The Blurb:Jed is a regular kid with a normal, loving family . . . that is, if it’s normal for a loving family to drop their son off in the middle of nowhere and expect him home in time for Sunday dinner. Luckily, Jed excels at being a regular kid who ‚ armed with wit and determination — can make his way out of any situation.
At least until the morning of his twelfth birthday, when Jed wakes to discover his parents are missing. Something is wrong. Really wrong. Jed doesn’t realize it’s floating-city, violent-junk-storm, battling-metals, Frankensteined-scavengers kind of wrong. Yet. A cryptic list of instructions leads Jed into a mysterious world at war over . . . junk. Here, batteries and bottled water are currency, tremendously large things fall from the sky, and nothing is exactly what it seems. Resilient Jed, ready to escape this upside-down place, bargains his way onto a flying tugboat with a crew of misfit junkers. They set course to find Jed’s family, but a soul-crushing revelation sends Jed spiraling out of control . . . perhaps for good. |
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The story behind Jed and the Junkyard War:
I first had the idea for Jed and the Junkyard War about 5 years before it became a reality. I was between semesters at college and worked at a hotel doing maintenance work.
My boss was extremely disorganized, and the maintenance office was a huge pile of paperwork, tools, scrap parts, and junk. I still remember the moment I began jotting down ideas. It was a slow day, and I was alone in the office in a rickety chair that didn’t swivel or tilt quite right.
I had a small pad of hotel paper. The sheets were barely bigger than sticky note-size, so I had to write super tiny and use a heck of a lot of sheets. Looking around the messy room, I pictured a boy captain, sailing around a giant junkyard going on missions and solving mysteries.
I tossed around a lot of ideas, but they weren’t quite right. I kept trying to make the plot bigger & better. Eventually, I told myself, “Settle down and just start writing.” And so, I did.
I later got a new job working graveyard shifts as security. We were allowed to use laptops to do homework, watch movies, or even play video games. But I chose to write. And so, Jed was born!
I had so many plans for Jed — so many things I wanted him to do. But, as soon as he got to the junkyard and jumped on board the tugboat, I felt so at home there that I ever wanted to leave. Pretty soon, I was halfway through the book and he was still there. That’s when I decided, “He belongs on that boat.”
The first draft of Jed took about 8 weeks to complete. I’d written about 7 or so novels before Jed, but I remember when I finally finished it, it was the first book that I looked at and thought, “I don’t care if nobody in the world likes this book. I do.” I love Jed. I love the tugboat crew. And I’m so happy with what they’ve become.
My boss was extremely disorganized, and the maintenance office was a huge pile of paperwork, tools, scrap parts, and junk. I still remember the moment I began jotting down ideas. It was a slow day, and I was alone in the office in a rickety chair that didn’t swivel or tilt quite right.
I had a small pad of hotel paper. The sheets were barely bigger than sticky note-size, so I had to write super tiny and use a heck of a lot of sheets. Looking around the messy room, I pictured a boy captain, sailing around a giant junkyard going on missions and solving mysteries.
I tossed around a lot of ideas, but they weren’t quite right. I kept trying to make the plot bigger & better. Eventually, I told myself, “Settle down and just start writing.” And so, I did.
I later got a new job working graveyard shifts as security. We were allowed to use laptops to do homework, watch movies, or even play video games. But I chose to write. And so, Jed was born!
I had so many plans for Jed — so many things I wanted him to do. But, as soon as he got to the junkyard and jumped on board the tugboat, I felt so at home there that I ever wanted to leave. Pretty soon, I was halfway through the book and he was still there. That’s when I decided, “He belongs on that boat.”
The first draft of Jed took about 8 weeks to complete. I’d written about 7 or so novels before Jed, but I remember when I finally finished it, it was the first book that I looked at and thought, “I don’t care if nobody in the world likes this book. I do.” I love Jed. I love the tugboat crew. And I’m so happy with what they’ve become.
Jed and the Junkyard War: The Query letter
Dear Ella,
Congratulations on your promotion! It looks like I caught you at an exciting time in your career. I’m glad you enjoyed my writing and since you asked for additional projects of mine, I thought this one might interest you. You seem to be looking for a truly unique setting and this has just such a world. Please forgive the unpolished nature of the query/synopsis as this project is still fresh and I haven’t queried it yet. But since you asked...
Before his twelfth birthday, Jed Jenkins had never knocked out the front tooth of a pirate, crashed a flying steamboat into an airborne customs office, cooked his dinner in a bathtub, or hunted for buried treasure in a world filled with endless piles of junk. But a letter from his parents and the discovery of a tunnel behind the dishwasher changes everything.
JED AND THE JUNKYARD WAR is a PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN meets Thomas Edison middle grade junkpunk adventure about an audacious boy who follows the trail of his kidnapped parents to a junkyard world riddled with warring pirates, floating cities, and violent junk storms.
Once in the junkyard, Jed discovers that his grandfather has been killed by the same pirates who took his parents. To further his pursuit, Jed barters his way aboard a maintenance tugboat by offering his services as a cook. Penniless and unable to find another mode transportation he concludes that the puttering tugboat may be his only hope in rescuing his parents held captive by a fleet of pirate dreadnoughts. Jed struggles to fit in with the unsympathetic crew to win their support before the last two members of his family meet the same fate as his grandfather.
JED AND THE JUNKYARD WAR is complete at 55,000 words and won 1st place at the Storymakers writing conference four weeks ago. I’m showing this to you because you were interested in my other projects. It has only gone through half-a-dozen alpha readers and two drafts. Despite that, it should give you a more rounded idea of the flexibility of my voice.
I have included a sample chapter and synopsis below.
I hope this is more suited to your tastes.
Steven
Congratulations on your promotion! It looks like I caught you at an exciting time in your career. I’m glad you enjoyed my writing and since you asked for additional projects of mine, I thought this one might interest you. You seem to be looking for a truly unique setting and this has just such a world. Please forgive the unpolished nature of the query/synopsis as this project is still fresh and I haven’t queried it yet. But since you asked...
Before his twelfth birthday, Jed Jenkins had never knocked out the front tooth of a pirate, crashed a flying steamboat into an airborne customs office, cooked his dinner in a bathtub, or hunted for buried treasure in a world filled with endless piles of junk. But a letter from his parents and the discovery of a tunnel behind the dishwasher changes everything.
JED AND THE JUNKYARD WAR is a PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN meets Thomas Edison middle grade junkpunk adventure about an audacious boy who follows the trail of his kidnapped parents to a junkyard world riddled with warring pirates, floating cities, and violent junk storms.
Once in the junkyard, Jed discovers that his grandfather has been killed by the same pirates who took his parents. To further his pursuit, Jed barters his way aboard a maintenance tugboat by offering his services as a cook. Penniless and unable to find another mode transportation he concludes that the puttering tugboat may be his only hope in rescuing his parents held captive by a fleet of pirate dreadnoughts. Jed struggles to fit in with the unsympathetic crew to win their support before the last two members of his family meet the same fate as his grandfather.
JED AND THE JUNKYARD WAR is complete at 55,000 words and won 1st place at the Storymakers writing conference four weeks ago. I’m showing this to you because you were interested in my other projects. It has only gone through half-a-dozen alpha readers and two drafts. Despite that, it should give you a more rounded idea of the flexibility of my voice.
I have included a sample chapter and synopsis below.
I hope this is more suited to your tastes.
Steven
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