Cassie Mannes Murray

I suppose this is also some insight into how I look at longer queries and what I'm interested in as a literary agent. Since I'll be opening to queries later this summer--I'm looking for more of what these two have! <3

But here's the longer #MSWL too: manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/cass…

On December 1, I'm opening to queries again. So, here is an #MSWL for #amquerying writers. <3 A note: I am only looking for nonfiction at the moment, BUT for the first time ever, I'm looking for YA nonfiction too! Weeeee!

I am also looking for unforgettable characters in messy plots. In the last year I loved: Such a Fun Age, 1414°, The Lightness, Sharks in the Time of Saviors, Tampa, Parakeet, Nightfilm, Luster, Creatures, Trust Exercise, and Costalegre. #MSWL

NONFICTION: I am interested in SO MANY THINGS and I am begging, BEGGING, for the next Mary Roach to enter my inbox. Story-fying the truth or the weird is most important to me. Nonfiction needs voice as much as any novel. #MSWL

I am interested in books (both fiction and nonfiction) about rural places, small towns, insular communities, imagined or reshaped versions of these as well. My client, @swbrooman has a story collection, THE PUMP, that encapsulates what I would love to see. #MSWL

I am ALWAYS (read: ALWAYS) looking for novels that feel like a fever dream. Samantha Schweblin does this incredibly well. Daisy Johnson also. Books that sort of remove plot as a device and interrupt themselves with voice. #MSWL

As far as nonfiction, I am looking for narrative nonfiction, science, and pop culture books. I am not looking for straight personal memoir, only memoirs that really explode with research, second and third angles, or tell a story beyond the self. #MSWL

Books that upset Western "ideals" of literature. I would like to be pushed out of my reading comfort zone. Anything related to the eeriness and hunger, including the very visceral sense of bodies and place that Han Kang creates in her books is of interest to me. #MSWL

Okay, I have to go but here are some #MSWL things I’m looking for:
—anyone writing a novel about teen content houses (tiktok, YouTube, etc), please send it my way.
—if Scream Queens was made into a novel, I want to represent that novel.
—strange, left of center, think: The Need

This is my favorite prompt. If you’re writing a retelling that is queer, unexpected, just plain ol’ weird, or using an obscure fairytale from literally any culture but especially non-western, I totally want it in my inbox. #MSWL

Submissions(@)howlandliterary(.)com

Writers: I want all your quirky coming of age (adult) novels. If it’s slipstream, speculative, weird, dreamy, send it my way. I want witches. I would like to see anything that gets weird in similar ways to Daisy Johnson. If it feels like a punch to my face, great! #mswl

A note: I don't accept queries to any email except submissions(@)howlandliterary(.)com

(Unless I have asked you personally to send a query elsewhere).

Please follow our website directions. They are small, but mighty! I will delete & feel heaps guilty, but also ruthless.

#MSWL

I’m desperate for some YA nonfiction in my inbox. Not so much nostalgic adult looking back, but urgent, voice-driven, high-tension, poetic language for young adults. Think: Jacqueline Woodson! #mswl #amquerying

💌: submissions(@)howlandliterary(.)com

I have been a Love Island UK evangelist for several years. Winter season is no less, BUT if you’re writing a book about reality tv, set on a reality show, or girl friendships of the toxic or not variety (YA, Adult) I want to read it!

#MSWL

For the record, I’m ALWAYS looking for southern lit across nonfiction, fiction, YA, and middle grades. Always. There is never a time I’m not actively looking for that. #mswl