Rah-rahs, Hoots, Hollers, Support, Advice... given HERE!!

Any public comments for the "victims" can be given HERE only! Thank you!

Surprise Agent Invasion RULES and Info!!!!!

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED!!!! THE PUBLIC MAY NOW LEAVE COMMENTS ON THE ENTRIES. THANK YOU! (Wrap-up coming soon!)


And we are using Twitter hashtag: #AgentTTT again!

All of the Surprise Agent Invasion victims (entries) are posted! They are up for 3 weeks! The contest will end at the end of the day, April 17th!

ANY agent can request on ANY entry at ANY time between now and the end of the contest. (Even if there are already requests on that entry.) This MUST be done in the comment section of that post. The agent is also in charge of giving submission instructions to those they request. This can be done right in the comment section or, if preferred, through email--agents contact Cupid (CupidsLitConnection(at)yahoo(dot)com) for email addresses. BUT a comment MUST be left, too. Manuscripts can be sent as soon as requested.

Like I mentioned before, I DO NOT GUARANTEE anything with this contest. I have no idea who will show up, if anyone. It's a bit of an experiment, so we'll see! *fingers crossed* LOL

Here is a list of the entries with #, title, and genre: (Please click the links in the right sidebar to read.) 

#1 AN UNCOMMON BLUE - YA Urban Fantasy
#2 WAITING FOR APRIL - Paranormal Romance
#3 THE HUNT - MG Adventure
#4 ADVERSE EFFECTS - Medical Thriller
#5 OUTSIDE IN - YA Contemporary
#6 MY PROTECTOR: THE CALLING - YA Post Apocalyptic
#7 THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR - YA Fantasy
#8 CATCH MY GRIFT- YA Contemporary
#9 DIAMOND TEARS - YA Fantasy
#10 UN-UNITED STATES - Political Thriller
#11 THE BOOTLEGGER'S DAUGHTER - YA Historical Thriller
#12 A WEDGIE WITH WORDS - MG
#13 A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW - YA Historical
#14 WHERE THERE'S SMOKE - Mystery/Suspense
#15 WICKED SPIRITS - Urban Fantasy
#16 STEEL HORIZON - YA Sci-Fi
#17 INSTITUTIONALIZED - YA
#18 WITCH WAY DOWN - Urban Fantasy
#19 TOUCHING DARKNESS - YA Paranormal Mystery
#20 CODENAME: EDDIE RED - MG Boy Police Det. Mystery
#21 THE MODERN CAVEBOY'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING BATS, BULLIES AND BILLIONAIRES - MG Adventure
#22 Entry removed.
#23 AN ABSENCE OF LIGHT - YA Sci-Fi
#24 SPECTACLE - YA Contemporary
#25 GUIDE DOG - YA Thriller
#26 RIDING THE DAM - MG Coming-of-age
#27 HOLLY HEARTS HOLLYWOOD - YA Humor/Romance
#28 SILENCE - YA Paranormal
#29 THE BLOOD OF A STONE - Literary Fiction
#30 MIRANDA AND THE FIREBIRD OF MACHU PICCHU - MG
#31 INK - YA Contemporary Mystery
#32 WICKED ILLUSIONS - YA Fantasy
#33 I'M GAME - YA Sci-Fi Thriller
#34 ABEL PIRATES - YA Alternale Historical
#35 IDYLL -  YA Dystopian
#36 LOVE CONTRACT - YA Contemporary Romance
#37 Entry Removed
#38 MEMENTO MORI - YA Urban Fantasy
#39 THE STARS FELL SIDEWAYS - YA Urban Fantasy
#40 SPIRITS FROM THE VASTY DEEP - YA Historical (1850s) with a ghostly twist
#41 OLIVIA TWISTED - YA Contemporary
#42 THE SAVAGE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF ORION MARX - MG Adventure
#43 A SHADOW STORY - YA Victorian Fantasy
#44 KNIGHT OF FLAME - Urban Fantasy/Romance
#45 WHAT REMAINS - MG Contemporary
#46 THEIF OF HEARTS - (Regency Era) Historical Romance
#47 MY SISTER'S MEMORIES - YA Contemporary
#48 THE END WORLD - YA Sci-Fi
#49 Entry removed.
#50 UNFINISHED BUSINESS - YA Romance
#51 DEATH FALLS IN LOVE - YA Romance

NOW...LET THE SURPRISE AGENTS INVADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

Surprise Agent Invasion #51

Title: DEATH FALLS IN LOVE

Genre: Young Adult Romance 

Word Count: 59,000 

Query: 

When Death falls in love with mortal Roxanne Vetrario, he is certain that his centuries-long loneliness has finally been dispelled. The youngest daughter of a Venetian glassmaker, Roxanne is everything that has fascinated Death about the humans; she is bohemian and bold, and a summer at her side amid the sparkling canals of turn-of-the-century Venice is enough to bring out the hopeless romantic in anyone. Even Death.

Before summer has turned to autumn, Roxanne’s dying day arrives, and Death is expected to part with her forever on the edges of the afterlife. But he isn’t ready to let her go without a fight.

Death begins searching for a type of glass believed to grant the holder power over death, hoping to save his love before her time runs out. But he is not the only one searching for truth in legend. Roxanne’s father is hunting too, certain he can fulfill a prophecy made on the founding stones of Venice. A prophecy that the Vetrarios would destroy Death forever.

First 250: 

At first, he wanted to paint everything.

The laced colors of sunset, the blushing green of the trees, the shimmer of every dust particle scattered across a beam of sunlight. And the humans – they were wondrous, with their wrinkling skin and aging bodies and emotions that bled seamlessly one into the next. He wanted to paint them all, every soul that he saved, for those were the days he still thought himself a savior. Those were the days when, if asked to describe his work, he would have layered his reply with words like privileged and rewarding.

But then, as the history of the world unfolded at his fingertips and the paint congealed upon his brushes, he found there was more he wanted to scrub away than preserve. How difficult it became to find beauty in all that suffering. And there were suddenly so many more of them – so many humans with stories to end that he lost track of them all. How heavy his hand felt as he raised it to their lips, or raised his brush to canvas, weighted by the cemeteries he had scattered behind him. He was splattered with too much blood to feel he would ever be clean. 

He painted the good days. They were few. He tried to paint all the bad days as well, but found he ran out of canvas. He painted, hoping that it would ease the pain of each day being slapped in the face by their hatred as they spit at him, cursed at him, wrote sermons and poems and volumes warning him away.

Surprise Agent Invasion #50

Title: UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Genre:  YA romance

Word Count: 63,000 words 

Query:

The movie Ghost meets a retelling of Snow White in this YA contemporary romance with a supernatural twist.

After causing the accident that killed her boyfriend, Brendan, seventeen-year-old Noelle is stuck dealing with the fallout. Blacklisted at school, unable to confide in her mother who ships her to shrinks, she’s afraid she’ll never find peace and doesn’t really think she deserves it. But when she meets Cameron, she begins to believe in second chances. Falling for him should be enough to bring about theme songs and happily-ever-afters. Instead, Brendan’s voice invades her dreams, and apples—a symbol of their most private romantic moment—start appearing everywhere and begin to push her over the edge. Not sure if she’s going crazy with guilt or if it really is Brendan’s jealous ghost seeking revenge from the afterlife, she’s not giving up without a fight. But one mistake-a bite from an apple-could cost her not only Cameron, but also her life. And this time, it will take more than a kiss to survive.

First 250:

Day 439 began with an aberration: a smile. Not the placating one reserved for Mom. The one that lied and said the day was a seven because anything below a six led to shrink visits. Not the indifferent one I gave my so-called friends who had abandoned me after the accident. And not even the almost-smile I gave Cam. The one he always saw through. No, today, as I looked in the mirror, I saw something real. It started from deep inside my chest and pushed my cheeks right up to my eyes.

Mom noticed the minute I came downstairs. “Have you been drinking?”

“Vodka is the breakfast of champions.” Or maybe just drunks.

“Noelle.” Her fingers inched toward the phone.

“Mom,” I said. “Relax. I’m kidding.” The fact I made a joke at all was enough reason to elicit concern. “See. Look.” I closed my eyes, stood on one foot, and pointed to my nose. “I’ll even walk a straight line.”

As she hugged me, I remembered why I didn’t smile--too encouraging. The mother of the before-Noelle would have threatened to take away privileges for talking back. This version was grateful I spoke at all. “Do you have plans after school?” Mom asked.

Of course, I had no intention of going to school, but Mom didn’t need to know that. “Just going to Cam’s.” I braced myself for the argument.

“His parents?”

The horn beeped.

“Full supervision.” I wasn’t sure if this was the truth or not.

Surprise Agent Invasion #49

This entry has been rescinded. 

Surprise Agent Invasion #48

Title: THE END WORLD.

Genre: YA science-fiction.

Word Count: 60,000 

Query:

Eighteen-year-old Lana would do anything to honor her father, killed the day he discovered The End World, a devastated parallel planet. So, when Earth calls for prodigies to study and rebuild The End World, Lana packs up her kick-ass attitude and F-bomb slippery tongue to become a Spinner, traveling between the two worlds and escorting researchers throughout the devastated landscape.

One problem: the survivors consider them invaders, and one screw up could spark an inter-dimensional war. 

Appointed as the youngest Headsquad, she agrees to set up a truce with the survivors' leader, but when she learns he’s the one who killed her father, she’s faced with a gut-ripping choice: follow her orders and develop peace, or avenge her father’s death and risk war.

First 250:

If Headsquad Russell had ordered me three years ago to climb a four story building in eighty-degree weather, I’d have told him to fuck off. By now, I had learned to say “Yes, Sir” like any good Spinner, and would’ve climbed a skyscraper if I had to.

“Must be my lucky day,” I muttered as I reached the third story. The faded theater sign stood on side of me, most of its plastic letters lost in time. There was no telling the last movie playing before the End World went to hell. Finding similarities and differences between Earth and this dump was a pastime of mine. Researchers said the comparison ratio was about seventy-three percent. Who said I had to take their word for it?

I grabbed the rough cement ledge above me and hauled myself up. Across the street, Sal was already lying down, scanning the street with his own NF P90.

Damn, he’s fast.

His voice crackled in my earplant. “Need to lose a few pounds, girlfriend. Soon you won’t be able to climb a speed bump.”

I gave him the finger.

“Love you too, Lana.”

“Just focus, will you,” I hissed in my vocollar, taking his silence as agreement.

I squirmed at the idea of getting the implants burrowed into my eardrums and vocal cords, but I had to admit, they had saved my apple-shaped butt more than once.

I flattened myself against the hot roof and rested my rifle on the front ledge, my scope lined up with our targets.

Surprise Agent Invasion #47

Title: My Sister's Memories

Genre: Contemporary Young Adult

Word Count: 65,000

Query:

For Sarah Baxter, the plan was simple; get through senior year, graduate, and go to college. Instead, the night of her 18^th birthday turns tragic when the car containing her parents, her younger sister, Allie, and Allie’s boyfriend is hit by oncoming traffic on the way home. Now Sarah is faced with decision after decision; what her parents’ final outfit will be, where to bury them, and whether or not to become her sister’s legal guardian. With no one to guide her, Sarah signs paper after paper, giving up her path of attending college next year, having a social life, and enjoying her senior year, in the hopes that with her undivided attention Allie will recover. 


When Allie wakes from a coma, her brain only retains hard facts rather than friends and family. After weeks of observation, Allie is released from the hospital and the girls are pushed back into school. Here, Sarah must find a way to help Allie retain the memories she makes through the day, and somehow try to regain the ones she lost in the car accident. Fighting through their own grief, the girls must find a semblance of a balanced life, and get through the remainder of the school year so that Sarah can still be a teenager and a sister, and so both girls can accept who they’ve become after the accident, and become a family again.

First 250:

We don’t know anything yet.


I’ve been hearing this lie for the last six hours. Doctors, nurses, everyone who passes by me says the same damn thing. I think the worst part is that I know they all know something. Even I know at least one of them is dead. But I don’t know who, or if it’s only one of them, so until I have some information I refuse to cry.


Rather than celebrating my eighteenth birthday, this is where I’ve been for the last six and a half hours; unable to feel, unable to fully process what’s happening. A voice in my head that sounds strangely like mine keeps repeating, This isn’t happening, fuck, this isn’t happening, and I keep listening to it.


So I don’t cry. I don’t react. Instead, I either count the tiles on the floor, or if I see someone walking by, ask questions:

 “Are they in surgery?”

“Ma’am, we don’t know anything yet.”

“Is my sister okay?”

“We’re not sure.”

“My parents?”

Before I can ask anything else, they all walk away from me, saying, “I’m sorry, we don’t know anything yet.”

Surprise Agent Invasion #46

Title: THIEF OF HEARTS

Genre: (Regency Era) Historical Romance

Word Count:  91,000 

Query:

Straight-laced, devoted daughter and self-proclaimed spinster, Lily Phillips is forced to become a liar, seductress and thief to retrieve her family’s lost property.  Her secret is safe until her brothers order her from a quiet life in Whitby to an arranged marriage in London—a move that threatens to reveal her past when she encounters the man with whom her crime spree began.

Devon Grey, Duke of Thornwood, known to all of London as the Mad Duke, is an explorer chained to a city he hates by the title he never wanted.  After he’s coerced by his friend into an evening out, Devon makes his greatest discovery yet.  There, in a London ballroom stands the prim miss he’s searched for since that night a year ago.  After all, how could he forget the night Lily stole from him, vanishing while he slept?

Determined to have his revenge, Devon blackmails Lily into participating in various escapades to torment her would-be suitors and scandalize London society.  At the risk of having her secret revealed, Lily bends to Devon’s will.  Forced to participate in such terrible activities as setting hunting dogs upon a skirt chaser’s crotch in the middle of a ballroom, or knocking a pompous horse breeder from his much revered high horse; she eventually begins to enjoy the stunts.   Lily remembers why she let her guard down with Devon a year ago.  In turn, Devon watches this mysterious Lily begin to bloom into the woman of his desires.

Will Devon burn his dreams of scientific exploration and truly forgive Lily in time to save her from the unwanted betrothal her brothers are forcing upon her? Will Lily abandon her need to be proper and honor her family in order to accept the Mad Duke into her life? 

When Lily stole from Devon, she stole his heart.  But, can love be stolen?

I’m a PRO member of Romance Writers of America, as well as Carolina Romance Writers.  If you would like to read more about Devon and Lily, I would be delighted to send you a partial or the full manuscript.  I appreciate your time and consideration regarding my work and look forward to your response.

First 250:

London, England

Spring, 1815

Devon paused to allow a carriage to pass.  He felt a heat spread across his back.  Someone was watching him. 

Turning, he cast a quick glance down the street toward Habersham’s shop.  He would not be at all surprised to see old man Habersham running after him to continue their chat of the Mad Duke’s antics.  Yet all that met his eyes were a group of austere looking ladies ordering some poor footman to load their packages into a carriage. 

Then, he noticed a set of lady’s boots scurry around them before disappearing behind a food vendor.

He was being ridiculous, why would anyone be following him?  He shook off the thought and continued down the street.  The clean buildings of Bond Street began to diminish, making way for simple shops, taverns and the occasional brothel.  The crowded street thinned and the people traversing the area now were common folk out running errands.  A comfortable feeling of peace filled Devon as he left the trappings of wealth behind, favoring the simplicity of a society revolving around trade.  It was as if two separate worlds inhabited the city.  Right now, he wanted nothing to do with the world to which he belonged. 

Moving onto a side street, he strode into the shadows of stone buildings that grew closer together as he progressed.  He had just rounded another corner when he heard footsteps at his back.  It was never a good sign to be followed in this section of town.  It had only taken losing all the money in his pocket one time to discover the truth of that sentiment. 

He spun, determined to catch whoever it was off guard.  The only movement that met his eyes was the swirling edge of a blue dress as it whipped around a corner.

Surprise Agent Invasion #45

Title: WHAT REMAINS

Genre: Contemporary Middle Grade

Word Count: 32,000

Query:

Twelve-year-old Emily Pincus is half-Jewish, half-Mennonite, and the wrong half for both.

When Emily’s parents divorce, her mother takes her to live with her Mennonite grandparents. (Think coverings and no television, not horse & buggies and no electricity).  While her family loves her, Emily feels like an outsider.  It’s small consolation to be one of “God’s chosen people” when you don’t even know which Bible verse that comes from. 

After Emily’s cousin says that her parents’ marriage was doomed to fail because only Christians can know true love, Emily sets out to scientifically prove her cousin wrong.  She might not know Ishmael from Isaac, but she makes it her to goal to strictly follow all the rules in the Bible for being a loving person.  

Being perfectly loving is easier said than done, however, especially with an annoying little brother, a needy friend at school, and a cousin who seems perpetually irritated with her.  No matter how hard it is, though, Emily is determined to prove her cousin wrong because if she’s right, Emily’s prospects for a happy life are in jeopardy.

WHAT REMAINS is Are You There God?  It’s Me Margaret meets the Pennsylvania Dutch, in the format of Emily’s science experiment.  The pitch for this novel recently won The Book Doctor’s Pitchapalooza held in New Hope, Pennsylvania.  I am currently taking post-baccalaureate creative writing classes through the University of California, Berkeley, and I write for CBS Local’s Arts & Culture beat in Philadelphia.  

First 250:

WHAT REMAINS

A science experiment by Emily Pincus

PURPOSE OF EXPERIMENT

·         To prove I can be a nicer person than my cousin Anna.

·         To prove my cousin Anna is an idiot.

·         To prove I can be a loving person.

ABSTRACT

Everyone knows that Jesus never stopped talking about love which means that if you’re Christian, you should be a more loving person.  That doesn’t always seem to be the case, though.  The world is full of nice non-Christians (case in point: me on a good day) and jerky Jesus freaks (case in point: Anna on a bad day).  This project looks at whether it’s possible to be a loving person without being a mega-Christian.  I, Emily Pincus, undertook this challenge over a 31-day period.  Throughout the experiment I experienced successes and failures, but if you want to know more, you’ll have to keep reading

BACKGROUND

Family History

I was born half-Jewish, half-Mennonite, and the wrong half for both.  See, in the Jewish faith you’re a Jew if your mom’s Jewish, but mine’s not—she’s Mennonite.  Mennonites follow the father’s line, but my father isn’t Mennonite—he’s a Jew.  That left me with too many religions, and yet not entirely enough.  

Surprise Agent Invasion #44

Title: KNIGHT OF FLAME

Genre: Urban Fantasy with strong romantic elements

Word Count: 119,000

Query:

Stationed in Tampa, FL for the past two years, Develore Quinteele, sixth Knight of Flame of the Knights Elementalis, waits impatiently for the predicted return of his clandestine Order's ancient enemies, the Gray Lords.  Hampered by a centuries-old shame, he knows of only one way to fuel his elemental power—rage.  It broils just below his surface at all times, waiting for the slightest spark to set it alight.  The leader of his Order, anticipating the day when Dev crosses the line from asset to liability, has set a guardian, Wren Sasaki, to report on his actions. 

The minions of the Gray Lord emerge from hiding and attack the Knight of Flame at a chic nightclub. Soundly defeated and grievously wounded, he is rescued by Wren who, desperate to save her Knight, car-jacks the first motorist she sees—Cassidy Sinclair.

Cassidy, trying to piece together the shreds of her life after having it blown apart by the fiery death of her daughter, fills her days with fluff reporting for a local rag until a last minute assignment drags her into a reality she never dreamed existed, one filled with elemental heroes, secret underground fortresses and dark purveyors of life-stealing magic.      

Blamed for the death and destruction at the nightclub, Dev is deemed out of control and stripped of his freedom until he discovers his sense of balance. With the help of his fellow Knights and an improbable romance with newcomer, Cassidy, can he overcome his inner demons and unlock his full elemental potential before the Gray Lord's forces destroy all life in Tampa?    

Over the last year I've published three short stories through Breathless Press under the pseudonym S.E. Holden.  I'm an active member of the Florida Writers Association and I've taken a couple of David Farland's professional writing courses.

First 250:

Alexander Gray stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling penthouse windows and watched the streetlights far below.  A sickly yellow glow bathed the Tamp Bay Times Forum and the Channelside shops.  People, ants from this height, scurried through the darkness from one light post to another while a few late drivers braved the downtown Tampa streets. 

I will kill you all.  His dark power surged, burrowing beneath his skin like angry wasps.  An itch he could not scratch.  Not until their plans came to fruition.   

Out of the flat screen mounted in the corner, a local news anchor droned on about the rash of unexplained disappearances that baffled police. 

Alexander smiled.    

Another small brown bird thumped into the window and fell dazed to the ledge.  Stupid birds.  Alexander crouched and tapped on the window.  He knew neither the sound nor the vibration would penetrate the hurricane-proof glass, but he did it anyway. 

"Hey there," he cooed, "Are you okay little one?" 

The bird got to its feet, shook his feathery head and leaned against the glass out of the wind. 

"I have something for you."  Alexander pressed his index finger against the thick glass and exerted a small sliver of his will.  A dark ribbon of inky-black energy oozed through the window and wriggled on the outside. 

Startled, the bird hopped down the ledge. 

"Take it."  Alexander's face twitched.  "Take it." 

It hopped closer, its curious little head bobbing from side to side.   

A little peck to taste the darkness.