QK Agent Round 7: Trailer Trap, MG Contemporary

Entry Nickname:  Trailer Trap

Title:  Experiment in Progress

Word Count:  40,000

Genre:  MG Contemporary

Query:

Alexis Reed is going to make her school sorry for sticking her in a trailer. Thanks to overcrowding, her fifth-grade class has been assigned to a portable classroom with defective air conditioning and a cockroach problem. She’s stranded across the soccer field from her quirky little brother, who tends to wander out of classrooms and hide in storage closets. When she can’t stay close to him, it’s a lot harder to keep Lucas from getting himself expelled. 

Determined to get back in the main building, Alexis designs an experiment for her school science fair to prove that the trailer is dangerous. She and her partner Jaelynn demolish a model of the trailer with a leaf blower to show what would happen if a tornado hit Glenwood Elementary. The project wins the girls a third-place ribbon, an appearance on the local T.V. news, and an invitation to speak at the next school board meeting. Alexis thinks she’s won—until she learns that the school board plans to empty the trailer by transferring a busload of kids out of Glenwood. A busload made up of low-income students from the “wrong” side of town. A busload that includes Jaelynn.

Caught between her brother and her friend, Alexis must decide if she still wants out of the trailer at any cost.

QK Agent Round 8: Tag, You're Dead, YA Thriller

Entry Nickname: Tag, You're Dead

Title: Tag, You're Dead

Word count: 80K

Genre: YA Thriller

Query:

In present-day Chicago, six teenagers play Tag, but with a twist: if you get Tagged, you get Dead.

The three "Its" have their reasons for buying a place in the Game: Brandy, the surgically-enhanced debutante, is dying to destroy a naturally beautiful girl; Robin, the so-so basketball player, desires his target's position on the school team; and Charles, the brainiac, craves a battle against an intellectual equal. 

Laura, William, and Amanda, three hand-picked innocents forced to play as “Runners,” want only one thing…to survive. 

From the moment the Runners “Go,” we follow their separate paths as the Game rockets them through the city, from the El to Michigan Avenue to the Lincoln Park Zoo. They must plan circuitous routes, for if they head directly to their Home Bases, they’ll run straight into their opponents’ murderous arms. Since the Runners’ coordinates are transmitted to the Its every half hour from smart watches locked onto their wrists, there is no time to rest, and barely a moment to register the threats made against their loved ones should the Runners refuse to participate.

With only so many places to hide, even in one of the nation’s largest cities, the Runners must use their unique skills – Laura’s charismatic personality, William’s brute strength, Amanda’s computer hacking – to outsmart their Its. The Game will not end until someone is Tagged, so the Runners must choose how to play: will they accept death, murder their Its, or create a third option that could end the game before anyone dies?

Six players began the Game. How many will live to see it end?

QK Agent Round 9: A Burning Dilemma, YA Contemporary

Entry Nickname: A Burning Dilemma

Title: Burn, Baby

Word count: 62K

Genre: YA Contemporary

Query:

 The fates must have been laughing their asses off the day sixteen-year-old Ziggy's crack-head mom poured gas all over his sister and lit her on fire. The tragedy that wrecked Layla's future gave him the life he'd always wished for, and too much guilt to ever enjoy it.       

His mom got thirty-to-life for attempted murder and now the brother and sister are living with a crazy but cool uncle in the suburbs, far away from the public housing apartments where they grew up. They’re going to a private high school and Ziggy's driving his own car and excelling in kickboxing. Unfortunately, his once kind, smart sister now hates everything, but mostly she hates him, for saving her. 

Until she connects with her poetry teacher, who falls in love with her angry words, and slowly draws her out from her prison of scars. But Ziggy isn’t happy about eighteen-year-old Layla dating a teacher. Should he try to come between them, or wait to see if Mr. Osterman – despite the taboo – is just what his sister needs to move on with her life? And will Layla's forgiveness allow Ziggy to finally let go of his guilt?

QK Agent Round 10: Mini Mutants, YA high fantasy

Entry Nickname: Mini Mutants

Title: Hunted Souls

Word Count: 65k

Genre: YA high fantasy with sci-fi elements 

Query:

When eighteen-year-old Bixby codes in a hospital, his soul takes a detour to Centerra, a world where giants hunt humans for magic, harvesting it from their blood to gain temporary super powers. Prisoners are kept as specimens for experimentation, as giants seek to make magic permanent, since the gods stripped it from them as part of an ancient Punishment. If humans in Centerra, all eighteen and under, rescue any of their friends, giants retaliate by killing another prisoner. They call it "insurance."

A band of teens and kids adopt Bixby into their system of underground forts, so long as he follows rule number one: Don't be a hero. His choice is to hide below the forest floor when giants' hunting parties pass through, doing nothing for those who get captured, or risk expulsion from the group. The art of fitting in will determine his survival, and he's already an odd one out given he can't seem to discover his own power. His hopefully soon-to-be-girlfriend, Otsu, shares his powerless anomaly, so he swallows his pride, obeying his overprotective leader and ignoring taunts.

But love makes one do stupid things. His house mate, Sacheen, shared a hospital floor with him on Earth, where he watched her suffer and die. When the giants take her, he knows he can't live with himself if he does nothing. Otsu agrees, but insists on rescuing everyone; saving only Sacheen would result in another's death. They travel towards the giants' developed territory, and when they reach the castle, they hear rumors of four humans who will possess powers capable of destroying the giants' race. These four will be identified by a delayed manifestation of specific abilities, so by entering the castle before discovering their hidden strengths, Bixby and Otsu have just given the giants a key to their survival.

QK Agent Round 11: A Few Quick Hellos, YA Magical Realism

Entry Nickname: A Few Quick Hellos 

Title: Under the Fresh Turned Earth

Word Count: 56,000

Genre: YA Magical Realism

Query

Nel has friends who are alive, but she spends most of her time with the dead in the Drutherton Cemetery. Her idea of a perfect afternoon is lying in the dirt of the fresh dug graves and absorbing the stories of those buried beneath. An odd habit for a fifteen-year-old girl.

To strengthen her connection with the deceased, Nel follows along with her friends to loot from the homes of the dead. The most recent, a seventy-two-year-old widow, Harriet Murphy, leaves behind a diary that changes Nel’s life.

Within the pages is a secret the whole town of Drutherton has waited to hear for more than fifty years. Harriet reveals she had possessed the Carte Dorare, a magical Book of Wishes.

Nel feels certain Harriet held onto the book and that its hiding place is spelled out somewhere in the diary. All she has to do is keep reading.

The Carte Dorare has the power to grant the holder one wish. Nel's wish would be the one thing she’s wanted since she was six, to have more memories of her parents while they were alive.

Once Nel makes her wish, she’ll have to pass the book on to a worthy stranger. In a town full of Optimists only looking out to gain power for themselves, this may prove to be Nel’s biggest challenge yet. 

Summer Celebration with a Free Read

TWO WORK DAYS until my summer vacation begins! It's been a long 180 days of school, full of snow days, 4th graders, and field trips! I love my work, but you definitely need a break to refresh yourself. Delayed by many make-up snow days, that break is almost here. I really feel like celebrating!

What better way to celebrate than to give something away? 

I haven't given away any books for some time. How about a free ebook of Kindar's Cure to anyone who wants one. After all, it features a sick but gutsy girl, off on an insane quest to find a cure. Almost like a summer vacation, if you have murder, betrayal, and romance on your vacations. 

Simply ask in the comments or on twitter and let me know whether you want a mobi or epub version. I'll also need an email address.

Of course, I'd appreciate any honest reviews you'd care to leave. 

Now onward to celebrating!  

Another Query Kombat Surprise

One of the goals we had for Query Kombat this year was to make it bigger and better than last year. So far, I think we've succeeded. With 32 35 entries going into the agent round, we've shown that there is nothing we won't do to make this tournament as fun and successful as possible.

But we still have a few surprises left in our arsenal...

This year, the last entry standing in each category (MG, YA, NA, and A) will receive a badge showing off their accomplishment in the tournament. The Query Kombat champion will also receive a badge, marking him/her as the last man/woman standing in such an intense contest.

So, without further ado, I give you the Query Kombat badges...

Query Kombat 2014 1st Round Winners

Well, Round 1 of this crazy contests officially ended last night. We promised blood and blood there was. Sorry this announcement is so late. A host had an emergency and I actually went to bed before he returned. Exhaustion and an upset stomach from picking my host save got the best of me.

Please have your revised entries to us by Friday, June 6th at noon. Use the same format and send to the contest email: QueryKombat (at) yahoo (dot) com.

A full 32 entries out of the 64 lost in a valiant fight - you should have seen us hosts and the judges freak out over Twitter and in the comments of the entries about how hard it was to choose.

For those 32: good job. You gave the judges a hell of a job. Hopefully you got some amazing feedback as well!

For the 32 winners, CONGRATS!!!!!! YOU GET TO GO ON TO THE AGENT ROUND WHICH OPENS THIS SUNDAY!!!

Below is the list of those who will go on to the next round. Let me know if we made any mistakes!

Make a Baby with Socks On

She Wears Bruises Like Trophies

Reality Star

Beauty and the Crazy Kidnapper

Remember Me
Attempting Average

Love is Hell

Can't Keep a Bad Girl Down

The Past is Back

Lavender Marriage

A Cozy for Geeks

Making Boys Cry

Have Sword, Will Travel

Guerrilla Geek

World on a String

Trailer Trap

Girl Destroys World

Star Light, Star Bright

Tag, You're Dead

Sunnyside Up

Amnesiac

A Burning Dilemma

Caprice No. 13

Shalom Sasquatch

Mini Mutants

WEEL

Maidens, Monks, & Murder

A Few Quick Hellos

Skateboarding Sherlock

BingBamBoomBFF
Burning Down the House

CONGRATS!!! Of course, we still have....

the Host Saves

These are three entries that we three hosts will pick from our teams to move on to the agent round but not on to Round 2. Check out SC's and Mike's picks as well. The host saves can submit a revised entry and will go to the agent round, but not to the second combat round.

It was a really hard decisions to narrow my host save down to one choice. I'm sure the burning in the pit of my stomach last night was the result, because this choice is crushing. I love all my picks and would take you all if it was possible.

With great humility and apologies to the rest, my host save is:

Lowlife Extraordinaire

Congrats everyone!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see you all at the agent round! Also: how was/is your experience in Query Kombat?

Query Kombat 2014 Surprise One

If you've been following the hosts on Twitter, you know we've been heavily hinting towards several secret surprises for the last four days or so. Well, now you're going to find out what one is.

This sort of grew out of a desire to see more entries in the agent round because from 230 entries dwindled down to 32 in the agent round...that's BRUTAL. But our surprise also helps out because the match-ups were just SO hard to do. We tried as hard as possible to match entries up against similar-styled opponents but some entries were so unique that doing it was impossible. Basically, we had stellar entries against each other with nothing in common to base a 'victor' off of.

And it's just so painful losing half our beautiful picks.

SO THAT'S WHY WE HAVE THE SECRET SURPRISE!

Are you ready for it? You ready?

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ARE YOU READY?!

This secret surprise is that each host gets to pick one of their losing entries to enter the agent round! That's right--it's a host save!

WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! *Cheers and claps all around*

Each host will pick the entry they believe will get requests and these entries will enter the agent round but not Round 2 of Query Kombat. So they won't get the cool blog badges and everything that are reserved for winners in each category.

We'll pick our entries after Round 1 ends on June 4th! The picked entries will have the chance to submit a revised entry as well as the other Round 1 winners.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very excited about the agent round now :) Good luck everyone!

Stay tuned for more surprises!

Query Kombat 2014 Round 1 Has Begun

Round 1 HAS BEGUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHH!!!!!!!

Hop on over to Mike's and SC's blogs to see the rest of the match-ups and entries!! They are spread all over the place. Some here, some there. We've got a little bit of everything: adult, NA, YA, and MG! This round last until June 4th at 8 pm.

But before we begin:

Read this post again to remind yourselves of the rules and guidelines of commenting and judging. Below I've reposted the main ideas:

Reminders for the Entrants:

No commenting on your own entries!!!!!! At ALL. Except for one big exception: I'm a human, I make mistakes. If you see something wrong with your entry such as a word that should have been italicized but isn't, or something else, first try to Tweet me @Michelle4Laughs (this is the best option). If you don't have a Twitter, comment on your entry telling me the mistake (but this way will be slower as I won't be checking the comments as much as Twitter, and also because your comment may be lost in a flood of judges' votes).

Also, we tried our hardest to make the match-ups as fair as possible and against as similar stories as possible. But, obviously, this is impossible to do perfectly and some match-ups may seen very random (they're not). We apologize for this but it's an evil of the system.

Kombatants should comment on 6 other match-ups to help share the love around!

Reminders for the Judges:

Wait until after one of us hosts comments on each entry first and reply to that comment to cast your votes :) Try making your votes objective instead of subjective (but if you really love an entry subjectively, don't even feel bad about saying it was a subjective vote - subjectivity rules!).

Make sure to post under your nicknames!

And judges: seriously, thank you so, SO much for doing this. It's a very tough job (just wait until you start doing it!) and isn't for the faint-hearted.

Reminders for Everyone:

Try not to comment until after one of us hosts have made the first comment!

NOW THE FUN BEGINS!!! GO GO GO!!! We'll be Tweeting under #QueryKombat!

QK Round 1: Palm Beach versus She Wears Bruises Like Trophies

Entry Name: Palm Beach

Title: Of a Palm Beach Persuasion

Word Count: 90,000

Genre: Adult Women's Fiction

Query:

Maggie is finally ready to come home. Trust-fund untouched, a self-made success, she will step back into the role of dutiful socialite on her own terms. Her return comes shortly after the bubble pops on the real estate market, and her father, although Palm Beach royalty, finds himself upside down on multiple properties. Maggie is amused when he decides to rent their Palm Beach mansion to an L.A. band. Amused that is, until the musicians reconnect Maggie to her first love, her high school boyfriend, who’s proposal she once fled. Literally. 

And yes, more than ten years later, she’s still flustered about that. 

Back in high school, Gavin doesn’t understand Maggie’s surprise invitation to her father’s annual fall gala. Rumor has it she only dates Ivy Leaguers down for crew training. It isn’t that Gavin comes from “the wrong side of the tracks,” but that he lives on the wrong side of the water - off “The Island.” Not a Palm Beacher, not a Beach Clubber, not an anything. But when the Beatles cover band brought in for the gala strikes up, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” for their first song of the night, he takes it as the perfect omen. 

He’s wrong. By the next summer Maggie leaves Gavin standing by the sea wall - the Flagler Museum where they’d danced prom night illuminated across the water. The ring he’d designed to showcase his grandmother’s diamond still in his own hand. 

And yes, more than ten years later, he’s still holding a grudge.

               

It’s Persuasion under the glare of the south Florida sun, but the only one going by the name of Wentworth is a peacock who takes residence in Maggie’s yard, and the modern heroine is not lifted in and out of carriages because she drives her own Mercedes thankyouverymuch.

First 250 Words:

February 15, 2007

Almond Granola Bark, a.k.a. Road Trip Fuel
Blog Recipe Box: snacks, other

What do you like to eat on road trips? What if it begins on snowy roads and ends in 85 degree heat? What if it’s a moving road trip? A you-lived-somewhere-eleven-years but... it’s time. Chapter closed. On the road. 

Is there a food for that?

When this publishes I'll be winding around DC’s Dupont Circle, my townhouse disappearing in the back window. I’ll weave and turn until I find myself on 395 soon to be spit out on 95 - the highway that takes me home. 

When I’m welcoming the heat of seat warmers under my jeans should I fill my mug with hot chocolate, but later, when sweaty denim starts sticking, do I toss the bottom-sludge in a 7-11 parking lot where I’ll have stopped for an icy Slurpee? Maybe I’ll begin with a toasted sandwich and end with, I don’t know, what are they eating in Florida right now? Mangoes? Kiwis? Avocado everything?

No surprise - my kitchen was the final room dwindled down to boxes. What to make? What to make!

I’m a Florida girl. I love heat, thick salty air, those mangoes. Watching Sandhill Cranes by the dozen peck through empty fields or finding a smaller family of the birds honking a parade down my driveway. (It’s happened.) I don’t mind braking for alligators (also true), though I’m not crazy about giant lizards (tiny dinosaurs). We’ll blame them for my hiatus.

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: She Wears Bruises Like Trophies

Title: Lucky Punch

Word count: 71K

Genre: Adult Contemporary

Query:

Widowed military veteran Poppy Leon is desperate to rebuild her life and be a great single parent to her son Milo, despite suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, after almost losing her life in a mortar attack in Iraq.

When Poppy finds a veteran’s outreach program of mixed martial arts (MMA), she hopes it will help curb her debilitating PTSD. After two years of MMA competition Poppy is undefeated, and her relationship with her five year old son has never been better. But a vicious blow to the head during a match triggers a flashback, and Poppy loses control, nearly killing her opponent. She’s immediately plunged into a mental and physical nightmare. Unable to function, Poppy lashes out at those she loves the most, including Milo. 

Despite the resurgence of her PTSD, Poppy still has contracts and commitments to complete that her honor demands she fulfill. If she doesn’t, she loses her fight money, and the home she and Milo picked out that she just signed a contract for. If she doesn’t get her shit together and Marine-up, Poppy knows losing a match is the least of her worries. But what was once her most cherished outlet soon has her reliving her past trauma with every strike and blow.  Now Poppy must decide between Marine and Mother if she's ever going to give her son and herself the life she deserves. 

First 250:

The tent was in flames around her and Poppy felt like she’d been thrown against a concrete wall. Sand filled her mouth, her head was splitting apart. All, she could think was, move! Her eyes teared up as she opened them, and rough hands grabbed her and dragged her from the tent. 

Poppy was dropped on the ground next to another Marine and watched in a haze as her savior ran back into the tent to bring out anyone left inside. He was a God damn hero.

She looked around, the ringing in her ears increasing, and took quick inventory of the action around her. There were men and women in uniform, running hither and to with their faces bloodied and their once clean uniforms tattered and covered in dust. She heard herself asking the question, what happened, in a voice that didn’t sound remotely like her own. She brought her hand up to her head, grimacing as she felt something sticking out of her skull. She had the presence of mind to leave it where it was, and leaned over to retch into the sand. 

She crawled over to the body next to her, putting her shaking hand on the Marine’s neck to feel for a pulse, but not even a whisper beat against her bloodied fingers. Poppy drew her hand away and felt herself up. She didn’t feel any obvious wounds, and she glanced to the side, wondering who was in charge. Then she remembered: she was. 

QK Round 1: His Little Human versus Beauty and the Crazy Kidnapper

Entry Nickname: His Little Human

Title: The Black Dragon’s Mate

Word Count: 90,000

Genre: Adult fantasy romance

Query:

What a dragon wants, a dragon takes. Even if it’s a girl.

Sakina Sage, twenty-five year old diplomat with a degree in Dragonology, realizes exactly how true this age-old adage is when The Black Dragon, rumored to be the most bloodthirsty beast of the Dragon Kingdom, gets his claws into her and sweeps her off her feet. Literally.

Making a deal with the dragon is easy. Resisting his cantankerous charm for two whole weeks is not. But just when Sakina’s starting to believe she might actually be the perfect match for a dragon who may or may not eat people (she doesn’t want to ask), things go wrong. An aggravating discovery made in the Dragon Kingdom stirs up old animosities. Caught in the crossfire between dragons out for blood and a Government who wants her for leverage, Sakina will have to use all the diplomatic skills she possesses to prevent carnage and save her relationship with Drake.

As for Drake, he can sum up the situation in about three words. Two, if you’re not particular about verbs. Sakina…and mine.

First 250 words:

Excerpt from The GUAN Times (June 02, 1964)

“Today is the dawn of a new era.

The Great War has ended. The Peaceful Treaty of 1964 has been signed. This controversial treaty entitles a dragon to ‘full possession’ of any human he recognizes as a kindred ‘mate’, provided the human suffers no deliberate harm.  In return, the Dragon Kingdom shall not launch an offensive on the citizens of GUAN, but may reply in like if provoked.”

Comments on The Peaceful Treaty from all around the world

“We’re aware that some of the conditions of the treaty might seem…extreme. However, the Government pleads to all citizens of GUAN to understand that in the absence of a peaceful treaty with the dragons—at the rate the war was going on—the human race might well have been annihilated.”

Official statement by the President of GUAN

“It’s barbaric. Full ‘possession’ over the human? Has the Government gone mad?”

Annie Bézure, spokesperson for Women Rights Commission (WRC)

“Oh my God. That’s so hot. Have you seen how hot they are? I mean, sure, they breathe fire but that’s only in their dragon form and anyway, it makes them even hotter. Pun unintended. They’re, like, super hot, especially when human. I wouldn’t mind being their possession.”

Katy, teen pop star from Bargh, capital city of GUAN (West Division)

“Ummmm……ummmmm. Ummmmm…..yeah. Ummmmmm…”

Andy ‘Lion’ McDonald, reporter who was delegated to ask the dragons for a formal comment on the treaty and since his return, has been in a dazed state.

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: Beauty and the Crazy Kidnapper
Title: Stealing Fire
Word count: 75,000
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Query:

Ella’s life for her father’s.  It’s the easiest decision she ever made.

 

When Ella traces her missing father to a decaying mansion, she's shocked to find him being held captive by a dangerous but devastatingly handsome man. He offers Ella a choice: Stay with him and her father can go free.

 

Lucian isn't just a crazy kidnapper wrapped in eye candy. He's the head of a group of shape shifters who live as humans by day and hideous monsters by night. Desperate to discover why none of his kind have been born in centuries, Lucian stole Ella's father, a scientist who’d previously worked with Lucian’s species on the fertility crisis. When Ella shows up and is immune to Lucian's powers, he sees a chance to get answers, certain the scientist hid them in Ella’s DNA.

 

Ella willingly trades places with her father and becomes Lucian’s prisoner. He gives her everything she could possibly want except her freedom. The more time she spends with Lucian, the harder it is to deny he’s a ruthless monster. Even so, with every sideways glance and accidental touch, she becomes more confused and Lucian comes closer to forgetting she’s not his.

 

But their days together are limited. Lucian has enemies, and they’ll do anything to keep his species from expanding. As they close in, Lucian starts to understand the safest place for Ella is far away from him. But a true beast would never give up so easily.

 

First 250 words:

Ella shoved open the door to the sheriff’s office, slamming it against the wall. So what if all the deputies were staring? Let them know she was angry.

 

Gus glanced up from his paperwork, a lazy grin planted on his face.  “Ella, if you really want to see me, all you have to do is call,” he said with his signature drawl that had all the girls in the small Maine town of Pine Springs drooling.

 

All the girls except Ella.

 

“Have you found Papa?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

Gus stood up from behind his desk, towering over her tiny five-four frame. “We were able to track his car down, but couldn’t find any sign of him. It’s sitting out in the middle of nowhere. He’s probably in the woods tinkering with some new invention or whatever the hell it is he does.”

 

Ella chewed her bottom lip. “He wouldn’t run off without telling me. I called the Lexington Hotel. He never checked in, and he was supposed to present at the science symposium last weekend. I haven’t talked to him in over seven days.”

 

Gus nodded like he was listening, but she recognized the glazed over look in his eyes. He’d already written her off. “Normally, that would all be quite alarming, but you can’t exactly call Dr. Murray ‘normal’.”

 

She clenched her fists and took a deep breath. “Why aren’t you taking this seriously?”

Gus moved to stand in front of the desk and set a hand on her shoulder.

QK Round 1: A Bit of Code versus Love Is Hell

Entry Nickname: A Bit of Code

Title: HELLO_WORLD

Word count: 80K

Genre: Adult Sci-Fi

Query:

Scott Gris’ skills as a surveillance expert come in pretty handy when he’s breaking down firewalls with his hacker buddies. But internet hijinks aren't enough; they're going after the holy grail of hacks–UltSyn's Human Information Drives, assets implanted with cerebral microchips. When they find an encrypted list of names, Scott's convinced his missing sister, Victoria, didn’t just run off with her boyfriend like her family was lead to believe. 

Obsessed with finding Victoria, he tracks her halfway around the world. As Scott digs deeper into restricted databases he discovers those who enlist with UltSyn get far more than they bargained for. Plunged into a world of human trafficking and corporate espionage, Scott is determined to find his sister, no matter the cost. Targeting Sonia, the HID believed to contain information about his sister, he plans to steal her data and use it to bring UltSyn down. But when the information reveals that his sister has been working for UltSyn all along, he has to find her–before UltSyn finds him.

First 250 words:

The whole world lives in two places at once. The one that is real and then the digital verse, where a pull of the strings can affect the world outside. But doing so leaves a trace. Even the corporations, the engineers, the hackers that live in both worlds can’t fully wash their footsteps away. The bigger you are the larger the shadow you will cast.

That was part of the reason why I turned into a lone wolf. My digital trail is tiny in comparison to an organized group. I had no loose ends that could be pulled; no emails about where the team would meet up, no phone calls to check in with would be co-workers. It worked better this way.

I wasn't trying to take on the world, just trying to save one person.

It never seemed liked an outlandish goal at the time.

I hacked into several databases and started tracking the movements of Human Information Devices. HIDs are flesh and blood hard drives and the classified prizes of business world. Valued for the ability to keep secrets. The rest of the world is only just now seeing them as the technological wonder they are. I had a feeling this is where the person I was looking for disappeared to.

Before this, HIDs were urban legends, the Holy Grail of the hacking community. If it was even possible to hack them it is incredibly hard to do. It was a challenge a lot of people wanted to take, but I was the only one ever given the chance.

VERSUS

Entry Nickname: Love is Hell

Title: Daughter of Lilith

Word Count: 71,000

Genre: YA Paranormal

  

Query:

As a half-demon, sixteen-year-old Ariel rips souls from the living as casually as mortals order coffee.

Raised by her abusive teacher, Batal, Ariel blindly accepts all humans are a worthless blight on the world – especially males. But when a car accident leaves her stranded, a minister’s son, Mike Flannery, goes beyond the call of duty to help.

Getting to know him, Ariel starts questioning her upbringing. Mike’s kindness and sincerity suggests he’s not the filthy slime her teacher claims him to be. She soon realizes he brings out something in her she didn’t know she had - humanity. Refusing to return home, Ariel vows to never again let Batal or anyone else manipulate her. However, Batal is not about to let one of her pawns escape without a fight.

Now the renegade demon realizes letting Mike into her life is endangering both of them. She can deny her new feelings and walk away to protect him from the creatures of Hell, or confront her sadistic headmistress, risking an eternity of suffering for a chance at love.

First 250 words:

I silently walk over to the bed, where the woman sleeps next to a man similar in age. His arm draped over her, as if to protect his possession.

A nightstand displays several pictures of the couple, including a wedding photo. The two seem happy together. But I know it’s nothing more than a façade. Men are incapable of love.

I walk around the room – as I must – searching for any signs that would prevent me from fulfilling my duty. As usual, I find none. No one from today remembers the ancient agreement.

Returning to the bed, I stand beside the woman who is asleep on her side. An elongated pillow rests between her knees and under her enlarged belly, supporting her womb.

I shake my head. How can any self-respecting female allow a son of Adam to defile her? I glare down at the male. Instinctively, I feel the corners of my mouth tighten into a snare. My stomach churns creating a bitter taste in my mouth, making me want to spit. Control, Ariel. Stay in control.

I suppress my feelings, as I’ve always done. A lesser being may not be able to, but I’m not like these frail creatures before me. I’m a daughter of Lilith, I serve The Mother.

I hold out my hand, palm facing down. I listen to the expectant mother’s breathing, and focus on her heartbeat. It’s slow and rhythmic.  

I lower my hand so it hovers over her belly. Another heartbeat comes into focus, faster but still harmonious – the child’s.