Mourning Dove: Agent Query for "NEVER AGAIN!" Novel MOURNING DOVE

Good Mourning <FirstNameOfAgent>,

My mother’s baby cousin was bayonetted to death in the arms of his mother, my grandmother’s sister. The Holocaust cry “NEVER AGAIN!” is why I wrote MOURNING DOVE. Climate apocalypse may return such horror. Can a novel prevent it? Yes, with an OMG family dream; quirky, lovable characters; can’t-stop-reading plot; and spirit-lifting romance.

FAMILY: The genre for MOURNING DOVE is “family saga.” Its multi-generation family mission is to save the remaining life on Earth, then rebuild human civilization, joining other family members leading that effort in Antarctica. The family fears the dangers of the post-apocalypse mixed with inter-family hatred ongoing for over a century.

CHARACTER: Ttuuee. His sister, Jen, shouts, “Shoot him, Ttuuee,” but he doesn’t and she dies. In mourning, Ttuuee turns into a diamond: hard and brilliant, with sparkling, acerbic humor shining through. Gerta. Haunted by nightmares of tumbling as a baby from her dying mother’s arms, she wears only a quiver of arrows and magnificent, impressionist camo paint. She’s the painted witch. Snana. Composing a Lakota symphony to honor her full blood, she plays the furious third movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata when furious at Ttuuee. She’s the Rembrandt girl.

PLOT: The family of climate scientists, engineers, and sharpshooters ends their extinction-prevention efforts in Alaska to fight their way to Antarctica. They battle desperate post-apocalypse enslavers; they adopt Gerta; with her help Ttuuee saves his father from a terrible disease, they defeat pirates at sea, they overcome an evil queen; and then join in rebuilding humanity.

ROMANCE: In the final pages Ttuuee slips a billion-dollar engagement ring onto Snana’s finger.

Random House published my novella "Oceans Away" in Stellar Short Novels. I was a ghostwriter for U.S. Senator Paula Hawkins. Her op-eds I wrote appeared in major newspapers. Articles under my name are in national journals. I studied writing under my master’s thesis creative writing professor, novelist J.R. Salamanca. I participated for years in SF-editor Ted White’s “Vicious Circle” workshops. I am a recognized climate change blogger. I have 66,000 social media connections/friends. I’ve already mentioned cover blurbs with some of the more famous.

MOURNING DOVE's target audience is anyone who fears climate disaster, or who already experienced wildfires, floods, or worse. Comparable books are Holsinger's family saga DISPLACEMENTS, and Bacigalupi's strong character novel WATER KNIFE. MOURNING DOVE was inspired by UNCLE TOM’S CABIN and GRAPES OF WRATH, novels that changed the world.

I am querying you because your MSWL shows interest in character, plot, and romance and includes the family saga genre. MOURNING DOVE is complete at 81,000 words. This is a multiple submission. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Richard Shawn Weinstein, SFWA member