At the top of my #MSWL this year: AMBITION. I'm looking for books that take big swings at big feelings and bigger questions, with writing that makes me stop in my tracks and whisper, holy $%!*. Let's do this, 2020.

Ok, it’s 2020. I would like to see much more queer horror, please and thank you #MSWL

I’m so excited to see what fresh #horror stories are out there, but honestly I’m especially eager to see manuscripts that blow away all my #mswl expectations! Cheers to 2020!

I desperately want a book about a cult or false prophet, but not one that uses rape and torture as its primary function. I demand more creative plot devices! I’m super intrigued by start-up messiahs, influencers, and company towns. #mswl

I am very interested in seeing something that poignantly captures and works off the abject horror of what we’re doing at the borders (literal children in CAGES), especially #ownvoices #mswl

My favorite themes & tropes: monsters (werewolves, sirens, witches, vampires), hauntings, cults, fairytales, toxic relationships turned fatal, family dynamics, class & power imbalances, revenge, meta horror, body horror, psychological terror... #mswl

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (with @Billyjensen @PaulHoles), The Fact of a Body (@alexmlwrites): Nonfiction that captures the atrocities and fear of the subject matter, but is not voyeuristic, with stranger-than-fiction twists. #mswl

In the House in the Dark of the Woods (@LairdHunt), The Changeling (@victorlavalle), The Merry Spinster (@daniel_m_lavery): Creatively reinvented and nightmarish fairytales & folklore -- from all cultures please, not just Western! #mswl

Friday Black (@NK_Adjei), Her Body & Other Stories (@carmenmmachado), The Pisces (@melissabroder): Speculative fiction with a dark bent, surreal Twilight Zone-type stories gone malicious, literary fiction with subtle horror veins. #mswl

Mongrels (@SGJ72), A Head Full of Ghosts (@paulGtremblay), When We Were Animals (Joshua Gaylord): Coming of age stories with monsters as metaphors, monsters inside of us, cleverly subverted horror tropes with contemporary twists. #mswl

Beginning the new year by looking to the future and dreaming about the possibilities for my @TorNightfire list. So, here’s a quick 2020 #horror #mswl based on some of my favorite books of the last decade (THREAD!):

-My long shot: Still looking for a literary epic multigenerational family saga with magic realism set in the South. A Southern 100 Years of Solitude. Does it exist? Did you write it?!

-Nonfiction (kids/adult): Pop science projects, biographies about lesser-known figures

-Literary fiction (adult): I haven't stopped thinking about HISTORY OF WOLVES since I read it, so, lit fic about complex family relationships, growing up/aging, mental health, darker topics. Also, since it's election year & my anxiety will be running high, hopeful topics.

-Horror (YA/adult): Psychological horror, body horror, hauntings, & other weird/new/different horror. (Also, I am NOT looking for zombies/werewolves/vampires/other creatures at this time.)

-Domestic thrillers (adult): I love them, & I never get these! Please send me your domestic/psychological thrillers; I vastly prefer them over any other kind & would love to find one with an amazing hook. One of my recent favorites was JP Delaney's THE GIRL BEFORE.

👀 #MSWL. I grew up in Texas, but my family’s from Tulsa. Black cowboys were always around. 🤠 🐎

110% ditto #mswl

Happy 2020! I’m back open to queries!! Send me...

#MG:

LOL fantasy, contemporary tackling big topics, queer madcap ensemble adventures!

#YA:

Weird crimes/myths, underdog fantasy, dark paranormal, experimental shit!

#querytip #mswl #subtip #amquerying

I’m very excited to be reopening to submissions today! Send me quirky, magical middle-grade or YA novels to fall in love with. Send me adult fiction that I can’t put down. But more than anything, send me books that are filled with hope. Writers from all backgrounds welcome! #MSWL