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Monday, September 23, 2013

QueryCon 2013—#3 Gerald and the Amulet of Zonrach

Title: GERALD AND THE AMULET OF ZONRACH
Genre: Upper MG, humorous fantasy
Name: Carl Hackman

Dear Awesome Agent/Editor

In the realm of Wyverndawn, a wizard’s height is the mark of his power, and shrinking one inch is disastrous for twelve-year-old Gerald.

Looking to gain an inch or two, Gerald decides a little landscaping is just what his village needs. But the spell he bought - from a guy who knows a guy - is a tad more powerful than even he anticipates. The resulting earthquake breaks off a chunk of Wyverndawn from the rest of the realm allowing Vabalaz, a highly dangerous wizard, to escape from prison.

A red-faced Gerald is banished from his village and, to complete his shame, shrinks another inch; two more and he’ll join his father as a Royal Equine Poop Disposal Coordinator. Gerald’s love of shiny wizarding objects leads him straight to a golden amulet that could be the answer to his problems. But when Vabalaz discovers it may also be the key to creating his dream wizard realm, the hunt is on.

Gerald’s hopes of returning home hinge on repairing the damage to Wyverndawn and thwarting Vabalaz’s plans. But he could really do without fighting off bumbling bandits, dealing with a very smelly Orcling and evading a female elven assassin. Failure could mean Gerald’s next spell might very well be his last.

GERALD AND THE AMULET OF ZONRACH is a humorous, Upper MG, Fantasy. It is complete at 77,500 words. Similar in tone to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, younger readers would enjoy this novel of the trials of an inexperienced wizard who manages to turn everything he touches into chaos.

Best regards

4 comments:

Unknown said...

This query sounds as though it would be an engaging read for the Upper MG readers. Since I'm trying to figure out how a wizard's height is the mark of his power, I'd likely request the full just to find the answer. Your "inexperienced wizard" comment at the end of your query makes it sound as though parts of the story will be a comedy of errors, yet other parts of the query make it clear that the story will have the adventure, excitement and danger that will be really engaging and interesting for your MG audience. I think this would be an interesting story and if I represented MG, I would likely take a look at it. Nice work!

Victoria Cappello said...

This is a great example of the perfect way to begin a query. I was hooked from the very first line.

This sounds really great and if I repped MG, I'd definitely request the full.

Good job!

abuckley23 said...

A Terry Pratchett comparison... hard... for me to resist...must try.... ah forget it, we'd love to see a query and some sample pages. Query us at http://curiosityquills.com/submission-guidelines/author-submissions/ and make sure to include that you were referred through Unicorn Bell.

Carl Hackman said...

Hi, I know it is a long time since this query was seen by you guys. I thought I'd like to let you know that after more polishing and edits I have obtained a publishing contract for GERALD :)