QK Round 1: The Past is Back versus E=MC [squared]
Entry Nickname: The Past is Back
Title: WATERS OF OBLIVION
Word Count: 67,000
Genre: Adult Romantic Suspense
Query:
Georgetown art historian Reine Baldwin recognizes her own image in a 15th century portrait, leading to her forgotten past and a man who – in spite of her immortality – may still try to harm her.
When the usually reserved academic impulsively accepts a coffee date from a charming journalist, she unwittingly jeopardizes not only her centuries’ old secrets, but also her safety. Soon, she finds her office ransacked and her classroom flooded. Finally, after a timely invitation to Venice on the eve of Carnevale to examine the resurfaced DaVinci, an unplanned night of revelry culminates in a reunion with the painting’s owner.
The pompous, domineering, and utterly irresistible man is Massimo Baldovini. As Reine’s long-lost husband who also should have died centuries ago, he’s desperate to rekindle their relationship. Suddenly, Reine has the chance to forgo her quirky sock collection, musty libraries, and an ordinary life with any mortal man she’d surely outlive, in favor of extravagant evening gowns, powerful cars, and eternity with the one person who’s apparently loved her for half a millennium. However, after she inexplicably gets sick for the first time in five hundred years, Reine starts remembering things Massimo wishes would remain buried.
With her immortality on the line, Reine will need to determine if she can trust this man who swears he couldn’t save her from drowning on their honeymoon or whether she’s just been a pawn in Massimo’s self-serving plans from the very beginning.
First 250 words:
Reine clutched her broken hand to her chest and repeatedly tapped the “Door Close” button with the other. The pain in her fingers was almost unbearable, but it would be gone soon. Hopefully it would be soon enough.
As the elevator door slid slowly into place, she looked out into the hotel’s lobby one last time. Thankfully, it was still deserted. This wasn’t unusual given the weather and the late hour, but she knew he had to be right behind her.
He couldn’t catch up. He couldn’t see her. Not just yet.
When the elevator finally began to move, she looked at her hand again. It was shaking, but as she flexed her fingers, the last signs of bruising – and of the pain – disappeared. However, that didn’t make her happy.
Reine blamed herself for getting into this predicament. For the second time in two weeks, she almost inadvertently revealed her secret. A secret her life depended on.
She should have just ended the conversation when she fumbled to answer a simple question: “Are you married?”
But she didn’t, and that was mistake number one.
The blunder was a warning sign, and she ignored it. She had uncharacteristically let her guard down. But who wouldn’t have, if they had looked into those eyes or had seen that smile? As always, her heart would be her downfall. That’s why she had avoided listening to it for so long.
Until tonight.
And that’s when she made the second mistake: getting injured.
VERSUS
Entry Nickname: E=mc[squared]Title: Like YesterdayWord count: 81,000Genre: Commercial Fiction
Query:
Within the cold walls of his institute, Dr. Vincent Douvrey dedicated years to his innovations but none to his devoted wife. He never said “I love you”, and until her fatal car accident, he had no desire to say “I’m sorry”. Guilt-ridden and eager to deliver that apology in person, and even more eager to receive his next accolade in science, Vincent attempts his most recent innovation—transitory time travel by liquid ingestion.
But the tonic doesn’t transport him to three years prior. Instead, he awakens almost fifteen years into the past in a Florida college dorm room with passé décor. Thanks to amnesia, Vincent doesn’t remember any moment from that time, including anyone he befriended. However, an even greater obstacle plagues him: how to get back to the future.
Vincent turns to the campus library for guidance, but his research leads him to meet Carmen, a junior student who is not his wife. Carmen is immediately smitten by his Grenadian accent and unfamiliar charm and he by her stunning beauty and unselfishness. Their magnetic passion brews a sultry love affair. Meanwhile, the thirty-five-year old man she believes is twenty-one continues to seek a reverse transport solution.
However, Vincent’s hope of returning home to his acclaimed work dwindles, forcing him to relive his past while loving a woman he knows he doesn’t marry. But when he realizes he has already met Carmen, who entered his institute as a pleading stranger, Vincent hastens to find a way to return to his rightful decade to save her.
First 250 words:
Dr. Douvrey possessed a keen talent to ignore. He ignored the resounding proclamation that time travel didn’t exist. He ignored his wife who loved him more than her nursing shoes worn to their last shred of rubber. He ignored his mother who told him he wouldn’t succeed without her international clout. But this talent was often tested by his incompetent assistant of eight years, whom he observed from his chamber as she mixed and spilled chemicals onto his laminate lab table, incinerating it layer by layer.
It was only the eleventh table he had to replace because of her; one more was sure to be ruined within the year. Hazy smoke smothered her face, obstructing her view of the doctor’s narrowed eyes and furrowed brows. She owned a brilliant mind, but the doctor found it challenging each new day to ignore her fumbles, destructions, and blabbering. After four long breaths and a silent prayer for strength not to kill her, Dr. Douvrey turned his back toward the window. He continued to isolate himself within the glass room of toxic fumes, a poor attempt to escape her recurrent interferences and to maintain his state of being alone.
The chamber upheld its purpose of providing security and safety as well as being aesthetically pleasing to his eyes. Upon each entry of the room, the doctor often admired the stainless steel upon the ceiling and wall trims and the extensive counters on which he performed all testing of his formulas.
Title: WATERS OF OBLIVION
Word Count: 67,000
Genre: Adult Romantic Suspense
Query:
Georgetown art historian Reine Baldwin recognizes her own image in a 15th century portrait, leading to her forgotten past and a man who – in spite of her immortality – may still try to harm her.
When the usually reserved academic impulsively accepts a coffee date from a charming journalist, she unwittingly jeopardizes not only her centuries’ old secrets, but also her safety. Soon, she finds her office ransacked and her classroom flooded. Finally, after a timely invitation to Venice on the eve of Carnevale to examine the resurfaced DaVinci, an unplanned night of revelry culminates in a reunion with the painting’s owner.
The pompous, domineering, and utterly irresistible man is Massimo Baldovini. As Reine’s long-lost husband who also should have died centuries ago, he’s desperate to rekindle their relationship. Suddenly, Reine has the chance to forgo her quirky sock collection, musty libraries, and an ordinary life with any mortal man she’d surely outlive, in favor of extravagant evening gowns, powerful cars, and eternity with the one person who’s apparently loved her for half a millennium. However, after she inexplicably gets sick for the first time in five hundred years, Reine starts remembering things Massimo wishes would remain buried.
With her immortality on the line, Reine will need to determine if she can trust this man who swears he couldn’t save her from drowning on their honeymoon or whether she’s just been a pawn in Massimo’s self-serving plans from the very beginning.
First 250 words:
Reine clutched her broken hand to her chest and repeatedly tapped the “Door Close” button with the other. The pain in her fingers was almost unbearable, but it would be gone soon. Hopefully it would be soon enough.
As the elevator door slid slowly into place, she looked out into the hotel’s lobby one last time. Thankfully, it was still deserted. This wasn’t unusual given the weather and the late hour, but she knew he had to be right behind her.
He couldn’t catch up. He couldn’t see her. Not just yet.
When the elevator finally began to move, she looked at her hand again. It was shaking, but as she flexed her fingers, the last signs of bruising – and of the pain – disappeared. However, that didn’t make her happy.
Reine blamed herself for getting into this predicament. For the second time in two weeks, she almost inadvertently revealed her secret. A secret her life depended on.
She should have just ended the conversation when she fumbled to answer a simple question: “Are you married?”
But she didn’t, and that was mistake number one.
The blunder was a warning sign, and she ignored it. She had uncharacteristically let her guard down. But who wouldn’t have, if they had looked into those eyes or had seen that smile? As always, her heart would be her downfall. That’s why she had avoided listening to it for so long.
Until tonight.
And that’s when she made the second mistake: getting injured.
VERSUS
Entry Nickname: E=mc[squared]Title: Like YesterdayWord count: 81,000Genre: Commercial Fiction
Query:
Within the cold walls of his institute, Dr. Vincent Douvrey dedicated years to his innovations but none to his devoted wife. He never said “I love you”, and until her fatal car accident, he had no desire to say “I’m sorry”. Guilt-ridden and eager to deliver that apology in person, and even more eager to receive his next accolade in science, Vincent attempts his most recent innovation—transitory time travel by liquid ingestion.
But the tonic doesn’t transport him to three years prior. Instead, he awakens almost fifteen years into the past in a Florida college dorm room with passé décor. Thanks to amnesia, Vincent doesn’t remember any moment from that time, including anyone he befriended. However, an even greater obstacle plagues him: how to get back to the future.
Vincent turns to the campus library for guidance, but his research leads him to meet Carmen, a junior student who is not his wife. Carmen is immediately smitten by his Grenadian accent and unfamiliar charm and he by her stunning beauty and unselfishness. Their magnetic passion brews a sultry love affair. Meanwhile, the thirty-five-year old man she believes is twenty-one continues to seek a reverse transport solution.
However, Vincent’s hope of returning home to his acclaimed work dwindles, forcing him to relive his past while loving a woman he knows he doesn’t marry. But when he realizes he has already met Carmen, who entered his institute as a pleading stranger, Vincent hastens to find a way to return to his rightful decade to save her.
First 250 words:
Dr. Douvrey possessed a keen talent to ignore. He ignored the resounding proclamation that time travel didn’t exist. He ignored his wife who loved him more than her nursing shoes worn to their last shred of rubber. He ignored his mother who told him he wouldn’t succeed without her international clout. But this talent was often tested by his incompetent assistant of eight years, whom he observed from his chamber as she mixed and spilled chemicals onto his laminate lab table, incinerating it layer by layer.
It was only the eleventh table he had to replace because of her; one more was sure to be ruined within the year. Hazy smoke smothered her face, obstructing her view of the doctor’s narrowed eyes and furrowed brows. She owned a brilliant mind, but the doctor found it challenging each new day to ignore her fumbles, destructions, and blabbering. After four long breaths and a silent prayer for strength not to kill her, Dr. Douvrey turned his back toward the window. He continued to isolate himself within the glass room of toxic fumes, a poor attempt to escape her recurrent interferences and to maintain his state of being alone.
The chamber upheld its purpose of providing security and safety as well as being aesthetically pleasing to his eyes. Upon each entry of the room, the doctor often admired the stainless steel upon the ceiling and wall trims and the extensive counters on which he performed all testing of his formulas.
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