Category: Pitchapalooza pitches

TEMPESTUOUS by Saanvi Agarwal

Ishanee Dalaal learns that she has a stomach tumor at 11 am alone in a white hospital. It takes her exactly fifty seconds to decide upon two rules. Don’t tell anyone and don’t die. 

Considering that she breaks rule one fifteen minutes later, she might need to rework those. Seriously reworking those because her incompetence at understanding her own illness leaves her to turn to Daya, a gaddāra and once a sister, who is determined to bring all Ishanee’s problems to light and rescue her.

And with that, Ishanee’s life is turned upside down. From her dutiful role as the Indian American daughter following her family’s guidance and the best friend who literally lives to be helpful, she finds estranged relations and secrets everywhere she looks. Suddenly her tumor seems to be the least of her concerns compared to her parent’s sudden interest in her life after years of ignoring her and stalking her best friend to check if he attempting to commit suicide again. 

Not that Daya will let her forget about her conditions, because with every panic attack and bloody washing session, she’s closer to breaking rule two. And hiding is only working for so long before Ishanee has to decide just how much she’s willing to help the people she loves with her own life dangling in the air. 

TEMPESTUOUS is a 95000 multicultural young adult novel where WHO PUT THIS SONG ON meets DUMPLING DAYS.

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

A SCARLET THREAD by A. S. Bondi

Medieval Córdoba is the jewel of Al-Andalus, a thriving, interfaith city that once ruled an empire. But while men govern Córdoba in the daylight, magical female assassins known as “Sisters” roam the night, controlling the city in the shadows.

Sabah has spent two years guarding a local brothel to prove her worth to the Sisters. Raised on the edge of poverty in Córdoba’s Jewish quarter, she can hardly believe her luck when the Sisters accept her into their ranks and assign her to the palace as their spy. She soon uncovers a conspiracy against the city within its own walls, a mysterious brotherhood that wants to topple Córdoba’s Muslim ruler and burn the Judería—her childhood home—to the ground.

Sabah assassinates one of the ringleaders, hoping to cut the head off the snake. But her plan backfires, and instead of weakening her enemies, she creates a martyr for their cause. As anger at the man’s death explodes into violence, Sabah must choose between following the Sisters’ strict, secretive code or protecting her family—and no one who disobeys the Sisterhood lives to tell about it.

Spinning Silver meets Assassin’s Creed in A SCARLET THREAD, a 100,000-word adult historical fantasy with series potential that will appeal to fans of Rati Mehrotra’s Markswoman (Asiana series) and Samantha Shannon’s The Bone Season.

Bio: I have a medieval studies Ph.D. and recently co-authored a book on medieval history and right-wing extremism (as Amy S. Kaufman).

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

Three Ingredients (working title) By Emily Esterson 

Augustin Fortier has magic in his hands. His baguettes taste of love and effort, with an open crumb and crackly crust. Gifted with the “mother” that has been passed down in his family for centuries and the ambition of youth, Augustin is a shoe-in to win the Prix de Baguette. The key to his win? The “mother,” and wheat grown by his farmer friend, Lynette. One summer afternoon, Augustin finds the bakery’s basement door ajar, the lock cut. The “mother,” and his grandmother’s journals of formulas, are gone.

Simon DeNotre, the distant cousin who owns the Paris bakery, thwarts Augustin’s ambition at every turn, forcing him to sell pre-made commercial bread, turning off the ovens, sabotaging Augustin’s efforts to return DeNotre’s into what it had been when his grandmother baked there just after the war—one of the best bakeries in Paris. Was it DeNotre who stole the Mother? Or was it the woman in the yellow raincoat who passes by every day, looks in the window, and sometimes stands across the street just watching?

A combination of Chocolat by Joanne Harris, and Jenny Colgan’s Little Beach Street Bakery, Three Ingredients is about the curse of ambition, the mystery of family, and the magic of bread. The author is a professional writer/editor, holds an MFA in nonfiction, and teaches journalism at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School. She spent two years in France, is an avid baker, and attended the San Francisco Baking Institute.

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

Class of ’79 by Holly L. Dutton

There are few places more dangerous than a high school parking lot ten minutes before the bell rings. But at Mountain Vista High School, the danger doesn’t end with fender benders in the student lot.  

When Kari  starts her first year of teaching, she expects a steep learning curve, maybe a few difficult students. She does not expect to be starting her new career in a crime scene. But the murder of the school’s winning football coach the first week of school is just the beginning.

Kari’s classroom is broken into, her overzealous journalism students are on the trail of the murderer, the vice principal hates her and one of her co-workers just may be the guilty party. Unless it’s one of the students.

As Kari gets to know her fellow teachers, she starts to have a few ideas about who might be responsible for the school’s crime spree. But she’s not the only one with crime solving instincts. The home economics teacher, source of school lore, random gossip, and fabulous baked goods, Grace Billingsly, has other ideas. She thinks it’s Kari. Now Kari has to solve the crime to prove her innocence. 

Set against the end of an era, Class of 79, is  rollicking trip to the past, complete with rock and roll music, muscle cars and murder.

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

Something In-Between by Sofia Lourdette Santamaria-Micher

After a protest at City Hall goes wrong, Luna, a Mexican-American high school senior, is saved from being pushed into traffic by a boy named Briar. Sparks fly, bad humor is exchanged, and something about a zombie… But more than sparks ignite when she realizes Briar is the son of the racist, white-supremacist candidate for mayor.  Briar’s father is against her and her people and she despises his father with every ounce of her saucy Latina blood. 

The last thing Luna needs is a tumultuous romance. She’s already juggling the emotional warfare of her parents’ divorce and the painful confusion of being biracial in a world bent on forcing her into one box or another. Yet Briar has brought both new laughter and hope into her life. She doesn’t believe in love, but she does believe in going against the current. And maybe–just maybe–she’s willing to try.

But playing with fire always burns.

Caught between love and hate, marriage and divorce, Mexican and American, Luna struggles to understand who she is when the love in her life is distorted. Will hate decide who she is and who she loves?

SOMETHING IN-BETWEEN is a YA novel about questioning one’s identity during adolescence and being in love despite having everything against you. Told through both humorous and defiant narrations, and a collection of honest poems, SOMETHING IN-BETWEEN is THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR meets ROMEO & JULIET. The manuscript is complete at around 45,800 words.

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

American Playground, a novel by Michael Shokrian

How a 7-year old Iranian kid moved to LA with only one word of English and learned everything he needed to know to become an American on the battlefield of a suburban playground.

Once the tetherball king of his school in Tehran, Mishel Manoucherian, is immediately singled out for being brown and quite possibly Mexican. He becomes the newest member of the downtrodden boys known as the Nons.  Mishel plots to get in with the Pros – long haired, carefree kids who rule the playground, radiating the casual essence of 70’s California Cool.  Mishel knows who he wants to be; but can he first admit who he is?

At home, Mishel watches nervous breakdowns happen daily in his family. Mama clings to superstitions, family recipes, defying bourgeois LA while Baba absents himself seeking the Amrikayee Dream. Will they ever find their place in the American landscape? And at what cost? Mishel turns to an unlikely mentor for advice: Bugs Bunny. What a maroon.

 Classic coming-of-age narrative wrapped in an immigrant family’s struggle to fit into American life, played out via the hardnosed hierarchies of the asphalt jungle.  Mishel’s tragicomic encounters recall Paddy Clark, Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle– with a Persian twist, alongside Iranian-American classics like  Porochista Khakpour’s Sons and Other Flammable Objects and Lipstick Jihad by Azadeh Moaveni. Imagine those books with a wise-cracking rabbit guiding the way: “Don’t take life too seriously, kid. You’ll never get out alive!” That’s American Playground.

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

she becomes death by Marissa Goldstein

Arsenia wears the dead on her skin. To honor them, to remember them. A scar to maintain a shred of her dwindling humanity. Each life she takes brings her one step closer to becoming a Shadow, an ancient syndicate of mercenaries that was founded by her ancestors. But Arsenia lacks the blood lust her family members seem to crave despite her conditioning since she was a young child. She has two weeks before the Confirmation, when she is to take her Oath of Silence and make the ultimate sacrifice to become a Shadow, a sacrifice she was not supposed to know of until it is revealed by the Elders. When Arsenia hears the whispers that she will be ordered to slaughter her twin sister, she defies them. She is sentenced to the Pit, to repent for her disobedience. It is only in the Pit where she enters the Rites of Death, a ritualistic game of survival that was thought to have ended a generation before her. The longer she survives the Rites of Death, the more she wonders what kind of life she is really fighting for and what will become of her if she wins.

she becomes death is a coming of age story during the darkest of circumstances. she becomes death is a 50,000 word New Adult thriller prequel novel.

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

THE WRITING JOURNEY by Hannah Sharpe

I am seeking representation for my novel, THE WRITING JOURNEY, an intricately plotted contemporary women’s fiction that encompasses adventure, romance, and a bit of suspenseful intrigue. This novel is “Eat, Pray, Love” meets “James Bond”, and will appeal to fans of “Little Fires Everywhere”, and “The Girl on the Train”. The completed manuscript, at 75,000 words, details the impulsive decision of Andrea, an aspiring author, as she follows a stranger onto a plane to a mysterious destination.

Andrea wants to be a published author. But she’s held by a trap of writer’s block and anxiety. She must escape before she becomes stuck in a mundane future. But is an irrational decision that leads to an irreversible leap of faith the solution? Andrea believes so, when she finds herself in a perfectly plotted adventure, with newfound friendships and romance. Perhaps it’s unfolding too well though, like a well-developed novel.

Andrea’s attention to detail has her questioning whether truth and her reality align. To stop living in fear, she pushes her instincts aside and lets herself fall for strong friendships and an enthralling romance. But inevitable circumstances force her to decide what role to play in her own life. As secrets are revealed, Andrea’s left confused, while finding clarity in herself.

This book navigates unlikely connections, mental health, hope for change, and life beyond an unrelenting pandemic. I understand familial struggles that cause anxiety and lead to unstable relationships. As a MSN, RN I understand mental health, and shifts in viruses.

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

Patriot Girl of Mt. Rose by Peggy Ballman

Ten-year old Elizabeth Stout is a proud Patriot who lives in a village near Princeton, in the colony of New Jersey.  While her father and brothers are fighting the British, Elizabeth gladly does her part to help manage their farm.  As the Revolutionary War drags on, her one place to escape are the sprawling rose gardens behind their barn, and with her grandfather’s help, her gardening talents grow.  In evenings when villagers gather to share news, Elizabeth feels their grief and worry and longs to do more for the Patriot cause. “Girls can’t help in war!” she’s teased, but Elizabeth wishes with all her heart it could be different.

Now the war is ending and Elizabeth’s family is reunited at home. When the Continental Congress moves to Princeton, her father receives a visit from his former commander, Colonel Alexander Hamilton. Elizabeth learns that while war may be over, the challenges are just beginning for an independent America. Soon she discovers there is still time to help the Patriot cause — and one of its greatest heroes – even when it happens in the most unexpected ways.

Patriot Girl of Mt. Rose is first in a series for middle graders based on the folklore of the Sourland Mountains of New Jersey. As the 250th anniversary of America approaches in 2026, Sourland Mountain stories offer engaging new tales of childhood life during the Revolution. Next in the series is Legend of the Unionville Schoolhouse.

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

The Tsarina of Snow by Lizzie Joy Broschat

Once, there was an empress. After losing her crown and her family to a country that ran red with the blood of revolution, she let her spirit be consumed by the cold of winter until all she could remember was her wish to find her beloved son. 

Once, there was a little boy. All he had ever wished for was a home, a place of warmth and comfort, a place where he didn’t have to worry about whether or not food would be on the table every day. And he seemed to get his wish handed to him on a silver platter in the form of a lovely lady dressed in snowflakes and jewels.

Once, there was a mother. Like any other, her only wish was to protect her little boy. If that meant she had to venture through Denmark in the dead of winter in search of a mythical queen, then she was prepared to do that.

Sometimes, a wish can go too far. It can take you deep into the frozen wilderness or into a cold, dark sleep. Sometimes it can turn you into something you never wanted to be. But this is an “other times” story as much as it is a “sometimes” story. Because other times, a wish can also be the one to pull you into the light.

The Tsarina of Snow is an Upper Middle Grade Historical Fantasy which retells Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen in 32,500 words.

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Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).