First Post!

It was only a matter of time, and after such a long time, this is what I have to show for it (?!). I do like simple (maybe that reads boring), but I'm sure there will be changes with the format over time.

Anyway, for my first post I thought I would share the query letter that's been making my Golden Week a living hell. Well, that's putting it a bit severely, I guess. Take a look and see. Feel free to comment. Hurt me with your feedback to make me stronger! Those of you who manage to stumble across my page, I mean.

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Dear Agent,

Jav Holson is one of the Viscain Empire's elite soldiers, given immense power by the Emperor's gift of an Artifact. But his Artifact, the Ritual Mask, was never meant to last, and when it fails, Jav is a dead man. Unless, that is, he can win a new, permanent Artifact in a competition to be held in five years.

To have any chance of success in the competition, and since any use of the Ritual Mask will burn it out all the faster, Jav must train in the Eighteen Heavenly Claws. His first day at the school on Planet 1287 doesn't go so well, though. He feels like an intruder under the cold stares of the other students, and accidentally putting one of them into a coma doesn't help. He can't seem to get on senior student Mei Pardine's good side no matter what he does, ending up in the infirmary for thirteen days at one point because of her.

But Jav doesn't mind. He takes Mei's abuse, recognizing it rightly as pettiness, and uses it to push himself to improve. Mei's half-sister, Mai, who takes over his training and is the first to be friendly to him, helps. Jav is overwhelmed by her beautiful performance of their martial art and finds that he's starting to have feelings for her. At bottom, though, he has to improve. He has to master the Eighteen Heavenly Claws. He has to be ready for the competition if he's to have any future at all.

THE ARTIFACT COMPETITION is a 76,000-word science fiction novel. I chose to submit to you because of your interest in the genre and appropriate agent-specific reasons. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Me