Torn from his own world and stuffed into the body of a villainess, facing the end of a doomed route he himself wrote, "Amelia" must navigate a world she really should know - too bad she was never great at worldbuilding.

Stuck in a world she (maybe) created, Amelia quickly finds that reality has filled in the details she failed to describe. The characters who were so flat when she wrote them now have nuance, and motives. The kingdom she wrote into existence is experiencing internal strife she never even thought about. And let's not even get into the complexities of the magic system, or the demon that forced her into this situation to begin with...

Oh, and then there's the fact that she's about to be arrested and executed... but surely she can come up with a way to write herself out of that, right?

...Right?

Chapter 7: Chosen by Gold

Sent By Sophia

Chapter 7: Catalyst

A Transgender Coming of Age Adventure

A Story from THE ONE

Ariel Montine Strickland

*

Looking back at my earlier high school days, I can honest say I was a clumsy kid. The one who would take a pratfall slipping on thin air. Did you need to see someone who once threw his lunch into the air due to someone pushing him to the ground?

My hands raised high, right here.

The Garden Party
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“Maybe you should go down to the strip and find yourself somebody to do the job,” I suggested. “You know, just like Richard Gere did. Find yourself a Julia Roberts.”

“If I thought that would work, I might,” he said, the man who had just introduced himself as Jerome. “Now do you want the money or not? Will you do it or not?”

Chapter 9

Next morning, we were both awake early and I was resting my head on Randalls’ shoulder. It was quiet in the hotel, just the sound of the air movement from the conditioning. He squeezed me.

“I guess that we should remember these moments before the storm. You realise that today is the first day of the rest of your life. Up until now, you’ve been a good presenter and reporter, with some stand-out stories. Today, you’re a multiple Walkley winner, with one of them a gold. That’s something that others have taken decades to earn.”

Chapter 12: Seeds of Truth

I saw the contest announcement and thought this would be just right for it. It isn't a holiday but it is transgender and it is set on an island.

This is a version of the first chapter of a story I began long ago in the Carboniferous when I was just a frond. The story was intended to be perhaps 6-8 chapters but, you know, life happened. Here's how it all began.

Life on the Beach

by Penny Lane

The Lucky One: Luck Be a Lady Chapter 3

Chapter 8

I had taken a taxi to the airport when I had left, and had called Randall from Sydney, so wasn’t surprised when he was waiting for me when I strolled into the terminal. He came over with a smile on his face and kissed me.

“Nice outfit, makes your eyes pop.”

“Take a deep breath, love. I’ve had this on since Darwin.”

“Ribboned and named, I see.”

“Yep, mine to keep as a reminder.”

“Did you do anything interesting this time?”

Gender Gymnastics
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

Rainbow Cactus Company, Virginia Beach, VA, USA
Jessie belts out some of their new songs as Daisy kept the beat going and have it flow right into the next song in their lineup. Two figures sit in the back of the club listening to the band play and watching as each member danced and play solo parts during the songs. The manager of the club, stood nearby with a few drag queens working that night.

I was up first the following morning, Sunday. There was now less than four weeks to go to the concert date, Saturday 18th December; our end of term exams were starting on 13th December and we had a family and relatives preview for the evening of Tuesday, 7th December. And today we had a dress rehearsal. All in all, it was going to be a busy run up to Christmas. I wasn’t looking forward to Christmas; its arrival would mean the end of the road for Aisling and I was becoming very enamoured by her.

Chapter 7

We now had a couple of weeks before we met up with the Minister. I pulled out my old ‘Valkyries’ jacket and sewed my patches to the front. My electronics officer patch, and the ship name ribbon, my SAR patch, and my paratroopers badge were the start. Who knows what may be added to them.

Barreled
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“Barreled - verb - drive or move in a way that is so fast as to almost be out of control.”

The traffic had been awful all day. A journey of only 140 miles had taken six hours. The one saving grace was the booking at a roadside hotel that would give me a night's rest before the second 140 miles I had to do tomorrow. The staff at the hotel knew me from regular family visits.

Transgender coming of age story. Darcy has often been mistaken for a girl. In his first year at university, he joins a local highland dance team. He is (incorrectly?) assigned to the girls squad. After some months of training, Darcy joins three girls in performing a sword dance at the Inverness Highland Show. A life-changing experience.

Chapter 6

I almost passed out and he gave me some water, still grinning.

“You don’t expect the Minister to take you around the bases without you having the basic knowledge of military life, do you? This is going to be great.”

“Great, what do you mean, great! It will be me doing all these things!”