Final Round of Son of a Pitch is LIVE!

For this week, we have agents and editors perusing the entries, looking for a great story. After two weeks of critiquing and hard work, our fingers are crossed for the finalists, in hopes that they will get plenty of wonderful requests!

Agents and Editors: Feel free to request anything on any of the entries. also, feel free to give feedback wherever you want. Have fun, barter, outbid, do whatever you want!

Entrants: Please, comment only on your entry, and please, don't encourage your friends and family to comment either. It's strictly you and the agents/editors.

Once this week is over, please feel free to check out the blogs for last week's round as well. I'm sure giving out some surprises will make someone's day!

And don't forget the Twitter Pitch Party on the 7th!

ENJOY!

YA:

Shadow of a Soul

The School

Blood Barrier

Hunter

The Glass Sisters

The Pendragon's Son

The Stained Glass Sun and Moon

Supernova Fall, Supernova Fly

Bellamy of the Ball

The Time Slave

When Planets Fall

Neodymium Exodus

The Quester

NA:

No Halo

Adult:

The Aldar Dominion

Forbidden

The Proxy Initiative

My Soul to Give

Coded for Murder

Standing the Final Watch

Tides of Magic

P.S. Agents and Editors, if you are interested in returning in September for more fantastic new writers, please email me at katiejteller at gmail dot com

Son of a Pitch Entry: Shadow of a Soul

Title: Shadow of a Soul

Age and genre: YA Urban fantasy

Word Count: 65,000

Query:

Vetis was a young demon who ate good intentions. He was obedient and content, until his curiosity about the chaotic humans on whose energy he fed got him booted from the demon realm. After breaking the rules by befriending a human girl-child, he ends up bound to the Earth in a body that was only supposed to be fancy packaging to conceal the demon within.

Fast forward ten years, and the boy who calls himself ‘Wes’ has adapted pretty well to human life. He has survived in the foster care system that bounced him around. He’s even learned how to speak as a human after years of speech therapy. He is scraping by and keeping his demonic nature at bay, even with his mental clarity being muddled by the sixteen year-old boy brain housed in his noggin.

Then fate slaps Wes with a trifecta of rotten luck. He accidentally turns his only friend into a life-eating minion. Then he reconnects with the human girl who kick-started his sentence as a child. Only now, she is a powerful (and attractive) demon hunter who seeks to destroy him. Finally, he is contacted by his former demon master, who brings up the matter of ‘the prophecy.’ It’s a damn clichéd notion, but all of Legion seems confident that Wes is destined to consume the world’s soul energy, leaving it clean for a new age of demons to walk the Earth. Wes doesn’t believe or want any of it, but as his hunger awakens he begins to doubt his ability to not annihilate the place he’s come to think of as home.

First 250:

Vetis drifted along the wall of a supermarket, nothing more than a phantom. His oily black presence was indistinguishable from the shadows to passersby, but he didn’t need for people to see him. Still, he would try to materialize. He was only six years old, and not very powerful, so filling out his human form and giving it substance was difficult. Bael, who ruled the Vetis arm of Legion, had instructed him to practice.

His human body, which served as a tether to walk the Earth, looked like a beautiful little boy, with dark blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and a head of thick, straight hair the color of wheat. It was born of a jackal, but his demon essence was pulled from Legion. The formula for his physical appearance had been stolen from the angels. Some demons had frightening bodies, with many nightmarish heads and dragon wings. They were meant to inspire terror, but a necessity to earn the occasional trust and favor of humans meant that Vetis demons should be pleasing in appearance.

            Concentrating all of his will, he pushed his essence out as far as it would go, like a balloon slowly expanding. His boy form, transparent at first, began to solidify until those who looked would see the boy body standing in the store, leaning against a cereal display. A woman walking by pushing a shopping cart glanced at him, did a double take, shivered and picked up her pace. Most living things could sense the darkness beneath his human skin and instinctively knew to fear him.

Son of a Pitch Entry: The School

Title: The School

Age and Genre: YA/Contemporary

Word Count: 62,000

 

Query:

High achieving student media journalist Asia Bowman and her best friend have successful futures planned that include college, careers in broadcasting, and getting out of their poor, nowhere town forever. But for now, Asia attends a federally funded charter school focused on helping underserved students, a program run by Derek Hollis, the former Major League Baseball hero turned mayor. Asia is happy to do her part to promote the school’s success and to live up to her mother’s high expectations for her grades and behavior. She doesn’t even mind that her mother is dating the mayor and working as an assistant in the principal’s office. Yet when school resources disappear, her favorite teacher is killed, and an FBI agent accuses her mother of embezzlement, Asia’s dreams for her future threaten to crumble as she hustles to stay one step ahead of the law and the Russian mob in order to keep her mother and herself alive. 

In my 60K word YA contemporary novel, Veronica Mars meets the Firm as a high achieving student’s media project exposes corruption in her school, implicating the mayor of her city as well as her own mother. Caught between the FBI’s demands that she surrender evidence and the Russian gangsters that want her silenced forever, Asia Bowman is running out of time in THE SCHOOL.

First 250:

Millions of people watched me lie. You were probably one of them. Did you believe the things I said? You shouldn’t have. There never was such a thing as reality television. Reality has always belonged to the one with the best story.

The studio people in Los Angeles did my hair so that it lay flat and twisted into a bun worthy of a ballerina on a stage. Mom would be happy when she saw that at least my hair was tamed. They powdered my face, glossed my lips, and curled my eyelashes.

When they were done, I was a geisha girl, unrecognizable to myself. Getting ready for my interview was what I imagine getting ready for prom would have been like.

After sitting in the green room by myself for half an hour, a man took me to the set where it was hot enough under the lights to melt my makeup. I almost wished the layer on my face would dissolve in the heat and glare. Then my mask would slide into my lap and everyone would see the real me.

I had thought about wearing the friendship bracelet Jamie made me in ninth grade. If she saw the frayed yarn on my wrist she would know that I still cared and would maybe want to be my friend again. I didn’t end up wearing it. Jamie knew I was sorry. It just wasn’t enough in her mind to make up for what I did and what happened after.

Son of a Pitch Entry: The Blood Barrier

Title: THE BLOOD BARRIER

Age and Genre: YA FANTASY

Word Count: 80,000

Query:

Sixteen-year-old Haley’s one of the Taken—a group of children with inherent abilities who are stolen at birth for their powers. As a blood-blender, she can enter a person’s bloodstream to kill. Raised in a compound, she’s become the Front’s top killer-in-training. In a last ditch effort to cling to her sanity, and possibly find friendship or love, she manages to escape. Problem is, freedom from the compound can’t wipe out sixteen years of training to be a murderer. And now that she’s alone, she can't fight those ingrained urges—not a good look for someone seeking asylum.

Luckily, when she meets an epileptic time-traveler, KC, and his emotion-shifting best friend, Charles, she may find a way to evade the Front’s grasp permanently.

Give or take a few problems. She’s falling for Charles, who happens to be KC's crush. Not to mention the fact that KC might be her brother. With the Front hot on their trail, Haley must harness her powers to keep her new friends safe. Otherwise, she might accidentally kill them. Piece of cake. Unless, of course, everyone she loves ends up being the biggest delusion of all.

First 250 Words:

Heat, intense but not unpleasant, hits my face as flames flicker along the floor of my bedroom. Steadily, each shiny-smooth plank evolves into a charred mess. The more I concentrate on the flames, the more Mama’s voice slips from my mind. I revel in peaceful emptiness.

Afraid of the dark, Mama? Are you kidding? Night is when we unzip the eyes of day and let our true skin free. Afraid? No, I live for the dark. When this room’s roasted, you’ll see I can destroy.

“Just you wait.”

In front of me, intertwined in the orange and blue blaze, the shape of a boy shines brightly. It’s as if he’s motioning for me to proceed with caution, but that’s impossible. Hypnotized, I try to make out his features. It’s no use; I don’t recognize him, so I break my gaze. There’s no time to waste.

If I don’t act fast, this will end up like all my other failed attempts.

Not quite what I had in mind when I planned my latest escape earlier today, but for some reason, the fire fills me with calm instead of panic. A solid resolve sits in the pit of my stomach, right where fear normally reigns.

Mama’s voice creeps into my head again. Little tendrils of hate-filled admonitions wrap around my brain. They pound my synapses until my mind’s full of her once more. It’s time to kill them all, baby.

        A drive to obey envelops me. I embrace her command and head for my door.

Son of a Pitch Entry: Hunter

Title: HUNTER

Age and Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Word Count: 56,000

Query:

When sixteen year old Hunter’s growing telepathic ability lands her on the FBI’s radar, her colleague puts a gun to her head. He wants to silence the secrets of their bounty hunter agency locked in her mind. Fortunately for her, it’s not her time to die.

Surviving means making an unlikely friend with an FBI agent named Seeker. He’s the same agent that caused her partner to turn on her in the first place, and he has a mission of his own. Bring Hunter back alive to face judgment for her role in a multitude of murders she’s being accused of.

After nearly escaping the FBI’s grasp with a rogue telepath named Duke and having her thoughts pilfered for information against her will, Hunter learns that she must put her life on the line to clear her name and bring down Talon, her former agency.

With each passing hour throwing her deeper into the game of life and death, Hunter must decide who to trust before this mission becomes her last. 

First 250 Words:

As a type one telepath, you would think I had the skills not to end up freezing to death in the middle of Seattle, Washington. It was a dreary place where the sun didn’t shine and the rain came and went like waves on the shore. It wasn’t an ideal place but it was where the bounty had brought me. I was searching for a mark that was proving to be a pain in my ass. It had been three weeks since we had taken the job and today was the closest we had been to finding Dawn Miles.

My heart skipped a beat when the com in my ear buzzed. “Hunter, we’re running out of time. You know what happens if someone else gets to Miles before we do. All this work would be for nothing.”

In the bounty hunter line of work, you never knew who else was out there searching for the same prize, especially when one paid as well as this did. I exhaled and tried to calm my nerves. This one wasn’t going to get away.

“I’m trying. There are a lot of minds to sift through.” I spoke quietly to my partner Bear, trying not to look like a crazy person. My mind was lost in the sea of people, drifting through their inner monologues, almost losing myself in their stories. Sweat dripped from my temples as I pulled myself from almost passing out.

Son of a Pitch Entry: The Glass Sisters

Title: THE GLASS SISTERS

Category and Genre: YA Speculative Thriller

Words: 83,000

Query:

Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Glass doesn’t want to die, but downing a bottle of pills seems the only way to escape her control-freak-mother. Ending it all is the first real decision she’s ever made herself—until the charismatic girl in the mirror appears. The girl entices Rebecca to tap into latent powers she’s spent her whole life repressing, teaching her how to slip through the glass into an alternate reality—one without her mother. And the only thing the girl in the mirror asks in exchange? To live Rebecca’s crappy life.

With nothing to lose, Rebecca accepts the girl in the mirror’s offer to swap places, unwittingly falling victim to a carefully orchestrated plot of revenge. On the other side of the mirror, Rebecca finds herself confined to a mental hospital that has sinister designs for girls with extraordinary abilities. Brutally exploited for her power and at the mercy of the girl in the mirror, Rebecca is desperate to reclaim the life and mother she once threw away.

To overcome her ruthless reflection, Rebecca must master her abilities and her depression. But her mirror-image holds a powerful secret, a tragedy in their past that links the two girls in blood. And if learning the truth of what they really are doesn’t destroy Rebecca, the girl in the mirror will…

First 250:

The Girl in the Mirror

Imprisoned within the silence of the box, the girl sat alone, solitary confinement her natural state of existence. She sat comfortably on the padded floor, her legs criss-crossed, head bowed, a slip of rectangle-glass clutched neatly in the palm of her hand. The intensity of her gaze reflected back at her.

She concentrated.

Her breath a metronome, in and out, the rhythm helping her focus. Pressure squeezed in from her temples, making her eyes water—but it always did right before she made the connection. Then, when the connection went live, sweet release as swift and forgiving as plucking a splinter the size of a railroad spike from the center of her brain.

The glass she held no longer just a glass, but a window. What was displayed there was her face, but it was not her. It was a her that could have been, a her that may yet be.

The girl hated what she saw all the same.

Hated how the other her looked so content, so safe. So smug. She glared into the mirror studiously, trying to replicate the other girl’s half-hearted smile, but it felt crooked on her own face, as out of place as she herself was.

When she could take no more, when the pain in her heart equaled the pain in her head, she severed the connection.

The girl tucked the mirror away in her undergarments beneath her thin gown. It was addicting, peeking in on that other life, but she had to be careful.

Son of a Pitch Entry: The Pendragon's Son

Title: THE PENDRAGON'S SON
Age and Genre: YA Fantasy
Word Count: 99,000

Query:

 When Excalibur is stolen, King Arthur’s son, Prince Vaeldhei, embarks on a quest to reclaim it and thwart his misguided half-brother Mordred from killing their father and igniting a countrywide war. 

A grim prophecy predicts the fall of Camelot and none dare oppose it, except for the prince, who is determined to protect his family. But Vaeldhei has never left the protection of his mentor, Merlin, before and attempting to alter fate is a fool’s errand.

Though the brothers were once friends, Mordred’s mind has been warped by his mother, a vengeful sorceress who has convinced him that his father and brother are his true enemies. Consumed by her lies, Mordred breaks ties with Vaeldhei and helps steal the legendary Excalibur, leaving the kingdom without its holy protection.

As Vaeldhei struggles to recover the holy sword and reclaim his brother from the sorceress’s clutches, Camelot is on the brink of a deadly war. The prophecy is nearing its fulfillment. If Vaeldhei cannot unite his broken family, he will have to assemble an army to protect all he loves, even if it means fighting against his own brother.

First 250 Words:

As I hurried down the castle’s vast stone corridor to meet my half-brother for the first time, his name echoed around me, whispered like a curse: Mordred.

The arrival of my brother—a youth who made the great fortress of Camelot resound with fear―made me feel more energized than I had in years. Finally. Finally. I had a brother. Family. Surely he would not shun me as the others had. Surely he would understand what it meant to be an outcast in one’s own family. I had to see him.

I approached the vaulted doorway of the Great Hall. Straightening, I walked toward the raised dais, careful to keep my pace steady though my legs urged me forward.

Faster, faster, faster!

No. A prince must always be calm and collected. My muscles strained, but I reigned in my eagerness.

The dais seemed so far away.

I passed by the gathered knights and soldiers in an agonizingly slow manner. Most paid me no heed, too absorbed in gossiping about my brother.

One said in a trembling voice, “It’s the prophecy! It won’t let him die, not until he slays the king and rains death on Camelot!”

“Vermin never did die easy,” another said with a sneer.

“That cowardly wretch.” A soldier with a scar on his face leaned forward, scoffing. “Curse him and his witch mother to the depths of hell.”

I bit my tongue, trying to ignore their disgraceful ignorance. Such disrespect. All over an unfounded—and unreliable—prophecy made decades ago.

Son of a Pitch Entry: The Stained Glass Sun and Moon

Title: THE STAINED GLASS SUN AND MOON

Age/Genre: YA Contemporary

Word Count: 80,000

QUERY:

Sixteen-year-old Jules Geary is taking a pregnancy test. If it’s positive, her life is over. If it’s negative, she gets a second chance, but it won’t be with Jesse. Not after what they did to each other.

At the beginning, things were good. Surprise dates, impromptu road trips and falling in love. Nothing else mattered. Not even Jesse’s brother’s crush on her or Jesse’s ex-girlfriend circling like a vulture.

Then things started to matter.

Jesse got resentful over the time Jules spent at softball practice and she was annoyed by his lack of support. They got into a fight and Jesse made a huge mistake. So did Jules.

Now she’s standing in a bathroom, waiting three minutes for a sign. What happens next will be worse than anything she can imagine.

250 WORDS:

            I lock myself in the bathroom stall and sit down, clutching the test. To my right, someone flushes, and a group of women by the sinks discuss their jobs. This is not the place I want to learn my fate, but I have no choice. If I go home, I risk being caught by my parents and I can't handle a confrontation after what happened with Jesse tonight. It's better to be surrounded by strangers, even though I suddenly feel both exposed and alone.

“Lauren?” I ask.

“I’m right here,” my best friend answers quickly from the other side of the door and I relax enough to tear open the box. The instructions are a confusing blur of diagrams and words, so I toss them on the floor. I don't need a step-by-step on how to pee.

“Jules?” Lauren reaches under the door to pick the paper up. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” My hands are shaking so hard I almost drop the stick in the toilet. “I just forgot how long this is supposed to take.”

She moves her face to the crack in the door and whispers, “Three minutes. I’ll time it with my phone.”

“Hold on.”

“Oh, sorry.” She turns around and I almost laugh at her embarrassment. The only one who should feel that way is me. I’d rushed to Jesse’s side earlier that evening because his voicemail said he needed me. We were supposed to work things out.

Son of a Pitch Entry: Supernova Fall, Supernova Fly

Title: Supernova Fall,Supernova Fly

Category and Genre: YA contemporary

Word Count : 79,000

Query :

Sixteen-year-old Krishna Covalho lost her memories the same day her best friend Emily died. Krishna now an insomniac is in therapy, makes all her decisions by a magic 8- Ball. And in the unlikely case she does fall asleep, she is terrorized by nightmares and her waking hours spent in fear of the demons that haunt her.

But even her 8-Ball can’t predict when one night her neighbor and infamous troublemaker Novahk McAllister walks into her life thus beginning an unlikely friendship and maybe more.

When a video showing Emily in a compromising situation surfaces at school, everything Krishna knew about her best friend is threatened. Was Emily really in an accident, as her parents keep telling her or is the truth something else entirely?

Convinced her repressed memories have everything to do with Emily and the circumstances surrounding her death, Krishna becomes determined to find out the truth. She enlists Novahk’s help in tracking down the source of the video. But Novahk has secrets of his own from the night everything went wrong. And the very thing that might drive him and Krishna apart. As Krishna’s nightmares escalate into horrible flashbacks, she’s forced to confront her role in her best friend’s death. Now Krishna must decide if she’s finally brave enough to forgive herself and let go of the demons of her past.

First 250 words:

Normal people are asleep. It’s two in the morning and normal people are dreaming.

I am wide awake, my comforter wrapped around me as I surf through Netflix for another movie to watch. I am not normal people.

Sometimes I wish I could be. I know the spelling: N-O-R-M-A-L. I know its meaning, but somewhere between the beginning of junior year and the night I can’t remember, I lost the essence of it.

Maybe Godzilla will finally put me to sleep or maybe it will be the evil Jack trying to kill his family that does the trick. When I do fall asleep in an unlikely scenario, my dreams are always a sliver of reality and blurred images. Nothing happens except for loud noises punctuated by murky colors. Sometimes I hear a scream, but it’s far away. And then the demon creeps in. It’s it that I am afraid of. Sometimes it slips out of my nightmares and into my reality, lying and waiting to catch me.

A sharp knock comes and I jump out of my skin.

Are the demons getting braver? I ask myself as I look around for the source. Maybe I’ll die as a cliché with a hand coming out of my bed and dragging me under.

Then there comes another sound, this time from the general direction of the windows. The drawn shutter keeps me from seeing who or what is outside.

But whatever it is can’t be good. It’s two in the freaking morning and the probability of a bird pecking on the glass is zero to none.

Son of a Pitch Entry: Bellamy of the Ball

Title: Bellamy of the Ball

Age and Genre: YA Fairytale Retelling

Word Count: 70,000

Query:

Sixteen-year-old Bellamy's been trained to zone in on a person's soft targets. She thinks it's a game, but what she doesn't know is the game is called self-preservation. 

After Bellamy loses her father, she channels her grief into elbow strikes and leg sweeps thanks to a godmother with a penchant for self-defense. With her help, the girl escapes the clutches of her evil stepmother and changes her surname, but regardless of her godmother's protective efforts, a dangerous hacker unravels the truth about Bellamy's connection to the creator of a spy nanochip that threatens the world's security. When her evil stepmother hires a thief to steal it, he targets the oblivious girl, leaving her with questions about who her father really was. During an intense training session, the watch entrusted to her by her late father breaks open and she finds the highly sought after invention. She pairs with a princely pauper from her S.T.E.M. school to unlock its secrets without revealing her own. However, learning the chip was designed to steal data from every smartphone in the world puts both their lives on the line.

On the night of the masked homecoming ball, her godmother goes missing and Bellamy must rely on her friends and her training to overcome her evil stepmother, deliver the nanochip to the father she thought was dead, and return the rental couture gown before the clock strikes midnight...but she may lose her prince in the process. 

First 250:

I swiped a stray blonde hair from my eyes and locked on the three boys’ soft targets—noses, throats, and groins. To any other sixteen-year-old, possessing such an excess of situational awareness might seem strange, but to me it was a game and a match was unfolding.

The advanced warning manifested itself in the boys’ rigid postures, sweaty brows, open pie-holes, and hands readied at their waists. Their laser focus supplied me with even more valuable insight—I wasn’t their prey.

He was walking ahead of me and toward them along the tree-lined path. I estimated his height to be six feet. He was lean and strong, but not strong enough to take on three, and his focus, lost in his smartphone, was about to provide him with a brutal lesson.

I scanned the park grounds in search of other Brooklynites, but with school arriving tomorrow, patrons had dwindled to nothing. I slowed my pace and tucked a corner of my cotton candy pink T-shirt into the waistband of my black leggings.

With a rush, they were on him. One punch turned him into a dirt eater.

“Effing eff.” Thugs like that thrived on the fight. Stay down, I thought, but the boy scrambled to his feet, fueling the hunger to subdue him and take whatever they were after, usually a twenty, if they didn’t know him or a chunk of self-esteem, if they did.

I picked up the stick, one inch in diameter, laying two feet to my right.

Son of a Pitch Entry: The Time Slave

Title: THE TIME SLAVE

Age and Genre: YA light Sci-Fi

Word Count: 79,000

Query:

Seventeen-year-old Liam is a Time Slave. Indentured to a society hidden beneath modern-day Manhattan, he's bred to serve. He obeys his leader's every command until his sister Octavia disappears. Liam's focus shifts from fulfilling his duties to finding her. Convinced of foul play, he plots to get her back through a hostage trade: Sahar— his leader's daughter—for Octavia.

Holding his leader's daughter captive, Liam discovers an unsettling truth about Sahar—she is kind and clueless to her father's wrong-doings. What's even more unsettling is her ability to quell the anger inside of him. With Octavia's rescue on the line, Liam fights against his growing feelings for Sahar and sticking to his plan. If Liam chooses incorrectly, he’ll lose more than his sister—he’ll lose his heart too.

First 250 Words:

Status: Green-6

Repayment Time Owed: INACTIVE, 15 years, 98 days.

Repayment Time Paid: 16 years, 364 days.

There’s no easy way to admit you’ve failed the ones you love. I mean, besides convincing yourself you haven’t.

I study the sole picture I have of Octavia, my sister. She’s perched precariously on the limbs of a cherry blossom tree—her fearless face painted with happiness. It was her first experience of seeing the world above-ground. The first of many times to come, so I had promised her. One of hundreds of promises I failed to keep.

“It’s not your fault she’s missing,” Will says from my bed. He’s sitting cross-legged, arms folded across his chest, back against the wall. “There could be a million explanations—”

“You weren’t there,” I shoot my oldest friend a sidelong glance. His grey eyes—nearly clear from experimentation—watch me carefully as I pace the length of my room. “She called me a monster. It’s my fault she went above-ground.”

“You did what you had to Liam. Hell… If it was me,” Will tugs at a nonexistent piece of lint on my black comforter. “I—”

“Let’s go over the plan.” I slap Octavia’s picture face-down on my desk, pretending like it makes what I have to do less horrific. “Tell me how to get to Hesham’s daughter.” Hesham Ihsan—Generational and CEO of Generation Co.—is on the forefront of genetic research and specialized combat training. Above-ground, he’s a business god. Below-ground, he’s our creator.

Son of a Pitch Entry: When Planets Fall

Title: When Planets Fall

Age and Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Word Count: 96K

Query:

The blood color feud between the planet Scarlatti’s three tribes has already stolen nineteen year-old Breaker’s leg and his older brother. Keeping his younger brother safe from the feud is practically impossible when the little ‘stroid visits their older brother’s grave in enemy territory.

While hauling back his brother’s sorry hide, Breaker discovers a secret nova-worthy wrecked starship. The green-blooded Herons want the ship to give them an advantage in the feud. They threaten to kill Breaker’s family if he doesn’t use his mechanic skills and repair the ship within seven days. SEVEN MEASLY DAYS. Breaker accidentally accelerates the impending battle when he plays hero and rescues Malani, a pain-in-the-ass eighteen year-old POW held by the Herons, from a life of experimentation. Now they want her back. Breaker enlists Malani to help fix the ship, except her body modification exposes a secret metal the blue-blooded Eliks will kill to protect. The same metal that can fix the ship and help win the feud.

Time is ticking. No matter what Breaker does, the tribes are ramping up for war. But he will do everything in his power to prevent his brother from fighting, and dying, with them.

First 250 Words:

“Test .a . . Test . . . Testing for real. Let’s see if you work now, baby.”

            I released my pinky from the transmit button and pushed my metal prosthetic leg against the table. My chair squeaked-squeaked-squeaked across the concrete floor. Extra motors, hinges, cables, coils, driveshafts hung from ceilings, trailed from drawers. The furnaces stored down the hall flavored the air with musty smoke. I'd bet two corn rations a claustrophobic wouldn’t have lasted more than five mins. Despite Lewis’ constant mess, his tech repair workshop was a dark hovel of sexy.

            I wheeled around my completed projects crammed along the bottom of the walls until the floating four-meter-long MapScreen across the room came into view. The diction software I just finished rewiring scrawled the words I spoke earlier across the Screen’s clear surface.

            Right beautiful.

            Lewis entered, not bothering to look at the Screen. “Ahead of schedule again, Breaker?”  He wiped grease and grit off his hands onto a half-apron, then tossed it into a bin with the rest of his filthy bibs. Most had never been washed. As they should, my aprons hung in rows above the container, clean as a newly bathed baby’s ass.

            I plopped the comm on the table and—thook—placed my feet alongside it. “Would it be me if I weren't ahead?” The leather harness strap cut into my waist, thanks to the awkward angle of my prosthetic. This was the seventh right leg I’d built out of mismatched project debris.

Son of a Pitch Entry: Neodymium Exodus

Title: Neodymium Exodus
Age and Genre: YA SF Space Opera
Word Count: 95,000

Query:

Lem’s diseased, and she’s not interested in a cure. They say she’s got a contagious brain infection, or maybe she’s a witch, a portal for an evil energy-being invading our universe–but actually Lem’s a freedom-fighter who’s spent her childhood evading the paramilitary group that hunts her for talking to her invisible friend, Njandejara. Njande’s kind and strange, like that odd sunbeam in the middle of a rainstorm, and he’s only interested in knowing Lem better, not destroying her world.

When the paramilitary group captures Lem, she’s sent to a re-education camp to be “cured”. She resists the treatment. Fed up with her shenanigans, Lem’s captors kidnap her space-lemur adopted brother, Cinta. If Lem bows, Cinta goes free. As Lem’s resolve fails, Cinta warns her there’s more at stake than his life: their connection to Njande might be key to saving the universe from impending thermonuclear collapse. Lem questions his sanity (and her own!) but if he’s telling the truth, she’d better find a third option fast–or she’ll lose someone she loves either way.

First 250 Words:
Lem wasn't a big fan of warnings, but the people who ran her life were, so she gave the meat-market businessman a loud one the moment he made eyes at her little sister.

“She ain't for sale, Skins,” she said, stirring the dregs of her shake with her straw. She said it for everyone in the ice cream parlor to hear.

The businessman's green hair puffed in offense; his slit-eyes gleamed bright as his ruby scales. “Mind yourself, witch,” he sneered.

Witch, huh? Lucky for him he didn't call her crazy.

A loud slurp silenced the whole parlor as Lem finished off her shake.

Four seconds later Lem had chopped down the businessman like an overgrown holly bush. No one interrupted. No one helped, either. The space-lemur policeman in the corner stared at the phone in his paws, ears perked even as he pretended not to see; the Wonderfrog server behind the counter tapped his bulging fingertips on his skull like desserts really worried him.

Lem tightened her grip on the meat-man's wrist, spitting through her teeth as she ground his face harder into the plastic table. “Whatever I am, everyone in here knows you're selling little girls to the greys, and one day I'll prove it and get Officer Scritch there off his duff for a change.” Her voice dropped to a husky whisper. “But the day you talk to my sister again? Officer Scritch won't be lookin' for you. Won't be a you to find.”

Meat-man grunted.