Conjure Wars moved on to the second round in ABNA

Conjure Wars, my new young adult manuscript, just made it to the second round in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel award! That means I got a third prize which is a review from Amazon reviewers on my excerpt. The excerpt is the first 5000 words. I'm so excited I just re-grew a few of the hairs I've lost in this whole process.

Thank you to all that read and supported the novel. (Paula K Ward, Mark Sadler, and Christina Wagers and all my other readers) Send some good ju ju my way so I can make it to the quarterfinals!!!!!!

Go Conjure Wars!!!!

Conjure Wars published? Queries are Going Out!

This quarter of the new year of 2012 will be one of waiting. There will be long nights, frequent checks of email and even a few call backs to those unfamiliar numbers that call and hang. Tension and eagerness will be the modus operandi for me while I lie in waiting for answers to my query. I've entered CONJURE WARS in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards and submitted it to six other agents.

CONJURE WARS has been in production for over six years and I think it finally has breathed its first breath. I am Frankenstein and this is my monster. I am Pandora and this is my box. I am FDR and this is my war.

Dramatic enough? Yeah, I thought so to. But I really believe in this story. Not only is it intriguing, but it is exciting and thought provoking. The main character goes from slumped to pumped.

So if anyone is interested in my query letter, one that I've been chewing longer that the holy cow chews its cud (1 hundred million years to be exact) then check it out below and let me know what you think of it.

CONJURE WARS
Jack is a lucid dreamer so powerful that the real world seems boring and disappointing. When violence erupts city wide, everything changes. The police are helpless as mob attacks intensify. The National Guard quarantines the city. The CDC is helpless.

From his treehouse window, Jack watches a mob trash and burn the house across the street. One looks in his direction.

Jack whips himself away from the window, but was seen. The floor hatch is repeatedly attacked. Next to Jack, in seemingly thin air, two bickering voices argue about who’s going to take down the attacker and save Jack. Hearing the voices makes Jack feel like he, too, is going crazy.

The voices explain that they are conjures, which are creatures born from magical spells. They’re fighting dark conjures who are possessing people—which was a tactic used four millennia ago, during the first conjure war.

Jack’s persuaded to flee to Kasmham, a bustling underground conjure city. There he learns his potential is a beacon in the dark world of magic and if the elder magician is correct, Jack’s the only one that can save the world.
Meanwhile, on the surface, the dark conjures are relentless. Jack and his new allies retaliate. A new conjure war begins. If they fail, dark conjures will enslave the world. A world that is worth fighting for.

CONJURE WARS is a 108,000 word novel that highlights the similarities between magic and technology and forces Jack to find strength where he thought none existed.

Thank you for your consideration,
Anderson Atlas

Conjure war illustration #6

This is an illustration for the young adult book: Conjure Wars.

Description: in the future, physical education simulates zero gravity games in a pool with scuba suits.

Writing a Query for Conjuer Wars

Writing a successful query for Conjure Wars is so challenging if I'd tried it this thoroughly five years ago I'd have lost all my hair then. Now that I don't have much to loose, I can safely say that the stress isn't manifesting itself on my personal appearance- except for maybe the bags under my eyes.

In the process I've been in contact with a reviewer for Suspense Mag and and authorized reviewer for Amazon.com and was introducded to a fine blog with blood thirsty and brutally honest reflections on peoples posted queries. This is refreshing and scary at the same time. The blog is called Query Shark. And the author has done some heavy duty battle with peoples crappy queries. All in all, I think it helped me fine tune mine. So check it out!

See, when you're a writer you are practicing an ever growing and changing art based on human feelings and thoughts. That's what makes this so hard. I'm trying to use the ever complicated language to translate my thoughts and feelings which originate with perceptions and small but infinitely complicated neurological impulses which define ever smaller electrical impressions. (See what I mean!) And with that found translation of language, I'm trying to impress emotion (good emotion or excitement) onto another human being that doesn't know me or even care that I walk the Earth.

So good luck writing your query! May we all find success in shrinking our stories into 250 words or less.
AA

Get Reviewed! MOON SHOT

Before Conjure Wars even hits the shelves I want to get reviewed. I need the review like a biker needs a bike. I've absorbed so many articles that echo this exact sentiment-although with different metaphors: baby needs a boob, a foot needs a mouth, or the famous dog that needs a bone. So I'll buy it and without credit. I NEED A REVIEW! I'd yell it from the top of a roof top if I could get to one without committing seppuku (hari cari) on a flimsy ladder.

So how do I do that? Well, at the bottom of this diatribe is a list of reviewers that you could get to review your manuscript and they would rock your world if you could get one. But wait! You can't get a review so you can land a publisher unless you land a publisher. Sound familiar? I love all these walls everywhere because I relish bashing my head against them.

Well, there is some good news. I've called Midwest review and found out they CAN and WILL review a self-published book or your manuscript prior to finding a publisher. Finally a small window I can see through. So I've now submitted Conjure Wars to this reviewer in hopes that someone, somewhere, out there over the rainbow will glint at my query and give my manuscript the time of day.

wish me luck!
below are reviewers for your viewing pleasure:

Booklist:
800-545-2433

Kirkus Reviews:
212-777-4554

Library Journal:
212-463-6823

Publisher’s Weekly
212-645-9700

Midwest Book Review
608-835-7937

that the review is the number one selling point for getting a publisher.

Hidiem climbing the Pyramid of Giza steps.

Here is a character named Hidiem. He's climbing the steps to the Pyramid of Giza before it was ritually sealed by the Pharaoh Khufu.

Gryka - Trapped in the Pyramid

Read the first chapter of Conjure Wars and you'll understand this illustration. Poor Gryka.