12 Red Light/Green Light Contest: Announcing the Top 25!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Below are the top 25 entries in our Red Light/Green Light contest, where writers are vying for the prize of a phone call with fabulous agent Patricia Nelson at Marsal Lyon Literary.

Be sure to check back next Thursday, when we'll post our agent judge's top 10 selected entries!

CONGRATS to all who made it in, and good luck going forward! And for those who didn't make it in, remember that this is all subjective. If you're unsure about your opening, consider entering AYAP's First Five Pages Workshop, which runs monthly, for some extra guidance!

And now, presenting:

THE TOP 25 ENTRIES
Author: Genre: Entry:	Terry Bell Young Adult Fantasy Pa was taking too long to cut the boys’ throats. Near ten minutes were run out since he’d vanished into the quarantine hut, and Fie had spent the last seven of them glaring at its gilded door and trying not to pick at a stray thread on her ragged black robe.
Author: Genre: Entry:	D Lollis Middle Grade Contemporary "Mom, Brandon is smelling his dirty underwear—again," my older sister Bethany yelled as I crawled on the cold marble tile of the third floor laundry room. She grabbed her black jacket from a hanger, rolled her eyes, and left me to search for kind-of-clean boxers.
Author: Genre: Entry:	KD Proctor New Adult Romance If it’s possible for a tray of pastries to blackmail me, I think I might need to file a restraining order against The Steamy Bean’s cinnamon chip scones. My stomach twists and bubbles, reminding me that eating one of those buttery, rich bad-boys minutes before my Skype interview is a really bad idea.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Kara Reynolds Young Adult SciFi The universe should have a rule that bad news can't arrive over breakfast, but it doesn't. So of course, the news of Jay’s murder came while I was eating a bowl of Rice Krispies, looking at my phone, and pretending not to hear my parents' argument.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Ellie Luken Young Adult Fantasy Only fools or the desperate wandered beyond the city walls by themselves. Zarailla had yet to determine which one of those categories the man on the horizon belonged to.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Devyn B. Makin Young Adult Magical Realism Routine is what predators look for in their prey. This was one of many sayings Jake Dorian heard growing up with his dad.
Author: Genre: Entry:	VV Sinnott Young Adult Magical Realism My parents were whispering in the living room, a sure sign they were talking about something they didn’t want me to hear. If they really wanted to keep their conversation private they should have had it somewhere else.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Michele Blood Young Adult Contemporary A bead of sweat nestled itself beneath the bandages pinching Alex's skin. "Get out," she said to the woman sporting a "Child Life Specialist" badge.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Olivia Hinebaugh Young Adult Magical Realism There wasn’t a funeral. Not like she deserved at least.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Angela Dahle Middle Grade Fantasy There aren't any unlucky numbers, only unlucky people. No arguing there, even if our link to ancient stardust is a fable knocked straight outta the Celestial Sky.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Mare Hagarty Young Adult Paranormal The first time I saw her, she was a pink and black blur, all sharp edges and hollows. Most people took the turn that led to White Beach instead of tripping up the rutted path through the woods to Seaview Lawn.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Laurine Bruder Young Adult Fantasy Ivy Greenhill's mind ticked as the prison wagon trundled along the dirt road. The stench of her waste made her gag, and her empty stomach cramped.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Gillian Libby Young Adult Romance I didn’t know it was possible to screw over your entire family after you’ve been dead for two hundred years, but it turns out you’re never too dead to ruin a legacy. When the long lost and most beloved King Oliver’s remains were found the people of Sonora rejoiced.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Joan Albright Young Adult Steampunk Silas clung to his tiny chainskiff, arms wrapped around the rail while it rocked and pitched and finally settled against the chain that held it in the sky. "Would you knock that off?"
Author: Genre: Entry:	PJN Young Adult Fantasy Four years ago no one knew my name. Now they chant it as I scale the stairs leading to the Rumeena.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Mae Parker Young Adult Fantasy Henbane Tower pierced the night like a dagger thrust into the heart of my kingdom. "Be brave, Persephone," I whispered, no stranger to talking to myself.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Holly Pettit Young Adult Historical In the dark part of the city – the Soviet sector – a garden party was just breaking up. It was in the Majakowskiring, a posh district where Socialist party officials lived.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Lana Pattinson Young Adult Historical Ominous clouds hovered over the loch, and Rowan Sinclair was about to lose his chance at freedom. The dense, yeasty aroma of alcohol settled on the sleeping casks like a thick blanket as Rowan crept into the whisky warehouse.
Author: Genre: Entry:	TL Sumner Young Adult Contemporary I could do anything for fifteen seconds. Ignoring the burning sensation engulfing my thighs and lungs, I pumped my arms and concentrated on staying two steps behind Reed Barkley as we rounded the last turn of the sunbaked track.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Gabi Snyder Middle Grade Contemporary After the funeral, I fall asleep and dream of snow. I dream of sledding in darkness across a deep blue lake.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Holly M. Campbell Young Adult Paranormal The man standing in the kitchen had not been dead long. Mary recognized the signs of a newbie.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Marva Dasef Middle Grade Fantasy A dark figure dropped silently from the window ledge to the alley below. Dressed in a black curiously darker than a coal mine, which, of course, no clothing had a right to be, no casual observer would notice the movement.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Cassidy Taylor Young Adult Fantasy Sounds of revelry drift up to Ruby's sitting room, but she wants no part of it. It is a distant cacophony, sounds of another world, another life.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Jenny Middle Grade Fantasy Deep in the forest, where the trees grew crooked and the wind whispered tales of woe, there was a tower, and in the tower there lived a girl. The tower was made of rough black stone and even though it stood taller than any tower should, the dark and twisted trees still stretched higher.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Lizz Huerta Young Adult Fantasy The stink of the Fire Warrior reached Indir before he spoke. She pretended not to know he was standing behind her, breathing through her mouth and concentrating on painting in the lines of the carving on the temple wall.