New Adult Threesome Contest Entry #4

Title: GIRLS WHO TRAVEL

Genre: New Adult Commercial Fiction

Word Count: 75,000 words

Query:

Kika Shores, bohemian backpacker, is one of those itchy-footed girls who are constantly asked "Where are you going next?" and "When are you going to settle down?" But when she tries to reconnect with the object of her last holiday "roadmance," Kika ends up falling for a homebody instead inciting a lighthearted examination of what happens when what we want is at odds with who we think we are.

An abridged version of this manuscript was personally chosen by bestselling author, Marian Keyes as winner of Wattpad’s “Marian Keyes Short Story Contest,” and has been read online nearly 300,000 times. Also, it was shortlisted in the "Best Opening Chapter with Random House" contest at the 2013 Festival of Writing in York.

First 250:

Ten thousand miles away, my mom was probably wondering why I hadn’t called her. But see, when you’re living inside a tropical screensaver and having sheet-clasping sex with a professional Irish rogue, you tend to neglect mundane tasks.

Today. I will call her today.

I just knew she was going to ask if I found out Lochlon’s secret yet, and I had no update for her. Somehow, not knowing was bothering her more than it was bothering me.

“I don’t get it, Kika,” she protested during our last phone call. “You’ve been gallivanting around South India with some guy who admitted that he’s hiding his past from you and you still haven’t gotten any details?”

But after nearly a year of backpacking through countries that valued coffee and cigarette breaks over flawless schedules, I was forced into this state of over-relaxation.

“He’ll tell me when he’s ready,” I rationalized to both her and myself. Still, my mom wasn’t buying it.

Tomorrow. I will call her tomorrow. I decided as unrolled my limbs, broadcasting the kind of lazy-summer smile that belonged on the heroine of a brightly colored Hollywood movie. Pushing the mosquito net aside, I writhed into my reptile-clammy bikini and left the beach hut. Feeling my toes in the sand brought up flashes of last night when Lochlon convinced me that a midnight “swim” was in order.

New Adult Threesome Contest Entry #3

Title: FROM THE GROUND

Genre: Horror

Word Count: 47,000

Query:

For James and his gang of miscreant friends melting in the heat of a slow desert town, theirs is a life of love and laughter, of impulse and sin.  Anchored by his probation and his most recent bed buddy, Sue, James has worn out his welcome amongst the varied townsfolk and none more so than Sue's father, Potts.  When Sue reaches for a different future than the one she's been cursed with, it creates an unavoidable confrontation between James and her father that quickly escalates into a holdup...

And then, from the ground, a horde of carnivorous, mutant creatures descends upon the diner.

Without an obvious exit, the creatures pin James, Potts, Sue and the patrons, with all their histories and grievances, inside the diner.  Inside a boiling box in the desert where friends become enemies and lovers become fighters and the darkness of night brings not relief, but the total destruction of the only truths anyone has ever known.

When the day breaks and the sun shines, the only people left standing will be those not afraid to face the truth that rises from the ground.

First 250:

The only thing that still worked right on the broken down Airstream was its reflection.  The big silver box took everything the sun had and threw it right back, a white-hot beacon of impoverished surrender.  By mid-afternoon, the metal got so damn hot that someone walking by would burn their hand up if they were dumb enough to touch it.

There weren't any shortage of that type in Aesop's Green, but they stayed away just the same.  Didn't have nothing to do with the heat or the hollering; even their thick little kids had enough sense to know that the reason you stayed away from the Airstream was because of the slick motherfucker that lived inside of it.

***

James came up off her in a huff.  Sweat ran down every inch of his naked body and gave him a little something cool to lie in when he dropped on his back.  "Damn..."  He smiled and teased a little sleep in his eyelids before something else cut in line.  He rolled over a little further and fished around for his pants on the floor.

The pockets were empty. 

Sue pushed some wet strands away from her forehead and sighed.  Two of them gave the recent quakes a lot of competition; difference was, they saved their destruction for after the shaking was through.

James scrounged through the debris around the bed until he found her purse and almost fell off the side of it putting a pinch on his target.

He put the smoke in his mouth and lit it with her zippo and got right back to the little spot in the mattress where his broad shoulders bowed.  If there was anything worth getting to in the day ahead, he didn't look in any rush to greet it.    

New Adult Threesome Contest Entry #2

Title: NAMELESS

Genre: New Adult Fantasy (Fairytale Retelling)

Word Count: 60,000

Query:

Everyone knows his name. The soon to be king of Tasmar influences the lives of nobles and commoners alike, if not always for the best. Thinking only of himself and the perfect melodies he composes, the handsome, ambitious prince taxes his kingdom mercilessly to give himself a bit of privacy. Isolated in his forest castle, he learns just who holds the real power when he turns away an old woman—an Enchantress in disguise. Cursed to be the Beast that is the reflection of his soul, and believed dead by all who knew him, he is separated not only from his crown and shy bride-to-be, but his own identity. Refusing to associate his hideous form with his own name, the now Nameless prince has one year to earn true love, or he will die. If he can find his fiancé, Mirabelle, and help her see past the monster to the man beneath, he can be saved. However, when Mirabelle falls for another, Beast must learn not only how to let go of a love that was never meant to last, but how to find true love—if it exists.

My work has been featured in Stories for Children Magazine (2009), and Open Doors: Fractured Fairy Tales (Wayman Publishing, 2012). My short story, Sleepless Beauty (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty) will appear in the One More Day anthology (J. Taylor Publishing, 2013), and my story, Sweet Nothings has been accepted into The Chronicles of Alistair Gruff (Anassa Publications) set for a tentative 2014 publication.

First 250:

Everyone knows my name.

My guests, all two hundred of them, whisper it as I glide down the grand staircase into the golden ballroom. And why shouldn’t they know my name? I am their prince, the future king of Tasmar. Exactly one year from now when I turn nineteen, I will inherit the throne.

The crowds converge, skirts pressing around me as thick as a rose garden. Jewels twinkle on wrists and hands as they shake mine. I note the rare Tasmarian emeralds set in Meldovian gold—gold that has been rarer since our war with Meldova, and therefore, worth twice as much. It’s pathetic how everyone hides behind their gems. Do they think it will impress me?

My subjects drift left and right to reveal Mirabelle. She stands, exquisite, in an elegant red gown made from Banaternian silk. It hugs her slender waist before the skirts cascade in shimmering layers of scarlet and white. Her dripping lace sleeves ripple as she shakes them away to free her hand, which she extends to me. I take it, and kiss her slender fingers. As she laughs, my fingers entwine with hers.

“Everyone has been waiting.” Her free hand slides up to my shoulder. Fingering my matching red vest, she gazes at me coyly. “I assume by now you’ve finished exploring your new castle? How do you like your present to yourself, my prince?” Her fingers drift up to brush the foremost prong of my bronze crown, inset with perfectly cut emeralds, each the size of my thumb.

New Adult Threesome Contest Entry #1

Title: SHATTERED

Genre: Fantasy

Word Count: 100,000

Query:       

    

When pursued by a sexy, blue-eyed immortal, an eighteen-year-old girl is bound to swoon. Dawn’s no exception—until reality, in the form of a soccer ball, hits her in the face and reminds her she’s related to infamous immortal traitors.

She runs screaming in the opposite direction.

But Kalan, the sexy immortal, follows and takes a psychic peek inside her mind. His intrusion unleashes Icy, a semi-psychopathic entity who’s been living trapped and dormant in Dawn’s head since birth. Icy’s ecstatic to be free and celebrates by mentally dropkicking Kalan into unconsciousness.

Dawn rushes home to get help from her older sisters—the same treasonous relatives who put her in this situation in the first place. But her sisters are gone and all evidence shouts kidnapping by someone from the immortal realms that parallel Earth. Dawn charges off to save them, but ends up nabbed herself.

Dawn’s captor, Guinevere, wants her to steal a powerful charm from Kalan. Dawn’s not qualified to steal bubble gum, much less a well-guarded charm. But, to her surprise, Icy makes her the perfect candidate to rob Kalan. And, just in case Dawn doesn’t want to help, Guinevere can always chop off Dawn’s sisters’ heads as a little extra motivation.




First 250:

Don’t look, Dawn. You know what happens when you look.

I looked up. It was inevitable. When you tell yourself not to do something, you usually do the exact opposite.

Crap.

The park vendors swarmed me like a pack of rabid dogs. Their voices tore into me, snarling off sales pitches.

“A beautiful necklace for a beautiful—”

“No.”

“Would you like a subscription to The Vigrith—?”

“No.”

“Mini glow-in-the-dark helicopters for sale! Buy ‘em by the dozen.”

“What? No. Why the hell would I want twelve glowing helicopters?”

I didn’t wait for a reply. I walked as fast as I could without drawing attention. Luckily, the tiny carts were only set up at one entrance to the park. Turning into a large clearing, I glanced around for Cassie before settling at an empty picnic table.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find one in the shade. The heat was bearable, but the sun had me worried. Ultraviolet rays plus white girl equaled a burn no amount of aloe vera could soothe. Hey, at least I had a gorgeous view...

Who was I kidding?

One half of the park had a dried-up garden with a statue of the plump Lady Fredericton; the other side had a few trees, twice as many picnic tables and a pathetically empty sand pit—

Power washed over me, rushing into my lungs like water. I focused on my surroundings. Stupid. I’d been stupid. Letting my mental barriers down was the epitome of stupid. The intruder left almost as soon as they came, but I still sensed them.

New Adult Threesome Contest Details!

Finally! Everything is finalized for the "New Adult Threesome" contest! Woohoo! I'm really excited about this one.

Please know I am calling it by this name because there are TWO agents vying for your entries not because your manuscripts have to have threesomes. But they can. :)

And the two awesome agents are.....

JESSICA SINSHEIMER with SARAH JANE FREYMANN LITERARY AGENCY

and

MOLLY KER HAWN with THE BENT AGENCY

They are both hungry for your New Adult manuscripts. So as it should be clear by now this contest is open for completed manuscripts in the New Adult category. And they're open to all kinds!

I'm only taking 30 entries for this contest (sorry, gotta keep this one small and simple). The entries that make it in during the submission window will be posted on the blog on the morning of Oct. 1st and the two agents will sweep in any time on the 1st and/or the 2nd to make any requests they'd like in the comments section. 

A summary post will be posted on the 4th.

How to Submit:

Send your entry into CupidsLitConnection(at)yahoo(dot)com during the submission window. Entry window opens Saturday, September 28th at 11 am EDT. The window will close when 30 entries (formatted correctly) are received. 

FORMATTING:  IMPORTANT!!!!!!! 

PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL OF THESE GUIDELINES!

When you submit your entry please make it very simple...

PLEASE no tabs or double spacing. I want it email style. Single spaced. One space between paragraphs. No tabs! (This is my biggest enemy!)

Just the meat of your material. No "Dear so and so" or "I chose you because..." Just the meat of the query and first 250 words. You may add your SIMPLE credentials at the END of your query.

Your entry will be like this: (Yes, bolded where bolded)

Title: NAME OF YOUR BOOK (Yes, CAPS there!!!)

Genre: Genre of your book

Word Count: Word count of your book

Query:

Your query formatted correctly. (per above guidelines)

First 250:

Your first 250 formatted correctly. (per above guidelines)

*Look at our very own Mary Elizabeth's "Surprise Agent Invasion"entry for further example.

The SUBJECT of your email should be: TITLE - Your Name 

THANK YOU for following these specific guidelines. Makes me very happy! 

(Again, email entries to CupidsLitConnection@yahoo.com and PLEASE FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS GIVEN HERE!)

If I forgot any pertinent information, please call out any questions in the comments section. I may be a little rusty. :)

Thank you!!