Tina’s 2021 #MSWL
Following in Alex’s footsteps with her wish list, I’m Tina. For ten years, I worked in the corporate publishing world as first an editor, then supervisor of eighteen editors, then a project coordinator for digital products. I have a B.A. in English, a Certificate in Publishing, and a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing (in which I earned a Letter of Distinction). I would love to see manuscripts that push boundaries in terms of genre, tropes, and format.
This is what I’m looking for in 2021:
Science Fiction / Speculative Fiction
I am a sci-fi fanatic. Along with having written and self-published my award-winning novel, What Branches Grow, I read around thirty sci-fi titles a year (and it’s pretty much the only genre I watch on TV, that, and cooking shows). I love all sub-genres of sci-fi.
I would love a hard sci-fi about studying life on a new planet, life on a space station, or a marooned ship struggling to get home. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson would be an example.
I enjoy a good space opera about humans vs humans or humans vs aliens, but there would need to be more than action. For example, Leviathan’s Wake by James S.A. Corey delves into the divisions we make as humans. Or if it’s an allegory or a satire (like Verhoven’s Starship Troopers), explain in your submission why it’s more than entertainment. If it’s a trilogy, the trilogy must be fully written for me to consider it.
Military sci-fi has to have epic battles and interesting aliens but also needs to have a team dynamic that is heavy on the banter. Think Tanya Huff’s Confederation series. I would love a female-fronted military sci-fi.
I would be open to a space opera like Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, as long as the aliens are unique and complex.
Mixed genres are also of interest to me. I adored Gideon the Ninth (by Tamsyn Muir), with its blend of magical necromancy and space stations.
And speaking of Gideon the Ninth, don’t be shy to send me anything “weird.” I’ve love to find the next Jeff VanderMeer or an author with the descriptive grit of Kameron Hurley.
I am very picky about time travel, but send it along anyway.
I’m also looking for manuscripts from emerging voices. Please don’t be shy to send me your lesbian post-apocalyptic adventure. (Please do! I want that).
Fantasy
I am less interested in fantasy than sci-fi, but if you have a novel with great worldbuilding, a well-developed magic system, and/or awesome sword fights, I’m interested. I really want something different here, like N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth trilogy or something gritty and down-to-earth like Joe Abercrombie. No dragons or “chosen one” prophecies. And if your women are only princesses or love interests/mothers, forget it. I want female warriors. But a female-identifying warrior who is also a mother would be, pardon the fantasy pun, epic.
Historical Fiction
Like Alex, I too am interested in historical fiction, but my tastes lean towards:
- the Victorian period
- the Fin de siècle
- WWI
- the interim war period
I am looking for historical perspectives from voices not often on the forefront. Do you have a novel about gay soldiers in WWI? Do you have a novel about female servants of colour in the 1800s? Canadian history is also of interest to me (as long as it’s not about our Prime Ministers or the whigs and the grits).
Experimental Fiction
Do you have the next House of Leaves? Do you venerate Dhalgren? Have you read Wittgenstein’s Mistress, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, or even Infinite Jest? I’m not looking for something incomprehensible like Finnigan’s Wake, but I’m no stranger to “found-texts” or books considered “meta”. It might end up being too niche for us, but you will have gained at least one reader when you do publish (that would be me).
In all genres, please refrain from sending:
YA
Books where children make up the bulk of the characters
Father-son stories
Stories that begin with a “fridged” love interest
Fairy tale re-imaginings
Vampires
Please visit our submissions page here, and we look forward to reading your query!
