Out of the Contest, but here's the review:

Hey all!

So I didn't make the semi-final cut for Amazon's contest. No big deal (because I really wasn't expecting to make the final 3 anyway!). But here is the review I got from a Publisher's Weekly rep:

An unseen creature known as “Crawl” terrorizes the newest residents of a purportedly haunted house in this absurd horror story. When beloved middle school teacher Mr. Fairweather dies of a heart attack at Fairweather Manor, it’s only the first in a series of increasingly bizarre deaths. Twenty years later, Mark Carson moves his family from Steel City to quiet Oakdale (and into the manor), determined to raise his children in a safer environment. While Mark’s gold-digging second wife spends her husband’s money and watches their baby daughter, Mark throws himself into repairing their new home. But strange noises and perpetually blown fuses make him think that perhaps the renovation project is more than he can handle. Interspersed with the Carsons’ story are the observations of the mysterious Crawl, an unidentified creature who lives in the walls and watches the family, whom it dubs “The Others.” But soon Crawl becomes so attached to its Others — Big Father, Big Mother, Little Father, Little Mother, and Tiny, Tiny — that it ventures into their lives with deadly consequences. There’s little here to frighten readers, as the novelty of seeing the world through Crawl’s eyes wears soon wears thin, especially since the author continually interrupts the marginally more interesting daily lives of the Carsons with passage upon passage of Crawl watching its “adopted” family.
[FIN]

Ok so the original reaction was to tear this reviewer a new one for:
a) probably not having read the entire manuscript
b) providing no real concrete criticism or basis for which to improve
c) being so jaded by the world and his/her failure as an author that he/she settled for being a poorly paid reviewer and chopping down others' ideas

But I'm a better person than that (clearly). So I'll file this one away and pull it back out once the 6 or 7 figure advances start rolling in!

More news coming soon since now I'm back in the hunt for an agent/publisher!

~VK

Semi-Finalists Announced Soon!

So it's hard to believe that a month has passed already, but tomorrow the 100 semi-finalists for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest should be announced. I'll keep you posted!