Kristie Choi

Maybe because these times are so horrifying but for YA, I’m really craving an atmospheric, layered horror mystery with the beautiful and lush but creepy vibes of Midsommar or The Honeys, even better if it’s romantic & queer #mswl

Some specific #MSWL cravings I’ve had these days for my YA list:

-high-concept post apocalyptic
-a romantic gothic/horror mystery
-beautiful, voicey trans/genderqueer anything
-yearning/longing vibes
-enemies/rivals to lovers
-twisted romance
-dark academia in a non-European setting

My bookshelf is 50% character-driven sff/speculative/spooky, 50% realistic contemporary/historical (coming-of-age romance, mystery/thriller, action-adventure, and verse novels), mostly by BIPOC, queer, or traditionally underrepresented folks, & my taste very much reflects that.

#MSWL Agents, I've been seeing some fantastic YA sff subs. I'll never say no to sff that captures my heart, but I'm also on the lookout for gorgeously written verse/prose, layered coming-of-age (historical or contemp) esp if it weaves in queer romance and/or mystery/suspense.

Or maybe what you have is not like anything we've ever seen before - super gay, weird, and innovative with all the seemingly disparate threads somehow coming together & there's just no way I could've known to want something like your bonkers creation. Well! I might want it then.

GN: absurd, funny MG; fantasy/spec like This Was Our Pact; YA like The Prince and the Dressmaker, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up..., Genderqueer, Go with the Flow, The Magic Fish, beautiful coming-of-age like This One Summer that lingers w/you but make it all gay gay gay. 5/6

YA: coming of age romance like Last Night at the Telegraph Club or Ari & Dante w/gorgeous prose; coming of gender; atmospheric gothic (like The Handmaiden); historical/nf; mystery/thrillers like Firekeeper's Daughter or Patron Saints of Nothing; character-driven speculative. 4/6

MG: character-driven fantasy/speculative/spooky; gorgeous verse novels; beautifully written coming-of-gender/gay stories w/ young people just beginning to come into their identity or discovering first love and crushes. Think Chiron in Moonlight when he's still a kid/preteen. 3/6

PB: I'd love to see nonfiction & fiction that undermine heteronormativity/gender binaries & celebrate queer kids beginning to find words for who they are, or who don't yet have the words for "trans," "nonbinary" (how you can be AMAB, feel like a girl, & still like girls) 2/6

With #queerpit approaching, I thought I'd write up a super specific super gay #MSWL . I acquire for picture books, MG, YA, graphic novels, & nonfiction for Atheneum, and I'm looking for queer esp intersectional (BIPOC, neurodivergent, disabled) and trans/NB/genderqueer voices. 1/6

GN #MSWL : If any creators/agents have a project w/a similar vibe as this, I'd love to see it! I'm also on the lookout for coming-of-gender stories; queer romance; contemporary like Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up.., This One Summer, Go with the Flow; absurdly funny MG/early readers

#mswl YA featuring gender outlaw badasses like Gladys Bentley

Picture Books: lyrical beautiful writing celebrating the different ways that people express love across cultures, personalities, the neurodiverse spectrum, or through disability. PBs that affirm "Love is love" and all the different incarnations love can take.

MG: stories highlighting the beauty of kids going through difficult things and complicated family dynamics; experiences of first love and crushes esp of queer kids discovering themselves; misfits finding connection, friendship, and the stirrings of desire.

Things I love in YA romances: queer love; sex-positivity; steaminess & tension; opposites attract (💜 stoic softies at heart); complex characters; discovering first love & lust; enemies or rivals to lovers; attraction (or battle) of minds; funny romantasy; dark gothic (2/)

A #MSWL in honor of love, specifics below but broadly: character-driven stories w/textured writing and complex themes, or beautiful prose that's deceptively simple & emotionally hard-hitting. A strong voice straddling commercial & literary lines, or more towards the latter. (1/)

YA historical featuring a trans/NB mc w/the gorgeous evocative prose of The Last Night at the Telegraph Club. A sense of angst, discovery, desire, a bit of complexity. If I'd had TLNATTC when I was younger, I'd have understood myself earlier. I want that for trans/NB teens #mswl

I'm a total softie who releases all the spiders in my house, but this is truly a touching story. Is this a picture book yet? #mswl

#MSWL a beautifully written PB/MG/YA touching upon and shedding light on Korean American history. Something like one of my favorite films, 말모이 Mal-Mo-E, weaving humor, nuanced characters, complicated family dynamics beating w/love, & a spirit of resistance against the odds.

When it comes to taste, I tend to be drawn to visual projects & prose w/strong imagery. #mswl For I was a kid whose art school dreams were dashed early on, & the inner art kid hasn't died yet. I doodle at a pace of 1x year & am planning the next. Last year's existential lantern: