Pitch Madness Agent Round

It's been a long week of reading through all the amazing pitches and our wonderful readers have narrowed the slush, and your game hosts have chosen sixty pitches, along with four pitches saved by our slush readers, for the game. If you're new to Pitch Madness you can check out the details here and our fantabulous agents here.

(Scroll down to view all 16 picks for my blog or find them in the sidebar to the right.)

For the other blog hosts go here:

Brenda Drake 

Shelley Watters

Summer Heacock


Comments are set to moderation so the agent's won't see their competitors' bids. Please no comments other than those from the agents. After the game later on September 10, we'll release the moderation and let you all comment on the entries.  

Please note: We will email submission details for all requests by the agents. After the contest, agents will make requests to us for the pitches they loved and didn't not win.
 
Congratulations to those who've made it into the game! For those who haven't made it, we are hosting a Twitter Pitch Party on September 12 from 8AM to 8PM EDST on the hashtag #PitMad. 

How do you twitter pitch? You can find all the details here.

A huge thank you to my team! You can check out the teams here.

Pitch Madness SJ-16 Slush Save: JACKABY SKAR AND THE INHERITANCE OF OSLO

Genre:  
 MG Adventure

Word Count:  55,000

Pitch: A thirteen-year-old boy learns his not-so-imaginary friend is real when he uncovers an ancient family legacy of Norwegian trolls and Vikings. Now to guard his inheritance he must outwit a murderous kidnapper. 

Excerpt:  

Jack Brown is always in the middle row on picture day. He looks like an average almost-thirteen year old. He wears his brown hair just shaggy enough to hide his too-big ears and sweep of freckles. But nothing can hide his lopsided nose.

Every day since kindergarten he’s worn the same outfit: work boots, jeans and a button-up flannel, brown, of course – his least favorite color – because that’s the uniform of the Brown’s Family Nursery and the color of his super dull life.

There is only one thing that is special about Jack. But his uniqueness expires at midnight when he turns thirteen. And he can’t do anything about it.

With his face twisted into a frown, Jack stepped off the bus on the quiet country road and lobbed a rock down his wooded driveway, irritated. Once the bus slipped out of sight, he turned to a large, quivering bush.

“This is it, Nada. Aren’t you scared? What if you turn into a pile of goo or something?” he asked.

A giant, gray troll appeared beside him and smiled with a big, goofy smirk. “Jackabean, that’s crazy. Trolls don’t turn into goo. We turn into slime.”

Her snaggletoothed grin and deep voice made it hard to tell that Nada was a girl. Luckily the yellow bed sheet, worn toga-style, cleared up that mystery.

Nada shook her fat fist in the air. “Maybe you should use those big ears for listening. I told you I’m not imaginary. I’m your troll!”

Pitch Madness SJ-15: BECOMING HERO

Genre:  
 YA Magical Realism

Word Count:  80,000

Pitch: Comic-book superhero Skye takes on awful plot twists every day, but when his parents die in a nasty cliche, he's had it. He shoots his author. Will murder save his world, or damn his soul?

Excerpt:  

Comic-book Universe: Issue 339

Rain trickles across a fading green dumpster in a narrow alleyway. A dark shadow, a superhero gone bad, stalks the rooftops above, heaving a giant gun off his back as he readies it for his prey.

Skye ignored the stench of the banana peels and burger wrappers crushed against his face and forced himself to breathe steady. He clenched his fingers tighter around the bleeding wound in his shoulder, trying not to think about the infection he'd get from hiding in the dumpster. Just breathe. In, out. In, out. Any change in that pace, and his hunter might hear him. Hunter--that's how he had to think of his best friend now.

The thought sunk into Skye's chest like another punch. Dammit. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth against the hot tears. How could he—

"I suppose you're wondering how I could do this to you," said a soft voice just above him. Skye heard light footsteps on the dumpster lid, but didn't reply. Mark had walked past his hiding places before.

"You can hear me, right? I know you're nearby. Please just show yourself. Just end this."

Skye heard Mark's feet crunch against the pavement. He heard the rustle of plastic bags being kicked; a nearby window smashed.

"None of this would have hurt if you'd just let me take you out the first time. I didn't want your parents to die. Come on, Skye, you think I wanted Jackie to die for you?"

Pitch Madness SJ-14: SAVING DANGER

Genre:  
 MG Contemporary Fantasy

Word Count:  40,000

Pitch: Lucretia accidentally traps 5-year-old new stepbrother, Danger, in a comic. She enters its pages to save him. But it’s an impossible task when he’s in charge of the story and won’t follow any writing rules

Excerpt:  

I glared at my reflection in the hotel mirror. Pepto-Bismol pink glared back at me as I tugged one of the many ruffles strangling my gown. “It looks like a cupcake vomited on me.”

Grandma Rosa stood next to the mirror. At the same time, she chuckled and stared at me sternly. An impressive feat. She responded in her faint Italian accent, “It’s not so terrible.”        

I scowled. “Does she think I’m the same age as Danger?” In a few short hours, Danger would be my stepbrother. I didn’t know whether it would be worse to be stuck with him or his plastic mother for the rest of my life. “I’m thirteen—not five.”

She sighed. “Your father sure knows how to pick ‘em.” Grandmother pursed her lips, realizing her comment not only bashed Erin, soon-to-be Stepzilla, but also my real mother. “What I mean is—”

“Don’t worry about it, Grandma Rosa.” I ignored the dropping-an-anchor down-my-stomach sensation that always followed the mention of my real mother and forced a fake smile. “If this is what she thinks her junior bridesmaid should look like, I can’t wait to see her gown.” My usual clothes were black like Grandma’s though mine were younger and less shapeless. Her mourning look was pretty obvious. “What do you think she’ll say when she sees your dress?”

We didn’t have to wait long to find out. Erin, her head a mountain of curling iron curls peeked into the room—without having the courtesy to knock.

Pitch Madness SJ-13: THE ART OF BREAKING

Genre:  
 YA Magical Realism

Word Count:  89,000

Pitch: After dying and coming back as an Imaginary friend, Luca must give up her dreams of being a normal teenager—and a once-in-an-afterlife romance—or risk breaking the Imaginary world and losing her best friend.

Excerpt: 

The rules of summer were simple—only one ice cream sandwich per day, no swimming without appropriate supervision, and always be home before dark. On the day Luca Grable died, she broke all three. The first two were acts of seven-year old rebellion. The third was an unintentional side effect of drowning in her best friend’s pool.

But even dying couldn’t keep Luca from growing up. It was one of the perks of becoming an Imaginary friend instead of going to heaven. She got to keep aging along with her best friend as long as Katie needed her. And there was nothing her mentor Math could do about it, no matter how late she was for their weekly meeting.

He could, however, put her on bathroom duty. Again.

Luca checked her watch as she hauled ass the last few feet to the entrance of Imaginary House. Ten more minutes and not even being a few months shy of legal age could save her from scrubbing toilets and bleaching tile grout every Saturday night for the next month.

She flung herself through the front gates, gripping the smooth metal bars for balance, and shot up the sidewalk. The house cast crooked shadows on the lawn from the various additions that jutted out at odd angles from the main building. A few younger Imaginaries chased each other around the half-acre of thick grass, using the shadows as safe zones. Their laughter pierced the air. Their knees were stained with grass and dirt and remnants of melted chocolate.