Hiatus

On the advice of my trusted friend and loyal confidant (after we spent the weekend destroying Twitter with his most excellent new hasthag #PostRaptureTips), Simon C. Larter, I'm going to be giving the blog a little break.

I'm getting very close with my major re-write and the other revisions that go along with it, and I had sort of set a loose goal for June earlier this year, so I need to buckle down and focus on my writing. Writing the blog really doesn't take me that much time, but I won't be reading blogs either, and that will make a huge difference.

If you happen to write something incredibly profound, or would like my assistance with something, feel free to email me, but otherwise: I'll be in the cave.

Possession [P]Review!

Today is my stop on Elana's tour celebrating the release of Possession. Before I get to talking about the book, I want to say a couple of things about Elana. If you don't know EJ, well then you're probably not a writer who blogs, but more importantly, if you don't follow her blog, than you're seriously missing out. In fact, if you follow my blog, but somehow managed to come here without ever seeing her blog first, then there is probably something wrong with you. Seriously. Or you just got back from an alternate universe.

Why am I so high on Elana? Well for one thing: look at her. Over there, to the right. Have you ever seen a kinder face? It matches who she is ... perfectly.

Anyway, it's really because she is the nicest published author you will ever meet, and she is the most giving and helpful person I have ever known, though how she manages to find the time for everything she does, I will never know. Every time I have asked her for help, she didn't hesitate. And there are literally thousands of us whose lives and careers Elana has made a difference in.

Thank you EJ!

Anyway, go visit her, and make sure you're following. Now.

Once you've taken care of that, let's get to the book. I mean that is the fun part.

Possession is Elana Johnson's debut young adult novel. Here is the jacket copy:

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don’t walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn…and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi’s future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they’re set on convincing Vi to become one of them….starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can’t leave Zenn in the Thinkers’ hands, but she’s wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous: everything Zenn’s not. Vi can’t quite trust Jag and can’t quite resist him, but she also can’t give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

And here is Elana's bio:

Elana Johnson’s debut novel, Possession, will be published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster) on June 7, 2011. Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available for free download. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog or Twitter. She also co-founded the Query Tracker blog and WriteOnCon, and contributes to the League of Extraordinary Writers. Elana is represented by Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary.

Now let's finally get down to why you're here. Sorry, I tend to ramble because I don't have many friends in real life, and I'd rather talk to you all anyway. So: what's my take on Possession?

This book is hard to talk about online, if you're not discussing it with people who've already read it. The reason for this is probably obvious, but it's also one of the biggest things that make this book great.

Since I'm not going to spoil anything for you, let me just start with what I can discuss: the characters.

Jag Barque has quickly become one of my favorite all time characters. I loved him from the very first moment I read his name, over a year ago when Elana was kind enough to share her query with me, and give it some kick-ass analysis as well. Anyway, Jag is hilarious, sarcastic, defiant, and uber-cool. Exactly everything I wanted to be when I was a teenager, except for the awesome spiky hair ala:

Awesome, right? He's also kind, and caring toward Vi. Well, most of the time. The rest of the time he's kind of an annoying snot, but that's really believable, because that's what teenage dudes are like. I know, because I still am one (mentally).

Vi was great to read too, because she was full of questions, and let's just say: a little bit conflicted about how she should feel, and what she should do about her situation. I can't say much more without giving anything away, but I do want to cover just two more aspects.

First, the tech and sci-fi/dystopian elements in this story worked very well for me. It was just enough to make it fun, well paced, full of action, and exciting, without bogging me down with a lot of details, or too much science and technology. I'm a total nerd, but I tend to prefer my details on the original fantasy race language and giant family tree appendix side.

Second, oh man this book has an ending. I would never even mention something like this (because of the chance to spoil it), but it's already been talked about in some major industry reviews. I'm not going to give you any more details, because that would be lame, but I will say this book has one of the best endings I've read since the end of the first Bartimaues Trilogy, and that's saying something.

Thanks so much for making me a part of your tour Elana, it's an amazing experience to get to play even a tiny part in your success.

Now, some notes: my daughter Kylie is also giving her own review of Possession, over on Elana's blog. But you already went over there, and made sure you were following her, so you know that.

The other thing is that Elana is doing this amazing query critique conference call helper outer thingy, on June 23rd. It sounds really amazing, so you should go check out the details, here, at Robin Week's blog.

Straight A Student

These are my kids, last All Hallow's Eve.

Madison is on the left, and Kylie is on the right. I love them both more than words can articulate, and I am very proud to be their father.

But today is about Kylie. My daughter, who is 15, and a freshman at a high school that shall remain undisclosed (sorry internet pedos, you don't want to mess with this dad) is officially a straight A student for the year this year.

She's effing brilliant. Yes, she goes to public school in Georgia, and no, she did not take any AP or honors classes this year (she's always been in honors, but was scared about the transition into HS, and wanted to wait until sophomore year to pick them up again).

She got the announcement today that she is now exempt from the rest of the school year. She only has to go to class if she wants to.

So I just want to shout it to the world: YOU ROCK, KID! Oh, and I love you, shhh. I know, shut up dad.

I was an absolute moron at her age. I mean I was always a good student, but I never studied, never did my homework, and just aced the tests to end the year with a low B average. Plus I was into other really stupid shit. I am so happy to have children that are far better people than I ever was.

What is your proudest accomplishment, like, EVAR?

Zoom Out

Someone was talking about zooming out last night on The Facebook, but I can't remember who it was. This is just a stupid post about what my blog looks like all zoomed out. If you're using Chrome or Firefox you can do this too by holding down the CTRL key on your keyboard and scrolling the wheel on your mouse.

Pretty cool, right? Yeah, not really. Have a great day!

A Pirate Manifesto

Today I want to talk about Piracy. No, not the Somalian/High Seas kind.

I want to talk about digital piracy/file-sharing/stealing creative content. I'm going to make some arguments that might be controversial, especially considering the hopes and aspirations of the people who read this blog, who are mostly either published authors, or, like me, aspire to be.

Before I get to the controversial parts, I want to make one thing crystal clear. Stealing is wrong. Morally, ethically, legally, logically: WRONG. What do I mean by logically? Well, if you're a pirate, then you're an idiot. I mean think about it. It's not that hard to figure out. If you love that one hard core death metal new wave punk band, and every album they've ever made is available for free on the Usenet, Bit-torrent, or FrostWire, why wouldn't you want to download it? Because, dumb-ass, how can you possibly expect the artists whose work you enjoy so much to be able support themselves, and more importantly (for you) continue to create more awesome art for you to enjoy?

If you don't pay for it, they won't be able to afford to make it. Everyone has to earn their daily bread.

The same thing goes for films, video games, and most importantly (for this blog) books. But I do have a caveat. Before I get to that I want to make a distinction. I would one day like to be an author, as in a published one. Once I am, if you manage to obtain a pirated copy of my work, and bootleg it in such a way that you are making an illegal profit from my hard work (and it is hard work, this current novel has been over two years in the making), I will make sure that you are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. That's if you're trying to distribute my work, for your profit.

Here's where the controversy kicks in.

If you download my book, from whatever file sharing service, and you enjoy it, just for yourself, and you don't go to any extra effort to make it more widely available for free, I'm not going to care.

It's shocking, I know, but let me tell you why. There are actually several reasons. First, books are different. It requires a lot more word of mouth to get a book selling than it does a film or album, and you can't really loan e-books to friends, or at least the last I read they were still working on software that would allow limited ability to loan digital media out.

How many times have you borrowed a book from a friend, or won one on a blog, and discovered an author that you came to love? If you read as much as I do, it's probably a lot. If you don't it may be less, but we're not splitting hairs here.

I'm loathe to admit this, but I have a real world example. I recently got very excited about A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin, when I heard that HBO was doing the show, and because two of the readers I respect most, Bryan Russell and Ted Cross both highly recommended the books. When I mentioned this to a friend I know in the real world, he got very excited, and ended up loaning me some discs.

The discs contained the audiobooks of the first two books in the series. It's possible that they are just copies of the audiobooks that my friend legally owned, but it's also possible they are pirated. Shame on me, I know. But you know what? I loved these books so much that I went out and bought the trade paperbacks of every volume of the series that has been published so far.

Now I'm not saying this is a perfect example, because what if I hadn't loved them, and I also probably would have bought the books anyway, but I hope you see my point. And that's another reason I don't immediately write pirates off. Most people who download a book illegally never would have bought it in the first place. If they know the places to go to get these files, chances are very high that they are part of a counterculture who believes what they're doing isn't wrong. you can't stop those people. But, every once in a while, someone will download something, and love it so much, that they actually go out and buy it.

Now the bottom line here is that I'm not saying any of this is okay, and I want to repeat, as clearly as possible, stealing is wrong. Don't do it. Don't support it. Don't pretend it's okay. The artist whose career you are threatening is almost certainly a decent, hardworking person. But, as writers and aspiring authors I think we need to have an open mind about piracy and file-sharing. Look at Radiohead and their free album. Think of J.A. Konrath, Amanda Hocking, and the $0.99 e-book millionaires. Konrath, Crouch, Kilborn Strand and Wilson even released the majority of their e-book thriller, Draculas, for free, at first.

These creative people are thinking outside the box, not running around suing people for downloading a few songs, and becoming very successful for doing things there way.

All I'm trying to say is that it isn't black and white. Nothing is that simple. End rant. Thanks for listening.

Laughter is the Best Medicine Blogfest

For real this time. Today is the actual day that LTM and Lydia K are holding their blogfest, so go here or here, to see the details.

I posted some writing related jokes last week, so this time I'll be reposting some old neologisms I shared last year. Get it? Old neologisms? Never mind.

Drunkbooking: This is like drunk dialing but instead you post things to facebook that you will end up regretting later. I do this a lot.

Redneck Lemonade: We live near Dawsonville GA. Kelly works at the Local Steak House. Redneck Lemonade is when a country bumpkin orders ice water, then asks for a bowl of lemons. They then add all the coffee sugar to turn their beverage into free lemonade.

Reintarnation: This one goes hand in hand with the previous and means coming back to life as a redneck.

Meaniac: This is my nephew's word. I imagine it means a meany who is also a maniac, but then with kids you never know, right?

Hasbro: A hasbro is a friend that has become a frenemy, or even an enemy.

Pokemon: A Jamaican Proctologist.

Frisbeetarianism: This one's not mine but I saw it on the internet somewhere and found it to be just dumb enough to share here. It is the belief that, when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there.

Sudafed: This is another I stole which is a software program on how to file a civil action against the government.

Mouse Potato: This is basically all of us. Like a couch potato but instead of TV or video games, it's the internet, and blogs.

Adminishpere: The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve. This is like at my company, where we have around 50 or so employees. I swear that 25 are Vice Presidents.

D.I.N.K.: A landlord's favorite. This is a couple with Dual Incomes, No Kids.

and the near opposite:

SITCOMs: Single Income, Two (or Three) Children, Oppressive Mortgage.

Anyway, I hope that was more fun for you all than it was for me. Have a great Monday!

Afterglow Stick Review

I'm not posting today, and comments are off, because you should just go read my review, at Afterglow Book Reviews, here.

Interviewed by Michelle Merrill

Now that frogger blogger is back up, I can finally re-type this simple little post that I had already scheduled yesterday.

I'm being interviewed by Michelle Merrill today, so go here, to read it (and don't forget to follow her blog).

Thanks for a wonderful Friday, blogger!

Woody Harrelson is Haymitch!

I know I wasn't going to post today, but I just quickly want to announce, since I love both the Hunger Games and Woody Harrelson: Woody has been cast as Haymitch, my favorite tragic alcoholic from the books.

You can read about it, here. That is all.

Oh, also: thanks to Angela Ackerman and The Facebook for informing me of this EPIC WIN.

Announcements

Okay. So as the title suggests, I have a couple of things to announce:

First, my friend Courtney Barr, from the Southern Princess, has a new blog called All 4 Alabama. She is holding some auctions with some incredible prizes, trying to raise money for the victims of the recent tornado devastation in Tuscaloosa and other parts of Alabama. Now, I know money is tight. I personally have not been able to bid on any of the auctions, because I can't afford it right now, but there are other ways to offer your support.

For now, please just visit the blog, and become a follower. If you happen to notice an auction there with a prize that you can't afford not to bid on, well, then that would be your business.

Second, I've been invited to join the group blog Afteglow Book Reviews. I've always wanted to be part of a group blog, so it's kind of exciting for me. You won't see my bio or photo up in the reviewer sections yet, because my buddy Katrina Lantz just talked me into it last night, but I'll be reviewing something soon, and you people better go follow the blog now, so that you don't miss it.

Please?

Third, I really need to get more done when it comes to writing. My damn soul-sucking day job keeps trying to get in the way of things that really matter, like writing and blogging, so for the rest of this week and part of next I won't really be blogging. I may post some short, stupid stuff, but mainly I won't be able to read all the blogs I love, like yours.

Big Bird: OUT. Peace.

Laughter is the Best Medicine Blogfest

Today I'm taking part in my good bud LTM's writing joke blogfest. Please go here, to find all the other participants.

The idea is to keep it simple, and share some writing related jokes. So here we go (I did not make these up):

Endowment:

A visitor to a certain college paused to admire the new Hemingway Hall that had been built on campus.

"It's a pleasure to see a building named for Ernest Hemingway," he said.

"Actually," said his guide, "it's named for Joshua Hemingway. No relation."

The visitor was astonished. "Was Joshua Hemingway a writer, also?"

"Yes, indeed," said his guide. "He wrote a check."

Doubly Negative:

A linguistics professor was lecturing to his English class one day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."

A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."

Is there a Heaven for a Writer?

A writer died and was given the option of going to heaven or hell.

She decided to check out each place first. As the writer descended into the fiery pits, she saw row upon row of writers chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they were repeatedly whipped with thorny lashes.

"Oh my," said the writer. "Let me see heaven now."

A few moments later, as she ascended into heaven, she saw rows of writers, chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they, too, were whipped with thorny lashes.

"Wait a minute," said the writer. "This is just as bad as hell!"

"Oh no, it's not," replied an unseen voice. "Here, your work gets published."

So there you have it. I'm back in town. Have a great (or at least manageable) Monday!

I'm out of Town.

PEACE.

Colene Murphy's Current Query Critiqued

Okay. Today we've got Colene's query again, but this time with my thoughts. Before we get to that though, I've got some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that I won't be at my desk today, responding to your comments via email, which I love to do because the interaction and conversation that comes with that is what blogging is all about, to me.

The good news is that I won't be there because I'll be on a flight to Boston to visit my little sister for her 30th birthday. It's all very exciting and I'll put some cute pictures of us up tomorrow.

Now, let's get to Colene's query. Here it is, with my thoughts in red.

Dear Agent,

17-year-old Faith just wants to get out of the decrepit orphanage, forget no one wanted her, and be left alone with her boyfriend. This opening line is great. It makes a really strong hook, and I'm trying to figure out how to make it better, but it's tough. I will make a few points: the forgetting about no one wanting her is a little redundant, because obviously she's in an orphanage, but I actually like having it in there, because it gives the sentence better rhythm. The mention of her boyfriend feels a little vague, and tacked on, but after you read the entire query, you realize that's on purpose, and it kind of works. The pregnancy is a glitch, but she can figure that out later. LOVE it.

So I think this hook is quite good. It's only two short sentences, but we've got a decent idea of character, a bit of backstory, and an idea of what the conflict might be. If you make any changes to this, keep them subtle.

But Mrs. Simp, the director, is acting weird – homicidal weird. This is great, ups the stakes, except for one thing: I would change the "but" at the beginning to "yet" or "however" or something else. Not because it's bad grammar, bad grammar can be great for voice, but because you just ended the previous paragraph with a "but," and that makes it unclear what you're refuting.

To escape death at the hand of the once trusted employee, be careful here, I know you're talking about Mrs. Simp, but she wasn't Faith's employee, Faith flees through an ivy covered stone wall I would put an em-dash here, or at least a comma, and runs straight into another world.

There, a beautiful, strange woman named Uri is waiting. She promises a happy ending for Faith, her baby, and the boyfriend. I know we talked about this, but I think you need to clarify that the boyfriend is still back in the regular world. They can all come and live in paradise forever on one condition: Faith must follow the haunting woman deeper into the world behind the wall. It didn’t seem like much of a condition until you add in the flesh eating lake monster, city of faceless human replicas, and scorpions falling from treetops.

Colene and I discussed the use of the word "you" in a query. Strictly speaking, second person is frowned upon in query letters, but I think this instance is a little different. The unknown narrator of this query (which is an interesting point because often a narrator in a query can be the MC, even without writing in first person, or at least write with the voice of the MC) never truly addresses the reader directly, which would be breaking the fourth wall. Instead, she uses the "until you add" in a sort of colloquial, idiomatic version of "if one adds in ..."

I'll leave it up to you, dear readers, to disagree. Many of you are ever more experienced with these things than me.

As the adventure gets even freakier, Faith wants to go back. And Uri turns violent. In a rage, she burns an entire city and its inhabitants using only her will and demands possession of Faith’s unborn child in return for safe passage 'home'. Even with single quotes the period should go inside the quote, I believe. Otherwise, this is great. Quick, short, and to the point, yet it sets up very high stakes, and gives us an incredibly scary antagonist to worry about.

Faith must decide: give up the baby she didn't think she wanted in the first place to save her own life, or take up the machete and fight the all powerful, demented Uri for more than just her freedom.

I love when a query ends by summarizing a choice that must be made. Choice is at the heart of conflict, so this sums things up well. I also like that you got so specific with the machete. I mean that's weird, and totally unexpected that it wouldn't be a sword or some other normal weapon, which really entices me to want to read the pages. I need to know: why a machete?

INTO ADELLADARE is a 49,000 word fantasy horror novel for young adults.

I think you're off to incredible start here Cole. In my humble opinion this query is VERY close.

What do you guys think? As always, feel free to disagree with me! See you Monday.

Colene Murphy's Current Query

You guys know the drill by now, right? This is just Colene's query, sort of a chance for you to read it, and let the concept marinate in your grey matter for a while.

Tomorrow will be for feedback, so please wait until then to tear Colene a new one. Just kidding.

Oh, by the way, if you don't know Colene, go visit her blog, and follow it.

Dear Agent,

17-year-old Faith just wants to get out of the decrepit orphanage, forget no one wanted her, and be left alone with her boyfriend. The pregnancy is a glitch, but she can figure that out later.

But Mrs. Simp, the director, is acting weird – homicidal weird.

To escape death at the hand of the once trusted employee, Faith flees through an ivy covered stone wall and runs straight into another world.

There, a beautiful, strange woman named Uri is waiting. She promises a happy ending for Faith, her baby, and the boyfriend. They can all come and live in paradise forever on one condition: Faith must follow the haunting woman deeper into the world behind the wall. It didn’t seem like much of a condition until you add in the flesh eating lake monster, city of faceless human replicas, and scorpions falling from treetops.

As the adventure gets even freakier, Faith wants to go back. And Uri turns violent. In a rage, she burns an entire city and its inhabitants using only her will and demands possession of Faith’s unborn child in return for safe passage 'home'.

Faith must decide: give up the baby she didn't think she wanted in the first place to save her own life, or take up the machete and fight the all powerful, demented Uri for more than just her freedom.

INTO ADELLADARE is a 49,000 word fantasy horror novel for young adults.

This is going to be a tough one, because IMHO this is very close. I will try to give Colene what feedback I can tomorrow.

Thanks!

Justine Dell's Current Query Critiqued

First of all: Go Hawks! Go Mavericks! Way to shock the world.

Now, let's get right to Justine's query, and my critique. My thoughts will be in red.

Perpetually eighteen-year-old Nicodemus thought he knew the purpose of Hell. After all, he was born there. It’s all about teaching humans about humanity, how to care, blah, blah, blah. Two thousand years later, he finds out he was wrong.

I think this has some strengths and some weaknesses. I mean the idea of a character who lives as some kind of gatekeeper for hell is very interesting, and the premise itself is almost enough of a hook, but not quite. We need a better idea of what the conflict is going to be. I mean I understand what you mean when you say the purpose of Hell is to teach humanity about caring, kindness, and so forth, but can you be more specific about what Nic has to do?

You've got a strong sense of character, and some great voice going, I just think you need to re-word this opening hook a bit.

Nic, part-mortal, part-freak, longs for one thing: a normal life. When he’s forced to bring a fifteen-year-old human to join the permanent ranks of Hell, he realizes normal is the last thing he will ever be. Nic wouldn’t wish his life on anyone. Who wants to be the reason a teenage mother commits suicide or be the person who starts a chain reaction that causes a father to shoot his newborn son? So how can he force someone so young to do what he does? The bringer of pain. Loss. Suffering. It’s not poetic. It’s not altruistic. It’s madness.

So in many ways I love this paragraph. It's fun to read, it's FULL of great voice, but ... it's also left me a little confused.

What exactly does Nic do? What's his "job?" I mean it sets up some great conflict and stakes to think that he is somehow the cause of all these terrible things, but I'm left feeling like I have no idea how or why he is the cause of such suffering.

Nic didn’t choose his existence, and he certainly doesn’t want to force it on someone else. But when Nic discovers he has a twin—one who’s hell-bent on killing Nic—the race for the human’s soul becomes a matter of life and death. Literally. Freakin’ great.

I like this, it raises the stakes, but my one hang up is with "the human." Is there a reason you don't want to name this character? And is "the human" the same character as the "little pop-tart human girl" you mention in this next paragraph? Which is an awesome description, by the way.

If you can make that clear, or clarify that they're the same earlier on, I think that would help.

Between damning the human to a life of servitude in Hell, the homicidal twin, and a hot little pop-tart human girl who makes Nic wild, something’s gotta give. And it has to be Nic. But death is the only answer when these worlds collide. And no one is safe when the gods play favorites. Like Nic doesn’t have enough crap to deal with.

You might want to drop the line about gods. It's the first time you've mentioned gods, and it might be a bit much, and I don't think it's needed with all the other amazing conflict you've got going on.

I'm also not exactly clear how death being the only answer works.

Title, word count, personalization, yada yada!

I think you're off to a great start, Justine. You clearly have a powerful premise going, and it sounds like your story is filled with some very interesting characters. If you can streamline this query letter, and clarify a few points, I think you'll be well on your way.

What do you all think? Please share your feedback in the comments!

Justine Dell's Current Query

But first some news: somehow I lost a follower. I'm not the type to obsess over these things, but I'm not going to pretend I didn't notice. I like to tell myself that someone's blogger account expired whenever this happens, because lord knows no one would stop following me on purpose.

Also, in case you haven't heard: Assets from The United States managed to kill Osama Bin Laden yesterday. He was not, as we were told for many years, hiding in a cave in Afghanistan, but actually living in a mansion outside Islamabad. Hopefully this can provide a tiny bit of closure for the innocent people so terribly affected by the cowardly acts of 9/11.

That's all the commentary I'll be giving it.

Now let's get to my good friend Justine's current query. Remember, today is just for you to get a feel for her story, please save your feedback for tomorrow when I'll be sharing mine.

The query:

Perpetually eighteen-year-old Nicodemus thought he knew the purpose of Hell. After all, he was born there. It’s all about teaching humans about humanity, how to care, blah, blah, blah. Two thousand years later, he finds out he was wrong.

Nic, part-mortal part-freak, longs for one thing: a normal life. When he’s forced to bring a fifteen-year-old human to join the permanent ranks of Hell, he realizes normal is the last thing he will ever be. Nic wouldn’t wish his life on anyone. Who wants to be the reason a teenage mother commits suicide or be the person who starts a chain reaction that causes a father to shoot his newborn son? So how can he force someone so young to do what he does? The bringer of pain. Loss. Suffering. It’s not poetic. It’s not altruistic. It’s madness.

Nic didn’t choose his existence, and he certainly doesn’t want to force it on someone else. But when Nic discovers he has a twin—one who’s hell-bent on killing Nic—the race for the human’s soul becomes a matter of life and death. Literally. Freakin’ great.

Between damning the human to a life of servitude in Hell, the homicidal twin, and a hot little pop-tart human girl who makes Nic wild, something’s gotta give. And it has to be Nic. But death is the only answer when these worlds collide. And no one is safe when the gods play favorites. Like Nic doesn’t have enough crap to deal with.

Title, word count, personalization, yada yada!

So that's it!

Remember, please say hi to Justine and thank her for her courage in the comments, but save your advice and thoughts on her query for tomorrow, she knows it needs some work, which is why she's here, but we'll be spending tomorrow trying to help her hone this to a keen edge.