Flannery O'connor Short Fiction Award Novels & Stories

On the day of my wedding, the video I had painstakingly prepared was suddenly replaced with intimate photos of my fiancé and my foster sister, Lindsey Remmington. Within minutes, it hit the top of the trending list. Overnight, I, a celebrated actress, became the abandoned bride of a wealthy family and a public laughingstock. Just when I thought I'd reached rock bottom, Connor Presley, the heir of Elluel City's most powerful family and the boy I'd grown up with, returned from abroad. In front of flashing cameras, he knelt with a diamond ring and proposed, silencing every rumor and every sneer. After we married, we appeared inseparable, our affection the picture of perfection. The only flaw was his infertility—his condition made it nearly impossible for me to conceive. For three long years, I underwent countless rounds of IVF. At last, I became pregnant. Connor was overjoyed. To celebrate, he threw an extravagant party in honor of our long-awaited child. But in the middle of the revelry, one of his closest friends, drunk and unguarded, muttered in Russian, "Connor, you've gone too far. Just because Lindsey was afraid pregnancy would ruin her figure, you put the zygote into Rachel's body and let her carry the baby for you two? If she ever finds out the truth, you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Connor's expression didn't waver. "This was Lindsey's only wish. I had to grant it," he replied coolly. "Besides, having a child with Lindsey has always been my dream. Only her child deserves to be the heir of the Presley family. The days ahead are long—I'll make it up to Rachel, eventually." I stood frozen, my body trembling uncontrollably. That night, I made an appointment for an abortion. When Connor stormed into the hospital, raging like a madman, I looked up at him with chilling calm and said, "I understand Russian."

Arian Smith had one rule which was to keep his head down, work well as the president of the book club, and hold tight to the scholarship that gave him a second chance at life. But when he’s falsely accused of stealing funds from the school’s prestigious Book Club, the orphaned student is thrust into a scandal that threatens everything he’s worked for. Kael Palmer has everything including money, power, and a last name that opens doors. What he doesn’t have is the academic award that stands between him and his graduation. The Book Club was supposed to be his ticket out until Arian’s scandal threatened to shut it down. Desperate to graduate, Kael strikes a risky deal with Arian. “Clear Arian's name to get the best member award”. But as both boys dug deeper, they became closer to the forbidden. What will happen to them since they live in a world where love between boys is forbidden?

To help my sterile Alpha mate Marcus Blackwood conceive an heir, I had used many hormone injections. My belly was covered with purple bruise marks from all the needle punctures. But after our son Connor was born, he was very weak and even ran much slower than the other pups. Marcus looked at Conner coldly and snarled at me, "It's all your rotten bloodline! You've brought shame to the Blackwood pack!" Later, he held his mistress Scarlett's pup—a three-year-old pup who was strong enough to beat an eight-year-old pup—and publicly rewarded Scarlett with a new Porsche. But when my five-year-old Connor accidentally knocked over his milk, Marcus kicked him in the chest and called him worthless. He even locked my son, who was afraid of the dark, alone in the drafty woodshed at the countryside estate during winter. Every day, Connor got only one bowl of spoiled food, until he starved to death. When I found Connor, his small body was already ice-cold, still clutching the family portrait I had drawn for him in his little hands. After that, Marcus tortured me to death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at our engagement party. Marcus publicly took Scarlett's hand in front of everyone. "I’m breaking off my engagement with Hazel Whitmore! She is just a foolish she-wolf who can only birth idiots! Scarlett is the one I love!" I realized that he was also reborn. He wanted to humiliate me in front of everyone again. But he didn't know that without my exclusive genetic healing technology, he would remain childless for this entire lifetime.

A bond mysteriously formed. Or was it tampered with? After a promise of a new mate to Connor, he suddenly felt like he was sharing the bond of the pack with someone but he did not pay attention to it as he did not want to have high hopes after the pain he went through for losing his mate, Anna. But then a strange lady comes to his pack, claiming him as her mate. He was uncertain about accepting her. One thing he did not know is that he had just opened his pack to vipers. They slowly crawled their way in and a predestined lady who was promised and destined to fight for them comes to light. How does the trail of Pain and sorrow drive in between Connor's fate for a mate?

Connor's missing first love was found. When he received the police call, he lost his composure and rushed out of the office, forgetting to grab his jacket from the chair. The business partners he was discussing a new collaboration with were stunned, all of them unconsciously looking at Anne. "It's fine, continue," Anne withdrew her gaze from following Connor, offering a poised smile as she smoothly took over his unfinished words. "Regarding the investment in the new project..." An hour later, Anne personally saw off the business partners. She returned to her office, picked up her phone, and saw that there were no messages from Connor. Anne called Connor. After a few rings, the call was answered, but it was a girl's voice on the other end.

Connor Lopez has experienced slight déjà vu for the first time in his life with someone who's stranger to her--Savannah Greene. Since that one strange night, Connor has been experiencing déjà vu often times than the usual, and it's making him feel like there's something wrong with his mental health. Through Savannah, he learned about the possibility of past lives and parallel universe. On the other hand, Savannah is a student of Multimedia Arts, to which, she keeps on experiencing dreams from someone else's life, and unconsciously painting the face of someone she never really know in the first place.

[This is an English language version/translation] When Atlas, the driver of CEO Connor meets the broke woman, Heather, who wants to flip her poor world into the other way around, she rejects him and chooses her rich childhood best friend, Theory, in exchange of her virginity and also part of their deal in the past. Little did Heather knows that after she turned down Atlas for being a poor, his CEO boss, Connor, made him the heir of the company. Heather finds herself blind for months in her love for Theory that abuses her and cheats on her. She goes back to Atlas, one rainy night of December, asks for a second chance but soon as Atlas steps back after their hug, she saw another woman from behind in her late pregnant state, she's Margaery— Atlas' wife.

The day I was supposed to win the biggest award of my career, I walked in on my boyfriend, Ethan, in bed with another woman. He sneered, calling me a face-blind, scent-deaf bore in bed. I planned to expose his ass at the award ceremony. Instead, he and his lover mowed me down with their car. Next thing I knew, I woke up with them in an S-class horror survival game. Mortality rate: over 95%. We had to survive ten days in a haunted manor to be revived. Hit 100 on your Anxiety Level, and your soul is obliterated. Chloe, Ethan's lover, sneered. "Sensory defects? You can't recognize ghosts or smell danger. In a horror game, that’s a death sentence. You might as well just die." The others heard her and scrambled to team up. Me? I walked straight into the lair of the manor's final boss. The most powerful demon in the game wanted to devour my soul. I couldn't really see him. I just thought he was a cosplayer. I lunged forward, poked his abs, and pointed at the glowing crack in his chest. "Wow, you're really committed to the role. This getup must've cost a fortune."

Connor is one of the Confradia’s top hackers. At twenty-four he’s living the life he’s always wanted. So what if he has feelings for one of the most infuriating women in the world? Five years ago, April was rescued from a house of horrors by one of the top Confradia Assassins, Micah St. Clair. Her life changes forever when Micah’s family adopts her. But when she discovers that the kids she was rescued with are being killed, April will find herself fighting for her life and finding a love she never thought she’d have. Read the Assassin’s Surrender and learn how Connor and April’s lives are going to change forever.

Anastasia has been hiding her scent from everybody. Her foster mother maltreated her and an incident made her run away to escape from the hands of the woman she thought was her mother. Upon staying in the pack that her real parents owned, she met Alpha Connor, a handsome and kind Alpha who protected her all the time. A steamy one-night stand happened towards them, which would be the way for so many truths to be unfolded. The truth that she was the Alpha's real mate and the truth that she was the real daughter of the Alpha and Luna. What will happen next to them? Would Anastasia, the Alpha's runaway rogue mate, and Alpha Connor achieve a happy ending? Or the problems and painful revelations would be the cause for them to break apart from each other?