Face-Lift 55

Guess the Plot

Metamorphosis

1. A giant cockroach wakes up after a lost weekend to discover it has been transformed into the Roman poet Ovid.

2. Royko, a cat that is reasonably certain he's the living incarnation of Franz Kafka, is about to go on a fantastic adventure that could end with the realization of his greatest wish: to be human again!

3. A woman who hunts incubi for a living joins forces with an incubus to battle three demigods. Against all odds, she and the incubus fall in love.

4. The popular girls of Metro Valley Day School will do anything to maintain a size 0, including becoming zombies.

5. All the middle aged women in a small Iowa town go through the change . . . from human to alien life form.

6. A woman scorned hires a medium to raise the ghost of Kafka for answers on how to seek revenge.


Original Version

Dear Mr. / Ms. XXXXX:

What would you do if your parents were feuding demigods, one of whom wants you dead and the other alive? [Normally Evil Editor stays out of arguments between his parents, but in this case I would take sides.]

Ashera del Cid is a plain Jane with a special ability: she hunts incubi and succubi (for money, of course). [Of course. The days of hunting incubi and succubi for sport are long gone. Evil Editor blames ESPN.] She's content with her life until on her twenty seventh birthday, she learns three demigods are after her. [Nothing puts a damper on a birthday celebration like finding out that demigods are after you.] [How does one find out demigods are after one? Is there a demigod grapevine?] [Couldn't we name the demigods, so Evil Editor wouldn't have to keep typing the word "demigod?"] When one of them administers poison to her best friend, Ashera must join forces with an incubus dragonlord, Ramiel, [An incubus hunter teaming up with an incubus? That's like a fisherman joining forces with a carp.] to find an antidote and stay alive until she can figure out why the demigods want her dead. Too bad Ramiel doesn't inspire much trust. [Evil Editor once trusted a succubus; that's one of three mistakes he won't ever make again.] [The other two: riding an escalator while wearing a floor-length grass skirt, and walking into a gas station restroom on Interstate 45.] But he's powerful. And she needs help.

Ramiel has waited twenty seven years for revenge. [Twenty-seven years? And it's Ashera's twenty-seventh birthday. Coincidence? Or is Ramiel Ashera's true father?] He plans to use Ashera to destroy the demigod who irreversibly crippled him by ripping out his wing. [If a demigod can rip out an incubus's wing, I think I know which one has the higher power rating. And they're taking on three demigods? This battle's over before it starts.] But there's a tiny miscalculation to his strategy. He never expected to fall in love with his enemy's daughter--Ashera. [You've heard of Beauty and the Beast? Get ready for Disney's next blockbuster, Ashera and the Incubus.]

Metamorphosis, a 100,000 word sensual paranormal romance novel, is the first in a trilogy set in Washington D.C. in an alternate world where the mortals and the supernatural coexist. Currently, I'm working on its sequel. [Which will be entitled, W and the Succubi.] I can send you either sample chapters or the complete manuscript of Metamorphosis. An SASE is enclosed for your response.

I'm a member of Romance Writers of America and its special interest chapters RWA Online, Passionate Ink, and Futuristic, Fantasy & Paranormal.

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


Revised Version

Dear Mr. / Ms. XXXXX:

Ashera del Cid is a woman with an unusual vocation: she hunts incubi and succubi. She's perfectly content with her life--until her twenty seventh birthday, when she learns that three demigods are hunting her.

Trying to discover why she's being hunted, Ashera forms an uneasy alliance with Ramiel, an incubus dragonlord. Ramiel has his own agenda; he has waited twenty seven years for revenge on the demigod who irreversibly crippled him by ripping out his wing, a demigod who just happens to be Ashera's father.

Ramiel had planned to use his enemy's daughter, Ashera, in his scheme for revenge, but there was one thing he didn't plan on: falling in love with her.

Metamorphosis, a 100,000 word sensual paranormal romance novel, is the first book in a trilogy set in Washington D.C., in a world in which mortals and supernatural beings coexist. I can send you sample chapters or the complete manuscript. An SASE is enclosed for your response.

I'm a member of Romance Writers of America and its special interest chapters RWA Online, Passionate Ink, and Futuristic, Fantasy & Paranormal.

Thank you.


Notes

Who are the three demigods after Ashera? Both her parents and? One of her parents and? Why do they want her dead? Obviously incubi and demigods don't get along so well, so you wouldn't think demigods would try to off an incubus hunter. Even if she did forget their anniversary. If her parent wants her dead, it might be worth saying why in the query.

For a view of an incubus, check out Henry Fuseli's masterpiece, The Nightmare (the incubus). Even a plain Jane has to draw the line somewhere.