Monday, February 9, 2015

SVS 11: GETTING WYRD ON ALBION, NA Fantasy

Title: GETTING WYRD ON ALBION
Genre: New adult fantasy 
Word Count: 103,000

My Main Character would prefer to live in: 

Come skiing, Perry had said. It’ll be so much fun. Easy for her to say; she’d practically grown up on the slopes. I, on the other hand, preferred the feel of hot, silky sand beneath my feet, and was counting the days when the hell that is winter is over and I could once again walk the beach in front of my house on Long Island. But first I had to figure out how to get down this damn mountain with one broken pole and a ski that refused to remain attached to its boot.

Query

Dear Future Agent,

Twenty three-year-old Cate Gallagher knows the dagger is trouble the moment she lays eyes on it. Or maybe it’s the man it travels with—alluring yet enigmatic Luke Pendergast. But even Cate, an Earth mage gifted with the innate ability to know the age and origin of any object she touches, is at a loss to explain her vision and the magic-infused blackout that comes when she touches the blade. However, she has little time to dwell on the matter for there’s now a target on her back. The hunter? Her own father.

To keep Cate safe, Luke, himself a mage, offers her protection on his homeland, Albion—an Asgardian-esque world with roots reaching back to the time of King Arthur. Despite Luke’s insistence that a dalliance will only bring them pain, their attraction can’t be denied. But happiness soon fades when an unwelcome revelation about Cate’s mother comes to light. Rejected by Luke and his fellow mages, Cate is forced to return to Earth, equal parts heartbroken, and seriously, seriously pissed off.

Left to fend for herself, help comes from an unexpected source by way of Gale Sheelin, a mage she befriended on Albion. Risking banishment by his own people, Gale offers Cate assistance in unraveling the secret to her unique brand of magic. An absolute necessity since her father—hell bent on destroying Albion and as many mages he can get his hands on—will stop at nothing to capture her and the dagger. Now, unlocking her full potential is essential if Cate is to protect the men she loves and prevent an entire way of life from being eradicated in the blink of a mage’s eye. 

 

First 250 words

I had started the day as Cate Gallagher but by mid-afternoon I ‘d been rechristened Deer in Headlights—Ms. Deer in Headlights for more formal occasions.

I blamed my boss for volunteering me for the day. But mostly I blamed Jackson Murphy, Antique Roadshow’s on air weapons expert, for eating bad clams at lunch. If I’d known he’d been rushed to the emergency room, I would have never suggested the ersatz Revolutionary War bayonette as a candidate for taping. But I did. And despite having zero on-camera experience, the producers pressed me to do the segment for the show. A young appraiser would be good for ratings, they explained. To say I was reluctant was an understatement, but not for the usual reasons. Sure, I had no desire to be on TV, but it wasn’t that. Sitting in my office with a client or two was one thing, but under the pressure of the cameras I was terrified the world would think I was a fraud. And nothing was further from the truth.

It all came down to a simple matter of genetics; my mage genes, to be exact. My chronovoyancy, to put a finer point on it. One touch was all it took for me to know the age of any object—a skill particularly useful in my capacity as a valuator at Sotheby’s. But the modern-day hardware on the bayonette had been so obvious, even someone without my preternatural ability would have been able to spot it in a New York minute.

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