Joanna has been tirelessly trolling the forums for the best of the best of the queries and has chosen her first winner!
Drum roll please….
CONGRATULATIONS MATTHEW RUSH!
How awesome is this? Check it out…
Dear Ms. Stampfel-Volpe,
15 Year old Lee Ruccio is a reluctant juvenile delinquent. The last thing he expected to find at reform school in the bitter wilderness of northern Idaho was magic. But after the death of his mother, and estrangement from his useless, high-society, drunk-whenever-he’s-home father, Lee’s guardians ship him off to Rocky Mountain Academy and that’s exactly what he discovers.
Despite having to earn the right to attend classes after months of hard labor and being placed on restriction after getting caught alone in the woods with a female student, Rocky Mountain Academy redeems itself when Lee finally learns of the mysterious curriculum. The classes have names like “The Way of Unifying With Life Energy” and “The Eight Principles of Yong.” In them Lee and his new friends (and enemies) study everything from East Asian Calligraphy and Meditation to Aikido and Kenjutsu.
Permission to kick ass is pretty awesome when you’re fifteen and convinced it’s you against the world.
Through these disciplines Lee and his fellow students learn to manipulate their Chi for things like healing, telekinesis and imbuing their weapons with rockin’ powers. And it’s a good thing Leemostly stayed awake during class because the Master of the School is sending a team of students on a mission to investigate an abandoned silver mine. While underground, they are attacked by Earth Elementals, creatures of mud and rock with brute strength and cunning logic equal to a raging hippopatamus, and their new-found friendship and magical talents are put to the test.
Actually kicking ass is pretty critical when your life’s in danger and it truly is you (and your friends) against the world.
Before reform school, Lee never in a million years thought he’d be battling subterranean monsters using Eastern mysticism. Then again, he never thought he’d make an actual friend, earn the praise of a teacher, or fall in love either.
Big thanks to Jo for taking the time and congratulations again Matthew! Please email us at lisa-laura@live.com and we’ll forward it on! Stay tuned for even more winners to come…
Congrats, Matthew! You deserve it!
Congrats, Matt! Sounds like a great story!!
Wow! I want to read the MS! Way to go Matthew!
woo hoo Matt-was I not just telling you this week that this story rocks? GO YOU!
Congrats Matthew! That’s awesome that you won. Good luck.
Congrats, Matt! Good luck.
Congratulations, Matthew!
What an awesome query AND an intriguing premise!
Yeah Matt!!! That’s fitting, he only eats, sleeps, and breathes queries!
Congrats!
Congrats, Matt! Wishing you all the best.
Holy Moly, Matthew, congratulations! I remembered your query when reading through them and it really did stand out. Good job!
Yay Matt!! You so deserve this!
Go Matthew! That query is awesome, and the story sounds amazing. Congratulations!
Joanna, thanks for all you’ve done at this conference.
Matthew–seriously, dude, that is an AWESOME query. Just…wow!! Makes me want to read the story NOW.
I am so not surprised! Congrats Matthew!
Congrats, Matthew! Fantastic query!
Fantastic query, Matthew! Congrats!
Mazel mazel mazel! It sounds like an awesome story!
Great job! Sounds like a great story!!!!
Congratulations, Matthew! Since your blog posts successful queries, I’m not surprised you won.
Very cool query! Congrats, Matthew!
Awesome query, Matt. I like that she chose a longer one, showing that sometimes brevity is not the key to hooking the agent
Congratulations, Matthew!!
WOW. I’m not even sure what to say you guys. If only you knew how far I’ve (and this query and novel have) come …
Actually some of these comments are from my friends, so of course they know, but seriously I owe all of this to the community.
Especially Lisa and Laura, who were HUGE in helping me polish this query to this point. Also Elana J, Shannon M, Casey M, Jamie H, and all the other organizers of WOC, the greatest non-conference writing conference EVER!
So proud of you Matthew!!! Great job! You deserve this.
That is an awesome query – congrats Matthew – you deserve it. Can’t wait to see this book in print.
Congrats Matthew!!!!!!!
Congrats Matthew!
Good job Matt!
Yay! Good for you!
Yay, Matthew!!! You rock, and yes, you definitely so deserve this!
Hurray! You totally deserve this–makes me proud to be a follower of your blog. I can’t wait to see your post about it tomorrow
Congrats, Matt!!
Yep, that’s a great query. Congratulations!
congratulations!
Yay!! Just, YAY!
Woo hoo, Mathew! I know what tomorrow’s blog post will be about.
W00Tski!
Congratulations, Matt! Well done, good sir. Excellent work.
Hey Matt, Um…yeah. You already know. I bow to you. Great job!! So proud. Wish I could have been here all week, but we’re on vacation. Shh….I’m sneaking this comment in. “;-)
Way to go!!!
All right, Matt! Way to go. All that blood and sweat is paying off at last.
Hooray for you Matthew! You and your story rock!
Congratulations, Matthew! I told you you had an awesome query!
This is a well deserved win.
Matt!!! So awesome, you so deserve this!
Congrats Mathew! You nailed it. I also want to read the whole book! Really hope you get published!
Great Query. I love the blend within the concept. Congrats Matthew!
Congrats! That sounds so awesome!
Congrats Matt! You’ve worked hard on your query – well deserved!