Cupid's Literary Connection

Helping Hearts for Britta

2012-02-26T14:04:00.001-05:00

A huge THANKS to those who have already donated!! You guys are awesome! I am keeping this open for a bit longer. Please feel welcome to offer all types of support. Thank you!

During the month of February and our exciting Blind Speed Dating Event, I'd love to point some attention to a good cause. Steph is a fellow writer who has been going through some personal hard times with her new baby, Britta, who has TAPVR (a rare heart defect). When I came across this website I was in tears and wanted to help out in any way.

I think it helps put some perspective on things. Like how precious life and all of our blessings are. So we didn't get a request from that last emailed query. So we didn't get an upgrade from dream agent. Big deal. Life is hard, but there are certainly some moments that really knock us to our lowest.

In an effort to remember these things and support a fellow writer (who probably wishes a request or a contest was her biggest worry right now), I'm adding a donate button in the sidebar of this blog. Go check out the website, follow it if you'd like, and hit that donate button in my sidebar if you choose (any amount of at least $1.00). *Of course, this has no affect on the contest this month.*

All donations will be totaled and given to 'Helping Hearts for Britta' at the end of February. (Please let me know if you have problems with the donate button. I've never done this before.)

Thank you! All donations appreciated!

Blind Speed Dating WINNERS!!!! IDENTITIES!!!! And....

2012-02-24T12:17:00.007-05:00

UPDATE: (If you have received an additional request email me with Additional Request - TITLE. If you have already sent DO NOT send again. No worries. At this point, all have been sent! Resend if you didn't get email.)

Agents can make ANY REQUESTS on any entry using their real name now!!!!! (*See notes below)

Public comments open on the entries NOW!

Winner Ceremony:

CONGRATULATIONS winners!!!!

#2 THE REGENERATED MAN AND ME: Full (HC Red Razzle-Dazzle), Partial (HC Care Bear)

#3 THE BURNED PLANET: Partial (HC Ryan Gosling)

#4 THE SYMPTOMS OF OUR SHADOWS: Full (HC Plum Charming) Partials (HC Waffle Fries, HC Agent Amour)

#6 THE LIFE OF YOUR MAKING: Partial (HC Nausicaä)

#7 HELLFIRE: Partials (HC the Mock Turtle, HC Plum Charming)

#8 LIGHT FROM OTHER WINDOWS: Full (HC Waffle Fries)

#13 THE NIGHT WE SAID YES: Partial (HC the Mock Turtle)

#14 JEREMIAH COPPERPOT: Partials (HC Care Bear, HC Sugar Pants)

#17 PLAYING WITH FIRE: Full (HC Just Desserts)

#18 MURDER ON MUSIC ROW: Partial (HC Agent Amour)

#22 KILLING KESSLER: Full (HC Agent Amour), Partials (HC Care Bear, HC Ryan Gosling)

#28 GOLDEN: Partial (HC Nausicaä)

#29 LAVENDER BOYS: Partial (HC the Mock Turtle)

#30 HAUTE MESS: Partial (HC Agent Amour)

#34 ONE: Partial (HC Tainted Love)

#36 COURSE CORRECTIONS: Partial (HC Plum Charming)

#40 FROSTY: Partial (HC the Mock Turtle)

#43 RIPPLE: Partial (HC Ryan Gosling)

#45 THE FALLEN PRINCESS: Partials (HC Red Razzle-Dazzle, HC Care Bear)

#48 MAD AS A HATTER: Full (HC Sugar Pants), Partial (HC Care Bear)

#50 THE GEARS OF WAR: Full (HC the Mock Turtle) Partials (HC Red Razzle-Dazzle, HC Plum Charming)
#52 BEST OF LUCK!!!

#53 PARAWARS: UPRISING: Partial (HC Care Bear)

#55 THE CURSE MERCHANT: Full (HC Just Desserts) Partial (HC Plum Charming)

#56 THE GIRL AND THE CLOCKWORK CAT: Partials (HC Red Razzle-Dazzle, HC Care Bear)

#57 DISCOVERING THE REAL MILLIE: Partial (HC Sugar Pants)

#58 THE 49TH PARALLEL: Full (HC Sugar Pants) Partial (HC Red Razzle-Dazzle, HC the Mock Turtle)

#59 HOW TO DATE A NERD: Full (HC Ryan Gosling) Partial (HC Tainted Love)

#61 GENTLY USED: Full (HC Agent Amour)

#62 CONGRATULATIONS!!!

#63 ANGELHOOD: Full (HC Red Razzle-Dazzle), Partials (HC Plum Charming, HC Just Desserts)

#70 DUALITY: Partial (HC Plum Charming)

(Partials are all 100 pages.)

Unveiling Ceremony:

Bouncers:

Dorothy - Gennifer Albin!!! Website, Twitter
Blue Nimbus - Anne Brown!!! Website, Twitter
Bookish Handygirl - Gabriela Lessa!!! Website, Twitter
Iheartbooks - Marissa Burt!!! Website, Twitter

Honorary Cupids:

HC Just Desserts - Victoria Marini!!! Website, Blog, Twitter
HC Sugar Pants - Laura Bradford!!! Website, Twitter
HC Tainted Love - Brooks Sherman!!! Website, Website, Twitter
HC Plum Charming - Vickie Motter!!! Website, Blog, Twitter
HC Agent Amour - Carly Watters!!! Website, Blog, Twitter

HC Ryan Gosling - Sarah LaPolla!!! Website, Blog, Twitter
HC the Mock Turtle - Molly Ker Hawn!!! Website, Twitter
HC Care Bear - Sara Crowe!!! Website, Website, Twitter
HC Waffle Fries - Halli Melnitsky!!! Website, Twitter
HC Red Razzle-Dazzle - Sara Sciuto!!! Website, Twitter
HC Nausicaä - Weronika Janczuk!!! Website, Twitter
HC Agent Angel Flair - Meredith Barnes!!! Website, Blog, Twitter

Wow! What a beautiful group of astounding people!!!!!!! Thank you so much for participating!!!!!! Remember you can Twitter Trash Talk using #AgentTTT.

Thank you to all my fabulous readers and those who participated in all parts of this event! I hope you had fun and remember how subjective this business is. I hope you all learned a little along the way, too.

*For agents requesting additional materials: You must wait until after the winning agents receive the materials for the exclusive time period. For winning entries with full OR partial requests that is 1 week! For winning entries with full AND partial requests that is 1 week for full and 1 week for partial, equaling 2 weeks! This starts at the time materials are received not necessarily today.

Winners email me at: cupidslitconnection(at)yahoo(dot)com I will get back to you as soon as I can with instructions. Promise!

Please subject your email with: Winner of BSD - title

Thank you everyone!!!!!!!!

Just so you know...

2012-02-23T00:17:00.005-05:00

Some important info we all might like to know before the FULL-ARROWS start flying! *Credit for this awesomeness goes to Anya Harker (one of our entry authors). I put the entries that have more than one request in red.*

Honorary Cupid Just Desserts: 55 63

Honorary Cupid Sugar Pants: 14 48 57

Honorary Cupid Tainted Love: 59

Honorary Cupid Plum Charming: 7 36 50 55 63

Honorary Cupid Agent Amour: 4 18 30

Honorary Cupid Ryan Gosling: 3 22 43 59

Honorary Cupid The Mock Turtle: 7 29 40 58

Honorary Cupid Care Bear: 2 14 22 45 48 53 56

Honorary Cupid Waffle Fries: 4 8

Honorary Cupid Red Razzle-Dazzle: 45 50 56 58

Honorary Cupid Nausicaä: 6 28

Honorary Cupid Agent Angel Flair:

So the quiver status' are as follows:

Honorary Cupid Just Desserts: 2 arrows used; 8 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Sugar Pants: 3 arrows used; 7 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Tainted Love: 1 arrow used; 9 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Plum Charming: 5 arrows used; 5 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Agent Amour: 3 arrows used; 7 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Ryan Gosling: 4 arrows used; 6 arrows left

Honorary Cupid The Mock Turtle: 4 arrows used; 6 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Care Bear: 8 arrows used; 2 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Waffle Fries: 2 arrows used; 8 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Red Razzle-Dazzle: 4 arrows used; 6 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Nausicaä: 2 arrows used; 8 arrows left

Honorary Cupid Agent Angel Flair: 0 arrows used; 10 arrows left

(Not sure if Agent Angel Flair is spying from the bushes or asleep against a tree)

I also want to say thanks to all the more-than-cool people who have been publicly analyzing all this and making spreadsheets and what-not. It's been really fun to see!

I will post official winners and such on Friday!

Blind Speed Dating RULES!!!! and Info!

2012-02-22T13:02:00.000-05:00

(Remember! For Twitter Trash Talk use #AgentTTT)

Agent's RULES:

Blind speed dating is the 20th-23rd. Friday the 24th will be used to announce winners, undercover names... Each day will run from NOON (EST) - MIDNIGHT (EST).

Agents will receive a total of 10 arrows. BUT not all at once. They do not have to use all of their arrows.

They start with 4 arrows on Monday. Then receive 2 more arrows each day after that (2 on Tuesday, 2 on Wednesday, and 2 on Thursday). Totaling 10.

Each partial request is worth 1 arrow. (Each entry can only have 2 partial requests!)

Each full request is worth 3 arrows. (Using a full steals any partials made on that entry. They may trump their own partial, too)

Here's the thing... *evil laughing* Fulls CANNOT be made until the last day, Thursday! And partials go up in cost on Wednesday to 2 arrows!

*Agents can leave any comment. But when using arrows they must say something like "Struck with Honorary Cupid so and so's arrow(s)!" AND the # of arrows being used. (1-3)

**Material agents want to see but do not win will be available one week after the first agent(s) receive the material.**

INFO:

1. Remember this event is dedicated to Helping Hearts for Britta.

2. Entries are only open for agent's comments. The public can comment when it's over.

3. There is an all day Q&A on the blog with the agents on Tuesday. Some of the agent's will stop by to answer questions as they can.

4. The agents are now officially undercover. Here are their undercover names:

Honorary Cupid Just Desserts

Honorary Cupid Sugar Pants

Honorary Cupid Tainted Love

Honorary Cupid Plum Charming

Honorary Cupid Agent Amour

Honorary Cupid Ryan Gosling

Honorary Cupid The Mock Turtle

Honorary Cupid Care Bear

Honorary Cupid Waffle Fries

Honorary Cupid Red Razzle-Dazzle

Honorary Cupid Nausicaä
Honorary Cupid Agent Angel Flair

5. Once again, here is a list of the agents participating and their links:

Laura Bradford: Website, Twitter

Vickie Motter: Website, Blog, Twitter

Sarah LaPolla: Website, Blog, Twitter

Meredith Barnes: Website, Blog, Twitter

Sara Crowe: Website, Website, Twitter

Sara Sciuto: Website, Twitter

Weronika Janczuk: Website, Twitter

Halli Melnitsky: Website, Twitter

Molly Ker Hawn: Website, Twitter

Carly Watters: Website, Blog, Twitter

Brooks Sherman: Website, Website, Twitter

Victoria Marini: Website, Blog, Twitter

I hope they have good strategy and speed! Now let's have some fun!!!!

All Day Q&A with the Agents

2012-02-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, today is all day Q&A with the agents. I cannot guarantee which agents will stop by but ask away (in comments)! No undercover names here, btw! Real agents with real names. :)

Blind Speed Dating #70

2012-02-16T13:10:00.001-05:00

Title: DUALITY

Genre: Science Fiction

Word Count: 104,000

Query:

If Dima could remember her life, she’s damn sure she’d want it back.

The Humani Project’s latest test subject believes she’s human, but her sleek black fur, claws, and tail make that seem impossible. Her only clue to an existence before panther DNA was spliced to hers is a name—Janelle.

According to the scientists, Dima is the perfect blend of human and animal. Most importantly, she can still speak, making her the lab’s most successful Humani to date. But that doesn’t guarantee her safety.

Imprisoned in a Phoenix, Arizona lab, Dima must complete the grueling, and often deadly, physical assessments administered by resident jackass Dr. Frederick James. Voice or no voice, her failure means immediate termination. To survive, she must tame the wild animal that wants to take over—only she has no idea how.

When she fails a combat assessment and is nearly killed by her opponent, she’s surprised that the project’s founder, Lorenzo, breaks protocol to save her. When he calls her “Janelle,” she realizes that the scientists have erased someone they knew. She’s determined to understand why.

Surrounded by lies and half-truths, Dima doesn’t know who to trust or believe. The closer she comes to piecing together her story, the harder she has to fight to stay alive. Worse yet, she’s falling for Lorenzo, the man who made her a monster. Why does the one person she should hate the most care for her? Why does she feel the same?

Good thing cats have nine lives—she’ll need every one of them to uncover the truth.

First 250:

Claws popped from my fingertips every time I stretched my hands.

It tingled, but didn’t hurt, not like the rest of my body. The sensation was both natural and foreign, muscles and tendons I didn’t know I had contracting and relaxing with the movement. I’d freaked out when I saw the black fur leading to the claws. That was the second time they’d upped my morphine. The first time was after my tongue had brushed against fang.

The steady, faithful morphine drip, now on its highest setting according to the a gray-haired nurse—the only one who would speak to me—barely dented the pain ransacking every nerve, muscle, and bone. Waves of agony rolled from my feet to my head and crashed against everything in between. But somehow it kept my mind safe. Stable. Human. Not like it mattered much. Too little information left me with questions no one would answer.

The brunette, a waif in a too-large white coat, had mentioned cardiac arrest. She’d said a lot of other things, too, most of which I ignored. She kept calling me a name I didn’t recognize but thought I knew from somewhere. I couldn’t ask about it, though. The “stress of the procedure” had frozen my vocal cords; however, she spoke like she didn’t expect me to have a voice at all.

They should have just let me die. No doubt it would have hurt a helluva lot less.

Today was Day Four, if I’d counted correctly.

Blind Speed Dating #69

2012-02-16T13:09:00.001-05:00

Title: CAMELOT FOUND

Genre: YA fantasy

Word Count: 76,000

Query:

Seventeen year old Gwen Masterson wants to escape her boring Iowa farm life, but she never expected to find a book that takes her back in time to Camelot. It’s a dream come true for bookish Gwen until she discovers she’s nothing more than a pawn in a dangerous game between two legendary sorcerers – Morgana and Merlin – as they attempt to change the course of history.

Merlin’s scheme is simple: find a strong woman from the future to change the past by becoming Arthur's wife and creating a new legend. Merlin believes a modern girl will be the high queen Arthur needs, thwarting Morgana’s attempt to kill Arthur and steal the throne. That girl… is Gwen. It’s the perfect plan, except Arthur treats headstrong Gwen with contempt and Gwen wants nothing to do with the arrogant boy king. Camelot would be almost bearable if her unwanted wedding to Arthur was Gwen’s only problem. Thanks to Merlin's meddling, Gwen is now at the top of Morgana's 'people to kill' list. Worse, Gwen’s younger brother Leigh becomes Morgana’s prisoner when he discovers the book and follows Gwen to Camelot in a botched rescue attempt. In comparison, the lack of indoor plumbing doesn’t seem so bad any more.

Now alone in Camelot, Gwen must rescue her brother and find her way back home without falling prey to Morgana – yet her wedding to Arthur grows closer by the day. Caught in the crossfire in a battle to craft a new future, failure isn’t an option for Gwen, for whoever controls the past will reign supreme.

A modern re-imagining of the Camelot legend, CAMELOT FOUND is a YA Fantasy novel with romantic elements and is complete at 76,000 words. It is the first installment in an intended trilogy, with the main storyline based in both the modern and medieval worlds. It will appeal to fans of Arthurian literature, Meg Cabot’s AVALON HIGH, and the BBC show MERLIN.

First 250:

“It is agreed. The wedding preparations shall commence within a fortnight.”

Arthur felt numb, staring straight ahead so he didn’t betray any thoughts or emotions. There should have been a gavel striking the well-worn oak table to echo through the great hall of the keep as much as those words did in his mind. It didn’t matter to the Province Kings that he was the King of all England. To them, he was the boy-made-king, a commoner who had pulled Uther Pendragon’s sword from the stone four years ago. They saw him as nothing more than a pawn, and were content to decide his fate in a Council of Elders as easily as they chose where they would next to go to war.

‘Let the petty Kings have their way,’ Merlin always said after one of Arthur’s tantrums. ‘Now is not the time for arguments.’

Well, as far as Arthur was concerned, controlling his marital life was far beyond petty and he intended to oppose it. Arthur began to rise to his feet, mouth open and fist poised to slam on the table when Merlin grabbed his tabard and pulled him back into his seat. His butt hit the unforgiving wood with a dull thud and Arthur swore under his breath at the sudden pain.

“Let me say something,” Arthur hissed, shooting a glare in Merlin’s direction. “I am not going to sit idly by and let them decide my life!”

“That is exactly what you’re going to do,” Merlin replied, looking straight ahead.

Blind Speed Dating #68

2012-02-16T13:08:00.001-05:00

Title: PANSYTALE

Genre: MG Fantasy

Word Count: 66,000

Query:

Little Red Riding Hood has the most ridiculous name ever.

That’s why the twelve-year old girl decides to run away one dark night. Sounds like a good idea…start a new life far away, and no one will ever know she had such a dumb name. But when Little Red Riding Hood renames herself Pansy, she realizes a new name does not determine who she truly is. So she and her pet chicken set off in search of the Fountain of Identity. Unfortunately, forgetful Pansy is not a good match for the forest. There might be wolves.

But Pansy is not the only one with problems. There’s cynical Hansel in search of his sister; a desperate puss in boots; a boy named Jack with unwanted magic beans; and Goldie, a shy princess stuck in the Castle in the Clouds. The friends form “the Pact” and swear to help each other achieve their goals—on pain of chopping off their tails, or noses, or something. (That was never really decided.) And let’s not forget the greedy and malicious villains who are out to get them all. During this multipurpose quest bursting with magic, danger, and chuckles, Pansy must find serenity in her identity.

First 250:

Little Red Riding Hood often wondered why her parents hadn’t named her Jane or Mary, or even Penelope. Being a simple girl, she never considered asking them why they’d given her an absurd mouthful for a name. Instead, the poor thing got to the point where she couldn’t bear to hear the words “Little Red Riding Hood” ever again. Quite frankly, I don’t blame her. I mean, who names their kid that?

After thinking her brain to the bursting point, Little Red Riding Hood got an idea. Why not run away? She could go very far and call herself something else. Then no one would know she ever had such a ridiculous name. No one would smirk when she introduced herself.

So one night, Little Red Riding Hood took special care not to fall asleep. She waited on a stool by her window, until she was sure her mother and father had gone to bed. Once they were dreaming soundly, it was time to plan her skedaddle. Though she’d never tried it before, Little Red Riding Hood was aware that running away involved packing.

“Let’s see,” she murmured, peering around her dark loft room. “I don’t want to mess this up. I’d better take all the important stuff.”

She dumped “the important stuff” into a pile—her red cloak, a quill pen and inkpot, seven silver buttons, and a small handheld mirror. These Little Red Riding Hood tied up in her hanky, except for the cloak, which seemed to work best when she wore it.

Blind Speed Dating #67

2012-02-16T13:07:00.001-05:00

Title: HEAVEN AND HELL ALIKE

Genre: Paranormal Fantasy

Word Count: 82,000

Query:

When God goes AWOL, the race to take over the throne causes the righteous demon Liam to become more than an amused bystander. The lead contender is Liam's sworn enemy, the archangel Gabriel, whose tactics are far from angelic.

Liam was satisfied to travel the Midwest on his motorcycle, secretly saving more souls than he condemned, while the archangel Gabriel threw rejected-child tantrums. The demon was beginning to suspect Gabriel was the outcast of his heavenly family less because he wore Liam's demonic mark across his chest, a gift from their last battle, and more a result of the archangel's annoying personality. Holding a grudge against Liam for over a century was proof of that.

If Gabriel makes a real grab for power, everything Liam holds dear is at risk: his position, his life, but most importantly, his centuries-old, hidden relationship with the angel Mikael. The positive influence Mikael's had upon Liam's morals will mean nothing if they're found out.

Determined to use Liam's dead body as a stepping stone to the throne, Gabriel's chosen soldier for the task will be trained by the best teacher in heaven—Mikael. As Liam watches Mikael struggle to decide how far he can go to protect his lover while also serving Heaven, Liam must save him from having to make the choice. Their relationship has weathered many threats, but this one might destroy them from the inside out.

HEAVEN AND HELL ALIKE is an 82,000 word completed paranormal fantasy which stands alone, but has series potential. I am a member of the Works in Progress critique group, as well as a beta for the Book Country site. I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2001 with a double minor in Religion and Creative Writing and have always been drawn to the interrelationship of the two.

First 250:

When Liam took over the body of a railroad worker fifty years ago, he hadn't realized he'd suffer from caffeine withdrawal every morning. Though, at the time, he wasn't able to be picky.

Liam was back on his Harley after only five hours of sleep, heading through Davenport, Wyoming to track down the local diner. He promised to meet Sid on his way through town, but that was something he was regretting now.

Rounding the next block, the weather-worn sign for Davenport Diner came into view. Liam headed toward the far right of the parking lot, safely away from the crowd of cars. He'd rather not be forced to do harm to some fool who scratched his bike, even by accident. The altercation in Stewart was still fresh in his mind and he didn't have the desire for a repeat.

Shutting off the engine, Liam removed his helmet and watched Sid cross the cracked, gray pavement. Unlike himself, Sid looked like his early morning had been filled with sugar or illegal substances. Knowing Sid's usual activities, it was more likely he hadn't even been to bed yet.

“I need coffee,” Liam said, his voice deep from lack of use. “Drag me out here way too early and then you're all hyper. Something's wrong with your head.”

Sid plastered on a wide grin and gave a shrug. “You always said we've got to be crazy in our line of work, boss. I'm just living up to my reputation.”

Blind Speed Dating #66

2012-02-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

Title: IN THE BETWEEN

Genre: YA fantasy

Word Count: 59,000

Query:

When Harper’s life falls apart, she responds in her usual, fully effective manner—denial. She’s a muralet, the last descendant of Mother Nature? Nope. Supreme magical abilities can be obtained by drinking her blood? Whatever. Most mystical creatures would literally kill to have a drop of her blood on their tongues? Not happening. It’s not until a dark-headed stranger calling himself her Seeker shows up and drags her to enchanted Ellauria that she realizes some things are just true even if she doesn't want them to be.

Ellauria is home to the Fellowship, the mysterious group that has protected the world’s so-called “mythical” creatures for decades. In fact, Harper has been the Fellowship’s best-kept secret for the past sixteen years, her existence known only to a select group of high-ranking Ellaurians. Unfortunately, someone outside the Fellowship has discovered her identity, and Ellauria is the only place she can be safe. She's hidden among the rest of the Apprentices, the magical-mortal hybrids who will be trained to work for the Fellowship.

After Harper is attacked within Ellauria’s borders, it becomes clear that even those sworn to protect her are not immune to the temptation of her performance-enhancing blood. One of the Fellowship's own is working agains her. The list of suspects is short, but it’s made up of those that Harper shouldn’t have to fear—from the Fellowship’s socially awkward founder, to the eccentric self-proclaimed Empress of the Fairies, to her complicated but sexy crush. With an unstable grasp of her powers and a less than ideal knowledge base regarding the supernatural, Harper must work quickly to determine who she can trust, who isn’t what he says he is, and who benefits most from her demise.

First 250:

I could always tell what kind of mood Momma’s in by the type of cleaning she’s doing. Cleaning out closets and drawers? Sad. Reorganizing every shelf in the house? Frustrated. Wiping down the walls and baseboards? Angry. Polishing the silver? Stressed. So the day I opened the front door to find a pile of clothes lying in front of the coat closet, a bucket filled with vinegar solution standing next to the wall, and the smell of ammonia hanging in the air, I pulled my phone from my purse and texted my brother immediately. “Get home quick. She’s Granny-cleaning."

I was still standing in the doorway when Sam got there. I’d heard the loud thumping of the stereo long before I heard the crunch of gravel beneath the jeep’s tires, but I decided to ignore it. I hated sharing a car with him. He was going to blow our speakers, I just knew it.

He stood behind me and peeked over my head. That’s another annoying thing about Sam- to be my twin, he’s entirely too tall. “She ironed the sheets,” he said, nodding toward the ironing board in the hallway. We could just barely see the front end of it, draped with the fitted corner of the pale yellow queen-sized sheets from the guest bed.

“I know,” I said, tucking my hair behind my ears with both hands. “This is bad.”

“You seen her yet?”

I shook my head. “Nope, but I heard furniture moving around upstairs.”

Blind Speed Dating #65

2012-02-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

Title: FATHOM

Genra: YA contemporary fantasy

Word Count: 91,000

Query:

Olivia was supposed to be having the best summer of her life—until her best friend Samantha talked her into doing that ridiculous prank. Dressing up like a beached mermaid on the shores of La Jolla, California would have been a lot funnier, and a lot more harmless, if a picture of her didn’t end up in a supermarket tabloid.

Now she’s being followed—by some crazy people who think the picture is real. And Olivia discovers that there are only three reasons why a person would believe she’s an actual mermaid. One, they’ve had one too many wipeouts on a surfboard. Two, there’s a really big secret about earth’s oceans that they are desperate to protect. Or three, there’s a really big secret about earth’s oceans that they would kill to capitalize.

Olivia never thought she’d be caught in a war between humankind and creatures that weren’t supposed to exist. Creatures, no less, that have a deep distrust of humans, a thirst for vengeance, and an innate aversion to eating shrimp.

First 250:

He fell face-first into the sand, coughing for air and bleeding from the stump of his severed pinky. Though the searing pain caused his hand to convulse, he hurt all over the rest of his body as well—he could have other wounds far worse than a missing finger. But none of that mattered at the moment.

He raised his head. The grainy sand stuck to the side of his cheek. In the moonlight, his wet skin was almost glowing. He looked to his fist, where he still held the clam. Brilliant white and bewitching, it felt silky warm in his palm.

He clutched his side, awed at how it felt to breathe, yet hating it at the same time for the painful stitch stabbing at his ribcage. He moved his legs experimentally. They seemed to work all right, though he was doubtful of getting them to support his weight. Everything felt so heavy…

But he needed to get moving. His comrade was dead and the Others were seconds behind him. He sat up, noticing the sound of the surf for the first time. He looked out toward the ocean. The moon’s reflection was bright on the water. The crashing waves undulated onto the sand of the shore; forever rolling, foaming, spreading, then retreating. He inhaled, marveling at the briny tang in his nose and the cold wind in his face. Salt, he realized, had a scent.

The agony in his missing finger reminded him of his urgency.

Blind Speed Dating #64

2012-02-16T13:04:00.001-05:00

Title: DIAL 9 TO GET OUT

Genre: Mystery

Word Count: 80,000

Query:

Discovering the CEO’s corpse in the company gym is so not the way to kick off a career, as 22-year-old Casey True learns in DIAL 9 TO GET OUT, the first book in my suspenseful, satirical “Running Total” mystery series.

Casey, a college running star, was supposed to be training for the Olympics after graduation. Instead, she’s coaching at her old high school and couch-surfing at dad’s, scrimping to pay loans and bills from the car accident that ruined her running career. So when pharmaceutical company Sunday Health offers her a job as their new social media coordinator, she accepts—only to find the CEO dead on her second day.

Not only is Casey now a suspect, but she’s also prey: When a drug prototype goes missing, more employees are murdered, and Casey receives notes reading, “You’re next,” her job duties turn from staying employed to staying alive. And all she was trying to do was convince her boss it was okay to Tweet “Drugs are awesome!”

Set in Portland, Oregon, DIAL 9 TO GET OUT combines the relatable voice of a Jennifer Weiner heroine with the snarky meander of a Carl Hiassen plot. I’m a Writing Seminars graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and have written professionally for over 15 years.

First 250:

I’m pretty sure there’s no career website that tells you what to do when you find someone floating face down in your office building’s swimming pool.

Especially when it’s on the second day of your first real job.

But that’s what I saw after swiping my brand new work ID card at the entrance to the pool: A man, in the deep end, halfway between the surface and the bottom. Wavy in the water. Somewhere between float and sink.

My heart sped. I felt hot. This was really happening. I spun, looking for people, anyone, a security camera.

“Hello? Anyone here?” I shouted, turning in circles.

No answer. Just my voice—and the dude in the pool who I guessed wasn’t doing a breath-holding drill.

“Hey!” I yelled to him. “You okay?”

Of course he wasn’t okay, but I couldn’t just leave. Where was the fire alarm? Finally, my eyes landed on an old-style handset attached to the wall. Phone! I snatched the receiver with my left hand and pounded out 911 with my right.

Nothing. Not even a dial tone. I hung up and dialed 911 again. Dead air. Maybe someone had cut the line!Ohmigod, I was going to be the next floater.

Oh, wait! Didn’t offices have that dial 9 for an outside line thing? I dialed 9, and then 911. In an instant an operator popped onto the line.

“I’m in the fitness center in the Sunday Health building!” I shouted. “And there’s a body in the pool!” I gave her the office’s northwest Portland address and said I was going into the pool to get him out.

Propping the door open with my water bottle, I returned to the pool and dove in next to the sign that said “No Diving.”

Blind Speed Dating #63

2012-02-16T13:03:00.000-05:00

Title: ANGELHOOD

Genre: YA Supernatural

Word Count: 52,000

Query:

Seventeen-year-old Nanette Dunston has taken her own life, hoping to find the peaceful and pain-free existence she imagined heaven would bring. Instead, she finds herself trapped between periods of utter darkness and visions of a fourteen-year-old girl named Vera. Nanette has no idea why she's following Vera around her high school until she meets Warren, who explains that both he and Nanette are Guardians, angels assigned to protect the living. In order for Nanette to pass from angelhood to sainthood, she must keep Vera from committing the same sin she did—taking her own life.

Unfortunately, Nanette is no Clarence Oddbody, angel second class. She’s bitter, she’s a teenager, and not only does she not have her wings yet, she has no tangible body or voice with which to persuade Vera her life is worth living. In addition to seeing the tragedies in Vera’s life, Nanette remembers the horrors of her own: the failure of her parents’ marriage, the rejection slip from her dream college, and the fact she killed her best friend.

Frustrated by her inability to reach out to Vera and haunted by her old memories, Nanette wants to give up, but then she sees what happens when another Guardian at the high school surrenders. A Death Shadow enters the school cafeteria, finds the fallen angel, and with its thirteen tongues of flame swallows the fallen angel into the fiery pits of hell. If Nanette’s going to ever find peace in the afterlife, she’ll have to find a way to protect both herself and Vera from the Shadows.

First 250:

Getting the gun is easy. Mom’s never tried to hide it from me and my sister. As soon as Dad moved out three years ago, she bought it for our “protection.”

In her bedroom, I slide open the top dresser drawer and pull out an old skeleton key hooked to an angel key ring. At the foot of Mom’s bed, I kneel in front of Grandma’s old cedar chest. I run my fingers over the rose design that disguises the keyhole. After slipping the skeleton key in, I turn it and listen for the click. It’s easy to hear in the empty house.

The heavy lid creaks as I open it, and a faint cedar scent greets me. When I was little, Mom told me that cedar chests were supposed to hold a woman’s most treasured items before and after she married—lace tablecloths, fine linens, dresses, photos. We don’t have much of that. Instead, Mom has filled Grandma’s old cedar chest with Cecille’s and my old report cards and baby books, a lock of chestnut hair from my first haircut, the First Communion dress both Cecille and I wore, and our baptismal candles. I dig deeper. Somewhere in this chest is a shoebox. And in that shoebox is a .38 snub-nosed revolver wrapped in a kitchen towel.

Blind Speed Dating #62

2012-02-16T13:02:00.001-05:00

This entry is no longer open for arrows. If you are interested in requesting this material please email me!

Title: TRIANGLES

Genre: YA paranormal romance

Word Count: 63,000

Query:

Stressed out seventeen-year-old Autumn Taylor embarks on a cruise to escape from her problems—a comatose mother, guilt over her father’s death, and her lovesick "stalker" Joey Destefano, the boy who's crushing on her. When Joey turns up on the ship, Autumn's sure he planned it. But things look up when she meets hot, charismatic Marcus McKenna who tempts her with a shipboard romance. For the first time in years, Autumn’s life doesn’t suck.

The mysterious Bermuda Triangle is about to change that.

When the ship enters the Triangle, Autumn finds herself thrust into a bizarre love triangle with Joey and Marcus. Each morning brings a surprise—an alternate reality where one day, Marcus is claiming they’re on vacation to celebrate one year as a couple, and the next day, Joey is Autumn’s boyfriend and declaring his undying love for her as Marcus pulls her into the shadows for a quick, forbidden kiss. As her days get stranger, her heart takes its own path, leaving her confused and unsure of who to touch, who to kiss, and who to run from.

Two guys fighting over her is just the beginning of Autumn’s troubles in the Triangle. She nearly loses it when her father, who died years ago, shows up in her cabin to chat. Waking up one morning with cancer pushes her to the edge of a mental breakdown, sending her to the ship's clinic for help. The doctor warns her that any of the alternate lives could become permanent—after all, it happened to her during her own trip through the Triangle. Autumn struggles to figure out what’s going on, but everyone on the ship, including her sister, accepts each day as if it were the norm. With no one to help her, Autumn must find a way to escape the Triangle’s torment before it claims her as its next victim.

First 250:

If I’d known I was going to end up in my cabin with a hot guy on my bed, I would’ve worn sexier panties.

Not that I’m easy or anything, but you know, just in case he caught a glimpse. Is there anything worse than having a guy see your granny panties in the heat of the moment?

Of course, when I’d packed for my cruise to Bermuda, I had no idea how critical my choice of underwear would be. I had more immediate concerns.

Like my mom crashing in the ICU for the past six months. I didn’t think it was right to go on some wild spring break blowout while she was drugged up and tubed out. But what my sister, Jessica, said, I had to do. Because she was my “legal guardian”.

Lucky me.

So I went. With Jessica. On this humongo ship to Bermuda, a place I didn’t care to see. Hell, I didn’t even know where it was.

But it changed my life. It saved me, actually, from my worst enemy—myself.

T minus one day to departure, I met my best friend, Nisha, for lunch at Tony’s Pizzeria. I wanted to chat with her one last time just in case I didn’t make it back for some reason—like, I don’t know, a sham marriage to some rich dude.

“What’s your problem, Autumn?” she asked as my face no doubt sported a scowl.

I looked her up and down and grinned.

Blind Speed Dating #61

2012-02-16T13:01:00.000-05:00

Title: GENTLY USED

Genre: Adult Fiction (Women's Fiction)

Word Count: 87,000

Query:

Behind the doors of Hourglass Vintage, every beloved garment has a story--a textured and sometimes tumultuous past. So, too, do the women who work and shop there. Complete at 87,000 words, GENTLY USED intertwines those stories in an inspiring, multi-generational novel likely to appeal to fans of Kate Jacobs, Claire Cook, and Meg Waite Clayton.

Violet Turner, the boutique's owner, knows the personal history behind each item in her store, from a Chanel suit to a Bakelite cocktail ring. Yet when it comes to her own life, she’s determined never to revisit her troubled past, even if it means forever closing off her heart.

Sales clerk April Morgan is halfway through an unplanned pregnancy when her fiancé calls off the wedding, leaving her alone and unmoored. The perfect 1950's wedding dress April had planned to wear now hangs limp in the store's back room, ignored, just like her dreams.

Amithi Singh, a shop customer, has struggled to share the traditions of her native India with her only daughter, with limited success. Now facing an empty nest, Amithi longs to be useful in some way, but after decades of housekeeping and parenting, fears she has nothing more to offer.

For Violet, April, and Amithi, Hourglass Vintage is a place where unlikely friendships flourish and anyone might show up to kick-start their lives again: a drunk ex-husband, an over-the-top drag queen, even the neighborhood fortune teller. But the shop is riddled with financial woes and, unless the new friends can pull off a radical plan to save it, will soon be forgotten along with the costume jewelry and crinoline gowns on its sales floor.

An excerpt from GENTLY USED won the ninth "Dear Lucky Agent" contest on Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents Blog. When not writing, I can be found practicing law or scouring secondhand stores for the perfect pair of vintage Frye boots. I maintain my own blog and also write for Wisconsin Public Television's website and Edible Madison magazine, winner of the 2011 James Beard Publication of the Year Award. I would be happy to send the manuscript of GENTLY USED at your request. Thank you for your consideration.

First 250:

Beneath the ash trees on Johnson Street, just east of campus, Hourglass Vintage stood in a weathered brick building, wedged between a fair trade coffee shop and a bike repair business. Behind the boutique's windows, Violet Turner was buttoning a mannequin into a smocked sundress.

She sighed as undergraduates with bright scarves and red faces rushed by without glancing at her or the garments on display. Gray days like this one were all about hurrying and practicality, and Violet had never liked either concept. People in practical moods didn't wander into the shop to buy turn-of-the-century kid gloves or 1930's Bakelite jewelry.

Violet bent down to put espadrille sandals on the mannequin. When she stood up, a pair of blue eyes stared back at her. A girl, no older than twenty, stood inches from the window, clutching a 1950's wedding dress against her fleece jacket.

Violet remembered that the girl had come in just a few weeks earlier, trying on half a dozen gowns before selecting the full-skirted one she held now, which flapped in the wind like a surrender flag.

The girl came in and spread the dress on the register counter. “I need to return this."

“I’m sorry, we don’t allow returns,” Violet said. She took her place behind the counter and felt a blast of dry heat from the steam radiator affixed to the wall. She peeled off her cardigan—a find from her grandmother’s closet. A tattoo of a phoenix stood out on her freckled shoulder.

Blind Speed Dating #60

2012-02-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

Title: THE REAL FRIEND

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

Word Count: 54,000

Query:

Samby is the best imaginary friend that a little boy could ever want. Together, Samby and his real friend Ricky guard castles, ride elephants, and find buried treasures. But just when Ricky needs Samby more than ever—the night before the family moves across the country—Ricky’s father loses his temper and tells Ricky that Samby isn't real. When Samby wakes up after this heartbreaking news, left behind in the empty house, he has already started to fade away, in danger of becoming a Grayface—a forgotten imaginary friend who cannot be seen or believed in by anyone.

Samby is saved by a white rabbit named Orville, who finds him and takes him to Evershine, the magical realm of all things imaginary. In Evershine Samby meets an array of colorful friends: Ada the fearless adventurer, Francis the cantankerous teddy bear, Prince Charlie the wannabe dragon hunter, and many more. Samby learns that he can become a Brilliant like Orville (an imaginary friend who will never fade away) by finding someone who has outgrown their imagination and convincing them to believe again. Helped by his friends and pursued by bitter Grayfaces who want nothing more than to see him give up, Samby resolves to find Ricky and become his friend again, no matter what it takes.

First 250:

The first day of my life was cold and rainy, and Ricky was sick in bed. I later learned that he was three years old at the time, but right then I had no thoughts besides the shape of his pink face and his big eyes staring at me.

Ricky imagined me with mossy green hair and fuzzy blue skin, wrapped up in a fiery red tunic, and there I was. I had twice as many toes as him and half as many teeth.

“Samby,” Ricky said.

I pointed at myself, and he nodded.

Ricky clapped his hands, giggling. I clapped mine and mimicked his laugh.

He waved for me to come closer. I took my first few steps, but my feet weren’t used to the slick wooden floor. I slipped and knocked into a cup of juice on the night table.

The plastic cup clattered to the floor as purple juice splattered everywhere. Ricky’s eyes got big, and I heard footsteps for the first time.

“Ricky,” a pretty woman scolded him, as she hurried into the room, “didn’t Mommy say to be careful?” She scowled and pulled a towel off the dresser.

“Sorry, Mommy,” Ricky said. “It wasn’t me... it was Samby.”

“Samby?” Mommy repeated. She looked around.

I thought she might like me better if I helped clean up, so I dropped to my knees and tried to slurp up the mess. It didn’t work, though—my tongue slid through the juice like it was nothing more than mist.

Blind Speed Dating #59

2012-02-16T12:59:00.000-05:00

Title: HOW TO DATE A NERD

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Word Count: 61,000

Query:

Zoe has a great pair of legs, perky boobs, and wears exactly what she needs to show it all off. She works hard for the easy sleezy ‘you only wish you were me’ reputation, burying who she really is—an all-out nerd.

The only time Zoe gets to be herself is when she hides under her comforter to read X-Men comics, sending jealousy stabs at everyone who attends Comic-Con. Keeping up her popular rep is too important, and she’s so damn insecure to care about the consequences. But when Zoe gets plastered one night, almost stumbling into her first sexual experience with a guy twice her age, she realizes just how much her fake identity could hurt not only her, but everyone she cares about—including her next door neighbor Zak.

Zak’s a geek to the core, shunned by everyone in school for playing Dungeons and Dragons at lunch and wearing “Use the Force” t-shirts. But he knows Zoe—the real Zoe. She’s drawn to him, only feeling happy when she’s by his side. Only Zak doesn’t want fake Zoe. He wants nerdy Zoe.

She has to shove her insecurities and the fear of dropping a few rungs on the social ladder aside to prove to Zak who she really is and who she wants to be… if she can figure it out herself.

First 250:

Rules of keeping up your popular rep:

Number one, the shorter the skirt, the better.

Number two, natural hair color is a thing of the past.

Number three, high heels are an extension of your foot. To go without them would be like losing a toe.

Number four, guys are disposable, and should never be used more than once or for an extended period of time.

And number five, never ever reveal you collect Star Wars memorabilia, you know every line to Lord of the Rings, and you actually know the birthdates of all the Harry Potter cast members.

Yeah. I’m a total closeted nerd.

I'm not cool with pity glares in the hallways, painful jabs, and permanent scars. No thanks. It's much easier to keep my true nature hidden beneath layers of eyeliner, skimpy outfits, and even I must admit to myself, a rockin’ body. Though the push up bras tend to do most of the work.

Welcome to high school. Where everyone tries to be someone else.

Well… everyone except Zak.

Zakary Gibbons is my next door neighbor. I blame him for my extreme nerdy behavior. He was the one to introduce me to the awesomeness of the Elvish Language, the hidden mysteries of World of Warcraft, and the magical world that lies beyond Platform 9 ¾. And for some strange reason, when we reached the age of fifteen, he didn’t understand that being accepted into the right cliques in high school was the most important thing.

Blind Speed Dating #58

2012-02-16T12:58:00.000-05:00

Title: THE 49^TH PARALLEL

Genre: YA thriller

Word count: 66k

Query:

Seventeen year old Madeline Martin gets strange looks for her blue hair and punk fashion, which isn't such a big deal, but if she gets caught shoplifting or skipping school again she'll be really sorry. To keep her in line, Madeline's mom sends her to stay with her uncle in upstate New York for the summer, to work in a public library. Being away from her Manhattan friends and lifestyle sucks, but it’s way better than juvy hall. Alone in the library one night, Madeline stumbles onto an envelope tucked inside the pages of an eighteenth century atlas and unwittingly uncovers a political secret hidden away for centuries. Confiding only in the roguish neighbor guy, who's dealing with issues of his own, Madeline sets out to uncover the truth of what the found documents mean, as well as whoever may be willing to pay big bucks for them. After discovering she’s being followed by a stranger, and the police can’t help her, she has no choice but to unravel the mystery on her own.

Expelled from the IRIA, eighteen year old Armand Dantuine is after the truth as well, but not for the same reasons. He’s been hired by an international organization to retrieve the same secret documents, offering him a chance to gain the respect he never had in Iran. One person will stand in his way, however, and if necessary, the Martin girl will be a casualty of little importance.

Told from dueling points of view of both Madeline Martin and Armand Dantuine, my YA thriller, The 49th Parallel, takes on a series of twists and turns as both race to achieve their goal. In the vein of National Treasure meets The Da Vinci Code for teens, it’s packed with action, suspense, and a hint of romance, complete at 66K words. I am a member of SCBWI and a moderator at YALitChat.Org

First 250:

Mom says I’m my father’s daughter.

She doesn’t mean it in the good way. It’s why I’m stuck here in the most boring town in upstate New York for the summer, working in the public library. It was this or change bedpans for old people in a retirement home, and I’m not about to work around human defecation all day.

One last book to return and I’m done for the night. I roll the book cart toward the American History section, causing the faded parquet floor to creak like it’s in pain. Except for that, it’s quiet up here—too quiet on my first night closing alone, and this big old place gives me the creeps. It’s three levels, with the third floor skirting a transparent railing around the center staircase. From up here, you can see all the way down to the atrium floor, where the moonlight from the glass ceiling spills in like silvery rain. Distorted shadows dance across the floor there, provoked by a breeze through the tree limbs that hug the outside windows.

This job is supposed to keep me out of trouble, and I have to admit, even though it’s torture being away from my friends in Manhattan, it’s way better than being stuck in juvy hall for something I didn’t do. Mom doesn’t get it—why I put myself on the line for my friends. That’s what she means when she says I’m my father’s daughter.

Blind Speed Dating #57

2012-02-16T12:57:00.001-05:00

Title: DISCOVERING THE REAL MILLIE

Genre: YA Contemporary/Historical

Word Count: 55,000

Query:

All dolled up in her vintage garb, Millie Sinclair attends the most talked-about charity event in Newport High Society - the Roaring Twenties Gala. But when she puts on her great-grandmother’s headpiece and is transported back to 1925, she doesn’t only step into her great grandmother’s t-strap shoes, she steps into the worst night of her life.

Mistaken for her great-grandmother, Millie discovers the conflicting emotions she feels in the present are what her great-grandmother lived in the past. A past she took to the grave. Millie meets her great-grandmother’s secret lover, discovers her soon to be fiancé is a silent partner to one of the top bootleggers in Rhode Island and is bribing a crooked sheriff.

In an attempt to change the past and give her great-grandmother the true love she was denied, Millie runs out on her marriage proposal, badmouths the sheriff and stands up to the KKK.

When Millie returns to the present unable to change the past, she has a choice of her own to make. Should she be with Jimmy, the Harvard accepted, Rolex wearing charmer. Or Shane, a brash, abrasive construction worker with a big mouth and an even bigger heart.

The past was not what she expected, but it might just hold the answers to her future.

First 250:

1925

The blaring jazz music from the grand dining room faded as she ran from the cottage she’d spent every summer at since she was born. The house, while she loved it, had a habit of making her feel as if she were suffocating.

Summers were supposed to be relaxing and fun, but when your parents wanted to pawn you off on one of the most eligible bachelors of Newport’s high society, it was exhausting. Richard Hollingsworth, eldest son to tobacco magnate John Hollingsworth and his socialite wife Helen, was everything her parents wanted for her. But, if Millie had to spend one more second listening to Richard and her father discuss their investments and the stock market, she was going to scream.

Instead of screaming she chose to sneak away. After all, she didn’t want to make a spectacle of herself. As she rounded the gardens, the beaded dress her mother insisted she wear to the dinner party, weighed heavy on its delicate straps. A shock to Millie since her mother was usually against anything ‘flapper like’. Her mother, unlike Millie, still preferred the elegance of the early part of the century.

“Darling it’s Coco Chanel,” her mother had said as she hung it in her dressing room as if it being designer made it okay.

Millie couldn’t deny its beauty. The white beads shimmered in the light of the setting sun and the black beads, strategically placed in an abstract design, appealed to her taste.

Blind Speed Dating #56

2012-02-16T12:56:00.000-05:00

Title: THE GIRL AND THE CLOCKWORK CAT

Genre: YA Steampunk

Word Count: 70,000

Query:

London is a city of progress. Gleaming buildings rise above a foundation of human suffering so the wealthy can avoid the filth and camaraderie of the lower classes. Graceful airships glide overhead while steam-powered coaches share the streets below with their horse drawn predecessors. For a street rat like Maeko, all this progress simply means that she has to be smarter and faster to evade patrol officers on their new steamcycles. Picking the pockets of the well-to-do to keep from going hungry is riskier and more exciting than ever.

Then she finds Macak, a cat with a clockwork leg. Her interest in the unusual feline leads her to the discovery of a dead mother and child and to a family torn apart by the accusation of their murder. Macak’s owner, the only man who can prove their innocence, has gone into hiding in fear for his life. As if outsmarting the police, the murderer, and a private detective weren’t enough of a challenge, she will also have to convince the two boys vying for her affection to set aside their rivalry and help her find Macak’s owner. Maeko is about to discover just how much a lowly London street rat can accomplish.

I am an associate member of SFWA and a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. My fiction credentials include semi-finalist in the Writers of the Future 2ndQuarter 2009 contest and a two-part adventure story published in the November and December 2007 issues of Cricket magazine.

 First 250:

Maeko wriggled herself further back into the narrow space behind the big metal ashbin, shoving between the wall and the rusted metal with her hands and feet. Her fingers dug runnels in generations of slick grime that coated the surfaces, fighting for purchase while she gagged on the sickly stench of rotting waste. The sharp exhale from the steamcycles warned that the Literati patrol had pulled into the alley. She froze, her heart pounding loud in time with the rhythm thrumming through the back of the pub. The brick wall vibrated with the dark mixed beats of a band of Pirate musicians.

Crushed like an ant between the Lits and the Pirates until nothing remains but a tiny smear in the dirt.

The rhythmic new music pulsed through her and a shaky smile danced across her lips.

Not crushed, protected. The heavy beats were her sanctuary, drowning out the sound of her labored breathing.

The music also masked the officer’s approach so that she startled when he lifted the ashbin lid. When it crashed back down, she jumped again, her heart slamming into her throat and pounding in her ears so loudly that she barely heard the music now. Myriad cockroaches, dislodged from their rusty abode, ran over one hand and up her arm. Her muscles tensed as she resisted the desperate urge to sweep them away, staying still while they explore her shoulders, neck, and face at their leisure. The tiniest whimper squeezed free when one bloated bug poked about in her left ear, but the sound drowned beneath driving drumbeats.

Blind Speed Dating #55

2012-02-16T12:55:00.000-05:00

Title: THE CURSE MERCHANT

Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy

Word Count: 81,800

Query:

Dorian Lake thought he was the best hex crafter in Baltimore, but after a crazed client pulls a gun on him, he realizes how far he has fallen from the top of the hermetic industry. Blocking his comeback is Neil Osterhaus, an unscrupulous soul monger encroaching on his territory. He wouldn't be a problem were it not for Carmen, Dorian's ex-lover who sold her soul to Osterhaus. When she asks for his help, Dorian must weigh the prospect of winning back her affections against the sinister trade of soul-trafficking.

Osterhaus demands that Dorian find a replacement for Carmen in two weeks, before her soul hits the open market. Descending into the Baltimore underworld, Dorian must decide how dark he is willing to paint his soul to save Carmen from eternal damnation. Along the way he uncovers disturbing truths about both his ex-lover and the man poised to consign her soul to infernal forces... including the most shattering revelation of all. The last two years of his life have been a lie.

First 250:

The tricky thing about screwing with other people's karma is, from time-to-time, it screws you back. I took quick stock of my personal karma as I stared at the end of Gina Desalo's snub-nose revolver. I didn't consider myself to be a bad person, necessarily. A man in my line of work has to take a somewhat liberal view of morality, after all. But it wasn't my view of morality that mattered at the moment.

It was Gina's.

"What did Jackie ever do to you?" she sputtered from across the table, swaying on uncertain legs, her hands shaking from what I hoped was anger.

"Who's Jackie?" I whispered.

In hind sight, I could've come up with a dozen more intelligent, survival-motivated responses, but having a gun shoved in my face wasn't doing the logic center of my brain any favors.

Gina slammed her left hand down on the worn Formica card table between us, her eyes squinting.

"You know god damn well who."

I really god damn didn't.

"Thing is, Gina, I don't even remember you. If we've done business--"

"You don't remember me? You ruined my life, and you don't remember me?"

"You'd think I'd remember something like that."

The gun inched closer to my nose. I had to watch what I said, or Gina was going to redecorate this cheap motel room in Smartass Red.

"I know it was you. Jermaine told me."

Jermaine. That name was familiar, but I was having trouble getting past the gun.

Blind Speed Dating #54

2012-02-16T12:54:00.000-05:00

Title: THE EDGE OF FOREVER

Genre: YA sci fi

Word Count: 90,000

Query:

In the year 2013, sixteen-year-old Alora is living a lie. Two years ealier, her aunt found her hiding alone in the forest with no memories of her past. Alora doesn’t know what happened, but she knows it’s something terrible—something her aunt refuses to tell her about. Now Alora is having blackouts in which she awakens in different places, and she can’t shake the feeling that someone is following her.

In the year 2376, seventeen-year-old Bridger is one of a small number of people born with the ability to travel to the past. He’s grieving for his father, who died under mysterious circumstances while on an assignment. Angry because the Department of Temporal Affairs won’t give him any answers, Bridger decides to search for the truth on his own. He’s stunned to learn that his by-the-book father was going to break the most important rule of time travel and prevent the death of someone who was murdered in 2013.

That someone is Alora.

Determined to discover why his father wanted to help a “ghost”, Bridger illegally shifts to 2013 and, along with Alora, races to untangle the web of mysteries surrounding her past and her connection to his father. Because if he can save Alora, maybe he can save his father, too.

Told in a dual point of view, THE EDGE OF FOREVER is a 90,000 word YA science fiction novel. It is stand-alone with series potential. Thank you for your time and consideration.

First 250:

I press my forehead against the window of the transport and stare at the ground zooming by below us. We left The Academy a little over ten minutes ago, so we should reach our coordinates in Old Denver soon. Today’s assignment: record the assassination of the president in the year 2241.

My head is throbbing from all the frelling noise in this cramped space. Usually on missions it’s just our team, but once a term we’re forced to work with the other two third year groups. So I’m stuck in here with twenty people and most of them won’t shut up. I know they’re all excited because this is the furthest back in time we’ve ever shifted. Me, not so much. Not anymore.

“Bridger!”

I stifle a groan as I turn to the frost blonde sitting next to me, Vika Glazov. “What is it?”

Vika inhales sharply before speaking in her clipped Eurasian accent. “I asked if you were finished going over the mission schematics.”

I think about telling her no just to fire her up, especially since she’s my partner for this mission, but end up saying, “Yes. I know exactly what to do.”

Her eyes narrow, sweeping from my face to my clenched fists. “You better be. If you wild out, I’m telling March he better not ever pair us again.”

What. A. Bitch. She knows this is my first time trip since Dad died last month. I fist one hand and rub it with my other, wishing I’d taken a stronger dose of Calmer before we left.

Blind Speed Dating #53

2012-02-16T12:53:00.001-05:00

Title: PARAWARS: Uprising

Genre: YA Paranormal

Word Count: 70,000

Query:

Seventeen-year-old Kendry thought she had life figured out. Sure, the Paranormal Uprising changed things. Yes, the Para-Human War could descend on her town at any moment. And okay, she might just have a crush on Axel, her gargoyle best friend. But she thought she had life handled.

She was wrong.

The town she thought safe from the war? Overrun. The mother she thought would always be there? Captured. The father she thought was dead? Very much alive. The paras she was told would protect her? They’re actually after her.

And Axel, whose blacker-than-midnight eyes pierce her soul, and whose stony touch sets her on fire? Definitely wrong about him. But he might also be the only thing that’s right.

First 250:

It wasn’t the apocalypse anyone expected.

There were no nuclear bombs or failing economies, no plagues or bio-warfare. The Paranormal Uprising happened overnight, in silence. We woke to myth and legend, and a changed world. Until that day two years ago, most of us hadn’t known the paras were anything more than story or superstition, something told to amuse or frighten us.

But they did exist. And they were tired of hiding. Tired of being hunted by secret organizations that didn’t want anyone to know about them. Tired of being forced out of a world that belonged as much to them as to us. So the paras did the last thing anyone who knew them expected.

They showed the world they existed.

I went to bed thinking about my English exam and how much I was sure I’d bombed my drama audition. When I woke up, who got the lead roles in our school production of Beauty and the Beast didn’t matter. The world as we knew it, as I knew it, no longer existed. I found myself in a new world, one where nightmare and fantasy lived next door.

Axel later told me how it had been a huge shock for them, too. The Para Rule – don’t let the humans know – was done away with in a single stroke. Hide No More was now the mantra, chanted and shouted from rooftops and streets the world over. But most people I knew then didn’t care how the paras felt.

Blind Speed Dating #52

2012-02-16T12:52:00.001-05:00

This entry has been withdrawn.

Agents will get these arrows back to reuse.

Thank you!

Blind Speed Dating #51

2012-02-16T12:51:00.000-05:00

Title: WAITING FOR SOMEDAY 

Genre: Women’s Fiction

 Word Count: 85,000 words

Query:

I’m dying to see you. We’ve all casually said that at one time or another, but for Allyson Kiley, seeing her childhood friend one last time means just that...

Allyson had never had a best friend until she met the girl who moved into her apartment building the summer she turned ten years old. From the moment they exchanged smiles, Allyson and Valene seemed inseparable. But life had a way of rearranging itself. The steadfast friendship they once thought would endure a lifetime had been severed by unfortunate circumstances.

Now, at age 38, Allyson Kiley is a television personality with a successful cooking show. When her career is interrupted by a lingering illness and she is diagnosed with an aggressive terminal disease, memories of her mother’s futile battle with cancer overwhelm her. Allyson knows what she wants—more importantly, what she doesn't want. She is determined to handle her impending fate on her own terms. With time running out, she writes a letter to the only person she knows will support her decision.

Valene Del Monaco, a recluse and a widow, likes her life just the way it is—simple, easy, and undisturbed. When she receives a letter from her former best friend after a 22-year estrangement, she is hesitant to accept the cryptic invitation. Reminded of a promise she had made long ago, Valene reluctantly agrees to return to California.

Their emotional reunion is spent sharing stories of their adolescence—both wishing they could change the past, only to realize the past had changed them. And now, as their hearts begin to mend and regain harmony, Allyson must reveal that their newly-rekindled friendship has an expiration date stamped on it.

WAITING FOR SOMEDAY is an emotional journey in women’s fiction. It contains subject matter that is certain to stir passionate discussion, questioning readers’ attitudes on controversial themes (e.g., physician-assisted suicide).

First 250:

Chapter 1 – Los Angeles

It could have been the perfect day in Los Angeles. A spring rain always brightened the city, creating a blue-skied canvas behind scattered clouds. Ethereal rays of sunlight shone down from behind a cloud and streaked the painted sky, and she wondered if God Himself were still present, making His way back to the Heavens after spending the morning hours at her side.

Indeed, it could have been the perfect day, but for Valene, today was anything but perfect.

As the plane descended, flecks of color across the verdant panorama below began to take shape, forming a peppered landscape of roadways, buildings, and trees. She tried to distinguish the various freeways and landmarks, but her view was hindered by a small patch of condensation between the panes of the multi-layered window. The plane slowly turned and the morning sun shone brightly upon the small window. Closing her eyes in an effort to shield the sun's blinding light, she heard Allyson's voice echoing in her mind, Every cloud has a silver lining, right, Val?

She stared intently at the condensation on the window as the glistening mist quivered ever so slightly and touched her hand to the glass, as if to savor the last fleeting seconds of its very presence before it evaporated.

And then it was gone.

She shook her head at the irony of the moment as a tear escaped her eye, and she absentmindedly wiped it with the back of her hand as the plane touched down.

Blind Speed Dating #50

2012-02-16T12:50:00.000-05:00

Title: THE GEARS OF WAR

Genre: YA steampunk

Word Count: 61,000 words

Query:

I’m seeking representation for THE GEARS OF WAR, a multi-POV steampunk set in fantasy versions of China and Japan.

Ever since his sister died in an airship bombing raid, Kiyoshi has

been keeping his grief-maddened mother stable by masquerading as his

deceased sister, clothing and mannerism including. When his mother

unexpectedly dies, he’s left a very gender-confused teenager.

Determined to find the man within himself, Kiyoshi heads to the war

front as the pilot of a mechanical steam weapon. His plan is hindered

by a samurai who, believing that Kiyoshi is a girl in disguise, is

intent on protecting ‘her’ from both the enemy and their fellow

soldiers’ attentions. Kiyoshi is unable to discern if the attraction

he feels for the samurai is real or a product of the years he spent

pretending to be a girl.

Kiyoshi soon learns that the enemy has been sacrificing their own

people to animate war golems with their souls. He meets a runaway

golem on the battlefield, a former human girl named Jiao who managed

to free herself from the magic that keeps golems bound to obey their

master.

Together they embark on a quest to find a dragon to grant their

deepest desire. Jiao wants to be a human girl and Kiyoshi is starting

to think that’s what he wants to be, too.

First 250:

Every morning, Kiyoshi rose from sleep as a boy with messy hair, a

slim frame and, usually, an urge to pee.

Every morning, he rolled up the futon and knelt before the shrine

honoring his sister’s memory, gazing at her sunny face and burning

incense for her. Aiko, the name on the picture said. Aiko, meaning

beloved. Beloved of an entire family, jewel in the eyes of her parents

and role model in the eyes of her little brother.

Every morning, he brushed his long hair until it lay straight and

still against his back, dipped fingertips into bowls of cosmetics to

outline eyes and lips and slid into one of his sister’s kimono.

Every morning, Kiyoshi entered the kitchen as a dead girl.

“Aiko!” her mother said, waving her chopsticks. “You’ll be late for

work again. Hurry and eat.”

“Yes, mother. Sorry.” Aiko’s lips were always quick to smile with

infectious cheer; they spread now in sheepish apology and the smile

was returned.

Kneeling at the low table across from her mother, Aiko began her

assault on the feast spread before her: miso soup, steamed rice, a

rolled omelet, a bowl of fermented soybeans and various pickled

vegetables. She ate as if to fill a bottomless hole, wielding her

lacquered chopsticks like a weapon to slay her breakfast.

“Eat, eat,” her mother said. “You’re a growing girl and you have a day

of hard work ahead.”

Blind Speed Dating #49

2012-02-16T12:49:00.000-05:00

Title: PLANTED (I CAN WATER MYSELF)

Genre: YA science fiction

Word Count: 81,000

Query:

A humanlike girl with an affinity to plants arrives on Earth to defend our garden against invasion. To learn English, she deciphers Dr Seuss and christens herself, Sam I Am. While here, she grows and matures the equivalent of a year each day. Billions of neurotransmitters in her stomach, called Logic Cells, enhance her gut feelings. They guarantee Sam complies with her race’s planned immunization of humans against alien mind control. At eighteen days old, her Logic Cells will use pheromones to seduce a human male into mating with Sam to pollinate her spores before her dispersal sack explodes.   

But at fourteen, human soldiers with Yertle the Turtle shells on their heads discover her landing pod. Sam escapes, helped by Brooke, a teenage girl with leukemia. Sam’s attracted to Brooke’s older brother Dylan, unfortunately at four days (years) younger than him, she might as well have poison ivy. Now on the run, Sam realizes using pheromones to control humans makes her no different than the alien tree eaters she’s fighting. Determined to resist, she hopes to blossom into a flower that Dylan desires before she turns eighteen and her Logic Cells unleash their chemical influence on him. Because, prior to completing her mission and wilting, Sam wants to cure the disease circulating in Brooke’s red sap--even if she has to cut out her own stomach to do it.

I was the founder and president of Strategy First, a worldwide publisher of entertainment software for twenty years. Our franchise titles, Disciples, a fantasy, and Jagged Alliance, an adventure role-playing release, sold over one million copies worldwide respectively and were geared to a young adult audience.

First 250:

Thorns spiked from the tips of my twigs, as I scurried along the branch, prepared to drop onto humans to save my little ones, but I stopped, letting water fall from my eyes instead of me. A human enveloped in white from head to roots, plodded from the dull colored cocoon covering my landing pod. He carried a box. He carried my cloned saplings. Mother said, have patience, watch, learn, and when it hurts, think about something else. The first mutilation I deciphered in the dead forest named library. Its words helped when a female had asked my name.

“Sam I am,” I said.

She laughed. “Where’s your Mother, Sam?”

I pointed upward.

She touched my limb. “Oh, you poor dear.”

I almost forgot. Never reveal Mother orbited Earth.

No, thinking of the genocide called books did not help. I imagined my tiny boxed buds, screaming words from Yertle the Turtle and Gertrude McFuzz. “I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.”

Leaves crackled underneath. More humans, wearing green with what looked like turtle shells on their heads, prodded the bushes with stingers. They had my little siblings, now they wanted me. A final drop of water escaped from my eyes. My mouth opened wide as it splattered on the bare limb of a human beneath me. A fair-skinned male with clusters of small flat brown spots on his cheeks and nose, lifted his head exposing blue frightened eyes.

Blind Speed Dating #48

2012-02-16T12:48:00.000-05:00

Title: MAD AS A HATTER

Genre: YA thriller

Word Count: 50,000

Query:

London, 1882.   Seven years ago, Emil Aleric and his sister were kidnapped and taken to ‘Wonderland’ by a man claiming to come from the future. He called himself the Hatter. Emil survived the torture. His sister didn't.

When Emil hears of a serial killer ravaging London and leaving notes quoting Alice in Wonderland, Emil knows his former abductor has returned. And when his guardian, Inspector Corwin James, is put in charge of the case, he thinks it must be fate.  

At first, Corwin's adamant that Emil have nothing to do with the case; after all, he’s only fourteen. However, as the two come closer to learning the truth of the murders, they find the most pivotal clues lie in Emil’s memories—suppressed for seven years, but now threatening to consume him. Emil must fight once again- but now, if Emil fails, and what the Hatter says is true, time itself will end.

First 250:

They say that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

Corwin James wasn’t totally unfamiliar with this expression. It seemed pathetically obvious, though, especially to a man of his profession. It was almost insulting to bring his hours of work down to a single sentence.

Corwin James was an intelligent man, and a reasonable one at that. He was a little taller than average, a little younger than he appeared, a little more cynical than he let on. At eighteen, he’d taken over his late father’s job at Scotland Yard and now, three years later, was content as an upper-middle class citizen. It was December of 1882, and Corwin was sitting in his study, looking at the snow outside without really seeing it and inhaling the scent of fillet mignon without really smelling it.

Corwin was not the kind of man to slouch and prop his feet up on the table. To any onlooker, his current position, with his legs crossed and two fingers massaging his temple, would look poised and professional. For Corwin, it was the height of bad posture.

The cause of his lapse in etiquette was simply stress. Corwin was not a superstitious man, but reports of young women disappearing for days on end and reappearing as the victims of violent murders were convincing the restless public that the devil was at work.

Blind Speed Dating #47

2012-02-16T12:47:00.000-05:00

Title: CLAVENDOR

Genre: Middle grade fantasy

Word count: 43,700 words

Query:

Twelve year-old Ben Thomas thinks seeing a hobgoblin in the bleachers during a baseball game is the freakiest thing that will happen to him all day. But then he almost dies while sliding into second base and that freaks him out even more.

At least nearly dying on school grounds does have its privileges; for once he’s getting noticed. Unfortunately, it’s not just by hot girls or curious classmates. Ben realizes he is being followed by the hobgoblin and a catlike creature named Montegore, and it has nothing to do with his awesome baseball skills. They want his help finding a missing boy; a boy that has an uncanny resemblance to Ben.

Ben has never been anywhere outside of Minnesota before, and he certainly has never held another person’s destiny in his hands. He has never battled an evil kidnapper, encountered a wicked talking bridge, or been chased by a roaming fireball. But all of that is about to change when he enters Clavendor.

FIRST 250

Everything seemed normal until I saw a hobgoblin in the third row of the bleachers. Sitting between two girls and wearing an Indiana University sweatshirt was a little guy with gray skin and a long, pointy nose.

I’m not sure why no one else seemed to notice him. Maybe it was because his hood was pulled up and they thought he was an ugly seventh grader. Or maybe it was because the girls next to him were just that hot.

He only caught my attention because I felt the weight of his stare.

But I had more important things going on. We were down by two runs in the ninth inning, and our fate was in the hands of Derek “I’ll play when I want to play” Hawk. Lucky for us, today he wanted to play. He got a hold of the first pitch, sending a line drive into centerfield.

“Run, Ben, run,” my mom yelled from behind the chain-linked fence.

I was halfway to second when I realized something was wrong. I mean, besides the hobgoblin. The sounds from the crowd became muffled and gray light closed in around me like I was in a tunnel.

Probably should’ve stopped and yelled for help at that point, but that’s when I caught a glimpse of the blurry shape in centerfield: Jay Vance, a.k.a. the Missile. Everyone knew he had the best arm in seventh grade, and he was about to throw me out.

Blind Speed Dating #46

2012-02-16T12:46:00.000-05:00

Title: YOU'LL BE THINKING OF ME

Genre: Women's Fiction

Word count: 85,000

Query:

Twenty-four year old Rachael Allen felt herself morphing into an adolescent groupie, all hormones and awkwardness, when she asked actor Mick Sullivan for his autograph—a custom of celebrity culture she had sworn to herself she would never, ever participate in. Still, the chance encounter was sure to make a meaty story to tell her friends. Posting an impromptu video of the two of them on YouTube, the gravy. But the ripple effects—bizarre threats, home break-ins, deadly gifts, and the emotional whiplash of an implausible romance—were not what she had in mind when she had wished for something—anything—to shake up her mundane existance.

Rachael knows Mick Sullivan's reputation from the tabloids—drinks too much, smokes too much, and sleeps around, "anything with a pussy and a pulse," as one smart-ass celebrity blogger put it. But he's got secrets. Some he shares only with his pseudo best friend, master mysogenist, Shane Dwyer; others he's shared with no one. But there's one secret he's hiddden from himself, washed away by one too many beers.

When Rachael boldly steps outside her comfort zone to approach him, their lives take a jarring detour neither of them could have predicted or prepared for. "You'll Be Thinking of Me" is the story of Rachael's serendipitous encounter with a celebrity, her brush with obsessive love and the bittersweet gift left behind by the very person fixated on destroying her life.

I am a freelance writer/editor and have contributed to, among others, The New York Times, Parade, Prevention, Family Circle, Woman's Day, McCall's, Redbook, GreatLife, Fitness, Shape, VIV! online magazine, and Weight Watcher Magazine. I have also been the author/co-author of several nonfiction books, including The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous! (Atria Books, 2004) and Reader's Digest Magic Foods for Better Blood Sugar (Readers' Digest Association, 2007).

First 250:

Rachael Allen was almost a quarter of a century into her life and she had a plan, but she had hit a few speed bumps on what she assumed would be the Autobahn of life. According to her strategically mapped out route, by now she was supposed to have a kick-ass job, a small, but functional apartment in Manhattan, and a hot boyfriend serving up regular, toe-curling sex. Instead, she was still trying to figure out what she was going to be when she grew up. Her brief stint at an independent record label had given her a tantalizing taste of what she wanted career-wise, but she was nowhere near getting a place of her own and her last encounter with the opposite sex? Barely lukewarm.

It was a crisp April morning, the sky a Caribbean blue, a blank canvas of possibilities. Rachael was taking a much-needed break from job hunting, headed into Manhattan on the train--a day trip into the city from Madison, a homey New Jersey town, where she was living with her parents in a last-ditch (and demoralizing) money-saving maneuver. Though she often went into the city with friends, today she was going solo so she could window shop, enjoy a leisurely lunch, and take in a foreign film, without getting mired down in long-winded negotiations over the choice of stores, restaurants or movies.

Blind Speed Dating #45

2012-02-16T12:45:00.000-05:00

Title: THE FALLEN PRINCESS

Genre: YA Romantic Fantasy

Word Count: 85,000 words

Query:

In a land resembling medieval Persia, a headstrong young princess defies convention by training as a painter of illuminated manuscripts. But when she runs from an arranged marriage, she stands to lose everything—her art, her freedom, and the man she loves.

Sent away at age sixteen to serve as an artist in a foreign ruler’s court, Princess Delfina is eager to leave her uncle’s palace. Not only will she get to use her training as a painter, but she will delay the looming threat of marriage. The price to be paid for such an opportunity? She must gather information for her uncle, the ruling Khan of Karavai. No easy task, especially since she is expected to charm Prince Darclor—one of the Khan’s worst enemies—into sharing his secrets. Yet, when she meets the handsome young prince, she is surprised at the powerful attraction she feels for him.

But romance has no place in Delfina’s future. When the Khan summons her home to be wed, she flees, thinking he has promised her to an aging, half-crazed monarch. Only too late does she learn that her uncle offered her up to Darclor instead, to secure an alliance between their kingdoms. Now, if Delfina is to escape her uncle’s vengeance and salvage her one chance at love, she must find a way to win back Darclor’s heart.

My inspiration for the world of THE FALLEN PRINCESS came from years of travel and research in the Middle East and India, as both an archaeologist and a student of Islamic art history.

First 250:

The door to the palace workshop burst open, disrupting the silence of the afternoon. I looked up to see one of the younger apprentices standing there.

“The Khan is coming! He’s coming for his inspection!” The boy leaned forward, hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

My stomach twisted in knots. My uncle was coming. Now. And I was in no state to greet him. “I thought he wasn’t due to visit until next week.”

“No, he’s on his way. He’ll be here soon. Within minutes!”

Master Giordani strode to the center of the room and clapped his hands together. “On your feet! Put everything away except the pages for the Khan’s book. Fetch them from the shelves and place them on the center table. Hurry!”

Without hesitation, all of us—the apprentices, calligraphers, and senior artisans—were up and moving. To the untrained eye, the studio appeared a chaotic mess, the wooden tables crowded with paper, reed pens, brushes, and oyster shells filled with oil paints. Every bit of it was essential for our work, but the Khan would regard it as clutter.

Giordani reviewed the pages, nodded in approval, and then ordered everyone to stand in line. When he saw me lingering by the shelves, he came over to me.

“Delfina, you need to join the others,” he said.

“I don’t think I should. If I leave now, you won’t be blamed for my appearance.” I wound my finger around a stray curl—one of many that had escaped from under my headscarf.

Blind Speed Dating #44

2012-02-16T12:44:00.000-05:00

Title: STRAY

Genre: YA Fantasy

Word Count: 90,000

Query:

STRAY is a YA Fantasy where magic is a curse that only women bear and society is dictated by a strict religious doctrine called The Path.

Princess Aislynn knows all about the curse. It's a part of her, like her awkward nose and thin fingers. It's something she can't control. And girls who can’t control their abilities have a tendency to disappear. So for her own protection, Aislynn is sworn into the order of Fairy Godmothers where she must spend the rest of her life chaste, and devoted to serving another

royal family.

Tasked with tending to the sweet, but sheltered Princess Linnea, Aislynn also finds a reluctant friend in the palace gardener, Thackery, who makes no secret of his disdain for her former life. The more time they spend together, though, the more she begins to doubt the rules she has observed so obediently. As Aislynn’s feelings threaten to undo the sacred vows she has taken, she risks not only her own life but Linnea’s as well. With the princess engaged to a devoted follower of the Path, there are some who would do anything to keep Aislynn from straying.

A cross between WICKED and Roald Dahl's MATILDA with a dash of Grimm's fairy tales, STRAY is the first in a potential series.

First 250:

Aislynn’s fingers were bleeding. The garden was dark and quiet and cold and she was standing alone, watching blood drip onto the tops of her slippers. It was a dream, but knowing that made it no less frightening. Deep within her chest came a familiar and horrible sensation. As if her heart was a copper pot, set atop a relentless fire, Aislynn could feel herself begin to simmer. Filled with wishes instead of water, magic was the fire that fed them.

She knew what was about to happen next but there was nothing she could do as her kettle heart cracked, releasing the magic she so struggled to keep contained. Her blood burned. In the darkness, Aislynn could barely see the first tendril emerge, but she could feel thorns scratching against her ribs. With a jerk, briars burst from her chest, slithering down her body, each sharp point drawing delicate red lines along her limbs. Beneath her skin they curled around each bone until she was made of only flesh and thorn. Vines tickled against her chin and as they wrapped themselves around her silent screaming throat, Aislynn could feel her heart stop.

She woke, tangled in sheets and nightmares. The linens were easily discarded; one powerful yank was enough to free her legs and torso, relocating the blankets to the foot of the bed. The dreams, however, were more persistent and lingered, the way the scent of bread hovered in the kitchen air.

Blind Speed Dating #43

2012-02-16T12:43:00.000-05:00

Title: RIPPLE

Genre: YA dystopian time slip

Word Count: 98,000

Query:

Kali Addison wishes her dad never invented time machines. Maybe then the Protectorate would do their job running the country, rather than playing god. The Ripples they cause by travelling back in time to "fix things", are getting old. She's tired of them changing people she loves, or worse, making it as if they never existed. Turns out, worrying about it isn't needed, they're all incinerated when a bomb drops on her seventeenth birthday party--everyone, that is, but herself and the bad-ass vintage necklace her mom gave her as a present.

Completely alone, and her father's work in ashes, fate would have it that Kali's now a freakin' time machine. Or is it the necklace? She's too busy being catapulted into the past by a power she has no control over, to think about it. Maybe the strange, but oh-so-cute guy who turns up every time she travels, can help her figure it out. But knowing the truth would mean facing the Protectorate and her own forgotten past. Those obstacles may be a way bigger challenge than she's ready for. And if so, it's times up. For everyone.

Mystical, mixes with real life fears of love and loss in this dystopian time slip novel for young adults. RIPPLE is complete at 98,000 words, and has series potential.

I am a member of SCBWI and David Farland's Writers Group. More important, I am a seventeen-year-old, stuck in a thirty-two year old body, writing books to fill the void.

First 250:

I hate time travel. It's the one absolute thought I have in my head when I crane my neck to take in the massive Clandestine, and all its bland glory. The commoners appear just as dull with their outfits the shade of dirty snow and solemn facial expressions.

Today, I match them.

Preparation for a journey through time doesn't allow for distractions like color or commotion. There are no windows either. So no way to enjoy the cool spring breeze or hear the birds chirp me a happy birthday song.

Nope.

I get to be serenaded by the whispers of curious onlookers wondering why I'm travelling in public, and jostled about from line to line until we make it to the time dock I choose.

I guess I have that on my side. My loser friends; Sage, Greer and Flip are letting me pick the "when" we travel to as my birthday present. I can't understand how they think it's a present at all. They know how much I despise this whole scene. I guess I'm the idiot for agreeing to it in the first place.

Oh well, maybe luck will reign down on me and no one will notice the inventor's daughter is about to use one of his time machines. Or maybe I'll experience a first, and won't get sick when I travel. And maybe, just maybe, the tracker chip they insert into our arms before we leave won't kill us if we cause a Ripple.

Nah.

Luck doesn't free-flow into my life too often.

Blind Speed Dating #42

2012-02-16T12:42:00.000-05:00

Title: THE GUARDIAN TRIBE

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Word Count: 62,000

Query:

Kella Davis has the unique ability to fuse herself to her guardian angel, Gabrielle. Words cannot pass between them, only feelings and powers, but no one knows Kella better. She first discovered and used this connection to protect her little sister from the chaos of foster care. Now, while keeping her identity a secret, she helps anyone who needs her.

When an earthquake hits Haiti, Kella flies in to help with the rescue effort. While there, a boy named Asher sees her bring a little girl back from the brink of death and then disappear. When Asher tracks Kella down, she learns something she never thought possible. She is not alone, Asher sees his guardian angel too. Kella teaches Asher how to fuse with his guardian and opens up his world. Flight, extrasensory perception, heavenly knowledge- things Asher never thought imaginable. In return, Asher shows Kella what it’s like to need someone.

Just as Kella finds a sense of belonging, a fallen angel possesses and uses her body as a weapon. She fights to protect those she cares about, but can't shield her own guardian angel from abduction. Kella embarks on a suicide mission to save her angel and get her life back.

First 250:

The news blared on the radio as the ignition whined to turn over. “A seven point earthquake has rocked the country of Haiti. Hundreds trapped, thousands feared dead.” The radio went silent as Kella’s head shot up, slamming into the hood of the car.

“Dammit.” Haiti-earthquake-thousands dead buzzed in her head. She had to get her sister Emma’s car started, fast.

Her cold hands fiddled with the spark plugs. “Try it again.”

Emma turned the ignition over and the car sputtered to life.

“God, that’s awful. That’s a pretty big earthquake, right?” Emma asked. Her perfectly manicured nails tapped on the steering wheel, impatient to get going. Emphasizing she had no idea how awful things like that could be.

Kella fumbled with her tools. “Yeah, that’s really bad.” Dang, she needed to get her act together long enough to send Emma on her way.

“Well, thanks for fixing my car. I don’t think I’ll be late to work. What time do you get off?” Emma asked.

A cover story had been formulating in Kella’s head since she heard the news report. “I won’t be home. My boss needs me to dog sit for the rest of the week.” She held her breath, hoping Emma wouldn’t see through her lie. Emma was usually oblivious, but this was pretty thin.

Emma stopped digging in her purse. “He asked you to take care of his dogs? You hate dogs.”

“It shouldn’t be that hard, and he’s paying me,” Kella replied, cleaning a speck of grease off her pliers before placing them back in their designated spot.

Blind Speed Dating #41

2012-02-16T12:41:00.000-05:00

Title: SENDEK: THE MAGIC WAKES

Genre: Science Fantasy

Word Count: 85,000

Query:

The people of Sendek no longer believe in dragons, mages, or the two-legged hybrid they created. After a thousand years, these creatures are returning from exile stronger than ever with only one thought on their minds. Wipe out the humans on Sendek and claim it for their own.

Talia Shannon has dreamed of an invasion all her life. She’s kept it a secret, hoping it’s nothing more than a childhood nightmare. But the face in the mirror now matches that of her dreams, and she fears they will turn out prophetic after all. She must use her job at the Space Exploration Foundation to prove that life exists beyond Sendek. Perhaps then someone will listen and prepare to fight.

Her work leaves no time for personal relationships, but Major Sutton isn’t looking for a friend. He’s looking for a traitor. His magical talent convinces him Talia is that traitor until a touch sizzles between them and they discover they can communicate telepathically. They’ve barely begun to trust each other when the invading force arrives. Together they must uncover the secrets of Sendek's past if they hope to defeat the creatures. Talia is the key—if she can learn to trust the magic coursing through her veins.

SENDEK: THE MAGIC WAKES is a blend of light science fiction and fantasy with romance elements. It is a fast paced story that will appeal to a wide audience.

First 250:

Damn. There was no way out of it. And no way to explain.

At moments like this, Talia wished she had opted for the smaller view screen. President Fielding loomed on the wall-sized unit in front of her with his gray hair and wrinkled eyes. She clenched her hands to keep them from trembling.

He had given in to her before. She had to try one more time.

“Sir, I’ve always worked remotely from my living room. There’s no need for me to move to Joharadin.”

“Miss Shannon, I don’t know why the Royalists are making a big deal out of this, but they say it must be face to face.” Fielding clasped his hands in front of him and leaned toward her from his desk. “We need you here. They can make the moon colony happen, but we have to play by their rules to get it.”

“But if I—”

“If you choose not to come, you can consider your satellite funding at an end. Be on that tram tomorrow. Unless, I can convince you to take a transport?” His eyebrows lifted in hope.

Talia sighed, “I’ll be on the tram. You know I prefer to stay close to the ground.”

“Very well. I’m meeting you myself, so there’s no backing out. If I have to come all the way to Gneledar to collect you I will not be happy.” He winked at her and let the ghost of a smile twitch the corners of his lips. With a wave of his hand the Space Exploration Foundation’s emblem replaced his image.

Blind Speed Dating #40

2012-02-16T12:40:00.000-05:00

Title: FROSTY

Genre: Contemporary Young Adult

Word Count: 52,000 words

Query:

Sometimes you have to freeze everyone out, to avoid getting burned.

Sydney’s had seven foster families in seven years. Almost everybody in her life has let her down, including her crack addicted mother. Sydney refuses to get close to anyone, pushing away those who attempt to befriend her. Now she is moving on to her next family, the Claytons. She knows immediately that she won’t fit in with their extravagant life and their spoiled daughter Brooke.

Sydney resents the snobby kids at her new school, especially Brooke’s boyfriend Corbin. Sydney thinks Corbin is just like all the other overprivileged kids; but he’s hot and she can’t help being attracted to him, even as she hates him. When Sydney finds Brooke and another girl naked on the floor, she learns that Corbin is helping keep their secret in exchange for Brooke’s help. Sydney’s frozen exterior begins to thaw when Corbin admits he can hardly read or write—the reason why Brooke is helping him.

Corbin likes Sydney, but Brooke refuses to let him go because she is terrified that everyone will discover she’s gay. But even if Brooke breaks up with Corbin, Sydney doubts it will ever work with him. He’s the popular, rich kid and she’s the daughter of a crack whore. And really… if her own mom had given up on life, had given up on Sydney, how could anyone else ever truly love her?

First 250:

Snow swirled and wet hair lashed at my face as the wind whipped through my worn coat. My ears tingled from the frigid air, but I stayed outside. The caseworker thought I was nuts, but I liked the cold. It numbed me… relaxed me. Besides, I couldn’t smoke inside—those were the rules.

My nerves were calm now and as I finished my second cigarette, Jim pulled up in a dark Mercedes. Cool—none of my former foster families were wealthy. He must have left Lana at home, along with Brooke, the daughter I hadn’t met. This time the caseworker suggested placing me in a family with a teenage girl. As if me and Brooke would be close friends and my senior year would be the best ever. I was smart enough to know that would never happen. I just needed to get through these last six months with the Claytons and I’d be on my own.

The light spilled out of Jim’s car and he opened his mouth to say something. Instead, he shook his head and laid his hand on my shoulder, guiding me inside.

“Good evening, Sydney,” he said once we reached the door.

Um not really, Jim. Kind of crappy outside. Didn’t you notice the blizzard?

We sat down to do some paperwork and Jim wrinkled up his nose. He must not be a smoker. I checked out the bare gray room as the caseworker shuffled through a stack of papers.

Blind Speed Dating #39

2012-02-16T12:39:00.000-05:00

TITLE: REVELATION

Genre: YA Steampunk (Historical/Romance)

Word Count: 75,000

Query:

In Georgian England, seventeen-year-old Allie Donovan carries an Egyptian blade in her boot, a chip on her shoulder and a lethal shadow over her life.

Common born Allie roams the slate hallways of exclusive St Matthews school, armed with her dagger and sharp wit. She sparks conflict, physical and verbal, with the aristocratic Jared McLaren. The handsome noble is undefeated with a blade, until Allie turns his sense of honour upon him for the win, pouring fuel on his fascination for her.

Beneath the school in his laboratory, Zeb an eccentric genius, is absorbed constructing mechanical cats, automated limbs, and a weapon for the military. When word is leaked of the weapon’s potential, underworld interest ignites.

When Zeb is marked as a target, the King’s Royal Aeronautical Corp fails to protect him. Allie’s illicit skills and contacts make her the only one Jared can turn to. Instead of fighting each other, now they must fight together. The deeper Allie goes, her feelings for Jared intensify and she discovers her past is intertwined with their mission.

In revealing her past, she jeopardises her future, and risks turning Jared from her. She must decide her course if they are to find the weapon before it plunges Europe into a monstrous war.

First 250:

Allie was daydreaming of warmer days in Cairo. She remembered the way the palms fanned the air at her favourite swimming hole and felt a deep sadness at not knowing if she would ever see it again. Consequentially she didn’t notice the boys up ahead had come to a complete stop until one shouldered her, bumping her rudely out of her reminiscing and scattering her books.

She automatically muttered a “sorry” and bent to retrieve the fallen items. She realised three pairs of booted feet were standing around her in silence. None of the boots’ owners spoke a word or offered to help and she felt a trickle of ice water run down her spine, an instinct she had learnt to paid heed to. She slowly stacked the books on top of each other, discretely sliding a hand up the side of her right boot as she did so. She drew her dagger from its hidden sheath and palmed it amongst the pile, before picking it up. As she stood, she slung the books on her left hip while slowly eyeing the situation.

In front of her were three sullen youths of similar age to herself. Two were of equal height, the third slightly taller. All three had pallid unhealthy complexions of those who pursue indoor night time activities and rarely see the light of day. The taller one was thinner and even paler than the others; blue veins visibly traversed his face and ran down the side of his neck. He was setting the tone for the other two, a sneer of distaste curling the corner of his lip.

Blind Speed Dating #38

2012-02-16T12:38:00.000-05:00

Title: THE MISTAKEN

Genre: adult psychological thriller

Word count: 95,000

Query:

All Tyler Karras wants is to enjoy life with his expectant bride; what he gets instead is a graveside seat at her funeral. With the woman who killed her uncharged and still free, all Ty wants now is revenge.

His brother, Nick, has dangerous connections and suggests a sadistic plan: grab the woman responsible and hand her over to his associates—sex-traffickers in San Francisco’s Russian Mafia. They offer Ty more than he dreamed possible. In exchange for the woman, they’ll finally let his brother leave the business for good—with his debt wiped clean and his heart still beating.

There’s just one problem: Ty kidnaps the wrong woman.

Now he must protect Hannah Maguire from the very enemy he’s unleashed, but the Russians are holding Nick as leverage to force Ty to complete their deal. Caught in a no-win situation, Ty must find a way to save himself, his brother, and the woman, but with the Russian Mafia, even two out of three makes for very long odds.

THE MISTAKEN is an equally plot and character-driven tale of betrayal, vengeance, forgiveness, and transformation as Tyler struggles to atone for his sins and reclaim the man he once was from the villain he’s become.

First 250:

God, I didn’t want to do this. Just thinking about it had my gut tied in knots, but I was out of options. My brother had given me no choice. I was tired of his promises, sick of his attitude, of everything always being someone else’s fault, never his. While my fiancée, Jillian, and I had discussed what I should say to him, I continued to rehearse, point by point, during my short commute home. But who was I kidding? I knew damn well, no matter what I said, my brother would throw every word right back in my face, like he always did. But I didn’t care anymore. After four long weeks, he had overstayed his welcome, and now it was time for Nick to leave.

The confrontation loomed only minutes away, and I was dreading it. And if that wasn’t enough, there was the fog. Cold and persistent, it clung to the road like a drowning man to driftwood. It was the one thing I’d never grown accustomed to here in San Francisco, the summer fog burning off each afternoon only to reappear a few hours later, denser than ever. Add to it the waning twilight and you couldn’t see much at all, just indistinct shapes of black and grey. I could barely make out the colorful Victorian facades standing shoulder to shoulder along my street. The painted ladies simply faded into the mist.

I pulled into my driveway and shifted into park, a long sigh escaping at the thought of what waited for me inside. …

Blind Speed Dating #37

2012-02-16T12:37:00.000-05:00

TITLE: CODE

GENRE: Medical thriller

WORD COUNT: 79,000 words

Query:

Blood spills all the time in the ER--but usually not the doctor's.

Someone is murdering the female physicians of Indianapolis. It becomes personal for emergency room newbie Brett Powell when one of her best friends from medical school is brought in, near death. Melanie has an abdominal wound that suspiciously mimics a skilled surgeon’s work. When Melanie dies, Brett buries her grief and begins investigating the other victims. Determined, she points out the medical wounds to Detective Frank Henderson, providing the angle he desperately needs to solve the case. And he’d better hurry, or Brett may become the next candidate for a toe tag.

I attended the SEAK Fiction Writing for Physicians conference in 2010 and am a member of International Thriller Writers. I attended CraftFest at ThrillerFest 2011, and completed the Standford Continuing Studies online course Writing the Great Debut.

First 250:

The woman lay stretched naked on the horizontal old barn door, arms tied out from her tiny body, crucifixion-style. He ran his hand down the planks of the wood, and taped her head to the rough, splintered boards. Her long dark hair coiled beneath her head.

A clear plastic tube snaked down her throat and into her lungs. It fogged with each breath. He allowed himself a swell of pride. He had intubated her well.

She struggled against her bonds. Spotlights hung in the corners, beams focused on the woman. Pure light fought back the darkness of the shadows.

Her scrubs lay piled in the corner, white coat crumpled on top. The young man bent over the coat and plucked a pin from the lapel. The diamonds created the shape of a bone. He grinned as he removed the pin, watching it sparkle. It belonged to him now.

Pocketing the pin, he moved over to a plain cardboard box atop a small wooden table surrounded by surgical equipment. He lifted out a squat brown bottle and a scalpel. For a moment he let his eyes trace the length of the blade. The light caught the edge. Slipping a surgical mask over his mouth and nose, he walked across the dirty concrete floor to the woman. Panic bulged her eyes. She screamed against the cylinder placed between her vocal cords in her throat. No sound emerged.

Blind Speed Dating #36

2012-02-16T12:36:00.000-05:00

Title: COURSE CORRECTIONS

Genre: Science fiction adventure

Word Count: 79,000

Query:

Maggie McBride lost five years laying low, nursing her anger. She was just a kid when Jupiter’s police force cracked down on the McBrides’ independence movement. Maggie escaped, but the void took most of her family. Her one surviving cousin got arrested and packed off for realignment “treatments” to fix those obviously faulty thinking patterns.

Now Maggie’s hacking together a team — the few who survived the rebellion, a couple sympathizers, a chuck who just needs the money — with the skills to break into the remote asteroid Correctional Facility where her cousin’s being “treated.” To get the cash for all this, Maggie signs a contract with a vicious old pirate, selling her future into slavery if she fails.

It’s millions of kilometers to the little rock, across open space with nowhere to hide. But she’s going to get her cousin back.

I am a graduate of Viable Paradise XV. Thank you for your time.

First 250:

Neal was cooperative, even docile, until he saw the chair and the halo scanner. Then he balked. His two guards had him by the elbows, his hands cuffed in front of him, and they picked him up easily in the low gravity.

“No. No, please!” Neal twisted in their grip, and with a bootstrapper’s instinct for low gee shoved one foot down hard behind him. He spun, face-first, wrenching his elbows out of their hands. Shoving his palms against the floor, he zipped back a meter, put his feet down again and was bolting for the door when they tackled him.

“No!” His voice cracked, ragged, as they dragged him back to the chair. “Don’t do this! Don’t take her away!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the doctor said. He took a seat on the stool beside the halo scanner to check the data on his handheld display.

“Don’t wipe me,” Neal pleaded, tears rising. He flinched when the nurse touched an injector gun to the crook of his elbow, just below the uniform’s sleeve, and dosed him. “Don’t take her away. I don’t want to forget.”

“Neal McBride,” the doc said as his patient was strapped down, “I’m Dr. Seitz and I’ll be seeing you through the first stages of therapy.”

The guards stepped back once Neal was secured to the chair and his head clamped under the halo scanner. Seitz nodded to them and they left the doctor and nurse with their patient in the white therapy lab.

Blind Speed Dating #35

2012-02-16T12:35:00.000-05:00

Title: SLEEP

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Word Count: 72,000

Query:

Sleep isn’t easy for fifteen-year old Lia Lewiston. Since the night of her parent’s car accident when she was five, she’s dreamed of being chased through the forest by a hunter wielding a ruby-hilted knife. She believes her nightmares are simply leftover trauma – until the hunter who slays her in her sleep shows up at her new school.  

Now, Lia doesn’t know what to believe. Every night, he stabs her through the heart, but by day Colson Vane becomes an unexpected friend. Bonded by their foster-children status and mutual disgust for the Gentry, the school’s ruling elite, Lia finds herself turning to Colson—especially when her god-sister Catherine joins the Gentry, and sneers at Lia’s faery-touched oddness. Because Lia has a secret—a secret her parents died to protect—about the seven pixies she inherited at her christening, and the gift of faery sight.  

But she’s not the only one with a secret. When Lia is attacked at school by a vicious faery, Colson comes to her rescue. Colson, who shouldn't be able to see the invisible folk. Then her reoccurring nightmare changes, and the terrifying Faery Queen steps out of the woods, revealing another christening gift—a curse kept hidden from Lia, of death on her sixteenth birthday to stop a faery prophecy from coming true. Now Lia must decide if she can trust the boy she has fallen in love with, or fight for her life—at the cost of his—against the hunter cursed to kill her.

SLEEP, a YA urban fantasy retelling of Perrault’s dark Sleeping Beauty tale, is 72,000 words. While intended to be first in a fairy-tale quartet, which includes the stories of Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella, this is a stand alone novel.

First 250:

Black clouds puff from the trees, trailing up like wispy smoke. Fear prickles my palms with sweat, because I know what happens next. He’s coming. Same as he has in a thousand other dreams.

The surrounding trees beckon me with pointy fingers, and a shiver bristles from the base of my spine to my scalp, but I keep my gaze forward. Pretend not to notice their hollowed eyes or their grinning mouths as they reach for me. CAUTION, the crooked road sign ahead warns. I need to run but I’m rooted in the middle of a gravel road.

When I hear it – the crunching of gravel paces ahead – my stomach jumps to my throat.

Crunch. He moves closer.

Crunch. Closer still.

Crunch.

The hunter moves into sight, fingers clenched white around the ruby-encrusted hilt of his knife. My heart screams for me to run, and when my feet pull free of the road, I whip around, pitching forward.

The grinding footsteps behind me signal the chase is on. I fly down the road, and even though I know what happens next, I pray that maybe this time my dream will change.

But the hunter is faster. He grabs my arm. Hooks my leg with his foot and I fall face first. Then he is on me, breath warm on my neck.

“Don’t do this!” I beg as he jerks me onto my back. “Please!”

The hunger in his eyes eats me up.

Blind Speed Dating #34

2012-02-16T12:34:00.000-05:00

Title: ONE
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Word Count: 76,000 words

Query:

Sixteen-year-old Merrin Grey can float, but she can’t make herself
fly. When almost everyone else is a Super, with at least two powers,
or a Normal, with none, being a One is the worst kind of in-between.

All Merrin wants to do is land an internship at the Supers’ Biotech
Hub, where she might finally figure out how to fix herself. But when
she meets Elias VanDyne, son of the Vice President of the Hub – and
another One – all of her plans fly out the window. Literally. When the
two of them touch their Ones combine to make them fly, and when
they’re not soaring over the Nebraska cornfields, they’re busy falling
for each other.

When Elias disappears, leaving only a panicked note, Merrin knows
exactly where he’s been taken. The Hub’s been conducting experiments
on him since he was a little kid, and now it’s up to her to save him.
But if she chooses to break into the Hub to save the boy who helps her
soar, she’ll have to abandon her dreams of ever flying solo – of ever
being more than a One.

First 250:

Most Ones start with an ability everyone thinks will turn into a
superpower. A really fast runner might have muscles that can’t take
the strain after a few seconds. Or a kid who can stretch an arm out
really far will wait days for it to pull back into place. They put up
with getting teased at Superhero High, waiting for their Second – in
those cases, enhanced muscle power or elasticity - to show up. While
they do, that One power starts to fade. There are still shimmers of
it, but after a while the kid quits trying and the One fizzles into
nothingness.

Then their parents ship them off to Normal High, like mine did.

Here’s my secret: I never quit trying.

Most nights at dusk and some mornings before sunrise, I practice. I
push myself off the ground, telling my body to go weightless, and
hover there, an inch, two, six, then a foot. I stay there for seconds,
then minutes.

I can’t generate enough tension between my body and the air to take a
step - can’t even make myself drift. I’d give anything to be able to
float along like a freaking ghost.

For a long time, I tried to move. Once I tried so hard my muscles
strained, then burned, then ached, then trembled, and I hovered there
behind the shed, weeping and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, until
I heard Dad come out the back door to look for me. Then I collapsed on
the grass.

That was almost a year ago.

Blind Speed Dating #33

2012-02-16T12:33:00.000-05:00

Title: HELIACAL RISING

Genre: YA paranormal romance

Word Count: 75,000

Query:

It starts with a girl. A beautiful girl who falls in love with a star.

Trouble doesn't find seventeen-year-old, Tee Sutton, she seeks it out. When a night of drinking on school property goes awry, the last place she expects to end up is Montana. Forced to leave Detroit and attend an outdoor camp as punishment, Tee prays the summer will go by fast. And then she meets Keme.

He's not supposed to fall in love. It's against the rules. And it's dangerous. But when an accident threatens Tee's life, Keme can't help but intervene. Saving her means exposing a secret the Blackfeet tribe has fought for hundreds of years to protect. A secret people would kill for. Now, healing her once might just mean killing her later.

Tossed into an ancient game of hide and seek, where the players are immortal and the loser ends up dead, Tee finds she’s deeper in trouble than ever before, fighting for her life and a love she’s desperate to keep.

HELIACAL RISING fuses the Blackfeet legend of the Star Bride with the classic Greek myth of Castor and Pollux to create a mystical story of a young girl discovering what makes her come alive.

First 250:

In the dark, his lips are hard to see as they move toward mine. It’s always cloudy here. Even at night. When I was younger, it didn’t bother me. Kids can play in the rain. Now, it’s just depressing.

His lips look like a full moon. Round and pouted, dimpled around the edges. Lips that are rumored to have kissed Meredith Salinger in the bathroom after she barfed at Winter Formal. Ignore that thought.

He just licked them. Are my hands shaking? It’s not like this is my first time kissing a boy, but it’s warm, really warm. Too warm for spring. It makes my breath short.

Bottles clink around us. His foot hits one, sending it rolling off the roof. Don’t look down. He might get distracted. It smashes on the ground and shatters into pieces.

“This has been cool,” Tim says, brushing my hair behind my ear. His fingertips are wet and smell like beer. Ignore that, too.

“Yea,” I say. A door creeks. Or maybe it’s the roof buckling under our weight. I can’t focus with his mouth so close to mine.

He’s breathing heavy. In. Out. In. Out. Probably from the cigarettes. My grandma died of lung cancer. She sounded like Jabba the Hut every time she inhaled. Whatever, cigarettes are sexy. And taste good.

“Maybe we can do this again,” he says.

I nod in the dark, but before I can say anything, his lips touch mine. They’re soft, coated in Chapstick for optimum moistness. Butterflies flutter in my stomach, little wings tickling my insides, and I try not to giggle.

Blind Speed Dating #32

2012-02-16T12:32:00.000-05:00

Title: GETTING DOWN AND DARBY

Genre: Commercial Women’s Fiction

Word Count: 86,000

Query:

Taylor Ford’s mother is a floozy. The bummer is that Taylor hasn’t fallen far from the tree. In fact, she has her own branch.

When Taylor’s academic reference letters get lost, so does her hope for a prestigious PhD in Sociology. Scrambling, she applies to Maritime University, a school she’s never heard of in a province she’s never seen. At her Goodbye to Toronto Party, Taylor hooks up with her best friend Caleb, which would have been great except for his live-in girlfriend. Who finds them together. Not sleeping.

Escaping to MU, Taylor gets busy forgetting her guilt. As the Don of Darby Hall, the lone all-female residence, she spends her nights mopping floors after impromptu foam parties and putting out fires in the elevator. Accustomed to marathon library sessions and cutthroat competition, Taylor flails in the relaxed academic environment.

When Caleb resurfaces to declare his love, Taylor has little choice but to face her inherited Other Woman Gene. Mostly because Caleb just won’t go away. With the help of a ganja-friendly hottie-pants and some giddy Darby girls, Taylor learns to give herself a break. Forgiving herself means forgiving her mother, though, and that's something Taylor didn’t plan on doing. Ever.

First 250:

Holy Hell. This can’t be it.

Driving past the WELCOME TO FREDERICTON sign, I promptly ran over the small amount of optimism I’d managed to bring with me from Toronto. The strip mall on my right looked like an apocalyptic movie set and it didn’t bode well that the streets were practically deserted. When I passed what had to be the first McDonald’s franchise, with its old-school sign and vintage arches, I looked twice to see if there were any carhops rolling around on skates.

Not a good start.

When I pulled into my hotel for the night, The Lord Pennyhill Hotel, I had expected something regal and possibly wearing a top hat. Not the concrete communistic prison that stood before me. While waiting out front for the valet, I called my cousin Rachel.

“Hey Taylor, just one sec, okay?” Rachel said quickly before muffling the phone and barking orders at someone. “Sorry, I’m back.”

“Not a problem. You’re at work? It’s Sunday.”

In the most unlikely of career choices, Rachel worked as a chartered accountant in a fancy downtown firm. Glass walls contained men and women in business attire, sitting at oversized desks with huge piles of papers, isolated from the outside world but on full display. It was my idea of a nightmare but Rachel loved it. Probably because it gave her permission to lecture those who tried to write-off kitchen renovations and green fees as “legitimate” business expenses.