My entry to the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards

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It's Monday, Jan 28. I am part of a large blogging event called the "Re-Introduce Myself" Blogfest where I get to introduce myself to new audiences. My name is Dwight Okita. I live in Chicago where I design websites and work at a nonprofit for the visually impaired. I just finished writing my second novel THE HOPE STORE and I've entered it in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. You can learn more about the contest at www.amazon.com/abna
Below is the pitch for my book:

"We don't just instill hope. We install it." 
That's the slogan for the first store in the world to sell hope over the counter.  

Luke Nagano goes to sleep each night dreaming about hope and how to make more of it, ever since he lost his sister. He and his partner prepare the store for its grand opening. As media interest grows, an activist group called the Natural Hopers emerges with the mission to warn the public about the dangers of synthetically created hope. Though the store investors become rightly nervous, a steady stream of hope-enhanced customers begins to sing the store's praises. 

When hopeless Jada Upshaw first hears of the Hope Store, she's outraged. She's wasted plenty of time and money on magic bullets that haven't worked. Jada sets out to expose the Hope Store for the fraud it must be -- but to do so she must have a hope installation herself. Jada's response to the installation forces her to change her plans dramatically, and to re-think the meaning of hope. 

A TV station offers to present a town hall meeting about the controversial nature of enhanced hope in the new millennium, and Luke is tempted by this chance for big exposure -- but it means they'll have to face the Natural Hopers who can be loose cannons. Everything is at stake as this high-profile event could either signal the beginning or end of a global conversation on hope. 

THE HOPE STORE tells a story of an unlikely friendship set in the near future, and the thorny relationships between science and faith, placebo and cure, hope and hype. 


My first novel THE PROSPECT OF MY ARRIVAL was a finalist in the Amazon contest in 2008.
amzn.to/HsrVSF

I look forward to meeting the other bloggers in this blogfest!

Comments

  1. Elise FallsonJanuary 28, 2013 at 5:14 AM

    Great to meet you Dwight. Good luck with ABNA! The premise for your book sounds really interesting, "synthetically created hope"...well that catches my attention! Thanks for participating in the blogfest. (:

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mia HaysonJanuary 28, 2013 at 10:26 AM

    Hi Dwight! Great to meet you! Good luck in the ABNA!

    <3

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hart JohnsonJanuary 28, 2013 at 11:09 AM

    Hey, Dwight! I must say, you look great in that dress! *shifty* You know, I'm not so far from Chicago. At some point I will get over there, so we will have to get together for a meal or a beverage.

    ReplyDelete
  4. historywriterJanuary 28, 2013 at 3:27 PM

    Great pitch. I have always loved your title. So hopeful. Some days everyone could use a little. Good luck in ABNA 2013. Sci-fi, right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dwight OkitaJanuary 28, 2013 at 3:51 PM

      Thanks, Janet. Yup. I'm sticking my toe in the sci fi water this time. Good luck to you.

      Delete
  5. Dwight OkitaJanuary 28, 2013 at 3:40 PM

    Hi folks, thanks for visiting. I'm getting your messages by email but for some reason they are not posting on my blog. Did anyone have trouble posting a message?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dwight OkitaJanuary 28, 2013 at 3:50 PM

    Hey Hart, that would be cool to get a meal together. Where do you live?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dwight OkitaJanuary 28, 2013 at 4:07 PM

    Hi Miya and Elise, great to meet you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Susan Gourley/KelleyJanuary 28, 2013 at 4:53 PM

    What a clever idea. Everytime I think every story plot has been done I meet someone like you with a unique idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dwight OkitaJanuary 28, 2013 at 9:05 PM

      Hi Susan, thanks. I will hop over to your blog too.

      Delete
  9. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2013 at 7:38 PM

    Its great to meet you Dwight. Good luck with THE HOPE STORE. And thanks for participating in the Re-Introduce Myself Blogfest!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dwight OkitaJanuary 28, 2013 at 9:07 PM

      Thanks Stephen, these blogfests are fun. Do you know where people get the Re-Introduce nametag graphic? I'll visit your blog soon.

      Delete
  10. Michelle WallaceJanuary 29, 2013 at 1:09 PM

    Great to meet you Dwight.
    Good luck with ABNA.
    "selling hope over the counter"... quite a unique concept...

    ReplyDelete
  11. loverofwordsJanuary 29, 2013 at 3:00 PM

    Good Luck with your latest book! Sounds like a great screen play.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dwight OkitaJanuary 29, 2013 at 9:57 PM

    Great to meet you too Michelle.
    Rooibus is good.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Michael Di GesuFebruary 9, 2013 at 10:31 AM

    Hi, Dwight,

    Very interesting premise on your novel. Good luck in this year's contest!

    ReplyDelete

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