Team Mónica #3 -- STITCHING SNOW

STITCHING SNOW

YA Sci-Fi

69,000 words

Query:

Seventeen-year-old Essie knows how to stitch up robotic drones so the men in the mining settlement remember she’s worth keeping around. She knows how to use her fists to make sure they keep their hands off her. But all her self-preservation skills don’t tell her how to deal with Kyle, a boy who’s depending on her to get his crashed shuttle off the ground and out of orbit.

He’s polite, chivalrous, even a little charming, and he gives Essie the kind of attention she’s never had ... until he discovers her secret. She’s the missing princess of Windsong, nemesis of his home planet, Candara. One betrayal later, he’s taking her home whether she likes it or not, to exchange for Candarans held captive by Essie’s father. What Kyle doesn’t know is she had damn good reasons for running away. His ‘leverage’ means her death.

STITCHING SNOW is a tale of Snow White in space, if Snow were a cage-fighting tech-head with daddy issues.

First page:

It took seventeen seconds to decide Jarom Thacker’s reputation as sharpest fighter on Thanda had been exaggerated. At twice my size—and age—he was still quick, forcing me to move or risk getting pinned against the cage. Like everyone else who came through Mining Settlement Forty-Two, though, he aimed for my gut. Never the most obvious target.

Wouldn’t want to botch the pretty girl’s face, right? Idiot.

I blocked him on the left but missed his fist slamming into me on the right. Pain flared through my ribs. The fire spurred me on, and I slipped Thacker’s grip when he grabbed at my arm.

Unlike him, I had no qualms about uglifying him further—not with the way he looked at me, the shudder it sent across my skin. The heel of my palm slammed into his nose with a satisfying crunch despite the cushioning of my shock-fiber handwraps. He ignored the blood and lunged blindly. An easy dodge, and I took the opening to knee his groin. When he doubled over, I kicked his legs from under him. He dropped and I followed, bracing my legs against his while my upper body pinned his shoulders. The shouts surrounding the cage crested as Thacker pushed against the threadbare mat. Before he could throw me off, I grabbed a fistful of his hair and slammed his head down.

“Three . . . two . . . one . . . fight goes to Forty-Two’s own Essie.”

Team Mónica #2 -- TAGESTRAUM

TAGESTRAUM

Adult fantasy

88,000 Words

Query:

Adrian Montgomery’s ex-wife calls his efforts as a social worker a “hero complex,” but Adrian never saw it that way.  Then again, his wife never knew about his sister; or the guilt he feels for his role in her fatal accident. Nobody knows because Adrian hasn’t talked about her for twenty-five years.  He’s never mentioned the nightmares, either – the ones where a cloaked man comes to take him away.  Over time, Adrian learns to forget his dreams and lock away his memories in carefully sealed rooms in his mind. 

All of that changes when one of his clients, seven-year-old Nathaniel Weaver, disappears from his backyard.  The only clue about his whereabouts is a drawing he left behind depicting a familiar tall, cloaked man.  Obsessed with solving the disappearance, Adrian visits Nathaniel’s home and finds a doorway where none should be.  On the other side is Tagestraum, a faerie world built and occupied by human dreams.  Here, the lines between dreams, memories and nightmares are blurred, and lingering too long can shred a human’s sanity. 

In order to find Nathaniel and return home before the world tears them apart, Adrian must face his oldest, darkest memories…and they’re not happy about being forgotten. 

First page:

The Nightmare Man came today. 

            Adrian could still hear the echo of Nathaniel's words in his mind – the words the boy had said when he made the drawing.  The sketch now stared up at Adrian from his coffee table with its wide, blank eyes.  Though drawn in black crayon, it was still recognizable:  a tall cloaked man with a gaping mouth rimmed in teeth like the maw of some deep-sea fish. 

What bothered Adrian about The Nightmare Man wasn’t his menacing appearance or Nathaniel’s insistence on his reality.  It was the nagging feeling of familiarity, the feeling that Adrian had not only seen this creature, he actually knew him in some way.  The first time Nathaniel had shown him the drawing, months ago now, a cold chill had crept up Adrian’s back, a sense of déjà vu that he could not entirely place.  It bothered him.  Now, with Nathaniel missing, it bothered him a whole lot more.

In his hand, the cell phone was sweaty and the heat of the battery was uncomfortable against his palm.  In his other hand, he turned the detective's business card over and between his fingers. Outside, the moon was high and pale in the sky.  A dog barked, somewhere, but otherwise all was still.  

Team Mónica #1 -- THUMP

THUMP

YA Contemporary

60,000 words

Query:

Sixteen-year-old Hailey Scott was sure her ex-boyfriend’s cheating shattered her heart. Turns out, it’s not broken—it’s just sick. Diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a life-threatening condition that can result in sudden cardiac arrest, Hailey is sure her heart will never be the same. After handing in her title of cheerleading captain and her brand-new driver’s license, Hailey realizes she must keep her condition a secret if she wants any shot at a normal life.

Refusing to live as the girl with the ticking time bomb in her chest, Hailey sneaks into a club to see Madison Avenue, the hottest new local band. There, she crashes into the band’s drummer, Declan, whose wild but rhythmic beats make her heart thump. Together, Hailey and Declan wreak havoc through the mall, crash the homecoming dance, and search for the perfect snare drum. As she navigates their relationship around her disease and her overprotective mom, the walls of Hailey’s heart grow weaker—forcing her to decide if falling in love one last time is worth the risk.

First page:

I stand in front of the TV, blocking my parents’ view. There’s a commercial break so I have their attention.

“I’m just staying the night at Leah’s.”

“I don’t know…” My mom glances over to my dad. If it were up to her, I’d be strapped to a hospital bed, hooked up to a bunch of bleeping machines. 

If my parents knew where I was actually going tonight, they’d be mad. Really, really mad. Like murder-me-themselves-instead-of-waiting-for-the-inevitable mad. But this ache in my chest, it won’t let up. I just need to get out of here—forget that I have a diseased heart and drown out the pain now—before it kills me. That is, if they’ll let me go.

“All we’re going to do is watch movies. And make popcorn.” I look at my dad with big, pleading eyes. Like good, healthy girls do.

“Hailey,” he says in that way that makes me feel like I’m five. “I don’t think it’s a good idea right now.” My mom nods. I open my mouth to say something, but he holds up a hand. “You should take it easy tonight.”

“I can take it easy at Leah’s house.” I’m talking too fast. I’m going to blow this. “I promise, I won’t overexert myself. I’ll lie around all night. We’ll go to bed early. And I’ll—”

There’s a honk in the driveway, and I flash him one more desperate look. Please, please just let me go. If that doctor is right, I might not have that much time left.