Alex Grana

Updated 6/2/25

I am open to queries from the 1st through 7th of every month!

I am mainly looking for middle grade and young adult projects at this time, but am also open to select adult manuscripts. I love gothic fiction of all kinds and crave horror through immersive atmosphere and prose. I’m drawn to big, messy feelings and characters screwing up over and over before succeeding.

Currently, I’m on the hunt for YA and MG mysteries and thrillers, YA fantasy with teeth, and YA and MG horror! I’m craving intricately told stories—whether that be puzzle pieces or interpersonal drama or world building, I’m looking for many moving pieces. I’m also especially looking for stories from BIPOC and queer authors.

Across the Board:

• Science fiction, fantasy, and horror! 
• Queer narratives, queer characters, queer authors
• Stories about challenging authority and societal norms
• Sisterhood stories
• Stories set in the PNW, Appalachia, or arctic
• Indigenous stories
• Stories about our relationships to our environments through a solarpunk lens
• Mother-daughter stories
• Gothic fiction of all kinds
• Mysteries involving puzzles/code breaking
• Swim team books

Middle Grade:

• Stories reminiscent of Spirited Away. The magical world is strange and exciting and feels like home at the same time. The already-independent protagonist comes into their own because of the fantastical world. 
• Scary stories that keep you up at night. Give me ghost hunting and small town monsters and haunted cemeteries and creepy forests. Especially in underexplored settings!
• Whodunits!
• Stories about self-discovery through community building. Think starting clubs or joining sports teams or community gardens.

Young Adult:

• Dual timeline mysteries. Mysteries with epistolary elements. Mysteries solved by racing against the clock to put puzzle pieces together.
• Narratives inspired by reality TV or featuring reality TV!
• Feral girl protagonists
• High concept contemporary stories about teenage firsts
• Psychological thrillers
• Girl gangs
• Intricately detailed fantasy worlds
• Dystopian fiction. Heavy on environmental elements and/or romance.
• Intense romance! Give me slow burns and love at first sight and yearning! Bonus points for queer romances.

Adult:

• Gothic horror, horroromance, and romantasy with teeth! Bonus points for any monster romances
• Upmarket horror featuring body horror, religious themes or deconstruction, and cults
• Historical fiction centering marginalized experiences, from queer and BIPOC perspectives to exploring class structures and anticolonialism

I’m happy to consider projects that do not exactly match any of the above elements.

I am not a good fit for space operas, science fiction centering around AI, historical fiction about war, or procedural thrillers.

Submission Guidelines

Please share your query letter, 1-2 page synopsis, and the first ten pages of your manuscript using my query form.

Unsolicited submissions sent via email will not be considered. Submissions that utilize AI in any part will not be considered.

Guidelines & Details