Samiha Hoque

Shaherazad Shelves (ShSh) is a small independent press and Muslim-owned business. Samiha graduated with a minor in English with honors and a B.S. in the Earth and Environmental Sciences. As the lead editor and director at ShSh, she actively seeks MG, YA, and Adult fiction. (Please note: due to religious reasons, she works mainly with female authors.)

Chapter Books

• Must be a part of a series
• Speculative element

MG, YA, or Adult Fantasy

• Any subgenre of fantasy (dark, portal, urban, court, romantic, etc.)
• Magic-less fantasy, but yes to mythical creatures, or magic existing but not used.
• #OWNVOICE first or second-world fantasy
• Teen fantasy like Sitara, Lady of the Lotus
• Dream projects: Wuxia, Balkan-inspired fantasy, Tang dynasty-inspired fantasy, prehistoric Earth as a setting (e.g., mammoths, dinosaurs), horse or dragon series.

Adult Historical or Alt-historical

• Must have a Muslim protagonist
• Anything after WW2 might be a hard sell unless it has an interesting set-up (e.g., Bangladesh’s independence in 1971)

YA and Adult Contemporary/Romance

• Must have a Muslim protagonist
• Slice of life/high school stories like Flower Child by Atiyah Brinkley
• College/Adult romances like A Little Bit of Love by Arva Bhavnagarwala or It’s Just Business by Zainab Alhalwachi
• Book club fiction like Home Is a Silhouette by Kataru Yahya, Black Widow, White Shroud by Yasmeen Abdellatif, or A Phoenix in the Night by Muminah Khan
• Dream Projects: Muslim romance novels starting after marriage, arranged marriage love stories, and the love lives of blue-collar workers (e.g., factory, janitorial).

Nonfiction

• Nature, biology, science
• Counter-culture essays/collections or reflections
• Books about Muslim traditions or cultures
• Dream projects: essay collection critiquing post-modernism, modern beauty standards, or secular religion.

Some overall things to consider:

• Moral-driven books/moral characters
• Muslims in fiction
• Stories that compare to ANY book ShSh has published previously
• Girls working with boys, not against, re: Studio Ghibli
• F/f friendships as an integral part of a story, as well as female villains!
• The inherent diversity of Muslims. While experiences vary, ShSh leans toward orthodoxy (Sufism is orthodoxy! Samiha will die on this hill)
• NOTE: Samiha is a hands-on editor. She will comb through your work!

ANTI-MSWL:

• Monotheism as an antagonist force
• Anything about France, Belgium, the Netherlands/Denmark, or Portugal that doesn’t address their colonial history
• “Issue books” that bash a culture, people, etc.
• Descriptive/explicit sexual actions (non-sensual, closed-door, or references are OK in adult fiction)
• “Stabby” heroines or morally gray protagonists (unless written purposefully)

Submission Guidelines

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

I accept both unagented and agented submissions via querymanager. Emails only for solicited work.

Guidelines & Details