Entry #29

Name: Mike Hays

Title: Battle of Wonderland Gardens

Genre: Upper Middle Grade Contemporary Fiction

Tagline: Deep in the heart of the Wonderland Gardens Retirement Community, a demon possessing the body of the elderly owner kidnaps 13-year old Ellis Brown's arch enemy, Alicia Swanson, with plan to switch to a younger body. Ellis must recruit the gifts and talents of the residents to rescue Alicia, while also driving the demon and its band of nine ravens from Wonderland Gardens forever.

First 250 words:

Ellis Brown smiled at his brilliance. He practically giggled as he parked his bike and walked the sidewalk to the front doors of the Wonderland Gardens Retirement Community. A Saturday summer morning and before him was a whole retirement home of elderly potential customers to buy his youth theatre tickets to Alice in Wonderland, The Musical.

He would finally savor a sweet victory in the ticket sales contest. A small victory, true, but small victories are still victories. His classmate, Alicia Swanson, always won, especially against Ellis. He clenched his fists just thinking about it. With each step, painful memories of crushing defeats at her hands jumped into his head. 

She beat him out for the lead in every show and every science fair ribbon. His step picked up a little faster. He lost spelling bees and every math and art contests to her. He breathing turned fast and shallow with the memory of the most painful loss at Alicia’s hand. She had beaten him out for starting quarterback on the 7th grade football team two years ago. Even after last fall when he led the 8th grade football team to the championship as the starting quarterback, his friends still gave him crap over getting beat out by a girl.

He cheeks burned red. He had to beat Alicia Swanson at selling tickets this year. He had to win the top sales award. That was it; end of story. Ellis practically smashed through the glass front door as he entered the Wonderland Gardens Retirement Community.

Entry #28

Name:  Sharon K  Mayhew

Title:NOT A HOLIDAY

Genre: Mid Grade Historical Fiction

Tagline:  Think World War Two meet the Boxcar Children.

1^st 250 Words:

 London

 August 1, 1941

           

“But I don’t want to carry a gas mask around with me all the time,” I said.

            

“It’s not a choice, Joyce, you have to.  Everyone has to, from grandparents all the way down to babies,” Mummy said.

          

I flung my gas mask over my shoulder, pulled out a kitchen chair, and plopped down.

            

“Well, I don’t think it’s fair that the war is coming to England,” I said. “That Mister Hitler is a real rotter!”

            

“I think everyone in the world would agree with you on that, Love,” Mummy said.  “You need to show Gina that it is all right and not fuss in front of her about carrying your mask.  Imagine how grateful you will be to have it, if something horrible happens.”

            

“I know how to make it less scary for Gina,” I said.  “I could make Dolly a little gas mask box.”

            

“That’s a wonderful idea!” Mummy said.  “Perhaps you can be making it that while I am getting the house ready in case the air raids start.”

           

 I found a matchbox, sticky tape, and some string in the odds and ends drawer.  I quickly made Dolly’s gas mask box.

            

Gina came in the kitchen carrying Dolly.

            

“Look what I made for Dolly,” I said. I held up the tiny gas mask box.

           

  “Oh, that’s perfect!” Gina exclaimed. “Now Dolly will be safe too.”

           

  Gina slipped the gas mask box over Dolly’s shoulder.

           

  “What are you doing Mummy?” Gina asked.

Entry #27

Name:  HollyD

Title:  Death by High Heels

Genre:  Women's Fiction/Mystery

Tagline:  When Kimberly Murphy is caught standing over a dead body again, hot homicide detective Grant Tompkins is determined to put her in handcuffs - and not the pink, fuzzy kind.

First 250 words:

Cops hate it when you vomit all over their crime scene – a mistake I had no desire to repeat. Then again, the fact that I’d just trampled all over this scene was probably a whole new mistake I should have avoided.  I stared at the corpse and fought the urge to hurl. If only I hadn’t answered the door, I’d be eating dinner instead of standing in my neighbor’s apartment looking at a dead guy.

I’d seen plenty of weird things but this had to be one of the weirdest. The guy was just sitting there in the chair. Looking at him you would think he was asleep – if not for all the blood and his guts spilled onto his lap. I tore my eyes from him and asked my annoying neighbor the question I most wanted the answer to.

“What the hell did you hit him with?”

Lindsay dropped the strand of blonde hair she’d been twirling and glanced down at the floor.  “My shoe.”

“Damn it, Lindsay, you can’t kill someone with a shoe!”

“Hello, they’re Via Spiga.”

“Ugh.”  I glared. There was no way in hell she had done this kind of damage with a shoe.  If she had, women would soon be saying goodbye to their much-beloved accessory.  Men-even NRA members- would insist on an instant ban of the deadly yet sexy weapon.

I set my hands on my hips. “Any idea how he got this giant hole in his stomach?”

Entry #26

Name: Natasha Hawkins

Title: EVENING STAR

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Tagline: 1.76 seconds. The time it takes seventeen-year-old Abigail Montgomery to plunge forty feet to almost certain death. 1.52 seconds. The time it takes her Watcher to pull her from its clutches.

1^st 250 Words:

Here lies Abigail Montgomery. Devoted daughter. Sister. Dog-lover.

At least, that’s what I worry will be chiseled into the grave marker above my eternal resting place if I’m not careful. If my emotions get the best of me.

A musical sound tangles through the sea breeze and floats into my ear. “Don’t jump,” it says. A warm stir of air seals its plea against my temple like a set of pulsating lips laced with honeysuckle and citrus.

 “I won’t,” I whisper aloud, even though there’s not another living person on this deserted pier. The same pier at La Paz Beach that Gram and I would buy caramel popcorn each summer I came to visit Santa Flora. 

Carefully, I cross over the railings that are designed to keep people from accidently falling over the edge, and white knuckle the wood rail behind me. There is no false protection in front of me now. In fact, there’s nothing but the murky black of an unrelenting ocean; the dark, swirling water forty feet below taunting me. 

But I didn’t come here to jump. No. Death is the last thing I want. I came to the pier to remember Gram. To honor her memory. To feel close to her.

A residual warmness still lingers in the briny air despite the sun dipping below the horizon hours ago. Sorrow fills me as I think of the sun. Even though I can still feel my grandmother's love like the sun’s faithful warmth, unlike my Gram the sun will return in the morning, spread its arms and embrace the world with its comforting rays. Gram will not.

Entry #25

AUTHOR'S NAME: Hong Tran

TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT: Lau Dai La

GENRE: Middle Grade Fantasy

TAGLINE:  When she discovers that dark magicians are searching for a magic crossbow to conquer Earth, Linh must locate it before they do, risking her life to stop them from putting everyone she loves in danger.

First 250 words:

Linh sighed in the hallway, her arms folded. She became bored of doing homework after school, so bored that she sat on the bottom step of the staircase and fiddled with the phoenix talisman around her neck. Suddenly, strange sounds came from the living room.

Eeek! Eeek!

“Mom, are you already home?”

No response. Of course, her mother was at work.

They were probably mice. No surprise there. She’d grown used to hearing those horrible little rodents scuttling inside the clogged drainpipes at school. Likely they’d come out because of her house’s currently clogged drain.

Then she heard thumps within the wall. These couldn’t be mice—unless their tiny feet had grown overnight. She tiptoed toward the sound and tried to pinpoint its source.

One minute. Three. The sounds had stopped.

Stepping toward the large window, she pulled away the long, velvet curtains. She gasped. A narrow door stood beneath the window. Linh couldn’t believe her eyes. There'd been no door there before, ever. Or had there? Why would she never have noticed, right beside the back door?

She bent down and placed a trembling hand on the rough doorknob. She hesitated for a moment. If she felt danger on the other side, she could return home quickly. With a hard squeeze of her heart, she opened the mystery door and walked through it.

A sun beamed down on a colorful, spacious backyard—so unlike a gray, summer day in Dublin. Linh blinked: she wasn’t daydreaming.

Entry #24

Name: Heather Hawke
Title: RAVEN'S WING
Genre: YA Fantasy
Tagline: When noble-born Raven joins the rebels to escape being forced to secretly bear the king’s heir, she risks her life to lead a coup and restore her family to power, but the real price of failure is slavery for everyone she loves.

First 250:

My brother had no name. He was our secret. Until the night we were betrayed.

Mother towed me along with such speed that I soared between impossibly long steps. Her dress wrapped around me; the cloth billowed and flowed like jewel colored clouds. I felt her fear as we ran for our lives. Even though I was small for twelve summers, I slowed her flight.

“Hurry Vellineuvia!” she hissed at me between gasps for breath. “They’ll find us!”

My side cramped with pain.

I looked over at my brother in the evening light. Mother clutched his hand too. He was taller than I was and could keep pace. He grinned and giggled. Sometimes he would talk, but only to me.

“Veldt,” he would say, “Veldt, Veldt, Veldt.”

That was his name for me.

Mother and Father just called him “our lamb.” He had never been allowed outside; even the courtyards of our home were too exposed. My sisters and I had seen little of the world either. Before going out, my nurse would shroud our faces in veils that were supposed to hide our mahogany-colored eyes from unworthy peasants.
That day, I had no gauze to smudge the city of Ursing into opacity.

My two older sisters ran together behind us over the decrepit floating walkways that united the marsh city’s many islands. I don’t think I had ever seen them hold hands before.

Entry #23

Redacted. 

Entry #22

Name:  Ashley Keene

Title: Alex Daily: Sometimes Superhero

Genre: Middle Grade Adventure
Tagline:  New superpower every morning. 9:00 bedtime every night.

First 250 words: 

The day before getting his first superpower, Alex Daily found himself climbing to the top of his stepdad’s forbidden twelve-foot ladder. The sun-soaked metal burned his fingers and the cardboard box under his arm kept catching beneath each rung and throwing him off balance. He’d be grounded for life if Mom or Walter caught him climbing this ladder. The worst part? He didn’t even want to climb it.

Melanie watched from below, a half-smile tugging at the corner of her tiny mouth. He was afraid of heights and of breaking rules, but he was most afraid of being called a wimp by a girl. Melanie was a tomboy but she still counted as a girl, and her half-smile (which threatened to open wide and start calling him names) was the only thing that kept him climbing.

When he got to the final rung he set the box on the little shelf at the top.

"Okay, Melanie, you ready?" Alex asked. He wanted to get it over with.

“No!” she said. “You have to go to the tip-top.”

"The box is on there. Besides, it’s made for paint cans and tools."

"Not that part, stupid. Look! You’ve still got a step to go."

Melanie was right, as usual, but she couldn’t see the sticker that covered the top rung. "NOT A STEP!" the red letters warned. There were pictures of stick figure men falling to horrible stick figure deaths.

Entry #21

Name: Ella Schwartz
Title: TEMPLE FALLS
Genre: MG Fantasy

Tagline:

Nara, a fourteen year old banished princess, must work with her
nemesis, a mere commoner, to decipher the mysterious clues from the
Gods and end the plagues battering the kingdom.

First 250 Words:
Nara pushed her way through the soup of darkness. Her shoes clicked
against the marble pathway towards the royal palace. Blackness covered
her like a thick cloak, weighing her down; even though it was only
lunch time. The absence of daylight still gave Nara the creeps. It had
been like this for three weeks.

But she knew how to fix it.

And she would tell her stupid cousin, even though he hardly deserved
it. Anything was better than living under a dark cloud all day, every
day.

It was strange coming to the palace without her maidens and royal
guardsmen. But now that Nara and her mom were no longer palace
residents, the entourage was gone.

The guardsman at the palace gate, a fellow by the name of Warner who
Nara had known since birth, bowed his head slightly as he pushed open
the heavy iron gate letting Nara inside.

“Good day, Lady Nara,” he pronounced.

Nara with a dismissive flick of her wrist said, “Day? Is that what
this is? I can’t tell anymore.”

The oppressive darkness covering the kingdom of Chernadova indeed made
it hard to tell day from night. For three weeks, since the death of
Nara’s father, it was as if the Gods decided it would be a good idea
to cover the kingdom with a large, dirty, dishrag. And every day the
dishrag grew dirtier.

“Yes, my Lady. It certainly is a strange phenomenon.” Warner paused
for a moment, shuffling his feet before continuing.

Entry #20

Name: Nicole Zoltack

Title: A QUESTION OF FAITH

Genre: YA Paranormal

Tagline: Learning that she's magic incarnate turns fifteen-year-old Crystal's faith upside down but she has more to deal with than question about faith and her soul when her boyfriend is kidnapped by a witch hunter and shamans snatch her aunt.

First 250 words:

I never saw the attics stairs down before.

The attic door was always secured and padlocked, but now the stairs hang out into the hallway like a lolling tongue in a particularly dark and dusty mouth.

Something heavy bangs above my head, and I jump. What on earth is Mom doing up there?

Eager to learn what secrets the attic contains, I ascend the steps until blackness clouds my vision as a trash bag plowed into me. Thankfully, despite its large size, the bag is rather light.

"Crystal! What are you doing up here?" Mom asks.

I blink, surprised by Mom's sharp tone. After picking up the trash bag, I descend the steps. "I wanted to see—"

"Since you're here, can you take these bags down to the living room for me?" Mom's smile looks forced as she climbs down to stand beside me.

"But…"

Mom hands me another bag, then lifts the steps, closes up the attic and padlocks it before I can even glimpse inside it.

Shrugging half-heartedly, I do as she asked and drop the bags near the living room desk. Wonder what's inside them.

Rubbing my eyes, I can feel a headache coming on. I sit down in front of the computer, ready to get back to my homework.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you, dear. You just caught me by surprise," Mom says as she comes into the room. Dust colors her dyed hair, covering her strawberry blonde strands with gray.

"What were you doing up there?"

Entry #19

Name: Judy Mintz

TITLE: CHICKADEE

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Tagline: In CHICKADEE, a 57,000-word contemporary, realistic YA novel, sixteen-year-old Emma Daley struggles with her sexuality.

 1^ST 250 Words:

If anyone asks, I’m straight.

I’m sixteen and I’ve never had sex, not that you have to sleep with someone to know if you’re attracted to them. I could have, had sex. I’ve had boyfriends. I like boys. I don’t spend all my time drooling over them like my friends do. They’re not that interesting to look at. Sometimes I catch myself staring at a pretty girl, you know, to study her makeup. Sometimes they’re not wearing makeup.

If anyone asks, though, I’m straight.

Normally this isn’t something I spend a ton of time thinking about, but some girl from Sweden is coming to live with Mom and me and I’m sweating the loss of my personal space – in advance. I barely slept last night thinking about it, so I was beat and running late this morning. I slung my pack over my shoulder and went out the front door, ignoring my mom’s predictable, “Emma, take your coat. It’s cold out!” As I walked down the hill, I pulled on my gloves, the kind without fingers, and fished my ear buds out of my back pocket.

Waiting at the bus stop was the usual morning crowd. Jon towered over the rest of them.

“Hey, Emma! What’s the deal with your exchange student?” he asked.

I pulled out an ear bud. “My what?”

“Your exchange student. You know, that alien you’ve been freaking out about.”

“She’s still coming. I’m still freaking. And Mom’s still trying to make it sound like fun.”

Entry #18

Name: Stacey Hays

Title: GRIM

Genre: YA Paranormal crossover Speculative Fiction

Tagline: Seventeen-year-old Derek Weber must travel to the underworld and find the culprits responsible for hijacking his shipment of souls before war is raged on the reaping world. Too bad sixteen-year-old Kansas is caught in the cross fire.

First 250 words:

I yelled from across the massive bonfire when I sent a perfectly elevated pig skin, spiraling through the air. It’s caught by Tallahassee’s most talented wide receiver and he is wobbling from an alcoholic stupor. Still, with hardly any effort at all, he caught the football and tucked it underneath his arm like a natural, born to play football while being drunk.

“Touchdown! Tallahassee wins their fourth consecutive state championship, beating out the Miami City Purples! Haaaaaaaa, haaaaaaa. And the crowds go wild. Derek the D-Man Weber makes another touchdown pass to the crazy, unforgettable, most magnificent best friend ever, Travis Dean Bird!” Travis ran around the huge fire, between the wild Raiders fans, red solo cup in hand, reliving the last three hours of our football success.

“Untouchable, unforgettable, number one ranked team in the nation. No one can beat us, and no team can defeat us!” His massive receiving hands tore off the raider flag attached to the tailgate of his truck and he waved it passionately through the air wrapping it around himself like Caesar.

My lungs convulsed, I laughed while my best friend chugged the remnants of his cup and continued running around the student body, screaming football quotes like an idiot. His screaming antics died out and the only real noise left is the crackling fire in which I purposefully place myself next to, alongside the other drunken high-schooler’s who felt socially obligated to attend.

Entry #17

NAME: Kimberly Lynn Workman

TITLE: Heaven and Hell Alike

GENRE: Paranormal Fantasy

TAGLINE: When God goes AWOL, righteous demon Liam and angelic lover Mikael become pawns in the battle for Heaven. Victory means losing everything they've built together.

FIRST 250 WORDS: 

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. But at the time he couldn't be picky. And if he had to make sure he had a steady supply of coffee to get through his day, it was a small price to pay.

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

As he rounded 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.”

Entry #16

Name: Karen lee Hallam

Title: AbeGale Force

Genre: upper MG

Tagline: Abegale's turning thirteen, and life has become as foreboding as the number itself, filled with may-not-be-human landladies, a missing grandmother who could be right under her nose, and a horrifying discovery at an abandoned cottage.

1^st 250 Words:

It’s not as if I want to keep secrets from my best friend, and I sure don’t want to meet her new landlady—privately, or at all, with the way she stares at me. Mrs. Egremony doesn’t even stop, when I catch her doing it.

But I have to speak with her before Stephanie gets home, and find out what she meant saying my “grandmother Rose is near, but far.” Yeah—far, she disappeared in the Andes three years ago—that’s pretty far.

I better hurry.

The Maiden Villas sit at the highest peak of Pine Crest, hiding under the shadow of trees. Why Mrs. Egremony named them Villas, when they’re more like shacks, is a little weird. Three years ago, they were Donald’s Cliff Cabins.

I sometimes imagine Mrs. Egremony up there in her nest of twisting vines, waiting for some unwilling creatures…

Ridiculous. She’s just an old woman -- I know, but there’s something not right. Like the way she dresses in those Little House on the Prairie skirts dragging along the ground, and wearing a full body apron. And why she call herself Mrs. when she’s not married? Stephanie tells me she sees her sometimes, working in her garden late at night. Creepy, if you ask me. Now Mrs. Egremony tells me she knew my grandmother, and said I should come first thing this morning, alone, which is why I’m racing over.

I have to stand on my pedals to reach the top of Ridge Road, heaving like a billy goat, and swaying side-to-side, when the black mass of what I later realize is a crow, swoops in front of me--CAW!

Entry #15

 Name: Jeanmarie Anaya

Title: OPERATION BREAKUP

Genre: Contemporary YA

Word count: 78,000 words

Tagline: Crushing on the hottest senior in school who already has the perfect girlfriend is a lose-lose situation for sixteen-year-old artist Abby Wheeler, until a shady frenemy proposes a foolproof plan for attaining the unattainable.

First 250 words:

Ian Koch had no business telling me where to sit. Talk about pissing me off royally.

He lifted one hand, looking like it pained him to wave me over. Great. Front row. As if Global History wasn’t excruciatingly bad enough. I dragged my feet to the chair next to him, then slammed my ass down so hard I was almost paralyzed.

I’ve never liked sitting up front. Aside from looking like a bonafide dork, Mr. Rausch has this charming habit of spitting whenever he’s passionate about war (which, in Global History, is just about every day). And since spit-shields aren’t sold in the school supplies section at Staples, I steer clear of the front row. Hiding somewhere in the middle suits me fine, anyway. It’s a way of life.

“Should we sit at Mr. Rausch’s desk instead?” I tapped my pen on the side of the teacher’s desk. “Maybe do the lesson for him, too, while we’re at it? Just saying.”

Ian smirked. “I didn’t make Dean’s List by hiding in the back of the classroom.”

“I don’t hide.”

“Please. You’re a perpetual hider, have been since kindergarten.”

I scowled. “I have awards, too, you know.”

“Art awards don’t count, sweetheart.”

No less than five minutes into Global Studies and the first stab of a migraine had already pierced my left eyeball. It started at the exact moment I’d shoved my hand into that paper bag and pulled out a slip of paper with Ian Koch’s name scrawled on it.

Entry #14

Name: Sara Biren

Title: CLOUD 9

Genre: Young Adult

Tagline: Seventeen-year-old Cat McClure makes her annual escape to the easy summer life of Cloud 9, but soon learns that things are not as simple as they used to be.

First 250 words:

The milkshake at the entrance of Cloud 9 meant freedom.

Cloud 9 was like no place else, strange and wonderful and perfect – an entire campground and waterpark thrown back to the 1950s, set smack dab in the middle of the rustic Minnesota Northwoods.  Nothing could top seeing that massive rotating chocolate milkshake for the first time each summer.  It towered high above the road, complete with whipped cream, red and white striped straw, and a cherry that blinked Welcome!

That milkshake meant lazy days.  It meant leaving my lonely, pathetic life in Minneapolis behind for three whole months.  It meant escape.  I faced the window so my mother could not see my grin.  I couldn’t wait to get out of the truck and get into summer.

Mom drove past the milkshake toward a low building of coral and teal bricks.  A sign on the building, a huge fluffy white cloud, flashed Keenan’s Cloud 9 in blinking blue letters.  She pulled into a parking spot under a long striped awning but did not turn off the engine.

“Wait,” I said.  I turned toward her.  “You’re not driving me in?”

 “Cat, really,” she said.  She sighed.  “I’m sure your grandparents have no desire to see me.  I love them, you know that, but it’s still too hard.”

 Right.  So hard that she couldn’t take fifteen minutes out of her important life and say hello to her ex-husband’s parents who had loved her like their own daughter?

“Fine,” I said.  “That’s just fine.”  

Entry #13

Name: Laurie Litwin

 

Book Title: GRIPPED

 

Genre: YA Contemporary (Edgy)

 

TAGLINE: ‘It’ girl Taylor has it all, including an addiction. As she drinks more to cope, she gets careless, showing up at school drunk, almost getting expelled and alienating her friends. Driving drunk, she crashes her car, exposing her secret. The truth is, she can’t survive without alcohol, and she’d rather die than give it up.

1^ST 250 WORDS:

 

Senior year just started and it's already perfect.

 

Varsity Cheer. Check.

 

Hottie boyfriend. Check.

 

Kicking ass in school. Check.

 

I spin in a circle, inspecting myself in the mirror.

 

It took me a half hour to pick out an outfit, but I nailed it. Dark wash Joe's jeans that make my non-existent butt look perky. White sweater than shows my tan. Leopard ballet flats for a touch of flair. I need a little more lip gloss. 

 

I'm searching for my make-up bag when the screen on my phone lights up with an incoming text. Olivia. I dial her number, putting her on speaker.

 

"Why are you calling me? Only old people actually call anymore, Taylor." I can hear music blaring in the background.

 

"Hello to you, too. I'm trying to finish getting ready and I'm running late. Blake'll be here any minute. No time to text. What's up?" I'm yelling toward the phone while zipping back and forth across my room, looking for my OPI nail polish. I just noticed the polish on my right pinky finger is chipped.

 

"Oh shit. I forgot you had a date. I was going to invite you out. I'm meeting up with Lauren and Ashley in an hour. We're gonna go find a party to crash.”

 

"Yeah, date night. We're going to see that new slasher movie. The one with Reed Bentley, the smokin' hot Australian." I'm ecstatic I finally convinced Blake to do something other than go to a party or have sex.

Entry #12

Name: Amanda Foody

Title: RELIC

Genre: YA Fantasy

Tagline: Princess Far struggles to hide the visions from her past lives and save the very people who will kill her if they learn her secret.

First 250 words:

I’ve died this way before.

Before, I stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time. But now, from the burning in the stranger’s eyes, I know he has every intention of killing me.

I wonder, does he see her too?

Her name is Far. All my life, I have been haunted by memories. I don’t know about magic or destiny or death. But they do. There are thousands of memories and dozens of lives trapped inside me. Or maybe I am trapped inside them.

His footsteps behind me grow louder. When I try to push myself up from the forest floor, my chest smashes back to the ground.

The footsteps stop. I hear his breathing behind me. A heavy inhale. A slow, relaxed exhale. I can’t see him, but I think he’s smiling.

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to recall how it feels to be stabbed. For once, the memories don’t appear.

Far’s memories are the clearest, so close to the surface that sometimes I believe they’re my memories. That I am Far. That she is me.

Of course that can’t be true. Her tiara is my baseball cap. Her magical tattoos are my tan lines. Her creepy past-life sketches are my Shia Labeouf posters.

I’m not Far.

I’m not.

But I can’t let it go. I can’t convince myself that I’m my own, separate person when one crucial piece of evidence is missing: Far never died.

Entry #11

Name: Seabrooke Nancy

Book Title: WHERE SECRETS ARE HIDDEN

Genre: YA Light Sci-fi

TAGLINE:

When Indigo’s parents go missing she discovers they experimented on her as a baby and the resulting new mental abilities they’ve kept secret all these years will be the key to rescuing them, if she can just figure out how to use them.

1^ST 250 WORDS:

I loved Max, but there were few things I hated more than cleaning his litterbox. I stood several feet away, using my mind to open the waste bin and rake through the gravel. It spilled less if I scooped it by hand, but with mindbending I didn’t have to actually touch anything.

«I want you to know I’m cleaning the cat box,» I called up to Mom, using mindspeak to make sure she heard clearly. There was no response, but that didn’t surprise me; like most adults, Mom couldn’t broadcast far. «Unasked.» I was hoping to get out of doing the dishes tonight so my best friend Raji and I could go see a cheap Tuesday movie.

Max sat and watched, head cocked, as the scoop moved by itself through the air. As soon as I was done and had put the lid back on the bin I bent down to gather him up in my arms; he hated it when I picked him up with ‘bending. He went limp, starting to purr.

“The things I do for you,” I said. He closed his eyes contentedly.

When I came up the stairs Mom was standing at the kitchen sink, staring blankly out the window, worry creasing her brow. I paused, frowning. “Mom?”

She shook her head, composing her face as she turned, and smiled to me. “Thanks for cleaning the litterbox, Indigo.”

Max started to squirm and I set him down distractedly. It took a lot to worry Mom. “What’s wrong?”

Entry #10

Name: Kate Brauning

Title: THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE

Genre: Adult fantasy

Tagline: Shadow & Bone meets American Gods: Non-magical Ava must escape the god of war or be an unwilling diplomat in his Middle Eastern takeover. Marry him and live with guilt, or escape- risking her friends’ death?

1st 250 Words: 

 After the war, the neighbors would whisper, “We saw how it started, you know- we were there when she was born.”  The mother- a charming woman, really- had loved entertaining. But then came the child, and after that, the wasting illness. When the illness left, it took the woman with it, leaving the child- a girl named Ava- the motherless daughter of a red-faced, small-eyed man.

That man never should have had a child. The neighbors all knew it.  When they stopped by to say how sorry they were about the mother’s death, he wouldn’t answer the door, nor would he return their phone calls. Most unforgivably, he left the casseroles on the steps until the wild cats ate them. No one was surprised when Ava was sent to live with her mother’s parents.

For a while, the neighbors forgot about her. But one summer evening, six years after the toddler left, a Toyota sputtered to a halt near the house.

Ava had been sent back to her father. Her grandparents had died now, too. The girl wasn’t crying, wasn’t screaming. She simply held on to her seatbelt and refused to get out of the car. She clutched a picture frame.

The neighbors saw leaves swirling in summer dust devils around the car. They saw the father jerk the single suitcase out of the back seat. They didn’t see the tall woman in white standing by the street lamp, watching as the child refused to budge. Her father didn’t see the woman, and neither did the social worker.