16 Query Contest

Eleven-year-old Sam Morien never wanted to be a freak. His biggest
goal in life is to get picked second for baseball (instead of second
to last). But Sam has a bee inside his head. At least, that's what it
feels like. And when it buzzes, he knows what his fame-obsessed twin,
Alice, is feeling, and she knows what he's thinking. Talk about no
privacy.

Sam and Alice live on a tiny island, so when they discover a mountain
tunnel, they're pretty sure they know where it leads. And when they
emerge on the other side, they are still on an island, just not their
own. Everything on Umbra Island is gray…and old. Really old. No cars,
no electricity, women in long dresses, dogs that talk.

When the tunnel entrance seals shut, Sam and Alice have seven days to
find another way home before they're trapped. Too bad they've got
something Kraldur wants. And Kraldur, the maniac king wannabe, is a
very powerful guy. In fact, he'd kind of like to rule their world,
too. Alice and Sam face some tough decisions, like, if you do the
wrong thing but it's for the right reason, doesn't that count? Their
new friends advise Alice to avoid the local magic wands, but she
wants to use one to help others (and maybe become famous along the
way). And then there's Sword & Pillar, an ancient battle game that's
way more futuristic than any VR game in their world. Sam is warned
not to play, but he never could resist a good game. If only it didn't
have that one gruesome side effect….

The twins get sucked deeper and deeper into Umbra's shady magic, but
at least there's one upside when they turn on each other—the annoying
bee buzz in their heads finally goes away. When Kraldur springs his
trap, the twins get a horrifying glimpse of their future
selves—nasty, old future selves who trick them into betraying their
friends. With both Umbra and their world in peril from the maniac
wannabe they’ll one day work for, the twins must outwit themselves to
change a frightening future that looks locked in stone.

I have a BA from Oberlin College with a minor in creative writing,
and a master’s from Northwestern University in journalism. I’ve
worked as a news reporter and freelance writer and currently co-own a
film and video production studio. I’m also a member of SCBWI.
Thank you for considering my middle-grade adventure novel, Tunnel to
Forgotten. I'd love to send you my 74,000-word manuscript, and look
forward to hearing from you.



Arbmu Island had one gas station, one supermarket, and one set of
twins. The gas station also sold food, and the supermarket also sold
gas, so sometimes people got them confused. But no one ever mixed up
the Morien twins. They were as different as a seagull from a
starfish. Alice loved to flap her wings and make a commotion, while
Sam had a certain starfishiness about him. He was good at hunkering
down and not getting noticed. The twins did have one thing in
common—a secret—but they could never agree whether to tell anyone.
On the morning of their eleventh birthday, standing on the beach, Sam
skipped a stone across the water and wished the secret would just go
away. In fact, he thought one set of twins on the island might be
one set too many. He shot a guilty look at Alice, but she was busy
staring at the stone mansion through her binoculars. The crumbling
house was an eyesore; everyone on the island thought so, except
Alice. It hunched above them on a cliff, a gray gargoyle turning
green from the damp sea air. The shattered-glass windows glittered
in the sunlight and dead leaves swirled in a windy gust past the
front door.

Just then, Sam heard two noises, a quick gasp from Alice and then a
bang like a distant gunshot. He felt something too, a buzzing inside
his head, like an angry bee was trapped there.