Friday, September 6, 2013

Pitch Madness SJ-6: A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS

Genre:  Adult Historical Thriller

Word Count:  65,000

Pitch: 1920's New York City, a desperate female magician with nothing to lose and everything to gain, a path of murdered magicians, one hot Italian boxer, another mad magician, all creating A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS.

Excerpt: 
I've become an animal. I know I'm above this, but if there is one thing I've learned it's this: an empty stomach will drive even the most dignified person to rummage through a trash can. I brush a fly from the hard chunk of bread before stuffing it into my mouth.

And hate myself for it.

I hunch over the food as I inhale it, glancing over my shoulder, making sure no one sees me. Just because I'm an animal doesn't mean the world needs to know. I straighten up, square my shoulders, wipe my mouth and slip out of the alleyway into the throng of bodies too busy getting where they're going to worry about me.

I leave the disgrace behind, promising I'll never degrade myself again by digging through garbage, but I'm a liar. It's a promise I've been breaking for over a year now.

The smell of roasted peanuts hits me as I walk into the theater and it makes my mouth water. I gather my cleaning supplies and attempt to focus on cleaning to get my mind off the hollow of my belly. Distraction is a hungry person's best friend and lucky for me, the theater is full of distractions.


I eye the pile of crushed peanut shells I've swept and with once quick glance around, stuff a handful of them into my pocket for later, hoping there are more than just shells in there. As I throw the rest away, my mouth salivates at the thought of the salty shells on my tongue.

10 comments:

  1. This looks like just the place to build a nice hotel - excellent view.

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  2. This looks like just the place to build a nice hotel - excellent view.

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  3. Advance to full Request (trumps partial) card.

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  4. I'm quite smitten and will spend $20 for the query and first 20 pages.

    Thanks,

    Terrie Wolf, AKA

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  5. Oh. My. Goodness. This scene. This opening scene. SO vivid! It's rare for me that a first page can rouse the instant movie-in-my-mind feeling, but you nailed it. Too awesome!

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  6. I knew the moment I read this that I wanted it and I was going to have to fight for it. I used strategy to get it and still had to battle for it as this was one of the tie-breaker matches in the draft. My wish list before the slush read was for a story featuring a magician (not a wizard, but a magician). It's kinda like The Prestige - a historical magician story, but with a female lead...did I mention I'm a HUGE historical fan. The strong female lead in a time when women's rights were still being fought over also ticked a big box for me.

    Then the writing! Killer opening line - so hard to do. The MC voice, the descriptions are all perfect.

    Even though this got 5 bids, I actually did think it would have more. I'm sure someone will snap this up and then you have to put me in the acknowledgements!

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  7. Oh believe me, Sharon, if this gets picked up you will most definitely be in the acknowledgements! I can't thank you enough. And that goes for all the slush readers that kept putting it through to the next round. I'm still a little shocked. Thanks to the agents as well! I look forward to getting this MS in your hands! :)

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  8. WoW, so powerful. No wonder you got a request for a full. Wonderful!

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  9. Wonderful concept. Very nicely done!

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