EROTICA Short Story Festival (automatic acceptance): Deadline November 30th

Thank you for being the infinite calm in the storm. Thank you for being an inexhaustible light in the darkness. Thank you for being a mother and for the children you have given me. Thank you for being your life; what my life steers. Thank you for being stone, iron, steel in the adversity. Thank… Continue reading LOVE Poem: Thank You, by Edgar Galeano

maybe it was your eyes: clear, studiously present, concealing nothing, judging less. maybe it was your song: consoling to my spirit, like an easy, morning rain. maybe it was your innocent joy: as genuine as mine, a child’s, and wide open, like when you spread your wings. there is no single reason why i loved… Continue reading LOVE Poem: caesar, by Michael Russell

There is something so beautiful about loving someone unapologetically Unconditionally Something so beautiful about relinquishing your heart to another Connection is rare in a world of empty promises But with you I feel something more

Voice Over: Val Cole —– POEM: On the streets, Paved in gold, Is where she roams. She’s waiting… Waiting to be. Into the arms, Of the cold, Lies an unknown home. A blissful place… That can never be. Forgotten thoughts, And memories, Of what could have been. Branches out… Like a broken tree. And a… Continue reading POETRY Reading: Kind of Life, by Derrick J. Johnson

On his first day of college, Mark Shoots, an anxious underachiever planning to drop out, arrives early at a large, empty lecture hall. There, he encounters Amanda Lists, a driven overachiever anxiously awaiting news from an Ivy League waitlist. Initially hostile toward each other, they gradually form a bond, sharing personal struggles such as Mark’s… Continue reading ROMANCE/RELATIONSHIPS 1st Scene Reading: AUDITORIUM, by Stuart A. Pollack

Voice Over by Val Cole

Showcase of the best ROMANCE/RELATIONSHIP FILMS in the world today. AUDIENCE AWARDS:Best Film: It Came to ThisBest Story: I’m BackBest Sound & Music: MarionetteBest Performances: 2 Can PlayBest Direction: Talk Marionette (Ava Della Pietra – official music video), 3min., USADirected by Nathan Levine-Heaney https://www.instagram.com/avadellapietra/ https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-marionette I’M BACK, 4min., UkraineDirected by Ilya Noyabrev“I’m back” is a… Continue reading WINNERS: October 2025 Romance/Relationships Festival

A young ambitiously determined student and an older university visionary meet on campus by happenstance. Working hard and loving harder plays a hand in this fragile and unexpected romance. Narrator: Val Cole Hugo: Geoff Mays Vivian: Elizabeth Rose Morriss

Performed by Val Cole