Kristina Perez

I am a half-Argentine, half-Norwegian native New Yorker who has spent the past three decades living in Europe and Asia. I hold a PhD in Medieval Literature from the University of Cambridge and have taught at the National University of Singapore and the University of Hong Kong. As a journalist, I’ve written for many international news outlets including the Wall Street Journal Asia, Condé Nast Traveler, and CNN. I’m also the author several YA titles and, most recently, my adult debut, The Many Lies of Veronica Hawkins (Little, Brown).

With my diverse background, my tastes in books are equally eclectic. Since I am lucky enough to represent many talented authors and publishers across many genres and categories, I have to be particularly strategic and selective as I build my client list. Right now I am looking for new writers in the following areas:

Horror – As a GenX latchkey kid who grew up on a steady diet of Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, I’ve been a horror fan since way back. I am not huge on body horror (I’ll never get over Sloth in Seven) but otherwise I’m game for most sub-genres. With my academic interest in folklore, I am especially on the lookout for folk horror and Gothic tropes with a new twist. I would love to see more horror fantasy. Since its inception with Frankenstein, horror like science fiction is a potent mirror for the world around us and our societal preoccupations––so please send me social horror, feminist horror and queer horror. Dark comedies that bleed into horror territory are sure to catch my attention.

Crossover YA/NA Fantasy with strong romantic elements – I am a stickler for well-considered world building in my fantasy and I am looking for a sweeping or epic adventure where the romance propels the plot forward (without being the entire plot). I love brooding––but not obnoxious––heroes and heroines. I would love to find a queer romance set in an alternate timeline or a well-considered secondary world. I’m here for enemies to lovers where the protagonists learn and grow through their relationship (even if they’re fighting like cats and dogs!). Show me interdependence, not codependence, and maybe throw in some corsets. If you can give me Veronica and Logan (“Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed, epic.”) with a speculative or fantasy element, you will have won my heart.

Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy – PNR and UF are officially back and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into them! Send me your fresh takes on Anita Blake or Sookie Stackhouse. Make me howl at the moon like Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten series with all the 2020s vibes. If you were a fan of the Lost Girl television series that’s exactly what I’m looking for––all the dark fae and mythic lore with a feminist bent. I could even get excited about the right kind of zombie hero like Warm Bodies.

Non-Fiction – I am on the hunt for all things neuroscience, especially expert and platform driven narrative popular science. Recent favorites of mine include Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep, Anna Lembke’s Dopamine Nation and Marc Lewis’s The Biology of Desire. Smart thinking in the vein of Cal Newport or Oliver Burkeman also won’t go amiss. And I am perennially interested in lesser known female historical figures such as Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be emailed to https://querymanager.com/query/KristinaPerez

I only accept queries through QueryManager.

Guidelines & Details