Michelle Hauck's Blog, page 20
June 7, 2017
Query Kombat Agent Round 2017
Here we go! The agent round! Before you dive in, please - agents and entrants - read this post!
Agents, entrants are spread out over all three blogs. You can also find them at Laura's blog and Mike’s blog.
Agents will request by saying, “I want to see more of this!” and leaving their submission instructions. (Kombatants: Don’t forget to put QUERY KOMBAT Request in your subject line when sending material!)
As you remember, agent requests will stay hidden until an entry is knocked out of the tournament.
The number of pages you’ll send depends on how far you go in Query Kombat!
It's because we're super evil. Here's how the system works:
Host Saves or Round 2 knockout = 30 page request
Round 3 knockout = 50 page request
Round 4 knockout = 100 page request
Round 5 knockout = 150 page request
Round 6 knockout = 200 page request
GRAND CHAMPION = Full request
For instance, getting knocked out in the third round means an entrant will send 50 pages to any agent who requested their work. The grand champion winner from the final round will see their requests bumped up to a full. Host Saves will be allowed to see their requests immediately as they are not continuing to the 2nd round.
Each agent gets 2 wild cards! (In the case of a wild card, said wild card is displayed immediately, giving Kombatants a reason to watch the blogs!)
If an agent sees an entry where the minimum of 30 pages isn’t enough, they can play a wild card and name their amount of pages and get their request immediately!If they fall in love and absolutely want a full, the wild card will let them do that.
However, only two wild cards can stand per entry. That means only the first two wild cards count. After that, agents will have to wait until the entry is knocked out.
So that’s it! Commenting on entries is only allowed for agents. Kombatants can mix and mingle on twitter but can’t comment, with the exception of this post where they can leave questions.
Best of luck and May the Requests Be With You! BATTLE ON!
QK Agent Round 4: Hero by Default, YA Urban Fantasy
Title: The Mortal CoilEntry Nickname: Hero by DefaultWord count: 80KGenre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Query:
When Covington Academy's basketball team is found comatose during practice, seventeen-year-old Aiden Milligan goes from top of the class to top of the suspect list. With a brilliant mind, extensive disciplinary record, and grudge against the team, he's marked as both the likely perpetrator and an ideal recruit for The Orphion Circle, the rumored anarchist group the police are investigating. Guilty until proven innocent in the principal's eyes, Aiden knows he's one misstep from expulsion and being thrown back into foster care — or worse, a prison cell. Losing his academic future, the one thing that separates him from every other parentless screw-up, is not an option.
Teamwork is torture for Aiden, but classmate Jessie Rivas is his only help in clearing his name. A crackpot conspiracist breaking into the world of journalism, Jessie drags Aiden into a mystifying investigation of mounting coma incidents around the city. When bloody symbols appear at the scene of the attacks, Aiden begins to believe Jessie’s theories about the mysterious Orphion Circle are true — they’re not an anarchist group but a coven of dangerous witches.
Stopping The Circle and clearing his name become one and the same for Aiden. Every move he makes jeopardizes his innocence, and with a detective all too eager to lock Aiden up, salvaging his reputation and his academic future may be impossible. But if he can't uncover the truth behind the mounting coma victims before The Circle silences him, he won't have a future at all.
First 250:
Aiden Milligan was in the principal's office. Again. And, for once, he wasn't sure why.He hadn't skipped any classes. This week, anyway. And Ms. Maynard seemed more resigned than mad when he corrected the electron assignment in her molecular formula during Chemistry yesterday.He sighed and stared down at Covington Academy's infamous hot seat. He'd half-expected his name to be inscribed on it by now. He craned his neck to glimpse the back of the stiff wooden chair. Nope, no plaque. Shame, really."Mr. Milligan."Aiden straightened up as Principal Hadley entered the room and sat behind his impenetrable oak desk."Sir," he muttered.After two years at Covington, Aiden and Principal Hadley had become very familiar with each other — in the way a lion becomes familiar with a straggling wildebeest. Aiden was a problem that didn't want to be solved, and Hadley took that as a challenge. The man was determined to churn out the future world changers for which the academy was renowned, like it or not.Aiden begrudgingly admired that resolve. Or would, if it weren't laser-focused on him.Hadley ran a hand through thinning, dirty-blonde hair. “Thank you for coming, Aiden."Aiden raised an eyebrow. Like he had a choice?Give me my slap on the wrist and hollow lecture and set me loose, 'cause you can't risk losing your highest GPA student. Rinse and repeat.“To business.” Hadley folded his hands on his desk. "This morning, there was an incident.”Incident? Oh, damn, not good...
Query:
When Covington Academy's basketball team is found comatose during practice, seventeen-year-old Aiden Milligan goes from top of the class to top of the suspect list. With a brilliant mind, extensive disciplinary record, and grudge against the team, he's marked as both the likely perpetrator and an ideal recruit for The Orphion Circle, the rumored anarchist group the police are investigating. Guilty until proven innocent in the principal's eyes, Aiden knows he's one misstep from expulsion and being thrown back into foster care — or worse, a prison cell. Losing his academic future, the one thing that separates him from every other parentless screw-up, is not an option.
Teamwork is torture for Aiden, but classmate Jessie Rivas is his only help in clearing his name. A crackpot conspiracist breaking into the world of journalism, Jessie drags Aiden into a mystifying investigation of mounting coma incidents around the city. When bloody symbols appear at the scene of the attacks, Aiden begins to believe Jessie’s theories about the mysterious Orphion Circle are true — they’re not an anarchist group but a coven of dangerous witches.
Stopping The Circle and clearing his name become one and the same for Aiden. Every move he makes jeopardizes his innocence, and with a detective all too eager to lock Aiden up, salvaging his reputation and his academic future may be impossible. But if he can't uncover the truth behind the mounting coma victims before The Circle silences him, he won't have a future at all.
First 250:
Aiden Milligan was in the principal's office. Again. And, for once, he wasn't sure why.He hadn't skipped any classes. This week, anyway. And Ms. Maynard seemed more resigned than mad when he corrected the electron assignment in her molecular formula during Chemistry yesterday.He sighed and stared down at Covington Academy's infamous hot seat. He'd half-expected his name to be inscribed on it by now. He craned his neck to glimpse the back of the stiff wooden chair. Nope, no plaque. Shame, really."Mr. Milligan."Aiden straightened up as Principal Hadley entered the room and sat behind his impenetrable oak desk."Sir," he muttered.After two years at Covington, Aiden and Principal Hadley had become very familiar with each other — in the way a lion becomes familiar with a straggling wildebeest. Aiden was a problem that didn't want to be solved, and Hadley took that as a challenge. The man was determined to churn out the future world changers for which the academy was renowned, like it or not.Aiden begrudgingly admired that resolve. Or would, if it weren't laser-focused on him.Hadley ran a hand through thinning, dirty-blonde hair. “Thank you for coming, Aiden."Aiden raised an eyebrow. Like he had a choice?Give me my slap on the wrist and hollow lecture and set me loose, 'cause you can't risk losing your highest GPA student. Rinse and repeat.“To business.” Hadley folded his hands on his desk. "This morning, there was an incident.”Incident? Oh, damn, not good...
QK Agent Round 3: She's Fast, He's Furious, Contemporary Sports Romance
Title: Circuit of AttractionEntry Nickname: She’s Fast, He’s FuriousWord count: 87KGenre: Adult Contemporary Sports RomanceQuery: MotoGP princess Lorelai Hargrove has battled tirelessly to earn her place in professional motorcycle racing’s starting lineup. Her family raised her to prioritize career before romance, but it’s getting impossible to resist the pull toward her sexy-as-he-is-infuriating rival: Italian racing superstar, Massimo Vitolo.
Massimo spent ten years trying to tease his way into Lorelai’s good graces before accepting one unstoppable truth: racing will always come first for her. But when another rider crashes her out, leaving Lorelai shaken from cracked helmet to busted bike, her losses pile up until a mandate comes down from her sponsors: start winning, or she’ll be replaced with someone who can. Massimo can’t bear to stand on the sidelines as those who worshipped the first woman of moto rush to tear her down, so during a break in the season, he shows up at Lorelai’s Memphis home. Through motocross jumps and moonlit bike rides, he helps her regain her confidence, and a decade’s worth of competitive tension ignites into a sexual explosion. But the respite from their competitive habits is tested the moment the foes-turned-lovers return to the track.
Lorelai’s sponsors are still making noise about her low placements, while Massimo’s are now raising eyebrows at his fraternization with a competitor. Worse, if either of their racing contracts ends up in shreds, the resulting banishment from the circuit will spell the end of their bi-continental romance. For both Lorelai and Massimo, there’s only one way to salvage both their beloved careers and the relationship they’d risk anything to keep: Win the top spot of MotoGP World Champion, or lose it all. First 250: Third gear.The cool March air screams past me as I downshift in my approach to turn fourteen, a damn near 90-degree right corner on the Losail International track. My Ducati lays deep into the tighter-than-tight turn, putting me closer to horizontal than vertical while my knee scrapes the track rippling by my helmet—my trademark American flag painted across my crown.I tuck in my elbow and control my breathing. Twenty-one laps down, two turns to go, and then I will fly over the finish line: the first woman in history to win a race in MotoGP. The first woman ever to race in MotoGP. And all I have to do is what I’ve managed for ten years: beat Massimo to the finish line one last time.Fourth gear. I tilt her vertical and charge toward the sharp left of fifteen. Fifth gear. Sixth. Golden dust flashes on my right, black pavement and gray bailout gravel rushing by my left. The stadium lights of Qatar lead the way, and I fade left, forcing Massimo’s royal blue Yamaha furtherinside than he wants it to be.I never set out for us to be enemies, but if the Italian know-it-all jerk would’ve kept his distance, it would’ve made the fact that I can’t stop fantasizing about his body against mine so much easier to ignore.Massimo peeks at me, and I glare back at him over my shoulder. Today is the day I’m going to make history.Fifth gear. Fourth. Third, and lean.
Massimo spent ten years trying to tease his way into Lorelai’s good graces before accepting one unstoppable truth: racing will always come first for her. But when another rider crashes her out, leaving Lorelai shaken from cracked helmet to busted bike, her losses pile up until a mandate comes down from her sponsors: start winning, or she’ll be replaced with someone who can. Massimo can’t bear to stand on the sidelines as those who worshipped the first woman of moto rush to tear her down, so during a break in the season, he shows up at Lorelai’s Memphis home. Through motocross jumps and moonlit bike rides, he helps her regain her confidence, and a decade’s worth of competitive tension ignites into a sexual explosion. But the respite from their competitive habits is tested the moment the foes-turned-lovers return to the track.
Lorelai’s sponsors are still making noise about her low placements, while Massimo’s are now raising eyebrows at his fraternization with a competitor. Worse, if either of their racing contracts ends up in shreds, the resulting banishment from the circuit will spell the end of their bi-continental romance. For both Lorelai and Massimo, there’s only one way to salvage both their beloved careers and the relationship they’d risk anything to keep: Win the top spot of MotoGP World Champion, or lose it all. First 250: Third gear.The cool March air screams past me as I downshift in my approach to turn fourteen, a damn near 90-degree right corner on the Losail International track. My Ducati lays deep into the tighter-than-tight turn, putting me closer to horizontal than vertical while my knee scrapes the track rippling by my helmet—my trademark American flag painted across my crown.I tuck in my elbow and control my breathing. Twenty-one laps down, two turns to go, and then I will fly over the finish line: the first woman in history to win a race in MotoGP. The first woman ever to race in MotoGP. And all I have to do is what I’ve managed for ten years: beat Massimo to the finish line one last time.Fourth gear. I tilt her vertical and charge toward the sharp left of fifteen. Fifth gear. Sixth. Golden dust flashes on my right, black pavement and gray bailout gravel rushing by my left. The stadium lights of Qatar lead the way, and I fade left, forcing Massimo’s royal blue Yamaha furtherinside than he wants it to be.I never set out for us to be enemies, but if the Italian know-it-all jerk would’ve kept his distance, it would’ve made the fact that I can’t stop fantasizing about his body against mine so much easier to ignore.Massimo peeks at me, and I glare back at him over my shoulder. Today is the day I’m going to make history.Fifth gear. Fourth. Third, and lean.
QK Agent Round 2: Stands By Until He Doesn't, Literary Thriller
Title: The HenchmanEntry Nickname: Stands By Until He Doesn'tWord count: 97,700Genre: Literary Thriller
Query:
Rye wants to get through the night without getting his ass kicked, arrested, or shot—after all, he’s in his good suit. As a henchman in a ruthless gang, Rye isn’t optimistic. Contending with bent cops, hitmen, vigilantes, and even the occasional hero usually puts a guy in in the hospital or worse. His best hope of survival is looking the other way and not getting attached.
Gwen lives in an apartment full of unpacked boxes—the remnants of the normal life she abandoned to search for her missing sister. Spending her nights in bars canvassing for information, Gwen stumbles into Rye at his favorite dive. Despite his doubts, Gwen draws him into her hunt.
As Rye helps Gwen, he sinks deeper into the New York City underworld, where his boss, Brian King, jockeys for power and pursues a troublesome young hero. With each body Rye helps King bury, Rye puts another piece of his humanity into the ground.
When Gwen’s quest puts her in King’s sights, he abducts her. But before Rye can act, he’s confronted with the gang’s darkest scheme—a crime so heinous, he can’t look away. Now Rye must choose between saving innocent lives or the woman he’s come to love.
First 250: I should’ve worn a different suit. But it was an important meeting, so I wore my best one. Now I was standing in a drizzle, among the dumpsters in a dark alley strewn with trash, hoping it wasn’t getting ruined. If they had told me that I’d be out there with the garbage, I would’ve worn something that would blend in. Maybe something off the rack. But there I was in a thousand-dollar suit. So were Vlad and the two Korean guys that Ko had out there with us. Four guys, in a back alley, in thousand-dollar suits. If a cop looked down that alley, he’d have all kinds of probable cause. Probably because one of the Korean guys was carrying a submachine gun. And wearing sunglasses. At night. In the rain. Then again, any cop who passed this alley was probably on the take. Maybe he’d even have an umbrella he could lend us.
Vlad lit a cigarette, then held it in his cupped hand so it wouldn’t get wet. Water beaded on his shaved head. He held the pack out to the rest of us, but I waved him off. The guy with the sunglasses took one.
“You guys know how long this is going to go on for?” I asked.
Nobody answered. Sunglasses took a drag.
“If this is going to be a while,” I said, “we should put someone at the street end of the alley. Right now, an entire SWAT team could be down there and we wouldn’t know.”
Query:
Rye wants to get through the night without getting his ass kicked, arrested, or shot—after all, he’s in his good suit. As a henchman in a ruthless gang, Rye isn’t optimistic. Contending with bent cops, hitmen, vigilantes, and even the occasional hero usually puts a guy in in the hospital or worse. His best hope of survival is looking the other way and not getting attached.
Gwen lives in an apartment full of unpacked boxes—the remnants of the normal life she abandoned to search for her missing sister. Spending her nights in bars canvassing for information, Gwen stumbles into Rye at his favorite dive. Despite his doubts, Gwen draws him into her hunt.
As Rye helps Gwen, he sinks deeper into the New York City underworld, where his boss, Brian King, jockeys for power and pursues a troublesome young hero. With each body Rye helps King bury, Rye puts another piece of his humanity into the ground.
When Gwen’s quest puts her in King’s sights, he abducts her. But before Rye can act, he’s confronted with the gang’s darkest scheme—a crime so heinous, he can’t look away. Now Rye must choose between saving innocent lives or the woman he’s come to love.
First 250: I should’ve worn a different suit. But it was an important meeting, so I wore my best one. Now I was standing in a drizzle, among the dumpsters in a dark alley strewn with trash, hoping it wasn’t getting ruined. If they had told me that I’d be out there with the garbage, I would’ve worn something that would blend in. Maybe something off the rack. But there I was in a thousand-dollar suit. So were Vlad and the two Korean guys that Ko had out there with us. Four guys, in a back alley, in thousand-dollar suits. If a cop looked down that alley, he’d have all kinds of probable cause. Probably because one of the Korean guys was carrying a submachine gun. And wearing sunglasses. At night. In the rain. Then again, any cop who passed this alley was probably on the take. Maybe he’d even have an umbrella he could lend us.
Vlad lit a cigarette, then held it in his cupped hand so it wouldn’t get wet. Water beaded on his shaved head. He held the pack out to the rest of us, but I waved him off. The guy with the sunglasses took one.
“You guys know how long this is going to go on for?” I asked.
Nobody answered. Sunglasses took a drag.
“If this is going to be a while,” I said, “we should put someone at the street end of the alley. Right now, an entire SWAT team could be down there and we wouldn’t know.”
QK Agent Round 1: The Nose Knows, Adult Cont Fantasy Ownvoices
Title: The End of the World as We Know itEntry Nickname: The Nose KnowsWord Count: 69kGenre: Adult contemporary fantasy. Ownvoice--Latino (two of the multiple POVs)
Query:
Eddie Nezevitch has a unique gift—just like everyone else. Though his power ranks low and poses no danger, it is why he’s the best homicide detective in New York. Eddie can smell the emotional content of a crime, and knowing why is half the battle.
But his newest assignment, the scene of a dark, gory ritual, proves too much for him to handle alone, forcing him to team up with an aging crank and a not-so-doe-eyed newbie. Together they discover that not only is this murder the work of a brutal serial killer who steals his victims’ powers, but the victims turn out to be worse than the killer. This murderer is going after a crime ring that leads all the way up to the mayor and back into the department itself. As the evidence of corruption piles up, the investigators realize they can’t trust anyone but each other.
Getting ahead of the killer means discovering the names of his intended victims, but that uncovers the leaders of the crime ring, and Eddie’s team finds itself in the mayor’s crosshairs. While it’s unclear if the mayor wants to recruit them or kill them, it’s quite clear the killer wants them for accomplices. Eddie’s team has to choose between saving the worst criminals in the city from a murderer, or trusting a brutal serial killer who will soon be too powerful to stop.
First 250
The streets were wet, and the air carried the reminder of rain Eddie Nezevitch felt in his lungs and nostrils. The barrier in front of him shimmered like a slice of the Caribbean turned on its side, and Eddie couldn’t resist running his hand over the surface; it felt like glass but rippled like water.
Petty scenes got tape, but the department had an officer whose power could make important locations hermetic. Even though Eddie’d seen these seals enough to make them mundane, they remained beautiful. He touched his badge to the barrier and a hole opened, allowing entry. The seal closed behind him, leaving the avenue on the other side of the crime scene wavering and distorted.
The door of the house lay open, a sinister invitation into the quiet darkness. Eddie found a light switch and shut the door behind him. A sigh of frustration escaped when he saw the décor. Though gaudy complicated patterns in the furniture and wallpaper might hide blemishes, they also hid evidence—a pint of blood spatter might be nearly invisible in a room like this.
But it couldn’t hide an entire corpse, and the report said people had come and gone in this room for three days without discovering the body. Something else was at work.
Eddie closed his eyes and mouth, drew in a slow deep breath, and used his unique gift—his sense of smell. Lavender. Remorse? Lavender laced with…a soft decay, like mushrooms in the forest. Despair? Neither remorse nor despair made sense for this crime.
Query:
Eddie Nezevitch has a unique gift—just like everyone else. Though his power ranks low and poses no danger, it is why he’s the best homicide detective in New York. Eddie can smell the emotional content of a crime, and knowing why is half the battle.
But his newest assignment, the scene of a dark, gory ritual, proves too much for him to handle alone, forcing him to team up with an aging crank and a not-so-doe-eyed newbie. Together they discover that not only is this murder the work of a brutal serial killer who steals his victims’ powers, but the victims turn out to be worse than the killer. This murderer is going after a crime ring that leads all the way up to the mayor and back into the department itself. As the evidence of corruption piles up, the investigators realize they can’t trust anyone but each other.
Getting ahead of the killer means discovering the names of his intended victims, but that uncovers the leaders of the crime ring, and Eddie’s team finds itself in the mayor’s crosshairs. While it’s unclear if the mayor wants to recruit them or kill them, it’s quite clear the killer wants them for accomplices. Eddie’s team has to choose between saving the worst criminals in the city from a murderer, or trusting a brutal serial killer who will soon be too powerful to stop.
First 250
The streets were wet, and the air carried the reminder of rain Eddie Nezevitch felt in his lungs and nostrils. The barrier in front of him shimmered like a slice of the Caribbean turned on its side, and Eddie couldn’t resist running his hand over the surface; it felt like glass but rippled like water.
Petty scenes got tape, but the department had an officer whose power could make important locations hermetic. Even though Eddie’d seen these seals enough to make them mundane, they remained beautiful. He touched his badge to the barrier and a hole opened, allowing entry. The seal closed behind him, leaving the avenue on the other side of the crime scene wavering and distorted.
The door of the house lay open, a sinister invitation into the quiet darkness. Eddie found a light switch and shut the door behind him. A sigh of frustration escaped when he saw the décor. Though gaudy complicated patterns in the furniture and wallpaper might hide blemishes, they also hid evidence—a pint of blood spatter might be nearly invisible in a room like this.
But it couldn’t hide an entire corpse, and the report said people had come and gone in this room for three days without discovering the body. Something else was at work.
Eddie closed his eyes and mouth, drew in a slow deep breath, and used his unique gift—his sense of smell. Lavender. Remorse? Lavender laced with…a soft decay, like mushrooms in the forest. Despair? Neither remorse nor despair made sense for this crime.
QK Agent Round 8: Dogs and Chickens and Dragons, Oh My!, MG Contemporary Fantasy
Title: Flecka Wivern and Her Two Pet DragonsEntry Nickname: Dogs and Chickens and Dragons, Oh My!Word Count: 43,000Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary Fantasy
Query:
Twelve-year-old Flecka Wivern is happy living a secret life as a Magical in rural Pennsylvania, even though her closest friends (besides her non-magical classmate Darrell, of course) are her five chickens, one dog, and two pet dragons. Everything changes, however, when wicked little creatures from Vitterdam--the realm where her family’s Magical ancestors once lived--open a portal to Earth and kidnap her five-year-old brother Felix. Flecka doesn’t know why anyone would want her smelly and loud little brother, but she doesn’t care--he’s her smelly and loud little brother. Now Flecka, with the help of Darrell and her dragons, must face magicked monsters and school bullies to reopen the portal and save Felix.
But once they open the portal, their true adventure begins: the wicked little creatures who kidnapped Felix work for an evil sorcerer who wants to take over Vitterdam, and who mysteriously believes Felix will help him do so. Flecka, Darrell, and her two dragons must use all the magical and non-magical tricks they have to not only save Felix, but also to save Vitterdam from the evil sorcerer’s clutches. First 250 words:
Flecka didn't want to do her morning chores. But she had begged her mom for the chickens, and her mom had agreed provided Flecka take care of them. "Your chickens, your responsibility," her mom had said, talking over the din of Felix crashing his toy trucks into the coffee table. "And if you get them to the point where their eggs hatch, then those are your responsibility too." Flecka had agreed at the time; she had been eleven years old, and she loved chickens almost as much as she loved dragons. But now she was twelve, and her love for both was flagging this muddy morning, which also happened to be the first day of fall. Which also happened to be Vitterdam Day. Her sneakers slurped through the mucky ground as she tromped to the chicken coop to let her flock out on the wet grass. She was glad it was so damp; wet grass meant she would have to put out fewer fires. Wet grass meant she would have fewer chores to do. The smell of straw and droppings welcomed her as she opened the squeaky wooden door to the coop. She wrinkled her nose while she did a headcount of her flock: five purple and pink-feathered hens and two rainbow-scaled and red-horned dragons.
"Come on," she coaxed as she held the coop door open. "I'm not going to wait forever. Now shoo!" Her chickens clucked and trotted out, startled by Flecka's cry. Her dragons, however, did little more than give Flecka bored serpentine stares.
Query:
Twelve-year-old Flecka Wivern is happy living a secret life as a Magical in rural Pennsylvania, even though her closest friends (besides her non-magical classmate Darrell, of course) are her five chickens, one dog, and two pet dragons. Everything changes, however, when wicked little creatures from Vitterdam--the realm where her family’s Magical ancestors once lived--open a portal to Earth and kidnap her five-year-old brother Felix. Flecka doesn’t know why anyone would want her smelly and loud little brother, but she doesn’t care--he’s her smelly and loud little brother. Now Flecka, with the help of Darrell and her dragons, must face magicked monsters and school bullies to reopen the portal and save Felix.
But once they open the portal, their true adventure begins: the wicked little creatures who kidnapped Felix work for an evil sorcerer who wants to take over Vitterdam, and who mysteriously believes Felix will help him do so. Flecka, Darrell, and her two dragons must use all the magical and non-magical tricks they have to not only save Felix, but also to save Vitterdam from the evil sorcerer’s clutches. First 250 words:
Flecka didn't want to do her morning chores. But she had begged her mom for the chickens, and her mom had agreed provided Flecka take care of them. "Your chickens, your responsibility," her mom had said, talking over the din of Felix crashing his toy trucks into the coffee table. "And if you get them to the point where their eggs hatch, then those are your responsibility too." Flecka had agreed at the time; she had been eleven years old, and she loved chickens almost as much as she loved dragons. But now she was twelve, and her love for both was flagging this muddy morning, which also happened to be the first day of fall. Which also happened to be Vitterdam Day. Her sneakers slurped through the mucky ground as she tromped to the chicken coop to let her flock out on the wet grass. She was glad it was so damp; wet grass meant she would have to put out fewer fires. Wet grass meant she would have fewer chores to do. The smell of straw and droppings welcomed her as she opened the squeaky wooden door to the coop. She wrinkled her nose while she did a headcount of her flock: five purple and pink-feathered hens and two rainbow-scaled and red-horned dragons.
"Come on," she coaxed as she held the coop door open. "I'm not going to wait forever. Now shoo!" Her chickens clucked and trotted out, startled by Flecka's cry. Her dragons, however, did little more than give Flecka bored serpentine stares.
QK Agent Round 7: We Kinda Destroyed Paris, YA Contemporary Fantasy OwnVoices
Title: THE BONES OF PARISEntry Nickname: We kinda destroyed ParisWord count: 72KGenre: YA contemporary fantasy
It's OWN VOICES as Skye's gay (I identify as queer due to being physically attracted to men but bi-romantic)
Query:
Bermudian expat Skyeler Anders wants three things for his seventeenth birthday: to have a boyfriend, get his bloody memories back, and for his nightmares to stop.
Fate smiles upon him by giving him a boyfriend in Gavin, a cheerleader who is as shy as he is cute. Skyeler's memories remain elusive, even as he acclimates to living with his estranged father and stepmum. And the nightmares do stop, but only because he meets the three teens who haunt his dreams at his new school. It turns out Skyeler isn’t the only one having nightmares.
The desperate need to learn what connects them takes the teens from the suburbs of Atlanta to the streets of Paris. Amid the search for answers, Gavin is kidnapped by a rouge group of mages. It's in the City of Lights they learn the mages are hell-bent on unleashing an ancient force that'll set the world back to the age of sorcery, starting with the bones of mages lining the Catacombs. Now, Skyeler must untangle the mysteries of his forgotten past and learn to trust the teens who've inhabited his nightmares because it’s not just his boyfriend's life hanging in the balance, but the entire city of Paris—and the world.
250:
"Now Entering Hell!”
That's what needs to shine in brilliant reflective letters from the sign by the exit ramp. Not this “Now Entering Douglasville” nonsense with a population estimate of thirty-two-thousand.
Thirty-two-thousand and one, now.
Douglasville, Georgia represents my own personal hell, one with a dizzying wash of green and grey, throat-coating cigarette smoke, and country music. I squint against the harsh light peeping from the overcast clouds—a night spent in the airport left my eyes aching.
My driver’s a court official who, due to some asinine legal technicality, has to drive me to my new home. His nasal singing is enough to make me wish for headphones. But both my sunglasses and headphones are broken. Some bloody git stepped on them during the flight from Bermuda. Given my lack of American money, replacing them will have to wait until I reach the court-determined destination—my father’s home. As far as days go, this one reeks of disaster.
Doubly so considering it’s my seventeenth birthday.
I roll down the windows, desperate for some air not tainted by cigarette smoke. Sticky humidity assaults me. The driver slides the windows back up as we turn into a subdivision, before slowing to a stop in front of my final destination: the two-story, red brick house where my life waits to be puzzled back together.
I rub away the gooseflesh prickling over my arms. The front door opens and my dad and stepmum walk out. I should remember them but don't, can't. My memories of them are missing, like everything else.
QK Agent Round 6: Boy Band Ninja Assassins, YA Adventure Comedy
Title: LETH5L: DEEP CUTSEntry Nickname: Boy Band Ninja AssassinsWord Count: 80KGenre: YA Adventure Comedy
Query:
When Derrick Dominick and the other members of the world’s biggest boy band, Leth5l (with a silent five), stumble into a coffee shop robbery in progress, they easily thwart the crooks with sick choreography. Just another Tuesday for a group of trained undercover agents working for the Special Intelligence Network for Global Espionage, Recon and Security.
Due to a misunderstanding with the barista—and certainly no fault of his own— Derrick ends up in the back of a cop car. Roughly six seconds after he exits the station, photos, videos, and internet rumors have spread like peanut butter. Consequently, Leth5l’s Manager/Handler sends two bloggers along on their next tour/mission to prove they’re just another boy band and Derrick’s not a criminal with a dimple.
The mission: assassinate the three leaders of a drug ring who’ve developed a drug that allows users to experience moments from their past, complete with all the feelings and emotions of the first time. To protect his cover, Derrick is forced to take the drug. He relives a moment from his early childhood, this time as a guy with seventeen years of foster home experiences under his belt. Turns out being abandoned by your biological mother stings just as much the second time around. Now he’s got three bad guys to take out, two nosy (and hot!) bloggers up in his business, and one mother of a mother issue to deal with before he makes an uncharacteristic mistake that might be lethal (minus the five).
At least his hair’s still on point.
First 250:
Five-part harmony is ridiculously hard in the morning. Especially before coffee. Yet, here we are W-IDK television station singing our asses off at six-freaking-thirty A.M. on “Wake Up, Whichever-City-We’re-In!”
They don’t pay me enough for this.
Actually, that’s not true. Two jobs, two salaries. I get paid loads. And what I don’t make in terms of cash, I make in fringe benefits, so I suppose I should turn off my brain and turn on my dimple—give the people what they want. Because giving the people what they want is always the best part of my day, even if it’s at an unholy hour.
Four paces outside the studio, Jay starts in on me, as usual. “Do you think that you could, for once, turn your thousand-watt smile down a bit? How are the rest of us supposed to compete? That make-up chick was under my spell until you Derricked her to death.”
I dive into the backseat of the SUV with Leth5l-standard blacked out windows. Can’t let fangirls or bad guys know our location. Though, I’d totally be down if some of the fangirls knew. “I wasn’t aware that my name is a verb now. Good to know. How, exactly, does one Derrick somebody?”
Dash slides in next to me, his untied tie flapping around his neck. “Don’t act like you don’t know.”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Maybe that’s a bit of a lie. Lying is one of the things I do best. Lying, and carrying lead vocals.
Query:
When Derrick Dominick and the other members of the world’s biggest boy band, Leth5l (with a silent five), stumble into a coffee shop robbery in progress, they easily thwart the crooks with sick choreography. Just another Tuesday for a group of trained undercover agents working for the Special Intelligence Network for Global Espionage, Recon and Security.
Due to a misunderstanding with the barista—and certainly no fault of his own— Derrick ends up in the back of a cop car. Roughly six seconds after he exits the station, photos, videos, and internet rumors have spread like peanut butter. Consequently, Leth5l’s Manager/Handler sends two bloggers along on their next tour/mission to prove they’re just another boy band and Derrick’s not a criminal with a dimple.
The mission: assassinate the three leaders of a drug ring who’ve developed a drug that allows users to experience moments from their past, complete with all the feelings and emotions of the first time. To protect his cover, Derrick is forced to take the drug. He relives a moment from his early childhood, this time as a guy with seventeen years of foster home experiences under his belt. Turns out being abandoned by your biological mother stings just as much the second time around. Now he’s got three bad guys to take out, two nosy (and hot!) bloggers up in his business, and one mother of a mother issue to deal with before he makes an uncharacteristic mistake that might be lethal (minus the five).
At least his hair’s still on point.
First 250:
Five-part harmony is ridiculously hard in the morning. Especially before coffee. Yet, here we are W-IDK television station singing our asses off at six-freaking-thirty A.M. on “Wake Up, Whichever-City-We’re-In!”
They don’t pay me enough for this.
Actually, that’s not true. Two jobs, two salaries. I get paid loads. And what I don’t make in terms of cash, I make in fringe benefits, so I suppose I should turn off my brain and turn on my dimple—give the people what they want. Because giving the people what they want is always the best part of my day, even if it’s at an unholy hour.
Four paces outside the studio, Jay starts in on me, as usual. “Do you think that you could, for once, turn your thousand-watt smile down a bit? How are the rest of us supposed to compete? That make-up chick was under my spell until you Derricked her to death.”
I dive into the backseat of the SUV with Leth5l-standard blacked out windows. Can’t let fangirls or bad guys know our location. Though, I’d totally be down if some of the fangirls knew. “I wasn’t aware that my name is a verb now. Good to know. How, exactly, does one Derrick somebody?”
Dash slides in next to me, his untied tie flapping around his neck. “Don’t act like you don’t know.”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Maybe that’s a bit of a lie. Lying is one of the things I do best. Lying, and carrying lead vocals.
QK Agent Round 5: Book Boys Gone Wild, YA Contemporary Fantasy
Title: Paper SeedsEntry Nickname: Book Boys Gone Wild!Word count: 109kGenre: YA Contemporary FantasyQuery:
When seventeen-year-old Harlow Jackson gets dumped at her grandma Minny's wake, she's devastated, pissed as hell, and without an escort for the debutante season starting the very next day. But then Harlow finds something Minny left her: paper seeds. Minny always told her that if you place a magical paper seed in a book, and plant it in the ground, you can grow anything you desire from its pages.
In a fit of desperation, revenge, and, okay fine, a little too much funeral punch, Harlow grows teenage versions of Mr. Knightley, Sherlock Holmes, Dorian Gray, and Dracula (Drake), to be her and her friends' debutante escorts. Because everyone knows there's only one thing better than a handsome, well-groomed, drawling Southern beau... an English gentleman. Harlow is tired of feeling second rate in her small, Southern town, and vows to use the boys to beat her ex, and the mean-girl debutantes, at their own game. Frankly, she'd love to burn their perfect curls off their pretty little heads, but that would just be gravy. Instead, she'll settle for winning the debutante crown and the accompanying cash scholarship prize, which she badly needs.
Harlow passes the boys off as four rather eccentric foreign exchange students, and everything goes according to plan until the book-boys discover their own origins and run amok. At the same time, the town witch, Madame LeRoux, comes after Harlow for the paper seeds, claiming that planting them will have dark consequences for Harlow and the people she loves. Harlow must uncover the origin and twisted history of the paper seeds to discover a way to undo what she's grown. But as generations of town secrets and lies begin to unravel, Harlow discovers someone she loves has been hiding the biggest, ugliest secret of them all.
First 250:
If I hadn’t been standing in the middle of my grandmother Minny's wake, I would have whacked that boy in the man parts so hard, people would be looking at pictures of his children in years to come and say—see the funny ear that kid has? Harlow Jackson did that.
But Jonathan took my hand and squeezed it, like he was bestowing some sort of warm comfort on me. He wore the gray shirt I'd saved up a week's wages for, the one that was the exact color of his eyes.
Now, I wanted to rip it off him.
And not in a good way.
I took a deep breath and tried to be civil. “Your parents will get used to the idea of us. I have a way of winning people over, you know.” I smiled my most becoming smile and flashed my dimple. Jonathan loved my dimple. Everyone loved my dimple.
He closed his eyes. “It’s not that, Harlow.”
“Then what is it?” I said, too loud.
Madison Pace cocked her ear in our direction as she scooped bean dip onto her plate at the food table. Nosey was not an adjective in this town, it was a given.
I tugged Jonathan’s hand, and he followed me out onto the front porch. The sky was gray, just waiting to burst open, the air heavy and thick. October in Georgia was not a cool, crisp autumn. It was more like standing over a pot of boiling pasta. Or maybe it was more like being the pasta.
When seventeen-year-old Harlow Jackson gets dumped at her grandma Minny's wake, she's devastated, pissed as hell, and without an escort for the debutante season starting the very next day. But then Harlow finds something Minny left her: paper seeds. Minny always told her that if you place a magical paper seed in a book, and plant it in the ground, you can grow anything you desire from its pages.
In a fit of desperation, revenge, and, okay fine, a little too much funeral punch, Harlow grows teenage versions of Mr. Knightley, Sherlock Holmes, Dorian Gray, and Dracula (Drake), to be her and her friends' debutante escorts. Because everyone knows there's only one thing better than a handsome, well-groomed, drawling Southern beau... an English gentleman. Harlow is tired of feeling second rate in her small, Southern town, and vows to use the boys to beat her ex, and the mean-girl debutantes, at their own game. Frankly, she'd love to burn their perfect curls off their pretty little heads, but that would just be gravy. Instead, she'll settle for winning the debutante crown and the accompanying cash scholarship prize, which she badly needs.
Harlow passes the boys off as four rather eccentric foreign exchange students, and everything goes according to plan until the book-boys discover their own origins and run amok. At the same time, the town witch, Madame LeRoux, comes after Harlow for the paper seeds, claiming that planting them will have dark consequences for Harlow and the people she loves. Harlow must uncover the origin and twisted history of the paper seeds to discover a way to undo what she's grown. But as generations of town secrets and lies begin to unravel, Harlow discovers someone she loves has been hiding the biggest, ugliest secret of them all.
First 250:
If I hadn’t been standing in the middle of my grandmother Minny's wake, I would have whacked that boy in the man parts so hard, people would be looking at pictures of his children in years to come and say—see the funny ear that kid has? Harlow Jackson did that.
But Jonathan took my hand and squeezed it, like he was bestowing some sort of warm comfort on me. He wore the gray shirt I'd saved up a week's wages for, the one that was the exact color of his eyes.
Now, I wanted to rip it off him.
And not in a good way.
I took a deep breath and tried to be civil. “Your parents will get used to the idea of us. I have a way of winning people over, you know.” I smiled my most becoming smile and flashed my dimple. Jonathan loved my dimple. Everyone loved my dimple.
He closed his eyes. “It’s not that, Harlow.”
“Then what is it?” I said, too loud.
Madison Pace cocked her ear in our direction as she scooped bean dip onto her plate at the food table. Nosey was not an adjective in this town, it was a given.
I tugged Jonathan’s hand, and he followed me out onto the front porch. The sky was gray, just waiting to burst open, the air heavy and thick. October in Georgia was not a cool, crisp autumn. It was more like standing over a pot of boiling pasta. Or maybe it was more like being the pasta.
QK Agent Round 9: Perfectly Imperfect Princess, MG Fantasy
Title: Penelope Charming and the Poisoned Glass SlippersEntry Nickname: Perfectly Imperfect PrincessWord Count: 53KGenre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Query:
Twelve-year-old Princess Penelope, daughter of Cinderella, has a “charmed life.” Closets full of ruffly dresses (itchy), classes at the prestigious Charming Academy (boring), and her very own fairy godmother (annoying). Penelope would trade them all for her mother’s signature on an adventure slip to travel outside the castle walls. Too bad Cinderella refuses to sign.
Exploring secret passages and games of capture-the-frog are fun, but when a rival princess dares Penelope to steal her mother’s glass slippers, her craving for adventure results in shattered shoes days before the annual ball. Smashed slippers are small peas to Penelope, but to a villain plotting the end to her mother’s Happily Ever After, it’s a perfectly twisted opportunity. The replacement glass slippers are poisoned, casting Cinderella into a deathly slumber.
Determined to save her mother’s life, Penelope searches for the origin of the mysterious poison. Once upon a time, an antidote existed. Lucky for Penelope, her new friend Jack may know where to find it. With Jack’s promise to guide them, Penelope and her best friend, Red, sneak out of the castle walls to travel into the forbidden Beanstalk Forest. Penelope’s wish to explore Fablewood becomes a race to find the antidote ingredients to wake her mother before she sleeps forever after.
First 250:
Glass slippers made terrible frog-capturing shoes. I kicked them off my feet, shoved my slingshot through my sash, and dropped to the mud to peer through the rose bush. A small frog lay stretched out on the edge of the wishing well, belly up to the sun.
Once upon a time, a princess ventured through the wilds of Fablewood…
I squeezed under the bush, but a thorn snagged the frilly hem of my dress, tearing the fabric with a loud rip. I froze.
The frog stretched his scrawny arms, wiggled a teeny bit, and flopped his arms back onto the stones. He hadn't heard me. The frog was mine.
The brave princess had climbed tall towers, outrun villains, trudged through swamps…
Squelching stealthily through the mud, I crawled to the well and paused.
One happily ever after...two happily ever after...three happily ever after.
She was Princess Penelope, daughter of Cinderella. One slimy beastie was no match for her.
“Surrender!” I sprang to my feet. A frog-shaped blotch glistened on the stones. “Rotten peas!”
As I leaned over the well, the frog leaped from his hiding spot beside a broken stone and onto my shoulder. He poked my cheek with a twig.
“Gotcha, Princess Penelope!”
I glared into his scum-colored googley eyes. “Phib! When did you know I was coming?”
“I saw you leave the castle doors.” Phib flourished the twig like a fencing sword, bowed, and strolled down my arm to the well. The dank smell of algae mixed with jasmine tickled my nose: eau de Phib.
Query:
Twelve-year-old Princess Penelope, daughter of Cinderella, has a “charmed life.” Closets full of ruffly dresses (itchy), classes at the prestigious Charming Academy (boring), and her very own fairy godmother (annoying). Penelope would trade them all for her mother’s signature on an adventure slip to travel outside the castle walls. Too bad Cinderella refuses to sign.
Exploring secret passages and games of capture-the-frog are fun, but when a rival princess dares Penelope to steal her mother’s glass slippers, her craving for adventure results in shattered shoes days before the annual ball. Smashed slippers are small peas to Penelope, but to a villain plotting the end to her mother’s Happily Ever After, it’s a perfectly twisted opportunity. The replacement glass slippers are poisoned, casting Cinderella into a deathly slumber.
Determined to save her mother’s life, Penelope searches for the origin of the mysterious poison. Once upon a time, an antidote existed. Lucky for Penelope, her new friend Jack may know where to find it. With Jack’s promise to guide them, Penelope and her best friend, Red, sneak out of the castle walls to travel into the forbidden Beanstalk Forest. Penelope’s wish to explore Fablewood becomes a race to find the antidote ingredients to wake her mother before she sleeps forever after.
First 250:
Glass slippers made terrible frog-capturing shoes. I kicked them off my feet, shoved my slingshot through my sash, and dropped to the mud to peer through the rose bush. A small frog lay stretched out on the edge of the wishing well, belly up to the sun.
Once upon a time, a princess ventured through the wilds of Fablewood…
I squeezed under the bush, but a thorn snagged the frilly hem of my dress, tearing the fabric with a loud rip. I froze.
The frog stretched his scrawny arms, wiggled a teeny bit, and flopped his arms back onto the stones. He hadn't heard me. The frog was mine.
The brave princess had climbed tall towers, outrun villains, trudged through swamps…
Squelching stealthily through the mud, I crawled to the well and paused.
One happily ever after...two happily ever after...three happily ever after.
She was Princess Penelope, daughter of Cinderella. One slimy beastie was no match for her.
“Surrender!” I sprang to my feet. A frog-shaped blotch glistened on the stones. “Rotten peas!”
As I leaned over the well, the frog leaped from his hiding spot beside a broken stone and onto my shoulder. He poked my cheek with a twig.
“Gotcha, Princess Penelope!”
I glared into his scum-colored googley eyes. “Phib! When did you know I was coming?”
“I saw you leave the castle doors.” Phib flourished the twig like a fencing sword, bowed, and strolled down my arm to the well. The dank smell of algae mixed with jasmine tickled my nose: eau de Phib.
