Young Adult

title: The Harvester Chronicles: JP Knights

author: Beth Lambert, MD

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 1.31.2013 • author id: LaB1590413

word count: 112,000

Content

A prophecy in the book of Joel has a latter-day rendering, with teenagers and angels being used to bring a revival to pass. The teens have been given extraordinary spiritual gifts to accomplish this task, and angels train them, guard them, and finally assist them in battle. The teens encounter miracles along the way, but no one could have prepared them for the life and death struggles that mark their willingness to give their all to the Lamb that was slain! The manuscript is appropriate reading for preteens, teenagers, and adults. This story was developed to counter the dark and negative, yet creative books that are storming the young adult fiction market today. Christian youth need material that excites and challenges them. This book presents an incredible look at the unseen spirit world around us, and will leave the reader encouraged and hopeful.

About the Author

Dr. Beth Lambert is a general pediatrician, wife, mother of two, and author of the Into Africa: Adventures of a Missionary Kid series. Two short-term medical mission trips to Africa influenced her writing for the Into Africa books. Her dealings with children and teenagers prompted her to write The Harvester Chronicles as a Christian response to the Harry Potter books. She is a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Virgil Creech Takes a Swipe at Redemption

author: Mark Myers

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 1.31.2013 • author id: MyM3002413

word count: 62000

Content

Is this a story about a boy and his dog? No! Is this a story about a boy who wants a dog? Yes, but not completely! This is a story about a tenacious lad who will stop at nothing to get his dog back from the retired old man he mistakenly thinks stole it. The old man, Colonel Clarence Birdwhistle by name, happens to have a tale of his own and becomes a bit of a legend about town. Virgil teams up with a reluctant friend, Henry Lee, to retrieve the dog at all costs and only a radio contest temporarily distracts him from his quest. The book explores the troubled mind of Virgil Creech as he plots and plunders his way through school, church, town, and quite possibly the heart of the reader. His antics are hard for even the stoutest soul to tolerate, but don’t write off poor Virgil. Remember, it is never too late to change one’s bearing in life. There is always hope that young Virgil just might find his way.

About the Author

Mark Myers is a father of four and a lover of literature. The market of this book, besides general fiction, would be as middle grade fiction to appeal especially to boys.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Martian Jones

author: Dan Boulet

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 3.9.2013 • author id: BoD1980813

word count: 61,000

Content

A pyramid on Mars! This rumor changes the life of twelve-year-old Adam Jones. When NASA announces its strange discovery, Adam learns his family is hiding a great secret. The object is a spaceship his parents left on Mars more than a decade ago. Adam’s father and mother invite him to travel to the Red Planet to help them hide the wonderful machine and the story it would tell. To accomplish their mission, the Joneses must brave the unforgiving laws of nature and escape the clever plans of a ruthless organization calling itself Wings Between the Worlds. In the course of this science adventure, Adam experiences God’s mercy as personal humiliation and close encounters with death transform him from bystander to valued rocket ship crewmember. He also discovers that he is a special object of his family’s care and the very symbol of what they have achieved. He is Adam Martian Jones.

About the Author

Dan Boulet’s formal education emphasized physics and engineering. He was an Air Force pilot, worked at a government laboratory, enjoyed a tour at a unified command headquarters, and served as assistant dean in a college of engineering. He has published Methods of Orbit Determination for the Microcomputer (Willmann-Bell, 1991). Martian Jones springs from this background of flying, science, and government. And it begins and ends in the land of his childhood—the Cajun country of southwest Louisiana.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: The Perfect Blindside

author: Leslea Wahl

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 7.25.2013 • author id: WaL8012113

word count: 73,000

Content

What happens when an Olympic snowboarding phenom moves to a tiny Colorado mining town?  The Perfect Blindside is an adventurous tale of mystery, romance, and humor set amid abandoned gold mines and the beautiful Colorado Rockies.

Jake Taylor has become an overnight sensation whose compelling story and silver medal have catapulted him to instant fame.  Caught up in his success, Jake is anything but happy when his parents move him to Silver Springs, Colorado. 

Sophie Metcalf’s idyllic small town life changes drastically when the young snowboarder arrives in the old mining town.  She sees an arrogant, self-absorbed jerk and fails to understand everyone’s obsession.  However, when Jake finds himself entangled in a drug-smuggling operation based in the town’s abandoned gold mine, he realizes he's powerless alone as he faces the Perfect Blindside.

About the Author

Leslea Wahl is a full-time writer and mother of three teenagers.  She has a degree in Communications and is a member of RMC-SCBWI.  She would love to use her books to speak with teens about finding and using their own talents to glorify God.  Currently, she is working on her second Christian YA novel.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: NEW WORLDS AT THE WORLD'S FAIR

author: Perry Thomas

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 8.7.2013 • author id: ThP2760613

word count: 43,000 words

Content

    The world had never seen anything like it!
    Certainly Ono has never seen anything like it, as he travels from the far side of the world to join the ethnic Java Village at the great 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. There he meets Drew, an abused and neglected 13-year-old from Kentucky who has run away with a circus heading toward the big city. He also meets Galen, a late-blooming 18-year-old Iowa farm-boy studying at the famous D. L. Moody’s new Chicago Bible Institute.
    On the Fairgrounds, common interests -- love of kite-flying, animals, and adventure -- draw Ono and Drew into an uneasy cross-cultural friendship. Galen meets both of the other boys through Moody’s extensive campaign of outreach during the Fair. Personal adventures blend with actual historical events, climaxing in a deadly fire on the Fairgrounds. Through their own actions, discoveries, and decisions, all three teenagers begin to experience New Worlds at the World's Fair.

About the Author

     Perry Thomas has authored over 60 books, including coming-of-age stories like New Worlds at the World's Fair, for which he researched rare sources on two continents. Home schoolers and others will eagerly read this fast-moving story.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Zombie Takeover

author: Michele Harper

category: fiction • subcategory: Young Adult • date submitted: 6.9.2014 • author id: HaM4622114

word count: 76,000

Content

Candace Marshall hates zombies.

She hates anything scary, in fact.

She doesn't watch horror movies, go anywhere alone after dark, or try anything new.  If things get too bad, she can always sleep with her trusty nightlight on.

Just give her a calm, orderly world, and she is just peachy.

Then her world is turned upside down.

An experiment gone wrong transforms her peaceful town into a mess of slathering zombies.

She is thrown together with the only other survivor of her town, Gavin Bailey, her favorite actor and secret crush, to fight, claw, and grapple her way out of the mess.

Finding the catastrophe to be farther spread than they originally thought, Gavin and Candace pray they survive long enough to find a cure.  They find a few more normal--well, mostly anyway--alive, breathing people and team up to better search.

Candace's almost non-existent faith grows as she finds opportunities to pray with other survivors, something she would have never dared to do before.

But, just when Candace thought it couldn't get worse than zombies, it does.

About the Author

Michele Israel Harper has a Bachelor's degree in History and is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, Heartland Christian Writer's Group and the Jerry B. Jenkins’s Christian Writer’s Guild.  Wife and mother of two small boys, she spends her days as a stay-at-home mom and her nights scribbling away on the closest piece of paper.  Her hobbies include scrapbooking, dancing, and photography.  Check out her website (www.love2readlove2write.com) or her facebook page (www.facebook.com/love2readlove2write) to learn more about her.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Pearls on a Broken String

author: Valerie Cox

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 8.6.2014 • author id: CoV7732714

word count: 42,000

Content

Just be good for goodness’ sake! Ava Zinfeld, high school senior, agrees with this philosophy emblazoned on the side of a D.C. public bus. Civilization has created god to keep people in line. He’s not real. Or is he?

Ava has bigger concerns. Will Torin ask her to the homecoming dance? Who is the mysterious new guy at school who captured her attention with one glance? And what will Christmas be like in South Africa when she visits her grandparents over winter break?

When she meets a group of teenagers from the Mercy Ship docked in Capetown, will Ava open her heart to a true kind of love? Will she listen to the voice in her heart or be swayed by the voices of family and friends?

About the Author

Valerie Cox has been an educator for over fifteen years and holds a master’s degree in secondary education. She recently completed the course “Writing and Selling Children’s Books” through the Institute for Children’s Literature and wants to use this novel to encourage adolescents who are navigating their way through this world lacking truth and peace.

Ms. Cox served as a teacher onboard the Mercy Ship for ten months and has many connections throughout the world to the people she came to know on the ship.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Decrypting the Cache

author: Jennifer Kirsch

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 10.2.2014 • author id: KiJ4521514

word count: 55,000

Content

In Decrypting the Cache, twelve-year-old Erin jumps at any chance to go geocaching–using GPS technology to locate hidden caches. But when her unemployed dad temporarily relocates to another state, family geocaching trips seem as likely as finding a cache in an active volcano. Adding to the turmoil, her family recently lost their house. Erin feels about as secure as a fault line during an earthquake, and things only get shakier when her parents stop talking to each other.

Setting out with her friend Dev, Erin discovers a mysterious note inside a geocache. Convinced it leads to valuables that could bring her dad home, she and Dev track down geocaching clues. Besides cryptic messages, they face secret tunnel networks, gobs of chewed bubblegum, and graveyards bristling with vengeful wasps. Chess team bullies, scheming geocachers, and self-doubt also threaten their mission. Meanwhile, Erin's dad has extended his remote assignment, and money's running short at home. Will she and Dev unearth the prize before her family falls apart?

About the Author

Jennifer Kirsch holds two advanced degrees and works as a technical writer. She has published several articles in magazines, some in journals with national circulation. She also edits community newsletters, maintains several websites, writes columns in church newsletters, and blogs about parenting issues.

In 2011 she joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Exhilarated by the middle grade world of awkward firsts, newfound independence, and riveting adventures, she anticipates a future writing for that market.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: GOLDIE: NOT SO GOLDEN

author: Preslaysa Williams

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 9.9.2015 • author id: WiP2345615

word count: 35,000

Content

Eleven-year-old Goldie Johnson hopes people will forget she’s a TV star. And she prays that her parents will cancel their divorce and get remarried, but prayers don’t always get answered. After her parents' divorce, Goldie’s show biz-struck Mama moves them to New York and enrolls Goldie in the Academy of Stage Arts.

It’s tough dealing with jealous kids at the Academy, and it’s even tougher when you’re given the lead in the school’s big Shakespeare production. The other girls think Goldie’s excited about being the lead, but they don’t know her. Not only is she terrible with reciting those complicated Shakespeare lines, but Goldie, the TV star, has a big fear of performing live! However, when she learns her new role in the play could get her parents back together again, she’s determined to overcome her fear.

Goldie’s going to need a lot of courage. Will her new friends at the Academy help her find it?

About the Author

Preslaysa Williams is a 2015 American Christian Fiction Writers' Genesis double finalist. She’s also an actress, a speaker, and a writer. Her articles for youth have been published in Direction Student, Horizon Student, CBN.COM, and Devozine. As an actress, she had a co-starring role in Nickelodeon's "The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo" and worked in various Off Broadway and regional theatre productions. She’s comfortable in front of an audience (unlike Goldie!), enjoys all types of interviews, and loves to blog at www.preslaysa.com and connect with her readers through Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

She holds a B.A. in Spanish Language & Literature from Columbia University and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of South Carolina. 

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: The Butterscotch Tree

author: Nathan Kocurek

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 4.9.2016 • author id: KoN7507016

word count: 32,000

Content

Only Carl Singleton knows the hidden secrets surrounding the mysterious disappearance of his best friend from their Christian summer camp in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo Mountains.  Twenty-five years later, he’s going back to the place where he had last seen Tucker Fields, he’s going back to face the fear.  But what he discovers may be more than what he had in mind.  Could it be the pathway to an unimaginable adventure, to his redemption and possibly the answer to the mystery of the Butterscotch Tree?

 

About the Author

Nathan Kocurek has served as a student pastor for 17 years and holds a Masters in Theological Studies from the International School of Theology.  He has led numerous summer camps and trips for hundreds of teenagers through the years.  Nathan is a new author and says his own kids serve as the best audience of his stories… and he is definitely their favorite storyteller.

The Fault In Our Stars has sold 10.7 million copies.  The original Hungers Games sold 11.7 million copies on its own before its film adaptation.  Young adult fiction has grown 40% in the last decade, and a growing number of adult readers are buying young adult fiction according to recent reports.

The Butterscotch Tree is a true-to-life, coming-of-age adventure story that will appeal to both teenage boys and girls and their parents.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Biobranded

author: Rebecca Wratkowski

category: fiction • subcategory: Young Adult • date submitted: 8.25.2016 • author id: WrR5542116

word count: 80,000

Content

A bioengineering breakthrough and a perfect storm of misfortune and opportunity have ushered in America's second period of legalized slavery.  Already reeling with violence, hunger, and an energy crisis, the nation is torn neighbor against neighbor over the legalization of Clone labor.  The Clone race, begun as a means to fight disease, have become the catch-all answer to propping up the crumbling American lifestyle.  Cecilia Wells grows up in one of the many small towns resisting the Clone trade and finds herself compelled to join her Clone-owning uncle's farm when her family is lost in a fire.  What she doesn't know is that her uncle has bought her an experimental Clone to counter her own upbringing.  She finds herself drawn into a war that translates ambitions and ideas into blood.

About the Author

I am a Middle School Science teacher currently enrolled in the Archbishop Harry J Flynn Catechetical Institute.  My undergraduate majors at the University of St. Thomas included Biochemistry and Environmental Science.  

This is written for teachers in faith-based education settings who are looking for contemporary work.  The content is accessible to struggling readers with a Flesch Reading ease of 81.2 and a Flesch-Kincaid reading level of 4.4.  This rigorous work bridges social concerns, environmental concerns, biology, ethics, faith, and philosophy, as seen through the lens of a Catholic upbringing.  Writeable themes include: identity, faith, ethics, community, sacrifice, truth, gifts of man vs. gifts of woman, authority, mercy, and agape vs. philos vs. eros.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: A Wild, Gentle Thing

author: Ruth Linnea Whitney

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 12.10.2016 • author id: WhR9836816

word count: 71,000 words

Content

Abby Baer is a plain young woman until beauty enters the liquid darkness of a summer night before high school. She becomes a belle. Spends her beauty with arrogance and self-absorption. A fire mars her face, celebrity friends dump her. Afterwards, she ventures down to the neighborhood swamp, meets three new friends: a teacher who introduces her to the beauty of the swamp; an older woman with her own secret loss; a gorgeous guy who seduces her and plunges her on a dark uncertain journey.   

Her new life unfolds. The child she’s carrying grows. A quarrel back home ends in tragedy. She must re-examine life and the faith she abandoned when she became a belle.

A Wild, Gentle Thing, a novel (71,000 words) set in Seattle, reflects a culture’s obsession with physical beauty and an early (1963) awareness of the wetland’s fragility that mirrors a young woman’s vulnerabilities. A story of fire and water, loss and reclamation, danger and safe harbor, beauty on the skin and beauty deep inside. Finally, Abby returns home, eyes open to a world beyond her dressing table mirror and a God larger, more merciful than the One she left alongside some road in childhood.

About the Author

My debut novel, Slim (SMU Press, 2003) has excellent reviews from Seattle Times, Dallas Morning News, Image. First Book Award, Presbyterian Writers’ Guild. Work in Threepenny Review, Kaleidoscope, Town & Country. M.A. in English from U. Nevada, Reno. I grew up in Seattle near a swamp like the one at the heart of this novel.

Audience: mature YA or New Adult readers who seek books of emotional complexity and see faith more as journey than as one-time conversion experience.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Girls, Guys and a Tangle of Ties

author: Galynne Matichuk

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 2.10.2017 • author id: MaG9802917

word count: 140,000

Content

A girl with an eating disorder, in denial and angry at God. A camp director with a handful of ropes, two cardboard cutouts, and a radical plan to touch the hearts of the campers. An athletic hunk, a stolen hat, and a flaw-filled prank that has the entire camp in an uproar. This summer, lives are going to change forever.

 

The last place Kelly Martin wants to spend her summer vacation is volunteering at a Christian camp. But it’s either that or be forced by her parents into a program for girls with eating disorders.

Prepared to be surrounded by boring religious fanatics, Kelly is surprised to meet genuine friends who pull her into a crazy prank. Even more unexpected is the handsome fellow counselor who starts noticing her.

But it’s the radical campfire talks that touch Kelly’s heart most of all, sparking a longing for change. But that would mean choosing to trust God. And Kelly vowed she’d never do that again.

About the Author

Working with teenagers has been a passion for Galynne Matichuk, and she has over two decades of experience with young people in a variety of settings.

 

Galynne has over fifteen years of middle and high school teaching experience in public schools in Canada and a private Christian school in the United States. She spent twelve summers working at summer camps, during which time she was a cabin counselor, canoeing instructor, and camp speaker. For two years, Galynne worked with Teen Time, an inner-city teen ministry. Galynne has enjoyed speaking at several camps, churches and also had the privilege of leading several seminars at the 1999 California conference for the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) in California.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Sara the Saint

author: Susan Thode

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 7.15.2017 • author id: ThS9802217

word count: 65000

Content

Acceptance, popularity, and a date with McDreamy Travis Baker are things 17-year old-Sara Mitchell longs for. More tomboy than fashion plate, Sara has a sunrise smile that draws people to her like an ocean sunrise draws nature lovers. Especially on the horse show circuit where she remains queen of jumping events on her flashy Appaloosa, Luther.

When Travis finally asks her out, Sara thinks she has it made. Maybe this will wipe out her hated nickname, Sara the Saint, and she will finally belong. If only it wasn’t so hard to keep Travis interested in her instead of the new girl, Robyn.

But when Sara is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, she plummets from a shaky top-of-the world position to the depths of despair. Her romance with Travis crumbles. She can’t ride Luther. She has no idea who her friends really are. Even God’s love seems questionable when Sara’s world is turned upside down by pain. Sara decides life isn’t worth living and makes a staggering decision to end hers.

Luther ruins Sara’s suicide plan and with the help of Kevin, who isn’t as boring as she thought, Sara gains a newfound understanding of God’s love.

About the Author

Susan Thode is a licensed mental health counselor and a first responder in Washington. She is a former high school English teacher and has published many articles and short stories for adults, teens, and children, including a children’s article in Highlights for Children. Susan speaks for women’s retreats and leads youth group special events on the subject "Sex Has a Price Tag." She has also been a featured speaker for home school events and is active on Facebook.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Half-Tail Rising

author: Brett Wirebaugh

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 5.23.2018 • author id: WiB4425618

word count: 54691

Content

For sixth-grader Dolby Hart, the buck stops here… quite literally.  

For him, the buck stops…to talk, plan, and prepare for battle.

For most of his life, Dolby was a nobody. His father left him. His mother also mysteriously leaves. His peers reject him.  He is bullied and beaten down.  His life screams that God, too, has abandoned him. But Dolby rises to discover that he has unmatched worth and ability as a half-tail—one who can communicate with whitetail deer.  They were always his favorite animal, but now they are his friends—friends who introduce him to The Windmaster and challenge him to view God differently.  

Because of his unique gift, Dolby is thrust into the middle of a great mystery where his hometown’s growing deer population looks to him for protection against an unknown enemy.  He teams up with deer, two new friends, local farmers, and law enforcement to meet this threat.  Will he rise to the occasion and save his friends?  Will he realize along the way that he too needs saving?   

About the Author

Dr. Brett Wirebaugh is a veteran of over twenty-five years of youth and children’s ministry in the local church and Christian school settings.  He has served in four churches and one Christian school, and has participated in two different youth ministry networks in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.  He currently serves in a denomination that is large and active in promoting youth and children’s ministry resources. Dr. Wirebaugh has been writing sermons, articles, curriculum, and lessons in the local church throughout his entire career.  He has two published works--his doctoral dissertation by Reformed Theological Seminary, entitled  Always At His Work:  Investigating God’s Work in Youth Ministry Past to Inform Youth Ministry Present (May 2015), and The Biggest and Best Christmas Gift Yet, which is being published by Gospel Publishing House and will appear in a December 2018 issue of Live magazine.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Bear Paw Creek

author: Diane Hamilton

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 4.28.2019 • author id: HaD5900119

word count: 33300

Content

Montana Territory, 1880

Ten-year-old Jack lives on a Montana homestead with his family, where he helps his father tend the crops and raise the horses. When an old Indian comes for a visit, Papa forbids Jack and his sister to have anything to do with him. When Jack secretly meets the mysterious Indian, he discovers that the old man has much to teach him about faith in God and loving his family.

Back at the family’s cabin, Jack’s pesky sister Samantha delights in making trouble for him, giving him plenty of opportunity to practice his growing faith. When horse thieves abscond with their prize mare and Jack’s father disappears trying to hunt them down, Jack’s faith and courage are put to the test.

About the Author

Diane Hamilton has a B.A. in applied psychology, an M.A. in Christian education and a post-bac. degree in elementary education. She has been teaching children in the local church, the public school, and a variety of homeschool settings for more than 25 years. She is actively involved in her community, including starting a volunteer library and organizing the Vacation Bible School summer program. She is learning to use Facebook and has started a blog at Wordpress. Christian families will be eager to enjoy this adventure while teaching their children more about God.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Chemical Reactions: Life 101

author: Melissa Knight

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 7.24.2019 • author id: KnM7111119

word count: 34000

Content

Sixteen-year-old Casey has a lot of questions these days….was her debut as someone’s girlfriend a resounding failure?  

Should she have stayed in her old hometown instead of impulsively moving away? 

 Did her best friend betray her?  

Will living with new stepbrothers be totally bizarre? 

 Could chemistry class be the death of her, or will she actually find unexpected romance?  

And last, but certainly not least…where is God in all of this, and what does He really expect from her?

An organized, blonde word nerd, Casey takes us along on her first days and weeks in her new home and high school, complete with a brand-new blended family.  From simple problems such as choosing a new chem lab partner and finding the silverware in her new kitchen,  to more complex issues like looking past stereotypes to make new friends, and forgiving old friends who have hurt her,   Casey  tries to “choose wisely”, as she is repeatedly  (and annoyingly!)  advised.

 So begins a journey, to find the right chemistry in her relationships, old and new, and particularly in her relationship with God. 

About the Author

Melissa Knight is a veteran public school teacher, who has taught just about every grade from K-12,  building strong relationships with fellow educators and students in three different states.  Her current gig is teaching at a high school, where she has daily opportunities for observing the workings of the teenage mind,  and  real-time understanding of the challenges young people face.  She has published articles and short stories in magazines for children and young adults, and has worked on a team that adapted literature for special education students.

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: The Calling of the Three

author: Linda Mundinger

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 8.27.2019 • author id: MuL3376019

word count: 55000

Content

Sixteen-year-old Sara Townsend bears a curious, nickel-sized mark on her left shoulder.  The pediatrician assured her it was simply a birthmark, but to avoid other kids’ teasing, Sara always kept the mark covered.  Now at sixteen, the mark has begun to mysteriously tingle and itch. 

When Sara’s father becomes the new vice-president of Exacta Imports and Exports, she must leave America for Spain.  Saddened at leaving her friends behind, she dreads the start of school in the fall until she meets two brothers, fifteen-year-old Andre and seventeen-year-old Phillip Casana, heirs to Exacta Imports and Exports.  Sara is stunned to learn both brothers possess the same mark.  They form a shaky bond in an effort to discover the truth behind the mark they share.

Sara, Phillip and Andre are kidnapped and boys are held for ransom while Sara is thrust into the dark underworld of human trafficking.  Sara manages to escape, only to find herself in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the human traffickers who are out for revenge. 

Did the mark somehow lure her into human trafficking or can it save her? 

 

 

About the Author

I was a Guardian Ad Litem (Court Appointed Advocate in some states) for three years.  As a GAL, I have had specialized training in human trafficking, which appears in my novel.  

I have a B.S. in Elementary Education and have some work toward a Master's Degree in Math Education.  I taught elementary school for fifteen years and middle school math for five years.  

I will be be submitting my novel under a pen name: Susan Kalleston.  My website is susankalleston.com.

The Calling of the Three is my first novel.  

If you are a publisher interested in this manuscript, please contact us at info@writersedgeservice.com for contact information.


title: Eve's Windows

author: Betty Notzon

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 9.14.2019 • author id: NoB7821219

word count: 131000

Content

To paraphrase St. Paul in Romans, big problems make better people of us. In Eve’s Windows, thirteen-year-old Eve Hicks is about to learn this firsthand. The year is 1963, and the troubles the year has in store for her start off with her father, a drunk and sometime carpenter, being sent to prison for attempted manslaughter. They lose their home three times in one year. Abel, Eve’s happy, cherubic younger brother, their most valuable possession as far as Eve is concerned, is in a foster home. An “outing” is usually to the Salvation Army rummaging for household items and clothes among all the other down-and-outers. When the story opens, home for them is a beat-up trailer at the back of a farmer’s barnyard. Adam, Eve’s older brother, is sent to South Vietnam, where what starts out as an exotic adventure ends in horrifying madness. And it is Eve who must shoulder most of the burden for keeping her family whole. Her mother, who is mowed down by any trouble, is of little use. There are plenty of silver linings in the book.  It’s Abel, though, who provides a miraculous ending.

About the Author

I come to writing young adult fiction after working for more than thirty years as a medical and scientific editor. I started my career in the late '70s as an editorial assistant in the Medical Division at Little, Brown and Company in Boston, where I worked for twelve years and, while there, gained a pretty thorough knowledge of all facets of publishing. Most recently, I worked for eleven years as a scientific editor at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Thus I bring a considerable knowledge of medicine to my writing and use it to give the plot of my books further texture. I have a B.A. in English. I have been a member of SCBWI and through the years have participated in numerous workshops and classes about writing for young people. An important personal impetus for writing books for young adults is my belief that there is an urgent need for books suited to conservative tastes. My overall aim, however, is to create well-written books with engaging plots that have universal appeal and that, most importantly, might improve a young reader’s take on life.

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title: THE CLOUD

author: Mary Dalton

category: fiction • subcategory: young adult • date submitted: 3.26.2020 • author id: DaM2416820

word count: 17000

Content

In a day when violence is so prevalent in our society, when school shootings are frequent, it is easy to throw up our hands and give up! Can prayer really change the outcome of a situation? Are good and evil constantly battling for the minds and souls of everyone? Does God put signs and wonders in the sky? Does he speak to us when we listen? Is destiny set, or can it be changed if we storm heaven's doors? One youth pastor and a small youth group are about to find out if they are up to the challenge as they cast their eyes heavenward, and see, what they believe is a sign from God. THE CLOUD is a fast-paced short novel dealing with school violence and the prayers of a small youth group. No one knows the plans of Kevin, an angry student. While God places a burden to pray on a handful of students, he also places a cloud just above the school in the shape of a hand reaching down.

About the Author
I am a children's author with 12 published books.  I have worked in children and youth ministry for over 40 years.  I have a heavy burden for high risk children and write accordingly, praying they will learn moral values that will stay with them the rest of their lives. I believe the Lord gave me this story for such a time as this. This is not my usual genre, but I felt compelled to write this story.

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title: Archangels

author: Anita Williams

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 7.18.2020 • author id: WiAnAr17120

word count: 68248

Content

Michael has detected a subtle change in his fellow archangel, Lucifer, and his concern is growing. When Heaven’s armies witnessed God’s creation of the physical universe, Lucifer’s alteration and dislike of Michael became clear. Nevertheless, Lucifer was chosen by the Almighty to lead a taskforce to His favored planet, Earth. Michael, being the guardian archangel, is disturbed by God’s choice. God dismisses Michael’s concerns with vague answers. Suspicion mounts when Michael and Lucifer clash in the west perimeter trees, the armor room, during their visit to Earth, and in an alcove of Ivory Palace. Michael enlists Gabriel’s help. However, this third archangel and friend refuses to believe Lucifer’s corrupt. Lucifer has amassed a vast army of angels. He plans to annihilate God, Michael, and Gabriel, and usurp God’s throne, believing he is like God. Private Charles, a taskforce member not mesmerized by Lucifer, covertly seeks out Michael and exposes Lucifer’s conspiracy. Those loyal to God race to intercept Lucifer and his angels before they can harm the Almighty and conquer Heaven. Will they succeed?

About the Author
Working Title:  Archangels Anita Williams is a Christian writer who loves to tell stories. She’s a wife, mother, and grandmother of six. For more than thirty years, she’s led Bible studies, workshops, VBS and Sunday school classes for all ages, and she’s shared at women’s gatherings. Anita is the former Programs/Devotionals Editor/writer for Women’s Missionary Fellowship of the Evangelical Friends Church North America. She’s a former Institute for Writers student and current member of Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild. She attended the Write-to-Publish Conference in Wheaton, Illinois in 2012, and it boosted her desire to write. Since January of 2008, Anita has written a monthly devotional newsletter for women’s groups, and she blogs to inspire her readers to grow in the knowledge of God. Anita’s blog is called “Meat for the Hungry.”

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title: A Summer to Treasure

author: Leslea Wahl

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 8.4.2020 • author id: WaLeA 18920

word count: 52000

Content

Teenage siblings Luke, Celia, and Austin are dreading their summer vacation. A month cooped up in an RV, touring around the Southwest, with their parents, grandmother, and each other? Pure torture. But when Grandma reveals the real reason for the trip, the journey becomes an unexpected adventure. As they travel through breathtaking canyons the teens develop new friendships, deepen their faith, and join together in a thrilling search for lost coins. And if the siblings can put down their phones long enough to enjoy the incredible journey, they might discover that their relationships with each other are truly the greatest treasure.  

About the Author
Leslea Wahl, the author of four published novels, believes in strengthening teens’ faith through fiction. Her adventurous mysteries have received Catholic Press Association Book Awards, a Readers Favorite award, and several Jenkins Group awards. While thankful for her success, Leslea hopes to share her edifying adventures with an even larger audience. Leslea’s commitment to sharing faith-based novels includes reviewing books on her social media platforms, for several online organizations, and on her website www.LesleaWahl.com.  

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title: Imperial Decoy

author: Amber Bennett

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 10.6.2020 • author id: BeAmIm25320

word count: 97670

Content

Martyn has spent the last nine years pretending to be someone else. His cousin Warrick, the crown prince and only heir to the throne of Terilliun, needs a double, someone to be him when threats arise. Martyn fits the bill perfectly: he looks exactly like Warrick, he has the best training money can provide, and he’s legally dead. Neither Martyn nor Warrick loves the arrangement. Warrick—ever loyal to his father—wants to fully lead his people, while Martyn—haunted by his family’s deaths—longs to study philosophy with the Friars at the nearby church. But then Martyn disappears, and since he doesn’t technically exist, Warrick is the only one who’s worried and willing to search for him. As tensions rise in Terilliun, Martyn and Warrick follow different paths that promise to bring them not only the lives they’ve always wanted, but also the chance to endure through life together either as friends…or as enemies.

About the Author

Amber Bennett has an undergrad degree in English with an emphasis in writing and a master’s in library science. Her first book, The Queen’s Sons, was published by Advantage Books. She works at a Christian pre-K through 12 school in Illinois where she has taught high school literature and theater for almost ten years. She also has connections with many other Christian schools and churches in the same conference as the school where she teaches.

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title: Brothers Gone Before

author: Kent Gramm

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 10.30.2020 • author id: GrKeBr27520

word count: 84000

Content

Seventeen year old Vernon Mickelson’s brother Forrest has gone off to war, following what he believed to be the leading of the Holy Spirit. Vernon believes in no such thing; furthermore, his Norwegian parents say this American Civil War is not their concern, and their Evangelical Brethren Church forbids killing even in self-defense. But the girl Vernon hopes to marry has a brother in a Wisconsin regiment, and she is convinced that it is every young man’s duty to go. Vernon is almost military age. His older brother sends letters home describing battles with the Iron Brigade, the most famous unit in the Union Army. Wounded fatally at the Battle of Antietam, Forrest’s dying words tell Vernon to “keep the faith.” Now Vernon, who has lost his childhood belief in God, has a decision to make.

About the Author
Kent Gramm has published six books on the Civil War, including the Pulitzer-nominated November. He taught creative writing for twenty-four years at Wheaton College and Indiana Wesleyan University, and has taught Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College for the past ten. He is a captivating speaker at Civil War Round Tables and other Civil War conferences and events. Brothers Gone Before is a YA novel that is especially appealing to the underserved young male market.  

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title: Ask the Beasts

author: Lori Cardoza-Starnes

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 2.1.2021 • author id: CaLoAs021

word count: 80000

Content

The Medieval legend of St. George and the Dragon is mostly nonsense.  Sister Donwenna should know—she was there.  Once 14, and known as Maud, she secretly raises the legendary dragon, Ellie, from an egg and knows that she’s actually sweet as a quince tart. Her cousin Alice, is no helpless princess either, but runs an entire manor and steals her father’s sheep to help the poor, and blames it on a werewolf. Maud must fight against the hero, George, whose first mission is to change Maud’s grateful happy vision of God to match his own dour one, believing he must kill a beast to fulfill a prophesy and save Maud’s soul. Maud isn’t sure if her problems start with her complete failure at lady lessons, the crush she has on a knight who probably is in love with her much fairer cousin, or the animal sorcery rumors that follow her. But when her arch-enemy, the squire Garstyn, discovers her secret dragon, she must sacrifice the life she has learned to love, for the dragon, and finally, for the cousin she has learned to love even more.

About the Author
Lori Cardoza-Starnes has been teaching high school English for almost thirty years. In that time, however, she has witnessed more teens with romantic optimism, with longings for stories of hope, than producers of jaded teen television or authors of dark, brooding stories can imagine. Thus, she relished writing Ask the Beasts for a young adult audience. Lori has written books and materials for teachers published by Good Apple, Frank Schaffer and Corwin Press. These texts covered games in the classroom, grammar, multiple intelligences, and her favorites, the Shakespeare in the Classroom series.  She self-published her first novel, Hanging in the Stars, about a teenage girl traveling back in time to Shakespeare’s London.

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title: Summer School: An `80s Story

author: Daniel Munson

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 6.30.2021 • author id: MuDaSu15121

word count: 54000

Content

A young college student born into a world of wealth and self-centeredness is independent enough to see the limits of this secular world, and the reader watches his friends show him that Christianity offers sanctuary from some of its foolishness.  He participates in the unraveling of a big financial scheme involving his family’s business, watches a young friend lurch from one secular worldview to another, and all this occurs as we watch him fall in love.  It is a humorous, literary novel with a mildly religious message set in this grasping, self-centered world.  (It might be called Christianity for Cynics.)  It draws inspiration from the G.K. Chesterton observation that “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing – they believe anything.”  I call the novel Summer School because the action that our young narrator seeks to understand takes place during a single summer.

About the Author

Daniel C. Munson has quite a bit of nonfiction writing and publishing experience: he has written over a dozen articles in national business, technology, and financial magazines and has written and promoted a regional history book. His social media presence is small and will require help/guidance to expand it: a Facebook page and developing a Facebook Author page.  Summer School is his first attempt at fiction writing.

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title: The Light in the Woods

author: Lori Jones

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 2.19.2022 • author id: JoLoTh2122

word count: 77000

Content

Since his father’s murder, MICHAEL has been coasting through the stages of grief within the confines of his own heart, refusing to discuss his pain, his guilt, or his anger at God with anyone. He also never mentions his possible angel encounter or his suicide attempt. But, he agrees to attend a Christian camp for two weeks with other 17-year-olds who share his tragic fate – a parent dying in the line of duty. Michael assumes it will be a tortuous hotbed of death discussions and talking about his feelings, but it’s the only way he can both appease his mother and score a promised new car. Through journal entries, each camper’s unique grief journey is revealed. As the group tackles daily outdoor challenges, they’re each forced to wrestle with how the stages of grief are crushing their hearts. This proves to be more daunting than climbing the scariest of ropes courses, or facing an angry bear. But this six-pack of camper friends could be what leads Michael out of his grief solitude and into reconnecting with God, finding an unexpected romance, and discovering light where only darkness once dwelled. However, their self-work drudges up ugliness and their untamed anger could destroy the blossoming friendships and squash the beginnings of the healing process. But the camp’s rare albino deer could mysteriously become their redeemer and show them the way to forgiveness and growth, or her near-slaying could be what tears them apart.    

About the Author

Lori Jones is an award-winning author of women’s and children’s fiction. She delivers “Writing with Heart” assemblies to public, Catholic, and Christian schools with her children’s book, RILEY’S HEART MACHINE, inspired by her daughter’s heart defect. She’s an active fundraiser and advocate for congenital heart defect research and sits on The Children’s Heart Foundation’s Board of Directors. She also serves as the organization’s Marketing Committee Chair. Lori’s led bible study groups and volunteered at one of Pittsburgh’s largest non-denominational churches, and has spoken at other churches about seeing God’s faithfulness through adversity. Lori assists in leading Mindful Writers retreats at the Ligonier Camp and Conference Center in Pennsylvania. The Christian camp that provides the setting has given an endorsement for THE LIGHT IN THE WOODS manuscript.  Lori’s included a discussion guide with the manuscript so the novel could be used as a tool for Christian counselors, or for grief journal prompts.

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title: The King's Feather

author: Amy Earls

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 5.20.2022 • author id: EaAmTh11022

word count: 63000

Content

Trapped inside steel walls, an ordinary teen girl must save her enemy's life before she loses her own.   In an older universe, a gleaming city’s steel walls protect from an undefeated people called the Lesaries and lock teen slaves inside. Fourteen years after her mom’s disappearance, seventeen-year-old Pero Moshe travels from American town Green Meadow and into Moon City’s walls where she is the next chosen for the Lesaries’ prophesied power.   But when Pero learns that a rich and famous doctor named Dr. Carper is also chosen for the Lesaries’ future kingdom, she must decide between saving her enemy or escaping with the ones she loves before a shout crumbles Moon City’s walls to pieces.

About the Author
Amy Earls is a writing professor for first-year college students and holds a master’s degree in education for adult learners with a focus in writing. As a young adult Christian novelist and podcast host, Amy writes and shares stories that encourage teens to flourish in their own faith. Amy’s list of over 700 newsletter subscribers continually grows through her monthly short story giveaways using BookFunnel and ProlificWorks. Amy lives in Oregon’s bike-riding, Beaver-loving college town with stashes of dark chocolate, one husband, two daughters, and two guinea pigs named Salt & Pepper.

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title: The Sweet Experiment

author: Chelsey Young

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 10.27.2022 • author id: YoChTh27222

word count: 68070

Content

Life has it out for Payton McCrory. At first, it seems as though she has simply been neglected by the Powers That Be (if such things even exist). With nothing particularly exceptional about her (except for her notorious klutziness), Payton goes unnoticed by the popular crowd, professors, and guys. But what else is new? Her own father didn’t want her. This early exposure to the harsh world has made Payton a cynical underachiever. But when Payton’s family is afflicted by betrayal and a life-changing diagnosis, Payton is convinced that Someone Upstairs must be playing a cruel joke with her life. It gets even worse when something threatens the relationship between her and Wyatt, the close friend who has a tighter hold on Payton’s heart than she realizes. With the help of her boy-crazy best friend, Payton embarks on The Sweet Experiment and ends up getting much more than she bargained for. Along the way, she finds herself increasingly surrounded by religious people—a new roommate, an Iranian professor, a guy at a party. They aren’t the judgey Christians Payton has heard about—but people who seem to know a different God … One who just might actually care about nobodies like Payton.

About the Author
Chelsey Young received a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Westmont College and has extensive experience writing and editing both marketing and internal content for various industries, religious and secular. Much of this fictional story has been inspired by her actual experiences or stories lived by friends and family—profound, messy scenarios that challenge belief and faith. Upon publication, Westmont may allow Mrs. Young to speak at a chapel (a tri-weekly campus and community) gathering as a guest speaker, allowing her to spread awareness of the novel in an environment filled with the ideal target audience, young women ages 18-30. Danica “Diabetic Danica” Burroughs, a close friend who is mentioned in the book, has agreed to spotlight the novel on her YouTube channel with over 42,000 subscribers, many of which include young people with a recent diabetes diagnosis and in need of hope. 

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title: Turning Toward Eden

author: Ann Neumann

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 5.11.2023 • author id: NeAnTu10023

word count: 80352

Content

“Maybe you aren’t chasing her so much as running from yourself.” What was that supposed to mean? Hollis might be 14-year-old Eden’s only friend, a lanky boy her Mama calls her “beau,” but he could try the patience of a saint. Eden has been in a tailspin, that much is true—crash-landing in a Podunk beach town when her disabled younger brother comes home from the institution and her father walks out. Stuck with tending to Dex while Mama struggles to make ends meet, Eden takes refuge in religion, at least on Sundays. On Fridays, she sneaks down to Cap’s Diner to play poker with the grizzled fishermen. And every day in between, she ditches Dex duty to pier fish with Hollis. It hasn't been easy, a Texas girl wrenched from bayous and sweet tea, adrift in Pacific swells and ninth-grade snubs. But it’s summer now, and the family of locals she’s cobbled together isn’t half bad. Then the crimes begin—petty at first but escalating to a killing on the beach. Eden is sure the Soviet girl is behind them, a recent immigrant bullied for her garish clothes and elusive ways. Rumor is that the “Commie” transforms into a raven at night, raining curses on the town in revenge. Though Hollis cautions against the gossip, he has to admit the girl is a mystery. Determined to discover the truth, Eden embarks on a reckless game of chase, even if it means risking her brother’s life. Seeking Raven’s secret, she unearths her own. But will it be too late to save her brother? A coming-of-age story set against a summer of intrigue in 1971 California

About the Author
Cate Touryan (pen name) is the author of short stories, creative nonfiction, and novels. She holds an MA in English and a JD (law) and works as freelance developmental and copy editor as well as a university and government writing instructor. Her childhood aspiration to turn straw into gold fizzled as she realized how steep the cost—trading in her firstborn. So she did a more socially acceptable thing. Realizing it wasn’t the magic in story but the magic of story, she began to write. When not writing, she enjoys anything that will give her a view but keeps her feet on the ground and video chats with her two daughters as much as possible, who—perhaps fearing she might indeed trade them—live in a time zone 9 hours ahead. Cate lives on the central coast of California with her husband, her Yorkie, and a rafter of turkeys—as in both a whole bunch of them and in the rafters. She has yet to turn them into story, but when she does, she's hoping for gold.

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title: Birds of Paradisum

author: Stan Lewis

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 6.8.2023 • author id: LeStBi12723

word count: 31000

Content

Working Title:  Birds of Paradisum Never has choosing the right airline been so important.  All Derek wanted was to take a nice easy trip to the island of Paradisum for some much-deserved rest.  He soon realizes that there are two airlines that provide service to the island, the corporate giant that promises all the comforts and amenities one could ever desire and the small carrier with one tiny plane and one pilot.  The choice seems obvious, but Derek comes to learn that this is anything but a simple decision. Derek finds himself in a war for passengers between the two carriers but there just might be more at stake than ordinary air travel to a tropical paradise.  He meets a cast of characters who have taken sides in this battle for the skies. This is a tale of eternal choices, spiritual warfare, and looking deeper at what is really important in life.

About the Author
Stan Lewis is a pastor in the state of Florida and has served churches in Florida, Louisiana, and Alabama.  He has advanced seminary degrees in Counseling and Leadership. He has published a devotional book on apologetics, 100 Days of Apologetics and speaks in churches and leads conferences on apologetics.  He and his wife Kristin have three daughters and are rabid boosters for the University of West Florida women’s volleyball team.

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title: The Kennedi Identity

author: Todd Davis

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 8.4.2023 • author id: DaToTh19423

word count: 69000

Content

Having a baby in a gas station attracted more attention than fifteen-year-old Kennedi wanted. Attention that led her to foster mom Amanda who wants to control her, and foster dad Henry who seems annoyed at her presence. And the DNA test Henry encouraged her to do on her baby: Was it to find relatives to send her to? Or to find the baby daddy to get child support? The DNA results match to members of a clan of the baby’s paternal relatives, but they lack matches to Kennedi’s own family lineage, leading to events that have her questioning her whole identity. By crashing a family reunion of her baby’s extended family, and door-to-door detective work with friends, she closes in on the baby’s father. And maybe her foster parents aren’t so bad after all. With their help, she connects with relatives she never knew she had. After years of instability, does she want to leave the people who have made her feel like family to join others who merely share her DNA? Does she have a choice?

About the Author
I’m a father of a teenager and two young adults. I live with my wife in Cypress, Texas (a Houston suburb), which is the setting for The Trailer Behind the Garage and The Gas Station Girl, which were self-published through Kindle Direct Publishing in 2021, and The Lingering Scent and The DollarFly Girls, self-published in 2022. I spent two years in Japan in the early 1990s as a Journeyman missionary with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. While I was getting used to Asian culture, the Chinese student who would become my wife was getting used to American culture. We met at church and have been getting used to each other ever since. I am currently a manager in the Global Trade practice at an accounting firm. I have a bachelor's degree from Houston Christian University (Houston Baptist University at the time) and an MBA from the Jones School at Rice University.

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title: Code Finder

author: Thomas Ask

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 11.20.2023 • author id: AsThCo29123

word count: 80000

Content

This book presents a family adventure in science and exploration through Central America and Africa. The book presents a geeky, adventure story that combines Indiana Jones with MacGyver. I used to love reading these things when I was young and think these science and adventure stories can be attractive to Middle Grades boys and girls. The writing embraces an overt Christian worldview. The protagonist (Dan) is in high school and everything is changing quickly around him. He is at an age when he doesn’t know what to do and is additionally encumbered with lack of self-assurance, especially in comparing his abilities with his brother and sister. The book has some perils, but it is not distressing. This is a happy story about discovery, overcoming challenges, and family love—especially between a father and son. The takeaway is an understanding of the fascinating world around us and how we can be part of discovering ancient technology. The book starts with three siblings visiting a remote pyramid in Guatemala. They trip an ancient booby trap and find a tunnel system. They tell their parents, who fly down from Illinois and join the exploration. They find additional pyramids that have a chamber inside of them. They create autonomous vehicles to help with the exploration. They also use drones and other technologies to explore. Dan, the youngest son, is small and can travel quickly through the underground tunnels, so he explores for two days by himself. Later Dan and his dad find an ancient underground city in Mexico, which the whole family explores. They come up with theories about what is going on with what they have found. They hypothesize that the pyramids are using volcano vents to create an audio signal that can be transmitted underwater, like a whale. Dan and his dad travel by sailboat and plane through the Caribbean and finally to Senegal where they find evidence of communications between the two continents. They travel into the Sahara Desert of Mauritania and find another ancient underground city with a leather code page. They meet the president of Mauritania and a professor who can translate the page. Dan and his dad scuba dive off the African coast, in Cape Verde, to find more evidence for their theory of ancient intercontinental conversation. While waiting for the scientific evaluations, Dan’s family travels to Mali and have an interesting family time there with sweet conversations. When the data and page translation are assembled, a group of Latin American and African scientists meet in Senegal to discuss their discoveries. They experiment with the technology and how it works.

About the Author
Thomas Ask serves as Professor of Industrial Design at Penn College and is a licensed Professional Engineer. Prior to his faculty appointment, he worked in industry for seventeen years. During this time he designed dozens of commercialized products and systems. He has earned bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering, liberal studies, and industrial design, respectively. He has published three non-fiction books with Bloomsbury (1998, 2006, 2019), O’Reilly (2016), and UTM Academic Press (2022). The Bloomsbury book, Reeds Marine Surveying is in its third edition. He has also authored over a dozen conference and journal papers related to design, as well as several poems in literary journals. Tom is a citizen of the United States and Norway and has worked and traveled for several years overseas, primarily in the developing world.  

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title: The Red Goblin Strikes Again

author: Danel LaRue

category: fiction • subcategory: youngadult • date submitted: 7.4.2024 • author id: LaDaTh15724

word count: 44550

Content

As a librarian, I have seen the teen market succumb to lots of  violence and sexually descriptive novels. Most recently, there is a glut of "paranormal novels" whose protagonists are vampires, witches and werewolves.  Such things are fine in small doses, but I believe that there is a market for more positive and uplifting teen/upper elementary novels, novels that don't make one want to go out and slit one's wrists after closing the cover. (I've known that to happen.) The Red Goblin Strikes Again describes a boy who finds his solace in more normal pursuits, who lives in a rural area of the late 1970s and is closer to nature than most urban teens.  He has parents who care for him, even if it isn't normally expressed and who has friendships not only with his peers but with neighbors who are adults and the elderly.  He is a close friend, for example, with his neighbor, Ruby Arnold, Corey's grandmother.  She is  lonely and reads too many detective novels and like Don Quixote with his novels of chivalry accepts them as the literal truth. She decides that the best way to serve her tiny community and surrounding areas is to become a detective herself and search out enemies of her own fair village.   David becomes her Sancho Panza and accompanies her in her occasional nocturnal sorties of neighbors' homes for murder victims, terrorists, communist spies, and other miscreants who populate her novels The novel is written from a Christian worldview.  But as a boy and teen, I didn't like the didactic novels found in the church library, where everyone "gets saved" at the end.  I prefer to write in a humorous and at times silly vein.  Scenes take place in church from time to time, not to deliver sermons, rather to flesh out the personalities of some of the characters, and yes, to sow that normal people can be people of faith, in spite of their failings. I choose to write in a Christian manner because my reception from secular publishers has not been good, and one of the agents I contacted wanted me to spice up my work with sexual encounters between the characters.  Yes, sex happens in the imaginary village of Lindenwald, as everywhere, but I  chose not to go into the bedrooms of my characters.  And David is experiencing these feelings as teens do, but rather than get down to the "nitty-gritty," his glasses fog up when he has such feelings. I submitted this novel to you before, you liked it, and you made several suggestions, which I've followed.  For instance, it is about 1/4 longer than the previous submission.  I've been careful to note WHO is speaking rather than assuming that it is understood.  I've better described my characters...brown eyes or blue, thin or heavy, hair color, etc.   And finally I decided that it fits more in the past rather than in 2024 and removed reference to the Internet and other things that didn't exist in the 70s.

About the Author
I am now retired, but do occasional substitute teaching in a public school system in my college majors of German and Spanish and studied abroad in a Spanish university and worked in short term missions in Austria and Germany.   I also substitute for a Christian school, most recently part-time in the 4th grade.   As a rural public librarian for over thirty years, I have read to children in preschool through elementary grades until a children's librarian was hired.  As needed, I helped with summer reading programs for children and teens.   I had a book club for boys and tried to encourage the so-called "reluctant readers," most of whom are boys.  I was the person who ordered both adult and YA materials and helped the children's librarian who ordered most children's materials. I began to write in my teens when someone I loved and looked up to as an older brother committed suicide.   I found release from my grief and emotions by writing.  Gradually my writing evolved to involve humor as well as serious subjects.   The theme of the novel and another adult one that I'm working on is the wonder of friendship, between men or women.  CS Lewis wrote about friendship and felt that it was very much undervalued in our friendless world.   That's more true now in the post-COVID world where loneliness has become an epidemic. I've written free-lance non-fiction articles for work and the weekly newspaper in that area of northern Berks County (Hamburg, PA)  and as a free-lancer with the local newspaper.  Being in an ethnic Pennsylvania German region, I learned the dialect well enough to contribute to a PA German column several times in the Ephrata Review.   In college, in addition to my languages, I took courses in journalism and play writing, though the latter I've never used, but enjoyed the exercise of having to write a one-act play. Should the novel be accepted, I believe that I could market it in book talks in libraries locally where many librarians still know me, as well as in churches and bookstores in what are called "book talks."  I used to hate public speaking, but my years as a librarian who attended township meetings to beg for money and support, I think Ive out grown it to the point where I've taught Sunday school and was a crucifer and assistant minister in the Lutheran church I once attended.  

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