Be An Agent for a Day: Query #11

This query is part of the Be an Agent for a Day contest. Rules and Regulations here

Please post your rejection or manuscript request in the comment section!


Dear Agent for a Day,

There are all kinds of prisons - some with bars and some no better than cages. There are the state, federal, and county kind and then there are the worst kind of all. These are called "the past."

The past can imprison us as surely as any four-walled structure. The past can cause us to become stifled within its limiting, restrictive barriers until we begin to suffocate. We find we can never grow, learn or stray from the prison it creates around us. Its boundaries continue to separate us from life by flooding our minds with images that haunt us, situations that we can never seem to overcome and by carving out of us an unsettling void that leaves us ill-equipped to leave it behind. In its wake, we live a lonely, often solitary confinement where we are left with pieces of ourselves that we hold in our trembling hands. We are left to wonder how we can glue the pieces back together - and whether that's even possible.

This is kind of prison that John Michaels finds himself living - and dying - in. He is the sympathetic protagonist in this 65,000 word contemporary suspense novel called The Release. John Michaels is the survivor of a childhood filled with brutal, merciless beatings suffered at the hands of his father. These violent attacks were made all the worse by the fact his numbed, heartless mother stood idly by and watched. The story follows John as he matures and tries to find his place in what we sometimes laughingly call society - as if a true society would tolerate such violence on one so young. With no coping mechanisms in place and no way to internalize his brutalization, we watch helplessly as John falters and stumbles his way through life.

I graduated from The University of Texas in May of 1997 with a degree in journalism. While at the university, several of my articles received The Almay Award for Excellence in Journalism.

I chose to submit my novel for your consideration after seeing that you had interest in this particular genre, especially after you pointed out that Robert Pierce's novel, The Escape, was one of your favorite reads. Not only did I read the book, but found it similar to mine in that it shows the struggles of a young man trying to escape the horrors of an abusive past.

Upon request, I am prepared to send the completed manuscript.

Thank you for taking the time to consider representing my work. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Author

STATS: 2% request rate