THE HOPE STORE makes the first cut of the 2014 Amazon novel contest






I'm pleased to announce my second novel is among the 2,000 novels moving forward out of 10,000 novels submitted worldwide to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards contest.  

My advancement was based on a 300 word pitch I wrote for The Hope Store. Visit www.amazon.com/abna to follow all the highs and lows of this exciting contest.  The next cut will be April 14th and based on our 20 page excerpts. 

My excerpt has alternating narrators -- store inventor Luke Nagano and hope-challenged customer Jada Upshaw. For the longest time I was sure that Jada's voice would open the novel as readers tended to take a shine to her. But ultimately Luke's voice comes first because I wanted to bring in the science aspect of the book right away. This would orient the reader right upfront to the speculative world of the book where unusual things can happen. We get a glimpse of wide-eyed Luke wandering in LiveWell Laboratories where various clinical trials are in progress.

"I first strolled into the headquarters of the legendary LiveWell Laboratories five years ago as a guinea pig. I'm not ashamed to say that. I suffered from puzzling bouts of hopelessness. It's like most days I'm walking along this beautiful bridge, and then one day the bridge is gone, and I find myself clutching at air."

The second chapter opens with the voice of Jada, the accidental customer of The Hope Store.

"I started out as a girl without dreams, and grew up to be a woman without a future. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. It's not a story I'm especially proud to tell, but if I'm at a party and someone asks me what my story is, that's what I tell them. It's a conversation-stopper all right."


Comments

  1. You have a nice, clear and catchy style. I like the change of narrators. Good luck in the contest! I'm adding your book to my wish list... I already bought my allotted number of books this month. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Shoshanah. I'm glad you like the change of narrators. The Hope Store is not yet in print, but The Prospect of My Arrival is.

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