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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.
PW2021 Adult #21: SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW (Romantic Fantasy – #OwnVoices Bisexual, Filipina)
Mentee:
Gabriella Buba
Mentored by:
Michella S. Domenici
Book Title:
SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW
Category:
Adult
Genre:
Romantic Fantasy - #OwnVoices Bisexual, Filipina
Word Count:
115,000
Manuscript Content Warning(s):
On page portrayal of colonization which includes sexism, racism and homophobia as well as emotional abuse. On page violence/murder, natural disasters, abortion, self-harm, torture, consensual sex. Mention of child abuse/pedophilia, genocide, suicide.

Pitch:

Filipino EMPIRE OF SAND X POPPY WAR

Lunurin, a mestiza stormcaller, hides in a convent—from the Inquisition branding her a witch, and the Goddess of Storms, who sings of drowning colonizers. When she’s discovered, a marriage-of-convenience might save her from the Church, but not her Goddess. A typhoon is brewing in Lunurin’s bones. Freeing it will destroy the violent colonizers, but also the family she found in the convent and her new marriage.

 

Excerpt:

Lunurin drank in the scent of seagrass and salt, balancing on the dock above her oyster beds. She lowered the last seed-oyster platform into the water. Her arms burned.

Lunurin eyed the calm turquoise depths, rubbing together pruned fingertips gone fish-belly pale, stark against the browned backs of her hands. Worries swirled like a budding storm till the rope at her waist tugged. The brush of Catalina’s hands checking the dive line steadied her.

“Do you have to dive?” asked Cat, a fellow novice at the Convent of Saint Augustine.

Lunurin frowned down at the buckets of gold-lip oysters. “I don’t have enough for the Abbot’s dinner. I can’t take any more from the floating platforms.” Woefully bare after four such dinners. Decades old pearl oysters would be dinner for Codicíans who lacked any reverence for the sacred creatures. What waste!

“It’s dangerous.” Cat made the sign of the cross with ink smudged hands. “The shipyard workers have seen drowned ghosts in the water.”

Lunurin touched her dugong bone pendant. Tabi, tabi po. She warded off anything Cat’s words might’ve woken. As a stormcaller, she knew how far god-blessed fury could twist the soul, even beyond death. How many of Aynila’s tide-touched burned on the Abbot’s pyres before they built the Palisade over the ashes?

“You worry too much. It’s just sailor’s tales,” she lied.

15 responses to “PW2021 Adult #21: SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW (Romantic Fantasy – #OwnVoices Bisexual, Filipina)”

  1. Ernie Chiara says:

    Hi Gabriella,

    This sounds great! If you’d like to query me at QueryManager.com/ErnieChiara/PitchWars and include your full manuscript and synopsis, I would love to read it!

    Thanks so much, and best of luck!

    Ernie Chiara,
    Fuse Literary
    @erniechiara

  2. Amanda Rutter says:

    I would love you to submit your Pitch Wars entry to me, using my Query Manager form: QueryManager.com/Amanda_Rutter/PitchWars

    Please send through the query letter and the full manuscript.

    If more than one Azantian agent requests materials, please pick the one you feel would fit you best.

  3. Jim McCarthy says:

    I’m game! I’d be happy to take a look if you’d like to share. You can send the manuscript to me at jmccarthy@dystel.com. If any other DGB agents request, please feel free to choose whichever of us feels like the best match and let us know who else asked, and we’ll work it out in house! Thanks!

  4. Samantha Wekstein says:

    Hi Gabriella,

    This sounds great! I’d love to see your query and first fifty pages. If you’re interested, please send them to QueryManager.com/SamanthaWekstein/PitchWars. Thank you!

    All the best,

    Samantha Wekstein

  5. Kurestin Armada says:

    Hello, and congrats on completing Pitch Wars! Absolutely love this concept already–please do send the full manuscript + a synopsis attached as word docs to my attention at submissions (at) rootliterary (dot) com, with Pitch Wars in the subject line. If any of my colleagues also request, feel free to pick one of us or just mention us all and we’ll sort it on our end. Cheers, Kurestin Armada @ Root Literary

  6. Erica Bauman says:

    Hi Gabriella,

    Congratulations on your Pitch Wars entry! This sounds amazing, and I’d love to read the full manuscript! If you could please submit your query and materials using the following Query Manager link (so that the system flags it on my end): QueryManager.com/EricaBauman/PitchWars

    And if more than one ACM agent requests, please feel free to submit to them simultaneously—just let us know who else is reading and we’ll sort it out on our end.

    I’m so excited to read more!!

    All my best,
    Erica

  7. Rebecca Podos says:

    This sounds stunning!! I would love to see the query and full manuscript through the Pitch Wars event link on my QueryManager: QueryManager.com/BeccaPodos/PitchWars

    Best, Becca

  8. Jon Cobb says:

    Hi Gabriella–SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW sounds right up my alley. I’d love to read more. Please send the pitch and full manuscript to me via email at jon@hgliterary.com. Looking forward to hearing from you!

    All the best, Jon Cobb
    Jon@HGLiterary.com
    http://www.HGLiterary.com

  9. Cortney Radocaj says:

    Hi Gabriella!

    I love the sound of this and would love to see more. Can you please submit your query, synopsis, and first 30 pages here?

    QueryMe.Online/CortneyRadocaj/PitchContests

    If another Belcastro agent requests as well, please choose one of us to send to and mention in your query who else has requested; we’ll be sure to pass the submission along to the other agent if it ends up being a pass 🙂

    Looking forward to reading more!

    -Cortney Radocaj, Belcastro Agency

  10. Katelyn Detweiler says:

    Hi Gabriella,

    Such a great pitch and sample! Could you please send your query and full manuscript to me at katelyn@jillgrinbergliterary.com with “Pitch Wars” in the subject line? (Please note, if multiple agents from Jill Grinberg Literary Management request your ms, we ask that you only share with one.) Thank you!

    Best,
    Katelyn

  11. Tamara Kawar says:

    Dear Gabriella,

    Hi again! I’d love to read the full. If you’re interested in sending, could you please email the manuscript to tamara.kawar@icmpartners.com and make sure to include “PW2021” in your subject line?

    Thank you!

    Best,
    Tamara

  12. Patrice Caldwell says:

    Love this, please send the first 50 pages to query@newleafliterary.com with this in the subject: “Query, Patrice Caldwell, Pitch Wars” Thanks!

  13. Alexandra Levick says:

    Hi Gabriella,

    Ah I am so taken with this! I have a huge fascination with the darkness of the sea and this swept me right up (pun intended!). I’d love to continue my read. Please send a query letter and the first 50 pages to me at alevick(@)writershouse(.)com. (Not the submissions email, please!)

    For more information about me, please see: alexandralevick.com
    For more information about Writers House: writershouse.com

    Wishing you the very best of luck on your agent search!

    Warmly,
    Allie

    Alexandra Levick | She/Her | Literary Agent & Media Rights Manager | Writers House

  14. Chelsea Hensley says:

    Hi Gabriella! I’d love to read more of this! If you’re interested, you can send the full manuscript, your query, and a complete synopsis to my Query Manager at this link: QueryManager.com/Chelseahensley/PitchWars2021

  15. Lee OBrien says:

    Hi Gabriella,

    I would love to read this! Could you send the query and full MS to lee.queries@irenegoodman.com, with Pitch Wars in the subject line?

    If more than one IGLA agent requests your work, please only send to one of us at a time—if they pass, you’re welcome to reach out to another!

    Best,
    Lee