Valued contributor Sophie Masson is on a hot streak! Here’s her latest:

When it rains it pours–got more good news yesterday–a new book of mine, JACK OF SPADES (a fun spy thriller for kids set in Paris in 1910 against a background of anarchist attacks) has just been bought by the UK publisher Chicken House–but as they have close links with Scholastic, it will also be published in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand!

I feel so lucky at the moment..

Fantastic news, Sophie! 

For those curious about JACK OF SPADES, here’s the pitch:

It’s May 1910 and 17 year old Linda Duke has just received a strange message: a playing card, the Jack of Spades, in an envelope that was sent from Paris, where her widowed father, Professor Charles Duke, a noted but impractical Shakespearean scholar, has gone on a research trip. In the code devised by her late French mother Madeleine, who was a dedicated card-player, ‘Jack of Spades’ means treachery and danger. Her father knows that. But it is not his handwriting on the envelope. Linda is convinced he is in great danger, and being both brave and determined, decides to set out immediately to Paris to look for him, starting with the place where he was meant to be staying, a guest-house in the Latin Quarter called the Villa Ardennes.

Juicy, loaded with intrigue and danger. Sounds like Sophie’s got another hit on her hands!

We also just received word from WU friend and editor Lisa Rector about The 2nd Annual Lisa Rector Young Writers Scholarship. Here’s the scoop, straight from her press release:

1st place, SIWC Full Scholarship,2009.
2nd place, critique by a Literary Agent
3rd place, critique by an Editor or Writer

The winner will be invited to attend the Surrey International Writers’ Conference October 23-25, 2009 in Surrey, Canada. 3-day conference pass includes entry to an awards banquet announcing the winner and a consult with a participating agent or editor attending this year’s conference. Scholarship does not include meals, travel or accommodation.

Students between the ages of 12-18, currently enrolled in a junior high, senior high or college program, are eligible to enter. Contest is open to Canadian, US and Worldwide residents.

Submission guidelines

Please include:

1. An original, unpublished work of less than 1000 words, typed and double-spaced in 12-point Courier or Times New Roman font. Each page of the work should be titled but should not contain any information about the author. Work that previously appeared in school publications is eligible.

2. A cover letter with the author’s contact information, the title of their submission and a paragraph outlining the student’s goals as a writer.

3. A letter of recommendation from an instructor in the current or previous academic year.

Submit entries to the following address:

Lisa Rector
c/o Young Writers Scholarship
95 Horatio Street., Suite 9M
New York, NY 10014 USA.

MS Word attachments are also accepted via email to: . Emailed submissions must adhere to the above rules and must be received by midnight on the postmarked deadline of July 30, 2009 in order to qualify. A confirmation email will be sent to the applicant once their submission has been received.

Entries may be made in any of the following genres: fiction, poetry, personal essay or memoir. One entry per applicant.

Important dates

Application Deadline: July 30, 2009
Finalists Announced September 5, 2009
Scholarship Awarded October 23-25, 2009

Finalists are responsible for their own meals, accommodation and travel to and from the conference.

For further information, please contact Lisa Rector at

Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She has written two novels under the pseudonym Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter--both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President's teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins.
Kathleen Bolton
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