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Pitch Wars Showcase

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.
PW2020 Adult #06: THE JASAD HEIR (Fantasy – #OwnVoices)
Mentee:
Sara Hashem
Mentored by:
Kalyn Josephson and Kat Enright
Book Title:
THE JASAD HEIR
Category:
2020 Adult Entries
Genre:
Fantasy - #OwnVoices
Word Count:
129,000
Manuscript Content Warning(s):
Mention of minor character’s past sexual assault, violence against a child.

Pitch:

CITY OF BRASS meets A GATHERING OF SHADOWS

Fugitive queen Sylvia has been presumed dead since Nizahl’s armies burned her kingdom to the ground. When the cold, calculating Nizhal heir discovers Sylvia’s outlawed magic, they strike a traitor’s bargain: she’ll compete as his champion in the kingdoms’ dangerous tournament, and in exchange, Sylvia will help him draw out the magic users he’s hunting—Jasadis, her own people. As rising political tensions threaten a new war, Sylvia is soon embroiled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse where discovery means death.

 

Excerpt:

Two things stood between me and a good night’s sleep, and I was only allowed to kill one of them.

I tromped through Hirun river’s mossy banks, squinting for movement. A normal apprentice dealt with grime, certainly, and plenty of late hours. I had expected those. I hadn’t expected the frogs.

“Say your farewells, you pointless pests,” I called. The frogs developed a defensive strategy any time I came close. The watchguard belched an alarm, the others flung themselves into the river, and the brave one remaining hopped for his life.

Dirt had caked deep beneath my fingernails. Moonlight filtered through a canopy of skeletal trees, and for a moment, my hand looked like a different one. A hand much more manicured, a little weaker. Those hands of Niphran’s that could wield an axe alongside the burliest woodcutter, weave a storm of curls into delicate braids, drive spears into the maws of monsters. For the first few years of my life, before grief over my father’s assassination spread through Niphran like rot, before the sight of my magic painted terror in her eyes, there wasn’t anything my mother’s hands could not do.

Oh, if Niphran could see her Heir now. Covered in filth and outwitted by croaking river roaches.

 

13 responses to “PW2020 Adult #06: THE JASAD HEIR (Fantasy – #OwnVoices)”

  1. Mary C. Moore says:

    Love that first line! Eager to read more, please use this link to send: QueryManager.com/Mary_C_Moore_KCA/PitchWars

  2. Laura Crockett says:

    This sounds exciting! Could you send me your official query in the body of the email, “Pitch Wars” in the subject line, attach the first 50 pages (Word doc preferred) to laura(at)triadaus(dot)com, please? I look forward to reading more.
    –Laura Crockett, TriadaUS Literary Agency

  3. REBECCA STRAUSS says:

    Hi Sara,

    I’d LOVE to read more of THE JASAD HEIR! Those river roaches! ;P Could you please email the query and full manuscript to: rebecca@defliterary.com? Please label the subject as: ‘Pitch Wars Requested.’

    Thanks so much!

    Cheers,
    Rebecca

  4. Devon Halliday says:

    I love a good tournament–I’d be delighted to read this! You can send the query and full manuscript to querydevon@transatlanticagency.com with PitchWars in the subject line. If you get multiple requests from Transatlantic agents, please submit to us one at a time.

  5. Jim McCarthy says:

    Hello! I’d love take a look if you’d like to send the manuscript as a Word attachment to jmccarthy at Dystel dot com. If any of my colleagues at DGB also request, feel free to pick who among us you’d like to send to first and just let us know who else requested, and we’ll work it out! More info on us at http://www.dystel.com. Thanks!

  6. Em Lysaght says:

    Hi Sara, I would love to see more material about this project! If you would like to submit to me, please use the following link to send me your query letter, synopsis, and first 3 chapters/50 pages (whatever is longer): QueryManager.com/emlysaght/Pitchwars2020

  7. Tamara Kawar says:

    Dear Sara,

    This sounds amazing, I’d love to read! If you’re interested, could you please send the full manuscript to tamara.kawar@icmpartners.com and make sure to include “PW2020” in your subject line?

    Thank you!

    Best,
    Tamara

  8. Jennifer Azantian says:

    Hi Sara,

    I’d love to take a look at the full. If you’d like to query, please send your query letter, 1-2 page synopsis, and attached full manuscript here: QueryManager.com/AzantianLiterary/PW. If more than one ALA agent requests your work, please choose one of us to share with at a time.

    Thank you! I’m looking forward to reading!

    Warmest,
    Jennifer Azantian

  9. Alexandra Levick says:

    Hi Sara,

    I love the voice in this sample and I’d love to take a closer look! If I seem like a good fit for your body of work, please send your query letter and the first 75 pages of your manuscript (attached as a word document) to me at alevick(@)writershouse(.)com. I would appreciate it if you could note in the subject line that your message is a Pitch Wars request.

    More information about me is available here: https://www.alexandralevick.com/
    More information about Writers House is available here: http://www.writershouse.com/home

    Additionally, if more than one agent from Writers House requests your work, please note you may only submit to one of us at any given time.

    Thanks very much!
    Alexandra

    | Alexandra Levick | She/Her | Writers House

  10. Andrea Somberg says:

    I enjoyed these opening pages and would love to take a look at the full manuscript! Please feel free to send it along as a word document to andrea@harveyklinger.com. Include the query letter in the email, and put “Pitch Wars Requested Manuscript” within the subject line. And if multiple agents at Harvey Klinger have requested, please feel free to send along to all of us but just let us know who else is considering. Thanks! – Andrea Somberg, Harvey Klinger Inc.

  11. Elle Thompson says:

    Hi! I’d be very interested in reading this in full. If you could please submit your work to elle@triadaus.com with the email header “PITCH WARS: [Title]”, the query pitch, and the full MS attached in .doc format, I’d be very appreciative. If another agent from TriadaUS has requested your manuscript, please submit to each of us–we will sort it out on our end. Thank you so much!

  12. Zabé Ellor says:

    I absolutely just can’t get this voice out of my head–I can’t wait to see more!

    Please could you send the query and first fifty pages to me, as an attachment, at zrellor.books@gmail.com? Please paste your query on the first page of your attached sample pages, and also in the body of the email, and include PITCH WARS in the subject line. If more than one JDLA agent requests, feel free to first submit to the one you think is the best fit.

  13. Kari Sutherland says:

    Hi Sara,

    I love the voice in this excerpt and the way you weave both humor and reminiscence into the scene. I’d love to read more. Please send the full via this form: QueryManager.com/Kari_Sutherland_Query_Form/PitchWars. If more than one Bradford Literary agent requests it, you can send to multiple of us, just let us know so we can coordinate. Many thanks! Kari