This is Laura's most aggressive current acquisition target. All subgenres are on the table. Projects must pass either the Bechdel or Mako Mori test. Work that twists familiar horror conventions, features progressive or community-focused politics, or gives voice to decolonized perspectives is especially welcome.

Laura wants smart, sharp protagonists — think Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher energy — not law enforcement heroes. Cozy mysteries are a declared soft spot, as are thrillers built around long-standing relationships that unspool gradually. Genre blending is strongly encouraged: romance tropes, SFF elements, or antihero structures layered onto the mystery skeleton are exactly the kind of freshness they're hunting. BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ protagonists are an active priority. Authors Laura has pointed to as taste signals include Lev AC Rosen, Mia P. Manansala, Vivien Chien, Jesse Q. Sutanto, Juneau Black, Colleen Cambridge, Elly Griffiths, Katherine Schellman, Rupert Holmes, and Nekesa Afia. Hard no on police or law-enforcement heroes/love interests and on plots where female characters are gaslit.

Laura gravitates toward conflict that originates in the roles and expectations characters carry into the relationship — enemies/rivals to lovers, fake relationship, coworkers to lovers — rather than conflict manufactured from inside the relationship (love triangles, miscommunication, accidental pregnancy). MCs should have a little grit: lovable but not always likable, not weighed down by trauma that only love can fix. Contemporary, historical, speculative, and romantasy all welcome. LGBTQ+ romance dominates the existing list organically, and they are actively seeking more f/f and nb/trans-centered stories. Not a fit for Christian romance or anything described as 'clean'; closed-door romance is explicitly fine. A recent note signals that romance queries hinging entirely on 'random white man vs. dream career' as the conflict are flooding the inbox and not landing.

SFF is Laura's self-described first love, and they're open to all subgenres provided the work passes the Bechdel and/or Mako Mori test. Perennial draws include heists and cons, gaming culture or fandom woven into fantasy, witches, reluctant and flawed heroes, and traditional tropes inverted. Progressive and community-focused politics in worldbuilding are welcome; decolonized worlds are especially sought. Less interested in big-government dystopia, superheroes, steampunk, military SFF, and Tolkien-style high fantasy — but all of these can still land if they're doing something genuinely new.

Laura remains excited about YA across the spectrum, even as they push harder on the adult side. The throughline in what they want: characters who feel truly original, familiar tropes turned with care, and compassionate craft. Marginalized creators taking on 'tired' tropes are especially encouraged. Not a fit for dystopia/big-government YA or quiet contemporary romance within YA.

Laura separates this out mainly to signal to writers who might not think to query SFF agents: if your literary novel has speculative underpinning — anywhere on the spectrum from the cosmic horror of Lovecraft Country to the quiet, science-grounded uncanniness of The Age of Miracles — it belongs in their inbox.

Historical fiction is welcome when it centers LGBTQ+ and/or BIPOC main characters. Contemporary fiction is similarly selective. Writers should not assume a broad open door here; the qualifier 'select' is intentional and the identity-centering condition is a genuine gate, not a preference.