Sarah Gerton is a speculative fiction specialist at The Caldwell Agency who doubles as the team's audio manager, hunting for genre-blending adult fantasy, romantasy, and horror powered by humor, personal stakes, and marginalized voices.
In brief
Gerton joined The Caldwell Agency in January 2026, bringing a decade of experience from Curtis Brown, Ltd. and New Leaf Literary & Media — a pedigree that signals connections across major and independent publishing.
Humor is the single highest-weighted qualifier in Gerton's wishlist: a manuscript that genuinely makes them laugh leaps to the top of the pile regardless of genre.
Their ideal project lives at genre intersections — horror-romance, zombie-fantasy, dystopian-with-magic — rather than squarely inside a single shelf.
Gerton explicitly de-emphasizes world-ending stakes in favor of intimate, personal-stakes storytelling and working-class characters, signaling a clear preference for grounded, character-driven speculative fiction over epic-scale adventure.
As of 5 May 2026 the submission form is CLOSED; Gerton's own wishlist confirms this is temporary, so writers should monitor for reopening before submitting.
Lately
Gerton joined The Caldwell Agency in January 2026, transitioning from senior roles at two prominent literary agencies to take on both an agenting and audio management function — a dual remit that's relatively rare and suggests hybrid or audio-forward projects may get additional consideration.
What Sarah is looking for
Fantasy is Gerton's self-described genre home base, and they want it across the full spectrum — from epic second-world settings to urban paranormal to cozy magical worlds. The non-negotiable is that the world feels tangible without requiring a glossary: worldbuilding must be woven into the prose itself, not offloaded to appendices. Stakes should be personal rather than civilizational. Gerton is drawn to cozy tones that still carry genuine menace or darkness (in the vein of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries), as well as dark narratives warmed by an affectionate authorial voice. Speculative literary reimaginings — think retellings or deconstructions of canonical texts given a fresh speculative lens — are a particular draw.
Romantasy lands high on Gerton's list, but with clear qualifiers: the love story must be load-bearing to the plot — not a subplot bolted on — and the emotional arc should feel sweeping and fated. They crave genuine angst and pining. Queer romances are especially welcome when the characters are embedded in a living queer community within the story's world. Gerton is also open to thoughtful portrayals of polyamory and kink, and wants intimate scenes that feel real and human: safer sex, the awkward comedy of early encounters, slow discovery of a partner's body — not immediate perfection. Genre-blending is a plus here as it is everywhere.
Horror is a major focus alongside fantasy. Gerton's preferred horror registers are historical settings (particularly those centering Black and marginalized American experiences), creature features where the monster's only agenda is hunger, campy and genre-aware horror that plays with its own conventions, and puzzle-box horror that rewards reader attention. Fresh spins on zombie fiction are an explicit request. They also call out specific cinematic reference points — atmospheric dread, body-snatching unease, folk horror, survival horror — as the tonal neighborhood they're looking for.
Sci-fi is Gerton's own admission a harder sell, and they are selective: cozy, small-scale science fiction in the vein of Becky Chambers is the main entry point. For dystopian fiction, Gerton is drawn to stories that imagine a genuinely better world as achievable while remaining honest about the difficulty of getting there — hope tempered by realism, not naive utopianism. Hard sci-fi is explicitly not a fit.
Across all speculative categories, Gerton specifically flags hybrid and boundary-crossing work as a top draw: horror-romance, zombie-fantasy, dystopian-with-magic. Genre blends are not just tolerated — they are actively sought. Any query that sits at a credible intersection of two or more of Gerton's categories should foreground that hybridity in the pitch.
Not the right fit
On Sarah's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Sarah
Do not query now — the form is confirmed closed as of 5 May 2026. Watch Gerton's agency page and any public announcements for the reopening before submitting.
Lead with the humor. Gerton's wishlist is unusually explicit: a manuscript that makes them laugh is their #1 priority. If your book is funny — darkly, zanily, or meta-self-awarely — make that the first thing your query communicates, not a buried afterthought.
Name the genre blend upfront. Gerton is not looking for a book that fits neatly on one shelf. If your manuscript crosses horror and romance, or zombie apocalypse and secondary-world fantasy, say so in your opening line.
Keep stakes personal. Resist the urge to inflate stakes in your pitch. Gerton explicitly prefers 'I need to save my house' over 'I need to save the world' — pitches that emphasize intimate, human consequences over apocalyptic ones will read as more aligned.
Highlight marginalized perspectives and working-class characters where they exist. Gerton names both as consistent draws across all categories.
If your book has an audio-friendly quality — a distinctive narrative voice, humor that lands in performance, or strong scene-level pacing — this may be worth briefly noting, given Gerton's audio management role at TCA.
Do not pitch hard sci-fi, violent dark romance, body horror, slashers, or psychological horror regardless of other strengths — these are explicitly not a fit.
For romantasy specifically: make clear whether the romance is structurally integral to the plot (desired) or a subplot (less so). Gerton's Outlander reference is a strong signal — they want plot and love story mutually dependent.
Worldbuilding queries: do not pitch a book that requires readers to consult a glossary or character list to follow the story. Gerton states directly that the text must be self-sufficient. If your book has extensive appendices as a crutch, address this in the query.