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Please note: These are the entries for the Pitch Wars season beginning in 2021 and continuing through 2022. Please note that our Agent Showcase ends at 9:00 p.m. ET on Monday, February 14, 2022. Agents will not be able to leave comments requesting material after that time.
PW2019 YA #22: MINDWALKER (Soft Sci-Fi)
Mentee:
Kate Dylan
Mentored by:
Kat Dunn
Book Title:
MINDWALKER
Category:
2019 Entries
Genre:
Soft Sci-Fi
Word Count:
95,000

Pitch:

BLADE RUNNER x AURORA RISING

In twelve months, the supercomputer in Sil’s brain will kill her—unless Syntex Corp kills her first.

As their top-ranked Mindwalker, she helps them steal technology by commandeering agents’ minds from afar. But when a mission goes south, Sil is horrified to learn the company is illegally mindjacking civilians. With a price on her head and her tech failing, she must find a way to stop the mindjackings in order to save her friends, her reputation—and maybe even herself.

 

Excerpt:

It’s impossible to ignore an alarm that’s going off inside your head. Which is probably why Syntex put it there instead of on my bedside table. I throw a pillow over my face, a second before I remember why that’s a terrible idea.

Too late.

The jolt of electricity surges through my brain. It’s only the tiniest bit of current, barely a spark. But damn it hurts. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now: urgent alerts aren’t optional.

Jarvis has already turned on the lights and their glare is bouncing off the bare, white walls, brighter than is polite for… argh, four-fourteen am. Christ-that-was. No wonder I feel like death is tap-dancing inside my skull. Lena and I were drinking until one.

“Status report,” I bark, because there’s no point wasting words berating the computer in my head. Most of the other Walkers don’t bother naming their units, but CIP—short for Cerebral Intelligence Processor—felt too clinical for me, so I named him after the AI from some pre-Annihilation movie. I even downloaded the actor’s voiceprint so they’d sound the same. Peter something… or maybe it was Paul. In my defense, I was eight at the time, and it seemed like a good idea.

“Incoming mission,” Jarvis says.

And just like that, I’m fully awake.

9 responses to “PW2019 YA #22: MINDWALKER (Soft Sci-Fi)”

  1. Marlo Berliner says:

    This caught my interest! I’d love to read more! Please send the full with Pitchwars YA in the subject line to marlo.jdlit@gmail.com. Looking forward to reading!

  2. Jennifer Unter says:

    I’m intrigued by this pitch & your voice – would love to read on! Please forward the first 50 pages to jen.nadol(at)theunteragency(dot)com with PW Request in the subject line. Thanks!

  3. Ginger Clark says:

    I would love to take a look at this. Can you email me the first fifty pages as either a PDF or DOCX or RTF? Put the words “Pitchwars 2020 request” in your subject line. Thank you so much!

  4. Mollie Glick says:

    Hi Kate,

    This sounds interesting! Could you send the full manuscript to mollie.glickasst@caa.com?

    Best wishes,
    Mollie Glick

  5. Sabrina Taitz says:

    This sounds wickedly cool. Please send the full manuscript in PDF format to staitz@wmeagency.com. Thank you! — Sabrina Taitz @ WME

  6. Hi Kate,
    This sounds amazing! I would love to to read the full manuscript. Please send the full to QueryMe.online/Stacey_PITCHWARS/PitchWars2020. Add #PitchWars to the submission form.

    Looking forward to reading your story ❤️

    Best,
    Stacey

  7. Jordy Albert says:

    I would love to take a look! Please send a query along with your full manuscript as a Word attachment and #Pitchwars in the subject line to me at jordy@thebookeralbertagency.com. Thanks!

  8. Chloe Seager says:

    Hi – I would love to take a look at this. Please send the first three chapters and synopsis to childrens@madeleinemilburn.com.

    All my best,
    Chloe

  9. Em Lysaght says:

    This sounds fantastic, I would love to read more. Please submit your first three chapters, synopsis, and query letter (and remind me of your Pitchwars pitch in the query) at this link: http://queryme.online/emlysaght