Vanessa Aguirre

In both YA and adult, I’m looking for sharp, commercial stories with engaging stakes, stand-out voice, and characters you’d follow anywhere. I have a soft spot for anything SFFH: fantasy, science fiction, horror, speculative, magical realism (especially if it honors its anti-colonialist Latin American roots), and all things in between. I am also actively looking for mysteries, thrillers, and romances.

Regardless of genre, if you have a story with characters who you’d (affectionately) say need therapy, I’ll be hooked! And I never think any trope or concept is overdone, especially when authors from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds haven’t had their chance with it.

Some specific—but absolutely not exhaustive—things I am looking for across both YA and adult:

• A dark, atmospheric gothic like Mexican Gothic and What Moves the Dead
• Star-crossed lovers, forbidden romance, love stories spanning centuries and worlds and kingdoms
• All things horror
• Crossgenre romance (romantasy, murder mystery romance, horror romance, etc.)
• Stories exploring cults, religious trauma, and/or religion itself
• Dark naturalism! Weird things in the woods! Books comped to Erin A. Craig or Holly Black!
• Beautiful, lush fairy tales and folklore, especially if they’re from a non-Western European tradition
• Stories that explore intersectional identities and/or identities that exist in two worlds, such as first-generation Americans or the experience of being biracial
• Cozy fantasy like Legends and Lattes, Assistant to the Villain, and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

In adult specifically…

• Voicey, smart mysteries and thrillers centering traditionally underrepresented protagonists, like Last Call at the Nightingale and Dial A for Aunties
• Crime fiction with an unhinged narrator—and, in that vein, stories with a murderer or criminal POV are welcome 🙂
• Speculative rom coms such as The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy and The Dead Romantics
• High-concept, offbeat rom coms with an unforgettable voice, like Mistakes Were Made and Love in the Time of Serial Killers
• Hard-hitting psychological character studies with a dark edge, like My Dark Vanessa, A Certain Hunger, and My Sister, The Serial Killer. Especially if they center female, BIPOC, and/or queer protagonists.
• Grounded, accessible science fiction

In YA…

• Fantasy with clever, ruthless political machinations made by clever, ruthless people
• Dystopia from a traditionally marginalized perspective that also serves as a sociocultural and/or political critique of present-day systems (please do not just give me a world where the main twist is that people falling in love is illegal)

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be emailed to vanessa.aguirre@stmartins.com

Agented submissions only.