Manuscript Status: One month delivery
Mentor Name: Kes Trester
Mentee Name: Jesse Frailey
Title: THE PRINCE OF PAWNS
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Spy-Thriller #ownvoices
Word Count: 65,000
Pitch:
Wade Cannon is a sixteen-year-old chess prodigy straight outta Compton. All he wants is to win one more major chess tournament to become a grandmaster. If that takes him out of the hood, even better. Everything changes when the CIA shows up convinced he’s the next James Bond in Jordans.
In exchange for a ticket to The Prince of Pawns Tournament, Wade must stay one move ahead in a deadly new game when the CIA enrolls him in the same high school as a suspected teen terrorist. He’ll need help from Link, a wisecracking A.I. sidekick, to foil the best moves of an opposing prodigy in both chess and in a plot to assassinate the man who could be America’s next president.
An #ownvoices manuscript, THE PRINCE OF PAWNS can be described as STORMBREAKER meets WATCHDOGS 2.
Excerpt:
Wade Cannon was about to go viral. He just didn’t know it yet.
He was playing chess in the park when trouble rolled up. On the streets of Compton, when gang members arrived, everyone noticed. Wade glanced over the shoulder of his opponent. A deep red Impala with chrome rims pulled to the curb. The blaring Kendrick Lamar track rattling the windows died when the engine cut off.
The old man playing white to Wade’s black cocked his head. Moses was seventy years old and blind since birth, but even he could sense the danger brewing. He shifted on the hard park bench.
If Moses could see, he’d have known the sixteen-year-old across from him looked more like a high school quarterback than a teenage chess prodigy. His hair was braided in tight cornrows, lined up razor sharp, and his shrewd almond shaped eyes seemed to take in life the same way they scanned a chessboard.
13 Comments
Uwe Stender · November 2, 2017 at 10:58 pm
A black James Bond ?! Count. Me. In. And Gin Martini over Vodka Martini. Sorry…BUT Please, send the full as an MSWord attachment to uwe@triadaus.com Can’t wait to read.
Hilary Harwell · November 2, 2017 at 11:56 pm
You had me with the first line of that pitch! This sounds amazing! Please kindly send the full manuscript to hilary@ktliterary.com with “PitchWars” in the subject so I may continue reading!!
Cheers!
Hilary
Saba Sulaiman · November 3, 2017 at 12:10 am
Hi Jesse,
I’m intrigued and I’d love to read more! Please send a query, synopsis, and the first 25 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
Heather Flaherty · November 3, 2017 at 12:20 am
Um, Yes. Just Yes Jesse. Would so love to see more of this!
Please send:
– Query + 10 pages pasted in the body of the email
– Attach FULL ms as well!
– with subject line: PW YA + Title
to: flahertyqueries@thebentagency.com
Thank you so much!
Heather Flaherty (The Bent Agency)
Jessie Devine · November 3, 2017 at 1:37 am
I love this! Please query me and upload the full manuscript here: QueryMe.online/devinequeries/PitchWars
Caitie Flum · November 3, 2017 at 9:45 am
This looks great! It 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.
Melissa Edwards · November 3, 2017 at 9:55 am
I’d love to see more! Please email the first 50 pp. as a .doc to medwards@stonesong.com. Thank you!
Rena Rossner · November 3, 2017 at 9:58 am
Wow! I love this voice! I would absolutely love to read this! Please send the full manuscript attached as a word document to: rena@thedeborahharrisagency.com
– Rena
Carrie Hannigan · November 3, 2017 at 11:00 am
Hi Jesse,
I would love to see more! Please send your query to channigan@hsgagency.com and attach the first 100 pages as a word document. Also please include “Pitch Wars YA” in your subject line.
Thanks!
Carrie
Peter Knapp · November 3, 2017 at 11:30 am
This sounds great — I’d love to read it! Please send the full manuscript as a Word doc to queries@parkliterary.com with the query pasted into the first page of the doc. If available, please also attach a one (or so) page synopsis. Put “PITCH WARS REQUEST – PETE KNAPP” in the subject. Thank you!
Joanna · November 3, 2017 at 2:44 pm
You have an incredible voice here, it drew me in immediately – wry, self-aware, compelling. I can’t wait to read the full. I know I’m not the only agent here at Nelson Literary Agency who is excited to read this one! Please send just one email to query@nelsonagency.com with PITCH WARS UPLOAD in the subject line. We will reply with our upload instructions, and then all the interested NLA agents will read and consider your manuscript. Thank you!
Danielle Burby · November 3, 2017 at 3:45 pm
This is so my kind of book! I know I’m not the only agent here at Nelson Literary Agency who is excited to read this one so please send just one email to query@nelsonagency.com with PITCH WARS UPLOAD in the subject line. We will reply with our upload instructions, and then all the interested NLA agents will read and consider your manuscript. Thank you!
Melissa Nasson · November 6, 2017 at 4:22 pm
Jesse, I’d love to read more of this! Please send the first 50 pages as a Word doc or PDF attachment to melissa@rpcontent.com. Please also include your query letter in the body of the email, and Pitch Wars in the subject line.
I look forward to reading!
Thanks,
Melissa Nasson
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