Manuscript Status: Finished
Mentors Names: Léonie Kelsall & Marty Mayberry
Mentee Name: Syed Masood
Title: OTHER PEOPLE
Category: Adult
Genre: Literary Fiction #ownvoices
Word Count: 72,000
Pitch:
THUG meets The Kite Runner. Lapsed attorney Anvar Faris is a bad Muslim, though he hides it well. He deals, albeit poorly, with complex issues, such as immigration, predator drones, eternal damnation, and his accidental cuckolding of a potential terrorist. When the woman he loves is paired with his odiously perfect, Quran-thumping brother for an arranged marriage, Anvar must find a way to intervene without losing his conservative family forever.
Excerpt:
I killed Mikey.
It sounds worse than it actually was. You have to understand that I didn’t kill Mikey because I wanted to do it. I killed him because God told me to do it.
I don’t suppose that sounds much better.
It helps, I think, to know that Mikey was a goat. He had a coarse brown coat and matching dull eyes with weird rectangular pupils that made him seem a little creepy. Loud and obnoxious, he shat tiny round pellets all over the cramped garage he shared with three of his brethren. He was probably the only one of his companions who had a name. I know my parents didn’t name their goats, and I remember my brother, Aamir, saying that naming animals was stupid.
Mikey was the only pet I ever had. He was mine for about a week. I fed him dry straw and brought him buckets of water and asked him if he really wanted to be slaughtered for the sake of Allah at the upcoming Eid because, quite frankly, that seemed like a poor career choice. He remained stoic in the face of his grim fate, at least so far as I could tell.
Eid al-Adha marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. The name of the celebration translates to “The Festival of Sacrifice.”
Yes, Islam has a marketing problem.
10 Comments
Penelope B · November 1, 2017 at 12:28 pm
Hi Syed,
I am LOVING the voice here and would love to see more! Can you send the full to penelope@gelfmanschneider.com, with #PitchWars in the subject line? Thanks so much!
Penelope
Stacey Donaghy · November 1, 2017 at 1:07 pm
Love the excerpt! Please send the full as a word.docx attachment with the query in the body of the email to stacey@donaghyliterary.com add #PitchWars and Title in the subject line.
Looking forward to reading.
Saba Sulaiman · November 1, 2017 at 1:16 pm
Hi Syed,
This looks wonderful—I’d love to read more! Please send a query, synopsis, and the first fifty pages (Word documents will suffice) to ssulaiman@talcottnotch.net — and don’t forget to mention #PitchWars in your subject line. Thanks—looking forward to my read!
Good luck,
–Saba
Aimee Ashcraft · November 1, 2017 at 1:29 pm
Hi Syed,
Really enjoyed this pitch and would love to read more. Could you send the full manuscript in Word format to aimee@browerliterary.com, with #PitchWars as the subject? Thanks a lot! -Aimee
Caitie Flum · November 1, 2017 at 1:29 pm
This looks great! I’d love to take a look.
Please send the query in the body of the email + full manuscript as a Word attachment to querycaitie@lizadawson.com with “Pitch Wars request” in the subject.
Jim McCarthy · November 1, 2017 at 2:22 pm
I’d love to have a look. Please send the manuscript along for my prompt review. I’m at jmccarthy@dystel.com. A Word attachment is most preferable if possible. Thanks! Jim
Erik Hane · November 1, 2017 at 2:42 pm
Hi there! I’d love to see this manuscript in word-doc form at erik@redsofaliterary.com. Thanks so much for sending! I look forward to reading.
Hillary Jacobson · November 1, 2017 at 3:52 pm
I’m definitely intrigued! Please send the full manuscript as a word document to hjacobson@icmpartners.com. Thank you!
Melissa Edwards · November 1, 2017 at 4:36 pm
I’d love to see more! Please email the first 50 pp as a .doc to medwards@stonesong.com. Thank you!
Amanda Jain · November 3, 2017 at 9:44 am
I’d love to read more of this! Please send your full as an attachment to amanda@inklingsliterary.com. Thanks so much!
Comments are closed.