American Library Association Webinars Novels & Stories

At 3:17 a.m., every god in the world went silent. The dead began answering prayers instead. Lu Chen, a Chinese-American architect, returns to China to bury his grandmother and sell the ruined temple she left behind. But on the first night of the apocalypse, something wearing his father’s face calls him from the dark. The only place still protected is a forgotten City God Temple, guarded by one dying lamp and an ancient brass key. When Lu Chen becomes the final Temple Keeper, his divine territory is only thirty meters wide. His first mission is simple: survive until dawn. But the first person he saves is Ava Monroe, an American journalist who does not believe in ghosts, gods, or fate. She carries a mark every dead thing wants, and she knows a secret about Lu Chen’s family. To save the living world, Lu Chen must collect incense, judge wandering souls, summon ghost soldiers, and rebuild the underworld. Yet every prayer has a price, and every god who returns may not be on humanity’s side.

Adi (28) and Leonard (30), 2051, a happy living, lovely couple, intrigued by the mysterious appearance of a basement in their mansion chose to explore it. The mysterious basement brought many secrets along with it. They found an ancient diary that unraveled some past truth. They came to know about their past selves Ada and Lennard (1475), Ana and Levi (1750). The diary assisted them to access the memory portal which clue up them about the use of magical spells and how their past selves were brutally killed by the evil Dark Lord. The Dark Lord being blinded by the desire to access locked powers had knit a cunning trap for the couples with the help of an oracle who had made a prophecy about unlocking the powers and his death. Unaware of this vicious trap the couple chose to time travel and fight back against the Dark Lord. Alexander(30) and Vivian(28), close friends of Adi and Leo, tag along with them in their journey to defeat the Dark Lord. Will the couple succeed in the mission or will it be another fragment of an incomplete love story? To reveal the mysteries, put the book in your library, and don't forget to like and comment. ~~~~~ Cover is not mine and the rights belong to it's truthful owner.

My African American Mom married a rich Japanese man. As I moved the skeleton of my new bed next to the window, I felt a gaze focused on me. Outside my window, was the house next door. The house shape was similar to ours, so it also had a window facing mine at the same level. Standing there on the other side was a skinny Japanese boy. As soon as I laid eyes on him, he stiffened, then shyly smiled and waved. His hair was all over the place, seeing him in his tanktop I thought to myself that he must've just rolled out of bed. But wasn't it the afternoon already? The boy says something but of course I can't hear him with my window closed so I slide it open. "Eto....hi." He tried in English. If someone were to tell me later I'd come to care about him deeply, I'd find that hard to believe. For as long as I could remember I've always felt empty. And that emptiness, I hid on instinct.

Back then, Alice was framed by her stepsister and had a one-night stand with a strange man. When they met again three years later, she was a single mother and a urologist, and he was David, a billionaire with sexual dysfunction who couldn’t get an erection. She said, “Go lie on the treatment bed and take off your pants, including your underwear.” He stood up, unbuttoned his Tom Ford suit, and casually threw it on a chair. Then, he walked to the bedside with those long legs that would go on a runway, and slowly undid his belt, each movement carrying a kind of silent threat. “If you can‘t cure me, be prepared to be completely blackballed in the American medical circle. Don‘t even think about holding a scalpel in California for the rest of your life.” When she examined him, the change under him was astonishingly fast, like a sudden Flash fire, burning away the wasteland he had maintained for three years. His breathing instantly became heavy, and the bottom of his eyes was stained with a scarlet mixture of shock and madness. “Who the hell are you?” His voice was incredibly hoarse.

Isabella Cohen had better things to do than listen to her father go on and on about her getting married to the latest man who had impressed him, as if her father wasn't fucking his assistant every Thursday and Saturday. So, when she was given the choice to either marry Ethan Hawthorn (the biggest asshole on the planet with an even bigger ego), or be disowned, you better believe she packed her bags, transferred money to her secret account and took the first plane from New York to Italy. Stephan Ferrari was bored. Now you might think being head of the Italian Mafia was exciting and full of adventure, but you would be wrong. Stephan had killed all his enemies, partied for a week straight at the best clubs in Italy (which all belonged to him) and fucked women of all types, yet he will still left with an empty feeling inside. So, when he got report that the leader of the American Mafia's daughter was seen at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, well he may have found his new Queen. And if he could ransom said queen to toy with the Cohen family, then that was an added bonus

In this present reality where the heavenly and human domains impact, Luna Everhart winds up amid a tragic battle for adoration and acknowledgment. As the strong Alpha, she has consistently yearned for her perfect partner, the one bound to be her pack's future Alpha close by her side. Yet, destiny has a brutal contort coming up for her. At the point when Luna meets the cryptic and enthralling Leo Blackwood, she's persuaded she has tracked down the missing part of her spirit. As the Alpha of her pack, Leo is all that she has always needed areas of strength for and is furiously defensive. In any case, their sprouting love is compromised when an old prescience predicts an association that could redirect their pack's set of experiences. As insider facts about Luna's past start to disentangle, she finds a stunning truth that takes steps to destroy her reality. The Moon Goddess has picked her for a higher reason, one that conflicts with custom and difficulties the profoundly instilled rules of the pack. Devastated and broken, Luna should face the hard decision between her profound longings and her obligation to the pack. As she wrestles with her personality, she should likewise explore a misleading snare of misdirection and -out that could cost her the affection she longs for and in addition put her whole pack at risk. In " Rejected by Her Mate," join Luna on a grasping excursion of self-disclosure, penance, and boldness as she battles for an adoration that challenges predetermination itself. Will she track down the solidarit by to face progress in years-old practices and fashion her way? Or on the other hand, will she surrender to the tensions of the pack, leaving her heart perpetually in the possession of destiny?

In a world slowly being erased, the quiet is the killer. Ethan Ashworth’s life ended the day the Silence touched him, leaving a smooth, numb patch on his skin and a ghost where his memories used to be. He is one of the Marked—doomed to be hollowed out, unless the hunters of Die Jägerfind him first. His only hope is the Library, a secret sanctuary for those the Silence hasn’t yet consumed. There, he meets Lorenzo Cavalli, a former soldier marked not by emptiness, but by a rage that refuses to be silenced. Their connection is immediate, volatile, and unwanted—a psychic bond forged in shared terror that screams against the quiet. It’s also the one thing the all-consuming Silence cannot stomach. Their bond isn't just a link; it’s a weapon. A wrong note in a world demanding perfect silence. On the run from relentless hunters and a creeping nothingness that eats sound, memory, and soul, Ethan and Lorenzo discover a terrible truth: the Silence isn't random. It's a hunger. And it’s gathering, preparing to swallow the world whole. Their only chance is to turn their unwanted connection into a blade, and walk into the heart of the consuming quiet. To kill a god of silence, you don’t fight with a shout. You fight with a scream that is also a love song.

Alina Hart, a sharp-tongued high school senior, hides behind sarcasm and wit to mask the pain of fractured family life. Shipped off to a prestigious boarding school by a father who no longer sees her, Alina struggles to find her place in a world of strict rules and academic expectations. Enter Professor Cristiano Wright, a 27-year-old literature teacher whose calm demeanor and sharp intellect make him both an enigma and a fascination. Tasked by Alina’s older brother Ethan to keep an eye on her, Wright finds himself drawn to the complexity beneath her rebellious exterior. In the backdrop of Shakespearean sonnets and Romantic poetry, Alina and Wright navigate an increasingly fraught connection. What begins as reluctant mentorship soon transforms into a tangled web of forbidden emotions, unspoken words, and an undeniable pull that neither can ignore. Set against the bustling corridors of an urban high school and the quiet corners of a library filled with unspoken confessions, Silent Flames, Forbidden Paths explores the fine line between admiration and desire, duty and vulnerability. As Alina and Wright grapple with their feelings, they must confront their moral boundaries and the cost of their choices. Can they maintain the lines they’ve drawn, or will their emotions blur them beyond recognition?

Thanks to my dad's work, I have to transfer schools. Soon, I go to my new school to register for my enrolment. After submitting my personal information, the teacher in charge shoots me an odd look. "Is your father Mr. Chapman, the new shareholder? His child should have enrolled with us a long time ago. In fact, his daughter is half a year older than you. You're not that person at all…" Stunned, I dig out my phone and show my photo with my dad to the teacher. She glances at the photo before showing me the system window. "Mr. Chapman's daughter has been studying in this school since the first term. He even donated a library to the school recently. This is a photo the school board has taken. You can take a look yourself." In the photo, my dad and an unfamiliar student can be seen standing at the school's bulletin board. That young lady looks as old as I do. Her features are similar to my dad's. In fact, she resembles him more than I do! If they are an actual father and daughter pair, then who am I?

“At least my books can distract me from remembering what you did to me last night.” “A distraction?” His lips ghosted over my ear. “Then I'll have to be more memorable. I'll take you on every surface of this library until the only story you know…is ours.” When Mirabelle witnesses mafia don,Theo Gaspard commit a murder, her life is his to command. To save her family, she must play the part of the ruthless billionaire's beloved girlfriend, living in his luxury mansion and warming his bed. Theo is a man of ice and control, but the defiant, soft-hearted server ignites a fire in him he can't extinguish. Their forced proximity is a battlefield of whispered threats and stolen, scorching touches which he tells himself it's all to protect his empire. As a deadly betrayal closes in from the heart of his own organization, their dangerous lie becomes the only truth holding them together. But when a secret from the past surfaces, Mirabelle discovers the man who holds her captive is hiding the one truth that could shatter them both.