It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the author-editor pair announcement!

Drum roll please…

Winners

A GUIDE TO LIVING WITH DRAGONS - Olinda Brown

Adult Fantasy

Editor: Allison Alexander

Through screaming and scurrying potions, nature mage Orelia will find a usable one with the help of her cantankerous cat-sized dragon.

JUNO WALKER AND THE GREEN JEWEL - Jude Austin

MG Fantasy

Editor: Ayesha Ali

A twelve-year-old girl is magically teleported to a wild, crazy world, whose denizens will do whatever it takes to stop her from finding a way home.

WHAT REMAINS OF AURELIO - Anja Hudson

Adult Horror

Editor: Raquel Brown

In the rotting splendor of 16th-century Venice, a nobleman cursed with perfect taste but no talent destroys the musical prodigy he loves, choosing eternal damnation over a life of mediocrity.

THE WISHING WELL - Nefer Doane

Adult Cozy Fantasy

Editor: Jeni Chappelle

Nori Savens can't wait for the Wishing Well to open so she can summon her familiar, but the grumpy shadow cat instantly dislikes her, and the Wishing Well remains open. Now the duo—along with the rest of the island—must find a way to close it, or a horde of wild familiars will break through and destroy their quiet seaside town.

ISABELLE GOMEZ IS INNOCENT, SHE SWEARS - Jackie Yap

YA Mystery

Editor: Miranda Darrow

Forced to move from Australia and attend a filthy-rich international school, sixteen-year-old Isabelle ‘Izzy’ Gomez finds herself in a life-or-death game of wits with Manila’s rich and famous, when a diplomat’s daughter drops dead, and Izzy becomes the prime suspect.

LUST-BORN - Katie Hudson

YA Fantasy

Editor: Dana Draper

The Goddess of Love’s daughter must win the prize of immortality in her mother’s divine matchmaking game or else succumb to a death curse.

FINDING GRAVITY - Andrea Homoya

Adult Romance

Editor: Nicole Frail

A determined cidermaker whose passion is poured into her craft is forced to work with a finance bro with the palate of a toddler to keep her struggling cider company from going down the drain.

CHEMPORTAL - Fay Irwin

Adult Science Fiction Rom-Com

Editor: Laura Galán-Wells

Two awkward scientists must overcome their mutual dislike to save the world from starvation in this sci-fi rom-com with real chemistry.

SUCH MONSTROUS WANTS - Anna L. Deh

YA Horror Romance

Editor: Natasha Hanova

After a ritual gone wrong lands a horror movie fan in a terrifying house of monsters, she must partner with an unlikely ally to help her find a way back home—the very same sleep paralysis monster who’s been haunting her for the past year. And he’s a nightmare in more ways than one.

THE TARNISHED GENTLEMEN – Corrine Cella

A Historical Fantasy

Editor: Carly Hayward

After getting blackmailed into summoning a demon, an arrogant violinist is forced to trust the man that betrayed him and find a way to send the demon back before more people turn up dead.

NOT A WITCH – Kirsten Liedl

YA Fantasy

Editor: Hannah Kate Kelley

A magicless girl infiltrates an elite mage academy to find her missing brother and discovers the school secretly harvests students’ magic to sustain the nation.

PORTRAIT OF A FAWN – Alexis Crafts

YA Horror

Editor: Madelyn Knecht

Lucas begrudgingly works at a haunted community theater and must cooperate with Mira, a first-year criminal justice student with a sour attitude, to investigate the theater’s botanical horrors.

THE BOOK OF HOURS – Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff

Adult Book club

Editor: Hanna R. Neier

After her life unravels, 42-year-old Jackie inadvertently time travels from 2019 Los Angeles and assumes her 22-year-old body in 1999 Paris, where she attempts to fix her marriage and uncover her father’s identity until a flirtation endangers her daughter's existence, forcing Jackie to boomerang to the future in a last-ditch effort to save the past.

THE STORYTELLER'S BACK PORCH – Ree Augustine

MG - Science Fiction/Speculative

Editor: Ash P.

Reeling from her parents’ death, twelve year-old Dilla meets a mysterious time-traveling boy with no memory of who he is. As they work together to discover his identity, secrets from the past and future threaten to destroy them both.

WRETCHED GENIUSES - Levi Abadilla

YA Mystery/Thriller

Editor: Leah Rambadt

When ruthless murders endanger her classmates, honor student Leia investigates, only to find her biggest rival is bringing the killers to bloody justice. Leia must choose: turn him in, or join as a vigilante.

THE SPARK OF AYLA GRAVES – Jaymi Kussro

MG Paranormal Mystery

Editor: Demi Michelle Schwartz

When twelve-year-old Ayla Graves starts seeing ghostly visions in her family’s haunted graveyard, she realizes they may be the only clues to finding her missing mother—if she can decode them before it’s too late.

Runners-Up

Allison Alexander's pick:

THE ANIMANCER'S AMULET by Courtney Donovan - MG Fantasy

Ayesha Ali's pick:

MAIDEN OF MEMORY by Melissa Horowitz - YA Fantasy

Raquel Brown's pick:

BLOOD & BELIEF by Devon Camarota - Adult Fantasy

Jeni Chappelle's pick:

DON'T WAKE ME UP by Jennie Grace James - YA Fantasy

Miranda Darrow's pick:

THE DAY OF ALBERT by V. C. Hanna - Adult Sci-Fi

Dana Draper's pick:

THE ALCHEMY BETWEEN US by Cidney Mayes - Adult Fantasy

Nicole Frail's pick:

THE MERFOSSIL by Dakota Wilster - Middle Grade Contemporary with Magical Realism

Laura Galán-Wells's pick:

SNAGGLETEETH by Tiff Bartel - Adult Science Fiction

Natasha Hanova's pick:

THE WEIGHT OF BONES by Lauren Woon - YA Fantasy

Carly Hayward's pick:

STARLIT WANDERER, by Maggie Kantor - Adult Fantasy Romance

Hannah Kate Kelley's pick:

THE BLOOD OF ZELLANDINE by Ellen Sanazaro - YA Fantasy

Madelyn Knecht's pick:

THE GREENSKEEPER by Lisa Schunemann - MG Fantasy

Hanna R. Neier's pick:

THE SECRET OF RAVENSPUR CASTLE by Judy Broad - MG Mystery/Thriller

Ash P.'s pick:

DALRYMPLE by Brooke Windsor - MG Fantasy

Leah Rambadt’s pick:

A THIEF'S GUIDE TO AMENDS & FRIENDS by D.C. Dubs - Adult Fantasy

Demi Michelle Schwartz's pick:

FROM ONE MIFLETZET TO ANOTHER by Katie Collan – YA Folk Horror