I am seeking literary representation and hope you will consider my fantasy novel, DEFENDER: RETURN OF THE HARKERS.Trying something with a little more voice here on this go-round.
Before school even starts, Caden is caught with a knife he's not allowed to have. Not because it's a weapon. The academy allows knights are allowed to have weapons, because they're training to kill cryptids that menace villages. The problem is that Caden is a synergist. A healer.
Caden hears this from Vice-Headmaster Meech over and over -- synergists are not allowed to have weapons or train in combat. No matter how much he complains that he's the only boy in his discipline, or live in the dorm with the girls, or his warrior's build and lust for battle.
Meech asks him to try to make friends, and Caden thinks of the prank war his dorm has with the boys. Or his roommate Alise who, although two years ahead, keeps sending him mixed messages. Or his only friend Nixie, whose alchemy partners seems like a constant party. Or the dueling club that rejected him outright. Nonetheless, Meech says, he is a synergist and having a knife like this in his possession is grounds for expulsion.
"It's a scramasax," Caden replies.
DEFENDER: RETURN OF THE HARKERS is complete at 91,000 words and is the first of a planned series. It is inspired by works like Looking for Alaska and Harry Potter. I have been previously published in "Electric Spec", received an honorable mention in the 2010 "Writers of the Future" contest, and had my first novel MERM-8, published by Musa Publishing in Fall 2014.
If you're interested in taking a look at DEFENDER, I'd love to send the manuscript for your review. In any event, thank you for your time.