Face-Lift 748

Guess the Plot

The Shadow's Edge

1. After his family moves to the deep south, Julien is treated like an outsider. He has no close friends. And just when he thinks things can't get any worse . . . Hitler invades! The shadow of the Third Reich has a long reach.

2. Hank Horowitz always thought of his shadow as an out-of-focus, benevolent figure that followed him around. But when he finds his shaving cream replaced with denture adhesive, and discovers he’s unable to go half a block without encountering a banana peel, he realizes that fuzzy shape’s got a definite mean streak.

3. Jim's friends all say that it's impossible to step on your own shadow's head. But Jim has recently become aware of an amazing celestial phenomenon: the sun moves in the sky! He issues a challenge to the nay-sayers: "Meet me on the playground by the swings at high noon." Jim will crush the puny psycho-religious beliefs of the other four-year-olds.

4. At the Shadow's Edge there is a town of peg-leg men and parrots, where all the dogs are named Millie. Is there something in the Shadow's Edge that robs men of their legs and their imagination? Now, one man dares to name his dog Bob. Can Javis avoid the Shadow and keep both his legs? Or will the mysterious drunk woman chasing him with a chainsaw claim more than his love.

5. Postal carrier Mark Kingman doesn’t worry about getting mauled by an untrained dog on his route. He fears sunny days—and the shadows they bring. Demons lurk in the shadows. When Mark trips while sprinting from a front porch to his mail truck, will he be trapped in the darkness . . . forever?

6. The Planet Xanth has a Light Side and a Dark Side. Rotating on its axis as it swings around Beta Centauri, one side of the planet faces away from the sun in eternal night. No Xanthan dares enter there--except one intrepid Xanthling named Grol. What terrors will Grol find beyond . . . the Shadow's Edge?



Original Version

Dear Evil Editor,

In The Shadow's Edge, set in France during the first two years of World War II, a school rivalry becomes a matter of life and death for two Jewish refugees.

Fifteen-year-old Julien is angry. His family has moved from Paris to his father's hometown in the deep south, [This makes me think Mississippi rather than the south of France. I'd name the town instead of saying the deep south.] where the guys at school stare at him and won't let him in on their soccer games. His family's new boarder--German, Jewish, nerdy, and in his class--isn't helping. Nor is the fact that Hitler has invaded Poland, and France has declared war. [This seems to imply that Julien blames Hitler for his troubles at his new school. That may be the case, but the order of magnitude of the causes of his problems is so different it sounds like a joke: I'm not making friends because I'm new in town, there's a nerd living in my house, and Hitler invaded Poland. It's like saying Jeff is afraid to ask Millie to the prom because he's shy and he wears braces and the Zorgon fleet is attacking Earth.]

But nothing happens on the border for months, while Julien, through grit, soccer skills, and a near-death experience in a snowstorm, finally wins over most of his class--except for class leader Henri. Then Germany invades. [Don't you just hate it when a genocidal megalomaniac bases his military decisions on how best to screw up your social life?]

As his country falls in a matter of weeks, Julien's world changes drastically. School closes, there's not enough food, no one can believe this is happening. Profoundly relieved when surrender terms name the south as an unoccupied zone, Julien gradually realizes all is not well: [Your country just surrendered to Hitler; "all is not well" is an understatement.] the new Vichy government is collaborating with the Nazis. As school resumes he sets up a rivalry with Henri over the new fascist flag-salute; Henri's power is eroding, his belief in Vichy growing unpopular. Julien is gaining ground. [He thinks, If Belgium would just hurry up and surrender, Henri would be toast.]

Then two teenage refugees get off the train: Gustav and Nina from Austria. Henri's father, the stationmaster, looks at them and smells trouble; he offers them a ticket back out of town, and Julien witnesses the scene. They refuse; Nina is very sick, they need help desperately. Julien guides them to the pastor's house at their request. But Henri's father has called the mayor, who tells the pastor's wife these "illegal immigrants" have a choice: to leave town quietly or be sent to a Vichy internment camp. She says they'll leave. Julien helps to hide them in town.

Then Henri tells Julien he knows they're not gone, and asks where they're staying. Now Julien has to convince him not to tell his father--if he fails, Nina may die.

But who has ever listened to his enemy?


The story of Gustav and Nina's journey from Austria is also told, in short vignettes between chapters. As Nina's father lay dying of TB in the summer of 1939, he told her:Leave Austria, you and your brother. Burn your papers. Find a place where you are safe. But a narrow escape from a stranger who offered to help them cross the border makes Nina wonder: did her father understand what kind of world he was sending them out into? Or is her uncle right, who told her to stay put, that there is no safety, that everywhere there are evil men? This question haunts her as she and Gustav make their uncertain way across half of Europe, wondering if there will ever be a place for them. [Their story sounds more exciting than Julien's.]

Complete at 88,000 words, The Shadow's Edge is a Christian historical YA novel for teens who like a good life-or-death story and for parents and teachers who want to enrich their kids' school study of WWII and the Holocaust. It is loosely based on the true story of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, the only town to be honored by the state of Israel for rescuing Jews during the war.

I won contests for poetry and creative nonfiction in college. The Shadow's Edge is my first novel. My mother, Lydia Munn, and I are the co-authors.

Sincerely,


Notes

This too much detail for a query letter. The Gustav/Nina vignettes paragraph can go. The nerd boarder can go. The pastor can go.

I assume the main plot involves saving the refugees. This is more compelling than whether Julien gets to play soccer. Possibly the story lies in Henri and Julien realizing there are more important things than the school pecking order? (The story might be even more compelling if Julien weren't on the rise and Henri on the decline already.) In any case, focus more on saving Gustav and Nina, and less on Julien's problems. We just need to know Henri and Julien are rivals, so we can appreciate how their relationship affects the bigger picture.

It seems like it would be hard for the Nazis to round up Jews in the south if the south was unoccupied. Not they were trustworthy, but if you want to give the impression you aren't occupying the south, infiltrating every town looking for refugees is going about it the wrong way. No wonder they lost.

If this is for a Christian market, are you sure you don't need a little something about the religious angle? There's no indication the pastor does anything to help the refugees. The stationmaster and mayor don't strike me as typical Le Chambon-sur-Lignon heroes.

Cartoon 610

Caption: anon.

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

New Beginning 741

There stands a bridge in the northern country, a bridge nigh as ancient as the mountains in which it stands, a bridge so high in the mists that it is scarcely real, and it is with this arch from solidity to solidity that our story begins.

It is the dead of an autumn night, the sort of night where the cold seeps into your bones—the cold of dead adventurers' stony graves, hidden deep from the sun's light in the folds of the mountain. Farther down the mountain, below the tree line, the pines rustle softly and nervously where they stand, and even their cousins, the maples and oaks much farther below, hesitate to display their brilliant autumn foliage to decorate the harvest-feasts of the valleys.

But here there are no harvest-feasts, and no lanterns but one, which is held very tightly in the sweaty palm of a young man's hand. He's looking up at the twin pillars of the bridge, shifting from foot to foot, glancing over his shoulders, and biting his lip.

He knows it is the date. He knows it is the hour. He scaled a mountain, and crossed that treacherous bridge, and descended back through the treeline to this silence, this absence of feasting. Something has gone terribly wrong. Or . . . his Facebook friends have punk'd him again.


Opening: Rachel.....Continuation: Anon.

Cartoon 609

Caption: anon.

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

Face-Lift 747

Guess the Plot

Unearthly Beginnings

1. Librarian Jeannie Flaherty knows there's something wrong when every new acquisition that comes into her library involves fog, spectral dogs, alien abductions, and Sasquatch. Could it be a sign that the zombie apocalypse really is happening? Also, undead hamsters.

2. Born into a superhuman race from the planet Iridium, Hugh Halogen really just wants to emigrate to Earth and start a career as a printer-fax salesman. But when he beats every sales quota on record, rival Morris Molybdenum threatens to expose Hugh’s origins unless he slacks off. Will Hugh triumph in his quest for mediocrity, or return to his . . . unearthly beginnings?

3. Molly Walker is the head writer for the Education Channel's hit alien hunting show "Unearthly Beginnings". Handsome Gary Brockman is the series' narrator, bringing Molly's words to life. He doesn't even acknowledge her existence. Maybe having the Zericolans abduct him will finally get him to notice her.

4. While excavating a Mayan temple, archeologist Saul Pannelli finds a chamber with circuitry embedded in its walls. When they hook the circuits to a generator, a beam of light shoots into space. Panic ensues.

5. Loner Charlie gets assaulted by a bully, and wakes up as prisoner of an evil unearthly monster. He escapes, but the evil is inside him, and Charlie must decide if it's worth unleashing the evil to kill the bully, even if it means the annihilation of the human race. He decides it is.

6. Medicinal pot-grower Marv Sweets didn't know what he was getting into when he tried to market hydroponic-grown weed under the brand name 'Unearthly Beginnings'. The Feds he can handle, but the organic foods fanatics can smell the chemical fertilizers he uses from miles away. When his greenhouses are wrecked by Birkenstock-clad vandals, Marv knows he's in a fight to the finish with foes who will stop at nothing to prevent scientifically grown pot.


Original Version

Dear Evil Editor,

Unearthly Beginnings:

When sixteen year old Charlie Wilkins falls into the hands of a deranged scientist, he leaves the encounter alive, but loses the life he knew forever. Charlie finds himself in the middle of a bittersweet nightmare as the transformations within him destroy everything he once hated and loved. [We don't really need this paragraph, as it's all covered in the next paragraph. You could keep the first sentence, adding, " . . . in my YA dark fantasy, Unearthly Beginnings," and just dump the second sentence which is too vague to interest us.]

Alone except for his mother, kindly old Mr. McFarland, and his paranormal artwork, [As "alone" means alone, the more exceptions you list the more we wonder why you used the word to begin with. I could say I was alone except for my family, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, the cast of Troy and the fans at a U2 concert in Wembley Stadium, but you wouldn't shed any tears for my life of solitude.] [Also, I wouldn't include artwork on a list of exceptions to his alone-ness. If he's alone except for his artwork, he's alone. A bonus advantage of leaving the artwork off the list is that you can put "and" after mother, so it won't sound like kindly old Mr McFarland is the mother.] [Also, why are we mentioning mother and kindly old Mr. McFarland up front, when they play no role in the rest of the query?] Charlie wants nothing more than to slip under the radar going unobtrusively from day to day. [No need to say both "slip under the radar" and "going unobtrusively from day to day," as they mean the same thing.] But, when he's captivated by the unattainable beauty, Amy Gold--girlfriend of the star quarterback--and his most relentless antagonist, Tom Sterling, [This makes it sound like Tom Sterling and the quarterback are two different people. And that Tom is the quarterback's relentless antagonist.] Charlie pours his emotions and passions into the creation of his own comic book with Amy in the starring role, and Tom as a grotesque snake-like predator. When it is discovered by Tom and his peers, Charlie is pursued and brutally assaulted. [You don't see The Joker and Lex Luthor assaulting the authors of Batman and Superman comics. I thought there was no such thing as bad publicity.] [Evil Editor comic books! Why have I never thought of that?] Left to his own fate, [You don't need that phrase, whatever it means. And start a new paragraph here.] Charlie awakens in a place of indescribable horror, and is forced to become the first human test subject of a monster. Although unaware of it, Charlie is face to face with a creature not quite human, [A monster.] who's [whose] race has been persecuted to near extinction and his [whose] use of Charlie will mark the start of his specie’s [species'] rebirth. Having escaped the inhuman man and his lab, [When did that happen? How long was he a test subject, three minutes?] Charlie attempts to resume his life--but finds that his life is no longer his own. A beast has taken residence within him, and he must fight for control of his body and mind. When his new abilities [What are his new abilities?] allow him to destroy everyone who'd ever hurt him, [i.e.Tom Sterling.] however, he gives himself over to the conversions. Summoning the last bit of will in him, Charlie seeks to end the evil that was unleashed but it might already be too late to save our race from a monster's Unearthly beginnings. [Once Charlie unleashes it, the evil beast is powerful enough to destroy the human race, yet this puny kid was able to hold it back?]

This dark fantasy novel for young adults, complete at 62,500 words, is available for review upon request. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,


Notes

Is there a connection between the comic book and the monster? Like, did those who assaulted Charlie give him to the monster?

Calling the deranged scientist a monster and a creature may give the wrong idea. Does he look like a human?

Turn that long paragraph into three.

The monster (or his creation) has the power to destroy the human race, yet his own race has been persecuted to near extinction? By whom?

Photo Caption Contest Winners

Caption: Matt Ryan

Caption: Angie

Caption: Paul Penna

Caption: anon

Cartoon 608

Caption: Steve Wright

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

Face-Lift 746

Guess the Plot

Rage of a Hero

1. Stanley Diefenderfer desperately wants to bang on his chest and bellow at the sky, but can't. Being a secondary character sucks.

2. Angered at the recent success of the Philadelphia cheesesteak, a meatball hero engineers a nationwide Cheez Whiz shortage to ensure his comeback, and his rival’s downfall.

3. Enraged after he accidentally slaughters the maiden he was supposed to be rescuing--the International Federation of Heroes will not stand for such behavior!--Njord the Noble is forced to take an anger-management class. The plot thickens when he also slaughters his entire class and kidnaps the instructor.

4. In a land where “superheroes” are ordinary government workers and dorks have superpowers (if you call bringing comic book characters to life a superpower), one man rages. Forgotten and alone after becoming a centenarian, Superman vows that Metropolis will not soon forget the day his wrath was unleashed.

5. After saving the kingdom from a terrible dragon, Brogdinard is the most popular hero ever--so popular the king becomes wildly jealous and throws him into the dungeon, along with anyone who dares complain. Now Brog's mad as hell, and someone's gonna pay. As soon as he figures out how to escape from a dungeon.

6. A group of corrupt folk are planning to take over the governments of every country in the world. Xavier was the only one who knew about it, but he lost his memory when he died and the Grim Reaper brought him back to life with half of a hell soul, so now his team of superheroes must help him remember, but if Xavier builds up too much rage, his half-hell soul will take over and who knows what its agenda is?



Original Version

Dear Evil Editor,

After being murdered, Xavier Van Rui made a deal with the Grim Reaper to return to Earth to settle some unfinished business. The Reaper agreed, [Most accommodating. Does the Reaper get anything out of this deal?] but in order to accomplish such a feat, Xavier’s soul had to be combined with a powerful prisoner of hell’s to give him enough strength to return from the dead. It worked, forming a very unstable and chaotic concoction.

Sure enough, Xavier returns to Earth. One problem though: he can’t remember anything except his name. This may not seem like that big of a problem, [Say what? Unless his unfinished business is to wander about aimlessly, stating his name, it seems like a huge problem.] but Xavier was a part of a supernatural team called the [X-men.] Legends, who work to suppress and eliminate another polarized group of corrupt folk who will stop at nothing to take control of all the governments of the world. They are nicknamed by the Legends: “Corporation Erebus.” [Are they supervillains or just regular folk obsessed with governing countries?]

Xavier knew that Corporation Erebus was finally beginning to acquire the means to make the world fall onto its knees. Like any stubborn neurotic, he didn’t tell the Legends, and he went to stop Corporation Erebus himself, getting killed in the attempt. [Why did he join the Legends if he prefers to go solo? I realize Aquaman has his own personal enemies, like sharks, but when the villain is trying to take over the universe, Aquaman asks Superman to pitch in.] His friends suspected he knew something, something very important, and now they need him to remember. They fear time may be running out. [Do they know he died, or do they just think he has amnesia?]

As he struggles to remember, the other soul within Xavier begins emerging. He calls himself “the havoc, the fury, the Rage of a Hero,” [That's a bit unwieldy for a nickname. I know, because I used to call myself "Evil Genius, Overlord, Mister Amazing, Nobility In A Chair." Eventually I just went with the acronym.] and he can only emerge when Xavier feels enough negative emotion. The Rage of a Hero has his own agenda, [If we knew his agenda we'd have a better idea of what's at stake. Maybe he wants to destroy the planet. Maybe he wants to get laid.] and he wants to take control, and with all the stress in Xavier’s life, he may succeed, ruining any chances of stopping Corporation Erebus. [Why bother? Ninety percent of the world's governments would be in better shape if Corporation Erebus took them over.]

Rage of a Hero is complete at 75,000 words, and is ready to be sent upon your request. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,


Notes

The title made sense when I thought it referred to Xavier. Then it turns out it's the nickname of the soul of some prisoner of hell.

Xavier being the name of the X-men's leader, maybe you should have a different name for your member of a superhero team.

What was Xavier's supernatural power before he died? Does he still have it?

When you say Xavier can't remember anything but his name, do you mean he doesn't remember the other Legends, how to speak English, how to drive a car, how to use his supernatural ability? If he remembers nothing, how does he hook up with the Legends when he returns to Earth?

Cartoon 607

Caption: Marissa Doyle

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

New Beginning 740

My grandmother, Sophia Gorman, met me at the baggage claim in San Francisco.

She wore a 49ners' cap over her curly gray hair, and she waved at me like I was a celebrity or something. I guess I was – sort of. My mom had just married Justin McGraff, the famous fashion consultant to the stars.

Long story.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. Mom met Justin when he hired her to defend him in a lawsuit. The next thing I knew, the two of them were going out for sushi. When Mom invited him home for a sleepover, I knew Justin was a keeper. I didn't care, 'cause Justin made Mom happy.

"Autumn," Grams says, hugging me. Her 49ners' cap falls to the floor. The both of us try to pick it up at the same time and our heads collide.

Grandmother reacts first. "I've got it," she says. She smiles. "So, my daughter is off to Europe on her honeymoon?"

"Paris," I say. "And then Venice."

"Very nice," she says. "I always knew she'd find a man with money. But," she adds, "she's done very well on her own as a defense attorney."

"Yeah. You're right, grandma. She has."

"It wasn't easy for her," Granny continues, "raising you and studying late into the night. But it paid off. Marrying Justin McGraff! He's fashion consultant to the stars, you know."

I nod. "And now he's taken her to Europe. And I'm staying with you, my Oma."

"That's right, Autumn," Grand-mere replies. "Shall we go over it once more, or do you think the readers have it now?"

"Let's do another pratfall," I suggest. "Just to break up the exposition."


Opening: Irene.....Continuation: Batgirl

Cartoon 606

Caption: Anon.

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

Face-Lift 745

Guess the Plot

Just Jezebel

1. After seventeen years of putting up with Merely Mother's crap, Just Jezebel hit the road. Now she's back seeking revenge, and there's hell to pay--unless Simply Chris can calm JJ down.

2. Jezebelliannalinalia is tired of having a name that's both unspellable and unpronounceable by anyone who's not a fan of epic fantasy. Can she survive the six months until she's old enough to have her name legally changed over her parents objections--or will she kill them?

3. King Gorg's rule of the Kiron Empire is the bloodiest in centuries, but it is Queen Jezebel who secretly holds the reins. When Centurion Marlak and his People's Army execute Gorg for his crimes and install Jezebel as sole ruler, she has no one left to hide behind. She can rule judiciously and against her nature, or lose Marlak's respect . . . and probably her life.

4. Tired of her bad reputation, Jezebel exchanges silk for gingham, tosses out the perfumed unguents and kohl, and starts referring to herself as "just Jezebel." But when Mary Magdalene moves to town calling herself "merely Maggie," a rivalry ensues that threatens to take down at least three religions.

5. To prove she's not shallow, Jezz, the hottest girl in Midlang HS, accepts a challenge: one week without makeup or super-cool clothes. Will she learn to be just Jezebel, or does her character depth depend on the depth of her foundation?

6. When a historian discovers that Jezebel, the murderous biblical queen, was actually a benevolent and popular ruler, can she convince the world of the truth before she's murdered by a Vatican faction determined to preserve Scripture ?




Original Version

Dear Evil Editer,

Lately, it seems like Jezebel’s whole world is in constant motion, between the news of her mother’s betrayal and their abrupt move across the globe, Jezebel is unable to catch her footing. [We're off to a bad start here. First you spell my last name wrong, which is better than using some other editor's name because you're sending simultaneous submissions and forgot to change the greeting, but still annoying. Then your first sentence is a comma splice; the comma after "motion" needs to be a period or a semicolon. Also, "catch her footing" isn't a common expression. "Get" or "regain" would be better than "catch." Finally, having looked ahead and seen that you don't later reveal what you mean by "her mother's betrayal" or where on the globe they moved to so abruptly, you should be more specific about these things up front.] If there is one thing she’s good at its [it's] keeping her mother’s secrets, and playing the faithful ally and cleanup crew. But four years ago Jezebel left California with the assumption that she was never coming back, it was the final goodbye—one that never happened—and a chance to leave all the loose strings behind. [It sounds like you mean she left California four years ago to get away from her mother, but earlier you referred to "their" abrupt move across the globe, from which I inferred that she moved with her mother.] Seventeen years makes for a lot of practice and four years makes for a lot of time to work up the nerve, but when faced with old friends and old feelings, Jezebel cannot apologize any more than she can forgive her mother for her deception or gain her father’s attention. [This entire paragraph is vague to the extreme. Only someone who's read the book would have any idea what you're talking about.]

Chris Freeman was the one string that kept on hanging… [Who?]

And when a plan concocted by Jezebel’s grandmother forces them together again, they find that four years can change a lot and that love can sometimes be forgotten in the dark of an attic. [At least it's consistent.]

JUST JEZEBEL (69,000 words) is a Contemporary YA, merging the confusion of a cynical [editor] girl, the romance of finding someone who makes you a better person, and a lesson in accepting that maybe you can’t fix everything.

This is my first novel, and I’m ready to take the next step with it with a long term agent by my side. JUST JEZEBEL will appeal to readers of Sarah Dessen and Deb Caletti and inspire thought provoking questions about growing up, love and its many cubby holes, and letting go of the past.

The manuscript is complete and ready upon request.

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

Kindly Yours,


Notes

Start over. I couldn't tell you a single thing that happens in the book. The only specific is that Jezebel left California four years ago, and I'm not even sure that happened. What did her mother do, where did they go, what are her mother's secrets, more about Chris Freeman, what does Jez want, what's stopping her from getting it, etc.?

We just need to know what happens in the book. We'll figure out the theme and the lesson if you give us enough specific detail.

Cartoon 605

Caption: Anon.

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

New Beginning 739

The Crispy Knight was a quiet tavern usually, not too rowdy or loud, but when the Demon King’s second-in-command, Gote, came cantering inside utter silence fell. The chubby satyr sauntered through the crowded room and idle conversations stopped, even the clink of glasses ceased.

Ruuk leaned forward as Gote clambered onto the bar with his goat-like legs, cloven hooves clicking across the lacquered surface. Raising his chubby arms for silence, Gote said, “All right, lads, any of you looking to impress the boss: here’s your chance.”

Ruuk straightened at his lonely table and strained his ears to catch every word. His quest for employment in the city was not going well. During his first week in the underground culture of Faerie, he’d discovered there wasn’t much work going around, and even less for an overgrown ‘brute of a troll’ like him— as one shopkeeper so eloquently put it. Ha.

Through the silence, Buhll leapt to his hooves, the brass ring in his nose gleaming dully in the tavern light. "I'll do it!"

Gote looked at him, amused. "Glad to have a volunteer before I even describe the task."

In the corner, Hogg raised his voice as well. "No, choose me!"

Ruuk sank back in despair, but his mood lightened when Gote asked the Demon King, who had just made his entrance, "What'll it be for dinner tonight, boss? Steak or pork chops?"


Opening: Elizabeth D. Walker.....Continuation: Min Yin

Cartoon 604

Caption: Khazar-khum

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

Face-Lift 744

Guess the Plot

Witch Tourniquet

1. Which tourniquet? Yes. No, that's what I'm asking, which tourniquet? Yes, Witch Tourniquet. Which tourniquet? Exactly.

2. Joan thought she had problems when zombies started sprouting in her flowerbeds. Then, this morning it rained lobsters. Maybe scrubbing the marks off that oddly-shaped stone in the back was a bad idea.

3. Called two a bloody seen, EMT Hairy is inn the zone. Cot off guard by the charms of accident victim Merry, he falls head over heals. Meanwhile, he kneads too figure out witch tourniquet will fit thee fatso with thee concussion.

4. After setting the governor's tie on fire, Alice is sentenced to be executed. She is sent to Gallows Hill. There, a group of dead witches stalk her dreams and plot to kill her. That was one hell of a tie.

5. Wounded in battle, Steve Logan is dying when a "nurse" stanches the bleeding with a spell. Is this the beginning of a beautiful romance, or will Steve be unable to deal with the fact that his true love is a witch, sort of like Darren didn't want Sam doing magic on Bewitched?

6. Nearsighted witch Polly thought the big sign was advertising a "Witch Tournament" and decided to enter. When she finds out it's basically a witch bloodletting, hilarity ensues.


Original Version

Dear Evil Editor,

After setting the governor’s tie on fire, Alice Sheraton is discovered to be a witch; thus, the governor appoints [Schedules? Sentences?] her for an execution. Her status as a socialite, however, sets her free when her father bails her [out] and sends her to a safe house known as Gallows Hill. [I'm surprised that a legal system would allow bail for someone sentenced to die. Especially if she's a socialite.] Downtrodden, she resigns herself to being hated by the world and living a life that has no future for witches. [We just did a novel about a persecuted werewolf, now we have a persecuted witch. It's an inevitable backlash against authors who stereotype murderous villains as evil.]

But Gallows Hill isn’t the safe house she expected it to be. On her first night there, Alice finds her way to a secret library where she discovers a hellish cross that sends her visions and nightmares. To worsen matters, a dead witch called a Shadowman begins stalking her dreams, urging her to destroy the cross. [If I had a hellish cross that was sending me nightmares, I wouldn't need any urging to destroy it.] Tired of nightmares and seeking a purpose for her life, she tries to get rid of the cross, only to discover that the same Shadowman who sent her the warning wants to kill her for reasons unknown to her. [If someone wants to kill me, I don't need to know the reasons. I'm long gone.]

Not only does her stalker want to kill her, but when she can’t get rid of the cross, [Whaddaya mean, she can't get rid of it? Did she try throwing it in a lake or in a trash dumpster, or putting it in an envelope and mailing it to Ethiopia?] the leader of the Shadowmen Alliance orders her death as well. [Once you've said that one Shadowman wants Alice dead, telling us another Shadowman wants her dead doesn't raise the threat level much. Move on.] Now she must escape Gallows Hill before any of the Shadowmen have a chance to kill her. [Why didn't she need to escape Gallows Hill before the first Shadowman had a chance to kill her?]

Witch Tourniquet is a YA fantasy complete at 95,000.

My name is _______ ________, [as you will discover at the end of this paragraph when you read my signature,] and I have been published in The Oddville Press Issue V and used to write articles aimed at teens in The Xtreme section of The Augusta Chronicle. [Can you get me into the Masters?] I am also the president of the Augusta State University Creative Writing Club [Change your name to the Southeast Writers Alliance. Being president of a club doesn't sound impressive.]


Notes

I'd prefer a title that means something to me.

You'd think a live witch could handle some dead witches. Is a Shadowman more powerful than a witch? As a witch, what powers does Alice have? Can't she save herself with magic, like by turning her executioner into a warthog and transporting to another country? What's the point of making her a witch if she can't do witchcraft?

Cartoon 603

Caption: Anon.

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

Tax Time 2

EE entered the grayish office, paper overflowing his arms. He dropped the yellowish pile of papers onto his accountant's grayish desk and settled into the armchair with a thump. He wheezed like a broken squeaky toy and spoke.

The year my start-up business, mini socks as nose and penis warmers, failed, I was sitting in church praying for my own good, I heard the organ intone the chords to 'It came upon a midnight clear' and I know that the choir sang 'They come on April fifteenth my dear to take our gold away.'"

"No one looks forward to a 1040." The accountant's gray eyes scanned the pile of papers. His slim fingers smoothed the crumple sheets and sorted them into piles.

"It's not fair because it's not theirs to take! It's mine. I'm not sharing a cake at a party where Mumsie insists I cut it up in equal pieces. It's a mugging in the parking lot."

"Are you still a greeter? I need your W2," the accountant said. EE slipped a form to the accountant from inside his pants.

"April most definitely is the cruelest month for words, for those cute little African violet posies my wife grows on the bedroom window and for taxpayers most of all. The Constitution is clear in it's respect for personal property and the government taking it. They have no right to take fruits of MY labor. A privileged few suck off the public tit. Everyone needs to contribute. Those welfare people should give back to the taxpayers in some meaningful way."

"Until then, we must file, mustn't we?"

"Look, I know Miss Snark recommended you and that John AssCrack-McFeely uses you..."

"...Grisham sir, his name is Grisham."

"Who cares? I still won't pay taxes with a smile."

--Dave F.

Saturday Film Series

New Beginning 738

Ralph looked out across the pond from his seat on the swing. The summer afternoon was dying down. The sun was sinking below the hills and everything seemed to be cast in a dim orange light. He reached down, picked up a particularly smooth, flat stone. Then he stood up and tossed it across the pond. Ralph watched as it hit the surface of the pond several times before finally being dragged below the surface and creating a mosaic of ripples sprouting from that spot in the water. Ralph liked skipping stones. For some reason it helped him think. He supposed it had something do with the quiet of it all down here by the pond that cleared his mind.

Tonight, Ralph was down here because of the fight with his parents that had just occurred about ten minutes ago up in the house. Ralph grimaced, he could still hear his mother’s screams at him echoing in his head. There had been a lot of fights like this lately so Ralph thought he would have gotten used to it by now, but each one seemed worse than the last. The reason for all the screaming matches going on in the Stillwell house stemmed from Ralph’s lack of interest, attention, behavior, attendance, or really anything that required effort in school. His parents went berserk and screamed all kinds of things at him like how he was never going to be anything in life if he didn’t try in school and junk like that.

All the usual crap about how unfocused he always was, forever babbling repetitively about mundane details, taking forever to get to the gist of the matter. Over and over again she yelled at him like that; sometimes he thought she was going crazy, the way she carried on at the top of her lungs. And it wasn't getting any better. The next time would probably be worse. Just like at school, where his mind also tended to wander, the same as when his mother was berating him loudly. But Ralph had developed a way to deal with that, too, the same way he dealt with his mother's frequent shouting matches when she'd start dumping on him about his poor school work. Times like that he'd think about the pond, about just the right kind of rock, the ones that if you threw them across the water just right they wouldn't sink, but skim along making these really interesting wave patterns, and if you'd thrown it at just the right angle it might never stop, might go on skipping forever. That's what gave his thoughts direction, cleared away the distractions, let him zero in on the important matters, kept him from going off on the same old things over and over again. Like that stuff his mother was shouting at him about a few minutes ago, when all he could do was think about going down to the park and look for some of those rocks, you know, the ones that...


Opening: Ljmaleh.....Continuation: Paul Penna

Face-Lift 743

Guess the Plot

Retribution's Flame

1. Carrie Holmes rules the multimillion dollar world of vanity magazine publishing. When her rival Justin Kerr outmaneuvers her and buys 51% of her business, Carrie vows to stop at nothing to get her company back . . . even if it means unleashing the fire-breathing dragon she has staked in her cellar.

2. The concept of retribution has a problem: it's in love...with hunger. But hunger is a bodily signal, not a concept, and doesn't feel the same. Will retribution kill itself out of despair? Or will it enter the heart of a starving artist to be close to it's one true love?

3. Attila is tired of being picked on by the sons of the senators. He returns home when his uncle dies and picks up an army. Now it's pay-back time. Also, a non-talking dog.

4. When Julia loses the money she invested with real estate mogul Clay Hughes, she takes retribution by framing him for arson. Now he faces the death penalty. Wouldn't it be ironic if the method of execution were burning at the stake?

5. Pete Haskill is driving ladder truck 42 to a three-alarm fire when he realizes the address he's heading for is that of his ex-wife and her lover. Man, it's so easy to get lost in this town.

6. Tired of authors spelling his name wrong, comparing their books to classics, and looking forward to hearing from him, a New York editor sets his slush pile on fire, a conflagration that ups the global warming timetable by half a century.


Original Version

Dear Evil Editor,

I am seeking representation for Retribution’s Flame, a work of commercial fiction, complete at 98,000 words.

Clayton Hughes had [has] never known the fury of a woman scorned – until now.

In a desperate attempt to save his crumbling real estate empire from the ravages of an economic downturn, he [writes a book called Retribution's Flame. Also, he] teams up with a neophyte investor with a checkered past. His judgment clouded by financial pressures, he falls for Julia’s seductive charms and the troubles begin. After placing him high on a pedestal, she turns on him when he fails to live up to her impossible expectations. [This is pretty vague. What were her expectations and in what way did she turn on him?] He ends their short-lived affair and she seeks revenge. Julia’s scheming leads to arson and murder with Clay as the prime suspect. Her skillful frame-up lands him in jail facing a possible death sentence.

A series of twists and turns leads to a showdown between Julia and Clay’s daughter, Melissa. That violent confrontation ends with Julia dead and Clay a free man.

[Judge: You're free to go.
Clay: Just like that? What happened?
Judge: The woman who testified against you was murdered, so you must be innocent.]

In the end he learns that image and pretense mean nothing. Everything he ever needed had been there in plain sight – his family. [All he needed was a family member to murder the woman he duped into investing in his crumbling real estate empire?]

I am currently the consumer columnist for the Vegas Voice newspaper. In addition, I have contributed over 125 articles on various real estate topics to the Bigger Pockets Real Estate Dispatch. [Real estate. That's where the big money is.] In 2008 I self-published A Rehabber’s Tale, a non-fiction work designed to complement various speaking engagements pertaining to rehabbing and flipping real estate. [So it's like prison work-release programs, except you go to rehab centers and recruit addicts to help you flip real estate in return for a few hours out of the center, during which you provide them with booze and cocaine . . . How do I invest in your company?]

Sincerely,


Notes

If you're going to state that Clay learns that image and pretense mean nothing, I think the plot summary should show how believing the opposite led to his downfall.

It's not clear who's the villain. Calling Julia a neophyte investor who places Clay on a pedestal and has impossible expectations makes it sound like she was naive and fell for his scam, lost everything, snapped, and took revenge. But bringing up her checkered past and her seductive charms makes it sound like she was out to scam him from the beginning. Who sought out whom?

Does she want revenge because he dumped her or because she lost her investment?

Cartoon 602

Caption: Stacy

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

New Beginning 737

At 8:34 AM, Eastern Standard Time, Mother entered the clinic, shivering in the cold. It was the seventeenth of January, 1994.

At 11:00 AM, one of her friends picked her up and drove her home, where she told her mother she was sick and didn't mention how she got home from school.

Darcie was born June 18, 1994, at 2:59 AM. She never remembered much about her early childhood, except that she and Mother lived with Grandmother and Grandfather. Grandmother loved her more than anything in the world except, perhaps, Mother and Grandfather. Grandmother spent hours playing with Darcie, and always took care of her when Mother was away. Mother was often away, either at college or with friends. When she was home, she was nice to Darcie, but she never seemed to care quite as much as Grandmother did.

When Darcie was seven years old, she and Mother moved in with Mother's boyfriend. He ignored Darcie, except to complain about her. Darcie didn't like him at all.

At 9:56 PM, Eastern Standard Time, Darcie stabbed the boyfriend with a kitchen knife and then turned the knife on Mother. It was July 16, 2001. Darcie's grandparents are here to take Darcie "back home where she belongs," but I have explained we are required to keep her in custody until her arraignment.

Detective Smith paused to take a sip of coffee. A seven year old tried as an adult, he thought. If this doesn't put me on top of the nonfiction bestseller list, nothing will.


Opening: Rachel.....Continuation: Stacy

Cartoon 601

Caption: John

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

Face-Lift 742

Guess the Plot

The Superhero Effect

1. Beeman, Lightning, Snake and The Priest, all dead within a week. Can washed up private eye Wayne Worthington solve the head-scratching homicides of these superheroes before chaos commences?

2. When he’s hit in the head by a space rock, Joe finds he’s not an average Joe anymore. Gifted with superpowers, he's the biggest sensation on Earth. But when a real threat appears Joe finds himself unprepared to defend the world. Will he discover what it means to be a hero?

3. All Mike wants is a steady job, a house with a 30 year mortgage, a wife, a couple kids and a dog. Just because he can fly doesn't mean he should be required to wear spandex and track down evil geniuses. Doesn't the government pay the CIA with his taxes?

4. Movie marketer Pam Rogers calls it the Superhero Effect: whenever a comic book flick opens, have a romantic comedy open opposite to pick up the ladies. Brad Jones, head of OGM, knows it too, and wants to ask her out. But will the new Catlady let him go?

5. Landon is a superhero in a world where superheroes are government employees with no super powers. It's like being Aquaman, except fish ignore your commands and you need SCUBA gear. When the mob puts out a contract on everyone who actually has a super power, it's falls upon Landon to save them.

6. The latest recreational drug makes users feel like superheroes. Suddenly everyone's wearing costumes and fighting crime. The cops love having someone else do their jobs . . . until people start trying to fly from the tops of buildings.


Original Version

Dear Evil Editor,

Poppy Gershwin is a lazy, jobless eighteen-year-old living in a city ruled by gang violence. Totally normal – aside from the fact that her best friend Landon is a superhero. But superheroes in Poppy’s world aren’t all flashy capes and gadget belts: they’re elite police operatives, employed by the government to keep the gangsters in check. [If the superheroes are keeping the gangsters in check, why is the city still ruled by gang violence?] Government employees, Landon constantly reminds comic book-obsessed Poppy, and that means no superpowers. [I don't see the connection. Why does being a government employee mean no superpowers?]

But when Poppy discovers that a fellow comic book aficionado can actually transmit his thoughts on radio waves to nearby television sets, the impossible is proved to be true. Superpowers really exist. [When you consider that having your own cable TV show allows you to transmit your idiotic thoughts to everyone in the country, the ability to transmit them just to nearby TV sets isn't such a big deal.] Poppy may even have one herself. But when the head of the reigning crime family, Tony Mancini, puts a bounty on the head of every super-powered person in the city, [especially the guy who keeps interrupting The Sopranos to drone on about how depressing it is living in his mother's basement,] it’s up to Poppy and Landon to protect the innocent and rally the troops – that is, if their feelings for each other don’t get in the way.

The Superhero Effect is an 82,000 word YA novel that would appeal to much the same audience as Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, and to fans of superhero novels like Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman.

I am a first-year university student majoring in Creative Writing at [institution]. [Admitting this isn't going to help your cause.] I look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for your time.

Sincerely,


Notes

This isn't bad. If there are people with super powers I wouldn't mind knowing more about them.

Apparently super powers were considered impossible. Then someone showed up with the ability to broadcast thoughts to nearby TV sets. Then the mob put a bounty on people with super powers. I feel like we're missing a step or two. Radio Wave man doesn't sound like a threat to the mob. Are there actually lots of super-powered people attacking mob interests?

Poppy might have a super power? What is it? Why does an elite police operative hang out with lazy, jobless comic--book-obsessed Poppy?

Why are the government employees known as superheroes? What's so elite about them? They have no powers and they can't even keep the city from being ruled by gang violence.

Cartoon 600!

Caption: Anon.

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

New Beginning 736

A monk was walking through the cool mists of the forest when something in the brush caught his eye. He knelt in the damp leaves and buried his hands in the foliage, trying to see among the shadows. His fingers tangled in soft fabric.

Standing up, he pulled out a thick, shimmering cloak. As he held it out in front of him, it twisted out of his hands and billowed out as though catching a strong wind. The monk tried to flee and found his limbs would not move. He stared in terror as the cloak settled around the shoulders of a shadowy form.

A dim, sad face appeared beneath the hood.

 “Wait," it said. "You must stay and hear my tale, as I am forced to tell it to all who find me. Listen well.

"Many years ago, I was the lord of this land and forest and all you see around you. I was a grasping, greedy, envious man, but at the time I only thought I wanted what was rightfully mine.

"Let me stop you there," the monk said. "When someone finds you, and you tell them your story, do you always wear those robes?"

"Uh, yes."

"Every time?"

"Every time. Yes . . . Why?"

"Take it from someone who knows: That's a very bad habit."


Opening: Ellie.....Continuation: Anon.

Cartoon 599

Caption: anon.

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

Face-Lift 741

Guess the Plot

Beast of Burden

1. I work for Burden and Son Refrigeration Ltd., moving coolers all day. The "and Son" is almost funny. The son moves his coffee cup around his desk all day as he instructs us, the beasts, on what needs to go where. He is eighteen, I am nearly thirty. He dines on pickled eggs all day and blames his dog for his own farts.

2. Kat's new boyfriend carries a terrible burden: he's a werewolf. Kat has her own burden: a phobia of dogs. Their families hate each other. It's like Romeo and Juliet, only with werewolves.

3. Loki escaped Ragnarok through a technicality. When the Beast of Revelations shows up on his doorstep, he's determined to prevent the apocalypse by addicting the Beast to freedom.

4. Eddie Pringle, convicted of petty theft, faces a choice: six months in juvenile detention, or being a roadie for the next Rolling Stones tour. Hilarity ensues.

5. Morris's camel, Al, is his only companion as he faces off against marauding hordes, killer insects, desert heat and an irate ex-wife. As water runs low and supplies dwindle, will Morris have to eat his faithful friend, Al, his trusted . . . Beast of Burden?

6. A blind man receives a guide dog as a gift from one of his two sons. This leads to jealousy and fighting between the brothers, but when the dog leads his master into one precarious situation after another, the jealous son begins to question what the dog was really trained for.



Original Version

Dear Glorious, Omniscient Agent or Editor,

Ever since Kat Baset slapped popular jock, Malcolm Kennett, for grabbing her butt at a seventh grade dance she has been cast out and ridiculed as a loser. [Seventh grade is what, twelve years old? That seems a bit young for a school to have jocks. What sport do they play? Tag? Hide and seek?] Subject to name calling and various pranks from the “it crowd,” Kat just wants to scratch through her last year of high school and get the hell out of Dodge- otherwise known as Alpine Ridge, Colorado.

First day senior year: total disaster. Malcolm tosses Kat’s book bag into the boy’s [boys'] locker room just minutes before her first class starts. With a burst of courage and her nose plugged, Kat storms in the midst of sweaty socks and half-dressed jocks. She is taunted and teased by the usual suspects, but one boy comes to her rescue. Her hero is new kid in town, Remi Gere, the same sweet hunk with whom Kat happened to share the best day of summer vacation. The unexpected rematch ["Rematch" doesn't mean that. "Reconnection" might, but you don't really need a "re" word. "Appearance" or "arrival" would do.] with Remi catapults the two teens into a friendship and proves to be the needed distraction from Kat’s personal hell in the hallways of Alpine Ridge High.

While their relationship buds, Kat learns her new love interest bears a supernatural secret. Remi Gere is a werewolf. [How does she learn this? Surely she would never believe anyone who told her.] [When you're describing a book you've written, it's usually a mistake to wait until paragraph three to mention that one of your main characters is a werewolf. Suddenly it's a completely different book. In one book Remi beats Malcolm up after school, and in the other he rips Malcolm's throat out.] Head over heels for him, Kat wonders if she will be able to handle the heat and overcome her greatest fears- falling in love and her phobia of dogs. [I'm guessing she's afraid of dogs, not of her phobia of dogs?] [When you find out your boyfriend's a werewolf, is your first concern really going to be whether you can get over your fear of dogs?]

Knowing the burden of harboring such a secret, Kat opens up to Remi and shares a little mystic of her own. [I would say she shares a secret of her own, not a little mystic.] The amulet around Kat’s neck contains the powers of her personal beast, a mountain lion- the very thing Remi and his family of wolves hates. [In case anyone's interested, my personal beast is the proboscis monkey.]
[Needless to say, I'm highly annoyed that there are no were-proboscis monkey books or movies.]

As if being a teenager wasn’t difficult enough.

Toss out the iambic pentameter, poison and dagger and throw in the daily tortures of teenage humiliation and some Weres, BEAST OF BURDEN is a 64,000 word YA paranormal, akin to Romeo and Juliet. [Every book is akin to Romeo and Juliet if you're allowed to toss out a few things and throw in a few others.] [For instance, toss out the star-crossed lovers and the feuding families, and throw in a cannibalistic serial killer and a green female FBI agent, and The Silence of the Lambs is a thriller akin to Romeo and Juliet.] [Just for laughs, minions may submit their own "akin to R & J" examples as comments. One per customer, please.] It explores the journey of young love pitted against the adversity of prejudice [Prejudice against werewolves? This is the third book we've done in about a year that dealt with werewolf prejudice, the others being Hybreed Rising and Wolves and Walls. How come we don't have any books dealing with weredingo prejudice?] and long-harbored fears.

This is my first novel. I thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,


Notes

Can Kat turn into a mountain lion? If so, say so. If not, what does the amulet do for her?

It's the first day of school and the first class hasn't yet started, yet the locker room is full of sweaty half-dressed boys? Even if this school has athletic practices before school on the first day of school, the boys should be dressed and gone if their first classes start in a few minutes.

Cartoon 598

Caption: Whirlochre

Your caption on the next cartoon! Link in sidebar.

Saturday Film Series

Face-Lift 740

Guess the Plot

The Milky Way, China Poison

1. Gillian wants to start a new life, so she takes a job with a Chinese dairy, only to discover that her company's milk contains poison. She could speak up, but in China, whistleblowers tend to die young. Maybe Gillian should have started her new life in North Korea.

2. Ten years ago, Jade fled her abusive marriage. Now she's China Poison, semiprofessional wrestler, desperate to win the big cash prize at the Milky Way rumble. But she'll have to wrestle with more than her opponents when she's reunited with the daughter she was forced to leave behind.

3. In 2065, “undesirables” have two choices: life in a brutal institution, or euthanasia, known as “China Poison.” Autistic Anne Miller and her best friend, paraplegic Jake Wilhelm, are determined to find a third option. And they do—at the end of an astonishing, history-making trip to the stars.

4. Journalist Krissa knows something is wrong with the candy bars she's been getting at the dollar store. When she uncovers the Chinese plot to dump plastics and toxins in the flavoring, she knows she's got the story of a lifetime. But will she live to tell it?

5. The broad they called China Poison was bumped off behind the Milky Way Drive-in. I figured the husband for it. Big brute with a face like a wet ham. Then somebody shoots him and the coppers find the gat—with my prints on it. I'm Nick Lugman. And I'm in a whole lotta trouble.

6. With a dead soup-kitchen chef and a trail of candy bars leading to an independent bookstore, homicide detective Zack Martinez knows two things: astrology should be shelved after alchemy, and the mutton-chopped homeless man hiding in the stacks isn't interested in memoirs.


Original Version

Dear:

Re: The Milky Way, China Poison - 38,000 word novella

The rear ender launched the large coffee over Gillian Heath and now she’s going to be late for her job interview. A position in Asia, Shenzhen, PRC. She’s trying for a new life. She couldn’t look at her son’s bedroom door, shut on the empty room anymore. Gillian received the proceeds from the sale of her house an hour ago.

The guy who smacked into her jumps out of his car to see if she’s hurt. She’s not but her silk dress and shoes are covered with coffee drops and streaks.

The man responsible for the wreck blurts out she smells wonderful. His small talk is not going well. He learned he has cancer an hour ago.

“Quit smelling me!” she spits at the moron. Gillian drives to her interview after the terse exchange of information.

Parked, she changes into her wrinkled gym clothes in the car and schlumps to Reception where she convinces the receptionist she has an appointment and isn’t delivering sandwiches.

“Nice to see you again,” Tom Wells, GM, extends his hand and grins at her. She fights off the urge to swing at him but takes the hand. It’s the moron. He’s interviewing her. [You're telling us the entire book. We don't need so much detail. Basically, Gillian is having a bad day. Tom is having a worse day.]

Gillian is running mach five into a new life trying the geographical cure. That never works for anyone and this one won’t work for her. She doesn’t know that. She jumped at the job wondering if rear end remorse had anything to do with Tom’s offer. It didn’t but she doesn’t know that either.

Gillian is running from her son’s death. Accident, call it whatever, she should have kept him safe. Her new job and China don’t work out too well as a cure.

She’s detached, dead inside until she finds out her “I don’t give a frig, Newton” veneer has the depth of cling wrap when samples from her company’s milk show high levels of melamine. Melamine poisons kids with amazing efficiency. Rage, white hot, rips her alive. First time she’s felt anything in a long time. [Finally we've reached what I assume is the main plot.]

Maybe she can honor her son’s short life somehow if she plugs the dam. If she can stop one child from dying of renal failure, she might be able to look at herself in a mirror again. She hates her life. She hates her choices more.

People disappear over internet articles in China. She can ignore the poison milk or try to stop it. Publishing photos of the Party member who poisons for profit is not a good idea. She snaps him out whoring and she’s the whore. [It's not easy to snap photos of yourself while you're whoring. Or so I hear.]

She does stuff she didn’t know she had the stomach for. She frames the major player, she ruins her company and finishes Tom’s career in one hit of the send button. Time to run. The consequences of getting her hands dirty turning off poison milk flowing down little baby throats are severe.

Tom wages a silent and secret battle. He won’t know if his cancer is gone for five lonely years. He married his career a long time ago. Boy, did he get it wrong. He can’t think about that now. He’s got to find Gillian and get her out. She’s in trouble. 1.5 billion people, he better get started

Gillian wanted to change her life not the world. The woman lost in grief and the man who has put his struggles aside to help her, find new meaning in their world, themselves and each other clawing their way out of the mess Gillian made. The Party doesn’t like foreigners causing trouble on the eve of the Olympic Games.

[Gillian: The company I work for is selling poison and calling it milk.

Party member: You're not even Chinese. Check with me after the closing ceremonies.]

Gillian succeeds in stopping the contaminated milk. Tom knew his career and company were wrecked the day he learned about the melamine. He doesn’t care, cancer has a way of straightening out priorities. He wants to live out his life – long or short with this woman but can’t ask her to share her life with him. He may not be able to make a long term commitment. He says goodbye.

Gillian doesn’t care what Tom wants. She needs him to live a complete life. [Spoiler alert.] They work it out.

I’ve been published in China (short stories for an English newspaper and an English school internet site used my stories for language learning) where I worked teaching English. In Canada I worked copywriting for radio, tv and print. I worked as the Promotion Director then Manager of two shopping centers. I wrote at an ad agency. I was hired as a writer for an American trading company in China, hence my move to the PRC. I was a member of the Alberta Romance Writers Assoc. and I now teach in Thailand.

Thank you for the time you spent reading my query, I appreciate it.

Sincerely,


Notes

Your query should fit on one page. This is more like three pages worth of material. It might pass as a synopsis of sorts, but what it feels like is a complete story. A piece of flash fiction. Actually, as a piece of flash fiction, it's not bad. For a query letter, however, try reducing the plot portion to ten or fewer sentences.

You might open with an intro that includes your title, word count etc., and states that the book is set in China on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. We don't need six or seven paragraphs about going to her job interview. The main plot seems to be:

Gillian Heath is running from her son’s death. She’s detached, dead inside--until she finds out her new employer, Shenzhen Baby Products, is poisoning kids with contaminated milk. Rage, white hot, rips her alive.

Tom Wells hired Gillian and sent her to China. When she blows the whistle on Shenzhen, he knows he has to get her out. Whistleblowers have a bad habit of disappearing in China.

One woman lost in grief and one man who has put his own struggle with cancer aside to help her, now seek new meaning in their world and each other.

Throw in a couple sentences that cover vital plot points I left out, and you have enough.


The query doesn't need flowery writing (...until she finds out her “I don’t give a frig, Newton” veneer has the depth of cling wrap...). Save that for the book. Keep the query simple and clear.

The title feels like two titles.

Cartoon 597

New Beginning 735

Since we moved to the East Coast, I'm even more of an in-your-face driver. I catch myself drumming my fingers on the steering wheel when I’m stuck behind a meandering, slow driver. And I say something like…For God's sake, make it occur, or pull over and park. Make a choice. Now. And I might add a few more words at the end; since I don't know the slow slob's name, I make a really good one up.

The penance for my impatience will be standing in faded fatigues at the end of the bridge I cross over when driving into the semi-eternally gridlocked city where I work.

I watched him for several months before I rolled my window down the first time. Most weeks I hand him a five or a ten as I pass by in the frustrating trudge of morning traffic. Usually, it's on a Friday.

I've wondered what his name is, but I never asked for it.

Semper Fi, he always says.

And we exchange a glance, and dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, I reply, because I know what he's been through.

Faber est quisque fortunae suae, he says as he scrumples the bill into his camoflaged pocket, and I believe it, and all I can say, with a tear in my eye, is, diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium, which he takes exception to.

Fucking Latinos.


Opening: Anon......Continuation: Anon.