Mar 18, 2009

Got Questions?

No, this isn't a query, just a note from your friendly neighborhood Slushpile Administrator.

Here are some things I will do in the near future to enhance the site. By "the near future" I mean "when I have time," and by that I mean "sometime between right now and never."

- When revisions are posted, I will include a link to the original query, and likewise I'll add a link to the revision on the original query.

- On the sidebar, I will add in links to Agent Blogs, and Editor Blogs, Query Tips (may include specific posts from Agent/Editor blogs as well as my own input and submissions from you fine folks), and last but not least, Writer's Resources

- I will expand the site FAQ's

Now, specifically in regard to the latter most item, I need your input. What questions do you have? Particularly about the site, but if you want to ask about life, the universe and everything, I'll respond (NOTE: the answer is 42).

Submit your questions, suggestions for links, and query tips in the comments to this post.

#

Query: Just Maybe

A revision of this query has been posted. Click here to read it.

Dear Mr./Ms. Agent,

I am caught between two worlds.

Outside my front door I’m just a high school student, doing my best not to flunk out of Physics. Inside my house, it’s more old world Asia than modern America.

My priorities were handed to me when I was born. Everything I’ve ever done has been for my family. When everyone’s happy, I’m happy. Or so I thought.

No one understood my life, except my best friend Sam. She always listened to me. Until her accident. Then it was my turn to listen.

I heard more than I expected.

In JUST MAYBE Lisa is exactly what any first generation Asian American family would expect from their only child. She’s good in school, respectful to her elders and most of all, obedient. Since her mother died, everything she’s done has been for her family.

After her best friend Samantha is involved in a devastating accident and turns to Lisa for support, she finds her friend is not the only one she’s supporting. As her closest friend’s recovery progresses, Lisa stumbles into something she never expected and begins to question everything she’s ever known. Can she take this chance to discover what life can really be or will she succumb to her family’s expectations?

JUST MAYBE is my first novel and stands complete at approximately 89,000 words. I’d be happy to provide a partial or complete manuscript for further review. Thank you for your consideration.

Query - Dreaming Dark

A revision of this query has been posted. Click here to read it.

Meredith is convinced she's a normal seventeen year-old, until dark, terrifying, and unbearably beautiful Eirich moves into her nothern Ontario town.

The problem with Eirich's arrival is that whenever they touch - which isn't nearly as often as Meredith would like - he fills her with a strange and tempting feeling of power. Meredith can't even figure out why she gets these feelings, let alone explain them to anyone. So when her best friend Ally falls hard for Eirich, Meredith decides it would be best to stay away from both of them, choosing to spend time at her sister Val's old hangout rather than admitting that something really, really strange is happening.

But something really strange is happening and the new hangout makes it stranger. The cottage that Meredith thought belonged to Val's friend actually belongs to Meredith, and it was left to her by her mother with the promise that it comes with magical protection. Meredith learns that she's so far from normal, she's supernatural: the last member of an ancient race with the power to control and create dreams. Worse, Eirich needs Meredith's powers to revive his own ancient race, the dark counterpart to Meredith's, and he's kidnapped Ally to get to her.

So Meredith is left with a choice: does she preserve the dreams of mankind and, more importantly, rescue her best friend, or does she succumb to the beautiful Eirich and fill herself with the power she's always longed for?

DREAMING DARK is a work of YA urban fantasy, complete at 57 000 words.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

QUERY - JULIE’S JUXTAPOSITION

A revision of this query has been posted. Click here to read it.

Julie Mc Nally has a lot to learn about being a cop in a predominately male world of police enforcement. She is the rookie detective with the Pittsburgh P.D. partnering with seasoned Detective Ross Maddox. When a kidnapped seven-year-old boy is accidentally killed in a police shootout, the entire community anxiously awaits the outcome of the evidence findings. Had this young boy died at the hand of Julie or her wounded partner Ross Maddox? Julie, herself, is unsure of the answer. When Maddox dies, most of the cops believe it was Julie’s bullet that killed the boy, and they intend to make life difficult for her.

Since none of the other detectives are willing to partner with her, Julie is challenged to bring in suspects single-handedly. And, her requests for backup are mostly ignored. Each day Julie must face the mounting pressure that she cannot trust or depend on her fellow cops. The situation comes to a breaking point when she is asked to assist in an interrogation. She is left alone with the suspect who attacks her, as her fellow detectives watch from the two-sided mirror.

To make matters worse, Julie finds her attorney boyfriend, Nick Falco, in bed with one of his clients. This looks like the right time to get out of town for Julie.

Her requests for transfer are denied, but she is assigned to assist with the nearby Bradford P.D., where she is paired with Michael Nolan, the town’s most sought after male. Working together they manage to catch thieves, burglars, and even nudists. The department nicknames them ‘Hot & Spicy’. They learn to trust and depend on each other.

When they are assigned to the embezzlement case against Bradford’s former mayor, they discover he was part of a highly classified government program. The ‘Crowe Project’ is such a guarded secret that those involved are willing to commit murder to avoid exposure. The investigation takes Julie and Michael to Las Vegas where they are aided by Michael’s police academy friend, Josh Kelly, and a stripper named Roxy, who is we learn is Michael’s estranged wife.

My 70,000-word womens' fiction titled JULIE’S JUXTAPOSITION, explores just how strong and resourceful a woman must be in a predominately male world of police departments.

I am in the Information Technology field and have authored procedural/technical white papers. If you would like to consider JULIE'S JUXTAPOSITION, I'd be happy to forward the complete manuscript to you.

Sincerely,

QUERY: AMELIA'S MONSTERS

A revision has been posted, click here to read it.

Dear X,

Since she was twelve, Amelia’s nights have been plagued with visits from monsters who lurk in her closet and try to lure her away from the safety of her bed, calling her Amelie and saying that they have been searching for her, waiting for her return. Two years later, at the request of her therapist, her and her family—along with her adopted cousin, Lily—are moving for a third time.

With a fresh start in a brand new home in a gated community, Amelia hopes that all her fears and problems will go away. But when the monster returns one night and takes Lily away, Amelia must face her fear of the dark and enter the monster’s world to rescue Lily, all along the way discovering a tangled past and an unresolved fight between a great hero—Jeanette—and the Monster King that connects her to their world and the one they call Amelie.

AMELIA’S MONSTERS is a 90,000 word young adult fantasy that explores the rationalities and irrationalities of our fears and how we can overcome them to save and protect the ones we love.