Venom

Title: Venom

Age category and Genre:  Adult Thriller/Eco-thriller

Word count: 108, 000

Query:

While at a symposium in Key West, herpetologist Kylie Marx is thrown into the investigation to solve the slaughter of rare endangered skinks. And if that's not enough, an infestation of snakes, scorpions, and a variety of creepy crawlers invades the small island. With a looming anti-venom shortage, Kylie and her fellow scientists scours the town to milk venomous reptiles and amphibians to make anti-venom. Kylie fears she won’t have enough for everyone. She explores the option of creating synthetic anti-venom. Until things take a serpentine turn for the worse. She deduces that the man responsible for the outbreak is the same person who left her for dead in the Everglades twelve years ago. Now Vaughan St. Croix breeds dangerous hybrid snakes and sells his poached kills on the black market. His evil presence is no coincidence. It coincides with the National Zoological Symposium for Endangered Species.

St. Croix threatens Kylie and her new friends with an ultimatum: produce a vial of synthetic anti-venom for his deathly ill sister by midnight. Or  watch those around her succumb to fatal venom.

First 250 words

Chapter 1

Kylie studied the Solomon Islands dark green skinks climbing the glass walls of its tank in slow motion. Such a rare species to exhibit, she examined the long slender male consuming a diet of fruits and vegetables. On a quiet morning at the reptiles section of the Naples Zoo, she waited for the female to emerge and be courted. Before she could check the Key West Mole Skinks in the second tank,  her older sister bolted into her office.

Penny breathed heavily as she came to a halt. “Kylie! Did you check your texts?”

“No. What’s up?”

“All your hard work finally paid off. You got the grant!”

“You’re kidding. How do you know?”

While Penny explained the details of her financial endowment for research, Kylie’s heart wanted to explode with joy. This was a big opportunity for her to shine!

Giddy with excitement, Kylie hugged her sister. “I kept wondering when I would hear. I thought I wasn’t going to get it.” With no word on their end, she feared they turned down her proposal for her research.

“I know it’s last minute. But the National Zoological Symposium is worth it.” She paused. “But we’re going to look into the delay, while you get your ass to the airport.”

Both Kylie and Penny worked at the Naples Zoo in Caribbean Gardens, a nonprofit organization cooperating in conversation, both inside and outside the wild for endangered species.

“When’s the flight?” Kylie asked.

“It leaves in two and a half hours.”

*****

Participants do not comment on other entrants' posts, only your own. You can bribe, coax, share, tweet, and do whatever to your entry, but you cannot comment on anyone else's.

The Judges

Ayden Morgen

Elsie Elmore

Leigh Statham

Mara Valderran

Stacy Nash

Elisabeth Roderick

Samantha Bryant

&

Me!

Visitors welcome!

Please comment as to whether this pitch piques your interest and what feedback you have about making it stronger.

Your assessments will be appreciated by the participants.

Skipping Stones And The Silver Strike

Title: SKIPPING STONES AND THE SILVER STRIKE

Age and Genre: Adult Historical Fiction

Word Count: 82,000

Query:

Sue, the only survivor of a wagon train attack, is taken by a horseman to the Land of Many Waters. She must decide whether to put aside her own grief to become the replacement daughter for a grieving mother, or wander as an orphan alone in the wilderness mourning the loss of her massacred family.

Geum Song Ban, a scholar wishing to experience the ways of the West leaves his native Korea to become a stowaway on a ship bound for California. When he rescues a tiny Chinese girl from China Town gangsters, his choices are to stand against the certain retaliation, or flee with the girl into the California desert.

First 250 Words:

Ma set such a store by reading and ciphering. Now Ma’s dead, and reading and ciphering aren’t much use to a person when they’re dead. Pa’s dead too, and Pap. Nearly everyone who came west in the train is dead, I reckon. Some of them aren’t dead yet, but they will be soon enough.

I don’t know about Gershom. He was cracked on the head and went rolling yonder, blood spurting.

There’s no time for worrying now, no time for anything except walking and walking, fast as all lightning, to wherever ‘tis they’re taking us. I’ve never walked so fast in my life. I’ve never seen anyone walk so quickly as these savages. I swear we covered as much ground in half the time as a six horse stage.

Pap was going on most days and nights since we left home about meeting up with savages. Seemed the more he talked about it, the more he seemed to relish the prospect. But he don’t relish it none now I reckon, with his innards all torn out and frying in the sun. Ma she tried to hush him, telling him his carrying on and storytelling was scaring the children. But he never cared, just countered the prospects of meeting up with some was mighty high in these parts. He described all kinds of tortures and mayhem the savages set to committing on any fool person blamed enough to be caught out in their territory. 

*****

Participants do not comment on other entrants' posts, only your own. You can bribe, coax, share, tweet, and do whatever to your entry, but you cannot comment on anyone else's.

The Judges

Ayden Morgen

Elsie Elmore

Leigh Statham

Mara Valderran

Stacy Nash

Elisabeth Roderick

Samantha Bryant

&

Me!

Visitors welcome!

Please comment as to whether this pitch piques your interest and what feedback you have about making it stronger.

Your assessments will be appreciated by the participants.

Martin's Wings

Title: Martin’s Wings

Age & Genre: Adult Romance 

Word Count: 104,000

Query:

Martin is a commitment-phobe.  He’s also a pilot.  All hail breaks loose on his wedding day as icy pellets rain from the sky and he sneaks out the church window, ditching his bride-to-be and flying home to sunny Southern California.   Countless one night stands later, he returns to podunk Pennsylvania for kooky family holidays only to find his ex on the arm of an old football rival and his relatives full of helpful sex advice. Martin’s instincts: take wing on the next Triple Seven back to Orange County.  But this runaway groom’s bolting days may be drawing to an end after a long-legged runner saunters past his wiffle ball game.

The cute blonde offers Martin a taste of her cotton candy and a taste of his own medicine as she plays flirt and flee with him.  Confident, extroverted, and a little bit wacky, Coral’s everything Martin is not.  A red-eye flight home would be easier for Martin than a game of cat and mouse with this girl.  To find his Happily Ever After and avoid flying solo forever, this pilot will need to stop running away from love and start running to it—if only he could get Coral to stick around for longer than a New York minute.

First 250 Words: 

“There’s only one way out of this room, Marty.” Uncle Lars pointed to the altar doorway. “Whether boon or doom awaits you there, no one can know.”

Booooom.

Thunder rattled the sacristy’s stained glass. Martin jumped. High. That’s when the rain started. Sheeting. On Martin’s wedding day. Full on roaring thunderstorm. Deluge, really. One that violently morphed into the rapid, crackling ping-ping of dropping hail.

Doom then.

Squinting out the yellow-tinted stained glass, Martin discerned a flurry of suits and dresses charging the cathedral gates. Icy munitions poured down, riddling car roofs, dinging hoods, and pelting wedding guests. “You know,” Lars said, scratching the skull underneath his erratic Einstein hair, “some cultures consider hail good luck for your nuptials.” Good luck? “There are others, however,” he continued, “who view hail as God’s retribution on the iniquities of humanity.” Bad luck. “Sin lately, Marty?” Ummm… “Did you remember your Mother’s Day gift?” Shit. “Marty! Marty! Marty! Any dick off the street can tell you Mother’s Day is the single most important 24 hours in your Mother-in-Law’s existence. Women who selflessly wipe poop off baby butts and open rent-free basements to socially backward thirty-something sons need to have some kernel of joy in their otherwise bleak lives.”

“She’s not my mother-in-law…yet,” Martin croaked, deep voice catching in his throat.

“She will be. She will be,” said Lars, pitifully attempting a Yoda-ish voice. Drawing no response, Lars shrugged. “At least you’ll get laid tonight. Another thirty years, you might not be so lucky.”

*****.

Participants do not comment on other entrants' posts, only your own. You can bribe, coax, share, tweet, and do whatever to your entry, but you cannot comment on anyone else's.

The Judges

Ayden Morgen

Elsie Elmore

Leigh Statham

Mara Valderran

Stacy Nash

Elisabeth Roderick

Samantha Bryant

&

Me!

Visitors welcome!

Please comment as to whether this pitch piques your interest and what feedback you have about making it stronger.

Your assessments will be appreciated by the participants.

Handsome Is As Handsome Does

Title: Handsome Is As Handsome Does

Age and Genre: Adult/Historical Romance

Word Count: 75,000

Query:

                     

This Regency romance is set in Bath and Gloucestershire in 1817, at a time when England is crippled by war and poor harvests. Loose behaviour is not uncommon, but just how far will the love-struck heroine go to win her man, and has she chosen the right one?

This Happy Ever After story follows the adventures (and misadventures) of young governess Emma d'Ibert, who is keen to restore the fortunes of her once-noble family.

To do this she must work hard, keep her identity secret and try and avoid the pitfalls of living under the same roof as beguiling rogue, Charles Keane. She has inadvertently made an enemy of his friend, Viscount Tidworth, who has the power to expose her and bring her new life crashing down around her ears.

Tidworth's marriage plans are crushed when a delay on the road, for which he blames Emma, allows another gentleman to step in and claim his sweetheart. He is furious when Emma, as part of one of Charles' wicked schemes, attends his charity ball pretending to be a wealthy countess. Should he unmask her, or save her from disgrace at the hands of the amorous Charles?

First 250 words

Gloucestershire April 1817

Emma barely understood what had just happened.  

  

The cart she was travelling in had been lumbering towards the crossroads when suddenly Carrier Marshman hauled on the reins, slewing the vehicle sideways and almost toppling her from her seat. The panicked neigh of a horse followed by an ominous thump  made everything clear. Alarmed at the sight of a hefty cart bearing down on the crossroads through the obscuring rain, a thoroughbred had shied and thrown its rider, then bolted off towards Bath.

Horrified, Emma scrambled down, hampered by her rain-sodden skirts. As Marshman jumped to the ground to calm his edgy team, she squelched towards the fallen horseman.

 He lay supine, staring up into the leaden sky with a glazed expression, his beautifully cut riding coat spattered with mud, arms flung out on either side of him as if welcoming the rain into his embrace. He emitted the occasional groan, but seemed unable to elevate himself from his unfortunate position.

 "Oh sir, are you alright? Let me help you up."

 Blue-grey eyes flickered towards her face, struggling to focus.

*****

Participants do not comment on other entrants' posts, only your own. You can bribe, coax, share, tweet, and do whatever to your entry, but you cannot comment on anyone else's.

The Judges
Ayden Morgen
Elsie Elmore
Leigh Statham
Mara Valderran
Stacy Nash
Elisabeth Roderick
Samantha Bryant
&
Me!

Visitors welcome!

Please comment as to whether this pitch piques your interest and what feedback you have about making it stronger. 
Your assessments will be appreciated by the participants.

EMBRACING REJECTION

Annalisa Crawford just placed 3rd in the 2015 Costa Short Story Contest and she's here today to discuss every author's nemesis - rejection!

Congratulations Annalisa!

A new look at rejection

by 

Annalisa Crawford

I have read many blog posts and articles over the years about how to handle rejection. But I'm not sure handling rejection is the way to go... I think embracing rejection is a much better way to approach your writing.

It's been long established that, in writing terms, I am very, very old. I have been submitting short stories and novels since before the internet, before email. Yes, folks, I had to snail mail each and every one - kissing the envelope before posting!

And, therefore, I have received many, many rejections. And survived.

Not just survived, I thrived.

I was very lucky. Early on, I found a small monthly competition that I entered regularly. It was run by one guy called Keith, who always commented on why he liked my story and why it hadn't won. In fact, over time, we struck up quite a correspondence. This is one of the letters he sent...

... and as a young writer, having someone telling me the truth, focusing his thoughts solely on me for two typewritten pages, and being so encouraging at the same time was tremendously helpful.

(A complete aside: in the letter, Keith mentioned several other writers who were also entering his competition regularly - I search them, and one had been quite a prolific childrens/YA author. So, you never know who you are pitting yourself against!)

Here's what rejection can do for you:

· It allows you to look at your manuscript with objective eyes. After all, if someone doesn't like it, it can't be perfect, can it? And, to be honest, you don't ever want to think your work is perfect, because you'll get complacent.

· The editors/judges aren't rejecting you - they don't know you. They just didn't like those words you put on the page, in that order. Because the next story you send, they might love.

· It's not you, it's them. That story rejected today - when the editor had a miserable journey to work, and spilled his coffee over his desk, and was thinking about his sick uncle - might have been accepted the following day, when the sun was shining and his uncle was better. You can't do anything about any of that!

· It makes you stronger, it makes you fearless, it makes you a writer (all the best ones have been rejected).

I, personally, think every writer needs to put themselves in a position where they could be rejected - a competition, a literary magazine submission - and expect to fail. Now, instead of feeling down about it, instead of needing ice-cream and a friendly shoulder to cry on, I simply read the story, makes changes (or not) and send it out again. No drama!

  

Do you allow yourself to be rejected?

What has been your worst? And your best?

Annalisa Crawford lives in Cornwall UK, with a good supply of moorland and beaches to keep her inspired. She lives with her husband, two sons, a dog and a cat.

She writes dark contemporary, character-driven stories, and has been winning competitions and publishing short stories in small press journals for many years. She recently won 3rd Place in the Costa Short Story Award 2015.

www.annalisacrawford.com

Books by Annalisa Crawford

Thank you, Annalisa.

Great food for thought and discussion!

Has rejection made you stronger?

WEP - SNOW MOON

Picture Copyright

SNOW MOON

On Valentine's Day

At midnight, my love

The place we met

You'll find me near

Light a candle

And I'll appear

The delivery of white roses and a handwritten poem with the signature LF Slade made the air grow suddenly cold. My heart skipped several beats. A valentine from a dead man or someone's heartless joke? I wasn't amused, but the door was open and hope filled the void.

Valentine's Day, once a fun holiday, was now a day I dreaded. I studied the scribbled words closer. The handwriting was his, the signature, LF Slade was the way we signed all our correspondence. LF meant Love Forever. The word love had lost its luster, so we used LF to convey an emotion that had no description. Silly, but that's what you do during those crazy first months of discovery and passion. Eventually, we laughed about it, but now those letters, those words meant so much more.

*****

         I pulled off the road and followed the overgrown driveway to the cabin. The night was overcast, the rain misting, with temperatures in the low forties. I preferred snow; its brightness would've added enough light to maneuver safely. Instead, the setting was haunting, much closer to Halloween night than a night for lovers.

We'd met on a sunny but snowy day. I'd twisted my ankle on a cross-country ski trail. Hobbling back, I took what I thought was a shortcut to the parking lot and my car, but I'd taken a wrong turn and ended up at Aaron Slade's cabin.

Aaron saw me limping across the lawn, rushed out, and in minutes, I was in front of a warm fire. Hot cocoa, brandy, and a full night of conversation were just the beginning. A year later, in the same cabin, we celebrated Valentine's night under the Snow Moon. Aaron proposed. I whispered, “Yes,” and our future changed. Then the unthinkable happened, a day after proposing, he was gone. Everything he owned remained as it was, but Aaron never returned. I waited but moved to California for a fresh start.

I hadn’t left a forwarding address, so how had he found me? I never shared these details with anyone, but anticipation grew as each of these revelations made an impact.

 Concealed by the trees, I waited, trying to decide if I should approach or if I were only chasing ghosts. I'd hoped to see you, a light, or some movement, but there was none. Gathering my courage, I finally approached the cabin. The key was still hidden under the eve, the rooms empty of intruders. Following your directions, I lit a candle and opened the French doors to the patio.

The breeze shifted the clouds and the moon made an appearance. Our last moment replayed in my head. I recalled how Arron dropped to his knee.

"Marry me and I'll make all your dreams come true,” he had said.

"You already have," I'd whispered.

A sudden wind distinguished the candle’s flame. In the shimmering moonlight, Aaron appeared. He hadn't changed. My apprehension vanished as I stepped into his embrace.

            Then an alarm rang and I awoke to another heartless Valentine's Day.

527 words

Yolanda Renée

THROUGH SHADES OF GRAY

Hi, All,

Today I am honored to be featured at my good friend, Renee’s blog. This past year has been a whirlwind with rehabbing my new loft, moving, and now a new four-month-old puppy. Life certainly is hectic, but I am finally back on track with focusing more on writing and editing. Two things I actually LOVE to do.

Last month I was asked to submit a short story to an amazing anthology published by Stay Classy publications. 

THE THING THAT TURNED ME. 

I am honored to be included in this prestigious publication. Many of my blogger friends will also be featured. Such talent! The lineup is star-studded!

Authors, S.K. Anthony, Imani Allen, Michelle Athy, Madalyn Beck, Diane Carlisle, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Crystal Collier, Cathrina Constantine, Tonja Drecker, Deanie Humphys-Dunne, Sherry Ellis, Elise Fallson, Heather Gardner Samantha Geary, Misha Gerrick, Krystal Hillman, Celeste Holoway, Harper L. Jameson, Randi Lee, Terrance Dwane Mack, K.D. Martin, Tyrean Mathinson, Melissa Maygrove, Nana Prah, Christine Rains, Melanie Shultz, Elizabeth Seckman, Tara Tyler, Michelle Wallace, L. Diane Wolfe, and Roland Yeomans…

Imagine all this talent in ONE anthology… The cover is stunning, the trailer amazing, and the writing off the charts!

A few years ago, I started my business, Michael Di Gesú Presents for the purpose of creative editing. I've created blurbs and taglines for such amazing writers as Yolanda Renée, Denise Covey, Julie Flanders, and Michelle Wallace, just to name a few,  and now, my story, THROUGH SHADES OF GRAY will be published. Words can’t describe how incredibly happy I am to be featured in such a wonderful debut. The title says it all!

What turned you?

In life, there is always that ONE EVENT that changes your life. It could be anything and it is something every human being experiences. Even though my story is a work of fiction, it is loosely based on one of my own experiences. If I may, I’d like to share the first page from THROUGH SHADES OF GRAY. As most of you know, I'm hired for my atmospheric description and how to incorporate it into your works.

This story certainly features my signature trademark of setting the scene… I hope you enjoy it.

Charcoal skies face me on yet another frigid morning. Haunting, like a shroud suffocating the dormant sunrise. Amber street lights reflect in the crystalline sheath, entombing my buried car.

A high pitched bleep breaks the deafening silence.

As I pry the door open, the fragile layer cracks with a loud snap and the surface creates an intricate web of golden threads. My stiff body folds behind the steering wheel and a moment later, the engine roars to life.

I drive down the skeletal tree-lined street, edging Lincoln Park. The brittle, elongated fingers of barren trees seem to wave an eerie goodbye. The road is slick, but I’m ready for my escape back to light.

How could I have let those brightly lit days set without one note of appreciation for so many years. Heather skies, cotton-balled clouds, and mild trade winds caressed the tranquil sea. But without her, the sunshine dimmed, and it was time to move on.

Little did I know how much the north had changed. No longer did the bright summer days last forever. Overcast skies now dominated the plains and what little light present struggled to break through the mass of clouds.

Mood plays a huge part in this particular story. Here, the city represents the feelings of the MC as he escapes the frozen north. Many of us can relate to this especially this time of year!

The anthology will be released sometime in mid year. I will keep you all posted.

 ******

Thank you, Renee for featuring me today. It was a real pleasure! 

After fifteen years of modeling in New York, I spent the past eleven years as an interior designer in Chicago. I decided to take my creative talents and write/illustrate my first m/g novel, Amber and the Whispering Willows. A year later, I wrote The Blinded Gardener, an edgy y/a contemporary. I never knew how wonderful it could be to write novels ... I'm addicted!

Thank you, Michael!

Congratulations on the Anthology, The Thing That Turned Me, and your story, Through Shades of Gray. 

Michael barely mentioned his business Writing Art & Design. He does an amazing job with taglines, blurbs, and introducing your novel to the world. But he also does an even more astounding job designing covers. Here are just two.

Need help with design or writing those short taglines and blurbs? 
Need to come up with a design or logo for that new business?
Consider giving Michael a call. 
He truly is a magic man! 
Learn more by following these links:

Michael Di Gesu Presents
Writing Art & Design