Genre: SciFi Romance
Category: Adult
Category: Adult
Title: THE EVERETTE QUARTET
Word Count: 85,000
Three-sentence pitch:
Edmond’s girlfriend, Viv, can travel between her parallel universes. When Viv discovers she is happily married to another man in an alternate reality, then meets him in her own, Edmond must battle for her love across worlds where he cannot follow. Meanwhile, in another reality, Edmond’s and Viv’s alter egos struggle to keep their secrets from tearing them apart.
Question 1: In your MC’s voice, what costume character do you relate most to and why?
I’d have to say: Captain America— but make that Captain Australia. I guess I’m just an old-fashioned fellow, trying to be valiant and honorable in an age of cowardice and greed.
Question 2: As an author, what makes your manuscript a tasty treat (aka marketable/unique)?
With one woman, two minds, three men and four universes, this is a story like no other, but built on familiar themes. The Everett Quartet will play a sonata on your heartstrings, with a soft, scientific refrain.
First 200 words:
Edmond:
Melbourne Central Business District
I clutch my wine glass, watching Viv shift realities. She stops eating, her hand arrested mid-air just as she is about to bite into a sumptuous prawn. Unnoticed by anyone else in the crowded lunchroom of Via Grande, my girlfriend leaves me once again.
Her eyelids flutter, dark brown irises take on the opaque color of mud. I know then her reality shift is complete. Hades drags Persephone to the Underworld, abandoning me to the dark and cold.
The fork clatters to the table. Her breath quick and shallow, the alter ego taking Viv’s place looks around with parted lips. Then she turns to me, wary. Suspicious.
“Hi, I’m Edmond,” I say, handing her a glass of tepid water to soothe her throat, which always burns after a shift. “Welcome to my universe. I know about the reality shifts,” her eyes widen, “and I’ll help you cope with your visit.”
I extend my hand. She takes it and smiles. And so, yet again, I play genial host to a visitor in Viv’s body, while guarding her secret from the rest of the world.
A secret that revealed itself to me when my girlfriend died, then lived once more.
Hmmm… This definitely deserves some Starburst!