Prologue (Brief description of the ‘facts’ about Kasper Houser will go here) Chapter 1 Philip Jacob Boehm decided to buff his already shiny black boots just one more time. Sitting on his horse hair stuffed mattress, wearing his grey-white wool underpants and vest, he wanted to ensure both the perfection of the boots and that no un-bonded polish would rub off onto his white uniform trousers. Each arm movement, wiping cloth against leather, was a statement. This was his world, he wa...

I may not be the sharpest or brightest pin in the cushion, but I can recognize the signs when someone is interested in me. I had been working for Harbinger and Moribund, as an accounts clerk, for six months by the time they employed the new receptionist. The previous woman, a total harridan, had shouted at both Mr Harbinger and Mr Moribund once too often and was summarily dismissed. I am usually one of the first to arrive in the mornings, and at that hour the reception desk is always unmanned...

Dear Laurence, This query letter is in response to the Urbis Opportunity. “The Dubai Connection” is a 93,500 word completed novel that I am submitting for your consideration. It is the third of three submissions I am making for these Urbis Opportunities, the other two have been submitted for Susanna. I will not bore you by duplicating my autobiography etc here. Love, hate, sex, action, murder and a modicum of angst all set in modern day Dubai. Synopsis: David had been brought up...

Dear Susanna, ‘Khulu’ is a 25000 word book intended for middle grade readers and as such, I hope, will suit your portfolio. The story follows the adventures of a restless Lion. Neither he nor the pride he leads can understand why he will not settle with life in their small patch of grasslands surrounded by jungle. After continuously failing to convince the other Lions to help him search for their ‘roots’, he makes a hasty decision to start his quest alone; and so begin...

Dear Susanna, I am writing in response to the Urbis opportunity involving your company. I have completed the final edit of my second novel, “Afterlife”, which I would like you to consider. A brief outline; “Afterlife” is a completed 80,220 word adult novel. What happens after we die? Not a question about heaven and hell, what happens here on Earth, to those that knew us or were somehow touched by our presence? What happens after our life ends? When Chris Pendergast dies in a car accident, the...

Dear Susanna, I am writing in response to the Urbis opportunity involving your company. I have completed the final edit of my second novel, “Afterlife”, which I would like you to consider. A brief outline; “Afterlife” is a completed 80,220 word adult novel. What happens after we die? Not a question about heaven and hell, what happens here on Earth, to those that knew us or were somehow touched by our presence? What happens after our life ends? When Chris Pendergast dies in a car accident, the...

Dear Susanna, I am writing in response to the Urbis opportunity involving your company. I have completed the final edit of my second novel, “Afterlife”, which I would like you to consider. A brief outline; “Afterlife” is a completed 80,220 word adult novel. What happens after we die? Not a question about heaven and hell, what happens here on Earth, to those that knew us or were somehow touched by our presence? What happens after our life ends? When Chris Pendergast dies in a car accident, the...

Loving living, capturing some of it

I was just eight, it was a stupid thing to do, but I was just eight. It had been a long walk back to the house, four years to the day from when we had moved to our new home. I stood in the road and looked at the house over the low front garden wall. The new owner must have had an interest in gardening, there were flower beds, roses, even a small manicured lawn. The old flaking paint on the window frames and doors had been scraped off and replaced with shiny black gloss. There was little reall...

King Franz Leopold the 26th was considering numbers. Well, to be precise, just one particular number. Fifteen. The machines had been uncovered fifty years ago and, when the servant discovering them pressed one of the colorful buttons, a large screen sprang into life, displaying scrolling text. He had been rummaging around in one of the many almost subterranean cellars beneath the castle hoping to find some treasure that would buy his freedom. On rare occasions others had done so, sneaking the...