An Agent's Inbox #6

Dear Agent's Inbox:

When Daphne Haddox discovers she is pregnant, she wonders how a 24 year-old unwed pregnant barmaid from England in 1497 can hope to provide for her child. So when a mysterious bottle with a promise of a chance at a better life for her and her baby appears on her dresser one night, she drinks the potion in desperation. She wakes to find herself at the Crossroads Home for Pregnant Women in 2014 in Austin, Texas, where she and other girls like herself can have their babies, put them up for adoption, and return to their time with no memory of it all. Daphne decides this is best for both her and her baby and stays.

Despite the rule against relationships, Daphne begins to date Alan Everett, an understanding computer programmer who makes her happy, but her caretaker learns of the relationship and forbids her from seeing him. They sneak around, enjoying each other’s company, until Alan finally tells her that he gave up a baby for adoption in the past, and Daphne, feeling betrayed, ends the relationship.

But when the time comes to have her baby, Daphne realizes giving up her child and a chance at true love isn’t the path she wants to take.

Crossroads Home for Pregnant Women, a Women's Fiction novel, is complete at 76,000 words and ready for your consideration.

Several of my devotionals have been published in Devo’Zine, a devotional lifestyle magazine for teens. I am currently a member of the Pikes Peak Writers. I have a Bachelors in Communications Studies, Human Relations from the University of Texas at Austin.

Thank you for your time and consideration; I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
J.K.

CROSSROADS HOME FOR PREGNANT WOMEN

It’s amazing how nine months can feel like both the shortest and the longest time in your life. And for me that wasn’t even the strangest part. No, the strangest part would have to be being pregnant in a whole different era from my own. Yes, that would have to be it.

Simply put, up until the night I got pregnant, my life was hardly noteworthy. In fact, it was rather boring. But let’s travel back in time, shall we? Say, five years and nine months ago (give or take a few centuries), back to when things really started to get peculiar:

Let me start by saying my name is Daphne Haddox and I like all desserts and watching movies while cuddling. Wait--this is starting to sound like a dating profile… but I think I am starting to get 21st century humor. 

Anyway, usually I went through life just fine with who I am and where I am and what I’m doing. After all, my Uncle John, being the realistic man he is, raised me to be the same. But it was one of those days where I was slowly wiping the table, staring out the window, daydreaming about what it would be like to be royalty and I was betrothed to some prince in a foreign land. And, even if I hated him, or he was ugly, at least I knew I was going to be taken care of. My future was secure.

An Agent's Inbox #5

Dear Agent,

Sixteen-year-old Alex assumes her reoccurring nightmares are just freakish coincidences. She is dead wrong. The fires from her dreams destroy her reality one night, forcing her parents to shove her into their safe-room alone. Hours later, she emerges to no electricity and a city scorched with bodies and freckled with few survivors. Her parents have vanished, leaving Alex to grapple with her newfound clairvoyance alone. The maddening static of an old radio becomes her only confidant until a human voice breaks through. Call it luck, destiny, or fate with a screwed-up sense of humor, but Alex’s journey to one leads her to three. And what’s more, they all have Gifts received from the same night of fires that confirmed she had the “sight.” Bickering, hunting, and hiding from crazed survivors leads them to Washington D.C. where they sorely underestimate the power and reach of their President.

Evelyn Lilith, the fortunate Designated Survivor of the 2024 Capitol Bombing and now President, ratifies her Freedom Acts: laws tampering with life, religion, and self-protection as a prelude to her tyrannical overture. With Martial Law already in place from four nuclear explosions in the West, she sees the Book of Revelations as a creative instruction manual for how to erect a new country on the ashes of the old. Her desire for a smooth transition, however, hits sour notes when rumors of a militia and prophesized Gifted teens whisper through the halls of her Reintegration Center. If she doesn’t neutralize the threats, she will lose the country she worked so hard to corrupt.

The Gifted teens now have a choice: fight President Lilith and lose what’s left of their families or surrender to her apocalyptic plan and lose what’s left of their country.

BLESSED is a YA speculative fiction novel, complete at 60,000 words with a series potential. It is best described as The 5th Wave meets I Am Number Four with a unique twist of alternating points of view between the teen protagonist and the unreliable adult antagonist. This is my first novel, but I am a full time as a high school English and Creative Writing teacher of nine years, analyzing all tropes related to YA literature with my target audience. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Warm Regards,

C.M.

BLESSED

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…”

CHAPTER ONE

“A Time to be Born…”

Alex

Martial Law was about as fun as running over a gravel parking lot barefoot. Any step out of line left a mark. Not that it mattered. The government had no reason to check my steps. My file was probably the one with water rings tattooed on it--a coaster for their stale coffee. And I was okay with that. Better a coaster than a conspirator, right?

The decades-old song “Titanium” blasted through my ear buds while I crossed another day off my calendar. One hundred and eighteen days since North Korea wiped out Congress. One hundred and twenty days since they bombed our Western cities. Seventy five long-ass days of lame, invented games like how-many-stairs-can-Alex-clear-before-she-wipes-out. And seventy five predictable nights of sketching and sulking.

Like I said, a water-ringed coaster.

Tonight, my graphite-stained fingers drew an old tree while David Guetta’s lyrics became my personal anthem, and my sketchbook, filled with images of my reoccurring nightmares, my only freedom. A coaster armed with a pencil--my shield and my sword. Watch out, world.

At least I could belt the classics whenever I wanted. “I’m bullet proof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away!” Perfect pitch. I shot my hand in the air and gave it a high five.

Crushed it.

A loud knock on the door made me jump and drop my sketchbook. I yanked out my earbuds, nearly ripping off the small hoop in my tragus.

Jiminy frackin’ Cricket, that hurt!

So much for the shield and sword.

An Agent's Inbox #4

Dear Agent:

When orphans Tommy and Gina’s stay at their uncle’s mind-numbingly boring farm is thrown into chaos, they are transported to Aetheria, a wondrous world of flying sail ships, terrifying monsters, and amazing creatures (squid-folk, giant snakes, gnomes)! With the help of the world’s only living ship--the magnificent Veda Zhi--and her crew, the children must flee the villainous wolf-man Lord Malloc and his vile Crimson Hand thugs who are bent on capturing them. 

Together, Tommy, Gina, Veda Zhi, and the crew will race to save a family of mind reading little people from being enslaved by the Crimson Hand and try to get the brother and sister back to their own world before their chance to return home is lost forever!

Veda Zhi Chronicles: The Crimson Hand is a middle-grade adventure story complete at 30,000 words. Fans of adventure series like The Edge Chronicles are sure to enjoy this thrilling tale filled with action, humour, and genuine heart. While this story stands alone it does have the potential to grow into a series.

I have always being a fan of the everyday kid forced into incredible circumstances. While in college I minored in English studies, including literary analysis, children’s literature, and creative writing. I have previous graphic novel and comic book work published by Ronin Studios, am currently the Vice President for the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, and recently won third place in the Collins Writing Contest (Short Story). This is my first novel.

I have included the first page of the book. May I send you the full manuscript?

Thank you,

D.A.

VEDA ZHI CHRONICLES: THE CRIMSON HAND

“Stay here,” ordered Uncle Harrison.

He was a tall man, rail thin and foul tempered. Beside him, Aunt Beatrice stalked, her arms crossed over her chest.

“This is a working farm,” she added. “Don’t go into the fields or the barns.”

Tommy and Gina had heard this speech before. Every day, in fact, for months. They sat sulking on the front steps of the two storey house, Tommy on the upper step, Gina on the lowest.

“Don’t go near the dugout.”

“Or the combines.”

“Or the tool shop.”

“And don’t even look at the storage bins,” the two adults said together.

“Understand?” demanded the man, scowling.

“Yes, Uncle Harrison,” chimed the two children.

“Just stay out of our way,” finished Aunt Beatrice.

She glared at the two children then looked over to her husband and nodded. The adults turned around and walked off to start their work, leaving Tommy and Gina to their misery.

An Agent's Inbox #3

Dear Agent Inbox,

All Annabel does is lie. To her family, her friends, herself. It’s not her fault. There’s a voice in her head--she calls him Dodge--and he tells her what to do. To steal, to hurt, to lie. Desperate, the adopted seventeen-year-old checks herself into a mental institution. She needs to get rid of Dodge, now, before he ruins her chances of a swimming scholarship, having friends, staying sane. Only Dodge is just as determined to stay as she is for him to go. 

As her doctor leads her through different therapies, and Annabel tries to navigate her relationships with the other inmates, she seems to be getting worse, not better. In regression therapy, Annabel discovers her birth father was a serial killer. She writes therapy letters to him, but they’re not supposed to be sent. Only they are, and her father writes back, telling her there’s a man called Dodge who tells him what to do. He reveals his last victim has never been discovered, and that Annabel holds the key to where she is. But to find out, she must delve into the part of her she is terrified to look at: the heart of who Dodge really is.

LETTERS TO A SERIAL KILLER is a YA contemporary written with elements of psychological suspense in a semi-epistolary style. It’s complete at 55,000 words.

The full manuscript is available at your request.

Best wishes,
F.M.

LETTERS TO A SERIAL KILLER

I am a liar.

That’s what they say. The only time I’m not is when it’s raining. It drums on the ground, pattering like footsteps. It drowns out the noise in my head, the voice that snakes in every time I’m not looking. Liar, liar, liar. You’re just what they think you are. Today it’s raining and I don’t have to listen. I settle on the wet grass, open my mouth, let the raindrops fall like drips of quiet onto my tongue.

‘You look like a drowned rat.’ Luckily, this voice isn’t the one in my head.

I keep my eyes closed, continue to soak myself. ‘Hey, Danny.’

The grass crinkles as he sits down. ‘Want a coat?’

A smile tugs the corner of my mouth.

‘Your lips are blue,’ he says.

I grin.

His rough hand takes mine and he pulls me up. I open my eyes just as he does, and it’s like the world swooshes by on a swing. I put my palms on the ground to steady myself. The sky presses grey above us, but it’s the only thing that holds me together. That, and Danny.

‘Class started already.’ He wipes strands of soaked hair from his eyes. ‘We need to get inside.’

No one else is outside on the fields today. Everyone stays away from me. I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them. ‘I’ve got to decide today.’

His eyes glisten, but I can’t tell whether it’s the clouds overhead casting shadows, or he’s upset.

‘Don’t look at me like that.’ I get to my feet. He stands with me, oak strong and the most solid thing in my life. ‘You don’t even know if they’ll accept me yet.’

He huffs out a breath. ‘You’re right. I don’t know.’

We walk towards the school, hand in hand. The building looms like a prison. It’s full of chatter, busy students, teachers teaching. People not like me. People judging. The wind gusts its secrets past me.

An Agent's Inbox #2

Dear Agent Inbox:

Nearly eleven years ago, Maggie Mangan was born with the most powerful luck the world’s ever seen--so much so that the International Luck Council declared her the Luckiest Girl in the World. But for reasons no one can explain, Maggie’s luck soon disappeared, leaving her luckless and ordinary.

Maggie’s about to change all that. She senses her luck is buried deep inside her, and she’s desperate for it to come out. A dash will get her friends parts in the school play, while a smidge can help her brother’s grades. Plus, now that she’s old enough, she’ll be able to travel with other Luckers and help divert hurricanes, find buried treasure, and do other cool stuff to save the world.

But Maggie’s luck recovery project totally backfires, and she becomes a walking, talking, storm of doom who disperses rotten luck wherever she goes. With scientists lending little help, Maggie invents a sort-of unauthorized way to get her good luck back. Problem is, she needs help from the super show-off and incredibly annoying rules-stickler Luckiest Boy to pull it off. Worse, a new threat is rising--the Yellowstone supervolcano--that requires both of their abilities to prevent an eruption. If Maggie can’t figure out a way to work with her archenemy, not only will she have to live with a bad luck stench, but the planet may face the biggest environmental disaster yet.

Complete at 53,000 words, THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD is a magical realism adventure featuring a main character with the spunk and tenacity of Merida from Disney’s BRAVE in a magic-tinged world akin to that in Ingrid Law’s SAVVY. Pursuant to your submission guidelines, I've pasted the first 250 words below. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

K.L.

THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD

The orange glitter storm wasn’t one of my better ideas. For one, glitter’s impossible to clean up. Days later, I found specks in the strangest places, like my toothbrush and under my toenails.

What’s worse though is that the glitter bomb tipped off my parents to what I’d been up to--trying to coax the super-powerful orange luck I was born with to return. Truthfully, I couldn’t believe it took them so long to realize what I’d been doing. You’d think painting myself orange or sleeping on a bed of orange peels would have done it. But no, it took the glitter fiasco, specifically the sparkly orange flecks in the mashed potatoes, for them to figure it out. I should have expected as much. Dad loves his potatoes.

But now they knew, and they weren’t on board. At all. That’s why it was such a big deal when I entered the corner convenience store in search of supplies for my next luck recovery project. My stomach knew it too. Forget somersaults. We’re talking backflips, cartwheels, and handsprings so big my entire middle ached.

The door’s bell chimed, and I jerked a moment before ducking and scooting into an aisle. Weaving through rows of pet food, candy bars, and beef jerky, I made my way to the lucky charm display at the end of the far row.

Packages containing four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, rabbit’s feet, wishbones, ladybugs, and number 7s littered the rack. Perfect. Everything I needed for my super-scientific plan, aka Maggie Mangan’s Luck Recovery Project 12.0, was here.

An Agent's Inbox #1

Dear Mystery Agent,

Twelve-year-old Cassie can hear music emerge from almost every person and thing in her tiny mountain town. Old buildings creak out history, songs sizzle up while folks cook breakfast, readers flip pages to a beat at the town’s bookstore, and the winds whisper their own special sounds--and carry a little extra magic. But even with magical music, when the fireflies disappeared ten years ago, they took Firefly Mountain’s visitors, income, and hope with them. A school assignment spurs Cassie and her best friend, Bard, to more closely investigate the vanished fireflies, and she learns some secrets are stealing her town’s perseverance--and her mom’s song and joy.

As the town’s hope dwindles, its music starts to dim. The problem is, music generates more magic, but Cassie can’t figure out her own song. If only Cassie’s sound were a bold and spunky fiddle like bookstore owner Mrs. Anne’s, high energy banjo like her father’s, steady drumbeats like Bard’s, or loyal bagpipe like her dog’s, maybe then she’d be able to solve this mystery and her mom’s problems. When everyone’s pain deepens under new development plans, Cassie must uncover a family secret and find her own sound to try to set everything right again.

Complete at 33,000 words, THE SOUND INSIDE is a middle grade novel with notes of magical realism that will appeal to fans of Natalie Lloyd’s A Snicker of Magic and Cynthia Lord's A Handful of Stars.

I am a former public school teacher and an active member of SCBWI, a critique group, and have participated in Julie Hedlund's 12x12 and Tara Lazar's PiBoIdMo/Storystorm. I have multiple picture book manuscripts completed and additional middle grade projects in progress, if interested.

Kindly,
C. F.


THE SOUND INSIDE

I swing my foot across the dirt-coated path into a rock, sending it skittering ten feet to the side, like a piano player’s fingers across the keys. The rock’s song crescendos and clunks into a huge sneakered foot, which belongs to my longest (both in time and in height) friend, Bard.

“Why’d it have to be us, Bard?”

Bard shrugs. He shifts the rock with his toe until he’s satisfied with the angle, then sails the rock ahead, making me run for it.

I lunge to trap the rock under my shoe. Almost. It scoots just ahead of my toe onto three other rocks with a tap-tap-tonk like they’re clapping because I missed.

I huff and wait for Bard to catch up. “Why did we have to draw the missing fireflies as our report topic?” I shudder as I remember drawing the slip of paper off the teacher’s desk. “Scientists can’t even figure it out. So they want to put all the pressure on two kids to write a report with no answers out there? Where’s the logic in that?”

He quirks his mouth to the side and sighs. Bard doesn’t talk much. Or at all. Not since the accident three years ago. And it’s okay. When you’re best friends, you don’t always need to say everything out loud.

His always-steady beat matches his footfalls and I wish for my own song to join in. But I only hear the echoes of a whole lot of unanswered questions.

Now Accepting Entries

Update: I've now responded to every e-mail I've received as of 10:50 p.m. EDT. The contest is full, so look for those entries to go up on Wednesday morning!

I'm now accepting entries for this week's round of "An Agent's Inbox." Here's a quick refresher:

The Rules

1. To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions: First, it must be COMPLETE, POLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the genres The Agent represents (which are listed at the bottom of this post).

2. IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN LAST OCTOBER'S ROUND OF “AN AGENT’S INBOX,” please DO NOT participate in this one UNLESS YOUR HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT that meets the criteria listed above. If the entry slots don’t fill up by Tuesday, March 21, I may allow previous participants to enter.

3. All entries must include A QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript/proposal. You must paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL; otherwise, I'll disqualify it.

4. THE ENTRY WINDOW OPENS AT 11:00 A.M. EDT (OR 8:00 A.M. PDT). Once the entry window opens, I'll accept the first 30 entries. I won't accept any entries sent before the entry window opens or after the first 30 slots fill up.

5. If your entry makes it in, I'll send you a confirmation e-mail with a post number. If your entry doesn't make it in, I'll still send you an e-mail, but it won't have a post number.

6. If your entry makes it in, YOU MUST COMMENT ON AT LEAST 3 OTHER ENTRIES.

The Prizes The Agent will select both the winners and the prizes. The Agent might pick 30 winners, or he or she might only pick one. The Agent might offer full requests, or he or she might only ask to see another page. It all depends on how good the entries are.

Please keep in mind that THIS CONTEST ISN'T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. I've encouraged The Agent to treat the entries exactly as he or she would a normal batch of queries. Essentially, The Agent will be answering the question, "How much of the entry did you read, and if you didn't read it all, why did you stop?" I think this process will be instructive for all of us, but if you enter, you need to be prepared to hear exactly what The Agent thinks of your query and first page.

The Genres

MG fiction and nonfiction (all genres)
YA fiction and nonfiction (all genres)
Adult Historical
Adult Fantasy
Adult Science Fiction
Adult Mystery
Adult Thriller
Adult Horror
Adult Romance
Adult Literary Fiction
Adult Contemporary
Women's Fiction (upmarket)

To enter, please send an e-mail with YOUR QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com. And please, please, please remember to PASTE THESE ITEMS IN THE BODY OF THE E-MAIL.

"An Agent's Inbox" Contest Alert

THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR ENTRIES! I'M JUST GIVING YOU A HEADS-UP. THE CONTEST OPENS NEXT MONDAY, MARCH 20.

“An Agent's Inbox” is exactly what it sounds like--next week, I'm turning the blog into an agent's inbox, a public one. We'll get to see 30 queries along with their first pages, and we'll get to hear what a bona fide agent thinks of each one.

The queries and first pages will be yours, of course. I'll accept your entries this Monday, March 20, and then I'll post them next Wednesday, March 22. The entrants and anyone else who wishes to review them may comment until the following Monday or Tuesday, March 27 or 28, when I'll announce the winners.

Those winners will be chosen by The Agent, who shall remain nameless for now.

The Rules

1. To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions: First, it must be COMPLETE, POLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the genres The Agent represents (which are listed at the bottom of this post).

2. IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN LAST OCTOBER'S ROUND OF “AN AGENT’S INBOX,” please DO NOT participate in this one UNLESS YOUR HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT that meets the criteria listed above. If the entry slots don’t fill up by Tuesday, March 21, I may allow previous participants to enter.

3. All entries must include A QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript/proposal. You must paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL; otherwise, I'll disqualify it.

4. THE ENTRY WINDOW OPENS AT 11:00 A.M. EDT (OR 8:00 A.M. PDT). Once the entry window opens, I'll accept the first 30 entries. I won't accept any entries sent before the entry window opens or after the first 30 slots fill up.

5. If your entry makes it in, I'll send you a confirmation e-mail with a post number. If your entry doesn't make it in, I'll still send you an e-mail, but it won't have a post number.

6. If your entry makes it in, YOU MUST COMMENT ON AT LEAST 3 OTHER ENTRIES.

The Prizes The Agent will select both the winners and the prizes. The Agent might pick 30 winners, or he or she might only pick one. The Agent might offer full requests, or he or she might only ask to see another page. It all depends on how good the entries are.

Please keep in mind that THIS CONTEST ISN'T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. I've encouraged The Agent to treat the entries exactly as he or she would a normal batch of queries. Essentially, The Agent will be answering the question, "How much of the entry did you read, and if you didn't read it all, why did you stop?" I think this process will be instructive for all of us, but if you enter, you need to be prepared to hear exactly what The Agent thinks of your query and first page.

So get those queries and first pages polished up, then meet us back here on Monday, March 20, at 11:00 a.m. EDT! At that time, you may send your entries to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com. Looking forward to it!

The Genres

MG fiction and nonfiction (all genres)
YA fiction and nonfiction (all genres)
Adult Historical

Adult Fantasy

Adult Science Fiction

Adult Mystery

Adult Thriller

Adult Horror

Adult Romance

Adult Literary Fiction

Adult Contemporary

Women's Fiction (upmarket)

And of course, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below!