What We’re Looking For
We want work that lives in the shadows of morality – the underbelly, the exterior fringes of mainstream societal comfort which forces that cozy demographic to truly appreciate their comfort.
We’re seeking novel-length works of crime fiction, 50,000 words or more. Send us the kind of raw, dark, and existential noir mainstream publishers shy away from—fiction that stares into the chaos of morality and keeps going.
We’re not interested in cozy mysteries*, young adult or adolescent-led crime fiction, domestic thrillers aimed at the early afternoon Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio crowd, or police procedurals unless you have a tremendously unique spin on an exhausted trope. Sherlock Holmes was a lunatic who ripped cocaine. If you’re submitting any kind of detective fiction, we want the Parental Advisory/Explicit version of Sherlock Holmes.
*Much love to Angela Lansbury, but that’s not our lane. (Gaslight, Murder She Wrote)
Authors we admire: Donald Ray Pollock, William Gay, Jim Thompson, Flannery O’Connor, Gillian Flynn, Will Christopher Baer, Craig Clevenger, Breece D’J Pancake, Patricia Highsmith, Harry Crews, and Margaret Millar – to name a few. (If you’re unfamiliar with half (or more) of these authors, you now have a new reading list.)
Your characters should carry the moral weight and danger of Clete Purcell, Amy Dunne, The Misfit, Moira Langtery, Phineas Poe, or Daniel Fletcher—people whose choices make readers question the safe choices they’ve made or wonder about the opportunities they’ve had to add some story-worth scars to their flesh or souls. Show us something uneasy, something viscerally human, something true.
How to Submit
Send:
• A sample: The first 10,000 words – (No more than thirty (30) pages of your manuscript)
• A one-page synopsis
• A brief author bio including relevant publication credits and platform
Format Requirements:
• Double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman or Courier font
• Include a header on each page of the sample: LastName_Title_Page#
• Attach the synopsis and sample as separate documents (.doc, .docx, or .pdf)
Email Guidelines
Subject Line:
QUERY_[TITLE OF THE WORK]
Email Body:
1. Open with one sentence that captures the essence of your book.
2. Follow with a short author bio and any relevant publishing information (no more than one paragraph).
Attachments:
1. One-page synopsis (separate document)
2. First thirty pages/10,000 words of the manuscript
Our response time is typically 6 – 12 weeks for submissions.