Today was a special day for me. When I went to get the office mail, at the mailbox was a copy of JONESBRIDGE: ECHOES OF HINTERLAND (Diversion Books, 2015), the first book I took on as an agent. 

Originally the book was titled HINTERLAND, but during the shopping process Bloomsbury came out with a book bearing the same title (Kimberley always says titles come in pairs), so we had to go back to the drawing board. 

Jonesbridge is the dystopian landscape where main characters Myron and Sindra make their way sorting salvage metal to fuel a war effort they fail to doubt exists. 

I'm so very happy to see this book in print, and Diversion's enthusiasm for this project makes me so happy; they snapped up the next two books in the series and have already begun recording the audio book. 

Here is the original query I used to pitch M.E.'s book:

HINTERLAND falls at the intersection of Fahrenheit 451 and The Road.  It is a story of loss of information and the onset of dystopia with elements of steampunk/enviropunk.

In a landscape where the world's knowledge has fallen into ruin through disaster and war, a fractured society has rebuilt from known industrial-revolution-era technology, a stymied culture mired in constant conflict for remaining resources.

Young protagonist Myron Daw knows little of life outside the restrictive "protection" of the Jonesbridge Industrial Complex, where he has sifted metals to fuel the war effort for years.  He longs to escape to a place called Bora Bora. When new arrival Sindra joins the salvage line, Myron's world changes to include her. Sindra confides in Myron that the Complex guards are violating her and she is pregnant despite the sterilization procedure. Myron confides in Sindra that he's been building an airship to escape Jonesbridge. As the two plan their escape together, they are separated and caught. Sindra struggles with the feeling that Myron has flown to Bora Bora without her, unaware that Myron has also been captured...and put on trial for the murder of a guard he did not commit.

M.E. Parker is founder and editor in chief of nationally recognized Camera Obscura Journal of Literature & Photography (distributed to 177 B&N stores and 150 independent bookstores). The journal website generates 60K unique visitors annually. M.E.'s  short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, and his websites can be viewed at www.obscurajournal.com and www.meparker.com. M.E. is active across all social media platforms and attends publishing conferences in promotion of his journal on a regular basis.

To view M.E.'s website, click here.