ABNA 2014

Yes, it's that time of year again--time to dip my toe in the literary waters that is the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. Last year I entered my Young Adult novel Ryan's Run, and made it through to the Quarter Finals. This year I am entering an adult horror novel, The Lake Town. 

I just barely finished it in time of the contest and only had two weeks to edit/proofread/revise it. I know it's not perfect and I rushed the ending. The good news is that you can enter the same novel year after year (as long as you don't win). So if I don't place in the Finals I have an entire year to improve it and enter again.

To give you some idea what it is about here is my Pitch for the novel:

There had never been anything special about the town of Lake DeLayne. It was just one of a number of small, Midwestern lake towns with one high school, a police force of five, and kids who get their excitement drag racing past cornfields and grain silos beyond the town limits.

Quiet, peaceful, and relatively crime free, it has always been considered a good place to live, raise a family, and retire. No one suspected that it would quickly become the center of terror and death.

It begins on a cool March night when an object comes hurtling out of the sky without warning, crashing into the center of the lake. The impact creates a sudden tidal wave that slams into homes, businesses, and people. When everything settles it leaves seven dead and a town full of stunned and grieving citizens. They thought that night was the worse their town had to face. They were wrong.

What was thought to be a simple meteorite turns out to be something far worse, something that can turn simple law-abiding citizens into emotionless killers—but killers with a sinister purpose. Now several people must band together to stop them, including Will Benton, an Iraq War veteran and single father, his teenage son Nick, Amanda, a girl fighting her own personal demons, and her younger brother Teddy, who may know more about what’s happening than anyone, though communicating with him is almost impossible. If they succeed they may not only save their town but they may save the entire planet.

The Lake Town is a modern horror novel of suspense and a frightening tale of survival.

For those who don't know about the contest, the Pitch is the first round of judging. If they like your pitch, you move on to the second round where they judge an excerpt (3,000-5,000 words) of your novel. If I make it to the second round I will post my excerpt. Keep your fingers crossed!