Michelle Hauck's Blog, page 8
June 13, 2018
QK Round 2 Match 8: Fake Invisibility T-Shirt vs. Shiver Me Timbers
Title: The Mostly Invisible Boy
Entry Nickname: Fake Invisibility T-Shirt
Word count: 60K
Genre: MG Contemporary Fantasy
Query:
Eleven-year-old Casey Grimes is eternally the new kid, if he’s noticed at all. Despite his persistent friendliness, students at Vintage Woods Middle school look right through him. Bus doors slam in his face, no one remembers his name, and he feels more welcome in the woods than he does around kids. Then he scales a colossal oak and discovers an abandoned fortress. The forgotten sentry tree marks the border between his safe, suburban life and a wild frontier.
Eager for a change, Casey infiltrates Sylvan Woods, a secret forest society tasked with monster control. Shockingly, people here actually see him, but being seen is not enough. Posing as a Sylvan girl’s cousin, he enters Trickery School—a dangerous academy where classes are life-threatening, teachers are treacherous, and battles are as common as breakfast. For the first time in his life, he makes friends…but kids at Trickery have forgotten their ancient roots. Protection has become pretension, and civilians like Casey are despised. If anyone finds out he’s an imposter, he’ll be blacklisted and sent back across the border for life.
Keeping his identity hidden—while struggling to prove he fits—is hard enough, but the clock is ticking. A vicious breed of monster swarms Trickery, butcher beasts, who haven’t been seen for a hundred years. Casey and his new friends decipher a cryptic message and learn the truth: Sylvan Woods will be devoured and he’ll return to a life of being see-through…unless he can use his climbing knack to wake the magical Sentry Trees. But that will be difficult, since in Trickery, magic is so last century. And then there’s the dangerous question of where Casey actually belongs.
First 250:
Casey Grimes was invisible—at least most of the time.
He stood on the corner under a stop sign, jogging in place as his school bus sped down the street. It slowed to roll through the intersection and Casey sprinted alongside, smacking the door as his backpack bumped his spine. Sound and movement gave him a fighting chance to be seen. For a few seconds, anyway.
“Open up!” he yelled.
The driver squinted through the smudged glass, and Casey banged harder, until the brakes squealed and the accordion doors whooshed open.
“Where’d you come from?” the driver asked.
“Same place I always come from.” Casey jumped into the bus.
The driver shrugged and floored the accelerator.
The other two kids on Casey’s route always sat together in the back. He waved, but they kept right on talking, so he took his usual seat by the window, pressing the vinyl with sweaty palms. Don’t give up on the day yet, he told himself. Things might still change.
But they reached Vintage Woods Middle School and nothing was different.
Nothing at all.
“You new here?” A girl asked as Casey opened his locker.
“Of course not,” Casey said. “You’re Lydia, we sit next to each other in—”
But she’d already started talking to someone else. Casey slumped in defeat, but then Manuel walked past—they’d had a five second conversation once—and Casey whirled.
“Hey Manuel,” he said.
The boy’s gaze paused for a millisecond and slid away as if pulled by a magnet.
VERSUS
Title: OLLIE BANCROFT AND THE UNDEAD PIRATE PROBLEMEntry Nickname: Shiver Me Timbers
Word Count: 48000 words
Genre: Middle Grade, Adventure/Fantasy
QUERY
Twelve-year-old Ollie Bancroft is a kid genius and engineering prodigy, but in his sleepy coastal town of Deadmen, Newfoundland, people couldn’t care less. Ollie is a Bancroft after all, descendant of William Bancroft: the man who killed the infamous pirate Black Bart and ended his reign of terror. No matter what Ollie does he can’t escape the legendary pirate connection, and to make things worse, he’s the only one in Deadmen who doesn’t believe it. As far as Ollie’s concerned, the legend is nothing more than a fairy tale to attract tourists to a dying town.
When Ollie stumbles upon a supposedly cursed compass with the power to bring Black Bart back to life, he sees his opportunity to finally stop all the pirate nonsense once and for all. Like a serious scientist he conducts an experiment to prove the curse is bogus, but the curse is very real. Black Bart and his crew of rotten goons return from the dead — just in time to spoil the town’s annual pirate festival — hungry to wreak revenge upon Deadmen, especially, anyone unlucky enough to be named Bancroft.
With the help of his best friend Emma, his sea dog grandpa, and his reluctant mom, Ollie must use his wits and considerable knowledge of booby-traps to thwart Black Bart before he resurrects his entire pirate army and plunders the seven seas.
FIRST 250
“You know how you’re always asking why kids think you’re weird?” Emma whispered in Ollie’s ear.
Ollie’s shoulders slumped. He scuffed his boot against the glossy, convention center floor. “Yeah,” he sighed.
“This, Ollie,” Emma said, patting him on the back. “Stuff just like this.”
A girl stood before them, crying so hard a snot bubble inflated unnoticed from her right nostril. Just behind her loomed her science project, a bright diorama covered with glitter, out-of-focus poodle photographs, and the title: ‘RUFFLES: EVERYDAY POODLE, OR MUSICAL PRODIGY?’
Moments earlier, the girl had enthusiastically given Ollie and Emma a sneak-peak at her presentation. She hadn’t even been a minute through before Ollie criticized it in a dozen ways, causing her freckled face to burst like a ruptured dam.
“I’m sorry,” Ollie pled with the girl. “I’m really sorry, okay?” He awkwardly put out his hand and patted the air above her shoulder. “I could be wrong. I’m probably wrong. Maybe it is a real science project? Maybe … your dog barking along to boy band songs is science, after all?”
With a whimper, the girl wiped her eyes and stopped crying. Her snot bubble burst.
“Of course,” Ollie said more to himself than to her, “a person’s musical taste doesn’t really factor in the scientific method, so I don’t see why Ruffles, would matter to any —“
“Ollie!” Emma said, smacking him on the arm.
“Ouch,” Ollie winced.Beneath the table, Ruffles — easily identifiable by the sparkly letters on his name tag — growled ferociously behind the bars of a pink kennel.
Entry Nickname: Fake Invisibility T-Shirt
Word count: 60K
Genre: MG Contemporary Fantasy
Query:
Eleven-year-old Casey Grimes is eternally the new kid, if he’s noticed at all. Despite his persistent friendliness, students at Vintage Woods Middle school look right through him. Bus doors slam in his face, no one remembers his name, and he feels more welcome in the woods than he does around kids. Then he scales a colossal oak and discovers an abandoned fortress. The forgotten sentry tree marks the border between his safe, suburban life and a wild frontier.
Eager for a change, Casey infiltrates Sylvan Woods, a secret forest society tasked with monster control. Shockingly, people here actually see him, but being seen is not enough. Posing as a Sylvan girl’s cousin, he enters Trickery School—a dangerous academy where classes are life-threatening, teachers are treacherous, and battles are as common as breakfast. For the first time in his life, he makes friends…but kids at Trickery have forgotten their ancient roots. Protection has become pretension, and civilians like Casey are despised. If anyone finds out he’s an imposter, he’ll be blacklisted and sent back across the border for life.
Keeping his identity hidden—while struggling to prove he fits—is hard enough, but the clock is ticking. A vicious breed of monster swarms Trickery, butcher beasts, who haven’t been seen for a hundred years. Casey and his new friends decipher a cryptic message and learn the truth: Sylvan Woods will be devoured and he’ll return to a life of being see-through…unless he can use his climbing knack to wake the magical Sentry Trees. But that will be difficult, since in Trickery, magic is so last century. And then there’s the dangerous question of where Casey actually belongs.
First 250:
Casey Grimes was invisible—at least most of the time.
He stood on the corner under a stop sign, jogging in place as his school bus sped down the street. It slowed to roll through the intersection and Casey sprinted alongside, smacking the door as his backpack bumped his spine. Sound and movement gave him a fighting chance to be seen. For a few seconds, anyway.
“Open up!” he yelled.
The driver squinted through the smudged glass, and Casey banged harder, until the brakes squealed and the accordion doors whooshed open.
“Where’d you come from?” the driver asked.
“Same place I always come from.” Casey jumped into the bus.
The driver shrugged and floored the accelerator.
The other two kids on Casey’s route always sat together in the back. He waved, but they kept right on talking, so he took his usual seat by the window, pressing the vinyl with sweaty palms. Don’t give up on the day yet, he told himself. Things might still change.
But they reached Vintage Woods Middle School and nothing was different.
Nothing at all.
“You new here?” A girl asked as Casey opened his locker.
“Of course not,” Casey said. “You’re Lydia, we sit next to each other in—”
But she’d already started talking to someone else. Casey slumped in defeat, but then Manuel walked past—they’d had a five second conversation once—and Casey whirled.
“Hey Manuel,” he said.
The boy’s gaze paused for a millisecond and slid away as if pulled by a magnet.
VERSUS
Title: OLLIE BANCROFT AND THE UNDEAD PIRATE PROBLEMEntry Nickname: Shiver Me Timbers
Word Count: 48000 words
Genre: Middle Grade, Adventure/Fantasy
QUERY
Twelve-year-old Ollie Bancroft is a kid genius and engineering prodigy, but in his sleepy coastal town of Deadmen, Newfoundland, people couldn’t care less. Ollie is a Bancroft after all, descendant of William Bancroft: the man who killed the infamous pirate Black Bart and ended his reign of terror. No matter what Ollie does he can’t escape the legendary pirate connection, and to make things worse, he’s the only one in Deadmen who doesn’t believe it. As far as Ollie’s concerned, the legend is nothing more than a fairy tale to attract tourists to a dying town.
When Ollie stumbles upon a supposedly cursed compass with the power to bring Black Bart back to life, he sees his opportunity to finally stop all the pirate nonsense once and for all. Like a serious scientist he conducts an experiment to prove the curse is bogus, but the curse is very real. Black Bart and his crew of rotten goons return from the dead — just in time to spoil the town’s annual pirate festival — hungry to wreak revenge upon Deadmen, especially, anyone unlucky enough to be named Bancroft.
With the help of his best friend Emma, his sea dog grandpa, and his reluctant mom, Ollie must use his wits and considerable knowledge of booby-traps to thwart Black Bart before he resurrects his entire pirate army and plunders the seven seas.
FIRST 250
“You know how you’re always asking why kids think you’re weird?” Emma whispered in Ollie’s ear.
Ollie’s shoulders slumped. He scuffed his boot against the glossy, convention center floor. “Yeah,” he sighed.
“This, Ollie,” Emma said, patting him on the back. “Stuff just like this.”
A girl stood before them, crying so hard a snot bubble inflated unnoticed from her right nostril. Just behind her loomed her science project, a bright diorama covered with glitter, out-of-focus poodle photographs, and the title: ‘RUFFLES: EVERYDAY POODLE, OR MUSICAL PRODIGY?’
Moments earlier, the girl had enthusiastically given Ollie and Emma a sneak-peak at her presentation. She hadn’t even been a minute through before Ollie criticized it in a dozen ways, causing her freckled face to burst like a ruptured dam.
“I’m sorry,” Ollie pled with the girl. “I’m really sorry, okay?” He awkwardly put out his hand and patted the air above her shoulder. “I could be wrong. I’m probably wrong. Maybe it is a real science project? Maybe … your dog barking along to boy band songs is science, after all?”
With a whimper, the girl wiped her eyes and stopped crying. Her snot bubble burst.
“Of course,” Ollie said more to himself than to her, “a person’s musical taste doesn’t really factor in the scientific method, so I don’t see why Ruffles, would matter to any —“
“Ollie!” Emma said, smacking him on the arm.
“Ouch,” Ollie winced.Beneath the table, Ruffles — easily identifiable by the sparkly letters on his name tag — growled ferociously behind the bars of a pink kennel.
June 12, 2018
Query Kombat 2018 Agent Round Wrap Up and Round 2 Matchups
The Agent Round of Query Kombat 2018 has come to a close with a grand total of 98 requests spread across 38 entries!
I'd like to give a HUGE thanks to all the agents who came out to help make the Agent Round a success. And thanks to the Judges who whipped our Kombatants into shape!
Below you will find Round 2 match-ups. The round starts on June 13 at 8:00 a.m. and continues until June 16 at 8:00 p.m. EDT.
Round two will be hosted on my blog and Kara's. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please leave a comment or tweet us: @ravenousrushing @michelle4laughs @Kara_Reynolds7.
Remember, only sixteen of you will advance. Good luck Kombatants, and good luck Judges. Both groups have a tough road ahead.
Agent Round Stats:
Highest number of requests for an entry: Michelle's host save 10Number of Wild Cards played: 14Most requested host: Michelle
Round 2 Match-ups
Kara's Blog
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font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fake Invisibility T-Shirt vs </span><span style="color: #9900ff; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shiver Me Timbers</span></div><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aoJvWwJ2wi..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="1165" height="386" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aoJvWwJ2wi..." width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div class="p8" style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span class="s1"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Good Luck Kombatants!</span></b></span></div>
June 7, 2018
Query Kombat Agent Round 2018
Due to my troublesome and uncooperative appendix all the agent round entries are on Kara's and Mike's blogs. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused and I'll be back for the 2nd round of Kombat.
For my team, you can find your entries there and good luck!
Please be sure to thank Kara and Mike for doing double duty.
Agents will request by saying, “I want to see more of this!” and leaving their submission instructions. As you remember, agent requests will stay hidden until an entry is knocked out of the tournament.
Kombatants, don’t forget to put QUERY KOMBAT Request in your subject line when sending material!
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.
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. Each agent gets two wild cards.
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!
For my team, you can find your entries there and good luck!
Please be sure to thank Kara and Mike for doing double duty.
Agents will request by saying, “I want to see more of this!” and leaving their submission instructions. As you remember, agent requests will stay hidden until an entry is knocked out of the tournament.
Kombatants, don’t forget to put QUERY KOMBAT Request in your subject line when sending material!
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.
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. Each agent gets two wild cards.
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!
June 5, 2018
Query Kombat 2018 First Round Results
Well, Round 1 of this zany tournament officially ended Monday night. We promised blood, and blood there was. Also tears, nail-biting, and some hair-pulling. Congratulations to all of you who fought hard and came out victorious.
Please have your revised entries to us by Wednesday, June 6th at 8am EST. IF you are ready earlier please send earlier. You have a short time to revise but hosts have an even shorter time to format. :-) Use the same format and send to the contest email: QueryKombat (at) gmail (dot) com.
EDIT: Bios can now be included with query letters just for the agent round.
A full 32 entries out of the 64 lost in a valiant fight that is Query Kombat Round 1. For those 32: Good job. You beat out 350+ other entries to make the first round, and you gave the judges a hell of a job to do. Hopefully you got some amazing feedback as well!
For the 32 winners, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! YOU GET TO GO ON TO THE AGENT ROUND ON Wednesday morning!!!
Below is the list of those who will go on to the next round. Let me know if we made any mistakes! Team Magnificent Misfits is in Orange.
Raspberry Moon
Fake Invisibility T-Shirt
Planet Panic
Shiver Me Timbers
You Octopi My Heart
Got Me a Daddy Map
A Boy Named Pez
Love in the Time of Proscuitto
This Wasn't in the Job Contract
Carrion My Wayward Son
#HackTheVoid
Canary Girl
Sister Witches Who Kick Butt
I Found a Magic Stone in Paris
My Babysitter is a Skeleton
Cowboys vs Zombie Pirates
GG: Found Family
I Wish I Was White
#SexEd
Swimming with Amoebas
Peace Pays What War Wins
God's Dead, Now What?
No Heroes Here
Capes and Clorox
Hungry Ocean Gods
I'll Stand Bayou
Don't Mess with an Assassin Mom
Tequila Mockingbird
Punk Rock Waitress Rules
Why Are You So Obsessed with Me?
Lady CEOs Are Sexy Too
Unnaturally Dyed Boutonniere
CONGRATS!!! Of course, we still have....
The Host Saves
These are SIX entries that we hosts picked from our teams to move on to the agent round but not on to Round 2. Check out Michael's and Kara's picks as well. The Host Saves can submit a revised entry and will go to the agent round, but not to the second kombat round.
This was a difficult choice as you can imagine. I looked at entries that had close votes. Entries I thought might appeal most to agents. Entries with strong original concepts. Also I couldn't help but be a little subjective. This was pretty much agony. My host saves are:
I CAN KEEP A SECRET
I KIDNAPPED THE PROM QUEEN
Congrats everyone!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see you all at the agent round!
June 1, 2018
Query Kombat 2018 Round 1
Get that thick skin in place because here we go! Round 1
Hop on over to Mike's and Kara'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, YA, and MG! This round lasts until June 4th at 8 pm.
On the last day the hosts will call out for extra judges to come and break ties, or in case of extra close votes to try and get a more decisive margin. In the event a tie remains, the blog host will provide the tie breaker.
The entry with the most votes for Victory moves forward to the agent round on June 7th! Kombatants will have a chance to revise at that time. (Hurry, because you won't have much time to revise.) Hosts will also pick one eliminated entry to "save" that will be featured in the agent round but not move ahead to Round 2.
Winning entries must be revised and returned to QueryKombat (at) gmail (dot) com by Wednesday, June 6th at 8:00 am Eastern. Follow the exact same format in the original post. If you don't submit a revised entry by 8 am, we'll post the original in the agent round.
Now 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 but the main thing to remember is kindness. Keep your comments professional and polite.
Reminders for the Entrants:
You may comment on your own entries after voting has ended to offer thanks or congrats. Do not otherwise respond to or explain feedback.
If there is a problem with your entry, shout out to us on twitter as soon as you can. (@Michelle9Hauck) If you don't have Twitter, you may comment on your entry telling us the mistake.
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. 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! But Kombatants do not cast votes. Please do not comment until after the blog host leaves a comment for the judge votes.
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!).
Be sure to point out the good as well as what needs work. Post under your nicknames! If you forget, just delete and repost. (Note: It's wise to make a copy of your feedback and save it before posting as sometimes the blog eats a comment.)
And judges: seriously, thank you for doing this. It's a very tough job 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, then go ahead and offer your feedback. We ask everyone who entered Query Kombat to leave at least one comment.
NOW THE FUN BEGINS!!! GO GO GO!!! We'll be Tweeting under #QueryKombat!
And may the odds be ever in your favor!
QK1 Match 1: Fake Invisibility T-Shirt vs Einstein Stinks
Title: The Mostly Invisible Boy
Entry Nickname: Fake Invisibility T-Shirt
Word count: 60K
Genre: MG Contemporary Fantasy
Query:
Eleven-year-old Casey Grimes lives where he doesn’t belong and belongs where he’s not quite living. Despite his stubborn friendliness, kids at Vintage Woods Middle School look right through him. Slowly, he realizes they’re not faking. Casey doesn’t know why he’s mostly-invisible—then he climbs a colossal oak, all the way to a forgotten fortress, and realizes he’s been living on the safe, ordinary side of an unseen border.
Eager to investigate, Casey infiltrates Sylvan Woods, a secret forest society devoted to old and wild things. Shockingly, people here can actually see him. Posing as a Sylvan girl’s cousin, he sneaks into Trickery School—a dangerous academy where classes are life-threatening, teachers are treacherous, and battles are as common as breakfast. For the first time in his life, he makes friends. But kids at Trickery have forgotten their roots. Magic is so last century, and Civilians like Casey are despised. If anyone finds out he’s an illegal, he’ll be blacklisted and sent back across the border for life.
Keeping his identity hidden is hard enough, but the clock is ticking. A vicious breed of monster swarms Trickery. Casey and his new friends decipher a cryptic message and discover the truth: Sylvan Woods will be wiped off the map and he’ll return to a life of being see-through…unless he can use his climbing knack to wake the magical Sentry Trees.
First 250:
Casey Grimes was invisible—at least most of the time.
He stood on the corner under a stop sign, jogging in place as his school bus sped down the street. It slowed to roll through the intersection and Casey sprinted alongside, smacking the door as his backpack bumped his spine. Sound and movement gave him a fighting chance to be seen. For a few seconds, anyway.
“Open up!” he yelled.
The driver squinted through the smudged glass, and Casey banged harder, until the brakes squealed and the accordion doors whooshed open.
“Where’d you come from?” the driver asked.
“Same place I always come from.” Casey jumped into the bus. The driver shrugged and floored the accelerator.
The other two kids on Casey’s route always sat together in the back. He waved, but they didn’t notice, so he took his usual seat by the window, pressing the vinyl with sweaty palms. Don’t give up on the day yet, he told himself. Things might still change.
But they reached Vintage Woods Middle School and nothing was different.
Nothing at all.
“You new here?” A girl asked as Casey opened his locker.
“Of course not,” Casey said. “You’re Lydia, we sit next to each other in—”
But she’d already started talking to someone else.
Manuel walked past—they’d had a five second conversation once—and Casey whirled.
“Hey Manuel,” he said.
The boy’s gaze paused for a millisecond and slid away like it was magnetized.
VERSUS
Title: Gravity and Monsters
Entry Nickname: Einstein Stinks
Word count: 52K
Genre: Middle Grade Science Fiction
Query:
Twelve-year-old Kate seeks refuge in the woods saving trapped animals. She's been stuck in small-town Minnesota with her mad scientist uncle ever since her dad's unexpected death. She can't relate to the gun-toting locals or the pesky boy who follows her around—not that she needs friends—and she definitely can't relate to Uncle. He's too busy punching holes in the universe to notice when she's around.
Then a hulking, color-changing creature comes through one of those holes, into her woods. It cares for them—and Kate—almost as much as Dad did, and Kate grows to love it in return. But even the woods aren't big enough to hide a giant. When a local farmer mistakes the creature for a dangerous bear, he aims to put it down. And if Uncle catches it, he'll dissect it—all in the name of science. To protect the creature Kate must send it back through Uncle's rift. Except then she'll lose her friend forever.
And Kate isn't ready to let go.
This book will appeal to fans of Leila Sales' Once Was a Time and Peter Brown's The Wild Robot.
First 250:
The rabbit screamed.
Kate gripped it around its torso. Who would believe a creature this small could make such a horrific noise? Like a child torn from its mother—or father.
Bam. Crash. Thud.
She sucked in a breath. Thinking about Dad's accident wouldn't help the rabbit.
Kate sat cross-legged in the dirt and cradled the animal in her lap. The snare, meant for a wolf, cut into the rabbit's leg and blood oozed into its brown-grey fur. She grabbed its hind ankles.
It kicked.
"Watch it!" She rubbed the fresh scratches on her arm. "I'm just trying to help, OK?"
She turned the rabbit to point its legs in a safer direction and pressed her forearm against its chest. The beat of the animal's tiny heart fluttered against her wrist. When she slid a finger under the wire of the snare, the rabbit screamed again.
"Shhh." Kate hummed a few notes of something, something someone had once sung to her probably.
The rabbit grunted and jerked.
She covered its eyes and stroked its forehead with her thumb. If it kicked too much, it would hurt itself more.
Did it think she was a wolf?
Right, because a lot of wolves have knowledge of basic first aid.
Dad taught her how to tend to animals back in Saint Paul—before Uncle, before the accident—the first time she heard a rabbit scream. A dog caught it. She chased the dog away, but the rabbit was too far gone. Dad helped her bury it.
Entry Nickname: Fake Invisibility T-Shirt
Word count: 60K
Genre: MG Contemporary Fantasy
Query:
Eleven-year-old Casey Grimes lives where he doesn’t belong and belongs where he’s not quite living. Despite his stubborn friendliness, kids at Vintage Woods Middle School look right through him. Slowly, he realizes they’re not faking. Casey doesn’t know why he’s mostly-invisible—then he climbs a colossal oak, all the way to a forgotten fortress, and realizes he’s been living on the safe, ordinary side of an unseen border.
Eager to investigate, Casey infiltrates Sylvan Woods, a secret forest society devoted to old and wild things. Shockingly, people here can actually see him. Posing as a Sylvan girl’s cousin, he sneaks into Trickery School—a dangerous academy where classes are life-threatening, teachers are treacherous, and battles are as common as breakfast. For the first time in his life, he makes friends. But kids at Trickery have forgotten their roots. Magic is so last century, and Civilians like Casey are despised. If anyone finds out he’s an illegal, he’ll be blacklisted and sent back across the border for life.
Keeping his identity hidden is hard enough, but the clock is ticking. A vicious breed of monster swarms Trickery. Casey and his new friends decipher a cryptic message and discover the truth: Sylvan Woods will be wiped off the map and he’ll return to a life of being see-through…unless he can use his climbing knack to wake the magical Sentry Trees.
First 250:
Casey Grimes was invisible—at least most of the time.
He stood on the corner under a stop sign, jogging in place as his school bus sped down the street. It slowed to roll through the intersection and Casey sprinted alongside, smacking the door as his backpack bumped his spine. Sound and movement gave him a fighting chance to be seen. For a few seconds, anyway.
“Open up!” he yelled.
The driver squinted through the smudged glass, and Casey banged harder, until the brakes squealed and the accordion doors whooshed open.
“Where’d you come from?” the driver asked.
“Same place I always come from.” Casey jumped into the bus. The driver shrugged and floored the accelerator.
The other two kids on Casey’s route always sat together in the back. He waved, but they didn’t notice, so he took his usual seat by the window, pressing the vinyl with sweaty palms. Don’t give up on the day yet, he told himself. Things might still change.
But they reached Vintage Woods Middle School and nothing was different.
Nothing at all.
“You new here?” A girl asked as Casey opened his locker.
“Of course not,” Casey said. “You’re Lydia, we sit next to each other in—”
But she’d already started talking to someone else.
Manuel walked past—they’d had a five second conversation once—and Casey whirled.
“Hey Manuel,” he said.
The boy’s gaze paused for a millisecond and slid away like it was magnetized.
VERSUS
Title: Gravity and Monsters
Entry Nickname: Einstein Stinks
Word count: 52K
Genre: Middle Grade Science Fiction
Query:
Twelve-year-old Kate seeks refuge in the woods saving trapped animals. She's been stuck in small-town Minnesota with her mad scientist uncle ever since her dad's unexpected death. She can't relate to the gun-toting locals or the pesky boy who follows her around—not that she needs friends—and she definitely can't relate to Uncle. He's too busy punching holes in the universe to notice when she's around.
Then a hulking, color-changing creature comes through one of those holes, into her woods. It cares for them—and Kate—almost as much as Dad did, and Kate grows to love it in return. But even the woods aren't big enough to hide a giant. When a local farmer mistakes the creature for a dangerous bear, he aims to put it down. And if Uncle catches it, he'll dissect it—all in the name of science. To protect the creature Kate must send it back through Uncle's rift. Except then she'll lose her friend forever.
And Kate isn't ready to let go.
This book will appeal to fans of Leila Sales' Once Was a Time and Peter Brown's The Wild Robot.
First 250:
The rabbit screamed.
Kate gripped it around its torso. Who would believe a creature this small could make such a horrific noise? Like a child torn from its mother—or father.
Bam. Crash. Thud.
She sucked in a breath. Thinking about Dad's accident wouldn't help the rabbit.
Kate sat cross-legged in the dirt and cradled the animal in her lap. The snare, meant for a wolf, cut into the rabbit's leg and blood oozed into its brown-grey fur. She grabbed its hind ankles.
It kicked.
"Watch it!" She rubbed the fresh scratches on her arm. "I'm just trying to help, OK?"
She turned the rabbit to point its legs in a safer direction and pressed her forearm against its chest. The beat of the animal's tiny heart fluttered against her wrist. When she slid a finger under the wire of the snare, the rabbit screamed again.
"Shhh." Kate hummed a few notes of something, something someone had once sung to her probably.
The rabbit grunted and jerked.
She covered its eyes and stroked its forehead with her thumb. If it kicked too much, it would hurt itself more.
Did it think she was a wolf?
Right, because a lot of wolves have knowledge of basic first aid.
Dad taught her how to tend to animals back in Saint Paul—before Uncle, before the accident—the first time she heard a rabbit scream. A dog caught it. She chased the dog away, but the rabbit was too far gone. Dad helped her bury it.
QK1 Match 2: Trapped in My Worst Day Ever vs. Love in the Time of Prosciutto
Title: Love LockedEntry Nickname: Trapped in My Worst Day EverWord count: 43KGenre: upper MG, magical realismQuery:
Anxiety-ridden 8th grader Eve Hollis is trapped in a time loop, reliving the worst day of her life. She never thought her wish for courage would be overheard by a mysterious fortune teller who grants that wish―in the most ulcer-inducing way possible.
Eve’s original plan seemed perfect: tell her secret crush she likes him at the top of the Eiffel Tower, letting the romance of the scene give her the boldness she’s always lacked. But her happy-go-lucky best friend kisses him first, turning the City of Love into the City of Misery. Even worse, a strange fortune teller sells the new couple a love lock, a symbol that their love will last forever. In a fit of jealousy, Eve secretly steals the lock and hurls it in the River Seine.The following morning is incredibly familiar. Too familiar. In fact, the day repeats itself right down to the back-stabbing best friend and stupid love lock. As the same day continues on repeat, getting the boy becomes far less important than getting back home. But unless Eve can figure out what’s keeping her trapped in the time loop and find the courage to make a change, she’s destined to experience the most awkwardly painful day of her life over and over again, forever.Love Locked could be considered a mashup of 11 BIRTHDAYS and Rachel Vail’s WELL, THAT WAS AWKWARD. Fans of Suzanne Nelson’s CAKE POP CRUSH might also enjoy LOVE LOCKED.
First 250, up to 255
The girl’s wish floated on the early summer air, more delicious than the aroma of the fresh-baked bread of the nearby bakery. The fortune teller breathed it in, letting the wish permeate her very bones, inviting it to whisper its secrets and direct her like a compass needle.
A prickling along her skin sharpened into goose bumps as she observed the young teen across the street, the Eiffel Tower behind her. This was the one.
From this distance, the shine in the girl’s eyes could be dismissed as the sun’s reflection, but the woman recognized regret and sadness when she saw it. The other students in the tour group laughed and talked together as they waited, but the girl stood silently, shoulders rigid, and wished for courage.
The fortune teller smiled, wrinkles crinkling. Finally. She reached into her worn bag and curled her hand around an ornate bronze lock, heavy with time and promise. A very special lock, one that would have a new owner before the sun set on this day.
EVE
I never realized before how much the Eiffel Tower looked like a giant middle finger. How very French of it. I wanted to return the salute, but A) I’d never have the guts and B) it might upset Reggie, who was completely fangirling it up over every aspect of Paris.
“Can you believe it, Eve?” Reggie said, staring up at the Eiffel Tower. “It’s so beautiful!” She sighed, clasping her hand to her chest. Unlike me, she actually had a chest.
VERSUS
Title: Time PassagesEntry Nickname: Love in the Time of ProsciuttoWord count: 79KGenre: YA FantasyQuery:
Sixteen-year-old Gemma DiMarco found her forever love in Ben Hartwell. A few magical weeks, and in a flash, they went from “the friend zone” to deliriously in love. When Gemma’s unbalanced ex-boyfriend murders Ben then kills himself, Gemma is left reliving the awful moment day after day, blaming herself. With support from her best friend and her close-knit Italian family, Gemma must come to terms with the guilt and accept what happened. What’s done can’t be undone. Death is forever. But what if she could stop the tragedy from happening in the first place?
When a boy claiming to be her guardian angel comes into the family deli and says he can do just that, Gemma is beyond skeptical. But with a touch, the boy subverts the laws of time and space, and sends Gemma back to the pivotal moment leading to Ben's murder, allowing her to change the outcome.
Back in the present, Ben is alive. But in this altered reality, Gemma’s ex is, too. To protect Ben, Gemma must find and dispose of the original murder weapon before her ex can use it again. Meanwhile, because of Gemma’s time traveling, the family deli is going under and her parents’ once-happy marriage is headed off a cliff. With memories from her new life rapidly replacing the old ones, Gemma soon won’t remember the murder, the angel or changing the past at all. She has only a few days to thwart her ex, get back with Ben, and save her family, before the old memories fade completely and her chance for a happy ending vanishes too.
TIME PASSAGES features the romance of ABOUT TIME meets the whimsy of THE GOOD PLACE. It will appeal to readers of THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE by Heidi Heilig or THE EDGE OF EVERYTHING by Jeff Giles.
First 250:
Exiting the Bart station, I book it three blocks to the deli, late for work again. A breeze too cold for August blows in my face, making me hunch into my jacket. The low-hanging clouds, floating overhead like clumps of dirty cotton balls, do nothing to lighten my mood.
This early, the taquerias and fruit markets along Mission Street are still dark, but light glows from Poulsen’s Bakery. The delicious aroma drifting into the street reminds my stomach I skipped breakfast this morning. Baking bread and spices. Cinnamon.
A memory. Ben and me and a bag of cinnamon rolls. “Still warm, Gemma.” Buttery and sweet, we cut first period to eat them in the park. A cop car drives by and we duck behind the picnic table, fingers entwined, choking back the laughter. It’s so vivid, I’m back there, feeling Ben’s cinnamon-scented breath on my cheek, tasting the sugar on his lips. Remembering feels like a stab to the gut now, raw and fresh, since Ben died last spring.
“Good morning,”
The voice comes out of nowhere, jarring me back to the present. A boy pads along beside me. Tall and dark, a ring of keys jingles on his belt loop.
We’re alone on the street, with the deli still several doors down. I have zero interest in talking to him, so I smile, nod and walk faster. Take the hint, dude.
Nope. He quickens his pace to keep up. Why do boys think they can invade a girl’s space anytime they feel like it?
Anxiety-ridden 8th grader Eve Hollis is trapped in a time loop, reliving the worst day of her life. She never thought her wish for courage would be overheard by a mysterious fortune teller who grants that wish―in the most ulcer-inducing way possible.
Eve’s original plan seemed perfect: tell her secret crush she likes him at the top of the Eiffel Tower, letting the romance of the scene give her the boldness she’s always lacked. But her happy-go-lucky best friend kisses him first, turning the City of Love into the City of Misery. Even worse, a strange fortune teller sells the new couple a love lock, a symbol that their love will last forever. In a fit of jealousy, Eve secretly steals the lock and hurls it in the River Seine.The following morning is incredibly familiar. Too familiar. In fact, the day repeats itself right down to the back-stabbing best friend and stupid love lock. As the same day continues on repeat, getting the boy becomes far less important than getting back home. But unless Eve can figure out what’s keeping her trapped in the time loop and find the courage to make a change, she’s destined to experience the most awkwardly painful day of her life over and over again, forever.Love Locked could be considered a mashup of 11 BIRTHDAYS and Rachel Vail’s WELL, THAT WAS AWKWARD. Fans of Suzanne Nelson’s CAKE POP CRUSH might also enjoy LOVE LOCKED.
First 250, up to 255
The girl’s wish floated on the early summer air, more delicious than the aroma of the fresh-baked bread of the nearby bakery. The fortune teller breathed it in, letting the wish permeate her very bones, inviting it to whisper its secrets and direct her like a compass needle.
A prickling along her skin sharpened into goose bumps as she observed the young teen across the street, the Eiffel Tower behind her. This was the one.
From this distance, the shine in the girl’s eyes could be dismissed as the sun’s reflection, but the woman recognized regret and sadness when she saw it. The other students in the tour group laughed and talked together as they waited, but the girl stood silently, shoulders rigid, and wished for courage.
The fortune teller smiled, wrinkles crinkling. Finally. She reached into her worn bag and curled her hand around an ornate bronze lock, heavy with time and promise. A very special lock, one that would have a new owner before the sun set on this day.
EVE
I never realized before how much the Eiffel Tower looked like a giant middle finger. How very French of it. I wanted to return the salute, but A) I’d never have the guts and B) it might upset Reggie, who was completely fangirling it up over every aspect of Paris.
“Can you believe it, Eve?” Reggie said, staring up at the Eiffel Tower. “It’s so beautiful!” She sighed, clasping her hand to her chest. Unlike me, she actually had a chest.
VERSUS
Title: Time PassagesEntry Nickname: Love in the Time of ProsciuttoWord count: 79KGenre: YA FantasyQuery:
Sixteen-year-old Gemma DiMarco found her forever love in Ben Hartwell. A few magical weeks, and in a flash, they went from “the friend zone” to deliriously in love. When Gemma’s unbalanced ex-boyfriend murders Ben then kills himself, Gemma is left reliving the awful moment day after day, blaming herself. With support from her best friend and her close-knit Italian family, Gemma must come to terms with the guilt and accept what happened. What’s done can’t be undone. Death is forever. But what if she could stop the tragedy from happening in the first place?
When a boy claiming to be her guardian angel comes into the family deli and says he can do just that, Gemma is beyond skeptical. But with a touch, the boy subverts the laws of time and space, and sends Gemma back to the pivotal moment leading to Ben's murder, allowing her to change the outcome.
Back in the present, Ben is alive. But in this altered reality, Gemma’s ex is, too. To protect Ben, Gemma must find and dispose of the original murder weapon before her ex can use it again. Meanwhile, because of Gemma’s time traveling, the family deli is going under and her parents’ once-happy marriage is headed off a cliff. With memories from her new life rapidly replacing the old ones, Gemma soon won’t remember the murder, the angel or changing the past at all. She has only a few days to thwart her ex, get back with Ben, and save her family, before the old memories fade completely and her chance for a happy ending vanishes too.
TIME PASSAGES features the romance of ABOUT TIME meets the whimsy of THE GOOD PLACE. It will appeal to readers of THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE by Heidi Heilig or THE EDGE OF EVERYTHING by Jeff Giles.
First 250:
Exiting the Bart station, I book it three blocks to the deli, late for work again. A breeze too cold for August blows in my face, making me hunch into my jacket. The low-hanging clouds, floating overhead like clumps of dirty cotton balls, do nothing to lighten my mood.
This early, the taquerias and fruit markets along Mission Street are still dark, but light glows from Poulsen’s Bakery. The delicious aroma drifting into the street reminds my stomach I skipped breakfast this morning. Baking bread and spices. Cinnamon.
A memory. Ben and me and a bag of cinnamon rolls. “Still warm, Gemma.” Buttery and sweet, we cut first period to eat them in the park. A cop car drives by and we duck behind the picnic table, fingers entwined, choking back the laughter. It’s so vivid, I’m back there, feeling Ben’s cinnamon-scented breath on my cheek, tasting the sugar on his lips. Remembering feels like a stab to the gut now, raw and fresh, since Ben died last spring.
“Good morning,”
The voice comes out of nowhere, jarring me back to the present. A boy pads along beside me. Tall and dark, a ring of keys jingles on his belt loop.
We’re alone on the street, with the deli still several doors down. I have zero interest in talking to him, so I smile, nod and walk faster. Take the hint, dude.
Nope. He quickens his pace to keep up. Why do boys think they can invade a girl’s space anytime they feel like it?
QK1 Match 3: This Wasn't in the Job Contract vs Never-Beings
Title: WarpersEntry Nickname: This Wasn’t in the Job ContractWord count: 100KGenre: YA Scifi
Query:
There are three rules for time traveling:
1. Do not double warp.
2. Do not interact with people from the past.
3. Do not allow the past to catch up to the present.
Unfortunately, 18-year-old Galileo Matox is about to break them all. By accident, of course.
Galileo works for ScorpioCorp as a warper, traveling into the past to collect evidence of high-priority crimes. His latest mission? To identify a senator’s murderer. Seems simple enough.
But everything goes to shit before the mission even begins. When Galileo suspects sabotage, he presses the emergency warp button, hoping to save his team—but the attempt fails. Not only does the botched warp drop his crew eight days earlier and 1,510 klicks from the murder scene, it also badly injures his teammate.With his friend quickly bleeding out, Galileo does the only thing he can think of: he swaps his own warp suit for her damaged one and sends the team back to the present, initiating a double warp—Rule #1, broken. Now, Galileo’s stranded in the past—and in an alternate reality.
Enter Avaline Eisenhart, a gifted time-space scientist and daughter of the soon-to-be-dead senator. After negotiating with the girl from the past (completely shattering Rule #2), Avaline and Galileo strike a deal: in return for fixing the warp suit, Avaline will get the chance to study ScorpioCorp’s highly coveted warp tech.
As the countdown to the senator’s assassination draws near, realities blur and timelines merge . . . and Galileo begins to realize he may be responsible for the murder. Except, Galileo’s not sure if he can bring himself to kill the senator, even if letting him live could result in an interstellar war. After all, sometimes it’s the smallest change that causes the biggest ripple.
Trapped in a reality in which he doesn't belong, Galileo must find a way to escape before Rule #3 flies out the hatch and the past merges with the present, thereby unleashing chaos across the time-space fabric.
“Inception” meets “Minority Report” . . . in space.
First 250: Chapter One
03:14:15
Temple City, Enora
Jumping back four days to watch a dog get hit by a hover car is a bloody waste of time. Unfortunately, that's my job.
I swallow an annoyed huff, miffed that Gamma team was assigned this joke of a mission. We could be solving that Leviathan kidnapping case, or figuring out who’s responsible for sabotaging the Interstellar Fleet’s dreadnoughts, or a million other crimes more important than identifying the license plate number of the asshole who ran over Senatori Gable’s pet dog.
Not saying said-asshole doesn’t deserve a dose of justice. But still—kidnapping case, or road rage mystery? One clearly carries more priority.
I wince as Takana’s too-loud voice crackles in my aud implant. “Hasn’t anyone told Senatori Gable live pets went out of style fifteen years ago? Droids are the newest rage. Especially droid horse racing—”
“Maybe some people prefer a living, breathing companion instead of a mass of circuits and synth-fur,” I reply, tracking the dog in question as it sprints back and forth upon the lawn of the senatori’s mansion. At precisely 03:25:00, the dog will leap over the shock fence, plant its furry butt in the middle of the road, and get run over by an incoming hover car.Tilting my head, I can't figure out why the dog reminds me of something . . . something just beyond my recollection’s grasp. An echo of a half-forgotten memory. Doesn’t matter, though. I’m not interested in dredging up old memories right now.
VERSUS
Title: State of Never BeingEntry Nickname: Never-BeingsWord count: 94KGenre: YA Sci Fi/Time Travel
Query:
STATE OF NEVER BEINGis Levithan’s Every Day meets the Fifth Wave.
After a rash of botched missions, teenage assassin Zinnia’s life hinges on eliminating seven of history’s violent criminals. The Department of Retroactive Justice is determined to create an alternate history of peace to secure a safer future, and the last thing they’ll tolerate is an agent who intentionally defies orders and refuses to kill.
Zinnia’s irked by her recent spike in failures, but it’s not by chance that she’s survived eight years in the field as an accomplice, not a drop of blood marring her hands. She’s long feared the collateral damage committed by the agency rivals the atrocities of those it targets, but she’s never had proof. Until—while trapped in the vicious cycle meant to reaffirm her allegiance—she falls for the hooded counter-op who landed her there.
Now, she has reason to evade her assignments. And adventure-seeking Phineas to help her do it. Still, for every failed elimination, she’ll be forced to face another target, as well as a brutal reality: letting criminals walk means allowing them to fulfill the heinous acts she could’ve stopped.
Enlisting the help of Phin’s team, Zinnia sets out to alter targets’ paths rather than end them. But when team members accused of impeding justice cease to exist, she must find a way to alter the agency itself—before she loses more than a future with Phin, she loses the past that brought them together, too.
First 250:
Prologue
The last time I was in Pompeii’s outdoor marketplace I was with my history class, more than two millennia after it crumbled to Vesuvius. It was chaos quietly captured. Adults curled into fetal positions, comforting each other in their final breaths. Children, mid-stride, propelled by hope of escape. I whispered to my partner, Mason: Why can’t we save them all? The response was hurled by Exudatious, the mastermind behind the Department of Retroactive Justice, clad in her grey skirt-suit with winged shoulder pads and dagger heels. We can’t salvage entire civilizations, Zinnia Namida. Nor can we interfere where Nature has written the law. We save people from monsters—humans who died at the hands of other humans. Which meant Pompeii was once the killing ground for a monster; there was no other reason for us to be there.
Chapter 1
“It’s 79 AD. You’re in Pompeii.” Our handler, Persephone, opens her palm and a halogen sphere rises from it. It illuminates the canvas flap that conceals us, the overturned fruit cart it’s attached to, the figs mashed between the white tunics Mason and I are wearing and the cobblestones where we kneel. “You’ve got a two-minute lag time. After that, three minutes forty-five seconds to take out your target.” She leans out from the shadow of the sphere, her eyes catching like flame. “Any longer and you’ll be turned into statues.”
Query:
There are three rules for time traveling:
1. Do not double warp.
2. Do not interact with people from the past.
3. Do not allow the past to catch up to the present.
Unfortunately, 18-year-old Galileo Matox is about to break them all. By accident, of course.
Galileo works for ScorpioCorp as a warper, traveling into the past to collect evidence of high-priority crimes. His latest mission? To identify a senator’s murderer. Seems simple enough.
But everything goes to shit before the mission even begins. When Galileo suspects sabotage, he presses the emergency warp button, hoping to save his team—but the attempt fails. Not only does the botched warp drop his crew eight days earlier and 1,510 klicks from the murder scene, it also badly injures his teammate.With his friend quickly bleeding out, Galileo does the only thing he can think of: he swaps his own warp suit for her damaged one and sends the team back to the present, initiating a double warp—Rule #1, broken. Now, Galileo’s stranded in the past—and in an alternate reality.
Enter Avaline Eisenhart, a gifted time-space scientist and daughter of the soon-to-be-dead senator. After negotiating with the girl from the past (completely shattering Rule #2), Avaline and Galileo strike a deal: in return for fixing the warp suit, Avaline will get the chance to study ScorpioCorp’s highly coveted warp tech.
As the countdown to the senator’s assassination draws near, realities blur and timelines merge . . . and Galileo begins to realize he may be responsible for the murder. Except, Galileo’s not sure if he can bring himself to kill the senator, even if letting him live could result in an interstellar war. After all, sometimes it’s the smallest change that causes the biggest ripple.
Trapped in a reality in which he doesn't belong, Galileo must find a way to escape before Rule #3 flies out the hatch and the past merges with the present, thereby unleashing chaos across the time-space fabric.
“Inception” meets “Minority Report” . . . in space.
First 250: Chapter One
03:14:15
Temple City, Enora
Jumping back four days to watch a dog get hit by a hover car is a bloody waste of time. Unfortunately, that's my job.
I swallow an annoyed huff, miffed that Gamma team was assigned this joke of a mission. We could be solving that Leviathan kidnapping case, or figuring out who’s responsible for sabotaging the Interstellar Fleet’s dreadnoughts, or a million other crimes more important than identifying the license plate number of the asshole who ran over Senatori Gable’s pet dog.
Not saying said-asshole doesn’t deserve a dose of justice. But still—kidnapping case, or road rage mystery? One clearly carries more priority.
I wince as Takana’s too-loud voice crackles in my aud implant. “Hasn’t anyone told Senatori Gable live pets went out of style fifteen years ago? Droids are the newest rage. Especially droid horse racing—”
“Maybe some people prefer a living, breathing companion instead of a mass of circuits and synth-fur,” I reply, tracking the dog in question as it sprints back and forth upon the lawn of the senatori’s mansion. At precisely 03:25:00, the dog will leap over the shock fence, plant its furry butt in the middle of the road, and get run over by an incoming hover car.Tilting my head, I can't figure out why the dog reminds me of something . . . something just beyond my recollection’s grasp. An echo of a half-forgotten memory. Doesn’t matter, though. I’m not interested in dredging up old memories right now.
VERSUS
Title: State of Never BeingEntry Nickname: Never-BeingsWord count: 94KGenre: YA Sci Fi/Time Travel
Query:
STATE OF NEVER BEINGis Levithan’s Every Day meets the Fifth Wave.
After a rash of botched missions, teenage assassin Zinnia’s life hinges on eliminating seven of history’s violent criminals. The Department of Retroactive Justice is determined to create an alternate history of peace to secure a safer future, and the last thing they’ll tolerate is an agent who intentionally defies orders and refuses to kill.
Zinnia’s irked by her recent spike in failures, but it’s not by chance that she’s survived eight years in the field as an accomplice, not a drop of blood marring her hands. She’s long feared the collateral damage committed by the agency rivals the atrocities of those it targets, but she’s never had proof. Until—while trapped in the vicious cycle meant to reaffirm her allegiance—she falls for the hooded counter-op who landed her there.
Now, she has reason to evade her assignments. And adventure-seeking Phineas to help her do it. Still, for every failed elimination, she’ll be forced to face another target, as well as a brutal reality: letting criminals walk means allowing them to fulfill the heinous acts she could’ve stopped.
Enlisting the help of Phin’s team, Zinnia sets out to alter targets’ paths rather than end them. But when team members accused of impeding justice cease to exist, she must find a way to alter the agency itself—before she loses more than a future with Phin, she loses the past that brought them together, too.
First 250:
Prologue
The last time I was in Pompeii’s outdoor marketplace I was with my history class, more than two millennia after it crumbled to Vesuvius. It was chaos quietly captured. Adults curled into fetal positions, comforting each other in their final breaths. Children, mid-stride, propelled by hope of escape. I whispered to my partner, Mason: Why can’t we save them all? The response was hurled by Exudatious, the mastermind behind the Department of Retroactive Justice, clad in her grey skirt-suit with winged shoulder pads and dagger heels. We can’t salvage entire civilizations, Zinnia Namida. Nor can we interfere where Nature has written the law. We save people from monsters—humans who died at the hands of other humans. Which meant Pompeii was once the killing ground for a monster; there was no other reason for us to be there.
Chapter 1
“It’s 79 AD. You’re in Pompeii.” Our handler, Persephone, opens her palm and a halogen sphere rises from it. It illuminates the canvas flap that conceals us, the overturned fruit cart it’s attached to, the figs mashed between the white tunics Mason and I are wearing and the cobblestones where we kneel. “You’ve got a two-minute lag time. After that, three minutes forty-five seconds to take out your target.” She leans out from the shadow of the sphere, her eyes catching like flame. “Any longer and you’ll be turned into statues.”
QK1 Match 4: #HackTheVoid vs. The Jo and Empty Show
Title: GHOSTS OF THE VOIDEntry Nickname: #HackTheVoidWord Count: 99KGenre: YA Science Fiction - #OwnVoices
Query:
In the year 3023, the Void—a virtual reality world created by SALVADOR ORTIZ—has been in lock-down mode for a thousand years. Millions of people, known as Residents, are trapped inside. Unbeknownst to them, they repeat the year 2023 in an eternal loop. Since there is no known way to disconnect Residents from the Void without killing them, they have been placed in cryosleep by the U.S. Government, which has spent billions trying to reverse the lock-down unsuccessfully. Only a handful of hackers can enter the Void and come back. The most famous of these, the GHOSTS OF THE VOID, are a collective who support themselves by doing odd-jobs within the Void for scientists, government officials, and anyone else with enough coin interested in exploiting the virtual past to make a name for themselves in 3023.
18-year-old SUZANNA JIMÉNEZ, the leader of the Ghosts, lost the last of her family when her sister was kidnapped. After years of searching for her, Suz is now convinced her sister is dead, and escapes the real world by spending more time within the Void than outside of it. She is known for being a ruthless leader, who values the lives of her crew above all else.
However, when Suzanna discovers her sister is alive, her loyalty to the Ghosts is put to the test. She is hired by the government to find Salvador Ortiz in order to shut the Void down. A job that upon fulfillment comes with information on the location of her sister—and a one-billion-dollar payday. Enough money to get them both out of harm’s way. Now, Suzanna must decide if getting her sister back is worth risking the lives of her crew; if she’s really going to kidnap the daughter of Salvador Ortiz to get the job done; and if she and her team are good enough to hack through the virtual world before getting wiped out by Salvador Ortiz’s security system.
If the Ghosts manage to pull off their hardest job to date, they’ll succeed in freeing the millions of people who have been stuck inside of the Void for centuries. But failure may destroy the home and family they’ve created in 3023.
GHOSTS OF THE VOID is told through multiple—and mostly #OwnVoices Latinx—points of view. And will appeal to readers of Want, Warcross, Renegades, and Otherworld—fans of futuristic tales, complicated love stories, and virtual reality.
First 250:
Akari Nakamura stared at the annoying blinking lights above the cafeteria exit, signaling a Code Black. Someone cut the electricity, killing the security system inside of California’s State Capitol building. She looked down at the granola breakfast she was eating for a second, and took a last bite before dashing out. She followed the winding corridors to the office of Representative Edna Rodgers. Once in, she pushed the heavy door into the wall until it closed, and darted next to her boss, who’d remained seated calmly at her desk, waiting for her with a stoic face.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got you,” Akari said. She took hold of the state-of-the-art Cobra stunner resting snuggly on the utility belt at her waist. Her slender fingers found their usual place of comfort. The familiar coolness of the steel in her hand steadied her galloping heartbeat, cleared her hurried thoughts.
She stood in front of the desk, focused on the closed door, its useless electric lock.
The back-up lights cast the carpet, ceiling, furniture, and their solemn faces in an eerie red glow. As if blood was coating the room.
Was it a sign of what was to come?
Akari felt determined to make sure it wouldn’t be her own blood spilled today.
Or the representative’s.
The door banged into the wall as someone forced it open, letting in the shrill noise of the alarms blaring through the hallways of the building.
A young man strolled in. Akari’s breath caught in her throat.
VERSUS
Title: Internal TraitorsEntry Nickname: The Jo & Empty ShowWord count: 80KGenre: YA Sci-Fi
Query:
As the granddaughter of a senator and a self-made billionaire, seventeen-year-old Jordyn Hendricks has what many would consider a great life. She has a good group of friends, a mutual crush on a cute boy, and enjoys partying with her classmates. But her life starts to crumble once she’s announced as the new CEO of Wellington Corp—her grandfather’s corporation.
Control transfers to Jordyn in three months—on her eighteenth birthday—but there’s a problem: she doesn’t want the job. She always pictured herself developing weapons, not running a corporation and she knows she isn’t ready. Until Jordyn turns eighteen, her aunt, Zalia, will serve as Interim CEO. Jordyn discovers Zalia has a plan that involves using people with cloudy eyes called “Empties” to do her bidding. Their first task? Bring Jordyn to her.
But Jordyn doesn't know Zalia is using Redisol to control the Empties, which acts like a psychiatric medication and changes the chemical makeup of the brain and nervous system. As she searches for answers, Jordyn must find a way to stop Zalia and protect her loved ones from becoming Empties.
First 250:
It was official. In less than three months, I would be the new CEO of Wellington Corp whether I liked it or not. Grandpa Zac broke the news last night but reading it in the reports made it more real. How could the board members think I was a better choice than my aunt? She had a PhD and I was a seventeen-year-old mess with zero experience. I had no business running a multi-billion-dollar corporation. I didn't even own any business clothes. Most of my wardrobe consisted of crop tops and flannels. Neither were appropriate for my new job.
Mitch nudged me after I finished reading the report. “You okay?”“I’m considering going into hiding, so that’s a solid hell nope.”
We were in Weapon Studies class waiting for our instructor to arrive. There were twenty students in class and we sat in pairs. Of those twenty, only two weren’t training to become a soldier—me and a boy named Will.
I wasn’t worried about whether I could hide the whirlwind of emotions brewing inside of me. My mom made sure I was a pro before she left. She was great at pretending she didn’t have feelings and terrible at being a mother. Well, not to my brother, Julian. He was always her favorite.
“Count me in.” Mitch slicked his sandy brown hair to the side.
“What?” I asked.
“You wouldn’t last two minutes without your partner in—well, not crime but something equally cool,” he said.
Query:
In the year 3023, the Void—a virtual reality world created by SALVADOR ORTIZ—has been in lock-down mode for a thousand years. Millions of people, known as Residents, are trapped inside. Unbeknownst to them, they repeat the year 2023 in an eternal loop. Since there is no known way to disconnect Residents from the Void without killing them, they have been placed in cryosleep by the U.S. Government, which has spent billions trying to reverse the lock-down unsuccessfully. Only a handful of hackers can enter the Void and come back. The most famous of these, the GHOSTS OF THE VOID, are a collective who support themselves by doing odd-jobs within the Void for scientists, government officials, and anyone else with enough coin interested in exploiting the virtual past to make a name for themselves in 3023.
18-year-old SUZANNA JIMÉNEZ, the leader of the Ghosts, lost the last of her family when her sister was kidnapped. After years of searching for her, Suz is now convinced her sister is dead, and escapes the real world by spending more time within the Void than outside of it. She is known for being a ruthless leader, who values the lives of her crew above all else.
However, when Suzanna discovers her sister is alive, her loyalty to the Ghosts is put to the test. She is hired by the government to find Salvador Ortiz in order to shut the Void down. A job that upon fulfillment comes with information on the location of her sister—and a one-billion-dollar payday. Enough money to get them both out of harm’s way. Now, Suzanna must decide if getting her sister back is worth risking the lives of her crew; if she’s really going to kidnap the daughter of Salvador Ortiz to get the job done; and if she and her team are good enough to hack through the virtual world before getting wiped out by Salvador Ortiz’s security system.
If the Ghosts manage to pull off their hardest job to date, they’ll succeed in freeing the millions of people who have been stuck inside of the Void for centuries. But failure may destroy the home and family they’ve created in 3023.
GHOSTS OF THE VOID is told through multiple—and mostly #OwnVoices Latinx—points of view. And will appeal to readers of Want, Warcross, Renegades, and Otherworld—fans of futuristic tales, complicated love stories, and virtual reality.
First 250:
Akari Nakamura stared at the annoying blinking lights above the cafeteria exit, signaling a Code Black. Someone cut the electricity, killing the security system inside of California’s State Capitol building. She looked down at the granola breakfast she was eating for a second, and took a last bite before dashing out. She followed the winding corridors to the office of Representative Edna Rodgers. Once in, she pushed the heavy door into the wall until it closed, and darted next to her boss, who’d remained seated calmly at her desk, waiting for her with a stoic face.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got you,” Akari said. She took hold of the state-of-the-art Cobra stunner resting snuggly on the utility belt at her waist. Her slender fingers found their usual place of comfort. The familiar coolness of the steel in her hand steadied her galloping heartbeat, cleared her hurried thoughts.
She stood in front of the desk, focused on the closed door, its useless electric lock.
The back-up lights cast the carpet, ceiling, furniture, and their solemn faces in an eerie red glow. As if blood was coating the room.
Was it a sign of what was to come?
Akari felt determined to make sure it wouldn’t be her own blood spilled today.
Or the representative’s.
The door banged into the wall as someone forced it open, letting in the shrill noise of the alarms blaring through the hallways of the building.
A young man strolled in. Akari’s breath caught in her throat.
VERSUS
Title: Internal TraitorsEntry Nickname: The Jo & Empty ShowWord count: 80KGenre: YA Sci-Fi
Query:
As the granddaughter of a senator and a self-made billionaire, seventeen-year-old Jordyn Hendricks has what many would consider a great life. She has a good group of friends, a mutual crush on a cute boy, and enjoys partying with her classmates. But her life starts to crumble once she’s announced as the new CEO of Wellington Corp—her grandfather’s corporation.
Control transfers to Jordyn in three months—on her eighteenth birthday—but there’s a problem: she doesn’t want the job. She always pictured herself developing weapons, not running a corporation and she knows she isn’t ready. Until Jordyn turns eighteen, her aunt, Zalia, will serve as Interim CEO. Jordyn discovers Zalia has a plan that involves using people with cloudy eyes called “Empties” to do her bidding. Their first task? Bring Jordyn to her.
But Jordyn doesn't know Zalia is using Redisol to control the Empties, which acts like a psychiatric medication and changes the chemical makeup of the brain and nervous system. As she searches for answers, Jordyn must find a way to stop Zalia and protect her loved ones from becoming Empties.
First 250:
It was official. In less than three months, I would be the new CEO of Wellington Corp whether I liked it or not. Grandpa Zac broke the news last night but reading it in the reports made it more real. How could the board members think I was a better choice than my aunt? She had a PhD and I was a seventeen-year-old mess with zero experience. I had no business running a multi-billion-dollar corporation. I didn't even own any business clothes. Most of my wardrobe consisted of crop tops and flannels. Neither were appropriate for my new job.
Mitch nudged me after I finished reading the report. “You okay?”“I’m considering going into hiding, so that’s a solid hell nope.”
We were in Weapon Studies class waiting for our instructor to arrive. There were twenty students in class and we sat in pairs. Of those twenty, only two weren’t training to become a soldier—me and a boy named Will.
I wasn’t worried about whether I could hide the whirlwind of emotions brewing inside of me. My mom made sure I was a pro before she left. She was great at pretending she didn’t have feelings and terrible at being a mother. Well, not to my brother, Julian. He was always her favorite.
“Count me in.” Mitch slicked his sandy brown hair to the side.
“What?” I asked.
“You wouldn’t last two minutes without your partner in—well, not crime but something equally cool,” he said.
QK1 Match 5: My Babysitter is a Skeleton vs. A Deep Choice
Title: King of Sand, Queen of Bones
Entry Nickname: My Babysitter is a Skeleton
Word count: 71K
Genre: YA Fantasy
Query:
Fifteen-year-old Patella is tired of being the most useless person in her entire necromantic cult. No one will let her help with the goat-raising, the morning worship, or even the sacrificial blood clean-up. Desperate to prove herself, she ditches her desert cave for the nearby castle town, hoping to find a job and a little freedom. At least, that’s the plan until Ash, the city’s reluctant young king, accidentally outs her as a necromancer during his own escape attempt. Together, they flee into the desert, leaving the castle, the cultists, and the guards hunting them far behind.
Unfortunately, neither of them have half a clue how to survive on their own. Their first monster attack is almost their last until a trio of adventurers pull their butts out of the quicksand. Under the adventurers’ wings, Patella learns to use both life magic and necromancy while Ash studies swordplay. Patella’s a natural, healing Ash’s training wounds as easily as she summons lizard skeletons. Finally, she’s useful to someone. Someone with a cute smile who trusts her despite knowing where she came from and what she is.
But no one ever told Patella what she really was: the God of Death’s Chosen One, and said god is not at all pleased about his hero learning life magic. He and the cult won’t rest until she completes the job she was born for: the destruction of the life mage’s last known refuge - Ash’s kingdom. Just when she was getting the crazy idea that she could be its queen.
First 250 words:
A sea of black hoods surrounded Patella. All eyes were on the young man, the old man, and the soon-to-be-dead man at the stone altar in front of the enormous dragon skeleton. The first two, Talus and Father Parietal, stood between the dragon and the altar, while the third laid on the altar, a peaceful smile on his face. It was no secret that old Calcaneus was ready to go and no surprise that he had volunteered for his grandson’s birthday sacrifice. All the adults agreed it was the most desirable death and the greatest sixteenth rites gift anyone could ask for. It made Patella jealous. Her parents were far too young to be her ritual sacrifice, she’d never known her grandparents, and Tibby didn’t count because she was already dead. She’d probably end up with a boring old goat. How was that fair? There was only a week between their birthdays, but Talus always got everything better.
“Brothers and sisters!” Father Parietal raised his hands for silence, though the echo of his voice around the great dragon’s cavern was loud enough to wake the dead without any magical aid. “Centuries ago, after our founder’s destruction, our ancestors wandered the lands, aimless, directionless, brotherless. Lost and alone, they struggled, they sought, and eventually, they found each other. They gathered here as we do today at the site of our fallen founder, where all that remained was the Book of Nymok and the founder’s faithful steed.” He gestured at the dragon skeleton behind him.
VERSUS
Title: Aiko's DiveEntry Nickname: A Deep ChoiceWord Count: 78KGenre: YA Science Fiction
Query:
If given a choice between orphan and slave, Aiko would choose orphan every time. Each adoption day, she watched other children dragged away by the monstrous Kaisin, relieved to be left behind.
Then, Fletcher adopts her.
Though not Kaisin, he’s just as strange, and Aiko isn’t sure whether to be fearful or hopeful. But when Fletcher receives a message from the mentor he watched die thirty years ago, Aiko is forced to push those feelings aside and dive to the bottom of an alien ocean. Half-buried in silt, they find a wrecked craft and Fletcher’s mentor alive, but not well.
Crazed by a mysterious affliction, the mentor, a Kaisin, attacks the duo, separating them. Now alone, Aiko must put aside her misgivings and make a choice: will she risk her life to save the stranger who adopted her, or leave him behind? Assuming, that is, if she can survive on her own.
First 250:
Today is adoption day.
That thought filled Aiko with fear as she stood in a line with the other children. Each wore a shapeless smock that covered them from neck to ankle, but did nothing to ward away the cold or the damp.
The headmistress saw Aiko shiver and scowled.
On adoption day, they were expected to be perfect, and any misstep was punished.
That was the unfortunate case at Alphanax Orphanage. Deep in the heart of Kaisin space, the orphanage was a place for unwanted children. Most were Kaisin - pale, hairless, and tall, with jittery blue eyes - but there were a few other species besides.
Then, there was Aiko.
What she was, no one could really say. To some, she looked like a Kaisin, but instead of bleached skin, hers was darker, almost yellow. Her hair was black, as were her eyes, which were slanted and narrow, the exact opposite of the Kaisin’s bulbous blue.
The headmistress, a Kaisin as well, often said that Aiko was an aberration, and the children teased her for being different.
But Aiko considered it a blessing because it kept her safe.
Only Kaisin came to Aphanax looking for children. They terrified her, and rightly so if the Headmistress’ tales about what Kaisin did with the children they adopted were true. Each time one lumbered through the doors to Alphanax, she felt a knot in her stomach so tight she feared her insides would collapse. But, as many times as she had flinched under a Kaisin’s shadow, none wanted her.
Entry Nickname: My Babysitter is a Skeleton
Word count: 71K
Genre: YA Fantasy
Query:
Fifteen-year-old Patella is tired of being the most useless person in her entire necromantic cult. No one will let her help with the goat-raising, the morning worship, or even the sacrificial blood clean-up. Desperate to prove herself, she ditches her desert cave for the nearby castle town, hoping to find a job and a little freedom. At least, that’s the plan until Ash, the city’s reluctant young king, accidentally outs her as a necromancer during his own escape attempt. Together, they flee into the desert, leaving the castle, the cultists, and the guards hunting them far behind.
Unfortunately, neither of them have half a clue how to survive on their own. Their first monster attack is almost their last until a trio of adventurers pull their butts out of the quicksand. Under the adventurers’ wings, Patella learns to use both life magic and necromancy while Ash studies swordplay. Patella’s a natural, healing Ash’s training wounds as easily as she summons lizard skeletons. Finally, she’s useful to someone. Someone with a cute smile who trusts her despite knowing where she came from and what she is.
But no one ever told Patella what she really was: the God of Death’s Chosen One, and said god is not at all pleased about his hero learning life magic. He and the cult won’t rest until she completes the job she was born for: the destruction of the life mage’s last known refuge - Ash’s kingdom. Just when she was getting the crazy idea that she could be its queen.
First 250 words:
A sea of black hoods surrounded Patella. All eyes were on the young man, the old man, and the soon-to-be-dead man at the stone altar in front of the enormous dragon skeleton. The first two, Talus and Father Parietal, stood between the dragon and the altar, while the third laid on the altar, a peaceful smile on his face. It was no secret that old Calcaneus was ready to go and no surprise that he had volunteered for his grandson’s birthday sacrifice. All the adults agreed it was the most desirable death and the greatest sixteenth rites gift anyone could ask for. It made Patella jealous. Her parents were far too young to be her ritual sacrifice, she’d never known her grandparents, and Tibby didn’t count because she was already dead. She’d probably end up with a boring old goat. How was that fair? There was only a week between their birthdays, but Talus always got everything better.
“Brothers and sisters!” Father Parietal raised his hands for silence, though the echo of his voice around the great dragon’s cavern was loud enough to wake the dead without any magical aid. “Centuries ago, after our founder’s destruction, our ancestors wandered the lands, aimless, directionless, brotherless. Lost and alone, they struggled, they sought, and eventually, they found each other. They gathered here as we do today at the site of our fallen founder, where all that remained was the Book of Nymok and the founder’s faithful steed.” He gestured at the dragon skeleton behind him.
VERSUS
Title: Aiko's DiveEntry Nickname: A Deep ChoiceWord Count: 78KGenre: YA Science Fiction
Query:
If given a choice between orphan and slave, Aiko would choose orphan every time. Each adoption day, she watched other children dragged away by the monstrous Kaisin, relieved to be left behind.
Then, Fletcher adopts her.
Though not Kaisin, he’s just as strange, and Aiko isn’t sure whether to be fearful or hopeful. But when Fletcher receives a message from the mentor he watched die thirty years ago, Aiko is forced to push those feelings aside and dive to the bottom of an alien ocean. Half-buried in silt, they find a wrecked craft and Fletcher’s mentor alive, but not well.
Crazed by a mysterious affliction, the mentor, a Kaisin, attacks the duo, separating them. Now alone, Aiko must put aside her misgivings and make a choice: will she risk her life to save the stranger who adopted her, or leave him behind? Assuming, that is, if she can survive on her own.
First 250:
Today is adoption day.
That thought filled Aiko with fear as she stood in a line with the other children. Each wore a shapeless smock that covered them from neck to ankle, but did nothing to ward away the cold or the damp.
The headmistress saw Aiko shiver and scowled.
On adoption day, they were expected to be perfect, and any misstep was punished.
That was the unfortunate case at Alphanax Orphanage. Deep in the heart of Kaisin space, the orphanage was a place for unwanted children. Most were Kaisin - pale, hairless, and tall, with jittery blue eyes - but there were a few other species besides.
Then, there was Aiko.
What she was, no one could really say. To some, she looked like a Kaisin, but instead of bleached skin, hers was darker, almost yellow. Her hair was black, as were her eyes, which were slanted and narrow, the exact opposite of the Kaisin’s bulbous blue.
The headmistress, a Kaisin as well, often said that Aiko was an aberration, and the children teased her for being different.
But Aiko considered it a blessing because it kept her safe.
Only Kaisin came to Aphanax looking for children. They terrified her, and rightly so if the Headmistress’ tales about what Kaisin did with the children they adopted were true. Each time one lumbered through the doors to Alphanax, she felt a knot in her stomach so tight she feared her insides would collapse. But, as many times as she had flinched under a Kaisin’s shadow, none wanted her.
