Deborah Henely
Last Chance, Texas by Deborah Henely
Last Chance, Texas has the highest literacy rate in the state and it may have been due to the unusual influence Ms. Hatty, the librarian, had over the small town. When the lovely old library burns to the ground, along with Ms. Hatty, her influence extends beyond the grave with the last nine books left in a box. Each book was earmarked by a sticky note with the recipient’s name.
The nine books are random, from a grimy copy of the Grinch who Stole Christmas for the town’s playboy, to Coding for Dummies for the brilliant Computer Analyst who consulted for Dell Industries. She indicated Marley and Me to go to an irascible old coot who hated dogs, and a copy of The Art of French Cooking to a cowgirl who couldn’t boil water. Persuasion, The Mayor of Casterbridge, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Like Water for Chocolate, and John Addams were the rest of the books, all for specific people and Ms. Hatty’s unfathomable reasons.
The entire town starts a reading frenzy, to ascribe meaning to her wishes. Meanwhile, the true reason the library was destroyed becomes all too clear when the governor’s office announces plans for the East/West Corridor, cutting directly through Last Chance. It will erase the town, and give anyone with large adjoining acreages millions of dollars in an eminent domain deal.
Ms. Hatty, with her Democratic Party influence and political clout, would have stood in the way of the Corridor Deal.
She had to go.
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Tegan Whalan
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Hanna Alkaf
The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
By the time school ends on Tuesday, Melati Ahmad’s mother has died 17 times.
On the way to school, she is run over by a runaway lorry. During English, she is caught in a crossfire and hit by a stray bullet straight through the chest. At recess, she accidentally ingests some sort of dire poison. And as they peruse their geography textbooks, Melati’s mother is stabbed repeatedly by robbers.
Melati knows she isn’t to blame. It’s the Djinn, scratching at her mind with his wicked, clawed fingers, squeezing the air out of her lungs and pounding urgent tattoos on her heart. It’s only through an intricate web of counting and tapping that she’s able to tame the beast within her and keep her mother safe. That’s the sacrifice the Djinn demands, and one she’s happy to pay.
But it’s 1969, and on May 13th, the already percolating melting pot that is Kuala Lumpur boils over. As the Chinese and Malays wage war against each other, Mel and her mother find themselves separated by a city in flames. And with a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take all of the courage, grit and Beatles songs in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and the Djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.
Based on actual events, THE WEIGHT OF OUR SKY is a young adult novel complete at about 57,000 words.
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Elizabeth Brookbank
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Leann Daniel
The Anger Album by Leann Daniel
Seventeen-year-old songwriter, Andie Lund, has spent a good deal of her life engaging in face time with a variety of anger management therapists. So when it seems Andie has met her match with Dr. Jay Dickson, she makes it a personal challenge to contest everything he says or does. That is until she’s forced to join sides with the shrink or risk her entire career falling through.
Andie’s band has a distribution deal lined up with Strange Angels Entertainment in Los Angeles, if they can write and record an entire album in a month’s time. To get her father to agree on letting her pursue this opportunity before she’s eighteen, Andie must first strike a deal with her therapist stating that she will retire her iron fists and produce an effective anger journal so she might win her freedom from the shackles of therapy. But when the root source of all her anger begins to unveil itself in the form of an unexpected classmate, Andie must try and cope with these new truths without losing her temper, her career, or (most importantly) herself.
THE ANGER ALBUM is a 96,000-word literary young adult novel told alongside Andie’s lyrics from each song written throughout the story. It will perhaps appeal to readers of Jesse Andrews and Tara Kelly, and anyone who appreciates a taste for music and a bit of humor as well.
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Gregory Caplan
Incriminated by Gregory Caplan
Bolstered by the notion “confession is good for the soul,” I unburden my conscience in a charismatic & candid memoir about the real justice system titled, Incriminated. A 65,300 word draft is written.
I grew up in middle-class suburbs during the mid-1970s through early 1980s. My conception of justice consisted of elementary, yet misguided, premises: 1. prosecutor = good guy; 2. defense attorney = bad guy. Despite tangential concerns about systematic shortcomings, I believed justice universally prevailed. I became a prosecutor and energetically delivered “justice.” My confidence about earlier suppositions gradually faltered. I was then immersed in a shadowy world of politics & bureaucratic infirmities. I experienced a metamorphosis, and ventured across the proverbial boundary of good & evil, from high & mighty prosecutor to rabble-rousing defense attorney.
I partook in courthouse capers & unsanctioned governmental escapades. Luckily, I preserved copious notes. This “evidence” reveals substantiation for my tumultuous conversion and subsequent reintegration.
Incriminated “serves up” a candid & humorous rendering of justice with conviction in a spirit akin to workplace memoirs such as The Job and A Thousand Naked Strangers. Incriminated welcomes readers to examine quandaries of justice professionals which are overcome through indispensable moments of humor.
I worked nine years as a prosecutor & 10+ years in private practice. I manage a diverse marketing & social media platform, publish a criminal law magazine, & provide guest analysis for KNBC & KABC, EW, & LA Daily News.
Thank you for your consideration of Incriminated.
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Jaclyn Reiswig
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N.L. Nelson
Life is Like A Free Throw by N.L. Nelson
“Someone just killed my sistah!” The year is 2004, and fear fills the back alleys and parks of Washington DC. Night clubs close and children go in hiding. Rumors surface that the organization Blue is behind the rebuilding of Shade. And just when girlz finally find a good man, the road house boyz rise again.
Banker by day, baller by night. 31 year old, Treshawn D. Brown has only one goal; to get back on the basketball court and represent the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the help of his friends, club bouncer Derek Walker and auto mechanic Xavier Rush he may get a second chance, to fix a costly mistake that sidelined his career two years ago.
If he can just hide his 2 year relationship with his flamboyant lover Spencer Johnson, avoid his nemesis Anthony Singletary, and reveal the cryptic messages of Men of Twilight, then certainly he can get one more shot at the pro circuit.
LIFE IS LIKE A FREE THROW is the first novel by author N.L. Nelson. This journey explores men who love basketball, other men, and a good back alley brawl. Anyone who has a dream, will want to follow the exploits of Treshawn and his boyees as they try to follow their destiny, get their man, and make DC proud.
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Mica S. Kole
The Goddess Candidate by Mica S. Kole
The day eleven Signposts fell out of the sky, Devon Lamont’s main concern was hiding makeup from her fundamentalist father. But when one of these fiery Signs appears outside her high school, Devon becomes one of the first people to read the strange words burned into the ground all around it: Walk through fire… and become God.
A day later, a Portuguese bartender films himself touching the Sign, crossing dimensions, and meeting angels, and the world learns that the Signs are no hoax. God is dead, and His post is up for grabs… or Satan’s got a trick up his sleeve.
But none of this matters to Devon. Touching the Sign would mean an end to her carefully cultivated double life as popular girl and pious child… and she’d rather be kissing Corey, a semi-mysterious, nerdy guitarist. But Corey has an otherworldly secret, and he—as well as half the modern world—thinks it’s worth severe burns to turn into a deity. Even worse, Devon’s father sees the flame-protected Sign as an opportunity to prove his family’s faith… and it is this steadfast devotion that could burn Devon’s world to the ground.
At 72,000 words, THE GODDESS CANDIDATE is a contemporary YA LGBTQ fantasy that explores the various effects of religion on the human capacity for tolerance and love. It pairs Kiera Cass’s THE SELECTION with the modern-day darkness and diversity of Lev Grossman’s THE MAGICIANS. It is intended to kick off a series.
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Janelle Fila
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