Without further ado, here are our first lines.
FEAR NO EVIL
Rachel D. Hanville
The apples’ intoxicating fragrance filled the autumn air, concealing the stench of the undead’s decaying flesh.
CALL OF THE CROW
Alanna Peterson
Step away from the Blazin’ Bitz, Andi Lin told herself, before scooping a handful of the mini-chips onto her napkin anyway.
THE GIRL WITH NINE LIVES
V.R. Barry
The sun hadn’t set for over a decade, nor had it risen–how we longed to feel just one glorious, sunrise kiss upon our faces.
DON’T
Kyra Palmer
I wish people came with a warning label.
THE VIRTUE OF SIN
Shannon Schuren
The girls never get a choice.
THE LEFT TWIN
Diane Bradley
I should’ve remembered how my sister died.
THE TIME SLAVE
Deeba Zargarpur
There’s no easy way to admit you’ve failed the ones you love.
SOUL BOUND
Christina Fritts
The moment air hits the bottom of my lungs I know that it’s coming.
TO THE MOON
Chelsea Carney
I stared at the half-open window of the house across the street dreaming of death.
NIGHT WITCHES
Claire Bartlett
When the war came to Valka, she didn’t even notice.
IMMORTAL SECRETS
Stacy Ricco & Sam Fury
White spots danced in front of her eyes and gravel bit into the side of her face.
FLASH MOB MURDERS
Kimberly Gabriel
The air scrapes my throat and burns my lungs every time I inhale.
THE PENDRAGON’S SON
Kelly Barina
As I hurried down the castle’s vast stone corridor to meet my half-brother for the first time, his name echoed around me, whispered like a curse: Mordred.
THE CHEETAH OF DEATH: CHRIS’S STORY
V.C. Rose
She shifted her weight and the roof creaked slightly.
WHERE I BEGIN
Edmund Brescia
The high-arching sloped roof of Dulles International Airport didn’t offer any comfort.
THE ART OF IN-BETWEEN
J.M. George
On the night of my kidnapped brother’s twenty-first birthday, I jumped off the roof of a skyscraper with a rope in one hand and a live, bagged chicken in the other.
MARKED
Lindsey Myhr
Catia de Rose sat on a bench in her front garden, picking at a loose thread that was threatening to unravel the lace cuff on her left sleeve.
I AM UNBROKEN
Christian Smith
I choked against the thick smoke filling the air.
THE SHOELESS TRUCK DRIVER
Matthew J. Wicks
Outside a small little city on an ordinary four lane highway a truck driver was rushing his freight from one place to another.
THE CEDAR CIRCLE
Audrey Dion
Needing directions to the king’s house was a new problem for the courier.
MERMAID OF THE FORGOTTEN ISLAND
Suzi Guina
“Ready, sweetheart?”
FRAGILE CHAOS
Amber Duell
The musky hint of smoke follows me through the ruined Kisken city, over twisted metal and jutting pipes.
JAGUAR CHILD
Jody Herlick
I sweltered by the river and considered dropping my hearth bowl into the green-shadowed water.
SHROUDED GODDESS
Patricia Moussatche
Only Uncle Hector would hang a man then go fishing.
HER ROYAL HIGHNESS
Kristi McManus
I felt nothing.
DARKNESS WHISPERS
Aubrie Nixon
The light from the moon was unnerving.
STARLESS WORLDS
Nicholas Kelly
The Echelon hovercrafts arrived right on schedule, roaring down the green valley of Ceirk the day after harvest, just as they had done the year before and the years before that.
THE HELL WE KNOW
Samantha Eaton
“I’m going to start a war.”
ENGELL GATE
Diane Homan
Mrs. Winslow’s hand accidentally brushed Andy Callendar’s as she gave back his final Language Arts paragraph.
GRAFFITI DOME
Sussu Leclerc
Floating a few feet above the ghetto on my hover board, I might not have caught sight of the rebel if a gust of wind hadn’t messed with my fur coat and slapped my brushes out of my hands.
CYNISCA AND THE OLIVE CROWN
S.Q. Eries
A model Spartan princess was a champion in the battleground known as the social arena.
THE SUMMER OF NOTHING SPECIAL
Terri Squires
Soaring high above her house, Marin could see the whole neighborhood.
VALLEY OF MIST AND MEMORY
Michelle Collins
Bearing the collective memory of an entire village is a burden meant for only a person of great strength and power.
NATIONAL CAMMY DAY
Linda Davis
“I can’t take off my compass necklace.”
PRINCE OF DARKNESS
Alexandra Labdon
Prince Eliseo Di’Alonzo knelt in prayer at the Church of the Lady, and hoped that day would not be his last.
FLESH AND INK
Morgan Hazelwood
I forgot to be careful.
SUMMER, 1992
Audra Coldiron
OMG I found one of mom’s old journals.
THE NEMESIS OF EVE
Kimberly Zook
My hands are like mechanical steel blades, mining this floating island of trash for an unopened can of food, a bag of anything edible–no matter the expiration date, no matter if it was intended for dogs or cats.
MURIEL AVENUE SLUTS
Maggie J. Hasbrouck
My mother and every other woman who lives on Muriel Avenue gets paid to have sex; that’s just how it is.
DREAMMARE
Shannon Thompson
I wasn’t afraid of nightmares, because the real nightmares were people.
THE CLOCKMAKERS
Gordon LePage
The boy was running against the minutes because he had heard the jaguar screaming for time–above the sound of the poachers’ dogs, screaming for her children.
VIOLET
Kristin Flowers
Senator Michaels will dock my pay for a week if he sees I didn’t put in my contacts.
QUANTUM
Roxanne Lambie
My smile grew wider with each step I took toward the plane which sat peacefully on the ramp, almost as if it had a personality all its own.
CATCHING TOMORROW
Thomas Wright
Dear God: It’s Tuesday, and as usual, the day fucking sucks.
