Thursday, December 8, 2011

Elena Solodow's Current Query

This one is very cool for me, because I think this is the first time I've ever helped someone who I've actually met with their query. Elena Solodow is a friend of mine. We hung out a lot at WFC in San Diego. I know she enjoys sushi, likes good beer, smokes the coolest natural cigarettes, and has some of the most hilarious story ideas I've ever heard.

Right, so anyway, you know the rules. Go follow Elena's blog. I'll wait.

Back? Great.

Here's her query:

Don’t be careful what you wish for--let the Tenders do that!

In the year 2018, the North is ruled by wish-granting humans called Tenders. Seventeen-year-old Ibsen Goodman lives in the South, a segregated country where faith is the priority and Tenders are abominations before God.

Ibsen struggles to care for his schizophrenic mother while his sister Abigail works to keep food on the table. She’s the only one to reassure him that their mother’s illness won’t infect him, until she disappears and leaves Ibsen to tend to his mother alone.

Abigail's trail leads to the land of the Tenders, making her a traitor in the eyes of the South. No one ventures across the border and returns, but Ibsen will lose his mother, home, and sanity if he doesn’t get his sister back. His only guide is a girl who might be lying to him more than helping. She knows her way around the North, and she knows even more about the Tenders – because she is one.

To find Abigail and survive the North, Ibsen must deal with the demons he's been raised to fear. In their world, he gets more than his sister – far more than he wished for.

TENDER is a young adult dystopian fantasy complete at 68,000 words.

That's it.

Please save your feedback for tomorrow, and thank Elena for sharing this with us!

19 comments:

Donna K. Weaver said...

Nice.

Can't wait for tomorrow.

A Daft Scots Lass said...

Oooo the anticipation.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Be interested to hear your thoughts on this one.

Suzie F. said...

Whoa. This sounds awesome, Elana. And now you have me craving Ibsen (great character name). He was one of my favorites in college. Can't wait to read your critique, Matt.

Sarah Ahiers said...

oh man, this book sounds awesome.
I have some ideas on the query too, but you'll probably cover them before i get back here

farawayeyes said...

Another brave soul. I'm extremely interested. Can't wait to hear what you have to say. (I pray this will only post once.)

Elena Solodow said...

Thanks for hosting me today, Matt! looking forward to tomorrow!

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Looking forward to tomorrow to see if I can add anything.

Just noticed you are from a place called "Cumming" Georgia. /shakes head.

I bet you hear a lot of jokes about that.

Talli Roland said...

Looking forward to your thoughts!

(A big LOL on Michael's comment. I'd thought the same thing, way back when I first started reading your blog. I'm glad I'm not the only one, ha!) :)

Chris Phillips said...

Having read the novel, I like being able to see the query. I'm excited to see what you come up with tomorrow, Matt.

Lydia Kang said...

Sounds so great! I was slightly confused by the third para (She’s the only one to reassure him that their mother’s illness won’t infect him, until she disappears and leaves Ibsen to tend to his mother alone. ) having to figure out who "she" was sentence because we're immediately introduced to two females the sentence before.

Looking forward to tomorrow's crit.

ali cross said...

Ooh. This one's intriguing!

Dianne K. Salerni said...

Hi, Elena! Nice to meet you!
Hi, Matt!

I'm ticking off some points I want to make in my head right now. I'll be back tomorrow to share, although it most likely won't be until after school.

(Sometimes I walk around the cafeteria on lunch duty, typing my crits into my Droid phone, but we've been short-handed this week, so I doubt I'll get the chance. I'll have to focus on the kids and their disgusting eating habits -- lucky me!)

Steve MC said...

The North rules.

Nancy Thompson said...

Hey Elena! Followed ya! You're lucky to have Matthew's critique. He's very intuitive and did wonders with mine last week.

See ya tomorrow.

Jessica Silva said...

yaaaaaaaaay! you can count on me tomorrow ;)

Robert Guthrie said...

Very cool cut to the chase.

dolorah said...

An interesting premise. And how rude of me, I haven't visited Elena in a while . .

..........dhole

Karen Baldwin said...

Hey Elena, nice to see you here. Can't wait for Matt's crit...he's the guru.