Catherine - YA Fantasy Retelling
Rep: Amy Giuffrida at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency
Query Draft 1
Dear xxx
Ophisus just wants to look at her friends without turning them into statues. Banished from the Earth Kingdom, she carves a new path in the Underworld, training to take down the Earth Goddess who cursed her.
When Ophisus is accused of murdering a princess, an Earth Kingdom prince comes to deliver his own revenge, threatening to cut off her head and use it to turn her newfound Underworld family to stone. But Ophisus hasn’t been training for nothing. After a bloody battle, they strike a deal: if she helps him bring the princess back to life, he’ll help Ophisus get the only ring that can break her curse. But working together is hard—especially when she can’t decide if the butterflies she feels are bloodlust, or actual lust.
Their uneasy truce takes them from the land of the dead to the living, but when they discover girls are going missing for a conspiracy that makes Ophisus question everything she’s ever known about the Gods, she sees war on the horizon. And it could destroy the Underworld she loves. With the ring in sight but the missing girls about to be sacrificed, Ophisus must decide if her freedom is worth their lives—or if her curse might be the weapon that could save them all.
Inspired by Angkor Wat Temple, OF SERPENTS AND CURSES is an #ownvoice YA fantasy retelling of Medusa with a feminist twist and a fusion of Greek, Hindi and Khmer mythologies I grew up with in Cambodia. OF SERPENTS AND CURSES is complete at 99,000 words with a series potential. OF SERPENTS AND CURSES features diverse cast of characters which will appeal to fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I have written for the Washington Post and Deutsche Welle. I’m a blogger and vlogger at “A Dose of Cath” with over 560,000 followers on Facebook and over 92,000 subscribers on YouTube. I’ve been featured on TIME, the BBC, the Guardian, Buzzfeed, and Channel News Asia. I was selected as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018, and I was on the shortlist for Women of the Future 2019.
Thank you for your consideration.
Query Draft 2 (Final)
Ophisus just wants to look at her friends without turning them to stone. Banished from the Earth Kingdom, she carves a new path in the Underworld, training to take down the Earth Goddess who cursed her.
When Ophisus is accused of murdering a princess, an Earth Kingdom prince comes to deliver his own revenge, threatening to cut off her head and use it to turn her newfound Underworld family to stone. But Ophisus hasn’t been training for nothing. After a bloody battle, they strike a deal: if she helps him bring the princess back to life, he’ll help Ophisus get the only ring that can break her curse. But working together is hard—especially when she can’t decide if the butterflies she feels are bloodlust, or actual lust.
Their uneasy truce takes them from the land of the dead to the living, but when they discover girls are going missing for a conspiracy that makes Ophisus question everything she’s ever known about the Gods, she sees war on the horizon. And it could destroy the Underworld she loves. With the ring in sight but the missing girls about to be sacrificed, Ophisus must decide if her freedom is worth their lives—or if her curse might be the weapon that could save them all.
Inspired by Angkor Wat Temple, OF SERPENTS AND CURSES is an #ownvoice YA fantasy retelling of Medusa with a feminist twist and a fusion of Greek, Hindi and Khmer mythologies I grew up with in Cambodia. OF SERPENTS AND CURSES is complete at 99,000 words with series potential. OF SERPENTS AND CURSES features a diverse cast of characters which will appeal to fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I have written for the Washington Post and Deutsche Welle. I’m a blogger and vlogger at “A Dose of Cath” with over 560,000 followers on Facebook and over 92,000 subscribers on YouTube. I’ve been featured on TIME, the BBC, the Guardian, Buzzfeed, and Channel News Asia. I was selected as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018, and I was on the shortlist for Women of the Future 2019.
Thank you for your consideration.
Notes For Final Draft:
With this version, I sent out 37 queries and got 7 full requests and 1 partial request.