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PW #359: Young Adult Historical Fantasy: FAMINELAND

Friday, 4 November 2016  |  Posted by Heather Cashman

Manuscript Status: Finished

Mentor Names: Katie Bucklein and Megan Lally
Mentee Name: Julia Darcey
Title: FAMINELAND
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Word Count: 105,000

Pitch:

In an England where World War I never ended, chemical weapons have created an army of mutant cannibals fighting to enslave humanity. Cannibal hunter Kimae is determined to defeat them with her father’s weapon: a poison that kills maneaters, and leaves humans alive. But to find it, she must unite with the one “person” who knows where her father died: the cannibal who devoured him.

Excerpt: 

Kimae fought the air.

Landing blow after blow, she battled an imaginary maneater in the narrow canyon between her bed and the wall. Sweat beaded on her skin as she struck again and again with a knife she didn’t have but remembered so well she could feel the hilt, warm in her palm. Training in secret had paid off: her jabs came as fierce and fast as they had a year ago, when they brought her here from the wilderness, barely alive.

The bonelicker fell in an arc of blood, and she stood over him, breath ragged. Muscles twitching, she cranked open the window and let the cold sea air sing over her slick skin. With the breeze came a sudden longing for the hunt, for the hush of the Blight falling in the woods, blown back by the billows of her fire. She craned her head out the window, eyeing the dull gray of the cobblestones below. Fifteen feet, perhaps. A drop she could survive.

In the Institute, she was just another orphan. Out there, she’d been a cannibal killer. After a year of hiding from revenge, it was finally time to chase it.

This time, she told herself, she’d find the cannibal who murdered her father. This time, she’d sink her father’s knife into his neck.

This time, she wouldn’t end up half-dead in a pool of her own blood.

Filed: Pitch Wars

3 Comments
  • lindsaymealing says:

    I’d love to read more of this! Please send your first 50 pages as a Word document to querylindsay@emeraldcityliterary.com. Include Pitch Wars in the subject line along with your query in the body of your email.

    Thanks!

  • Logan Garrison Savits says:

    Hi! I’d love to take a closer look at your work. Please send your query letter in the body of an email and attach the first 50 pages as a word or pdf doc. You can reach me at lgarrison (at) thegernertco (dot) com. Thank you!

    ~Logan Garrison Savits
    The Gernert Company

  • I’m really intrigued by your premise! I’d love to see the full manuscript. Please send it + query + synopsis to LBiagi (at) jvnla (dot) com, with Pitch Wars in the subject line. Excited to read!

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