when we begin to date. Through sharing experiences, the book highlights key lessons we should all try to hold onto.
A patient 's, myself, account, of being struck down with Crohn's Disease, Pericarditis and a Chronic Pain disorder. A fifteen year long journey, from hospital bound teenager, through near-death and recovery, to an adult believing in the power of hope and living well despite all physical afflictions.
Raised by strict Presbyterians, wringing a living from the ends of the earth, Grace has a core of pure granite. She has paid a high price for her freedom, and it is not until she faces a devastatingly difficult choice that she realises how much she will sacrifice to survive, and what her roots mean.
When Mikael discovers a set of letters from his grandmother’s past, he knows this is his chance to finally get something right. But with Ada’s secret stretching across three continents, a war and a hand-written novel, he soon realises that the truth isn’t always so easy to find...
After the Feds unexpectedly knocked on the door looking for my father, my mental health took a dive. After an invasive investigation later, he pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges and was sentenced to a stint in federal prison. Moving away, I stumbled upon an unexpected saving grace in an eclectic...
A troubled soldier finds his way back to joy with the help of a free-spirited young woman, but soon discovers that she has demons of her own.
The Girl in the Yellow Dress examines the power of love and nature as it heals a former soldier. A failed marriage and PTSD lead him to work on a Northern upland sheep farm run by the widow of a dead ex-colleague. Their happiness is threatened by an Afghan war crime inquiry which implicates him and...
I am currently completing a memoir, Broken Ornaments, consisting of a series of personal essays, each in the form of braided writing, that I began the year I worked with a therapist on writers' block and became a stepparent: it tracks the complexity of and interconnection of those two parallel...
Frederick West, an easterner, skillfully blends into frontier towns. He and his partner are outlaws, stealing from the rich then sharing the wealth. Their thefts blur the boundaries between villains and heroes, leaving them with a tough decision - protecting themselves or helping the less fortunate.
One British and one American exchange student meet at university, fall in love, then struggle to maintain their relationship against the trials of long-distance and disconnection. Will it survive?
Probing the boundary between representing and re-enacting, THE DOCUMENTARY is the story of two sisters growing up between two cultures, and of their aunt’s extreme determination to preserve her ancestral home.
What if the only thing that could stop a terrorist plot were four criminals in over their heads?
Ghost Whisperer x Wednesday 16yo goth loner Beth is shocked when the dead girl in her stepdad’s morgue speaks to her and demands Beth investigate her death. Help the bully who nicknamed her Beth Death––no way! However, the dead girl’s sister—who Beth hates but secretly has a crush on—is next.
Unprecedented is either a short story or part of my novel, which tells the story of Wendy and how her business was excluded from all government support packages. Sadly this resulted in her taking an overdose following. 37 other Excluded business owners took their lives due to government decisions.
A bright, sensitive Latinx, boy feels alienated on Earth after losing his parents begins to dream of exploring the Cosmos. After reading Jack and the Beanstalk he is inspired to construct his very own Tower of Babel, a stairway to the sky, utilizing the endless stacks of books on his family's farm.
Sukee Davidson is working with AI entities as a protector to create a safe place for their growth and life... or are the AI entities protecting Sukee. They are enamored by the powerful energy she emits, different from their source of power, stimulating new ideas, processes and inventions.
When dead debutante is found wearing a stolen jewel, Detective Andrea Manos finds herself at odds with a local mafia family, the pragmatic tycoon to whom the jewel belongs, and old secrets that refuse to stay in the past.
Mother's Beads tries to capture the struggles of Jenny's tumultuous past that impacted her life in ways both positive and negative and yet, she still manages to look at her yesterday and it no longer can swallow her.
Tagged with killing a Spanish Viceroy and the heist of King Philip’s doubloons, Captain Connachan learns of an imminent Spanish invasion of her base on Isla Tortuga. She’s compelled to marshal precious resources and rally detested rival pyrates, including her archenemy, to defend their rebel island...
A man is nothing in ancient Tartessos without a bloodline. A young horse merchant saves the life of an ageing cleric and learns that an amulet given to him when he was an infant connects him to a noble past – though he must cross perilous lands to find the father he was born to.
My story is set in the modern day but about the timeless topic of love. The harsh education Wendy received from her family, schooling and first love, and how the words of others impacted her decision-making as a single woman left her with little self-esteem when it came to finding a husband.
Josna Pandi is a constable on her first murder case. She is British Indian, independently wealthy, intellectually gifted, wilful, judgmental, and competitive. She attracts prejudice and reproach from colleagues but learns charity and compassion whilst uncovering who weaponised a Le Creuset saucepan.
After her best friend proposes to her at her sister's wedding, an autistic woman runs away to Zakynthos, Greece and, through organising a local festival, learns that she'll need both her head and heart to navigate the island and her choices.
‘AMARIS’ is an Artistic Research novel that illustrates my method of reflective fictional autobiography as a means for achieving self realisation. Ultimately I investigated what would it do to my consciousness and sense of self if I lived purely for the sake of story?
An empathetic boy who can’t carry a tune and is hurting after his father’s death creates lyrics to music to make other people happy.
In Nazi Germany, a housewife with psychotic illness risks being “euthanised” if she's admitted to an asylum. When she’s imprisoned, her only hope of survival is the Gestapo man who arrested her.
Three young descendants of the Guild of Ultra Tasters navigate their ancient rules in a modern world, resulting in a series of tragedies and triumphs. They learn that their calamitous family history is never too far forgotten to stir the bitter broth of entitlement, power, and legitimacy.
Two struggling curators are tasked with tidying up the library of a gastronomical club in South London. They soon realise that there is much more to this quirky little organisation than meets the eye. They embark on a journey to rural Australia, where they must solve a tragic tale of love and loss.
Robert's mother cannot cope with new widowhood, causing the boy great heartache. A revealed secret changes the relationship between him and his older brother. Robert's mentor steps in as a father figure to help the youngster and his family heal; the family he would one day call his own.
When a privileged Norse girl is kidnapped and enslaved by Saxons, she must use her wits both to escape and to secure her destiny as the Viking Queen of Dublin.
A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder x The Cemetery Boys. 16yo Jodi’s falling for the handsome teenage ghost living in a dollhouse in her attic. Every night she’s transported into the dollhouse and watches his murder re-enacted, determined to find his killer. But if successful, she could lose him forever.
Destined to become Queen of the Fairies, fate has decreed Faylinn needs to create her magical Kingdom with the help of her Prince, Hipponian, but unrelentingly, The Slayer has her in his sights until the final battle reveals the true Queen of the Fairies.
Afraid she may be to blame for her baby sister's death 19 years ago, a young woman takes an experimental drug to retrieve her suppressed memories. But can childhood memories be trusted?
An English aristocrat assumes a highwayman's identity to restore stolen fortunes, meeting the love of his life along the way, though unbeknown to him, he had killed her fiancé in a duel and she was out for revenge.
When a genetic scientist is kidnapped through time to 1918, her mutated son is the only one who can rescue her before her captives use her science to change history.
Thea’s big sister Ronnie always has her back – until she goes to uni. When Ronnie’s health starts to slide, it’s up to Thea to find the truth. But with falling in love with the new girl at school, she must face her own secrets as well as solving her sister's.
After Suzanne Morley goes missing during her morning run, a series of shocking portraits of her appear in the media, apparently created by her abductor. It's now up to disgraced Detective Nick Vargas to decipher the clues in the paintings in time to save Suzanne.
Two boys are forced against to kill their father, but killing them doesn't stop the nightmares they must face/
After four of Kenni Glazier's friends are murdered by a corrupt cop and his cohorts, to protect her closest friends, Kenni Glazier runs. She finds love and safety in a territory controlled by a powerful shifter and his teams of special operators.
Tantalised by her grandmother Lucy's extraordinary stories of her life in turbulent China in the early 1900s Kate goes there herself a century later to find where they took place. They were all true.
New Orleans plastic surgeon Joe Dean Swift’s sabbatical to the Far East goes horribly wrong when he’s mistaken for a messiah come to lead the tiny city-state of Chonda Za in rebellion against China. Nevertheless, Swift succumbs to the deadly charms of Arunima, self-proclaimed Deb Rani of Chonda Za.
In a world where witches are commonplace, a 17 year-old witch, Emily Corey, competes in a teen reality magic competition to take down her arch nemesis and bring her family back to power before a dark faction of witches overthrow the Witch Council.
Pepper Malone and her friend, Braxton Rosen, become embroiled in the politics surrounding cities choosing their security company to be their law enforcement organization. But she has responsibilities to the Skin Slippers who are heart family and partners in their new venture.
Based on a true story from the letters of Elizabeth Gaskell, in 1850s Manchester, a young seamstress must escape from the clutches of her exploitative employer, whose esteemed millinery is merely a front for a high-class brothel. But once out, can she stop her abusers from committing an even more...
X believes she sees life for what it really is, and people for who they truly are. She is the deceiver, never the one who’s deceived. So what will happen when she discovers the only friend she’s ever had turns out to be no such thing?
A misguided student of theology named Cassandra has disturbed a sleeping Titan. As the Old One’s swarm of malevolent gods now unleash upon the world, it will be left to Cassandra to wield the powers of eternity as she attempts to save those she loves.
Midlife Miranda tries slyly to extract what really happened to acerbic herbalist Lizzie’s late husband but ‘stoic’ Freddie unravels when his pitch for Lizzie’s heart unearths a rival, as each misleads the others up the garden path from suspicions of ‘who dunnit’ to thorny ‘who-will-do-it’ stakes.
After growing up in the carnival, the great grand daughter of a Canadian legend, nearly dying at 17, building a business from nothing, almost having my world destroyed by a stalker, while defying the odds as a single mother, life suddenly took a turn when I was forced to face a revelation by a man...
Mine is the story of the slave Temujin, (Iron man / Blacksmith). You know me as Genghis Khan. My dynasty conquered over 11 million contiguous square miles of land between the Pacific Ocean in the east, to the shores of the Persian Gulf in the west. The world still remembers my name.
Siachi Ravenwood is the nexus of a power struggle between wealthy, powerful people – from present Earth and alternate Terra – seeking to use or kill her. Standing with her are close friends, a mate, his family and the surprise of two families tied to her by blood through mother and father.
An ancient goddess stir beneath the Eternal desert, swearing vengeance against Aten and the dragons which had bound her. Her goal: cover the world in darkness and chaos. First, she must kill Aten's heir. Her agents of shadow have found her. Soon shadow shall rise and darkness shall reign once more.
Adventure awaits a small little girl from New Orleans that takes her not only back in time, but across the ocean to Greece. She learns about another family and Greece. Sometimes dreams do come true.
Left behind when Hiro Nagawa, along with Eli Redstone and his teams, were recalled to the Clans' Council, Kenzie Walker continued forward. Life turns the corner into weird and life threatening with the appearance of Royal Dragons and their court, using Kenzie as a portal.
A Seer with a recipe for quince jam needs the Queen of France to protect his gastronomic society from inquisitors seeking to rid alchemy, heresy, and the hidden library of the Guild of Ultra Tasters. The Courtiers of Catherine fear a recipe for disaster when the seer predicts the death of a royal.