Face-Lift 1501

Guess the Plot

Rabbitheart

1. Superheroes have been the thing for over a century and all the good names are either in use or under various restrictions. Floyd has tried everything from bribes to generators to, well it wasn't really theft. Maybe the media coverage on his small animal rescue operation will generate something good. Also Pogo.

2. When innovative heart transplant surgeon Gregory Lassiter realizes his patient will die before a suitable donor heart can be located, he is forced to an unusual extreme: using the heart of a rabbit. But with no recently deceased rabbits available, can he acquire a heart without incurring the wrath of his wife, president of the local PETA chapter?

3. When Bob calls on the empire's armies to follow him into battle, they ask him who the hell he is, and he knows "Bob" isn't going to cut it. But in retrospect, he should have come up with something better than . . . Rabbitheart.

 

4. Raised by humans, he leaves his homeland and joins the army of a nearby kingdom, keeping his identity secret. When the enemy approaches, and his comrades are outnumbered, will he have to reveal his powers to save them? And if so, will the name Rabbitheart live forever in history?

5. Alice has always been shy and easily frightened, but when the love of her life is kidnapped, she feels she must do something about it. Filled with a newfound but as of yet frail bravery, Alice pursues the men who abducted her husband with the help of a retired detective.

Original Version

Dear Mr./Ms. Agent Last Name,

I hope you will consider my debut novel, RABBITHEART (89,800), an adult fantasy set in a world watched over by cruel gods.

Elias is afraid. If anyone realized he wasn’t human — a secret known only by the humans who raised him and the spirits begging for his attention — it would cost his family their lives. To protect them, he leaves his homeland for the first and final time. After entering a kingdom embroiled in civil war, Elias is rescued by a prince who is challenging his brother for the throne. Amongst the prince’s soldiers Elias finds a community where he can belong, so long as his disguise remains intact. [I assume that eventually you'll tell us what he is so we can . . . wait, I just remembered the title. Is he a rabbit? A rabbit wearing a disguise so realistic everyone thinks he's human?] [When the humans who raised him first got him, did they think they were adopting a child, only to discover he was a rabbit in disguise? Or did they know they were adopting a rabbit, and provided him with a human disguise so they could bring him places where pets weren't allowed?] [I just have one question. Actually I have several, but here's the first one. Why will Elias's family all lose their lives if anyone finds out Elias is a rabbit?

However, he soon learns the ruthless churn of war waits for no one and that it threatens to rip away everything and everyone he’s gained. Desperate to save his newfound family, Elias faces enemy soldiers, gods, and nightmares of his own creation. [Nice try, putting "gods" in the middle of your list where I might miss it. Elias takes on gods? Are these the cruel gods mentioned in the first sentence? Does Elias have super powers? My research reveals that there was once a rabbit with super powers who had his own comic book but my guess is that his enemies were farmers and foxes, not Thor and Ares. Whoa! I stand corrected. Here he is on the cover of issue 12, out-strengthening Atlas:

Of course, it's possible Elias is not a rabbit, but an alien from another planet, possibly Krypton, and that he has numerous powers, and looks human even when not wearing his disguise, which is a pair of glasses, and that he has the heart of a rabbit, though not literally.]

RABBITHEART combines the theme of found family amongst the horrors of war in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s House of Open Wounds with the fraught dynamic between the privileged and the oppressed in M.L. Wang’s Blood Over Bright Haven. [I wonder what the agent would think if you included issue 12 of Super Rabbit among your comp titles.]

While writing Elias’s story, I drew on the lived experience of never quite fitting in anywhere. I’ve yet to run into a war zone to escape this reality, but, I’m experienced with masking to avoid discovery and the toll it takes. I live in Michigan[, where I don't fit in] with my husband and our dog and cat.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours,

Notes

Fortunately, your plot summary is only six sentences, which means you have room to add some badly needed details like what Elias is, and what he can do. Other possible additions: an example of the gods' cruelty; why spirits are begging for Elias's attention; whether the nightmares he creates are real; why, when he is one in a community of soldiers, and presumably the least experienced, it's up to him to save them. This information may make it clear that the fantastical elements are vital to the story.

You could carry the plot further by going into Elias's plan to save the world, rather than just telling us what he faces.