Tricia Skinner is Vice President of Fuse Literary and a specialist in adult SFF, romance, and horror who actively champions LGBTQ+ and BIPOC voices and brings a distinct manga/anime/manhwa sensibility to her taste.
In brief
Skinner's wishlist is unusually specific and pop-culture-coded: she namechecks Solo Leveling, Attack on Titan, The Witcher, and Firefly as taste anchors, signaling she wants genre fiction with the propulsive energy of serialized Asian comics and prestige TV rather than traditional literary fantasy.
She is unambiguous about adult-only scope — no YA, no new adult, no novellas, no historical romance, no romantic suspense, no mystery/thriller — the boundaries are broader and harder than many genre agents, so filtering your project against her 'does not represent' list before querying is essential.
Her stated passion for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC protagonists as leads, combined with her journalism background at outlets focused on media diversity and her graduate work, suggests this is a career-level commitment rather than a trend response — diversity-forward projects are not a subcategory for her, they're a priority lane.
The horror she wants is not standalone — she explicitly wants SFF fused with horror, framed around the cost of science or magic gone wrong; straight psychological thrillers or slasher-style horror without a speculative element are not her territory.
Her personal media diet (manhwa, anime, manga) is directly legible in her wishlist: aura-farming protagonists, leveling systems, anti-heroes, and ensemble casts with bromance dynamics map directly onto the narrative grammar of Korean and Japanese serialized storytelling.
Lately
In a January 2026 update to her wishlist, Skinner reaffirmed her exclusive focus on adult novels and adult graphic novels across romance, science fiction, fantasy, and horror — with a pointed note that manuscripts must be polished and complete before querying.
What Tricia is looking for
Fresh angles are the key phrase here — Skinner is not looking for standard paranormal romance conventions but rather new lenses on the subgenre. Think innovative world-building or unconventional protagonists (older/mature leads, LGBTQ+ and BIPOC main characters) applied to the emotional core of paranormal and urban fantasy romance.
She specifically wants more of it: space operas, stories set in colonies beyond our galaxy, and narratives told from alien species' points of view. The framing leans toward the adventurous, ensemble-driven, and high-stakes — think prestige TV energy (Firefly, Stargate, Altered Carbon) applied to the page.
She gravitates toward protagonists who earn their power through struggle and failure, anti-heroes with genuine moral complexity, and journeys driven by revenge or redemption. Power-progression arcs (leveling, aura-farming) with strong character development are explicitly on her radar. Bromance as a narrative thread is also a stated plus.
Pure horror is not her lane — she wants speculative fiction where horror is baked in: the dark side of scientific progress, the catastrophic cost of magic, creepy and unsettling tonal layers applied to SFF frameworks. Characters are broken and rebuilt; the emotional stakes are existential.
Skinner represents adult graphic novels in her core genre categories. Queries must include a link to an online portfolio or sample pages — a prose query alone is insufficient. The same genre scope applies: adult only, SFF/romance/horror, no YA or children's material.
A specific and recurring signal: she wants badass single parents and guardians in the lead role — the emotional and protective stakes of parenthood layered onto genre adventure. The Mandalorian and The Last of Us are her explicit reference points, suggesting she wants the tenderness-plus-danger dynamic those stories deliver.
Not the right fit
On Tricia's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Tricia
Lead with your protagonist's defining conflict and moral complexity — she explicitly loves heroes with darkness and villains with depth, so make that tension visible in the first paragraph of your query.
If your book has power-progression mechanics, leveling systems, or an anti-hero arc, say so plainly and early — she actively searches for these and the framing will resonate with her taste vocabulary.
Name your protagonist's identity if they are LGBTQ+ or BIPOC and in a lead role — she has stated these are priority voices for her list, not an afterthought.
Avoid pitching your horror project as horror alone; frame it as the SFF element first and the horror layer second, since she wants the speculative scaffolding to be the foundation.
Do not use comp titles aimed at YA or middle grade audiences even if the themes feel adjacent — she is adult-only and any YA comp will signal a mismatch.
If your story features a single parent or guardian protagonist, highlight that relationship and the stakes it creates — it is a named wishlist item and a concrete emotional hook.
She has a deep manga/manhwa vocabulary (Solo Leveling, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Attack on Titan) — if your book's energy maps onto one of these, a brief, specific comp can function as a shortcut to her taste.
Manuscripts must be complete and polished before querying — do not query with a partial or a first draft.