That thing I've Been Promising #TeamDannie Alumni

Hi Kids!!

Well, it's finally summer break and I have two seconds to breathe. Writing life and life life have been complete chaos so I want to start by taking a minute to thank those of you who have had to put up with my growing pains over the past couple months. And also to those of you who put up with me in general. I make no apologies for who I am--snarky, opinionated to a fault, and often lacking a filter. I know that can be a lot to handle sometimes, especially when I'm wearing my emotions on my timeline and whatnot.

So thanks. For realz.

And now to the good stuff!

If you've been around since PitchWars 2013 you know I had promised I'd do something more for the people who queried me. And I've had a vague idea of what that is since then, but honest to blog less than zero time to implement it. And I'm not much better off at the moment, but we're going to ease into this anyway, now that it's summer and I've got more than ten minutes to devote to Twitter a week.

During the weeks between selecting our PitchWars mentees/alternates and the agent round, you probably heard Sonia, Alexandra, Christy and I babbling about our 'clubhouse' meetings. Once a week, we'd get together in a private G+ hangout and get shit done: brainstorming loglines, working out plot snags, swapping beta reads, venting about writerly frustration.

It's something we've continued to do in the six months that have followed PitchWars on a fairly regular basis and even though I've been at this for a while, it has been an amazing resource for me. We get together about once a month and talk shop, provide support, and work out our writerly shit.

Basically it's a support group for writers. Because writing is hard, y'all. And as our careers grow, we're expanding what we do with the clubhouse.

That's where you guys come in.

We're opening it up to 10 additional #Team Dannie members--the first 10 who comment here with their Twitter accounts so I can DM you the info.

What you can expect in the clubhouse:

• A confidential, emotionally safe place to get support during tough writer times
• Some killer brains to bounce ideas off of.
• Help spreading the word about projects, publications, and the good stuff that needs spreading in our writing lives. 
• An external pressure to hold you accountable to caretake your writing life!
• Random discussions of snacks and an abundance of digital wine.

What we ask for in return:

The commitment of participating in our monthly meetings. The clubhouse only works because we're committed to it and to each other. So if you sign on, please only do so if you intend to participate regularly.  The meetings are always on Monday nights after kiddos go to bed. We figure out the date/time as a group to keep it as convenient as we can for everyone.

How it works:

Our next meeting is on Monday, June 23rd at 9pm EST. (A week from tonight.)
I will DM you the details once we've added you to the approved member list (which I'll also DM you about)
Plan to come and chat, bounce ideas, listen and work!
Meetings usually last about an hour but people check in and check out as they can.

Who's eligible:

Anyone I've selected for my "team" in a blog contest. This includes #AgentTreat #PitchWars (including all 60ish people who queried me for the 2013 contest) #NestPitch #PitchMadness and Team Supernova for this year's #TheWVoice (since I was Kim Chase's co-coach.). Basically if I've hosted your pitch on my blog or picked you for my team in a contest, you're a member of #TeamDannie and are thus eligible.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You MUST have a gmail account to enter the clubhouse. Gmail is free, so if you don't have one it's pretty easy to set up an account.

We will add to our numbers as people show interest, and as it works for the clubhouse. If the club gets too big we may have to figure out a way to stagger membership.

Questions? Hit me up in comments or on Twitter!

The first ten people to post the following as a comment to this post are in!

• Name/Nickname/Pen Name:
• Contest I picked you for:
• Title of your work:
• Your twitter name:

Ready? Aaaand go!!

Fangirl Friday: An Interview with Brooks Benjamin

So, if you follow me on twitter, a  couple weeks ago you may have seen some major all out fangirling happening over a certain author I lovingly refer to as...

BUTTERFARTS. 

It's a long story. And it doesn't matter. What does matter?

THE AMAZINGLY TALENTED AND SUPER HILARIOUS AND RIDONKULOUSLY CREATIVE AND ALL AROUND GOOD GUY

Brooks Benjamin got a flipping book deal, people! 

And I swear, it was like two seconds after he landed a really fabulous agent. All of this happened one day while I was taking a nap. And--on the real--I'm only mildly exaggerating about the timeline here.

But just for the record? And I'm only going to say this once because it borders on taking credit for ish that isn't mine to take credit for in any way shape or form...

I saw him first, people. Him and his tights.

Okay, enough introduction-y stuff. Here's a little bit about Brooks and his not-soon-enough to-be-born book baby. It'll have to hold us all over until 2016 when we can...get our hands on his...Tights?

Erm...here's the interview.

Tell us a little about your writer's journey so far:

I completed the first draft of my first manuscript (The Stonetalker, MG fantasy) in late 2012. I found Pitch Wars by accident and submitted my manuscript. Unfortunately, I didn’t get in so I began querying in early 2013. I had no idea what I was doing. I’d never heard of a CP or query letter. I just dove right into Google and came out the other end looking like a complete noob. I queried one agent at a time because I thought that’s how it worked.

Like I said. Noob.

After a few small requests and some eventual rejections, I rediscovered Twitter and began networking with anyone who had an idea and time to read. I finally met up with two amazing CPs, Amber Mauldin and Jayme Woods. They read my first draft and came back with another thing I’d never heard of. Manuscript notes!

I loved their suggestions and tore apart The Stonetalker one chapter at a time. And at the end of April, I had my finished version. I went right back into querying, jumping in on the Twitter pitch parties whenever possible, getting requests here and there, but never a full agent-loving bite. At that same time, I began working on my next project (My 7^th Grade Life in Tights or M7GLIT for short). I stopped querying The Stonetalker around October while I was working on finishing up M7GLIT. And at the end of the 2013, I submitted to Pitch Wars and got in.

Marieke became my mentor. She and my amazing CPs (which now also included Jean Giardina, Ronni Arno Blaisdell, Karen Lee Hallam, Melanie Conklin, and Jeff Chen) helped me whip my manuscript into shape for my next round of querying in January. 

When I started that, I immediately got some requests and the first agent call came about 3 weeks later. After that, it’s all a blur because I’m stuck in this am-I-awake-or-dreaming-who-cares-just-don’t-let-this-end state.

Okay, let's hear your Twitter Pitch! (140 characters or less.)

Oh dang. The dreaded Twitter pitch. I’ll have to make one up since I never actually got to Twitter pitch this one. Okay, here it goes.

12yo Dillon must choose: stick with his dance crew or go for solo stardom at an elite dance studio in a Step Up meets Mean Girls MG story.

Yeah, I know. But Twitter pitches are hard.

What inspired you to write this book? How is it a book only you could write?

Interestingly enough, I had a lot to draw from with M7GLIT. In 6^th grade, I started a New Kids on the Block tribute dance crew called The New Kidz (with a z… because z’s are cool). We were terrible, but we danced. A lot. And we didn’t care how we looked. Until we learned how un-dancified we actually were. Which is one of the big struggles Dillon has throughout M7GLIT.

So, why did it have to be me? I guess because M7GLIT is sort of a shout out to my 6^th grade self. Except that Dillon’s crew, the Dizzee Freekz (with a z… because z’s are cool) is WAY better than we ever were.

What's your favorite thing about writing?

Getting that HOLY CRAP I HAVE TO WRITE THIS RIGHT NOW! spark of an idea at the weirdest times.

What's your least favorite thing?

Not having a pencil nearby when that happens.

Now it's time to brag a little--What do you love most about your book?

I really love the individuality of my characters. They’re each so unique (and that uniqueness sparks some pretty serious fights now and then) but they’re still friends. I feel that dialogue is my biggest strength and writing all of those characters into all of those situations was a blast.

Of course, I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t mention the dancing. Oh, lawsy-mercy, the dancing. There’s so much! And it was so fun to write! Just about any style you can think of (and one particular one that Dillon made up) makes an appearance in M7GLIT.

Who was your favorite character to write? Why?

Yikes! This is tough. I love them all! But if I had to pick, I’d say probably Carson. Carson’s got his sass level turned to 11 at all times. He’s 100% himself and he doesn’t care what others think of him. In a way, that was really freeing for me.

What has surprised you most about publishing post-agent (in other words, something unpublished writers may not know about how the process goes after you get an agent)?

I think what surprised me the most was how similar subbing to editors was to querying agents. It’s practically the same thing. Except the agent does all the work and knows the editors a heckuva lot better than I knew any agents.

It sort of goes like this:

Before agent 1.     Query agents. 2.     Wait. 3.     Habitually check email. 4.     Pray that good news is in there. 5.     Some bad news is in there. 6.     Cry. 7.     Drink wine and eat. 8.     Keep querying. 9.     Wait some more. 10.  Finally some good news. 11.  Drink wine and eat. And flail.

After agent 1.     Sub to editors. 2.     Wait. 3.     Habitually check email. 4.     Pray that good news is in there. 5.     Some bad news is in there. 6.     Cry. 7.     Drink wine and eat. 8.     Keep subbing. 9.     Wait some more. 10.  Finally some good news. 11.  Drink wine and eat. And flail.

Okay, now a little about you. (And yes, I stole these questions from In the Actor's Studio with James Lipton.)

What is your favorite word?

Any word spoken by the actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. Her voice is amazing. But if I had to pick just one, I’d go with fiddlesticks.

What is your least favorite word?

I’m going in-context with this one.

Bro.

But only when guys say that in conversation. As in, “Nice Crocs, bro.”

What turns you on?

Humor, smiling, eyes. We’ll keep this list short. Because of reasons.

What turns you off?

When people say, “Nice Crocs, bro.” And Crocs. I don’t mind the people who wear them, just the shoes themselves. Because I’m scared if I ever got close to one it’d smell like baby poop wrapped in a sweaty jockstrap.

Other turn offs?

Intolerance, closed-mindedness, and fake orange tans.

What sound or noise do you love?

Puppies eating. When they make that little snorty breath sound it’s the cutest thing in the world. Oh, and songs by Queen.

What sound or noise do you hate?

The high-pitched electronic hum of ear death that my DVR box is making right now. It’s almost bad enough to make me want to jab a fork into my skull and pry out my brain to make it stop.

What profession, other than your own, would you most like to attempt?

Spy. Or ninja. If I could combine the two that might be cool, but I think separately they’re great as is. Of course, I’m not sure how I’d make a living as a ninja. I wouldn’t want to assassinate anyone. Maybe I could just throw ninja stars and do spinny kicks and junk.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear G-d say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

 “Nice Crocs, bro.” And then follow that up with, “Naw, I’m just kidding. Glad you could make it.” Because I really want God to get my sense of humor.

Finally, what's the one question you've always wanted to answer in an interview? (And of course, you have to answer it!)

Question: What’s your favorite video game?

Answer: Oh, man, I really wasn’t prepared for this. I mean, deep down, I knew someone eventually would ask this, but… dang. I didn’t figure it’d be today. Okay, well, lemme think. I don’t think I could answer that one fairly unless I went by console.

For Commodore 64 it’s Ghostbusters.

For Nintendo it’s Contra.

For Sega Genesis it’s Altered Beast.

For Super NES it’s Secret of Mana.

For N64 it’s Pilot Wings.

For Playstation it’s Skyrim.

For Xbox it’s Oddworld.

I know I skipped a few consoles in there, but you keep tapping your watch like we’re running out of time. So I kept it short. For you.

About Brooks Benjamin

         

MG writer of MY 7TH GRADE LIFE IN TIGHTS (Delacorte/Random House, Spring 2016), filmmaker, teacher, husband, SCBWI member, and father to a 75-pound demented German Shepherd mix named LeeLoo. Represented by the fantabulous Uwe Stender of TriadaUS Literary.

Trick or Treat With Agents 2013: The Agents Unmasked!

  

Velma Dinkley is:
Stacey Donaghy with Donaghy Literary Group

Ms. Harlequin is: 

Ammi-Joan Paquette with the Erin MurphyLiterary Agency.

Princess Leia is:

Hannah Bowman with Liza Dawson Associates.

Annie Oakley is:

Roseanne Wells with The Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. 

  

The Tardis is:

Natalie Lakosil with Bradford Literary Agency. 

Rose from Dr. Who is:

Jordy Albert with the Booker Albert Literary Agency.

Now, let's give a big thank you to our six fabulous agents, without whom this contest would never have happened. Thank you all for your participation and for picking such great costumes!

Happy Halloween!

*Participants- if you received a request, please email the contest address and wait for submission instructions.*

It's time to Trick or Treat 2013!

It's time to go trick or treating! Can we get our bags filled with treats?

Trick or Treat entrants, thank you for joining the fun! You guys seriously rocked our inbox. Your entries were PHENOMENAL and we had a very HARD time narrowing them down to 39. We even have a special surprise for you--we've added a Bobbing for Slush Save!! 

If you didn't make the cut, that doesn't mean we didn't love your pitch. Just ask Kim- she had to cut quite a few from her final list and that did not make her happy! We've tried to give our participating agents some great choices based on their wish lists and we're hoping to see lots of incredible matches made this week.  

Congratulations to our finalists and good luck! 

http://www.brenda-drake.com

http://kimberlypchase.blogspot.com/

http://dcmorin.blogspot.com/

* * * Reminders * * *

ONLY PARTICIPATING AGENTS MAY COMMENT IN THIS ROUND. We want our awesome costumed agents to be able to read through the entries with ease.

Agents will request "candy" in the comment section. Any kind of sugar candy (Skittles, Starbursts, etc) means you've gotten a partial request and chocolate candy (Snickers, M&Ms, etc) means you've gotten a full manuscript request. Agents can comment on as many entries as they like and multiple agents can request on the same pitch. So you just might find your bag full of treats!

Costumed agents will be revealed at 6PM EST on October 31st.

Anyone who receives candy should email into trickortreatwithanagent@gmail.com on October 31st for further submission instructions. You will then receive an email with the correct submission guidelines to follow. DO NOT contact the agent without getting the guidelines first.

If you are another amazing agent who has happened upon this contest and would like to make a request, we welcome you to take a look. Please email us after the contest has ended with requests. 

We'll be tweeting on #AgentTreat! @brendadrake @kpchase817 @Dannie_Morin

TRICK OR TREAT D1: FINDING OBENO

Title: FINDING OBENO

Category:  YA

Genre: Contemporary

Word count: 65,000

Pitch:

After witnessing the murder of his family, fourteen year-old Ricky is forced to fight on the front lines in Joseph Kony’s holy war against the Ugandan government. Twenty years later, Samuel, an eleven year-old recovering at the Friends of Orphans Center, fights to hide the truth behind his injury and his past with Kony’s LRA. Separated by two decades of war, Ricky and Samuel’s experiences as child soldiers weave together to prove that love lives on after death, hope exists in the darkest corners of hell, and one boy’s story can guide thousands home. 

Q1: In your MC's voice, what costumed character do you most relate to and why?

Dressed in a dead man’s uniform with a machete at my belt and AK-47 on my back, I wear a costume every day, but I’m not pretending and I’m not a soldier. I am a child, who fears Joseph Kony and his army of killers and just wants to go home. 

Q2: As an author, what makes your manuscript a tasty treat (unique/marketable)?

My manuscript is based on the true story of Anywar Ricky Richard, one of the first children abducted into Joseph Kony’s LRA ranks and the founder of Friends of Orphans, an organization dedicated to the recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers. Ricky and I have been in communication throughout the writing process with the goal of giving a voice to the estimated 40,000 Ugandan children, whose lives and voices were stolen by the LRA.

First 250:

Sitting in the shade of the porch that embraces the Friends of Orphans Center, Samuel picked at the discolored bandage wrapped around his thigh. According to the doctor, the medicine was working, but his skin was tight with swelling and tender to the touch. A rust colored stain tinged the bone white bandage above the bullet wound, where the infection had taken hold. 

Samuel understood infection. In his eleven years, he had seen it burrow deep into the bodies of other children. Their feet. Their legs. Their chests. Their arms. Spreading like brush fire until it consumed them.

Laughter stole Samuel’s attention from his wound. A faded football arced high into the cloudless Ugandan sky before dropping in the midst of a group of smiling children. It bounced off the forehead of the tallest, a skinny teenage boy, who sent it soaring across the hard dirt field to the waiting chest of a teammate. The huddle of children squealed with delight and scrambled after the ball, kicking up clouds of red dust with their bare feet.

Biting down on his bottom lip, Samuel pressed on his injury with two trembling fingers until he could no longer endure the pain. Letting go, he squeezed his eyes shut until the inferno receded to its normal slow burn. When it did, he stared down at his leg. Wet seeped through the cloth, darkening the rust stain a blood red. Pain was good. It meant he could still feel.

It meant he was alive.

TRICK OR TREAT D2: TWICE BETRAYED

Title: TWICE BETRAYED

Category: MG

Genre: Historical Mystery

Word count: 63,000

Pitch:

With the spark of independence crackling in Colonial Philadelphia, three girls dress as boys and head to the river at night to put a perilous plan into action, but only two return and one of them, Perdy Rogers, is accused of treason. When the constable builds a case against the 13-year-old upholsters’s apprentice with circumstantial evidence, she must unravel the traitorous web woven around her that protects the real spy. With a grandmother so distraught she’s helpless and her best friend called to testify against her, assistance comes from the most unlikely sources—her 4-year-old sister, a Scottish cabin boy she barely knows and a general destined to lead the new country.

Q1: In your MC's voice, what costumed character do you most relate to and why?

I relate to Batgirl because during the day we both lead quiet, ordinary lives—

Batgirl as a librarian and I’m an upholsterer’s apprentice.  But by night she dons her mask and Batgirl costume and I dress in boys clothes to help friends, solve mysteries and protect the innocent.

Q2: As an author, what makes your manuscript a tasty treat (unique/marketable)?

The tasty treat – No proof exists that Betsy Ross made the first American flag. Twice Betrayed suggests her apprentice, my MC, made the flag as a quilt top for her sister and both boys and girls will be interested in crafting 5-pointed stars and decoding secret spy letters in the story.

First 250:

A shout rings out in the crowded street. “Help! My child! Help!

I glance up, drop the ascot I’m hemming and rush out the shop door, the doorbells overhead tinkling wildly.

A toddler, dressed in a pale-colored coat and bonnet waddles across the slippery cobblestones. The pouring rain makes it difficult to see her and a wagon bears down on the spot where she stops.

Her mother, on the far side of Arch Street, desperately clutches a baby to her breast, screaming for someone to save her child from certain harm.

Heedless of the rain, I quickly judge the distance the wagon must cover and dash out to the child, swooping her up in my arms. As I twirl away, the wagon passes so close my skirt ruffles in its breeze.

The child wails, not from the danger she was in, but from suddenly finding herself in a stranger’s arms. I cradle her head against my shoulder and rock her like I used to do with Abby when she was upset.

Her mother darts through the traffic to reach her. “Thank you. Thank you,” she cries, her tears mixing with raindrops trickling down her cheeks. 

Her baby stares wide-eyed at her big sister, also crying in my arms. 

“She just let go of my hand,” sobs the mother, “and when I turned around she was lost in the crowd.”

Shielding my eyes from the rain with my hand, I gaze at the traffic, heavier than usual. “Where is everyone going?”

TRICK OR TREAT D3: THE GEARS OF WAR

Title: THE GEARS OF WAR

Category:  Adult

Genre: Fantasy/LGBTQ

Word count:  73,000

Pitch:

After spending years pretending to be his dead sister in order to keep his grief-maddened mother stable, a gender-confused boy goes to war to learn how to be a man. His priorities change when an enemy soldier, a girl whose soul resides in a war golem, saves his life on the battlefield. They desert together, unaware that their friendship might just change the course of the war.

Q1: In your MC's voice, what costumed character do you most relate to and why?

I’m my own costumed character. Whether I dress as my dead sister or as my parents’ son, it’s all pretending. 

Q2: As an author, what makes your manuscript a tasty treat (unique/marketable)?

English-language Asian fantasies with elements of steampunk and alternate history (Second Sino-Japanese War) aren't all that common. Besides, there’s never enough SFF with genderqueer characters as protagonists. 

First 250:

Every morning, Kiyoshi rose from sleep as a boy with messy hair, a slim frame and, usually, an urge to pee.

Every morning, he folded his futon and knelt before the shrine honoring his sister’s memory, gazing at her sunny face and burning incense for her. Aiko, the name on the picture said. Aiko, meaning beloved. Beloved of an entire family, jewel in the eyes of her parents and role model in the eyes of her little brother.

Every morning, he brushed his long hair until it lay straight and still against his back, dipped fingertips into bowls of cosmetics to outline eyes and lips and slid into one of his sister’s kimono.

Every morning, Kiyoshi entered the kitchen as a dead girl.

“Aiko!” her mother said, waving her chopsticks. “You’ll be late for work again. Hurry and eat.”

“Yes, Mother. Sorry.” Aiko’s lips were always quick to smile with infectious cheer; they spread now in sheepish apology.

Kneeling at the low table across from her mother, Aiko began her assault on the feast spread before her: miso soup, steamed rice, a rolled omelet, a bowl of fermented soybeans, and various pickled vegetables. She ate as if to fill a bottomless hole, wielding her lacquered chopsticks like a weapon to slay her breakfast.

“Eat, eat,” her mother said. “You’re a growing girl and you have a day of hard work ahead.”

Her mother’s name was Hanako, flower child, a strange name for a woman born and raised in a city made of cogs and smog where flowers were rarely seen in any other state than dead and dried. 

TRICK OR TREAT D4: WHIRLED

Title: WHIRLED

Category:  YA

Genre: Time Travel/Romance

Word count: 95,000

Pitch:

When seventeen year-old Lu Dresden falls for a boy who accidentally slipped into her world from the year 1847, she’s forced to choose: her pretty awesome life, complete with indoor plumbing, or a chance at the kind of love that doesn’t come along every century. When Lu follows William back in time and halfway around the world, the harrowing time-slip is the least of her worries. William is funny, smart, and fiercely gallant, but the two have some serious coming-to-grips to do with the fact that his ideas about relationships—heck, about women in general!—seem downright archaic at times.

Q1: In your MC's voice, what costumed character do you most relate to and why?

Scarlet O’Hara had the right idea, not worrying about stuff until tomorrow. But no way will I do that corset thing…no matter how important it is to fit in with the cool girls of the mid-18^th century!

Q2: As an author, what makes your manuscript a tasty treat (unique/marketable)?

As if corsets weren’t bad enough, try chamber pots, stingrays, and fighting to escape a slaver’s ship—yikes! Still, what could be yummier than a transatlantic romp with a dreamy Australian boy and a love story that transcends time?

First 250:

Tommy cracked his gum and sent a waft of cinnamon-scented breath my way. I loved Big Red and had the sudden urge to put my mouth to his and see if he’d surrender his ABC-piece. Luckily, I wasn’t inclined to act on the stupider of the ideas that crept through my head.

We were gleaning the last of the summer vegetables, runty and stunted from shortening days and sporadic watering.

He reached for a fat zucchini vine and freed it with one sharp yank. I stared. When had his back changed? Tommy’s back—actually all of him but the stretch covered by his swim trunks—was generally on display all summer long.

Tommy, seventeen like me, has always been all long skinny arms and legs, sun-brown in defiance of his mom’s SPF 70. Out of nowhere, his shirt now revealed smooth lines of muscle, and a groove where his knobbly spine used to be.

“Hunh?” Had he said something? Warmth spread from my neck to my face.

 “Nothing.”  He tossed another armful of vegetation onto the Speedway, grabbed the handles, and headed off to the compost heap.

The bare plot was a little sad, now just torn up dirt where a month ago the profusion of green had been spewing out more bounty than we could keep up with.

“Lu!” Tommy rounded the corner with cupped hands.

I jogged over.

He stopped very close to me, his catch in the small space between us, and slowly lifted his top hand.

TRICK OR TREAT D5: DRAGONS ARE PEOPLE TOO

Title: DRAGONS ARE PEOPLE TOO

Category: YA

Genre:  Contemporary Fantasy

Word count: 60,000

Pitch:

Sixteen-year-old Kitty is a Chinese weredragon and an operative for the US government's Draconic Intelligence Command, or as she likes to call it, DIC. When her entire race is exposed to the public, the other dragons are imprisoned, and the President’s son is kidnapped, she sets off on a break-neck mission, uncovering betrayal at every turn. When she discovers the truth, Kitty must choose between obedience to her country and allegiance to dragonkind.

Q1: In your MC's voice, what costumed character do you most relate to and why?

Not that Commander Lung (aka Mom) has ever let me trick or treat, but I'm a big fan of Jubilee from the X-men - and not just because she's about the only Chinese superhero out there.

Q2: As an author, what makes your manuscript a tasty treat (unique/marketable)?

This book is X-MEN LAST STAND meets RUSH HOUR, but with dragon shapeshifters and more kissing.

First 250:

Well, crap. Mission Intelligence got it wrong. Again.

I mean, seriously? Heat sensors? When your operatives have a core body temperature of 142 degrees, that should be the first thing you check for. Deep breaths, Kitty. I daydream about ripping Simon a new one as I scale up the three stories of crumbling stone.

So now I cling to the east wall of the Lebanese embassy in DC with a diplomatic document pouch hanging from my belt.

I'm overly conscious of the two security cameras aimed at my back, despite the full-body black catsuit with matching ski-mask that Draconic Intelligence Command (or, as I like to call it, DIC) requires me to wear. Sirens blare, telling me security already knows we're here, but I still can't let them see my face. And, more importantly, I can't let them see me change.

Beside me, Wallace scrabbles, then loses his balance and falls twenty feet to the ground, hitting the wall at least twice in the process. Rookie. His breath comes fast, but he's uninjured. He could probably fall from three times that height without a scratch.

"Kitty." Even his whisper has a British accent. He lies sprawled on the immaculate walled lawn of the Embassy and slowly makes his way to his feet. "I can't make it without changing."

"No!" I yell, then catch myself and lower my voice to something more like a hiss. "Absolutely not. Do you have any idea how many cameras are on you right now? You can make it."