Labyrinth of Night, unpublished novel by T. L. James; semifinalist in 2009 ABNA contest

Earlier this year, Amazon.com held a writing contest for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, the winner of which received a Penguin publishing contract. One of the semifinalists was the unpublished YA science fiction novel Labyrinth of Night, written by Thomas L. “T.L.” James of Marsblog.net. Set on a recently colonized Mars starring 14-year-old Amber Jacobsen, daughter of NASA astronauts and the only child to be born on Mars, here are the opening lines of the novel:

Aboard the Odysseus Habitation (“Hab”) Module
Ares III Joint US/Russian Mission to Mars
September 4, 2029

They had made it. More or less.

The crew looked at each other for a long, quiet moment, before Mission Comander Art Martinez grinned broadly and broke the heavy silence. “Houston, Odysseus. We’ve had a bit of excitement here, but we’ve landed safe and sound. Initiating post-landing checkout and vehicle safing.” The crewmembers fell into well-rehearsed routines, checking vehicle systems and transitioning the hab from landing mode to surface mode. They could celebrate later, after the hab was safed and they figured out where they were and what had gone wrong. ...

You can read the prologue and first two chapters (18 pages) of Labyrinth of Night for free as an Amazon Short.

Also, it's worth Noting that as a contest semifinalist, James' unpublished novel received a review (positive!) from Publishers Weekly.

Best of success to T.L. James in getting Labyrinth of Night published!