PW #410: Adult Light Fantasy Thriller: HOPE IS AN ELABORATE FICTION

Manuscript Status: Finished

Mentor Name: Michelle Hauck
Mentee Name: Kat Hinkel
Title: HOPE IS AN ELABORATE FICTION
Category: Adult
Genre: Light Fantasy Thriller
Word Count: 100,000

Pitch:

With a single touch, Hope Jacobson can “read” the histories of artifacts and people. She uses this gift to infiltrate England’s Museum Federation—an organization that controls information, and probably murdered her Dissident father. But when her murder investigation intersects with the long-lost Ark—the Internet archive destroyed in 2062—Hope must unravel riddles hidden throughout London’s museums, before the Federation discovers her gift. If they do, they’ll stop hunting the Ark, and start hunting her.

Excerpt: 

With the unearthing of the first box, two thoughts occurred to me: one, the Museum Federation now unknowingly possessed enough evidence to hang me for treason. And two, I had told them where to dig.

Triumphant shouts from the far end of the field brought Tesla and me running towards the excavation. We found Reid, our coworker from the Museum, leaning on his shovel in the pit. Between him and the other diggers rested a familiar trunk, its English oak exterior dark with damp. I cursed at myself.

The lid was branded with a butterfly sigil.

I knew Dissidents buried collections in this field, but had I known it held these particular boxes, I never would have brought the Museos.

Brit Chatto, bubbly host of Museum Chit Chat, called into the hole. “Can you dust off the wood before we film the interview?”

“I think Hope and Tesla will look better on telly,” Reid replied.

When the camera wheeled around to find us, I dropped to the ground, pretending to do up my laces. Tesla stepped in front like a good best friend and smiled as Brit shoved a microphone in her face. “How exactly have you managed to uncover four illegal burials across England in a mere five months?”

Hot panic snaked up my back as I awaited Tesla’s answer.