This is from the body of the query letter I’m currently sending to literary agents regarding my novel, Everything’s Fearful Dead. If you’re an agent or a publisher and you’d like to see more, feel free to email me at briantedjones@gmail.com:
Everything's Fearful Dead begins in spring 2005 and centers on two men: Rayber McQwon, a teenager living on a cult compound called Forkpitch in rural Bokilakawphyn County, Oklahoma, and Jack Tull, the cult's charismatic leader who goes only by Etron (think Mitt Romney mashed up with Anton Chigurh).
Forkpitch has gone to seed since its founding in the early 1990s, but Etron's marshalled his following into a heavily-armed militia funded by an organized crime network called the Outfit. And although Rayber's a devoted son to his drug-addled parents and disabled brother, he's too smart to be anything but miserable on Forkpitch. When Etron offers him the chance to join the Outfit, he gladly leaves his old life behind.
The Outfit's like an evil Avengers made up out of characters from King of the Hill. It includes a Native American spy, a commando squad of former high school athletes, an insecure, acne-plagued Iraq war vet, two good-old-boy truckers who specialize in human trafficking, and a pair of male sex workers who operate in Oklahoma's tribal casinos. With their help, Etron's acquired a growing foothold in the market for drugs and prostitution in the southeast corner of the state.
Still, Etron isn't satisifed with the secret empire he's built in Bokilakawphyn County. As his shrewd Native American lieutenant Meashantubby trains Rayber to be the Outfit's deadliest killer yet, Etron puts the pieces in place for an all-out attack on Sonny Tawwater, Little Dixie's reigning drug kingpin.
But when the Outfit makes its first big move on Sonny, Etron leaves Rayber out of the action, and instead deposits him with a grandfather Rayber never knew named Frank, who teaches Rayber how to manufacture the mysterious pills at the heart of the Outfit's power: Pills that make you drunk, pills that make you high, pills that improve your sexual performance or decrease your inhibitions. Even pills that give you night-vision, super-strength, and telepathy.
Because Frank and Etron have a secret…
(Let me know if you’d like to see the rest.)