2026 Writing Mentorship Award (for unfinished or finished manuscripts)
In war-ruled Vael, sixteen-year-old Jorium has trained his whole life to kill, but when he alone can wield the forbidden Death Arts, the power sickens him. As his people face ruin, he must balance life and death while falling for a Life Artist boy he is certain hates him.
In 1936 Seattle, an actor is having the time of his free-wheeling life, until he meets the woman of his dreams, who won’t let anything get in the way of her acting career. When her twin brother turns up dead, together they unearth a horrific set of murders, and a perpetrator who is untouchable.
The Light Templar awakens within the Veil. She has only a sword, shield and the hammering in her chest that says her dragon is out there. But what if recognizing her power threatens the power of another? And what if that other is the only one who can seemingly help her regain the sky?
What happens when the world ends? Do we forge a new sense of camaraderie? Do we forgo our grudges at the armageddon's behest? My take is that the world's end won't be so spectacular after all. Ultimately, we'll be too consumed by our own reflections to notice the world crumbling around us.
In Walking Over Wet Paint, a guarded, emotionally reserved editor in vintage togs collides with a charming oncologist in the wake of her mother’s terminal illness, forcing both to re-evaluate their emotional defenses, past patterns, and ideas of permanence.
When poorly and lonely William befriends a scruffy, one-legged pigeon he names Jack, he doesn’t just find companionship, he discovers the courage to imagine, explore, and heal. From their bedroom-window adventures to the moment William must finally fly solo, their friendship changes his world.
John Hopkins, a young Irish-American, believes he is worth more than his humble upbringing, so he tries for a job working for George Pullman, industrialist, who is building a futuristic city for his workers. At first, the two men hit it off, but when Pullman’s workers try to unionize, the two men...
In Seattle, 1935, a young girl right out of high school, falls in love with a glamorous older man, entering into a world of elegant gowns, cocktails, and dancing. But when he grows more controlling and violent in his pro-Nazi group, the Silver Shirts, she runs away with the help of an actor (Max)...
When a bitter and lonely magpie named Sorrow spends his days booing other birds, an unexpected friendship with a cheerful magpie named Joy teaches him that life is better when shared.
Heather is forty two and desperate to escape her small, tight world controlled by Mother, so bravely finds a path to trust in the outside world. And in herself.
When the ancient Aegean plunges into total war, pulling Helen into its wake, the battles are real, the gods are not, and the dead speak through myth and memory.
What if her hair was not Gold and she met Monkeys instead ? How would Goldilocks' story play out?
A 66-year old Senior Engineer at ToneDef Communications learns he’s been the victim of social engineering and has inadvertently passed highly classified military radio specs to the enemy. Worse still, the attack was perpetrated by his long-time lover.
Against the backdrop of 1940s England is the coming-of-age story of two irrepressible young sisters and their family. Daring to reach beyond their stations in life, gives rise to repressed aspirations stifled by class, humble circumstances, and the ever-tightening restrictions of war time.
A cycle of betrayal based on fairytales and mythologies brought together in an urban fantasy-romance following two teenagers that are two sides of the same coin who have to decide if they can break the rules their parents set for them
The death of a 49'er while chasing after gold, creates a shock that ricochets around his family, leading to identity confusion, injury, and the reawakening of old wounds. The town's "reforming" minister steps in to help the family heal and forgive; the family he will one day call his own.
Dragons keep the balance of the world. But when the people of Halareth began to pray to the dragons, the gods reminded their people that the dragons were a creature of their creation. Now, on every new moon, dragons no longer fly the skies, but walk the earth as mortals. And take as mortals do.
An inspirational story of love and war based on the true account of Makorongo, an East African serviceman who became a prisoner of war to the Japanese but was repatriated by Hans-Werner, his boyhood friend, before America bombed Tokyo in WWII and returned to the girl he left behind.
In a garden at twilight, a curious child discovers how animals, plants, and even the moon prepare for sleep, learning that bedtime isn’t an ending, but a gentle beginning.
