Katie McGuire

In July 2025, I joined Alcove Press / Crooked Lane Books as an editor. Alcove is my main editorial focus, though I’m looking an array of genres, especially romantasy, romance, science fiction, fantasy, and horror (and just a touch of crime fiction, my first love).

Previously, I’ve held editorial roles at Pegasus Books, Tapas Entertainment, and the Quarto Group. At Pegasus, I acquired and edited both fiction and nonfiction; at Tapas, I acquired and then developed webnovels, especially in the romance, fantasy, and adventure genres; and at Quarto, I edited nonfiction titles, primarily in the pop culture and entertainment categories. In May 2025, I graduated from Emerson College’s Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing MFA program.

In both my personal and professional lives, I’m a huge genre reader, and I especially enjoy stories that blend genres and put tropes into brave new worlds. I’m interested in seeing exciting new takes on superheroes and spies in any of the genres listed above! Meta fiction is also a favorite; anything that takes place backstage or behind the scenes, showing readers the lives of performers or creators in public and private, is my catnip. For romance, I’ll pick rivals- or enemies-to-lovers over friends-to-lovers any day of the week, and I adore a seemingly impossible/against-all-odds/we-found-love-in-a-hopeless-place love story (“I’ll see you at the equator”; iykyk).

I’m open to standalone projects and those with series potential. I’ve listed as many books, authors, shows, and movies as I could think of below, to give you a better idea of the vibes that speak to me.

My biggest wishes right now are for a project that gives me Severance vibes, especially the blend of eerie sci-fi/mystery with found family and romantic elements; something about a team of superheroes (or just folks with powers) that gives 1970s/80s X-Men vibes—high stakes and interpersonal drama; fairy tale tropes and settings (witches in candy houses, spooky castles full of enchantments, etc.) used in new and exciting ways; some kind of nostalgic horror about a group of friends (or folks who become friends) who have to take on a Big Bad (think ’90s teen horror, especially The Faculty, but in prose and for adults), and a romance between paranormal researchers/ghost hunters, preferably with real scares to make them want to cuddle up together.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be emailed to katie.mcguire@alcovepress.com

Alcove is open to both agented and unagented manuscripts. Agents, feel free to send pitches directly to me at ka***********@*********ss.com. Authors, if you’re planning to submit without an agent, see the link below to Alcove’s QueryTracker.

Guidelines & Details