Title: Pantheon of Nearer Stars
Age Category: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Word Count: 88,000
Pitch: After his client burns him, a rogue corporate spy is forced to serve the ruthless company he stole from; but when the client sabotages a groundbreaking fusion reactor, the spy races to prove his innocence.
First 250 Words of Manuscript:
Bryan Creilly hoped he could steal his way out of the mess he’d stolen himself into. Skipping town would’ve been a cinch except for the seven-foot armored killer leaning against the jeep. Bryan clipped down the broken sidewalk to get a closer look. He might still be able to get his motorcycle.
Dressing as a vagabond made it hard to run, but the bulky coat and baggy cargo pants were the best disguise he could throw together. Bryan’s hair hung down his back in a greasy, viperish tangle. Fake tattoos of claws and fangs and tongues of fire marked his forehead and cheeks. The costume stopped at his ankles. On his feet, garish neon-yellow running shoes fluttered over the sidewalk like twin canaries.
Bryan paused at the base of the hill. A few dozen yards downriver, a decrepit quay jutted into the Mary River where it curled toward the bay. Ships never came this far, stopping off instead at the southern port or the private marinas along Queen’s Gate.
Forgotten boats and floating litter clogged the quayside, and the area was deserted except for the tall man in a Polemos powered enforcement suit, dark as a gun barrel and wrought for fury. Bryan recognized the armored warrior as Warren Phan, a security agent for Dode Resources. Ex-special forces, with more kills than medals to his name.
Bryan’s client had burned him, and if they’d sicced a corporate guard on him, the cops must be prowling too.