CAGI Entry #28

Title: SOUTHERN GYPSY

Genre: YA Paranormal

Word Count: 54,000

Query:

Sixteen-year-old Gypsy Rawnie Stevens spent months fantasizing about her first kiss with Seth Carlson, but the second their lips touch she has a vision of his future murder. 

With her mom MIA on the carnival circuit and her grandmother unwilling to mention the word gypsy, Rawnie seeks help from her BFF to research some answers. Armed with an endless supply of sweet tea and mad skills that could make Bill Gates blush, Jenny is the only person in their ultra-conservative southern town that believes in the Stevens family craft.  

While the premonitions continue, Rawnie is stunned when someone actually sees her in one. After tracking down the life-long carny Bode in real life, he leaves her with more questions than answers. Not sure if it’s a result of his elusive lifestyle or if he’s truly keeping secrets from her Rawnie can’t bring herself to trust him, but he’s the only one with any insight into the gypsy culture and her gift.

Determined to stop her boyfriend’s murder by finding out when it will happen and who’s behind it, Rawnie continues to dig up her family’s past. When she learns that Seth is only a pawn and she’s the real target, she must find a way to save them both without exposing her secret-the one thing the killer hopes to find.

First 250:

Most normal sixteen-year-old girls didn’t see their boyfriend’s murder during their first kiss.  Unfortunately after locking lips with Seth Carlson, I realized that normal just wasn’t in the cards for me.

After nearly a month of “hanging out,” the perfect ending to our first official date as a couple inched so close I could smell the cherry on his breath from his swizzle stick.  Cyndi Lauper squealed in the background about girls wanting their fun while my heart thumped in unison with the pulsing screams of the Tilt-A-Whirl spinning behind us.   Seth’s fingers grazed the back of my neck sending rows of goose bumps racing down my arms.  I wanted to touch him, but an invisible layer of super glue pinned my hands to my thighs. 

He tilted his head slightly causing strands of sandy brown hair to swoop across his forehead.  My cheeks burned as his eyes studied every inch of my face before zeroing in on my mouth.  I stopped breathing when his arms slipped around my waist locking our bodies together.  

What if I was a terrible kisser?  Attempting to fight off the fear I decided to go for it.  I threw my arms around his neck to hold on for dear life.  Sadly, when I dove forward I managed to plant my lips directly on his neck, missing his mouth by at least six inches. Forget the passionate Scarlett O’Hara-Rhett Butler moment I fantasized about, the still-frame of my first kiss belonged in the dictionary under the word choke. 

CAGI Entry #27

Title: MY NAME IS KARMA

Genre: YA Speculative Fiction

Word Count: 88,000

Query:

Abelia Blackwell is a Karma: a being sent from another dimension to regulate the actions of mankind. Her time in the human world should be spent supporting good Samaritans and derailing society’s criminals. Not befriending two teens with horrible pasts to help them overcome their suffering, as she’s been assigned to do. One of the teens lives in complete neglect. The other blames herself for all of her life’s misfortunes, including her father’s disappearance when she was a baby. Both of them mean trouble for Abelia.

Her biggest problem with the assignment is that it tears her away from what she really cares about: her rebel organization back home. As its leader, she was captured and sent to the human world as punishment. She’s certain the tyrannical king of her world did not send her with the intention of helping humans. He did it to get her out of his way.

While Abelia would love to save the teens, she’d much rather go home to stop the king’s injustices. Unfortunately, saving these two girls is her only chance to return. It’s not just her only chance to return -- and her only chance to survive. Under the king’s cruel reign, the punishment for failing a Karma mission is execution. If Abelia can’t lead these teens from the self-destructive paths they're on, she’ll die.

First 250:

It's not like I killed someone. Hell, I 'd been saving someone from being killed. Yet my new guardian is glaring at me while she reads, all because I've been arbitrarily branded a criminal.
 
The trained focus of her eyes on the page make it obvious that she's reading the guide word-for-word. I settle in for a boring hour of being lectured.

“As a Karma living in the human world, you will be responsible for regulating the good and bad deeds of mankind," she starts.
  
"Is this based on the normal idea of good and bad, or the messed up version where it's totally cool to kill an innocent little kid and absolutely vile to try and save them?" I can't help the spite that leaks into my words.
  
I didn't think it was possible, but her glare increases in intensity. Sorry to separate you from your plethora of books, madam, but I don't want to be here either. She'd been reading when I arrived and one of the first things I noticed in the room was the books. Books everywhere. On the coffee table, on the shelves. Hundreds of them. It's almost claustrophobic.

"The former," she replies with a clipped tone. It seems like arguing with her won't get me anywhere. Begrudgingly, I allow her to continue reading the guardian manual.

CAGI Entry #26

Title: HAROLD – THE KID WHO RUINED MY LIFE AND SAVED THE DAY

Genre:  Middle Grade, contemporary

Word Count: 35,000

Query:

Harold has ruined twelve-year-old Jake’s life for the last time. So what if Harold has Asperger’s and is a genius when it comes to baseball trivia and sixth grade Algebra. Jake’s D-O-N-E.

Harold collects baseball facts like the Smithsonian collects dead things and Jake is convinced that Harold also has a talent for killing Jake’s social life. But Jake has finally found a way to put some distance between himself and Harold—middle school. His plan is to not only ditch Harold, but also the Titans, Jake’s baseball team. It seems the best the Titans can do is second place and he’ll do whatever it takes to find a spot on the number one team even if it means leaving his friends and his dad, the coach, behind. Once he’s rid of Harold and playing shortstop for a winning team, being one of the cool kids is in his glove.

Jake meets Mr. Williams who was once a Little Leaguer himself. Only no one would play his team because in the 1955 South, white teams didn’t play black teams. Mr. Williams tries to convince Jake that Harold’s knowledge of expert plays might help Jake’s team beat the undefeated Comets. And Lucy, the girl who sits beside Jake on the bus, tries to show him that winning isn’t everything and that friends like Harold are pretty special. Even though Jake thinks Lucy is annoying, he suspects she might be right and kind of awesome to sit by.

HAROLD - THE KID WHO RUINED MY LIFE AND SAVED THE DAY is a story full of baseball action, humor, and a lesson about true friendship. As a teacher and school counselor for over twenty years, I’ve worked with kids like Harold who fall on the high end of the autism continuum and who struggle to find acceptance. Currently, I’m a middle school counselor with the largest school system in the Southeast.

First 250:

On the first day of sixth grade, I cracked open the front door and looked outside. The bus stop was empty. So far, so good. I’d figured Harold’s mom would drive him this year like she did when he was in kindergarten. Harold has trouble when it comes to new things. Well, that’s one of his problems.       

           

I walked toward the stop and from behind I heard, “Hey Jake! Wait up! It’s 8:03. Bus Number 6 will be here at 8:07.”

           

I walked faster and called over my shoulder, “Thanks for the update, Harold. I didn’t know I was so early. Tomorrow, I’ll sleep in a whole 4 minutes.”

           

Harold caught up with me and said, “I woke up at 6:33, but Mom said I couldn’t come out until I saw you.”

           

Great. Where is that bus?

           

“Hey, Jake, have you ever heard of Harvey Haddix?” he asked while he rummaged through his book bag.

           

I knew what he was looking for. Each year before school started, Harold added one green composition notebook to his school supply list and in that notebook he kept track of the times he beat me at anything—Texas Hold’em, NCAA 12, checkers. He’d write down the date, the game, and the score. He also wrote down baseball stats.

           

“Yeah, Harold, I know all about Harvey.”

           

I didn’t have a clue, but I thought just this once Harold wouldn’t go into his never-ending monologue about one more Major League ballplayer I’d never heard of.

CAGI Entry #25

Title:  VISIBLY INVISIBLE

Genre:  YA Science Fiction

Word Count:  50,000

Query:

Zoey chose not to die.  Now she’s stuck transporting souls from their expired bodies to an underground lab, and a science experiment gone terribly wrong. It was a bad decision.

She loves her job, and hates it. Dealing in death carries an incomparable sadness, but no one should have to die alone, and that’s how Zoey justifies her work. It’s a lonely life though. She has no friends, aside from her clients, and they are never around for long.  Occupational hazard.  Another downside of working as a Collector, is being forgotten by the living. It is that way by design – it couldn’t work otherwise.  She has resigned herself to a lifetime of emptiness, until one day, inexplicably, someone remembers her.

Zoey’s connection with Matt is instant, powerful, impossible, but most crucially – forbidden. A relationship between a Collector and the living is not only prohibited, it is punishable by termination.  She could cease to exist at all. Zoey must unravel the secrets of the Collector’s Society to save herself and those around her.  She needs to know if true happiness can ever be hers again.

First 250:

Number 237 was easy. There had been no one around to hear Carlos when he slipped in the shower. No one was there to stop the bleeding, and no one was here now, not even Carlos anymore. The tear was already in the vial. Her job was done. The vial was surrounded by gold, shaped into a heart to mask its true purpose. It was small enough that no one would ever suspect it could have any other function than to be pretty, but it was big enough. Big enough to hold one tiny tear. The last tear. It always had to be the last. That was the one that held the soul. The only one that mattered. Even the strongest, biggest, and toughest, shed that last one. The Tear of the Soul. Of course the living don’t know this. It doesn’t often look like the tear has been shed, but it always has. Always. It’s just been stolen. The Collectors have taken it, and left no trace behind.

Carlos wouldn’t be discovered for three more days, so Zoey took a moment to hold his hand. She held it when it was still warm, when Carlos was still breathing. He must have wondered what she was doing with him in his bathroom when they’d only met a week ago at the car dealership. He was a salesman – single with no kids. She couldn’t decide if this was good or bad in the end. That he didn’t have anyone left here to pass on his legacy, or if it was better not to leave anyone behind.