Exciting things are happening for several of our Angsters this month.

CONGRATULATIONS to TESSA ELWOOD (@feonua)!  After a whirlwind query process, and multiple offers from several outstanding agents, Tessa has agreed to an offer of representation for her YA SciFi, TETHERED. She is proud to announce that her work will be represented by literary agent Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown, LTD.

Been waiting for an amazing YA SciFi? Here’s a sneak peak at TETHERED.

First rule of pulling shit off: look ‘em in the eye and lie like hell.

Seventeen-year-old Sophie has lying down pat. She could write a textbook on How to Disappear. But this time Sophie pulls out all the stops—fake I.D., dyed eyes, no traceable Outer Edge credits. This time it’s permanent. She’s no longer Sophie, sister of the murdered toddler who walks with bloody feet through Sophie’s dreams. Daughter of the universe-famous inventor who blew his brains all over the wall. She’s an unattached drifter taking shit jobs piloting rust-bucket TUGs in the backwater of the universe.

But backwaters have a bad habit of washing up the unexpected. Like the crackerjack mechanic who sees through her disguise, or the stranger who knows more about Sophie’s past than he’s telling. Like how the killers want Sophie, too. She can keep running. Find another backwater. Live to see her next birthday. Or face the loss of everything she ever loved—and the ones responsible for it.

Last rule of standing ground? When all hell breaks loose, make sure that hell is you.

CONGRATULATIONS are also in order for our Poet in Angst Residence, Cynthia Grady! Cynthia’s book, I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, January 2012) has been selected as a “Staff Pick” of the month at Kid’s Ink Children’s Book Store.

Each poem in this deeply moving new title is accompanied by a beautiful patchwork quilt illustration and an explanation of the poem’s origin.  The sorrow and pain of slavery is evident in each poem just as the hope and aspirations of the slaves.  Recommended for ages 10 and up I Lay My stitches Down deals with difficult issues such as a mother losing her child to the auction block, a slave house, and the underground railroad.

On behalf of everyone at Ink & Angst, we are so proud of you both!