Monday, May 20, 2013

Team Krista #8: FUTURESHOCK

Title: FUTURESHOCK
Genre: YA science fiction thriller
Word count: 74,000

Query:

Grace has her life planned: get elected senior class president, get into Harvard on a scholarship, go to Yale Law School, and change the world. With the election right around the corner, she doesn't have time for any distractions, including the overeager new kid Colin, even if he is kind of cute (and also kind of a stalker).

After a mega-embarrassing mishap at a party, Grace discovers time travel is real. Colin is a time agent on vacation and her ticket to adventure--experiencing the fall of the Berlin Wall, spying on J.K. Rowling while she writes Harry Potter, meeting Jane Austen.

With a newfound penchant for fun and maybe-kinda-sorta feelings for Colin, Grace begins to imagine a new future for herself. But when she loses the race for senior class president, Colin finally tells her the truth. Not only was Grace not supposed to lose the election, but she's destined to become President of the United States. He came back in time to meet her, and now her future is in jeopardy.

But Colin's time agency will protect her timeline at any cost. Their methods are questionable at best (memory-altering drugs that make you a suggestible zombie, no thanks), and Grace must choose between the life she’s always planned and the one she never expected. But Grace must fight the time agency in order to have a choice at all.

First page:

"They can take our freedom, but they can never take our French fries!"

If there had been a desk in front of me, I would have smacked my head against it. Repeatedly.

The auditorium erupted into cheers, a decidedly uncommon occurrence for Dresden High's student council candidacy announcements. Usually, students simply said what position they were running for and why people should vote for them, to weak applause or the occasional overzealous "Yeah!" from the stoner kids in the back.

Apparently, all it took was a twinkly-eyed quarterback running on a French fries platform to get people enthusiastically engaged in student government.

I had to use all my strength to unclench my jaw. My fists, however, I kept balled at my sides, so that I wouldn't try and wring anyone's neck. I wasn't usually this tense, but there was something about pretty-boy jocks reducing student government to a popularity contest that seriously irked me.

Said jock extraordinaire, Jake Carlson, gesticulated wildly at the crowd to keep cheering and ended his brilliantly puerile campaign speech with, "So if you vote for me, everything will be awesome, and you can have all the French fries you want!"

Head. Desk.

Before I could engage in any more imaginary stress relief, the student council adviser, Ms. Jefferson, nodded at me to go up to the podium despite the fact that the crowd was still whooping, catcalling and clapping. Jake, for his part, was encouraging them by way of a dramatic reenactment of last week's game-winning catch.

16 comments:

Maggie Young said...

Wow. This sounds incredible. Drooling to read and wishing you more luck than you'd know what to do with!

Anonymous said...

You had me at Jane Austen, and the voice is so great in the first 250. Good luck!

Marieke said...

TIME AGENTS! (I'm totally deciding that's a Who reference, whether you like it or not ;) ) I love this, it sounds absolutely amazing! :D Good luck!

Noelle Henry said...

I LOVE this! Love the idea of time agents and the way that you bring such a fresh, contemporary voice to a Sci-Fi thriller. Your first 250 shines and I really wish I could keep reading! Good luck!

Unknown said...

As soon as I read TIME TRAVEL, I was sold. I'd read this in a heart beat! GOOD LUCK!!

Rachel said...

I wanna go back in time and watch J.K. Rowling write HARRY POTTER! Such a great premise. Good luck!

Jenny Kaczorowski said...

This is exactly why I love speculative fiction - you've taken an ordinary choice and escalated it to catastrophic proportions. Great set up and wonderful voice.

Ashley Turcotte said...

You had me at time travel. You really had me at spying on J.K. Rowling. I think this sounds like a ton of fun, and I easily fell into the voice of the 250. Looking forward to the opportunity to read more! Go Team Krista!

Jennie Bailey said...

I really love that she wasn't supposed to lose that election and now her future is in jeopardy - this sounds like a wild ride! Good luck!

Laura said...

Spy on J.K. Rowling? I'm sold.

And I love the idea of taking something small and making it have epic consequences. Looks like a good read!

Jessie Oliveros said...

Time novels are challenging I know because I wrote then drawered one. You sound like you got this one. The premise sounds great and I love that it encompasses more than one time period.

L. T. Host said...

LOVE the voice here! Can't wait to read it someday :) Best of luck!

Rachel said...

Time agents with a protagonist who has a strong head on her shoulders? Boy, am I game. Hope an agent snaps this one up...

Anonymous said...

I love the premise of this one! So much tension - follow the planned life and be President, or get to have a choice and lead a completely different life? Intriguing choice. Also, I love that there's a time agency. Good luck!

Mollie Glick said...

I love a good time travel story! I'm happy to request this.

-Mollie

Monika Verma said...

Would love to read more of this!

Monika