Query Kombat is coming up fast. The submission window is only ELEVEN days away. Eleven. That's it.
As we did last year, we're giving away a total of four free passes into Query Kombat this year. Being the creative mind behind the tournament, SC and Michelle agreed to let me give away not one, but TWO free passes this year!
Want a opportunity at a free pass into Query Kombat? Listen close. All you have to do is comment your entries nickname, and a brief explanation of why you chose that nickname, in the comments section of this post. Simple, right.
I can't wait to see what you come up with.
Good Luck!
Edit: I love the names you've come up with so far. I have a tough choice ahead of me. I will be making my decision by Monday, May 19th. I could make it before then, it all depends on when the comments plateau.
My entry's nickname is Waltz #2 for a few reasons.
ReplyDeleteFirst – the title of my book, XO, comes from a throwaway lyric in the song Waltz #2 by Elliott Smith. The lyrics to this song resonate mostly with my MMC Nick’s relationship with his abusive father. As I was deciding on a title, I was listening to this song and since so much of narrative takes place in notes, letters and emails, the phrase “xo” held a special significance, as a fond farewell.
Second – this is a novel about a second chance, a second dance. The story takes place in two interwoven time lines. In their teen years, Nick and Juliet fall in love but their relationship ultimately fails because they are too immature to deal with all the pressures in their lives. As adults, they reconnect, reminisce and rekindle their relationship with all new complications to overcome.
Finally – the novel turns around on itself, both in the double helix of the narrative but also in the way the novel returns to the beginning as it ends. It feels like a dance to me, going around and around.
My entry's nickname is White Squall
ReplyDeleteMy MC was born in the middle of the biggest storm in living memory.
She can call wind, creating storms (and if she likes, white squalls).
White squalls are nearly myth, and so are storm callers like my MC.
Lastly, a lot of the story takes place at sea.
My entry's nickname is Shalom
ReplyDeleteSasquatch because the only thing more humiliating than being a 17 year old Jewish Bigfoot hunter is having to compete on national television wearing a shirt with a picture of Sasquatch holding a menorah.
My entries nickname is Rylee is a girl because the main character is in love with his best friend who is a girl, but she doesn't see him in any romantic light.
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is Snake Charmer. The villain in this romantic suspense is a bit of both. His facade of a charming person hides the venemous creature beneath. He wears a snake ring to remind himself that the world is full of mice, and he, the snake, rules. He uses hypnotism and other means to get people to do as he wishes. Pure evil.
ReplyDeleteMy entry nickname is Forbidden. The story revolves around a forbidden alliance between dragons from different clans.
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is Reluctant Troublemaker.
ReplyDeleteThe main character in my story is drawn against his better judgment into a secret vigilante club at his boarding school.
After much thought (might well end up changing my mind again :P), my entry nickname is 'Temporality, Time-Stream and Tea'. I wanted something that reflects the temporal paradoxes and alternate realities in the plot and the upper-middle class style of the MCs, but I also wanted to incorporate the NeoVictorian setting.
ReplyDeleteAlso: alliteration. I couldn't help myself. ;)
My entry's nickname is Takumi S.
ReplyDeleteThe main character's love interest(s) are both named Takumi but Takumi S. is my favorite. (Please don't tell Takumi J.!)
My main character was nicknamed "the howler" because dogs howled when he sang.
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is "Eye on her head" because my MC discovers a tattoo in the shape of an eye on the girl he loves and that changes everything.
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is "E = mc[squared]".
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote my MS, “Like Yesterday”, I began to draw inspiration from Albert Einstein’s quote: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” One of my MCs is an innovative scientist much like Einstein himself, and it was Einstein who was the first scientist to propose the E=mc[squared] formula. Thus, for the purpose of this contest, E=mc[squared] stands for the E(volution) of my 2 MCs (mc[squared]) and their complicated relationship.
Lailoken!
ReplyDeleteLailoken is the Gaelic equivalent of Merlin from the King Arthur legend. I love the name Lailoken, so much so, I gave it to my antagonist. Lailoken is a Druid High Priest, with a warped sense of right and wrong. He wields his magic much like Merlin the Magician, thinking what he does has a higher purpose and can therefore be excused.
I love a good, bad guy!
My entry's nickname is "Fourth Generation." OK, it's more or less the title of my book, but the title has given me SO MUCH grief. It's had like four different titles before I finally landed on this one, which was a crit partner's suggestion. So, yeah, going with that (or else I'm sure I'd be tearing my hair out yet again for another name).
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is "Great Balls of Fire" for two reasons. First, my MC happens to love that song, and turns it up to blast away memories of torture he has endured. Second, because inky, black fire that leaks from his fingertips is his deadliest weapon.
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is "A Cold Day in Hell"...primarily because my MCs thought it'd be a cold day in hell before their marriage actually blew up... and now they're fighting to keep the rings on and the divorce papers away
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is, "Tag, you're Dead," because the book is about a lethal game of Tag played by teenagers in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is Lullaby Lies. This comes from a line in a creepy song that appears in the novel (and also hints at some themes of the story: dreams, secrets, and betrayal).
ReplyDeleteMy entry’s nickname is A Few Quick Hellos.
ReplyDeleteMy MC’s idea of a perfect afternoon is laying in the dirt of the fresh dug graves at her local cemetery and listening to the stories of the deceased who are buried beneath.
My entry's nickname is "Uber-typical," because my MC tends to think of everyone at his school as walking, talking stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteMy MG entry's nickname is "Who Cut the Cheese?" - an ancient coin with a distinctive aroma sends two 5th-graders on an international art-smuggling adventure over spring break.
ReplyDeleteMy entries nick name is love square. A triangle didn't have enough sides for this love mess.
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname will be "A Troll Knows Best", because my MC has trouble listening to hers.
ReplyDeleteThe nickname for my entry is: The Ghosts and MRS. Chicken
ReplyDeleteReminiscent of the 1966 movie classic, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, my MC is fascinated by and scared to death of ghosts. Well, to be honest, she’s only spooked by ghosts not related to her. Anyway, while shaking in her boots, and with the nudging of her sister (no, not a Nun), she steps up and does what it takes to help ghosts.
Twitter @Dorris208
My entry's name will be "Punk Rock Catfish Meets Lolita," because my MC is all about mistaken identities, creepy older dudes and punk rock, of course.
ReplyDeleteTwitter: @BrennaEhrlich
The nickname for my entry is Parts Factory, because while society chases eternal youth, my MC is kept in perfect health. She feels lucky, until doctors reveal what's in store for her. @JessHoefer
ReplyDeleteThe nickname for my entry is Toxic Shock, a badass character with mad hacking skills who knows all your passwords. Step aside, ladies. There will be no survivors.
ReplyDeleteMy nickname would have to be Serendipity.
ReplyDeleteMy manuscript is a new adult women’s fiction with a strong historical Russian Revolution / Romanov aspect. More than a year after I started my manuscript, by chance I had an opportunity to do a full family tree/genealogy search on my family. I discovered a direct lineage to the Bariatinsky Noble House, part of the Romanov Dynasty as well as Maria, Princess Chavchavadse, whose direct descendant was Nina Georgiviena, Princess of Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp to Russia.
My entry nickname is "Lavender Marriage."
ReplyDeleteA term coined in the 1920s (the time period of my book), it perfectly encapsulates the complicated relationships between my protagonists.
@LaraRectenwald
My entry nickname is "It's Not a Strip-Club." It may sound odd, but Audrey Bell is insistent that she is a high-class woman who owns and manages Seattle's hottest Exotic Dance Club....an all-male dance club.
ReplyDeleteAnd then two orphaned teens come into the picture, and life may not be so normal after all.
@matchbox_girl
My entry's nickname is "S.A.T.S" Kind of sounds like a disease, right? And my MC would certainly consider her new stepbrothers a disease in her life. One she hopes to eradicate soon....
ReplyDeleteEntry nickname: Lines of Force. That's how Faraday described magnetic fields, and it's an analogy from my story to explain quantum fields.
ReplyDeleteIt's also a pun about the feud in my book. Two family lines fighting each other for control. Family Feud would be funnier, but maybe not in a good way.
My entry's nickname is The Unfriendly Ghost, because my MC is all too aware that not all ghosts are like Casper. That's a lesson an exorcist learns pretty fast. @Jen_Laird
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is Needle Ninja. My main character is a nursing student who excels at embarrassing herself in front of her patients. But in front of the Query Kombat judges? She'll be a ninja warrior. ;)
ReplyDelete@lilk8tob
My entry's nickname is "Love is Hell". My main character is a demon who falls for a minister's son. This doesn't sit well with the rest of her family.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy entry's nickname is What hit me? My MC survives something awful and finds herself in an unknown place, with strange tattoo's and an awful headache and no, it isn't Vegas. = P (forgot my info csmyers3637@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteAbyss. Because it fits the mood of the setting and it's the name of where my MC is imprisoned. @writemew
ReplyDeleteNickname: His Little Human
ReplyDeleteThoughts behind the nickname:
1. ‘Little human’ is what the hero nicknames the heroine in the story. (He’s a dragon.)
2. The ‘his’ shows just how possessive Drake is.
3. ‘Little human’ implies that the story deals with a species other than human, which it does
4. The three words together give off a romance-y vibe, which alludes to the genre of the story :-)
@ShayaRoy
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy entry nickname: "Sky Splitter"
ReplyDeleteWhik, my MC, creates a duplicate reality with an ancient device and the black crack in the sky splits further apart.
@whikerms
My story is nicknamed "Displaced" - an in story euphemism for people stranded in the wrong world thanks to finicky rift portals.
ReplyDeleteMy entry’s nickname is "Fantastical Forest Defender."
ReplyDeleteThe mystical Arborites of the forest are mysteriously becoming sick, and rumors are flying that evil experiments are to blame. MC Ellie, the geek who can’t seem to make a friend, is the human they count on to save them. @Arborwriter
My entry’s nickname is: Karma sucks.
ReplyDeleteHeroine Olivia feeds starving orphans.
Hero Lysander saved Olivia's father from an assassination attempt.
Yet they both find themselves hunted and running for their lives.
Karma's failed them. So they can only rely on each other.
My entry's nickname is "Soldier of Misfortune."
ReplyDeleteMy MC is an X Squad soldier bred to eradicate scientifically manufactured beasties from her city, and is the best at what she does. But when the Squad turns against her, pinning her with a traitorous crime she didn't commit, she's forced to escape them with the help of some unlikely allies. But as she closes in on the truth behind the accusations, it becomes clear that nothing short of her death will satisfy the real traitor. Her luck's finally run out.
Forgot my contact info! @r_e_morrison
DeleteBlack Pool. In my thriller, THE EMERALD EYE, my MC dives deep into Dublin's darkest secrets, as she hunts for the Irish Crown Jewels. In a flooding crypt, she quickly learns that the Celtic capital lives up to its Gaelic name: Dubh Linn, the black pool. @anneuro@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteEmail should be anneuro@yahoo.com
DeleteMy entry's nickname is Hope. Not only is it the name of my MC, but it is the one thing that keeps the super-humans in my story going mist the fighting and hatred. @mmhoffman14
ReplyDeleteGeez I hate my phone! I meant to say "amidst the fighting and hate." Thanks!
DeleteMy entry's nickname will be: Avery Mann b/c The Unbelievable Misadventures of Avery Mann: Vol. I... might be a bit long and abbreviating it to T.U.M.O.A.M.V.I. might make it sound like some kind of artificial intelligence gone wrong.
ReplyDeleteT.U.M.O.A.M.V.I.: I'm sorry, Michael, I'm afraid I can't do that.
See what I mean?
@JosephDMMiller
Rabbit Hearted Girl, because my MC struggles to overcome severe anxiety and her trust issues (with other people and her own mind), only to find out she's right to be careful about who she trusts. Also, the Florence + the Machine song is boss. ;)
ReplyDelete@leilarheaume
My entry's nickname shall be Requiem, the Mass celebrated for the repose of the souls of the dead.
ReplyDelete@LeslieChivers
My entry's nickname: Renegade
ReplyDeleteRen must destroy all he knows, even if that means betraying his father and the government he works for...
@JaniceBroyles1
My entry's nickname is: Truth or Lies.
ReplyDeleteBecause parts of the story, i.e. the main character's relationship with her professor, are slightly based on my real life. But other things in the story are made up.