Comps: PAN’S LABYRINTH for fairy-tale horror, Carrie Ryan (especially THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH), THE YEAR OF THE WITCHING, FINAL GIRLS, MEXICAN GOTHIC, WILDER GIRLS. I also can’t get enough horror movies—BODIES BODIES BODIES and BARBARIAN are two more that’ve stuck with me!

Horror, YA & adult - To me, the best horror has social commentary (WHAT WE HARVEST, EAT YOUR HEART OUT). I love horror blended with fantasy or fairy tales. I never get tired of creepy forests & small towns with secrets, whether it’s a current setting, historical, or high fantasy!

This year, I’ll be looking first for MG, then YA, then adult, then PB. My preference is for dark genre work (fantasy, horror, suspense) and rom-coms/lighter contemporary! I’m newly open to adult rom-coms after falling in love with a few last year. 😁

I would love to see a horror submission that takes inspiration from the Great God Pan - give me unearthly awakenings, sinister horned gods and eerie woodlands #MSWL

My new #MSWL is live on my site! Mark your calendars for Valentines Day, when I repoen to #amquerying writers!

So, what am I seeking? This year I'm prioritizing queer specfic, BIPOC voices, and romance novels of all kinds. Let's dive into the specifics!

stgibson.com/manuscript-wis…

"Would love to see more psychological horror in my query inbox—especially anything with a remote location (“abandoned” anything is a major selling point for me!), a haunted house (house as character!), and/or a final girl."
@claire_m_harris #MSWL

psliterary.com/submissions/

#MSWL I’m getting a lot of great subs in since I opened up, but not a lot in what I’m REALLY hankering for right now: adult horror, thrillers, suspense whether they are grounded or have more of a supernatural element. I want to be unsettled and engrossed!

So I just saw that there’s a train stuck in rural SC for like 29hrs & the passengers are all stuck & this is terrible & tragic & also would make a great backdrop to a thriller/horror novel 😬 #MSWL (of course I hope it ends happily for the real life folks it’s happening to ❤️)

WHITE HORSE? Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Crisis. Awful father disappears his own daughter and no bothers to investigate. Not even her friends or family. The monster? The crisis itself.

Okay, that’s it for horror. Hope it’s help.

Now onto nonfiction!

Sure, there were monsters but only monsters driven by humanity’s own misdeeds. There would be no horror in ALL THE WHITE SPACES without the sins and guilt those explorers brought with them. Even the fact they traveled there showed their dark desires.

Forget serial killers and the Albert Fishes. Show me SOFT AND QUIET. The horror everyday people do. Examples? WHITE HORSE, ALL THE WHITE SPACES, THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS.

What makes the best horror? The unknown. We don’t need monsters that go bump in the night because we are the monsters. Show me the evil darkness of humanity. What do I actually mean?

Transgender, LGBTQIA horror.

I’ve been feeling survival horror in the vein of ALL THE WHITE SPACES. Give me isolation, hauntings, nature vs humanity, cli-fi, upmarket. Think EVENT HORIZON without the sci-fi. IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS is another good one. Also, horror from marginalized voices: #mswl

What am I looking for? HORROR and NONFICTION ! My #mswl thread:

I'm also only considering memoir and sci-fi very selectively. I'm not the best fit for epic/high fantasy (think Game of Thrones) but I do like magical realism, urban fantasy and some paranormal and horror.

TV Show comps that will always make me pause are The Bear, Peaky Blinders, and Frontier. I would honestly kill for an indigenous POV look at the fur trapping industry, or raw, demystifying looks at the restaurant industry (Top Chef horror would be dope)

If you're writing Adult or YA SFF with horror as a subgenre pls query me I was reminded today of how much I love it #MSWL

I updated a #MSWL one-sheet for January '23, plus I'll keep tweeting and evolving like the book gremlin I am!
Also, credit to Inkyard Press for the idea of using scales to help capture vibes ::gestures to self::

#mswl I am really into my gothic horror at the moment. Especially if you can comp Crimson Peak, Nothing but Blackened Teeth, or Dracula.