Mourning Dove: Agent Query for MOURNING DOVE, a Family-Saga Genre, Eco-Fiction Novel

Dear <FirstNameOfAgent>,

I am an established writer. Ballantine Books published a short novel I wrote and it sold 25,000 copies. My agent was Kirby McCauley, now deceased, who also represented Stephen King and George R.R. Martin. My new novel, MOURNING DOVE, is a genre blend of eco-fiction and family saga complete at 81,000 words. Expected readers wonder, “What will climate change do to me?” MOURNING DOVE answers that question. It is about a family of post-apocalypse climate scientists, dreamers, and sharpshooters that travels from Alaska to Antarctica to join family rebuilding civilization. In following their journey, readers feel how mournful and challenging life will be.

Witnessing his sister murdered triggers Ttuuee Darlton to come of age as a diamond, sparkling and hard, with fiery humor. Leading the family, his experiences include hugging a witch who wears nothing but body paint, as she sobs regretting being evil. He falls asleep listening for his Dad’s final breath, until awakened by Dad laughing how his fever has broken. Ocean mist cools Ttuuee’s face as he watches pirates who attacked flee in their damaged ship. He forces an evil queen (a cousin) to remove handcuffs from Dad’s wrists. Tttuuee sees how civilization is tragically warped. But knowing it will recover, he places a billion-dollar engagement ring onto the finger of the Rembrandt girl, a Lakota composer of symphonies.

Like Bruce Holsinger's DISPLACEMENTS, MOURNING DOVE shows how parents and children may suffer from climate change. I learned from Paolo Bacigalupi’s brilliance at characterization by reading WATER KNIFE, a novel of heroes and anti-heroes who struggle through climate-caused drought. I was inspired to write MOURNING DOVE by climate scientist Dr. James E. Hansen and his book STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN, which tells why the climate will change and how it will affect the lives or deaths of his grandchildren.

As a ghostwriter, I wrote op-eds for major newspapers. Articles under my name are in national journals, including The Nature Conservancy Magazine and the American Psychological Association Monitor. My published novella, "Oceans Away" was nearly fifty percent of STELLAR SHORT NOVELS, edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey. I studied writing with my master's thesis professor, novelist J.R. Salamanca. I participated for years in the "Vicious Circle" workshop led by Amazing and Fantastic editor Ted White, for whom I also read slush. I taught myself climate science. I personally coded and built an author website and a climate-novel blog recognized by activists and scientists. I connected with more than 66,000 potential readers on social media, some famous. I performed in six podcasts and spoke to a high school. I plan to do far more. I will not self-publish.

I appreciate your work as an agent because you represent climate-change writers Jane Doe and John Smith and your MSWL asks for…. Please tell me I might fit your list. This is a multiple submission. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Richard Shawn Weinstein, SFWA member