hi, everyone. i’m urgently seeking beta readers for my dark fantasy drama, faultless zero. i would need feedback by january 10th, which would give you approximately a week to read and comment at the time of this posting. i realize this is short notice but i’m trying to enter this manuscript into a contest and i’ve been staring at it for about... five years, so. i don’t know what else i can do to make it better. here’s some basic info about the wip:
word count: 95k words
genre: (very) dark fantasy, lots of homicide and psychological introspection. this is a sad story. one reader said it made her fall on the floor and cry.
summary:
Every Thursday at midnight, January Chaudhary meets Daxon Cavaco beneath a street lamp to smoke a cigarette. These meetings are not planned. They do not know each other. But they have everything in common—the same tan skin, the same vinyl-black hair. Even matching freckles. It comes as no surprise when Dax asks her if she’s his missing twin sister.
The truth is that she’s been in another dimension all these years. Just as she’s about to explain, they both tumble into a portal. Now, January’s back in her other world, this time with Dax at her side. They uncover their ties to the royal Estafar clan just as a banished ex-monarch threatens to crush all the worlds into one in order to get back to her palace.
The older Estafar gives January and Dax an ultimatum: complete a blood ritual to become immortal, or perish with the majority of humanity. January has only just met her brother again, after years apart. She must choose one: live with him forever in a lonely world, let them both die in the wreckage, or find some way to stop the apocalypse.
FAULTLESS ZERO is a dark fantasy drama, complete at 95,000 words. It bears linguistic similarities to Catherynne Valente’s DEATHLESS and Erin Morgenstern’s THE NIGHT CIRCUS.
please message me if you’re interested in whipping through this MS and helping me polish it up! i will accept whatever help anyone can give me. line edits are not necessary (unless you want to do them!). i would love to receive comments as you go along, but i will also happily accept and appreciate end-of-story comments. thank you so much!!