Hi all,

Here is the query letter that I sent out for NIGHT CHILD, which resulted in a very nice deal with Ace-Penguin.  I got six requests for partials, and one super-agent.

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Dear [Name],

I am seeking representation for my thriller/adventure novel, Night
Child, which is complete at 87,000 words.  The sequel, Magic is Murder,
is in outline form.

What would a vampire courtroom look like?  Can you analyze a warlock's
DNA?  How do you seek 'justice' for a dead demon?  Night Child explores
the magical underworld from a forensic angle, following Tess Corday, an
Occult Special Investigator, as she cracks demon cold-cases and
supernatural murders.

In Night Child, Tess is a struggling OSI level one, trying to balance
her 'calling' with her desire to have a normal social life.  When she
agrees to protect Mia Polanski, a teenager with untapped mystical
abilities, she finds herself caught in the middle of a political
power-play that could get her killed-or worse.  As Tess explains to Mia:
 "Demons, vampires, immortals-they're always fighting.  This world is
their battleground.  They've got the power, but we're the ones who
enforce the law-the ones in between, maintaining order, not just through
magic, but through science."  

I have been publishing poetry, short fiction, and non-fiction articles
for ten years, and my work has appeared in literary journals such as The
Capilano Review, The Saskatchewan Review, Canadian Literature, Mosaic,
and Modern Fiction Studies.  I am the author of "Blood Relations:
Chosen Families in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel" (McFarland,
2005), and "Farscape:  Uncharted Territories of Sex and Science Fiction"
(I.B. Tauris, forthcoming 2006).  

If you are interested, I can send along a synopsis and/or the complete
manuscript.  It would be a pleasure to work with [Agency]

Best

Jes

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PS:  even though I'm still very new to fiction publishing, I'm always happy to look at queries (or partials, or messy drafts, or whatever) and give advice