QK Round 1: The Past is Back versus E=MC [squared]

Entry Nickname: The Past is Back
Title: WATERS OF OBLIVION
Word Count: 67,000
Genre: Adult Romantic Suspense

Query:

Georgetown art historian Reine Baldwin recognizes her own image in a 15th century portrait, leading to her forgotten past and a man who – in spite of her immortality – may still try to harm her.  

When the usually reserved academic impulsively accepts a coffee date from a charming journalist, she unwittingly jeopardizes not only her centuries’ old secrets, but also her safety. Soon, she finds her office ransacked and her classroom flooded. Finally, after a timely invitation to Venice on the eve of Carnevale to examine the resurfaced DaVinci, an unplanned night of revelry culminates in a reunion with the painting’s owner. 

The pompous, domineering, and utterly irresistible man is Massimo Baldovini. As Reine’s long-lost husband who also should have died centuries ago, he’s desperate to rekindle their relationship. Suddenly, Reine has the chance to forgo her quirky sock collection, musty libraries, and an ordinary life with any mortal man she’d surely outlive, in favor of extravagant evening gowns, powerful cars, and eternity with the one person who’s apparently loved her for half a millennium. However, after she inexplicably gets sick for the first time in five hundred years, Reine starts remembering things Massimo wishes would remain buried.

With her immortality on the line, Reine will need to determine if she can trust this man who swears he couldn’t save her from drowning on their honeymoon or whether she’s just been a pawn in Massimo’s self-serving plans from the very beginning.

First 250 words:

Reine clutched her broken hand to her chest and repeatedly tapped the “Door Close” button with the other. The pain in her fingers was almost unbearable, but it would be gone soon. Hopefully it would be soon enough. 

As the elevator door slid slowly into place, she looked out into the hotel’s lobby one last time. Thankfully, it was still deserted. This wasn’t unusual given the weather and the late hour, but she knew he had to be right behind her. 

He couldn’t catch up. He couldn’t see her. Not just yet.

When the elevator finally began to move, she looked at her hand again. It was shaking, but as she flexed her fingers, the last signs of bruising – and of the pain – disappeared. However, that didn’t make her happy. 

Reine blamed herself for getting into this predicament. For the second time in two weeks, she almost inadvertently revealed her secret. A secret her life depended on. 

She should have just ended the conversation when she fumbled to answer a simple question: “Are you married?”

But she didn’t, and that was mistake number one. 

The blunder was a warning sign, and she ignored it. She had uncharacteristically let her guard down. But who wouldn’t have, if they had looked into those eyes or had seen that smile? As always, her heart would be her downfall. That’s why she had avoided listening to it for so long.

Until tonight. 

And that’s when she made the second mistake: getting injured.

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: E=mc[squared]

Title: Like Yesterday

Word count: 81,000

Genre: Commercial Fiction

Query:

Within the cold walls of his institute, Dr. Vincent Douvrey dedicated years to his innovations but none to his devoted wife. He never said “I love you”, and until her fatal car accident, he had no desire to say “I’m sorry”. Guilt-ridden and eager to deliver that apology in person, and even more eager to receive his next accolade in science, Vincent attempts his most recent innovation—transitory time travel by liquid ingestion. 

But the tonic doesn’t transport him to three years prior. Instead, he awakens almost fifteen years into the past in a Florida college dorm room with passé décor. Thanks to amnesia, Vincent doesn’t remember any moment from that time, including anyone he befriended. However, an even greater obstacle plagues him: how to get back to the future.

Vincent turns to the campus library for guidance, but his research leads him to meet Carmen, a junior student who is not his wife. Carmen is immediately smitten by his Grenadian accent and unfamiliar charm and he by her stunning beauty and unselfishness. Their magnetic passion brews a sultry love affair. Meanwhile, the thirty-five-year old man she believes is twenty-one continues to seek a reverse transport solution.

However, Vincent’s hope of returning home to his acclaimed work dwindles, forcing him to relive his past while loving a woman he knows he doesn’t marry. But when he realizes he has already met Carmen, who entered his institute as a pleading stranger, Vincent hastens to find a way to return to his rightful decade to save her.

First 250 words:

Dr. Douvrey possessed a keen talent to ignore. He ignored the resounding proclamation that time travel didn’t exist. He ignored his wife who loved him more than her nursing shoes worn to their last shred of rubber. He ignored his mother who told him he wouldn’t succeed without her international clout. But this talent was often tested by his incompetent assistant of eight years, whom he observed from his chamber as she mixed and spilled chemicals onto his laminate lab table, incinerating it layer by layer. 

It was only the eleventh table he had to replace because of her; one more was sure to be ruined within the year. Hazy smoke smothered her face, obstructing her view of the doctor’s narrowed eyes and furrowed brows. She owned a brilliant mind, but the doctor found it challenging each new day to ignore her fumbles, destructions, and blabbering. After four long breaths and a silent prayer for strength not to kill her, Dr. Douvrey turned his back toward the window. He continued to isolate himself within the glass room of toxic fumes, a poor attempt to escape her recurrent interferences and to maintain his state of being alone.

The chamber upheld its purpose of providing security and safety as well as being aesthetically pleasing to his eyes. Upon each entry of the room, the doctor often admired the stainless steel upon the ceiling and wall trims and the extensive counters on which he performed all testing of his formulas. 

QK Round 1: Mechano Cat versus Making Boys Cry

Entry Nickname: Mechano Cat
Title: Down Track
Word Count: 83,000
Genre: NA Sci-fi

 Query: 

Life should be lemonade and caviar for twenty-year-old Tori Montgomery, since she’s a member of the nobility of Texas. Then her daddy goes bullbat crazy, murdering her mother and little brothers before committing suicide. Left penniless, and deemed a social pariah by the rest of the upper crust snobs in her psychic world, Tori tosses away her morals. Thieving’s profitable enough for a desperate young lady, especially with her telekinetic abilities.

Kaiden Hale is a gun-slinging Texas Ranger. His psychic ability turns him into a human lie detector. Good for him, bad for Tori. But Kaiden has secrets of his own. When his brother goes missing, Kaiden decides to dirty his boots and ask his ex-neighbor, Tori, to help track him down.  

Tori thinks helping the lawman will be a quick paycheck—until they stumble over a murdered body. While investigating, Kaiden and Tori discover a pattern of kidnappings linked to a doomsday cult. Talented psychics are what the cult is after, and Tori’s name is next on their list. Kaiden is drawn to the recalcitrant Tori and determined to protect her at all cost—whether she agrees or not.

When the cult’s true intentions of releasing a deadly virus is revealed, Tori realizes it will take more than her telekinesis to save them. Trusting a person is dumber than floating in an airship leaking helium. But if she and Kaiden are going to rescue his brother and survive with all body parts intact, Tori must accept Kaiden’s help.

 

First 250 words:

I might be a thief from a disgraced family, but I still have my pride. Mama always told me that posture and attitude mark a lady, so I straighten my back and plaster a polite smile on my face. In thirty minutes, the National Nighttime Airship Race commences. This is the first time the city has hosted the event, and the population seems to have doubled in the last couple of days. The setting sun gleams in a pinkish-orange smear across the sky. The metal, cigar-shaped ships are anchored on the landing green, waiting for dusk to fade to dark. Fans, wearing their team colors on sashes, mill around the area like worker ants. And since it’s Texas, any crowd this size requires a Cook-off, ‘cause nothing completes a party more than barbeque, beer, and brawling. 

The aroma of grilling brisket and onions floats on the dusty wind. My stomach gurgles, but I ignore it. Business comes first. I weave around grill pits, tipsy revelers, and trucks with their tailgates down. Music blasts from a hundred different radios, drowning out the announcer on the squawking loudspeaker. I leave the good-natured melee, heading toward the iridescent force field that protects the wealthy from the peons. The field does a nifty job of keeping out mosquitos too. 

Private security protects the gate. The nearest guard’s expression doesn’t change as my dark blue silk dress, with the fashionably small bustle and frilly overskirt, is unmistakably upper class. I stole it specifically for this job.

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: Making Boys Cry

Title: Virtual Rebel

Word count: 90,000

Genre: NA Science Fiction

Query:

The warrior. It's a title 18-year-old Kali Ling earned bringing men to their knees -- inside video games. 

Literally. 

In 2054, fully-immersive virtual reality plugs a player directly into the game. So when digital fighting tournaments become a national sport, Kali's life transforms into a whirlwind of fame, fake smiles, and nonstop partying in L.A.'s hottest clubs. 

But when her teammate Nathan O.D.'s, Kali slams into the dark side of virtual gaming: drug addiction and insanity. As a gamer who's swallowed a few too many pills herself and a Chinese-American whose Taoist father taught better, reality abandons Kali at the crossroads of identity crises and adulthood. Realizing she might not last until the season's end, she trades partying for Asian philosophy and nightly sparring sessions with her team's latest recruit (who she can't help picturing in nothing but a strategically placed controller). But just as Kali finds peace within herself, the Virtual Gaming League erases Nathan from its database and whitewashes the truth behind his demise for the sake of ratings. 

For ratings? Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong.

Furious, Kali swaps fame for fighting in her friend's honor in the VGL's championship tournament. But the industry threatens to strip away everything she's become if she doesn't back down. Now, Kali must choose: keep the career, identity, and newfound peace she worked so hard to achieve or stand against an industry that cares more about its popularity than its athletes. This time it's game over. Permanently.

First 250 words:

This wasn't the first time I'd died. Sure as hell wouldn't be the last either. But while most eighteen-year-old girls studied, gossiped, and swooned over boys, there was no other way I'd rather spend my Saturday night. 

Crouched high on the tower's parapet, I overlooked a sea of wheat fields. The scent of lavender and the taste wheatgrass wove together in the air, drifting alongside the breeze that swept through my hair. I took a deep breath and smiled at the irony, as thick as the mountain air filling my lungs. Lavender. Wheat fields. Tranquility.

Peace, in a place anything but peaceful.

Movement in the fields caught my eye, down and right. A zigzag carved its way through the ten-foot tall stocks, heading straight for the tower. My smile pulled wider. Maybe this sucker had the balls to take on Kali Ling.

The warrior.

I stilled inside. Even breaths. No fear. At the field's edge, the stocks trembled violently. The air filled with the rainstick rustling of brush and dry grass. Yes. Someone would emerge. I gripped the sword sheathed across my back and waited, muscles tight, mouth watering. Come on. Give me something. A brute. Six -- no -- seven feet tall, wielding a mace. Or an axe.

Give me anything.

A rabbit scurried out from the field. Nothing followed. The grass fluttered in the breeze. Birds chirped, nestled in the nearby sycamore trees. It was the rabbit, and only the rabbit.

For now.

I punched the parapet's brick wall, but instead of frustration, irony reverberated through me again.

QK Round 1: Sunnyside Up versus Lowlife Extraordinaire

Entry Nickname: SunnysideUp
Title: If I Promise You the Sun
Word count: 89,000
Genre: YA Contemporary Thriller

Query: 

Sixteen-year-old Eve Thomas doesn’t mind that she can’t leave Nova Vita, an Amish-like religious community that rejects most technology and has perfected solar power. Except for the compulsions and tics linked to her photographic memory, life in her mountain home is paradise.

But when her little brother shows signs of a genetic disorder the cult won’t treat, she questions everything she’s been taught. As she searches frantically for a cure, Eve has no idea that someone is watching her, an eighteen-year-old boy named Mana Aquino. A migrant worker from the garbage slums of Manila, Mana is determined to kill the cult’s leader—the bishop who used his sister as a human sacrifice and treats all laborers like slaves. He just can’t seem to get anywhere near his prey, not even by sleeping with the wife of the bishop’s right-hand man.

After Mana learns about Eve’s memory, he offers to sneak medicine to her brother, if she’ll serve as his human camera, gathering information that could ruin the bishop. If Eve accepts, she’ll commit a crime that will destroy the only home she’s ever known. If she says no, her beloved brother’s as good as dead.

I hold an M.A. in creative writing from Syracuse University, am a member of SCBWI, and have published several reviews of children’s books in The New York Times.

First 250 words:

Mama and I use all our muscle to pin my sister in the kitchen chair so medics can find a vein and fill a vial with her blood. Every child in Nova Vita is being tested for an illness so rare it has no name, and each one who tests positive will die. The Bishop agreed to let researchers study us, as long as they don’t interfere with our beliefs. This year, we’ll know ahead of time who we’re going to lose.

“Let me go!” Theresa shouts, her arms and legs flailing.

Restraining a furious six-year-old is no easy task. I gasp for breath as her bare foot wallops my gut. Miraculously, once the needle’s in, she stops resisting—her limbs relax and her hazel eyes widen. The thin red stream shooting up into the glass is beautiful. After we release her, I grunt and tap the back of the chair four times. Not because I want to, but because I can’t stop myself.

About two children fall ill in each of our four settlements every year. It can take months for them to die, as muscle control, then eyesight, then breathing fail. When you turn thirteen, your parents finally explain that there’s no cure, maybe not even outside of Nova Vita. The cause may be genetic, which means it’s in God’s hands. The Book of Healing reminds us that illness is part of Nature and Nature doesn’t make mistakes.

Sarah’s next. Nearly nine, she’d rather live in a chicken coop than let anyone see she’s scared.

VERSUS

Entry nickname: Lowlife Extraordinaire

Title: THE MADMEN'S CITY
Word count: 73K
Genre: YA Noir

Query:

Teen vigilante Gwen Kane uses her fists and a strict moral code to flatten any lowlife who dare prey on the innocents of Towton City. Her rival, Silas Snow, opts for a pistol, a silencer and a shot in the dark. To Silas, death is the only suitable punishment for the iniquitous criminals who prowl the seedy streets. And to Gwen, Silas is just another murderer. Working together would only end in World War III.

Their paths collide when a masked mobster frames Gwen’s father for a violent hit. Silas claims to have a lead on the truth, and they agree to put their moral disputes aside to hunt down the real killer–together. They hatch a plan to trap the true culprit, involving a trek through the metro tunnels and a fight that leaves them bruised, bloody and back at square one. And when the puppet master behind it all shifts the target to Gwen’s friends and loved ones, Gwen finds evidence that Silas may have shot the bullet that started everything.

With no one left to trust, Gwen sets out alone to stop the killer from claiming his next victim, even if he turns out to be Silas, a corrupt cop or the Boss of the mafia himself. The clock ticks down to her father’s date with death row, and Gwen refuses to let him die. It’s time to stop playing nice.

First 250 words:
The corpse weighs down my arms as I drag it into the middle of the silent street. I drop it onto the pavement and begin arranging the limbs so that it resembles a filthy, rotting log. Humming, I settle the feet onto the center white line as a thick breeze rustles my trench coat. I’d caught this one stalking a girl home from her waitressing job at Four Points Pizzeria, knife glinting in the moonlight. A quick squirt of metal into the side of his head, and that’s the last time he’ll ever see that girl. Or anyone else.

His vacant eyes stare up at me. Nicky D’Amico, a Soldier in the infamous Nerozzi crime family. A trickle of blood runs down his face and pools onto the pavement. It’s not often enough I bag a mobster, and this one will send the appropriate message.

I’m watching you, I think, as I twist toward the slums. Enjoy cleaning up the mess.

I only make it half a block before the crunch of boots on broken glass freezes me mid-step. Crunch.

Slipping my hand into my pocket to finger my pistol, I eye the street before me. Nothing there other than an emptiness swallowing up the space where cars and buses rumble by during daylight hours. Another crunch. Slowly, I turn. Nothing there either. Someone else skulks down these streets, and anyone hugging the darkness is surely someone on my long list of lowlifes extraordinaire. 

And he just saw me dump the body.

QK Round 1: Caprice No. 13 versus FirefliesLive

Entry Nickname: Caprice No. 13

Title: Strung Along

Word Count: 51,000

Genre: YA Contemporary

Query:

Seventeen-year-old Sarah Avery has always been a violinist, ever since her mother took her to a symphony performance when she was seven. But now her mother is dead, and Sarah’s violin is her only salvation. Her violin means Juilliard, it means an escape from her lecherous uncle and her aunt who pretends not to notice. That is, if Sarah can get in.

But the audition itself isn’t the only thing standing in Sarah’s way. Not when the guidance counselor with the overly-processed hair forces her to tutor another student for credit hours: Sawyer Cavallo, with her bright blue violin and her own share of secrets. Who, to Sarah’s surprise, ends up becoming a friend—even if she is one Sarah can’t afford. Friends get too close. Friends notice things that are off, things that Sarah would rather keep hidden. Things that she has to keep hidden.

Because if her uncle finds out she plans to leave him, he very well may kill her.

First 250 Words:

My eyes are closed.

Violin music resonates around me, Bach’s Sonata in G minor filling the air, the room, my body, notes wrapping like a cocoon around me. My bow is merely an extension of my arm, my fingers press down on the strings at the exact moment they need to make something exquisite, something perfect. This, this is what I live for, this music that makes me feel like I’m in Carnegie Hall, I’m a soloist for a great symphony, I’m—

I’m perfect.

No—I’m safe.

“Miss Avery?”

I jump, open my eyes. I’m not in Carnegie Hall. I’m in a classroom, beige walls and fluorescent lights and a tile floor that hasn’t been mopped in ages. Mrs. Canady, the music teacher turned guidance counselor, stands in front of me.

“Are you okay?” she asks, the bangles on her wrist clinking with a dissonant harmony as she waves her arm.

“You scared me.”

She shrugs, a halfhearted almost-apology. “I didn’t mean to disrupt your practice. Quite the opposite. I wanted to ask a favor of you.”

I flinch.

I don’t do favors.

“What?” I ask, shifting my weight from side to side. I tower over Mrs. Canady, so much I can begin to see her scalp through her straw thin, too-bleached hair.

But the way she’s looking at me makes me feel small.

“You’re very talented,” she says. “I was wondering what your plans were after here.”

“I… I haven’t really…”

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: FirefliesLive

Title: AS THE FIREFLIES LIVE

Word count: 70K

Genre: YA Contemporary

Query:

Sixteen-year-old Callie Clover is done being the resident punching bag of Montside High. After a bully stuffs a dissected frog down Callie’s sweater to climb the social ladder, she’s staring down a handful of sleeping pills when she receives a text message:

>> [Unknown Number] You can always kill yourself later, so why don't you have some fun first?

It has to be a prank. No one would know her plans. No one even wants to know her.

The Unknown Texter keeps Callie alive long enough for her to discover an audition. It’s for a one-time orchestra conducted by her favorite musician at Carnegie Hall. But she only has six months to master the violin, which she hasn’t touched since her mom’s death. With nothing else to live for, Callie adopts the audition as her final hurrah, while the Unknown Texter and Eric, a college boy who’s never been laughed at a day in his life, fill her final days with the fun she thought was impossible with fake IDs and action movie-worthy escapes from her tormentors.

Callie can’t figure out why they’re helping her. But she needs allies as entering the competition means facing everything she’s run away from: her debilitating social anxiety, her still grieving family, and the bullies who want to knock her down for good. If Callie can't reclaim her life, she may end it after all.

First 250 Words:

So, as they say… goodbye, cruel world.                                                   

I can’t take it any longer.                                                                                          

What did I do to deserve this? How could people smile when they hurt me? Guess now I’ll never know.

I’m doing this so they can't hate me anymore, and I don't have to hurt anymore.

There was nothing you could do. Dad, Hailey, please forgive me.

Don’t blame yourselves. Blame them.

I’m coming, Mom. See you soon.

Love,

Callie

***

>> No New Messages.

The fragility of the human body meant there were thousands of ways to die. The difference between life-and-death could be measured in mere inches: a knife glancing off your ribcage instead of your heart, a fall from great height onto grass instead of concrete. A poorly timed left turn across incoming traffic or catastrophic blood clot in your veins didn’t even allow you the courtesy of a warning. Mistakes as innocent as forgetting to look left again after looking right earned you a ten second spot on the nightly news if your life was noteworthy enough.

I wonder if it was due to the dissection exercises in biology class that made me choose sleeping pills as my method for suicide. A razor drawn across the soft, springy flesh of the wrists was a more guaranteed way to go. I certainly wasn’t thinking about suicide in class that day, but add in a dose of Regina Goulding and anyone would consider offing oneself as a more pleasant alternative.

QK Round 1: WEEL versus Lumanatti

Entry Nickname: WEEL

Title: Who's Eating Eric Lynch?
Word count: 119K
Genre: Adult Horror

Query:

Schizophrenic Eric Lynch’s hallucinations are actually precognition. Enter a demon who absorbs supernatural powers, and Eric’s about to become demon chow—unless he can convince a group of rogue angels that his deadbeat ass is worth protecting.

It all starts the night of a failed suicide attempt. After coming face-to-face with the physical manifestation of his nightmares, a half-decomposed manticore with black fur, Eric decides the only way to stop seeing demons is by closing his eyes for good. But unfortunately for him, he can’t do anything right—not even suicide. Fast-forward seven years later, and he’s still not sure what it is about him that demons find so interesting. Being a college drop-out, working for minimum wage at a retail store, trying his best not to end up back in the asylum for a third time…it’s not like he’s next in line for winning the Nobel Prize. So why him?

Well, okay. Maybe it’s because not only can he see the future, but he can control time too. Prophet is what the angels call him. And apparently there hasn’t been a Prophet on earth for over a century. Pretty cool, huh? Wrong.

The precognition, the time manipulation—that’s exactly what makes him so appetizing. The only reason the manticore hasn’t eaten Eric yet is because it’s waiting for Eric’s powers to ripen. Which means, in the meantime, Eric’s only hope for salvation lies with a group of rogue angels. Angels who might use his Prophetic powers to fulfill their own agenda.

Angelic weapon or prime rib? Either way, Eric is pretty screwed.

First 250 words:

They say the human brain can survive for three seconds after decapitation. I’m talking full-blown cognizant thought, where you can move your mouth and blink your eyes. It makes you wonder what kind of expletives might shoot through your head, especially when you see your body lying on the floor beside you. And hopefully it’s not one of those embarrassing situations where your head goes rolling across the carpet, because then your final moments are nothing but dizziness, trying to puke from a stomach no longer attached to your mouth.

A few months ago one of my psychiatrists asked me what I think about when I have nothing else on my mind, most notably when trying to fall asleep or while taking a shower. According to her, low brain activity is a subconscious beehive ready to burst. She believed my inner musings might be to blame for my tipping sanity—at the very least my insomnia—and it was only a matter of time before I was stung by another violent impulse.

“Maybe we’ll finally figure out why you’re a total nut-job, Eric,” she had said at the end of our last meeting, and proceeded to pat me on the knee, laughing.

She was such a bi—…nice lady.

That night they found her bloody corpse sprawled across her living room floor. The reports said her body looked like it was mauled by a giant cat, her head ripped off. A week after the investigation, her husband found her missing head inside their microwave.

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: Lumanatti

Title: Luma

Word Count: 90,000

Genre: YA Horror

Query:

Abbey and her best friend, Callie, had countless adventures at Majestic Isle, until an accident closed the island amusement park. When seventeen-year old Abbey hears an underground club has popped up amid the broken down roller coasters and rusty bumper cars, she drags Callie out for the night of their lives.

Unfortunately, it might be the last night of their lives.

The club isn’t the haven for misfits Abbey hoped for – it’s a buffet and the club goers are the main course.

What was once an innocent sanctuary of fun is now home to something dark and sinister.

If Abbey and Callie survive the night, they may find they are the key to stopping an infestation of creatures with an insatiable appetite for human flesh.

First 250 Words:

An ocean of bodies moved like seaweed across the warehouse floor. It might have looked as though they were drowning except for their rhythmic movement that fused with the beat. Some looked as though they’d accepted their fate as they swayed back and forth, while others seemed to fight the inevitable. Their arms flailed about, their faces contorted with exertion as they gasped for a last breath. At least that’s how it looked to the eyes watching from above.

In the center of the floor, Abbey tilted her head back and danced. She raised her arms over her head and her long, periwinkle hair drifted with her movements. Blue and green lights bounced through the smoky air, pulsing with the rhythm of the music. Bodies brushed against hers, but she didn’t mind. Here, dancing among hundreds of others, she fit in. She belonged. No one could take that away from her.

“We need to go,” Callie yelled in her ear.

A stab of irritation shot through Abbey and her eyes flew open. She missed the beat of the song, which caused a ripple in the dancers around her. Callie was upset, though only someone who’d known her since third grade would be able to pick up the telltale signs: twirling a strand of hair around her pointer finger; the flush high on her cheekbones. Abbey’s irritation faded as quickly as it came. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“Can we go, please?”

“Did you and Eric have another fight?” Abbey didn’t want to leave, not yet.

QK Round 1: Skateboarding Sherlock versus Split Sister

Entry Nickname: Skateboarding Sherlock

Title: Skidsters

Word Count: 62,000

Genre: Science Fiction

Query:

Adrenaline junkie Jedediah Tank lives for the thrill of a perfectly landed trick on his frictionless skid-board, until he crashes into the most dangerous ride of his twelve-year-old life.

Falling into an alley during an illegal race, Jed witnesses two men in purple suits threaten a physicist employed by mega-corporation, Skid Technologies. Three hours later the physicist turns up dead and Jed’s the only one holding any clues. Too bad he can’t go to the police.

Created in 2020, Skid Tech reduces friction by ninety percent, eliminating the need for gas-driven vehicles and creating a cleaner future. But it’s also illegally applied to the bottom of boards, allowing kids, codenamed skidsters, to race through the city as if it were their personal playground. Jed himself is a skidster prodigy, targeted by the cops, who'd love to hand him a one-way ticket to juvie lock-up. There’s no way the coppers will take him seriously—unless he uncovers some hard evidence.

Jed recruits his friends to investigate Skid City’s world of corporate criminals. As Jed peels back the layers of lies protecting the ruthless men in purple, he exposes a project that could level the entire city. To stop the mysterious syndicate from demolishing his city, Jed must bend the laws of physics to their breaking point or it’s—time’s up, you’re dead, Jed. 

First 250 words:

In about 2.07 seconds, I was going to crash. The math didn’t lie—the acceleration of an object by the pull of gravity is 32 feet per second squared and falling at a velocity of…Nevermind. I was going to crash, plain and simple.

I glanced down at my skoard as I fell, jamming my back foot against it, praying for the magnets to catch. Please catch, c’mon. Please.

They caught. I now had milliseconds to save my neck. As I fell into the alley, the glint of an awning caught my eye. I kicked my heel back on my skoard and the sleek bottom of the board bumped the metal canopy. My skoard and I hit a railing a story below, then a dumpster, and finally the alley floor. I grabbed the dumpster’s lid and ground to a halt.

Allowing myself to release the breath I’d been holding, I shook my head. Lucky that dumpster was there. That’s the trouble with skoards. They just keep going—nearly impossible to stop. But that’s also what’s great about them.

It’s a love-hate relationship.

I double-clicked my heel on the skoard and the magnets from the bottom of my shoes and the top of my skoard separated. After that near-crash, I wanted to stay still for a second or two. Resting my hands on my knees, I took deep breaths. I could still feel the adrenaline shooting through my veins like electrical currents through a cell tower.

Calm down Jed, you ain’t dead yet.

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: Split Sisters

Title: Rift Runners

Word Count: 91,000

Genre: YA Fantasy

Query:

Everyone knows that “the other world” exists. Sixteen-year old Shasta Adler's parents often told stories of the futuristic city they once lived in, full of metal buildings and plastic packaging. But all that was taken from them when they got sucked away by the violent rift storms. Portals of sorts, the rifts stranded the Adlers in Gyra long before Shasta and her siblings were born. 

But that “city of the future” Shasta heard so much about might have a cure to the illness that’s cutting a hole through her father’s chest. For months she has been on the run, searching for a way to enter the rifts safely, but all she has found is a backwater fishing village full of religious superstition about spirits who guard the rifts.

Shasta knows her father is running out of time. So when her older sister, Ali, manages to track her down, Shasta is sure Ali comes with nothing but bad news. But Ali’s not one to leave home without a plan and in her hand is a talisman with powers almost as hard to believe in as the spirits. Soon the sisters are one step away from crossing the rifts back to a place strange and dangerous to them – a city driven desperate by the rifts that tore the earth apart. A world the girls know only as “Seattle.”

The plan seems simple - get to Seattle, get the cure, get out. But Shasta never considered the lives her parents left behind. Now a violent rebel group wants her loyalty and to make matters worse, Ali disappears. With no chance of finding Ali alone, Shasta knows she's going to have to trust someone if she wants to salvage her family. But when everyone has an agenda and those that know the secrets of the rifts hold all the power, trust is a dangerous gift to give.

First 250:

Through the wall, I heard his coughing start up again. I winced, pulling my blanket closer to my chin as I listened to each ragged breath. It was like the disease was digging for something, carving a path through my father’s chest. But for what?

A door clicked open and then shut again, the coughing following the movement. Dad must have gone into the front room.

I pushed my blanket off and lit a candle. Next to me, my older sister, Ali, murmured a soft groan. Even in the candlelight, I could see Ali’s eyes were ringed with lines, her nose red from crying. I slipped my boots on, careful not to disturb her.

The kitchen smelled of Mum’s healing herbs. Comfrey and yarrow leaves dangled by the window, swaying in the spring breeze. Dad hunched close to the fire, his shoulders dwarfing the chair he sat in. Nothing in our house ever looked big enough for him.

Dad turned as I closed the door to my room, his half-smile lit by the fire. “You should be asleep.”

“And what about you?” I asked.

“Didn’t want to wake your mother. She’s got work tomorrow.” His gaze drifted to the fire, illuminating a pale, haggard face.

My heart sped. This wasn’t like him. He was one of the most ferocious men in Gyra and balt it, I loved that. My gentle giant. Another cough rattled his body and I nearly dropped the candle. “Can I get you something to drink?”

QK Round 1: Patience Fell versus Guerrilla Geek

Entry Nickname: Patience Fell
Title: Patience Fell and the Fair Folk of the Town
Word count: 34,000
Genre: MG Fantasy (Note: this is an MG fantasy. MG added by blog host.)

Query:

When a cursing whirlwind of trash appears in an alley in the Town, the scullery girl Patience Fell is sent out to sweep it up. She thwacks the trash storm with a strong-armed whack from her broom. Instead of garbage, she hits a dirty wee man called an offaltosser, hiding in the mess. She drives the fey creature away and calls it a day – but stranger things than an offaltosser await.

Soon, Patience discovers an army of Fair Folk are invading – gabledancers, cobblemaulers, dwindlefilches, and more odd creatures galore – all led by a treacherous talking fox named Marquis Goupil. The fox plots to use this Chaos Court to bring the whole Town tumbling down. As the only one who can see them, Patience stands in their way. She will show them what a scullery maid can do, armed with bravery and a broom.

First 250 words:

When a cursing whirlwind of trash appeared in the alley behind the Crock and Dice, Miss Alys didn’t think twice. She tossed a broom to the new scullery girl and pushed her to the door.

“Out you go then, Patience Fell,” the cook said. “Sweep that trash and sweep it well.”

Patience stepped out on the stoop, holding the broom across her chest in self-defense. Miss Alys closed the door behind her. The lock clicked to with a little sound, almost drowned out by the curses coming from the storm of trash.

Patience tried a little swipe with the broom at the swirling pieces of garbage. The funnel jumped back from her, so she just missed. It tossed several day-old fish at her, which she nimbly dodged. They struck the door behind her, one, two, three. They stuck there for a second, then slid down, leaving stinky, glistening trails of guts and scales.

Patience wrinkled her nose. She stuck out her chin and took a big swing at the strange whirling thing. Her broom-head connected with a soft melon on an updraft. The fruit flew across the alley and splattered all over the wall of the building next door.

A quivering ball of creamy noodles shot back in return. Patience had to drop flat to the ground to avoid being hit, and even then some noodle-cream splashed down the back of her neck. Seizing the high ground, the whirlwind bore straight down on her, saying the most awful,  unrepeatable things.

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: Guerrilla Geek

Title: Ellie and the Arborites
Word count: 40,000
Genre: MG Fantasy

Query:

All twelve-year-old Ellie Emerson wants to do is make some friends. Problem is, that’s kinda hard when the kids at school don’t want a science-geek around, and she’s too shy to come up with a way to change that.

But when Ellie discovers Arborites living in the woods behind her house, she gets her chance. The elf-like beings, born from the seed of a tree, actually need her geek-flag to fly. Trees and Arborites all over the forest are mysteriously becoming sick, and they think Quercus Supreme, leader of the Oak Arborites, is to blame. Rumor has it he’s conducting evil experiments in a secret laboratory to get rid of anyone who’s different. The Arborites must find out what’s going on and come up with a way to stop it, but they can’t do it on their own. If Ellie can find the guts to help them, she might not only save lives, but also learn how to make friends.

First 250 words:Ellie’s favorite tree was lying on the forest floor in a tangled heap.  The only branch still covered with the yellow leaves of autumn waved in the breeze like it was signaling for help.

Everything’s fine, Ellie thought.  Just don’t look.“Hey Cassie, wanna read some more Gulliver’s Travels?” she asked, patting the old chestnut.  “Or I’ve got a new book,Remarkable Trees of the World.  There’s like a whole section on ‘Trees in Peril.’  Now they’ve got some major problems.”

Ellie pulled away from the tree and felt around for her backpack, opening one eye just enough to find the zipper.  As she reached inside for the books, she noticed dozens of ants crawling up her sleeve.  

“Eww,” she yelled, her eyes popping wide.  She flicked the ants off and ran her hands up and down her body, straining to look at her backside, just to make sure there weren’t any more.  And that’s when she saw the massive army of black ants marching along the fallen trunk.  No, no, no, no, no.“Shoo, get off,” she shouted.  “Leave her alone!”

Ellie pulled off her sneaker and beat them like she was trying to put out a brush-fire.  Squished segmented bodies with wiry legs were scattered everywhere, but it did nothing to scare off the new arrivals.  Ellie could almost hear them laughing.  I can’t let them do this.  They’ll destroy her.  Ellie hurled the shoe and snapped a branch off a straggly pine. Holding it with both hands in front of her, she dragged the needles back and forth across the trunk, flinging ants in every direction.  

QK Round 1: Nobody's Sidekick versus Girl Destroys World

Entry Nickname: Nobody’s Sidekick

Title: The Unchosen One

Word count: 30,000

Genre: Middle Grade Adventure

Query:

Twelve-year-old Peter wants to be a hero—enough to believe he’s chosen to fight a crime organization known as The Invisible Arm.

After he saves his sister from a speeding car (with a flat tire), Peter starts to believe he’s special. Lady Bologna, the (fake) fortune-teller, foresees he’s destined for greatness. Even the wise old mentor (mostly old) Sensei Cheng has been waiting for someone like him. All signs point toward Peter Harper: The Chosen One (unless they don’t).

When The Invisible Arm threatens to take over the city, Peter makes it his job to become the hero he isn’t meant to be.

First 250 words:

Third Street didn’t have a reputation for danger, but Peter’s sister chose the worst moment to chase after her baseball. She bolted from the bus stop before he could grab her knapsack and pull her back. He tried to warn her—tell her to look both ways—but his voice didn’t work. When Sally’s TOMS stepped from the curb onto the sizzling street, he began to hyperventilate. A pickup truck sped toward her, unaware of the helpless child in its path.

Peter couldn’t wait a second longer. He leaped forward, reached for Sally and raised the other arm like a traffic cop.

“Halt!” The word burst from his mouth as the overwhelming heat took his breath away. He shut his eyes and braced for impact. A deafening pop shot down Third Street. Burnt rubber and exhaust fumes drifted over Peter and Sally, but the truck didn’t follow.

Peter opened his eyes and released his breath. They survived. His damp pants suffered the most, but he did it. He saved his sister. Was he a hero? It was hard to tell, but yes, yes he was.

The driver, a scrawny boy with oversized clothes, slammed the car door, scratched his peach fuzz and examined the flat tire.

“Perfect.” He wiped his forehead and spat. “First it’s the muffler, now it’s a tire—rusted old hunk of scrap metal. Why don’t you die already?”

Peter turned to Sally. “Are you okay?” She clutched her baseball with the ungloved hand and nodded, unsure if she believed herself.

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: Girl Destroys World
Title: Magick 7.0
Word count: 85,000
Genre: MG Fantasy

Query: 

Fourteen-year-old Anvil Wilhelmina Ironhide has an unusual problem (besides her name).

It’s not that she was discovered in a cryogenic chamber as a baby and never told about it (a minor oversight).

It’s not that she has the nearly uncontrollable urge to jump from high places and attempt to fly (it couldn’t hurt to try just once, right?).

It’s not even that her world was created by a malfunctioning computer and the ten-thousand-year-old scientist who programmed it has emerged from cryo-stasis to correct his mistake (that’s only a problem if you’re the mistake).

Her problem is that all of the above means she’s unknowingly about to embark upon a quest—not to save the world, but to destroy it (which is why you should always read the fine print).

In a land where every rustic village has a solar-powered windmill, agents of the Wizards’ Council wiretap the ley lines for information, and you need a plasma cannon to ward off the dragons, one orphan girl struggles against time, destiny, and heretofore unknown levels of bureaucracy to uncover the truth of her quest but avoid its terrible conclusion (a neat trick if you can pull it off).

And don’t even get me started on the elves…

First 250 words:

At Saint Lupin’s Institute for Perpetually Wicked and Hideously Unattractive Children they didn’t play favorites. Each orphan was treated with the same amount of disdain and neglect. They were provided with one threadbare tunic, one pair of ill-fitting shoes, and one dusty and moth-eaten overcoat. They were given a daily ration of gruel, and they were bathed exactly once per month, just before going on duty in the coal mine. This, incidentally, was consistent with the advice given in the popular self-help guide, How to Raise Orphans and Make Money.

There were three ways to leave Saint Lupin’s. The first was to get adopted. Perhaps by a nice family who would whisk you away to your long dreamed-of castle on a hill—one surrounded by forests and glens, filled with interesting and friendly people, rich with history and bright with promise and hope. The board of governors was extremely pleased with its track record in this regard as it had managed to prevent all adoptions since the Institute’s foundation.

The second way was to reach the age of fourteen and be unceremoniously kicked out on your bottom.

The third way was to embark upon a quest. Although quests were heavily regulated (so they could then be heavily taxed), there were no restrictions regarding age or background and thus anyone could apply. The secret to a successful application was first to fulfill a prophecy (prophecies were also heavily taxed). At Saint Lupin’s, both of these topics, that is, quests and prophecies, were considered particularly taboo subjects of inquiry.