CAGI Entry #10

Title: INSIDE THE CIRCLE

Genre: YA Contemporary

Word Count: 70,000

Query:

Inside the Circle twists a suspenseful, dark love story through the subculture of ultra-rich teens in Scottsdale, Arizona and the drug cartels of Mexico and South America.

Inside the Circle is 17-year-old Kate Connor’s story. Kate and her friends are “The Circle,” a tight group of friends who grew up fast and are now as hard as diamonds. Their parents are distracted and absent, and the friends of The Circle promise to take care of each other without judgments.

They use their freedom to try anything at least once in the backyards of mountainside mansions and the shadows of late-night clubs. Eventually, though, their dangerous appetites land them in the dark counter-culture of serious adults who aren’t playing rich-kid games.

Kate unexpectedly falls for Marcos, the unwilling teenaged heir to the Vega cartel. Then, Kate’s reckless best friend ominously disappears. Kate’s unique voice evolves from the detachment of an ex-addict to the clarity of a strong, young woman who feels too much. Kate loves, she loses, and she learns to stand on her own, outside of the circle.

I’ve been teaching high school for sixteen years, and I love listening to the way that teenagers talk. I’m a member of SCBWI and PNWA. I received a BA in English Literature from Indiana University. I also have an MFA in Dance/Choreography from University of Arizona; I’m fascinated by artistic construction in all art forms. My writing was recently published in Silk Road Review.

First 250:

“I’m out in a couple of weeks. That’s what the doc said this morning,” Allison says offhandedly, like she doesn’t care if she stays or if she’s released. It’s freezing in here, like always. I shake off a shiver and lean back into the short, vinyl couch. Outside the window, the shadows on Camelback Mountain deepen as the sun starts to set. Nice view, I think. When I was in-patient here at the Center, my room faced the other way.

“A couple of weeks, that’s good, Allison. That’s nothing,” I say, watching her play with her platinum watch. She twists it around her wrist.

“It’s all bullshit anyway,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I just went too far one night, you know? I’m not an addict.” Sure about that? I want to ask her. Instead, I keep my face still.

I imagine her in daily group, doing those “complete the sentence” games that the doctors use to get a patient to discover her inner fuck-up.

Finish this sentence, Allison: I might be an addict if…

Well, Doctor, I might be an addict if… I took a bunch of painkillers and drank half a bottle of whiskey and ended up in rehab. But that was just supposed to be a little jump-start before I started to party. Before lines of coke off the compact in my purse. And did I mention the fix that I keep in my car?

Oh, yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. Or actually, an addict.

CAGI Entry #9

Title: SECRETS OF THE DEAD (AN ANYA CALLAHAN NOVEL)

Genre: MG 

Word Count: 88,000

Anya Callahan has gone through something that a lot of teenagers have to deal with. She lost her first love, the boy she is sure is her soul mate. What makes this experience unique is that Anya loses Cam because he can’t handle watching her be possessed by ghosts. Dedicated and devoted though he is, watching Anya’s features shift and hearing someone else’s voice come out of her mouth is enough to scare him away.

As she spends the next few years learning, both about herself and her abilities, Anya never lets go of Cam. She does make a few discoveries along the way however. Anya has always known that she could see and hear all varieties of spirits but the fact that she can control them comes as a complete surprise.

A grown and more confident young woman Anya starts to take control of her own life. She finds a new job, new friends, new abilities and a way to bring love back into her life. Conflict sets up road blocks in her path, including a run in with a particularly fierce spirit that she has feared since childhood and Anya wonders if she will be able to rise to the challenges that are being presented.

First 250:

I am Anya Callahan. I’ve always liked my name, partially because my part Cherokee great-grandmother got it from a vision before I was born and partially because it’s pretty. My name is the only thing I really like about myself though. I’m short and pale, with brown hair and blue eyes. I’ve heard myself described as having almond shaped eyes that are the color of sapphires and chestnut hair with glints of gold and skin that gleams like ivory, but the man who said all that was a poet and I think he just got in the habit talking like that. I doubt he believed what he was saying and I certainly don’t see it. My sisters and my mother are the beautiful ones. I am just one of many, one girl in a crowd, nothing to make me stand out. That has always been the way I liked it best however. I’ve always been afraid that if people look too closely at me they will be able to see my secret. I’ve spent most of my life hiding this secret from friends and family…hiding it from everyone in fact. My secret is one of those unbelievable things that you’ve watched movies about and read stories about. I can see and hear the dead. Even saying it out loud sounds slightly ludicrous and funny, but it’s very real and it has controlled most of my life.

Actually to just say I talk to the dead isn’t the complete truth of it.

CAGI Entry #8

Title: HOW IT LOOKS FROM HERE

Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary

Word Count: 35,000

Query:

When twelve-year-old Becca and her ten-year-old brother Johnny are uprooted from the tiny Polynesian island they’ve always called home, they slam into much bigger challenges than figuring out who can rip through steeper swells, who the next chief of the island should be, or whose grades will be good enough to avoid the Captain’s wrath.

Having a white father and a Pacific Islander mother was never a big deal for Becca or Johnny in Polynesia, but it matters a lot to everyone in Arizona. Just when the siblings begin to figure out how to survive their adventure in the desert, a death in the family forces them to re-evaluate the importance of popularity.  HOW IT LOOKS FROM HERE, a 35,000-word contemporary middle grade novel, is told from the alternating perspectives of Becca and Johnny.

First 250:

I broke three of Quentin’s rules on my last day at Lupelele Elementary. First: never disobey the Captain. Second: never fight a girl. Third: never lose a fight to a girl. In twenty minutes, about how long it would have taken me to run from one side of the island to the other, I pretty much guaranteed that I’d be laughed at till I graduated from fifth grade.

After I’d cleared out my locker for the last time, I headed across the playground to meet my sister. A crowd on the other side of the courtyard was chanting in a rhythm that could only signal one thing: a fight. We only had about two or three fights per year at our school, and the last time one had broken out, I was grounded for two weeks—and I wasn’t even in it. Quentin thought it was bad for the chief’s grandson to be connected to a fight in any way. Even as a bystander. Stupid rules.

As the chanting grew louder, I weighed my potential punishment against the thrill of seeing a fight up close. The decision took me half a second. I threw my backpack down and ran toward the fight.

I elbowed my way toward the front of the crowd. Faith, the biggest girl in the sixth grade, held down her unlucky opponent with a knee between the girl’s shoulders.

What were the chances of a girl fight?

CAGI Entry #7

Title: PURGATORY

Genre: NA/Thriller

Word Count: 87,000

Query:

Forget Christianity.  As a matter of fact, forget every religion that humans believe in.  There is only one God per universe, and ours can't keep up with the ever-increasing population rate, while still attempting to manage the evil that plagues our world.  He has created a system that can, or so he thought.

In 2006, an armed robbery critically injured Clayton and took the life of his six-year-old brother, Joey.  He then struggles to find meaning in life while dealing with the loss of his brother and absence of a father, whom he lost earlier to cancer.  He is a self-proclaimed agnostic but desperately seeks closure regarding his little brother’s ill-timed death.

Meanwhile, Joey’s soul begins the intricate process of reincarnation that is well hidden from today’s society.  Our God has created a multi-layered system that can automatically recycle souls, erase their previous life, and assign a new host and destination for their next life on Earth.  

Clayton, only eighteen years old, succumbs to the early stages of depression.  He turns to drugs and alcohol for immediate escape but constantly longs for the bond his family once had.  Only after discovering signs from a hidden afterlife, he realizes the family he yearns for can be recreated with his girlfriend, Brittney.

God’s system is supposedly impeccable, but an erratic malfunction occurs in Purgatory (where the system is located).  Joey’s soul is accidentally sent into the body of Clayton’s newborn son.  This mistake will affect the entire world and only Clayton has the power to stop it, even if he doesn’t know it yet.

First 250:

“Joey!  Get your fucking ass over here right now!”  Mother screamed at Joey, my ADD six year old brother.  “Don’t make me tell you again.”

It was Black Friday at Greenwood Park Mall and to say it was a bit over-crowded was an understatement.  It was like an emo infested mosh pit, except there was no shitty music, just the sounds of fiends scavenging the mall for any type of sale or discount.  Mother, who’s never afraid to speak her mind, seemed scared she was going to lose Joey again, just like she did two years ago at the State Fair.  Memories of that chaotic scene probably replayed in her head as she waited for Joey to return to her clammy, terrifying grip.

“Joey-- I am going to count to three.  If you are not next to me, I am going to spank your ass so hard–you won’t be able to sit on Santa’s lap until next year!” she yelled toward his direction.

As usual, Mother’s filthy mouth seemed to shock shoppers.  I could only imagine, as they most likely stared off in disgust. But my mother’s cold eyes could over-power anyone’s judging attitude, like an un-even battle in tug-of-war.  By now, Joey hopefully knew she wasn’t playing.  This was exactly what happened to him when she finally found him at the fair.  He got his ass welted, right in front of everyone.  But, Joey simply couldn’t help it.  The countless amounts of Christmas lights and holiday decor outside of the store had caught his attention a little bit better than the lotions our mom sampled at Bath and Body Works.