ScreenCraft Cinematic Prose |
2025
Hollywood loves adapting novels and short stories into feature scripts and TV shows - is yours next? This year’s jury includes literary managers, book agents, and producers.
Placement
Genre
Format
Representation Status
Winners
Winner
Short Story
· Fantasy
· 37 Pages
A woman with special abilities finds herself caught in a web of lies in a strange, dangerous city. The further she goes down the road of corruption, the more her body adapts and morphs to manage her newfound pain, all the while she dreams of liberation.
Cleveland, OH
Elizabeth Tabish is an American actress and filmmaker best known for her portrayal as Mary Magdalene in “The Chosen.” She earned her M.A. in Theater and B.A. in Screen Studies from Oklahoma State University. After completing her education, Elizabeth moved to Austin, TX and entered the film and commercial industry where she acted in various commercia...
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Koanim
Private
Winner
Short Story
· Family
· 25 Pages
After many years of estrangement from his family, Elliot returns home for his father’s funeral and must face up to what he found and what he lost during his absence from home.
Tucson, Arizona
Michael Tabor enjoys writing literary fiction. He has published two volumes of award winning short stories, The Lost Heifetz and Other Stories, and The Inquisition and Other Stories. He recently completed a historical novel, The Choice, set in C12th England about the conflict between Henry II and Thomas Becket told from the perspective of John of Sa...
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Winner
Manuscript
· Drama
· 234 Pages
At the turn of the millennium in New York, Aileen, a young Chinese immigrant, grapples with her identity, family obligations, and aspirations for success. Amid betrayal, heartbreak, and societal challenges, she navigates a journey of love, culture, and survival, ultimately rediscovering the strength within herself.
New York City, New York
As an Asian female screenwriter, I focus on diverse perspectives and voices often overlooked by mainstream narratives. I once pursued a BA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins in London before shifting my focus to film. I later earned an MA in Digital Direction at the Royal College of Art in London and am now pursuing an MFA in Film Directing and Sc...
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Finalists
Finalist
Manuscript
· Sci-fi
· 442 Pages
The year is 2137. Earth's sun has entered its red giant phase billions of years ahead of schedule, turning the planet into a hostile wasteland. As elite citizens are evacuated to a massive orbital space station, a group of scientists begin a galactic expedition in search of new hospitable worlds. On board the starship, one of the crew secretly plots...
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Portland, OR
Award-winning author, screenwriter, graphic novelist, and poet.
Finalist
Manuscript
· Historical
· 177 Pages
It's 1974, and Rosie Sexton, the daughter of conservative congressman Ted Sexton, believes she has nine days left to live. However, her parents are caught up in the last weeks of a tight, post-Nixon campaign season. Will she be able to get their attention before it's too late?
Detroit, MI
Kelly Fordon’s latest short story collection, I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her 2016 Michigan Notable Book, Garden for the Blind (WSUP), was an INDIEFAB Finalist, a Midwest Book Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Finalist, and an IPPY Awards Bronze Medalis...
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Peace I Leave
Private
Finalist
Manuscript
· Historical
· 443 Pages
In 1965, an Alsatian expat crosses America to learn who betrayed her brother to the Nazis during World War II. To find the truth, she must confront family secrets and her brother’s long-lost friend—a priest and undercover KGB agent whose handler wants her silenced by any means necessary.
No bio available.
Finalist
Manuscript
· Historical
· 143 Pages
In the natural domain of the Ozarks, a young woman escapes her suburban Midwestern childhood to embrace the freedoms of the early hippie era, only to encounter the harsh realities of isolation, love, and identity as her commitments and beliefs unravel around her.
Lawrence, KS
Leslie Reynard, a compulsive reader-learner from age 3, first earned a college degree as a 40-something widowed mother. She went on to earn graduate degrees, staying in college to afford health insurance and to be there when her sons came home from school
Thus, a difficult situation was a serendipity, the opportunity to expand her learning, tr...
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Finalist
Manuscript
· Comedy
· 183 Pages
A lonely, orphaned, middle-school girl attempts to use the concepts of math and science to gain popularity at her new private school.
Los Angeles, CA
Meehna received her MFA from the USC Cinematic Arts program with an emphasis on screenwriting. She's a journalist with bylines in publications including the Financial Times, Robb Report, Cox Media, Business Insider and Huffington Post.
Meehna sits on the board of Women of Cinematic Arts, a non-profit collective of female graduates of USC’s Scho...
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Finalist
Manuscript
· Family
· 250 Pages
No logline available.
No bio available.
Finalist
Manuscript
· Historical
· 263 Pages
1893: Ben Child, manager of London's newest prestige theatre, falls in love with its mysterious star actor. The catch? His beloved is a ghost—who steals life from the city's impoverished youth to maintain a body.
CT
Writer of historical and speculative fiction.
Semifinalists
A Distant Kind of Thunder
Private
Semifinalist
Short Story
· Drama
· 11 Pages
On the verge of moving to another country, an astrophysicist attempts to reconcile with his emotionally distant, devil-may-care father for one final time. But as the laws of physics might predict, when two meteors collide, what's left is beauty and debris .
No bio available.
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Thriller
· 311 Pages
When Matilda starts a job as a stewardess aboard a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean, she thinks she is finally free of her abusive husband. But when he arrives as the next charter guest, her darkest secret is threatened to be revealed.
Ciara O'Riordan graduated with her MFA from Boston University where she later taught undergraduate writing courses. She has worked as a freelance editor and ghostwriter for fiction writers, screenwriters, and academic writers alike over the past ten years. She has previously published two novels through Phantom House Press, and is currently a creat...
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Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Thriller
· 334 Pages
When a brilliant and trouble Bronx girl finds her the target of cyberterrorists, will her "formerly dead" mafioso grandfather be enought to save her?
Bronx, NY
No bio available.
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Fantasy
· 216 Pages
To save her world, Tula must learn the identity of the two-leggeds (evil incarnate); befriend her allies (the mystics) and discover the truth about her mother's death and her father's suicide to transform the sins of the fathers.
Creative Bio
Toni Dianne Holm
Writer, Editor, Publishing Consultant, Teacher
Creative Bio – "Toni is a professional writer, well established in book publishing (writer, editor, and publisher), and an ‘up and coming’ entertainment writer in television and film. Toni’s writing is uniquely her own, in both subject matter and delivery. Other world...
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Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Historical
· 294 Pages
A rebellious teenage English girl befriends the most feared man on earth-- Napoleon Bonaparte-- while he's being held prisoner by the British on the remote island of St. Helena, grows to love him, and risks her life on a dangerous scheme to help him escape. YA novel from Simon & Schuster; translation rights sold in 15 languages. Film /TV scripts av...
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Mount Vernon, NY
I get hired by film /TV producers to adapt IP or true stories, biopix, history. "Saving Mark Twain", original spec feature script: PAGE Awards Bronze Prize. Now adapting best-selling author Louis Sachar's THE CARDTURNER into a script for Afterglow. Sachar's previous novel, HOLES, was also a hit movie. "The Girl From Krakow" a WWII drama/LGBTQ Roma...
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Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Drama
· 290 Pages
When a former cult member and a Christian Dominatrix start a sex business together, they find submission to one another is the greatest challenge of all.
Los Angeles, CA
Sophia Domina is a professional Dominatrix, seasoned filmmaker, and journalist of 25 years who has produced work for CNN, National Geographic, The Dallas Morning News, and Jezebel. When she’s not penning erotica, she teaches female domination workshops and produces kinky immersive theater. She resides at her own “Domton Abbey” in LA. https://sophiad...
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EARLY GRAVE
Private
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Thriller
· 339 Pages
Jake Lassiter tackles high school football and becomes the most hated man in Miami.
"Levine scores with this complex and witty legal thriller. This winner works even for those new to the series." - Publishers Weekly (★starred review★)
When his godson suffers a catastrophic injury in a high school football game, lawyer Jake Lassiter sues to abolis...
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No bio available.
End The Patriarchy
Private
Semifinalist
Short Story
· Comedy
· 5 Pages
No logline available.
Brooklyn, NY
Not my first time at the rodeo as I've been making theater, film and music for over 30 years in NYC. Been fortunate to have almost complete artistic freedom and now seeking support to carry out my vast plan to take over the world. Bwah-ha-ha-ha (more about me at SueScarlettMontgomery.com )
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Historical
· 252 Pages
Historical action romance about a woman brave enough to seek a life of independence and a reclusive man afraid of his past.
Langley, BC, CA
I'm an award winning queer and autistic author of steamy and suspenseful historical romances. I began writing as a child and fell in love with historical romance as an early teen. Finally, I combined my two passions and started writing heart-pounding historical romances full of danger, steam, and a guaranteed happily-ever-after.
I live in BC, C...
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Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Adventure
· 295 Pages
In the heyday of Studio 54, a naïve gay college student attempts to smuggle a hash-lined suitcase from India, but detours to a mystical ashram and explores new worlds. The untested disciple must then find his way back to New York for the biggest score of all—saving his own soul.
Los Angeles, CA
Louie Mandrapilias has spent forty years contributing to top-tier media while executing successful design work for major global luxury brands. An imaginary conversation with his father resulted in his memoir Flew Too High. He lives a blessed life in the City of Angels where the adventure continues — a sequel to his first book is in the works.
Ghosts in the Glades
Private
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Thriller
· 248 Pages
*WINNER of the 2024 KILLER NASHVILLE CLAYMORE AWARDS- Best Southern Gothic
*WINNER of the 2024 MAXY AWARDS-Best Thriller
*2023 Longlist London’s Page Turner Awards
*2023 Literary Titan Five Star Gold Award Winner
*2024 ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition Quarterfinalist
"The underbelly of fear permeates throughout like a malodorous whi...
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Clear Lake, Iowa
New to the thriller genre, Staci has acquired success within the dark and twisted world of thriller writing. In the past two years, she has signed books to Black Rose Writing, Pegasus Publishers and Kingsley Publishers. She's placed in the following award competitions: Killer Nashville Claymore, London's Page Turner, Literary Titan, the Hawthorne Pr...
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Happy Hour
Private
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Comedy
· 306 Pages
KK Rhinehart is a 55-year-old woman whose physical and mental health has been wrecked by menopause. When she discovers an unfamiliar iPhone in her husband’s car, what’s on it instantly ends her 25-year marriage. But her two siblings and her two closest friends refuse to let her waste away on the couch, providing hilarious and over-the-top support. A...
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Elissa Bass
No bio available.
Semifinalist
Short Story
· Drama
· 18 Pages
No logline available.
Soo J. Hong was born in Seoul and raised in Los Angeles, where she currently resides. A graduate of Wellesley College and the University of Chicago, her stories have been published or are forthcoming in the Chicago Quarterly Review, The Summerset Review and Narrative, where she is an assistant fiction editor. Soo has been honored as a nominee for UC...
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Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles
Private
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Other
· 286 Pages
Sherlock Holmes meets The Thin Man when two young, struggling private eyes team up with Basil Rathbone, Dashiell Hammett, and the real-life actors who play Nick and Nora Charles--William Powell and Myrna Loy, to uncover the mystery behind stolen celebrity pets in 1940s Hollywood.
New York, New York
Elizabeth Crowens has worn many hats in the entertainment industry in Hollywood and NYC for over 25 years. She writes in the SF/F and Hollywood mystery genres. Literary awards by Chanticleer Review, the Eric Hoffer Awards, the Independent Press Awards, Glimmer Train and a Leo B. Burstein Scholarship from Mystery Writers of America.
James & Jim
Private
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Thriller
· 379 Pages
James Morrison has everything he could want: a beautiful wife, 2 ½ kids, Porsche in the driveway, and he’s one fart-sniff away from partnership at his management consulting firm. The only problem is, his new client might be a murderer.
Douglas Moser
No bio available.
Love Unmasked
Private
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Comedy
· 231 Pages
The woman he courts as a compromise is, in fact, the man of his dreams
Tali Sarnetzky
No bio available.
Not Fade Away
Private
Semifinalist
Short Story
· Other
· 32 Pages
A middle-class, middle-aged nobody forsakes the love of his woman (along with his uneventful career as a tree arborist) to become the third man in history to push a peanut up Pikes Peak with his nose.
Robert McGuill
No bio available.
Operation Cupido
Private
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Adventure
· 188 Pages
In "Operation Cupido," twelve vibrant American women in their 50s and 60s embark on a whimsical Italian adventure, chasing romance and rekindling their passions amidst breathtaking landscapes, laughter, and music, proving that love knows no age limits.
No bio available.
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Historical
· 324 Pages
On the eve of the American Revolution, a farmer mysteriously vanishes without a trace, abandoning his wife and children in a Dutch village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains. The neighbors believe his irascible wife has driven him away, but in the years of his absence an even darker story unfolds. The lines between myth and reality fade in the wi...
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As an environmental epidemiologist living in the Catskills, I am grateful to have lots of clean water. Hope it lasts. My novels have won a few awards, but I am happy to say that winning awards has not yet ruined the fun. Hope the fun lasts, too.
Sitala
Private
Semifinalist
Short Story
· Sci-fi
· 25 Pages
While out scavenging at the edge of a retreating ocean, Mika discovers the remains of a crashed spacecraft. At first, it's just an opportunity to find salvage she can trade for food, but deep within the ship she finds unexpected life and a mind with a tale to tell and memories to share.
Vancouver, Bc, CA
Philip Harris is a speculative fiction author and videogame developer. His books include the Serial Killer Z series and an homage to the old pulp science fiction serials - Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet. His short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including The Jurassic Chronicles, Bones, and Tales from the Canyons of the Damned.
...
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Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Horror
· 430 Pages
There’s a storm brewing to wake the dead.
When a mechanical engineer uncovers the mythical legacy of her seafaring women ancestors, she must choose: surrender to the sea’s siren call or fight to save her life before the past claims it forever.
Stafford Springs, CT
Maria Ostrowski is an award-winning writer of atmospheric fiction.
In 2023, her manuscript, The Bones of Hope, won two Killer Nashville Claymore Awards. In 2019, her manuscript, Yet From Those Flames No Light, was a finalist for the Daphne du Maurier Award. Her creative nonfiction and poetry has been published in numerous literary magazines and ant...
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The Brill Pill
Private
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Sci-fi
· 344 Pages
An ambitious research scientist’s work with brain transplant patients takes a dark turn when a personal tragedy warps his moral compass.
Akemi Brodsky
No bio available.
Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Drama
· 186 Pages
In this coming-of-age story, a teenager is forced to confront his past and examine the path that almost led to his death after being knifed in the back in an alley fight.
Chicago, Illinois
With five books and two award-winning screenplays to his credit, Dennis left his litany of jobs (prosecutor, defense attorney, beer line cleaner, dog walker, electrician, teacher, coach) to focus on writing. His screenplay, Not a Stranger, was shot in Chicago in 2015, distributed in 2018, and received 3 stars from film critic Richard Roeper upon its...
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Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Thriller
· 320 Pages
Two smalltown journalists race against time to uncover who is attacking a Canadian mining company before the next assault.
Greater Sudbury, ON, CA
David retired as a Deputy Fire Chief after 31 years. He has been a member of the Writer’s Union of Canada, the ITA, and the ISA. His works consist of IN DEFENSE OF INNOCENCE, 2018, HOMEGROWN 2018, DEADLY HARVEST 2019, MAD DOG 2020, For Heaven's Sake 2020, The Home Front 2022 and The Origami Deception 2024. He has adapted five stories into screenpl...
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Semifinalist
Manuscript
· Other
· 376 Pages
Former teen idol Eliot Pryce and overnight viral sensation Lucille Laurent shouldn't be on tour together. Eliot doesn't take Lucille seriously, and Lucille thinks Eliot's an asshole. But when Lucille gets booked as the opening act on Eliot's world tour, the two begin to develop a romance that will change the course of their lives and careers forever...
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Los Angeles, CA
The first thing Ally ever wanted to be was a cat. When this became unattainable, she settled for wanting to be the greatest writer in the world instead. Raised by Masshole parents in Salt Lake City, Utah, she wound up spending nine years writing novels in Massachusetts before coming to LA to pursue screenwriting, too. (Who said Ally can't have it al...
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Quarterfinalists
Quarterfinalist
Short Story
· Drama
· 18 Pages
Chidi Creek can't wait to sell The Diaspora Cafe to beverage giant Super Nova. Never mind that it had once been her dead father's diner and the heart of Five Points. Now, all that stand between her and a small fortune are community uproar, an unhoused vet with PTSD, and the legacy of her father -- a man who often put duty before family.
Tallahassee, FL
Vince is a McKnight Doctoral Fellow in the department of English (Creative Writing) at Florida State University. His area of concentration is African-American Literary and Cultural Studies, with a focus on adapting fiction for film and television. “The Diaspora Cafe” won the 2024 Jesmyn Ward Fiction Prize from the Michigan Quarterly Review. A finali...
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4D; A Psychonovel
Private
Quarterfinalist
Manuscript
· Fantasy
· 219 Pages
A would-be stripper down on her luck, accidentally summons a supernatural creature from an ancient spell in a motel bible leading her on a journey in the land of dreams to unlock a new evolution for the planet Earth from its memory while forming an unlikely friendship.
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
Short Story
· Drama
· 20 Pages
No logline available.
Soo J. Hong was born in Seoul and raised in Los Angeles, where she currently resides. A graduate of Wellesley College and the University of Chicago, her stories have been published or are forthcoming in the Chicago Quarterly Review, The Summerset Review and Narrative, where she is an assistant fiction editor. Soo has been honored as a nominee for UC...
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A Hostile World
Private
Quarterfinalist
Manuscript
· Horror
· 341 Pages
In a post-zombie outbreak world, a young orphan embarks on a perilous journey to find his grandparents.
Jason Parker
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
Short Story
· Thriller
· 30 Pages
When a murder occurs on her street, a local busy body learns more about her neighbors than she ever wanted to know.
Poolesville, MD
Family relationships anchor Mere's work - because we all need heroes in our lives who will grab the rattlesnake from under the dining room table and allies who can scream encouragingly. Mere writes features, books, short stories, and stage plays. In the past few decades, Mere has read too many books to count, directed several musicals and plays, sta...
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A Poisoner's Tale
Private
Quarterfinalist
Manuscript
· Historical
· 388 Pages
Rome, 1656
In the shadowy backstreets of the Eternal City les an apothecary - a place for women to take their heartbreaks and troubles. Herbs for childbirth. Tarot readings to tell their fortunes. An undetectable poison that can kill in four drops. Alongside her circle of female poisoners, Giulia Tofana dispenses her deadly potion to free the downt...
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Cathryn Kemp
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
Short Story
· Historical
· 35 Pages
A ten-year-old boy awakens to the dangerous realities of race in 1960s America during what started out as a joyous family road trip from Detroit to the Mississippi Delta. The boy's mantra—Never think a bad thing before it happens, unless you want to live it twice—is his antidote to Freedom Summer’s perils and poisonous atmosphere of fear.
Los Angeles, CA
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
Manuscript
· Drama
· 311 Pages
The Drakes are a dynastic hot mess of movie stars: some living in a world of generational wealth and trauma, some exiled to mental institutions, boarding schools, and graveyards, some still recovering from a lifetimes of lies surrounding a real and falsified adoption paper trail that eventually leads to the African American matriarch they never knew...
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Venice, CA
Just a typical novelist, in West Philadelphia born and raised, who started out as an English Lit major with stinging wit, waiting tables to pay for food, a roof, and tuition. Switched majors and went to film school to learn how to write movies. Along the road she became a stand-up comic, a natural evolution since her storytelling thrives on using ex...
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A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY HERESY
Private
Quarterfinalist
Short Story
· Other
· 45 Pages
A memoir about the inexplicable moxie of the muse.
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
Manuscript
· Other
· 195 Pages
A creative non-fiction Gumpian memoir from an Appalachian woman reflecting on how Roe vs Wade and the politics of her time shaped her life.
Cozart, NC
Peggy's passion for film evolved into a professional aspiration mid career when she attended the Nashville Screenwriters Conferences. "Inspired by screenwriters I met there, I began screenwriting while working and raising a daughter as a single mom. After winning a screenplay competition I realized not only can I do this, but my voice- unique...
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Alas, Poor Yorick
Private
Quarterfinalist
Short Story
· Drama
· 9 Pages
When the prop master in a local production of Hamlet is told by the lead actor that he wants to perform the 'Alas, Poor Yorick' speech to an actual human skull, it doesn't seem to be a problem until the actor tells him it's a very specific human skull that they have to dig up.
Columbus, OH
Sheldon Gleisser has mastered the Stuck Elevator Pitch (doing a pitch if stuck in an elevator with a film or TV decision maker). Such long-windedness didn't stop my script "Less Traveled" from becoming a top 10 finalist in the 2023 Emerging Screenwriters Action/Adventure Screenwriting competition. I've had short stories and a novel published, and ...
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An Untimely Frost
Private
Quarterfinalist
Manuscript
· Horror
· 210 Pages
No logline available.
Mark Spencer
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
Short Story
· Action
· 13 Pages
Armed with only a ukelele a payroll clerk makes a journey to the underworld to free a soldier.
Wellington (wellywood), Near Masterton, NZ
Maria won the Reed Fiction Award with her first novel “Left of Centre” (Secker & Warburg) and was a finalist in the Screencraft Cinematic Novel Contest 2021, Short fiction has appeared in Death Unleashed Vol 3, Press Pause Press Vol 6, Mystery Tribune, Apricity Vol 6 and the Penmen Review. She lives in the vampire friendly city Wellington, New Zeala...
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Quarterfinalist
Short Story
· Action
· 8 Pages
Facing your worst nightmare doesn't guarantee closure. Sometimes you have to beat your object of terror to death with a chair to move on.
Wellington (wellywood), Near Masterton, NZ
Maria won the Reed Fiction Award with her first novel “Left of Centre” (Secker & Warburg) and was a finalist in the Screencraft Cinematic Novel Contest 2021, Short fiction has appeared in Death Unleashed Vol 3, Press Pause Press Vol 6, Mystery Tribune, Apricity Vol 6 and the Penmen Review. She lives in the vampire friendly city Wellington, New Zeala...
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Barefoot In Hells Canyon
Private
Quarterfinalist
Manuscript
· Adventure
· 202 Pages
Two 19-year-olds risk their lives for an adventure, they know nothing about freight hopping, hitchhiking or whitewater rafting, one of the boys can't swim, still they chose the roughest whitewater in the US.
Bryan Gould
No bio available.