Kristin Temple

I’ve been at Tor since 2016 and am on the hunt for adult horror novels and novellas for Nightfire.

I am particularly eager for submissions from queer, BIPOC, neurodiverse, disabled, and/or other marginalized perspectives.

I’m primarily drawn to commercial, fast-paced, character-driven stories that can surprise me. While I love a brutal gut-punch, my favorite kind of horror is ultimately hopeful, and I have a huge soft spot for found families, women behaving badly, and messy queer characters.

I’m always on the lookout for books that use horror to tackle modern-day anxieties in fresh, unique ways (e.g. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians, and Alison Rumfitt’s Tell Me I’m Worthless). Horror has always challenged societal issues like racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc., and I want my list to reflect that!

I’m currently very hungry for:

• Creature features: I love monsters! Give me anything in the vein of Jaws, Cloverfield, or Ness Brown’s The Scourge Between Stars. I’d also love the next Jurassic Park – more scary dinosaurs please!
• Deep water terror: I’m very eager to see projects that embrace the terror of the ocean, like the movie Underwater, Mia Grant’s Into the Drowning Deep, or Nick Cutter’s The Deep.
• Women’s rights, and women’s wrongs: I love a blood-soaked “good for her” story. Think Hildur Knútsdóttir’s Dead Weight, CJ Leede’s Maeve Fly, and the films The Substance and Ready or Not.
• Horrormance: I’m keen to find a queer horrormance that straddles the line between our Nightfire and Bramble imprints (think Taylor Grothe’s Lethal Kiss).

I’m not usually the best fit for books about classic monsters—vampires, werewolves, zombies. I’m more interested in unknown creatures or folklore that hasn’t been explored yet – preferably outside the Western canon.

I am not currently taking unagented or unsolicited manuscripts.

Submission Guidelines

Kristin only accepts agented submissions at this time.