Adult Fiction
Neurodiverse and intersex author Phoenix Blackwood’s New Adult THE LOVE THAT BINDS US, a sequel to THE SECRETS THAT KILL, in which the protagonist is thrown out of her home when her mother discovers her relationship with her nonbinary transmasculine partner; when she moves in with him, she discovers that she is intersex and works to overcome past medical trauma, to Kisstopher Musick at Cinnabar Moth, in a nice deal, for publication in April 2023 (world English).
Hugo and Lambda award winning author and editor Bogi Takács’s POWER TO YIELD AND OTHER STORIES, 10 pieces spanning speculative genres from science fiction to the new weird, featuring chaotic interspecies cooperation, an AI child discovering Jewish mysticism, rental apartments that drink your blood, and a novella focusing on neurodivergent people trying to survive on a planetoid where thoughts shape reality, to Scott Gable at Broken Eye, in a nice deal, at auction, for publication in spring 2023 (world English).
Izzy Wasserstein’s THESE FRAGILE GRACES, THIS FUGITIVE HEART, a cyberpunk novella set in a future Kansas City devastated by fascism and climate change, in which a trans woman returns to the commune she abandoned to investigate the murder of her ex, and finds she must confront her own past if she hopes to save the people she loves, to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publications, with Jaymee Goh editing, by Dorian Maffei at Kimberley Cameron & Associates (world English).
Rona Jaffe Foundation Award recipient Temim Fruchter’s CITY OF LAUGHTER, part speculative queer family history and part folklore, tracing four generations of Jewish women who are bound by blood, half-hidden secrets, and the fantastical visitation of a shapeshifting stranger over the course of 100 years, set against a tapestry of real and invented Jewish mythology, to Amy Hundley at Grove/Atlantic, for publication in early 2024, by Stephanie Delman at Trellis Literary Management (world).
‘s WILD GEESE, the story of an Irish trans woman living in Scandinavia who unexpectedly reconnects with her first love over the course of one fateful weekend, reigniting memories she thought she’d left behind, to Nick Whitney at Feminist Press, for publication in fall 2023, by Olivia Maidment at Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency (NA).
Author of CALLING THE SHOTS ‘s IT’S A FABULOUS LIFE, pitched as a sapphic retelling of the holiday movie classic, in which a realtor with big city dreams once again puts her plans on hold to help manage her small town’s winter festival and, with the aid of angelic drag queens, reconnects with her high school crush, to Holly Ingraham at Alcove Press, in a nice deal, for publication in fall 2023, by Eva Scalzo at Speilburg Literary Agency (world).
World Fantasy Award finalist ‘s THE YOKE OF STARS, a Birdverse novella in which a rebel who has escaped a remote egalitarian community and a linguist who has left behind an abusive marriage negotiate an assassination contract, only to find how their lives intersect in unusual ways, involving sea serpent shape shifters, fallen stars, and a powerful magical family, to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publications, with Jaymee Goh editing, in an exclusive submission, by Mary C. Moore at Kimberley Cameron & Associates (world English).
‘s OATH OF FIRE, pitched as a sapphic Eros and Psyche retelling with a fairy court feel, to Leah Hultenschmidt at Grand Central, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in early 2024, by Sara Megibow at kt literary (world).
Author of CHEF’S KISS ‘s EDEN’S END, a trans regency romance featuring a man of unusual make whose penchant for privacy is upended when he is given the dreadful task of finding a wife by the end of the London season if he wants to keep his estate—a situation further complicated by his intriguing new valet, who is harboring a secret of his own, to Anna Kaufman at Vintage, in a very nice deal, in an exclusive submission, for publication in 2025, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).
Young Adult Fiction
Author-illustrator Tai Manzano’s SING WITH ME, a contemporary YA graphic novel about queer first love pitched as Check, Please! meets Yuri on Ice, set in Mexico in the high-stakes world of competitive charreria, to Elizabeth Lazowski at Chronicle Children’s, for publication in 2025, by Tamara Kawar while at ICM/CAA (world).
Author of RIGHT WHERE I LEFT YOU and upcoming AS YOU WALK ON BY ‘s PRINCE OF THE PALISADES, pitched as RED, WHITE, & ROYAL BLUE meets Netflix’s Young Royals, where a roguish prince of Iles de la Reverie goes to America to clean up his image after a horribly public breakup goes viral, and ends up falling for a not-so-royal American boy who might be a fairy-tale romance come true—or another disaster in the making, to Dana Leydig at Viking Children’s, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2024, by Thao Le at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency (world English).
Author of THE SPY WHO RAISED ME and MOTH & WHISPER ‘s graphic novel THE MASKED PRINCESS, in which a high schooler cosplaying his childhood-favorite character at an anime con unwittingly becomes an overnight hero after helping a fellow cosplayer, and ends up exploring his gender and discovering new aspects of his identity amid the backdrop of fandom and sudden fame, illustrated by , to Samia Fakih at First Second, in an exclusive submission, for publication in 2025, by Jennifer Chen Tran while at Bradford Literary Agency for the author, and by Paloma Hernando at Einstein Literary Management for the illustrator (world).
‘s FINALLY FITZ, a queer rom-com in which a fashion influencer reeling from a breakup enlists her former best friend to pose as her boyfriend during a summer program in New York City to make her ex-girlfriend jealous, only to realize that the relationship she wants to repair might be the one she’s faking, to Alexa Pastor at Simon & Schuster Children’s, for publication in spring 2024, by Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary (world).
Non-Fiction
Professor of English and linguistics at Los Angeles City College Lane Igoudin’s A FAMILY, MAYBE: TWO DADS, TWO BABIES, AND THE COURT CASE THAT BROUGHT US TOGETHER, part gay memoir, part family drama, set against the LGBTQ+ civil rights struggle of the early 2000s, in which a Russian-Jewish immigrant and his African American partner battle the Los Angeles County foster and family court systems and a teenage birth mother to adopt two babies and build the family they’ve always dreamed of, to Alena Rivas and Kelly Zatlin at Ooligan Press, in a nice deal, for publication in February 2024 (world English).
Fermilab physicist Jessica Esquivel’s OUR QUEER UNIVERSE: DECONSTRUCTING DEFINITIONS, PRODUCING PARTICLE BEAMS, AND EXAMINING ENTANGLED IDENTITIES, describing the physics and engineering of a particle beam and using it as a metaphor for the author’s journey through academia as a Black, Mexican, neurodivergent queer woman who also happens to love the ethereal elegance of physics, to Jermey Matthews at MIT Press, for publication in fall 2025, by Jessica Papin at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (NA).
Contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New Republic, and n+1, and a founding editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books Evan Kindley’s STILL IN THE PUBLISHED CITY, a group biography of the New York School of Poets, telling the intertwined stories of John Ashbery, Frank O’Hara, Kenneth Koch, Barbara Guest, James Schuyler, and Amiri Baraka, the intersections of various artistic and cultural scenes, as well as reading their influential poetry in light of politics, race, sexuality, and a rapidly changing New York, to Daniel Halpern at Knopf, by Elias Altman at Massie & McQuilkin (NA).
Author of A MILLION QUIET REVOLUTIONS ‘s A MUSEUM FOR THAT WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS, which explores the history of a Berlin institute burned during World War II that was one of the first to affirm trans and queer people, and reimagines in poetry a museum where these artifacts and people are kept safe from destruction, to Leah Angstman at Alternating Current, in a nice deal, for publication in November 2023 (world English).
Pastor, founder of Unfit Christian, and spiritual doula for Black, queer, and marginalized-gender people ‘s THE DAY GOD SAW ME AS BLACK, answering “What do I do with a Christian faith that feels less comfortable for me as I better understand myself, my gender, my sexuality, and what it means to be Black in America?” with essays exploring Black faith experiences through the lens of gender, race, sexuality, and class consciousness, interwoven with the author’s personal narrative of her faith journey and critical cultural analysis, to Tamela Gordon at Row House, for publication in August 2024 (world).
Museum of the Moving Image editorial director and author of FILMS OF ENDEARMENT ‘s SICK AND DIRTY, a 21st-century rethinking of Vito Russo’s THE CELLULOID CLOSET that celebrates the presence of queerness onscreen, behind the camera, and between the lines during the dark days of the Hollywood Production Code, and reclaims certain controversial, misunderstood films as neglected classics, to Ben Hyman at Bloomsbury, by Farley Chase at Chase Literary Agency (NA).
Lambda Literary Emerging LGBTQ Voices fellow and Sewanee Writers’ Conference Tennessee Williams Scholar ‘s TAKE MY NAME BUT SAY IT SLOW, a memoir-in-essays exploring the intersection of place and identity through the lens of the author’s experience growing up queer and Asian American in the South, questioning the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what it means to be “in-between,” to Helen Thomaides at Norton, by Christopher Combemale at Sterling Lord Literistic (NA).
Seventeen-year-old gaymer Noah Mitchell only has one friend left: the wonderful, funny, strictly online-only MagePants69. After years playing RPGs together, they know everything about each other, except anything that would give away their real life identities. And Noah is certain that if they could just meet in person, they would be soulmates. Noah would do anything to make this happen―including finally leaving his gaming chair to join a community theater show that he’s only mostly sure MagePants69 is performing in. Noah has never done anything like theater―he can’t sing, he can’t dance, and he’s never willingly watched a musical―but he’ll have to go all in to have a chance at love.
How do I know if I’m actually sexual?
In the summer of 1894, John Addington and Henry Ellis begin writing a book arguing that what they call “inversion,” or homosexuality, is a natural, harmless variation of human sexuality. Though they have never met, John and Henry both live in London with their wives, Catherine and Edith, and in each marriage there is a third party: John has a lover, a working class man named Frank, and Edith spends almost as much time with her friend Angelica as she does with Henry. John and Catherine have three grown daughters and a long, settled marriage, over the course of which Catherine has tried to accept her husband’s sexuality and her own role in life; Henry and Edith’s marriage is intended to be a revolution in itself, an intellectual partnership that dismantles the traditional understanding of what matrimony means.
After his first adventure as the Descendant, Cameron can’t sit through seventh grade classes. Especially when his mother is still trapped in Chidani and his father is still missing. But he encounters a particularly nasty bully in his new school, and it doesn’t take long for Cameron and his trusty friends Zion and Aliyah to realize that the troubles of Chidani won’t stay away for long.
