Thursday, February 13, 2014

2014 ABNA...Ready, Set, PITCH! (Part Deux)

The other day, I posted a 300-word pitch for the upcoming 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) competition.  I've written a second version of the pitch...and I'm looking for feedback!

Here's the second version...let me know what you think!


THE MENGELE EFFECT
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Category

On the last night of mankind's reign, the Reaper rides the wind, and falls from the clouds.
A single raindrop becomes a catalyst, opening a Pandora's box of genetic horrors long-forgotten among the rusted steel of a Kansas City salvage yard.  The mutations spread quickly.  Dawn reveals a dead city, stripped of life by a new species that moves on four legs...sometimes, two.  The mutant beasts hide from the light, multiply, and await the shadows of day's end.
Biowarfare specialist Carolyn Ridenour fights a daily battle to keep America safe from the world's tiniest, most fearsome weapons.  In her world, the twisted rubble of September 11th is only the beginning; a string of chemical and biological attacks, each more terrible than the last, drive Carolyn to fight back in her own way—with computers, test tubes, and unmatched expertise.  Ordered to Kansas City to investigate the unfolding crisis, Carolyn escapes the creatures' nocturnal onslaught at the last instant, saved by Colonel Garrett Hoffmann, a man tortured by the vision of hundreds of his troops—and innocent civilians—massacred by a fast-moving wave of things bombs and bullets couldn't stop.
President Andrew Smith, former Navy Admiral and battle-scarred hero, watches as city after city is eaten alive by a swarming foe that inexplicably doubles its numbers every twenty-four hours.  Frantic for answers, the President is swayed towards unthinkable action by members of his own government, secret followers of a century-old order sworn to destroy civilization in order to save their souls.
       Carolyn and her team race to find a way to stop the creatures—products of perverse genetic research performed in Auschwitz’s filthy labs, refined by Cold War enemies and perfected by nature—before a desperate President unleashes the fury of America's nuclear arsenal on his own soil...and his own citizens.

No comments:

Post a Comment