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OK, guys, this is it!

The Mighty Knights is currently crowned, and will be a fully-birthed draft 0 this weekend. I am then going to be spending next week ironing out the initial kinks.

In other words, Draft 1 is imminent. And therefore, I am ready to start looking for four VIPs (Very Interested People), who will be serving as my beta readers for this project.

If you think you might be interested in beta reading The Mighty Knights, send me an email, subject line Beta Reader TMK and your name, to:

madamemedievalist@gmail.com

In your message, please include the following information:

1. A brief background of your education/ pertinent experience (This is not for the purposes of snobbery, but rather to determine one, very important thing: Are you a Literate Being capable of critically examining a document?) Beta readers for this work MUST be high school aged or older.

2. Representative titles of works you have read and loved/ a list of your reading interests.

3. A brief explanation as to why you are interested in serving as a beta reader for this work.

As a reminder, here is the brief synopsis of this YA novel:

The Camelot County Knights are up for a record: four consecutive state championships.  But team captain Arthur Penn Draggon is having trouble keeping his head in the game thanks to the arrival of Welsh exchange student Gwyneth Greidal. It doesn’t help that Arthur’s sister Morgan has decided (this year, anyway) that she is Wicca, that his father is running for a seat in the state congress, and that both Morgan and their technology-obsessed step-brother Kevin (“K”) resent Arthur’s popularity and success to the point where being at home is a nightmare.

Further complicating the Mighty Knights’ bid for state high school football immortality is the fact that they are so mortal. The stress of classes and (for the seniors on the team) college applications, the whirlwind of homecoming preparations, the desire to impress this – and – that girl, and the basic adolescent need to test their limits, prove their worth, and best the opposition in any situation on or off the field all threaten on a daily basis their drive towards the championship.

Living in a conservative, Christian, rural Virginia county comes with its own set of complications on top of those of the average American teenager. Gossip runs rampant, everyone knows everything that’s going on (or thinks s/he does), and there’s no way to escape from the constant small-town drama, unless your parents let you borrow the car to drive to Richmond or Virginia Beach for the day. It’s also not helpful that football season coincides with hunting season. The people in charge of those signs outside the churches like to embed personal jabs and individually-directed slogans in their weekly messages; trying to figure out who its meant for is a county-wide hobby. The person doing the weekly readings looks right at you on Sundays when he’s reading a passage that he feels is of particular relevance to you or a situation you’re involved in. And when you come from an Important Family – like the Draggons – with a father who was, himself, a hometown hero football star in his time and now is playing a central role in turning the county into an agri-tourist destination, and a mother who was Miss Camelot County and first – runner up in the Miss Virginia pageant and whose family traces back to the Jamestown colony (a fact documented in writing, ostentatiously framed, and hanging on the front hall of the Draggon home) – well, there’s not a lot of wiggle-room for lapses in judgment.

Morgan can’t wait to get the hell out of Camelot County; she’s had her application to New York University filled out for six months. As soon as she gets her diploma, she is out of here, and on her way to Broadway. Despite her talent and dark beauty, she has spent four years under Arthur’s shadow, because the only things that matter in Camelot County are deer season and football. She’s done playing second fiddle to her brother. She’s also sick to death of “safe” musicals like “Godspell” and “Pippin” and “The Sound of Music”. This year, she’s convinced Mrs. Henderson to produce the sensational and provocative “Jekyll and Hyde”. For once, Morgan is confident the fall drama production will be as popular as Friday night’s football game — and nobody, not even Arthur, is going to stop her from stepping into the limelight at last. She’s cast a spell to make sure of it.

K is struggling to come to terms with the death of his parents and with finding his own place in a high school so thoroughly dominated by his older step-brother, cousins Gavin, Gary, Garrett and Andy, and their friends Lance, Mark and Tristan – all members of the football team. Uncoordinated, gangly, and with a bum leg, he’s no athlete; he’s too shy to be on stage, not academically gifted enough to be an honor student, and not as striking in appearance as either golden Arthur or dark Morgan. How does an average guy get a break when everyone in his family is a superstar?

Every generation has its version of the King Arthur story; narrated by the engaging and insightful high Camelot High Chronicle columnist Tal I. E. Singer, this is ours.

I’m excited to reach this milestone and to begin the revision and rewriting process!

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