Kristie Choi

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

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

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/)

YAAS. Jobu Tupaki may be one of the best characters to ever grace the film screen. My wild #MSWL: a smart YA that has the feel of Everything Everywhere All at Once from the POV of Jobu w/the dysfunctional but heartfelt family dynamics, existential angst, absurd humor, & queer rep

Have a pile of submissions to get to but a #mswl that's been on my heart ever since my trans/NB partner told me they've never seen themself reflected in lit: more books (PB, MG, YA, GN) featuring genderqueer main characters pls. There's power in lit, and the fascists know it.