First 50 Words #25

TITLE: Nanoplague
GENRE: Thriller

Dr. Catherine Thomas trudged towards her Roadster, shoulders drooping and feet dragging. Halfway there, she heard steps crunching across the sandy concrete. She lifted her head and spotted him: the young man in the suit from the charcoal Audi. He was striding

First 50 Words #24

TITLE: Synthesis
GENRE: Young Adult

Intuition is a funny thing. You can't explain it, you hardly notice it, yet there it is - tickling at the back of your brain like the world's softest feather. So subtle, you're not sure if it's really there or you're just imagining things. And if you ignore it?

First 50 Words #23

TITLE: Shot in the Dark
GENRE: YA contemporary

For some people, time rushes by, never allowing them a chance to breathe. For others, like me, it can creep forward, forcing you to see all your screw ups in slow motion. Giving you the chance to regret them, but never allowing you the time to grab them back before it's too late.

First 50 Words #22

TITLE: Hunted Humans
GENRE: MG SF/F

A marble sizzled with blue sparks under Wyatt Parker's desk. Then the color vanished. The strange object wasn't there before recess. He crawled beneath the gum-covered desk and hoped none one would notice him. When he touched the smooth glass, the marble buzzed and glowing clouds swirled inside.

First 50 Words #21

TITLE: Stoned
GENRE: Paranormal

Who knew that going for Chinese take out would nearly cost her her life? One minute Jameson was admiring the familiar aromas of The Paper Lantern's famous General Tso's chicken, the next a splintering pain in the back of her head stole her breath before it was lights out.

First 50 Words #20

TITLE: GEAS
GENRE: YA Urban Fantasy

Brina's only warning was a light brush on her upper left wing. A second later, an elaborately folded magazine cover landed in her lap: a pterodactyl this time. Original. The complex folds obscured the picture, but Brina already knew that her face was lost somewhere inside.

First 50 Words #19

TITLE: House of Cards
GENRE: Creative Nonfiction (Memoir)

My wife, Holly, who has just entered the third trimester of her pregnancy with our daughter, Aurora, needs help climbing the steep stairs leading from the sidewalk to the courthouse in this small Massachusetts town where you live. Three men stand on the steps of the courthouse, smoking. One man

First 50 Words #18

TITLE: Infernal Combustion
GENRE: Urban Fantasy

"C*****, Karen, please. St--"

John gasped. His hand shot to his mouth, clasping it shut. He bit his tongue, puncturing the fibrous lump, feeling nothing. His eyes were wide, fearful. Empty, flat echoes licked his eardrums. The dark remained silent.

She waited until he released her knee before continuing.

First 50 Words #17

TITLE: Unwritten
GENRE: Contemporary Romance

She woke with a gasp, drawing a ragged breath as she wrenched her eyes open.

Her heart beat like a steel drum inside her chest, pounding so hard she could see the blue silk of her pajama top shake to its rhythm.

The room still echoed from her screams.

First 50 Words #16

TITLE: GHOST
GENRE: PARANORMAL MYSTERY

On the Suck-O-Meter Scale of 1 to 10, my life this month has rated a 9.2, and it's about to get worse.

I was okay about losing my boyfriend, because let's face it, as nice as he was, there was never any "zing" with Ben. Nice guy, no zing.

First 50 Words #15

TITLE: Stars in the Texas Sky
GENRE: YA

The car ran past the STOP sign like it wasn't there, a streak of red dust in the early Texas sun. Henry stepped back, dropping the sign in his hand, and nearly swore. "Danged people in such a hurry." One day someone was going to either kill or get killed.

First 50 Words #14

TITLE: Searching
GENRE: Historical Fantasy

Living every day as someone else made it possible for me to forget me, Crystal Miller, the girl who let her mother drown while she swam to the riverbank and saved herself. It was easier to pretend to be someone else when we lived in Pennsylvania.

First 50 Words #13

TITLE: Goodbye Tree
GENRE: YA contempory fiction

I was 15 when my dad walked out of our life and my mom walked in to the looney bin.

Talk about bad timing. I mean, it's hard enough to be the socially backwards, red-haired freak who's just trying to make it through the day without your parent's losing their minds.

First 50 Words #12

TITLE: The Skyrock Diversion
GENRE: Thriller

There was no restrained deliberation or halt for humanity; the Skyrock fires did not care which lives it extinguished today. Friday morning, December 23rd, all throughout the cities and towns of the Prairie State, the air was charged with excitement and anticipation for the assured gift of holiday snow.

First 50 Words #11

TITLE: Beautiful Disaster
GENRE: Paranormal Romance

I immediately recognize the white pillared house outside the passenger window. After all, I've been avoiding it my whole life.

The porch is crowded with costume clad teens smoking cigarettes, someone's throwing up in the bushes, and I can hear music and yelling from our parking spot across the street.

First 50 Words #10

TITLE: The Taste of Ginger
GENRE: Multicultural Fiction

My parents' small living room was filled with a gaggle of women, all speaking over each other in loud, animated voices. It was like watching a National Geographic special about social dominance, where pitch and decibel level would determine the leader. They wandered around the room, grazing on homemade samosas.

First 50 Words #9

TITLE: Control Freaks
GENRE: Contemporary Fantasy

"Your stance is wrong."

Patrick's tone was patient, but I knew him; the way not one, but two fingers tapped against his arm could only be described as 'bad'. Or 'get your form right or I will and you won't like it.'

I readjusted my stance and attacked him again.

First 50 Words #8

TITLE: In Her Blood
GENRE: YA fantasy

Liliana laid her hand across her newborn daughter's bare chest. "She's calientita, but not as warm as her father. Does that mean--she's human?â"

"No se, mi nina. Maybe yes. I would watch her temper to be safe."

********

Brisana knew her mother was dying.

First 50 Words #7

TITLE: Alien Academy
GENRE: YA SF

Sam began his first press conference with three handicaps. The tattoo on his face looked vicious on screen, a twenty foot poster of him hung in the lobby, and worst of all, he hadn't gotten to eat since hitting Earth and the jump sickness grew every minute.

First 50 Words #6

TITLE: Million Dollar Lunch
GENRE: MG Adventure

Chapter 1: Camp French Fry

Rome twisted his body, firmly grasping his section of a huge, juice-filled tarp, and scanned the flat, open field. Ten teams of campers including his own lugged tarps toward a yellow tickertape finish line nearly half a football field away. Only one team was ahead of his.