For more than 40 years, the Orange County Fictionaires has been a creative home to dozens of professional writers, including bestselling authors Elizabeth George, T. Jefferson Parker, Debra Holland, and National Book Award winner Neal Shusterman. The Fictionaires began in a time when members wrote on typewriters and submitted hard copy manuscripts to agents and editors. While the digital age has changed the process of publication, the tenets of great fiction continue to be nurtured in our members: deep characterization, compelling story structure, vibrant word choice, and originality. In this book, you will discover a collection of fine fiction crafted by some of Orange County's finest authors. There's talent, yes. As well as skilled, experienced storytelling. But there's also something more: A spark of exhilaration that arises from the encouragement and enthusiasm of our fellow Fictionaires. Welcome to the inner circle!

The nightmare of Wolf Creek starts the night of the last full moon in the summer of 2013, and the close-knit little community will never be the same again. Someone-or something-is murdering the townspeople during each month's full moon. Incredibly, no one connects the murders to the cycle of the moon. At least, not until fourteen-year-old James Manarro is confronted by his eleven-year-old cousin Beth Ann with her suspicions about the identity of the killer. A werewolf. At first, James just laughs it off, but with each vicious murder, he's forced to admit that Beth may be right...and one, or both, of them might be its next victims.

Two years ago, James Manarro risked his life to kill the werewolf that stalked Wolf Creek. Now sixteen, James struggles with the pressures of being a teen: dating, math, and the knowledge that he, too, is a werewolf. Then the murders start again, and the victims are all tied to James, who worries that he just might be responsible. When his favorite teacher discovers James's secret and tells James he can help him learn to control the wolf, James jumps at the chance. But things are becoming more and more suspicious to his girlfriend Shaniqua and her friend Watts, who set about trying to uncover the truth. Little do they know that the killer has arranged to meet James in a brutal showdown that will shock the entire town and leave James wondering if he will ever be able to restrain the wolf...

James Manarro wakes up to a strange world in which nothing makes sense. As if it isn't bad enough that a werewolf has been stalking the town of Wolf Creek and James had to kill it, or that James is dealing with the fact that he is a werewolf too, now the whole world is silent, and everyone--his parents, neighbors, and friends--seems to have disappeared. Then he hears a voice...one he can't possibly hear because it belongs to his best friend, Riff, who has been dead for over three years, killed by the first werewolf to attack the town. But when James runs out to find Riff, he is plunged into a world of thick white fog filled with monsters determined to kill him once and for all...

A dead father's heroism is difficult to live up to, but an embittered mother is even harder to live with. Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Dana Sinclair longs for just two things: more action on the job, so she can earn a promotion like her father before her, and a better relationship with her estranged mother. When her partner is killed, she wonders how she'll get along without him. But when her own mother is murdered shortly thereafter and it appears that her dead father has come back from the grave to do it, she does everything she can to uncover the truth, despite warnings to the contrary from her boss. Then there's the bouquet of English daisies a mysterious man hands her at her partner's funeral-the very same flowers Daddy gave her the night he was murdered. So, are the flowers a gift...or a warning?