[QCrit] Magical Realism Boxing - The City of Murals (Word count: 90,000.)(Zero attempts so far)

Hi everyone! Long time lurker but I'm really pumped to finally (8 years in the making) present a query letter for feedback. I'm open to all criticism, just trying to get this in best possible shape before sending it out anywhere.

Dear [agent’s name or publishing company],

The City of Murals is a 90,000-word magical realism boxing story that takes place in the underdog city of Philadelphia. In gritty, mural-cluttered streets of Fishtown, Philly, think Rocky with a strong dose of Everything Everywhere All At Once. This is a raw and uplifting story for anyone who’s fought unseen battles with their mind and kept swinging, even when victory seemed out of reach.

Terrance Medici is a bipolar, paranoid schizophrenic with a lightning-quick jab but little else. His father? Dead. Mom? Disappeared into addiction. Now in his thirties, he’s overmedicated, constantly on the hunt for a therapist that can help him, aimless with an unsteady gait to boot, and living under the scornful eye of his younger sister in her Fishtown townhome. Haunted by hallucinations, the murals of Philly speak to him (literally), sometimes offering wisdom, other times sending him running scared.

When one of the murals indirectly leads him to Aura “The Wiz” Wisda, a former local legend in women’s boxing, she reluctantly agrees to train him, knowing that Terrance might be a few steps over eccentric. Even as Terrance commits to the grueling grind of boxing, Aura has reservations that he could be even achieve mild success in the sport. But what begins as a frenzied attempt at his self-worth becomes an all-out underdog journey toward the ring.

Along the way, Terrance finds allies in real murals scattered around the Philly including Frank Zappa, John Coltrane, and Emmanuel “The Drunken Master” Augustus. In fact, when he’s not training with Aura, he believes he’s training with Augustus, adopting his erratic, drunken style, as unpredictable as Terrance’s mind. While the city around him comes alive, Terrance must confront not only his final opponent in the ring, but his own grief and fractured identity. I’d also like to add—this story was written as a love letter to Philadelphia, one of the most surreal places on Earth. Anyone loves this weird city as much as myself will connect with this book.

With surreal humor, kinetic fight scenes, and emotional grit, The City of Murals explores what it means to be repeatedly knocked down in life and still stand up to continue swinging. It will resonate with fans of Haruki Murakami’s entrancing yet offbeat Kafka on the Shore, the gritty realism of Norman Mailer’s The Fight, and the redemptive pull of Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library.

I’m a high school literature teacher who has lived in Philadelphia and worked in Camden, NJ for the past twelve years. This novel is personal, not just for me, but also for the students I serve. I want to prove to them that, with passion and persistence, even the hardest fights can be won.

Thank you for consideration. Amid the summer blockbuster rush, I humbly ask you to consider a story with heart, grit, and hit potential—The City of Murals. I’d be thrilled to share my manuscript with you upon request.

Warmly,

________________________, MA.Ed in Secondary English Education