Lindsay Smith (Bohemienne on QT) has signed with agent Weronika Janczuk of The Janczuk Literary Agency.
Then, while sitting at the airport before a trip, I found out I'd won the grand prize—a query letter + first 10 pages critique, and a full manuscript request. Elation; terror; panic. I only had about half the novel loaded on my iPad, so I used the weekend to further tidy that half of the novel, then sent the full off to Weronika when I got home. I started the querying process to dilute my panic while I waited on Weronika to read the full, but within five weeks, she'd offered me representation.
If you're not getting results, then always, always look for opportunities to improve your query and your book. QueryShark, First Page Shooter, pitch contests, writing groups—there are so many resources online that there's no reason not to challenge yourself.
And read! Read everything in your genre! Read plenty outside your genre! Read awesome books and figure out what works. Don't intentionally seek out "bad" books, but if a book isn't working for you, figure out why. Read out loud and learn the sounds and countours of great writing. Then keep writing.
In UNDER A DEAD MOON, a cocky young sorceress turns to the same forbidden magic that threatens her kingdom in a dangerous attempt to save it...
Powerful magic comes easily to Lady Fierine Calloun, daughter of the late, great Archmage Calloun. She's too clever to have the magic burned out of her, and too wealthy to be relegated to an undermage's life, fueling the Empire's factories. Smart mages know to avoid the darker magic of long-imprisoned demons, who can only breach their mountain prison to wreak havoc under a Dead Moon.
But the prison's seals are weakening—Fierine witnesses it herself. The First Emperor banished the demons, and acknowledging the prison's flaws is tantamount to treason. Fierine knows there must be a better way to hold the demons at bay—and she finds it in their own dark magic.
As revolution brews in the factories and the Emperor launches a war at sea, Fierine and a cabal of like-minded mages devise a plan to save the Empire from its demons once and for all. But the dark magic comes with a heavy price, and everywhere Fierine turns, she finds the ruby-eyed Inquisitor who's sworn to kill any mages who take their magic too far. Fierine must choose between her privileged life chasing her father's legacy, and the promise of a new Empire—one forged with dark magic that might kill her before she can decide.
UNDER A DEAD MOON is a 108,000 word fantasy novel that will appeal to fans of Patrick Rothfuss and N. K. Jemisin with its intricate magical system, unusual setting, and complicated ethical questions.