From the desk of…
Petra Ruck

Att: [Editor's name], Editor
[Publisher]
[Publisher's address]
[Date]

Dear [Editor's Title, Last name]:

First, let me thank you deeply for agreeing to receive this proposal and the enclosed detailed synopsis and manuscript of my completed novel, Sword (working title). As you'll discover by reading the synopsis and the story itself, Sword offers "sword-and-sorcery" genre readers an adventure woven of modern-day settings and characters, medieval and alien-worldly epic, passionate romance and adventure. Sword features supernatural elements like telepathy, time-travel and teleportation in magic brews innovatively conceived and vividly realized. Because you edited [title, italicized of book the editor had a hand in], I'm confident that you'll also see the wide readership potential of Sword.

Together with her friends and cohorts, Sword's dynamic heroine, Tiger, must journey from modern-day Earth through time's portals to timeless Di'theria and save her world from an Ancient and evil-bent power. Tiger and her diverse band battle their way through wondrous worlds and one thrilling adventure after another, toward a spine-tingling climax that should satisfy any reader of the genre – and which also paves the way for the sequel I'm now working on (more that will follow). While distinctively and powerfully feminine, Tiger's personality exudes all the brass and fire of Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry; yet her fiery nature's tempered by a cool, shrewd and sometimes deceptive intelligence that will remind you a bit of Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise.

You'll find Tiger's perfect male counterpart in Zane, her (at first) estranged Di'therian lover and the blood-father of her twin sons. Zane's "alpha" strength, sensuality and virile magnetism are like Roake's in Nora Roberts' In Death series. Zane's also a quintessential warrior equaling any in Dara Joy's Matrix saga: He's a brilliant swordsman and fearsome foe, spiced with a sharp, tongue-in-cheek streak of humour. Zane's phenomenal will, take-charge nature and fierce protective instincts have echoes in Christine Feehan's Carpathians, with which I'm sure you're familiar.

Tiger's and Zane's blazing sexual chemistry sets Sword's pages aflame, with a passion that excites both their flint-and-steel clash-coupling and their grim quest. Their love-hate relationship also casts its aura across Sword's magical elements, including Di'theria's shimmering crystal castle, golden dragons and doorway-portals to numerous alien realms, that remind, then expand on facets of magic to be found in The Neverending Story and Terry Brooks' Shanara. Tiger herself possesses magic powers no less potent than those of T'Ash in Robin D. Owens' Heartmate, and her and Zane's battles of discovery and acceptance of their "soul-matedness" may remotely echo comparable supernatural wrestlings in Owens' first novel, [Title?]. Yet I believe Sword boasts a magical texture all its own that will terrify and delight readers from start to finish. And of course, Sword also features formidably wicked villainy, most eloquently embodied in the evil rulers of the Underworld, The Ancients and Cerese, as well as in Zane's dark twin brother, Zoltan, noxious mutants and a horde of other menacing figures.

Yet perhaps most chiefly distinguishing Sword from other "paranormal" romances are the charming diversity and special qualities of its minor characters, plus these characters' weighty importance in assisting Tiger and Zane's quest-fulfillment. The feisty, smart-mouthed ripostes and ongoing comic commentary of Riz, an Earthling life-long friend of Tiger who's pulled into Tiger's magical realm and sometimes overwhelmed by it, keep Sword's titanic struggle from raging too morosely. Also in the mix you'll enjoy Tabitha, a tiny shape-shifter who hides a gentle heart behind a lethal right hook, Debbie, with her Wagnerian/Nordic size, ham-fisted strength and potent goodwill, and Salina, whose cold, ice-queen persona offers striking contrast to her mastery over the element of fire.

Mark Orrin, a professional book editor and authors' mentor affiliated with the www.editing-writing.com network, evaluated the Sword ms. for me and wrote:

Petra, you've completed an astoundingly fine first draft work of fantasy that's obviously sprung from a vivid and exhaustively "mined" imagination. From your opening pages, the chills and skin-crawls begin and then spin on relentlessly to a very satisfying climax. You pull your readers in right from the start, never let them go and as you close, set them up brilliantly for a Sword sequel.

Sure-handedly, you build suspense and propel it with no let-up and ever-building momentum. Never throughout do you let a reader feel he/she's merely "coasting" – with endless twists and turns, your plotting keeps Sword and your readers on their toes, without, despite the intricacy of your overall schema, ever confusing them about space and time. You not only captivate your readers, you make them glad you've snared them! I particularly relished the richness of your style and the way you engaged all five – and sometimes six – senses and made even your supernatural palpable. Unless the publishing world has gone mad, you have a "monster" here that should catch hordes of genre readers' fancy. Never doubt: you're a born storyteller from whom the world needs to hear, and often.

[Editor's Title (Ms. or Mr.) and Last Name], it's my goal to work with a top editor like you to make Sword all that I'm convinced it has the potential to become. I will be submitting Sword simultaneously to several publishers at this time, but after you've had a chance to read it, feel free to write or call me at the address(es) or telephone number above, to share more about the possibility that [Publishing company name} will help put Sword into the hands of its public. Thank you again, [Editor's Title Last name], for lending your kind attention to Sword.

Sincerely yours,
Petra E. Ruck
Encl.

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