Alec Shane

Q2: MG Fantasy. Kingdoms, realms, and empires really aren't my wheelhouse. I like my MG fantasy to at least start out on Earth. #tenqueries

Q1: Bio about ancestor, soldier in the Revolutionary War. I get a lot of these, and very few have a large potential audience. #tenqueries

Q9: Female author, male protag, the voice doesn't quite match. Writing cross-gender is a challenge, and it doesn't work here. #tenqueries

Q8: Political thriller about Middle Eastern terrorists. I've kind of had my fill of terrorists, esp. Middle Eastern ones. #tenqueries

Q7: Pitched as The Goonies meets Speed, kids forced to keep pedaling a bike to save their town. Cool concept, poor execution. #tenqueries

Q6: Mystery about an amputee solving the murder of another amputee. Nothing overtly wrong with it, just didn't wow me. #tenqueries

Q5: MG, told in first person. That the author is an adult trying to sound like a kid is painfully obvious. #tenqueries

Q4: YA historical romance. This happens to me all the time. That I like historical fiction doesn't trump my not liking romance. #tenqueries

Q3: Vietnam memoir. I'd like a Vietnam memoir on my list, but nothing about this one really stands out from all the others. #tenqueries

Q2: Horror, werewolf novel. Werewolves and zombies never really did it for me, and both are very hard to sell at the moment. #tenqueries

Q1: Thriller, opened w a cop standing over the body of a dead hooker. That's been done way too many times before. #tenqueries

Q10: Why won't you go away, zombies? Why? WHY!!!! I mean, I know you come back from the dead and stuff, but come on. #tenqueries

Q9: I read one page and I can already tell exactly how the novel will end. Hint: they break the curse and fall in love #tenqueries

Q8: Heartbreaker. LOVE the premise-boy forced to take on town bad guy to clear his father's name-but the executions isn't there. #tenqueries

Q7: Horror novel. Demon. Ancient sect. Woman the key to unleashing said demon. Up to protag to save her. Wash, rinse, repeat. #tenqueries

Q6: Riddled with typos and poor grammar. A query letter is a professional business document. Please treat it as such. #tenqueries

Q5: Crime novel. It's good, but not nearly as good as the one I have out on submission right now that I'm having trouble selling #tenqueries

Q4: Family looking to get the diary of their Civil War veteran relative published. Cool to see, but what can I do with it? #tenqueries

Q3: A book of stories translated from another language. Short story collections are tough. Poorly translated ones are impossible #tenqueries

Q2: Historical about the French Revolution. My personal HF interest skews more American history, and 145K words is a bit long. #tenqueries