An Agent's Inbox #14

Dear Ms. Smith,

I chose to query you because of your interest in new MG that is fun and fresh. DAX PELUSO: AWKWARD. APPREHENSIVE. AND COMING TO SAVE THE DAY would likely appeal to fans of Rick Riordan, Christopher Paolini and John Flanagan. I believe you’ll appreciate Dax’s humor and his depiction as a “real teenager” as he awkwardly stumbles his way through a magical world.

Daxinthian Peluso died on the day he was born. So you might say he was off to a rough start. And then, as if his life were destined to be an exhibit in a museum of the bizarre, a parade of oddities permeated his childhood:  teachers suddenly began calling him the wrong name (weird); his classmates ignoring him altogether, like he didn’t exist (weirder); and there was the thing about him resurrecting dead animals (weirdest).

Running through a gauntlet of the peculiar--like being scolded by a pompous porpoise and almost eaten by a pair of feathered dinosaurs--15-year-old Dax finds out he is actually from another world, where he is heir to the throne, which might be kind of awesome if his super evil uncle weren’t sitting on it. The no-good, greedy king has found a new way to terrorize his hijacked Kingdom, and this time the consequences are deadly. He’s learned how to steal power from the land itself, leaving an eerie gray fog that is spreading slowly, killing everything in its path.

And as if that weren’t enough for Dax to deal with, it turns out that his childhood dog and the high school quarterback (whom Dax can’t stand) show up claiming to be his sworn protectors. Then after an awkward first-meeting with Dax’s royal servants, his long-awaited return is cause for a great celebration in which Dax must learn a few new dance moves, wrestle a chicken, and sport a fitted...a little too fitted...pink jumpsuit.

But as it turns out, being the legendary Chosen-One/ Long-Lost-Prince/ Only-One-to-Save-the-World (no pressure, right?) is not all fun and games. In order to save his people, Dax must do the unthinkable. With the help of his quirky and loyal sidekick trio, the reluctant (and often awkward) Prince Dax must find a way to stop his Uncle before there’s nothing… and no one…left to save.

DAX PELUSO is 85,000 words of MG fantasy. This is my first novel, though I do have ideas for a possible series, and I'd be absolutely thrilled if you would consider it for representation. Thank you very much, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

M.R.

DAX PELUSO: AWKWARD, APPREHENSIVE, AND COMING TO SAVE THE DAY

Kadin Tarak wasn’t your typical alien, if there was such a thing. He wasn’t green or slimy or scary, and in fact seemed very much like an Earthling, which was the whole point of course. Because Kadin wasn’t from Earth. He was from Tarak, which was a planet and not really his last name. But he could do alien things: if he wanted to, he could run really fast, use his super strength, and control people’s emotions.  Oh, and he could read minds. Well, kind of. Okay, he could almost read minds. But he was getting pretty good at it.

Other than that, he really looked like the average sixteen year-old high school boy. (Though he was actually forty seven years old, considered a very young age where he was from, thank you very much). Indeed the fact that he was ridiculously handsome--with his tan skin, dark hair and bright blue eyes--and extremely popular was of no interest to Kadin. He simply was these things because he had to be. How else could he do his job so well?

“Hey, Kadin!” Dustin, one of Kadin’s classmates called out to him, a soccer ball under his arm. “We’re going to go kick the ball around. Want to come?”

“Sure,” Kadin replied, though kicking a plastic inflated sphere was the last thing Kadin wanted to do at the moment. However, he knew Dax was out by the soccer field reading a book, and this would be a perfectly acceptable excuse for Kadin to go check on him.