Disgruntled manticore-mucker Janie runs away from the Cirque Obscure, taking one of the sideshows with her. . . and endangering her entire kingdom.
In my romantic fantasy, THE DEMON TAMER, Janie joined the Cirque Obscure because they provided her a safe way out of the capital of the kingdom of Vastness. Now, they're threatening to take away her quiet backstage job of manticore-mucker and put her center ring as one of the glamour girls. Worse, the king's guards are searching the tents and are sure to find her. As she's throwing together necessities, the manticores speak, asking to be released from their cages.
Startled by the evidence of their intelligence, Janie agrees. Escaped manticores will cover her disappearance nicely. Instead, they join her. It's like traveling with tigers, except manticores don't leave bones when they eat you. On their journey, pursued by the handsome half-breed dwarf in charge of the circus menagerie, Janie learns why the manticores haven¹t eaten her, and why the king wants her.
She is a lost member of the legendary demon tamers, a race of people who bonded with the vicious manticores to control the hell-gates at the heart of the world and the demons that leak through them. The king has mad dreams of using the hell-gates to create an empire. Now that Janie and the manticores have joined forces, they must evade the king's men with the help of Stretch, the half-dwarf, while journeying to the heart of the world to tame the escaping demons.
I've had five books published, two of them award-winners, and am currently contracted with another publisher for a different romantic fantasy series. THE DEMON TAMER should be complete at around 100,000 words.
Sincerely,
--Anonymous
12 comments:
Any book that has the Gates of Hell in it wins my approval.
I love manticores.
Great great line about bones.
As for Stretch the half dwarf - he's rolled my credulity into a pancake like Jackson Pollock.
Write it! Sounds like a winner to me. Nice job with the query.
I'm with dave f - any book with the Gates of Hell in it is a must-read.
- freddie
Wow, anon - whoever you are, you can sure as hell write a damn fine query letter.
Nice letter. Out of curiosity, where are the Gates of Hell located? I think I was there once...
A.
This reads 'real'.
Nice job.
I'd read the pages.
Yay for manticores! Though as it's a romance, I was expecting her to hook up with the manticores. But I'm guessing the half-dwarf is probably the love interest. Though manticore-demon hybrid kittens would be interesting.
Out of curiosity, where are the Gates of Hell located? I think I was there once...
Spokane.
By any chance, Anon, did you just finish reading Water for Elephants?
The Gates of Hell are located in Philadelphia for the summer.
They spend Football season in Cleveland because it's such a wild vacation hot spot.
I truly think they are in Dallas, Texas. But perhaps that's just a portal letting all the demons out.
Well, doofus that I am, it didn't occur to me to look at the comments until--oh, a week after this got posted.
And actually, I'm liking the idea more and more--though I think I'd rather keep the circus, rather than have Janie run away from it. Circuses are so much fun. And she does need another name--as does Stretch... I'm beginning to think I'd like to let the manticore have a manticore-ish romance too... The one in the circus only got caught because it's in despair. The last manticore alive... and the females are much deadlier than the males. Hmm--should the circus manticore be a male, or a female? Male, I think. The female would rather go out in a blaze of glory, killing things... Sorta like Butch and Sundance...
So, he's in the circus, willing himself to death...and this girl shows up... Hmmm...
Post a Comment