Pulitzer Prize Finalists Novels & Stories

"You were never her, Aria. You were just... there." Jason's words echo in my head as I stand in the back of the church, watching him mourn another woman on her sister's wedding day. Isabelle. The perfect dead girlfriend. The ghost I've been competing with for three years. I thought I could be enough. I thought love could grow where grief once lived. But when I find the evidence, when I see the hotel receipts, the text messages, the photos of Jason with Isabelle's sister Violet, I realize the truth. I was never the love story. I was the intermission. What I don't know yet is that nothing about my marriage was real. Not Jason's cruelty. Not Violet's affair. Not the stranger's rescue. They've all been playing a game, and I'm the prize they're willing to destroy each other for. When the truth comes out, when I discover why Isabelle really died and who's been pulling the strings, I'll have to decide: Do I let them destroy me, or do I burn their whole world down?

I had special luck that would cause others to lose their money. If anyone tried to scam my money from me, they would suffer financial loss. When I was in elementary school, a female classmate stole five dollars from me to buy a snack. The next day, her father suffered a fifty-thousand-dollar loss in his business deal. When I was in high school, my homeroom teacher withheld my prize money. The next day, his wife got into a pyramid scheme, and he lost his house because of it. After I started working, I encountered my extremely snobbish boss, Fiona Anderson. I submitted a claim for five thousand dollars, which I had paid in advance for a company event. However, she refused to approve the claim for three months. As for the rich intern who drove a luxury car, she would immediately approve his claims with a huge smile on her face, even though he would submit fake receipts. I urgently needed to pay my credit card bill, so I went to talk to her. Fiona pointed at me and snorted. “Poor men like you always try to covet the company’s money! “How dare you ask me for money? You must be out of your mind!”

Warning: This story containes explicit scenes. Intended for those above 18... ******* Aria Blackwood has spent her life trapped beneath her father’s iron rule. When she is paraded through the glittering halls of the Grand Moon Hall, offered as a prize to unite the powerful Twelve Houses, she believes her fate is sealed. But one forbidden night changes everything. The stranger who steals her breath is no ordinary wolf. Kael Nightborne is the King of werewolves, ruler of Nightfall Keep, and the last man Aria should ever desire. When dawn comes, he turns her away, cold, distant, unreachable. Except Aria carries his child. Hunted by secrets, betrayed by blood, and chased into the dangers of the High Wilds, Aria discovers that her father, Victor Blackwood, is tied to horrors buried deep within the Forsaken Heights, sins that could tear the realm apart. As enemies close in from Ironwill Basin Pack to the shadows of Veilshade Peak, Kael is forced to choose between his crown and the woman fate never intended for him. Love was never part of the plan. Neither was a baby that could change the balance of power forever. When the truth finally comes to light, will Kael protect his hidden family, or will the past claim them both before dawn breaks?

I'm supposed to become the valedictorian of the state, but I decide to not attend the SATs. After all, in my previous life, my best friend, Bianca Walters, had made a pact with a tenfold transfer system. The three-million-dollar prize money I had obtained from becoming the state valedictorian was transferred into Bianca's account. On top of that, it was increased by ten times as well. Just like that, Bianca moved on from wearing faded old clothes to limited branded apparel. She even muttered, "What's the point of being a top scorer even though you're poor? At the end of the day, you'll still slave away for us rich people!" Enraged, I rushed over and demanded Bianca for answers. But my boyfriend, James Tipps, was quick to shield her from me and yelled at me for being a crazy lady who was jealous of others. Since my mom couldn't get her illness treated due to the lack of money, she ended up dying with resentment in her eyes. Overwhelmed by despair, I took my life by jumping off a building. Beep! When I open my eyes again, I realize that I've gotten reborn. This time, I've also made a pact with the tenfold transfer system.

At the company holiday party raffle, I'd barely stepped on stage when my superior, Victor Grant, shoved a crumpled slip into my hand. "Special prize for our top sales guy. Go on, open it. Let's show everyone." All eyes were on me as I unfolded it. Scrawled across the paper: [VIP janitor status unlocked—every toilet in the company, three days.] The room lost it—laughter everywhere. Victor crossed his arms, grinning. "Fair, right? Everyone knows you climbed the ranks hooking up with rich cougars. Gotta avoid hard feelings for the others, yeah? While the rest of us take a break, you can get busy. You're not gonna back out, are you?" The crowd cracked up. My girlfriend—and CEO—Rachel Sullivan stood off to the side, watching. Didn't say a word. Everyone waited for me to explode. Instead, I just nodded. Next day, over 300 refund requests hit. Cash flow flatlined. Victor and Rachel begged me to talk the buyers down. I shrugged. "Nah. Don't wanna save the company and make my performance too good. That'd just cause more ' hard feelings,' right?"

Renee, a Disney and Harry Potter aficionado, is not your average girl. Beneath her nerdy exterior lies a secret - she is a rare breed of wolf. To protect herself, she must pretend to be wolf-less, a facade that subjects her to relentless bullying. Her first mate, who once shared clandestine moments with her, rejects her when she reveals their fated connection. His rejection is not of her wolf identity, but of her nerdy quirks, claiming he was only after one thing. Heartbroken, Renee leaves behind her past and embarks on a new journey, starting a catering business. It’s here that she encounters Jace, her second chance mate who has been patiently waiting for his destined partner. But just as things start looking up, her past resurfaces. Her former mate reappears, and she finds herself the prize in a competition between two Alphas. However, only one truly values her, nerdy quirks and all. The other, having discovered her true identity, is playing a dangerous game of deception. As Renee navigates this complex love triangle, she must decide who to trust and who to love. But the question remains: Will Renee choose the one who loves her for who she truly is or fall prey to the deceptive games of her past? The answer lies within the unfolding chapters of her life.

I watch as he gently places the gun on the table. Seconds tick by a heavy silence filling the room. He takes a stand and makes his way to me. He takes a stance behind my chair and places his firm arms on my armchair, caging me. I bask in his scent and warmth. "You choose now Lana, here and now." He whispers into my ear. His traces my knuckles before grabbing my notebook out of my hands, and tossing it on the table. "I wasn't done with that." I say. He laughs, I feel his chest rumble as he laughs. I turn to face him, feeling my breaths shorten with each passing second. "Eyes on the prize, Lana." He turns my head back towards the table. "You choose the notebook you can go back to living your life in fear and delusion, then one day end up dead in a dumpster or," He brushes a strand of hair from my face, " You could pick up the gun and hunt your past which shall it be Lana?" I feel beads of sweat on my back and my anxiety prickling through my skin. I have to choose, here and now. I extend my hand and pick my choice.

Lila Williams is an up-coming actress but for five years she chose to focused on her husband as a faithful and devoted wife, giving up on her career and helping her husband achieve his goal which was being the CEO of his father's company at an early age. She had it all, the perfect husband and life too, well so she thought. Unknown to her, her husband was having an affair with her own sister, which is also carrying his child. Lila decided the best way to mend her shattered heart is by destroying the one thing he holds more important than anything else: his career. Nicholas Fernando is a billionaire first generation American; he knows the value of hard work and doing what it takes to survive. His entire life has been geared to the moment he can take the Williams company away from the corrupted men who once left his family homeless. When Lila Williams approaches the billionaire to bribe him with information set to ruin her ex-husband, Nicholas Fernando is chomping at the bit to take everything the William's prize including Lila. A story of love, revenge and healing needs to start somewhere and Lila's pain is the catalyst to the wildest roller coaster ride of her life. Let the bribery begin.

I was sent to reap her soul. Now, I am it prisoner." ​Sloane is a Wingless Reaper. For five centuries, he hasn't known mercy only the cold weight of his blade. His final mission was supposed to be easy: find the girl born with the Infinite Soul and kill her before she manifest and destroy his kind. Elena has spent twenty- four years in a guarded palace, hidden from the world and even the air outside by the ancient Ouroboros cult. She is a walking miracle whose blood holds the key to immortality. She doesn't know she’s a savior; she only knows she wants to be free. ​The cult wants her blood. The Wingless want her dead. When Sloane finally corners his prey, the universe intervenes. A golden brand sears into his wrist a Divine Shackle. A 24-hour countdown to his own death begins, and there is only one way to stay alive : He must protect the girl he was sent to kill. ​Now, the world’s deadliest hunter is her only protector. To the Ouroboros, she is a prize to be harvested. To the Fallen, she is a plague to be erased. To Sloane, she is a beautiful curse. ​As the prophecy draws closer, he realizes the most dangerous thing isn't the ticking clock on his wrist... it’s the heartbeat he could feel for his enemy. ​One HUNT. One LEASH. No ESCAPE.

"They called me a defect from the day I was born. No wolf, no scent, no future." That was the lie the Crescent Moon pack fed me my entire life. I was the dirt beneath their paws. The pack’s punching bag, an empty vessel, kept around only to scrub their floors. All I ever wanted was to survive my eighteenth birthday and vanish into the human world. But the Moon Goddess has a sick, twisted sense of humor. At the brutal Alpha Summit, the kind that happens once every decade, the scent hit me. It wasn't just one intoxicating wave of mate-pull. It was two. One smelled of pine and dark magic. The other smelled of blood and winter fire. Kael, Alpha of the Bloodhound Pack; ruthless, heavily scarred, and the most feared executioner on the continent. Ryker, Alpha of the Silvermane Pack; arrogant, indomitably powerful, and Kael’s sworn, centuries-old blood enemy. When both men roared "MINE" across the summit hall, the fragile peace treaty didn’t just break. It shattered. They don't want to share. They want to conquer. Now, the invisible nobody is the ultimate prize in a territorial war that will tear the shifter world apart. I am physically bound to two men who would rather burn the world to ash than let the other touch me. If I reject one, the mate-bond will kill him. If I choose both, the packs will riot. I just wanted to survive. But to stay alive, I might have to become the most dangerous Luna of them all.