So, this happened:
I’m just a massive bit excited, as you might expect. I’ve been awarded the mentorship for a YA manuscript I currently have in development – a Western, that’s also speculative fiction, but still mostly Western. SpecFic and Westerns have long walked happily arm-in-arm, of course.
Here’s the premise: a stranger rides into town.
I did mention this was a western, didn’t I? So what more do you even need to know?
Oh, okay, how about this:
Chelsea is young and female in a town which values neither, but she’s got lucky. She’s the lover of the town’s much older, all-powerful leader, Granger, and that gives her protection and shelter both.
Until a stranger rides into town. With a gun on one hip and bullwhip curled on the other, and a long scar down one cheek, this stranger also happens to be a woman.
As rumours swirl about the town’s bloodied past and a woman whipped to death twenty years previous, Chelsea finds herself drawn into someone else’s frightening quest for justice, but is driven by her own need for vengeance. Before the night is out, she’s going to have to decide who’s side she’s really on, and just how far she’s prepared to go to achieve autonomy of her own. Hopefully before more blood soaks the ground… this time maybe her own.
See, it’s just as I said. A stranger rides into town. 😉
Anyway, that blurb above is based on the first draft alone, which is where I’m currently at on this one. Who knows how it’ll all end up once I’ve revised and redrafted and rewritten a dozen times, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
‘Till next, folks…