Getting Naked With Josie - er, umn... I mean posting my entry...

As some of you may have noticed, Moonrat is holding a competition that you can learn about: here and then updated, here and here.

Josephine Damian has bravely posted her entry for open comment on her blog, which she commented somewhere or other made her feel naked... so I thought I’d be, gulp, brave enough to do the same. Comments and crits are welcome – I’m closing in on query time so anything that helps me tweak is always appreciated.

The following is my entry for Raskin’s Wings, my middle grade novel.

Headline:

Why Benny is the only boy who can see Raskin remains a mystery, but helping the wayward fairy to win back his wings may just earn them both salvation.

Back Cover (133 words):

Raskin is not your average fairy. His affinity for mortals gets him in trouble more often than not, culminating in his being clipped as a punishment for his crimes. Now he’s in a race against trolls and a fairy on a power trip to right his past misdeeds and win back his wings.

Benny Sherman doesn’t need the hassle. First, he and his mom are crammed into Grandma’s overcrowded bungalow after his parents’ separation. Then he’s forced to attend Catholic school, where every day promises to be as much fun as church. Meeting a wingless fairy in need of his assistance isn’t likely to help him fit in and, if he had to be caught up in such nonsense, why couldn’t he at least get cool creatures? Instead, Benny gets girly fairies!

Jacket Copy (353 words):

When Raskin’s impetuousness leads him to trust one mortal too many, he has no idea it will mean the loss of the Tuatha De Danann, or his own wings. Recovering the talisman before it falls into the hands of trolls is his only chance of regaining the kingdom’s forgiveness, but how can one fairy hope to accomplish such a lofty goal without wings or magic? Raskin’s journey takes him across the ocean and onto the path of the only boy who can see him.

Benny Sherman’s sixth grade year is heading in a less than stellar direction. His parents’ separation forces Benny and his mom to move in with Grandma Sicola, where play dates are unheard of and chores are expected. Rounding out the series of changes, Benny is sent to St. Michael’s Catholic school – he can’t even remember all of the prayers, how can he fake being a real Catholic all day long? His mother’s preoccupation with her new job means that Benny needs to navigate his surroundings on his own... but it’s not all bad, new responsibilities come with an exciting independence the eleven year old has never known.

While fleeing from Branaugh, the neighborhood miscreant, Benny and his buddy John find themselves falling into a fairy den, where they come face to face with Raskin and his companions. When Raskin realizes Benny can see and hear him, the fairy is convinced that the boy is meant to help and, more than that, he’s a balm to the fairy who has missed human companionship more than any of his magic. Once the boys determine that they are neither dead nor hallucinating, they agree to bring the fairies home and aid in their search, but keeping the whole thing secret means alienating friends and a whole lot of creative lying. If they can outsmart the troop of fairies trying to thwart Raskin, stay away from the nefarious trolls, and retrieve the talisman, Benny’s life can go back to normal...

When the trolls set their sights on the boy rather than the fairy, Benny steps into more danger than he bargained for...

Author Bio (word count: rather short, but I can puff it up with a little creative fibbing ;-):

Merry Monteleone has been weaving stories since she was a small child, though persnickety adults often referred to it as ‘fibbing’. Most of her fiction is set in the Chicago land area, where she grew up and is now raising her three children. Raskin’s Wings is her debut novel.