Category: 2020 NaNowrimo

GAME SEVEN: Fight to the Finish by James Tretick

No one ever dreamed they would be there: Except the players, and a boy at heart.

11-year-old Jimmy couldn’t believe his watering eyes. It was the fall of 1971, the last inning of the last game his beloved Washington Senators would ever play. Ruined by unruly fans and a forfeit to the Damned Yankees.

Jimmy thought baseball was over for him; except for Scouts and Co-Rec. But in 2005, Montreal couldn’t support a Major League team and, suddenly, the nation’s pastime returned to the Nation’s Capital. Jim was 45 by then; but felt like a kid again. 

The 2019 season, however, seemed to be over before it started. Eight weeks into the season, the Nats were 19-31 with a slew of injuries to starting players. Then on May 24th, the unexpected happened. A renewal, or a revival. The rallying cry for Scherzer and Strasburg, Turner and Soto, Rendon and the rest became, “Go 1-0 today.”

Riding the best team record over the last two-thirds of the season, the Nationals stormed into, and through, the playoffs. Luck won the first game, and perseverance took the rest.

Part game recap, part gut reaction, Game Seven will live in the hearts of Nationals fans for eternity. Climb aboard the bandwagon once again as D.C.-area native James Tretick takes us back to October 2019 as we relive the tales as the Nationals “Finish the Fight.”

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Operation Polar Revenge by Tara Erredge

Ever since his conservationist parents were mauled to death by a polar bear, Andrew’s grief has frozen his heart into a block of arctic ice. Since that time he and his younger brother, Steven, have been raised by their feisty southern grandma, a.k.a.: The Great G. 

Both brothers traveled different paths as they navigated the agony of their loss –  and now seventeen-year-old Andrew is back up in the Churchill, Canada region under the guise of continuing the noble work of his parents through a high-school mentorship program. But while average high school juniors have been taking classes, scouting out colleges, and binge-watching the latest shows on Netflix, Andrew has been developing a dark plan to avenge the untimely death of his parents. 

When his first attempt at vengeance results in a narrow escape from an enraged polar bear, Andrew inadvertently lets news of his close call slip while on the phone with his family. Madder than a cat getting baptized, Andrew’s grandma stops everything and makes arrangements for her and Steven to join Andrew in Canada, unknowingly shattering Andrew’s secret plans. But Andrew isn’t the only one at the conservation center who has been conspiring to pull off something unscrupulous. Soon after his family arrives, they are all pulled into a dangerous set of circumstances that leaves them with little chance of survival in a ruthless environment surrounded by merciless criminals. In this Stuart Gibbs Spy School series meets National Geographic mash-up, will Andrew’s hardened heart thaw in time to save those he loves?  

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Serenity’s Fire: The Story of A Mandalorian Legend by Éowyn Power

Mandalorian.

Syrynyty ‘Ryn’ Gristine tentatively considers herself one. But she was rejected from the creed when she tried to run away from her own destiny. 

When she tried to be a coward.

After her attempted escape from her own planet, she was exiled. Forever. 

Mandalorians do not run, they told her. Especially from themselves. They stand firm, and fight until every last ounce of strength is exhausted.

Bounty hunter.

That’s all Ryn is now. Out of guilt, she picked up the Mandalorian customs again, hiding her face under a helmet that she is never supposed to take off in front of a living being, and carrying Mandalorian weapons that she purchased in the black market. 

She lives as the Mandalorian she might never be.

Companion.

Ryn becomes a friend to someone for the first time when she meets a former stormtrooper named Nate. Relieved to finally confide in someone after years of brutal loneliness, Nate’s kindness and candor win her over, and Ryn’s gritty warrior’s heart is softened by love.

Assassin.

Soon, Ryn is given the hardest mission she has ever received. Orders to assassinate the most dangerous murderer in the universe. A killer who has ravaged whole civilizations, leaving wildfires of destruction in the wake of her rabid rage for power. 

Will Ryn prove herself to the Mandalorians and become one of them once again?

Will she shatter under the burden bearing down on her shoulders, threatening to crush her?

Or will she give everything up… for love?

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Madam Mayhem by Marilynn Rockelman

What do a decoy prostitute, bank robber’s wife, swinger, Madam Mayhem and police dispatcher have in common?

Me.

The steamy underbelly of Salt Lake City, in the gasp-and-drop-dead years of the 70s and 80s is the backdrop for my memoir. In my various public personas, I got the inside scoop on Congressman Alan Howe, Ted Bundy, and Gary Gilmore. Working with the masculinized Salt Lake City Police Department, I arrested johns and sometimes the women they victimized. I heard first-hand when the Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) got the revelation that righteous “men of color” could hold the Priesthood. I suffered, as did all first responders, in the aftermath of the Do-Drop-Inn. I learned about bottomless popcorn and what a Mormon Temple Recommend was really for.

In my personal life, I struggled with being adopted. Dirty little secrets crawled beneath my skin, and like Madam Mayhem, my live spun out of control. My first marriage, to a squeaky-clean Mormon Missionary police officer, ended in a nightmare when I discovered he wanted to use me as trading material in his swingers group. My second husband was a convicted bank robber.

Through it all, I discovered truths about myself—truths that took me into the depths of my soul, to the arms of Jesus and the depths of hell. Secrets uncovered became secrets forgiven.

Come with me on the wild and wacky ride of my life.

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The Secrets of Tengu by Evergreen Lee

THE SECRETS OF TENGU, complete at 105,000 words, is Spinning Silver meets The Kiss Quotient. 

Lisa is an autistic college student with a twenty-year plan and a determination to prove her birth parents wrong: that she is worth something. She’s also a witch, despite being too logical to believe in magic, and occasionally casts spells without knowing it. 

When Lisa heals a bird, her magic attracts the attention of two Tengu, a race of supernatural avian-humanoids. The Tengu are drawn to her adoptive sister, Kestrel, and realize that Kestrel is one of them. Tengu Dorian uses Glamour to force Kestrel through a dangerous transformation ritual, then whisks her away.

Lisa gives up the life she’s rebuilt and begs Tengu Erik to bring her to his world. Once there, she must learn to use her magical powers, avoid falling in love with Erik, and determine if Kestrel even wants to be rescued. Can Lisa prove her worth in a world where any human is considered expendable?

This is an #OwnVoices story in that Lisa has a form of Asperger’s based on my own.

My short fiction has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Factor Four, and has been translated into Vietnamese for SFVN. I am a member of SFWA, Codex, and Treasurer/Board Member for Dream Foundry (a nonprofit aimed at assisting newbie speculative writers and artists).

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The Exchange by Dominique Jolly

 Hunting Valley Middle School is cursed. Every 7th grader is doomed to trade in their personality for their exact opposite. Teacher’s pets are smoking. Outgoing kids have stage fright. And best friends, Fiona and Zara, are thrust into a world of exclusive parties and boys. While Fiona can barely speak to her crush, Zara is thriving. The more Zara cancels plans and forgets to coordinate outfits, the more Fiona fears that she’s destined for a human recycling bin. Fiona decides that the only way to save their friendship from The Exchange is to sabotage Zara’s popularity. Sometimes to be the hero, you have to play the bad guy.

Lizzie McGuire meets The Clique in this 32,766 word middle grade fiction about growing up and sometimes growing apart.

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Across the Sea by Jeni Paltiel

Instead of finishing her senior year of high school in Kansas, Ellie is risking the trip across an Atlantic already at war to join her missionary father in Africa. August is a Boston Brahmin taking a break from Harvard to chase adventure as a volunteer ambulance driver in the war in North Africa like his hero, Ernest Hemingway.

Thrown together on board the Egyptian passenger liner Zamzam, Ellie finds herself drawn to the dashing August despite their different backgrounds and her family’s disapproval, as conflict brews between the pious missionaries and the boisterous ambulance corps. But unbeknownst to most of its passengers, the Zamzam is actually transporting supplies to the Allied forces in North Africa. When their supposedly neutral ship is sunk by a notorious German raider, Ellie and August find themselves facing a far greater danger than a disapproving mother.

Plucked from the ocean, stashed on a German prison ship, and forced to run the British Blockade to reach land, the couple is ultimately separated in Occupied France, as Ellie is shipped back to the States while August remains a German prisoner. Do they stand a chance of being reunited?

Based on true events from the author’s family history that grabbed headlines in 1941, Across the Sea blends The Nightingale’s war-time adventure with a sweet travel-inspired YA love story reminiscent of Field Notes on Love and moments of surprising humor, as experiences force Ellie to grow up fast and question her sheltered upbringing and what she wants from life.

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West by  LJ Farrow

Weston wears low-top Converse sneakers, loves Fall Out Boy and Muse, and never met an Oreo Blizzard he didn’t like.  He never lets these idiosyncrasies get in the way of his day job as an exorcist.

And whenever he looks in the mirror, he sees the Devil looking back.

For Father Weston is no ordinary priest.  He is the half-demon child of a revivalist minister corrupted by the Morningstar, a diabolical being and the architect of all that is evil in the world.  Weston’s ability to attract demons is useful to the Catholic Church. Will it also provide a pathway for the Morningstar to carry out the ultimate destruction?

From a trailer park in the bayou of Louisiana to the libraries of the Vatican, Weston endures the knowledge of his own profane inheritance while struggling to overcome it.  It is never clear which battle is worse, the one against the demons within himself or the one against those that occupy the innocent. Weston’s future seems predestined. But is it? 

In this genre-bending story that blends fantasy and dark fairytale, Constantine meets Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in an apocalyptic metaphor about what it means to be human, and the enduring power of redemption.

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SPIRITED TO THE WEST by Pauline Chow

Modern life collides with spirits from the 1860’s western frontier, when a dormant evil awakens during an investigation into a family’s past, in this contemporary ghost story with a historical western twist.

Freya discovers that her ancestors’ immigration story is a mystery that she must solve. Over two generations ago, Freya’s relatives, the Locke sisters arrived in the United States during the California Gold Rush in search of freedom and opportunity. Their lives however, are changed by chance and discrimination they faced in the new world. As Freya digs into her family history, she connects with the spirits of the Locke sisters, just when she needs them the most. Freya, who is a new mother and estranged from her parents, finds deep meaning in the search for answers. She weaves through digital archives, antique books, and California ghost towns looking for clues. Freya’s metaphysical powers and connection with the sisters transports her to the boomtowns of the 1860s, like Bodie and Diamond Springs. In another time, she bears witness to death, murder, and frontier justice. The sisters’ stand against injustice entangle their bloodline with a depraved gang of outlaws. Now Freya must work with the spirits of her ancestors to save her daughter and husband from the wrath of the past.

SPIRITED TO THE WEST is JOY LUCK CLUB meets Stephen King’s BAG OF BONES with a splash of BLOOD MERIDIAN. Pauline Chow, the author, is Chinese American and a former lawyer and civil rights activist.

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