Manuscript Status: Two weeks delivery
Mentor: Patrice Caldwell
Mentee: Zareena Nazimudeen
Title: DEVASURA
Category/Genre: Middle Grade Horror
Word Count: 49,000
Pitch:
Stranger Things meets Singaporean mythology when twelve-year-old Zhen Yu, with the help of his best friend, his younger sister, and fickle and friendly spirits, must defeat an ancient creature before it possesses his soul and makes his loved ones’ worst fears come true. Perfect for fans of Mary Downing Hahn and Doll Bones by Holly Black.
Excerpt:
Zhen Yu wanted to slam the front door on his papa’s face. Instead, he closed it gently. The last thing he wanted was for his sister to wake up. To coax Su Ling to sleep he’d spent an hour singing “Let It Go”— an hour he didn’t want to endure ever again.
He strode past the BMW parked in the driveway, resisting the urge to punch the huge hulk of metal. The gate creaked in protest as he yanked it open.
Zhen Yu kicked an abandoned Coke can down the empty road. At 2 AM on a weekday, his neighborhood was a dead town. If only Harun wasn’t sick and could’ve snuck out as usual and joined him. If only his papa got help for his depression, if only his Nainai was still alive, if only his mama hadn’t left them… There were too many “if onlys” in his life.
He turned a corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Piles of burnt hell notes, oranges with joss sticks protruding from them, and bowls of rice littered the field in front of him. Tall, thin red candles poked out of the ground, glowing like beacons for wandering spirits.
How could he forget this was the Hungry Ghost month? The gates of the underworld were wide open.
24 Comments
Brent Taylor · November 3, 2016 at 11:29 pm
I LOVE this! Please send the full manuscript as a Microsoft word document to brent [at] triadaus [dot] com with “Pitch Wars request” in the subject line and your query letter pasted in the body of the message. Eager to dig in.
Suzie Townsend · November 3, 2016 at 11:53 pm
I love this! Please send it as a Microsoft word document with “Pitch Wars manuscript” in the subject line, including your query letter in the first page of the document. Suzie at newleafliterary dot com.
renarossner · November 4, 2016 at 4:57 am
I’d love to take a look at this full manuscript! Please send the query pasted in the email and the manuscript attached in word to rena (at) thedeborahharrisagency (dot) com
Thanks!
– Rena Rossner
The Deborah Harris Agency
Alex Slater · November 4, 2016 at 7:52 am
Hi Zareena,
I’d love to see the full manuscript. Please send it to aslater@tridentmediagroup.com. Many thanks.
Alex
Jim McCarthy · November 4, 2016 at 9:32 am
I’d love to have a look! Please send the full along for my review. A Word attachment is most preferable if possible. jmccarthy@dystel.com. Thanks!
Carrie Pestritto · November 4, 2016 at 9:49 am
Ohhh, a Stranger Things comp! I’d love to read the full of this if you would please send as a Word attachment. You can email me directly at carrie(at)prospectagency(dot)com. If you would put PITCH WARS in the subject and the query in the body of the email that would be great. Excited to read more!!
Leon · November 4, 2016 at 10:15 am
I’d love to see more of this! Please send me the full manuscript at leon@lperkinsagency.com!
Laura Zats · November 4, 2016 at 10:38 am
OMG how fun! Please send the full MS and a query to laura@redsofaliterary.com!
Caitie Flum · November 4, 2016 at 11:36 am
I’d love to take a look at the full manuscript. Please send it as a word attachment to querycaitie (at) lizadawson (dot) com with your query in the email, with the PitchWars request in the subject.
Caitie
Hillary Jacobson · November 4, 2016 at 2:09 pm
What an amazing idea! I’d love to see more. Please send the full manuscript to hjacobson@icmpartners.com! Thank you!
Renee Nyen · November 4, 2016 at 2:09 pm
I really connect with the character’s feelings about Frozen. 🙂 I would love to see the full manuscript. Would you please send it as a Word doc to reneequery@Ktliterary.com. Thank you!!!
Melissa Edwards · November 4, 2016 at 2:35 pm
Hi Zareena, I’d love to see this! Please email it as a double-spaced .doc to medwards@stonesong.com. Please include the title + PitchWars in the subject. Thank you!
Victoria Marini · November 4, 2016 at 3:00 pm
Hi Zareena,
I loved this! Can you please send the full manuscript to victoria.queries@irenegoodman.com with “query” and “pitchwars” somewhere in the subject line?
Thank you so much!
All my best,
Victoria
Melissa Nasson · November 4, 2016 at 3:06 pm
I would love to keep reading! Please send the full manuscript as a Word doc or PDF to melissa@rpcontent.com, and be sure to include “Pitch Wars” in the subject line. Please also include your query in the body of the email.
Thank you!
Melissa Nasson
Rubin Pfeffer Content
Stefanie Lieberman · November 4, 2016 at 3:08 pm
I’d like to see more! Please send a query and the first 50 pages as a Word attachment to submissions@janklow.com and please put “Pitch Wars – Stefanie Lieberman” in the subject line. Thank you!
Laura Biagi, Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency · November 4, 2016 at 5:36 pm
What a great concept! I’d love to read more. Please send the first 50 pages (as an attachment) + query + synopsis to LBiagi (at) jvnla (dot) com, with Pitch Wars in the subject line. Can’t wait to read!
Patricia Nelson · November 4, 2016 at 5:44 pm
I would love to see more of this! Please send a query (in the body of the email) plus the full manuscript as a Word doc attachment to patricia@marsallyonliteraryagency.com, and make sure to put “Pitch Wars Request” and the title in the subject line.
Looking forward to reading!
Christa Heschke (@ChristaHeschke) · November 4, 2016 at 6:37 pm
Yes!! This sounds so amazing! Please send a query, synopsis and full manuscript to chquery@mcintoshandotis.com. Please mark “Pitch Wars request” in the subject line. –Christa Heschke
Melissa Jeglinski · November 5, 2016 at 10:40 am
Very intrigued. Would love to see the complete. Please send the full manuscript (as a Word attachment) and query (in body of email) to Melisa.Jeglinski@knightagency.net. Please put Pitch Wars Request in the subject line. Thank you.
Pete Knapp · November 5, 2016 at 8:07 pm
How I love spooky middle grade! I’d love to keep reading. Please send the full manuscript attached as a Word document to queries@parkliterary.com with “Pitch Wars – Pete Knapp” in the subject. Looking forward to reading! – Pete Knapp
Lauren MacLeod, Strothman Agency · November 7, 2016 at 11:27 am
I’d love to see a full of this! Please send the full manuscript and a query via email to strothmanagency (at ) gmail (. ) com as an attached word document (.doc) with REQUESTED PITCH WARS in the subject line.
Andrea Somberg · November 8, 2016 at 4:12 pm
I enjoyed these opening pages and would love take a look at the full manuscript! Please feel free to send it along as a word document to andrea [at] harveyklinger.com with “PitchWars Requested Manuscript” in the subject line. Thanks! I’m looking forward to reading.
best,
Andrea Somberg
Harvey Klinger Inc.
Whitley Abell (@whitleyabell) · November 10, 2016 at 2:41 pm
I’d love to read more! Please send the full manuscript to whitley@inklingsliterary.com with “Pitch Wars: [TITLE]” as the subject line. And if you wouldn’t mind, could you please include your query on the first page of the word doc?. I look forward to reading!
Andrew Buckley (@abuckley23) · November 10, 2016 at 4:42 pm
Great concept, has a great creep-factor to it. Would love to see more. Please send a query with the first 3 chapters to acquisitions@curiosityquills.com with ‘Pitch Wars’ in the subject line.
Comments are closed.