Viengsamai Fetters
Erewhon Books
My Manuscript Wish List®
I am an assistant editor at Erewhon Books acquiring novel-length (50k-120k) standalones and series in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative literary fiction in adult and, selectively, upper YA.
At Erewhon, we want innovative stories that tug on your heartstrings and explore meaningful sociopolitical questions. I’m particularly looking for books that bring to the page people who are usually relegated to the margins – including, but not limited to: racial/ethnic minorities, queer & trans people, fat people, disabled people, working-class and poor people, religious minorities, and combinations of the above. I’m especially interested in supporting marginalized writers.
Send me stories that’ll grow me extra teeth; that’ll linger and haunt and ache; that’ll remind me of my humanity when it’s all said and done. I love thoughtful, accessible books on the literary side with a splash of speculative, chewy book-club books, and upmarket genre fiction with a flair. I tend to be drawn to stories that are more intimate than epic, but I am always eager to be surprised.
Right now, I am hungry for: stories across genres that deal with monstrosity & embodiment, the archive & cultural memory, language, necropolitics, social ecology & climate, diaspora & displacement, restorative justice, bittersweet complicated family dynamics, and unorthodox explorations and/or deconstructions of faith.
Some specific niches I’d be especially delighted to see:
- authentic, high-octane queer relationships (romance, polycules, friendship, queerplatonic relationships, family, enemies, a messy mix…)
- queer & trans characters, themes, and sensibilities (with special love towards trans people, butches & femmes, and stone characters.)
- Midwestern or Southeast Asian settings
- Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism
- unsettling high-control groups, as in The Menu or your favorite cult documentary series
- heartwarming stories along the lines of Psalm for the Wild-Built
- community organizing, collective action, and coalition-building
I’m always excited by…
Craft:
- wondrous, compact stories
- an electric, propulsive voice
- distinctive line-level prose, particularly if it’s sensory and/or lyrical
- a strong emotional core
- a transportative sense of place
- symbiosis of form/structure and content
Content:
- unique magic enhancing the themes of the story
- smart, high-concept soft sci-fi
- fresh, genre-bending horror
- offbeat humor and clever narration
- critiques of power and the systems that create & perpetuate it
- damaged, messy characters to go feral over
Hard sells for me at the moment include:
- doorstoppers
- D&D-style “races”
- epic fantasies
- hard SF
- space opera
- self-referential/“meta” horror
- dark academia
- Greek myth retellings
I am not acquiring: stories that glorify state violence, or superheroes, erotica, graphic novels, kidlit, non-speculative work, or nonfiction.
Fun facts about me:
- I live and work in Ohio, but I love meeting new people! If you work in publishing, let’s get a virtual coffee!
- Instead of picking up sourdough in 2020, I picked up Star Trek for the first time. My partner and I are watching it in chronological order of release; we’re currently halfway through Voyager. Wish me luck in ever catching up.
- My cats all have Halloween names! The chances of seeing one or more in a video call are about 72.4%.
Submissions should be emailed to submissions@erewhonbooks.com
Vital Info
I’d like the next…
- This is How You Lose the Time War
- Ring Shout
- The Locked Tomb
- Chain-Gang All-Stars
- The Murderbot Diaries
- The Spear Cuts Through Water
- The Prey of Gods
- Iron Widow
My favorites include…
Fiction:
Psalm for the Wild-Built; Patricia Wants to Cuddle; How Much of These Hills Is Gold; Lilith’s Brood; The Midnight Bargain; If on a winter’s night a traveler; The Echo Wife; The Office of Historical Corrections; Sister, Maiden, Monster; The Book of Phoenix; Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl; My Favorite Thing Is Monsters; The Magic Fish; Flyaway; The Lies of the Ajungo
TV:
Star Trek; Avatar: The Last Airbender; Heartstopper; Our Flag Means Death; What We Do In The Shadows; The Good Place; Over the Garden Wall; a basic assortment of reality shows (especially cooking shows, The Bachelor franchise, and anything on Dropout)
Movies:
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once; Moonlight; Sorry to Bother You; Spirited Away; Nimona; The Shape of Water; Get Out; Clue; Pride & Prejudice (2005); Knives Out
Games:
Disco Elysium; Hades; Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla; Baldur’s Gate III; Stray; The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; Oxenfree; What Remains of Edith Finch; The Outer Worlds; Inside; Spiritfarer; Dead Cells; The Outer Wilds;
