MENTOR: Amy Reichert
ALTERNATE: Katrina Carrasco
TITLE: The Sweetheart
GENRE: Historical Fiction
WORD COUNT: 98,000
PITCH: San Francisco, 1849. When gang
violence threatens her bar, Elena hires a lawman for protection—and discovers
he’s leading a kidnapping ring. She must choose between facing the gangs alone
or becoming his partner in crime.
EXCERPT: Cold wind cut at Elena’s throat
as she squinted at the clouds. Any gleam of sunlight would cast a shadow
pointing west, but the narrow strip of sky visible from the alley was gray in
all directions. She could not tell the way home.
The
street ahead seethed with fog. Shapes of men appeared in monstrous pieces: a
back humped with saddlebags, a torso bristling with pickaxes and shovels. If
the miners were headed to the Sacramento ferries, going against their traffic
would guide Elena away from the waterfront and back to the center of town. But
the flow of men was stopping, reversing. Bodies jostled at the alley’s mouth.
There was a bark of encouragement. The hollow clap of a punch. Someone fell
hard into the muddy road, and the crowd began to roar.
Trash-filled
mud shifted under Elena's boots as she moved toward the shouting. She felt a
chicken bone’s brittle crack. The solid pop of a shard of glass. A fleshy grind
she did not want to name.
At the
side of the alley’s mouth a canvas tent shuddered in the wind. Elena paused
beside it, waiting for the brawl to break up before she entered the street.
Metal clanged so close and loud it left a ringing echo in her ears. A string of
curses salted the air. A shout: “Put his fucking eyes out!” Then silence.
Her
breath came quick and shallow. She raised a hand toward the young man behind
her, signaling for him to wait. Three heartbeats. Four.
She let
her hand drift down.
“Let’s
g—”
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