by Jude Austin (@judasfm.bsky.social)
MG Fantasy
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Query
JUNO WALKER AND THE GREEN JEWEL is an Upper MG fantasy adventure with a concept best described as Narnia meets Jumanji. It is a standalone with strong series potential, complete at 78,000 words.
Twelve-year-old Juno Walker (call her Mary and die) is facing the worst Christmas of her life. She's still grieving her father's death from two years ago, she and her mother just moved into a new apartment, and now they're dependent on charity for a semi-normal Christmas. Sophie Prescott and Sophie's do-gooder mom come by with presents — none of which were on Juno's Angel Tree list — which include a deck of odd black cards with no pictures.
When Sophie and Juno start playing with the cards, they're magically sucked into a wild, whimsical and dangerous collection of worlds known as the Dungeon, where the laws of science are seen as recommendations at best. It's going to take everything they have just to stay alive.
Juno and Sophie's relationship quickly deteriorates past the point of no return. Both of them are forced to turn to the inhabitants of the Dungeon for help, some of whom are intent upon capturing Juno and Sophie for their own ends. Surrounded by such people as the charismatic but dangerous Mal and the beautiful, mysterious Pearl, who claims to have a spell that will send them home again — which Juno seriously doubts — all Juno knows for certain is that if she puts her trust in the wrong person, she and Sophie will never see their homes or families again.
JUNO WALKER AND THE GREEN JEWEL deals with themes such as grief, adoption and found family, and responsibility along with adjusting to a new life in a strange place. It will strongly appeal to fans of Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series.
I'm a full member of SFWA, and I've self-published the Five Worlds character-driven, non-dystopian sci-fi series, which currently consists of three books (Project Tau, Homecoming and Nowhere to Hide) with two more (The Worlds We Knew and Purge) underway. The series was awarded a Finalist medal from Book Excellence Awards, and Homecoming won the Honorable Mention in Writer's Digest Self-Published Ebook Awards 2020.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
First Five Pages
CHAPTER ONE
The Cards With No Pictures
It was two days before Christmas, and twelve-year-old Juno Walker wasn't looking forward to it one bit.
She twisted from side to side in an effort to ease the ache in her back, which — along with the one in her legs — had been building for the last two hours. She'd been up since seven thirty helping her mom clean their tiny kitchen from top to bottom until even the pots and pans in the cupboards gleamed, which seemed like the biggest waste of time in the world. Like any visitor was really going to start nosing around in the kitchen cupboards!
"I still don't get why we have to do this," she complained as she gave the table a final flick with a duster, just in time for her mother to set a plate of dice cookies in the center. Juno took one and hopped onto the nearest chair, stuffing the duster into her pocket and the cookie into her mouth. "It's not like they're gonna be staying," she added around a mouthful of crumbs. "The one last year didn't."
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't clean the place up a little." Mrs. Walker joined Juno at the table. "Did you make your bed?"
Juno rolled her eyes. "You already asked me that like a bazillion times, Mom. Yes, I made my bed." She scrutinized her half-eaten cookie, biting carefully around the half cherry in the middle. Her mom had come up with the idea of dice cookies on a particularly boring day, when Juno had been recovering from a cold and feeling restless and bored. They'd been making them ever since. Although every batch came out differently, the Official Dice Cookie Rules said that whatever the ingredients in that particular batch, the cherry on top and spoonful of honey in the cookie dough were mandatory.
"Mom?" she said suddenly.
"What, honey?"
"Do we have to go through with this?"
Mrs. Walker hesitated, sighed and returned her own cookie to the pile. "You know how tough things have been since your father died."
Her father. Juno swallowed, trying to clear the lump in her throat and the larger weight that always crushed her chest whenever her father was mentioned.
"Yeah, but it just seems so...so..." Juno racked her brains for the exact word, failed to find it and finished her cookie in the hopes that inspiration might strike.
It didn't. Maybe another dice cookie would help.
"Mary—"
"It's Juno, Mom. Remember?" Juno was a cool name, the name of a goddess. It reeked of adventure. Mrs. Walker had flatly refused to let Juno legally change her name, but as soon as she was eighteen, that was it. Goodbye, Mary; hello, Juno, professional stuntwoman and daredevil extraordinaire. Or maybe pro-baseball player. She hadn't decided yet.
Her mother sighed again. "You know I'd love to give you the best Christmas in Colorado, but we just can't afford that kind of thing anymore. This helps us out, and it makes them feel good."
Juno glanced at their tree. The tinsel was looking a little threadbare, and some of the ornaments had belonged to her grandparents, but it was their tree. She and her mother had a Christmas tree tradition: starting on December the first, they added a new type of decoration — lights, tinsel, ornaments — every day until the tree was fully trimmed.
"It wasn't too bad last year, was it?" Mrs. Walker added.
"I guess." Last year's donations had come from an old woman who'd shown up with a bag and a smile, told them that she hadn't had any idea what to get them apart from the things on the list, so she'd just guessed and it was fine if they didn't want them, then she'd left the bag and gone on her way. Some of the presents had been quite babyish, but one of them was a gold chain with a galloping horse pendant. Juno wasn't interested in horses, but she'd kept the chain and hung her father's favorite ring on it. She reached up and touched it now, feeling the reassuring weight of the gold lion's head with its ruby-chip eyes. When her thoughts became too heavy, she'd retreat to her bedroom and sit cross-legged on her bed, talking to the ring as if her father was still alive and could hear her.
This year, she'd kept her requests simple: a couple of books — Alex Rider or Percy Jackson, although she wouldn't say no to the latest Warrior Cats — a small rug for her room, and a beginner's whittling kit. Of the three, she was only expecting the books, and maybe an Amazon gift card.
The doorbell rang, making her jump so hard she dropped her second dice cookie back onto the plate.
"That'll be them." Mrs. Walker took one last look around the kitchen, tweaked the plate of dice cookies into position (Juno tweaked it back again two seconds later) and hurried into the tiny entrance hall to open the front door.
"Hi-i!"
Their visitor's perfume exploded into the small kitchen, followed by the visitor's bags and finally the visitor herself. Her hair was twisted up into a glossy style that was so ostentatious it made her head seem too big for her body.
The girl who trailed in after her was about Juno's age, blonde hair pulled back in a tight plait that stretched her forehead and gave her a surprised look. She was holding a plain shoe box in both hands, gripping it so tightly that her fingernails were white.
"I'm Mrs. Prescott, and this is my daughter Sophie. I'm sorry we're late; we couldn't find anywhere to park." Mrs. Prescott dumped her bags on the table — Juno whisked the plate of cookies to safety just in time — and pulled her gloves off, tossing them casually on top of the bags, revealing rings with glittering jewels like colored fire on both hands. She sat down and aimed a bright, very fake smile between Juno and her mother.
"No problem." Mrs. Walker moved behind Sophie to close the front door. "We really appreciate you doing this."
Mrs. Prescott waved a hand. "Oh, it's our pleasure. Sophie and I had such fun picking out presents for you both. Didn't we, darling?"
Sophie nodded, looking at a point somewhere between Juno's eyes and her knees. Juno softened a little toward her. Maybe Sophie felt just as awkward as her. Maybe her mom was forcing her to go along with it. Other kids' parents were always doing things like that; Juno was glad her mother was sensible.
"This is my daughter, M—" Mrs. Walker caught Juno's pleading look and switched to, "Juno. Honey, why don't you show Sophie your room?"
Juno shot her mother a Seriously? look and received a Do it glare in reply.
"I think that's a wonderful idea! Let the children play while we chat and you open the presents. Sophie has your little girl's things in that box."
Children? Little girl? Juno started to scowl at Mrs. Prescott, caught her mother's warning look, and hastily turned it into a yawn and a stretch.
"Sure." Juno looked at Sophie, who seemed even less interested in seeing Juno's room than Juno was in showing it to her. "C'mon."
She led her out and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she was clear. Mrs. Prescott was slender and even shorter than Juno's mother, but her entire personality was so huge that the kitchen had seemed a lot smaller when she was in it.
Juno's room was cheerfully chaotic, with posters of baseball players caught mid-action next to framed prints of landscapes. She hopped onto her bed and sat there cross-legged, rumpling the bedspread beyond repair, and plumped her pillow up against the wall for a backrest.
"Have a seat."
Sophie did so, perching on the very edge of the bed, and set the shoe box carefully on top.
"This is for you."
"Yeah, your mom said. Thanks."
Silence. At last, Sophie pushed the shoe box carefully toward Juno as if the other girl was an alley cat that she was trying to tame.
God, she was actually going to do it. She was going to sit and watch Juno open each present, soaking up the so-called joy of charity every time.
Juno bit back a sigh. Might as well get it over with. And maybe it would be okay. Any of the books she'd requested would easily fit in a shoe box.
She forced a smile onto her face and opened the box.
It contained a set of brand-new makeup, a card with twelve pairs of stud earrings, a bottle of bright pink nail polish, a red-and-green bracelet with small bells that Juno instantly recognized as a Dollar Store product, and two books: Operation Sisterhood and The Science of Friendship.
Sophie picked one of them up and turned it around so that the cover faced Juno. "Mom and I thought maybe you didn't know about these books, but if you did, then you'd rather have them than the ones on your list, since you're..." She coughed, shifting her weight. "Well. Um."
Juno shot her a look. "Black?"
Sophie went scarlet and shrugged, then gave her the fakest smile Juno had seen outside of her friend's Barbie dolls in third grade. "Mom thought you'd like books that celebrated your ancestry."
"Uh...huh." Juno took a closer look at the cover of Operation Sisterhood, then turned it over to read the back blurb. Apparently, her ancestors had been young musicians in NYC.
She set both books on the nightstand underneath her dog-eared copy of Ark Angel, which she was rereading for the millionth time, and tried to paste a happy smile on her face again. It was getting harder and harder to do. "I'm, uh, in the middle of a book, but I'll read these later." Way later. The best thing that she could say about the books was that at least they'd save her buying a birthday present for her youngest cousin in January.
"You could try the earrings," Sophie offered eagerly. She grabbed the card with its assortment of studs and leaned to one side to peer at Juno's ears, then her face fell. "Oh."