This query got me a sale at one of my favorite genre publishers. The art of query writing is a black one, but at least you know this one worked.
Quote:
Dear ...
Four hundred years ago a Scottish cargo ship fell prey to a Wendigo at an early settlement on the Hudson River. Now a team of archaeologists have uncovered the boat, and let loose the evil. Manhattan is soon overrun by an ice storm like no other before it. There are things moving in the storm. Blue, cold things, with razor sharp teeth.
I am seeking a home for the horror novel "Hunters Dock". The novel is 79,000 words, and is complete. The first three chapters and a synopsis are attached.
While it may not be a traditional "Zombie" novel in the Romero style, nevertheless the pale things that haunt this book are indeed undead, and the book is similar in tone to recent zombie big sellers such as "Day by Day Armageddon" by J L Bourne (Pocket Books 2009) or The Lifeless by Lorne Dixon (Coscom Entertainment 2009). And best-seller Jonathan Maberry has a new novel, Rot and Ruin, coming in September 2010 from Simon & Schuster which seems to cover similar post-apocalyptic zombie acion.
The main concept in Hunters Dock of an ancient evil being disturbed and returning to wreak havoc never really goes out of fashion, as currently displayed by the recent successes of J A Konrath, in particular his ebook "Origin" (Kindle edition 2010)
The story also has echoes of any number of disaster movies, with its theme of chaos and destruction coming to modern Manhattan, with antecedents in the Emmerlich and Devlin blockbusters 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, and even Godzilla
I am a Scottish author, now living in Canada, with nine novels published in the genre press. I also have over 200 short story credits in the genre press, the most recent sale being to the Cthulhu 2012 hardcover anthology coming this year from Mythos Books
Yours Sincerely
William Meikle
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