Caroline Miranda

Don Congdon Associates

My Manuscript Wish List®

After graduating from New York University with a B.A. in English & American Literature in 2018, I interned with literary agencies Don Congdon Associates and the Lotts Agency before rejoining DCA as their assistant in 2019. I am a member of the Association of American Literary Agents’ DEI committee. I also serve on the Literary Agents of Change’s Board of Directors and co-direct its Fellowship Program.

I aim to represent diverse voices in speculative fiction, in both the children’s and adult markets, as well as select nonfiction. In particular, I’m interested in representing horror, science fiction, and fantasy.

In adult fiction, I enjoy literary to upmarket high-concept, plot-driven, novels with strong world-building, vivid settings, and clear emotional or existential stakes. I gravitate toward fiction that takes on the sociopolitical challenges of our world and has something to say about community and what it means to be a person within one. I’m looking for anything that grapples with impending doom—social & environmental collapse, hauntings (both internal and external), and characters who deal with the existential and cataclysmic while also reckoning with everyday, personal apocalypses. While I appreciate a heavy dose of gloom and terror, I also like sci-fi & fantasy stories that find hope even in dire circumstances—give me all the romantic subplots and coming-of-age stories—as well as fantasy and science fiction on the “cozy” end of the spectrum. Above all, I am dying for anything that breathes new life into the gothic tradition. Please send me gothic horror; I adore all things atmospheric, creeping, dreadful, and eldritch. I’m also seeking short stories in any speculative genre collected around a distinct theme and with a strong sense of purpose.

Please send me/favorite elements:
  • Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror with Creatures (leviathans, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, goblins & fae). New spins that add to, critique, or comment on the historical (and often problematic) symbolism.
  • Gothic settings, especially when the Sublime is involved. Haunted places (and haunted people).
  • Horror & sci-fi that remind me of Moffat’s best Doctor Who episodes (Blink, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, Silence in the Library, Girl in the Fireplace).
  • Anything with 70s/80s gothic & sci-fi cinema aesthetics and themes: low-tech, grungy, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, not-what-we-hoped-for futures.
  • The terror of having a body and mind, explored in speculative fiction.
  • Romantic subplots that have heavy emotional consequences (think Rose & Ten, Though I Knew the End, Our Wives Under the Sea, One Last Stop); gothic romantic subplots that remind me of Labyrinth, Crimson Peak, Mexican Gothic; subplots that do enemies to friends, enemies to lovers, or lovers to enemies as well as Daughter of the Moon Goddess and This Is How You Lose the Time War; slow burn romances and anything that brings Howl’s Moving Castle to mind.
  • Cosmic horror
  • Mythology, folklore
  • Experimental form, multiple timelines & POVs
  • Metaphor, allegory

In middle grade, give me a group of nerdy friends who find themselves while looking for ghosts, an outcast who gains magical powers, a girl who realizes she has a crush on her best friend who might not be human, after all, and I’ll be thrilled. In YA, I want characters with distinct voices and growth arcs who find their place in the world, themselves, what it means to belong, or learn what it means to be a true friend amidst family drama, crushes, the stress of school, and/or apocalypse.

Please send me/favorite elements:
  • Contemporary, speculative MG & YA
  • High-fantasy YA
  • MG that addresses bullying, not fitting in, finding your place and your real friends
  • MG & YA about nerds, geeks; weirdo friend groups (and/or anything about fandom–from boybands to TV shows)
  • Immersive universes and MG fantasy that remind me of Inkheart, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Percy Jackson

As for nonfiction, I’m looking for narrative nonfiction that explores history and science in a fun, approachable, or deeply personal way. If it’s gross or spooky, I want to read about it. As a member of the New York Mycological Society, I am most interested in biology, but I always want to learn more about thanatology, literary history, folklore/mythology, and feminist and queer history; particularly through an intersectional lens.

Please send me/favorite elements:
  • Intertwined with the above subjects, narrative nonfiction that is an exploration of grief, culture, race, sexuality, gender, neurodiversity, chronic illness, and/or disability.
  • Astrology (like Postcolonial Astrology and The Stars Within You)
  • Anything reminiscent in tone or subject matter of the Ologies podcast

Fun facts about me:

When I’m not reading, I am either out on a foray with the New York Mycological Society, playing Dungeons & Dragons, replaying TLOU, knitting, or listening to the Ologies podcast.

Submission Guidelines

I accept queries through Query Manager exclusively. I request the first chapter (or the first from each character, if there are multiple POVs or timelines), the first 10 pages, or the first 2-3 stories in your collection. Your query should include the pitch, a synopsis, comparative titles, and your biographical information (including previous publications & other credits).

Guidelines & Details