37. THE GOLEM INITIATIVE – Young Adult Speculative Thriller

Mentor Name: Meredith McCardle

Mentee Name: Ron Walters

Title: THE GOLEM INITIATIVE

Category: Young Adult

Genre: Speculative thriller

Word Count: 73,000

Pitch:

Overwhelmed by Prague’s relentless winter, 17-year-old Aaron unearths a pocket watch from World War II that gives him the power to raise golems and thrusts him into a world of spies, mercenaries, and alchemists, all desperate to claim the device for themselves.

Excerpt:

A hollow snap like fractured bone filled the air as Aaron’s hatchet bit into another half-frozen log. Mismatched wedges of wood tumbled to the ground, spraying snow across the wet cuffs of his jeans. Shivering, he jerked the hatchet out of the chopping block and stared at the pitiful pile of kindling he’d managed to split. There was no way it would last the night, especially if it started snowing again, but—

Please. He grimaced at the unbroken layer of clouds hanging heavy and low in the sky. This was Prague; of course it was going to snow again. That’s all it ever did here. He hadn’t seen the sun in so long, his body was going through vitamin D withdrawal.

He flexed his numb fingers—after two months he still wasn’t used to the cold—and debated whether to call it a day.

A gust of wind knifed through his coat.

That’s it.

Hatchet poised above his shoulder, he eyeballed the chopping block and was about to bring his arm sweeping down when his phone rang. The guitar blast ringtone was so startling in the winter stillness of the backyard that he almost dropped the hatchet on his head.

“Son of a—”

This snow-hell of a city was going to decapitate him.

Aaron fumbled inside his coat, pulled out his phone, and immediately rolled his eyes. Considering the fact that his dad still wasn’t home, it didn’t take a particle physicist to figure out why he was calling.