Victoria Marini is the co-founder of High Line Literary Collective and a career-long champion of genre-forward fiction — from NYT-bestselling fantasy trilogies to propulsive suspense — who hunts for unforgettable characters, high-concept mash-ups, and a touch of magic across Adult and YA fiction.
In brief
Her sales record tells a clear story: YA and Adult fantasy, especially series-length work, is her bread and butter — NYT and indie bestselling trilogies by Claire Legrand, Margaret Owen, and Pascale Lacelle confirm serious commercial muscle in that space.
Despite a wide-open stated wishlist, her confirmed deals skew heavily toward speculative fiction (fantasy, supernatural, fabulism) and suspense/thriller, with romance and mystery gaining momentum in her most recent acquisitions.
She has deep, multi-book relationships with several clients — Claire Legrand alone accounts for two bestselling trilogies — signaling she thinks in terms of long author careers, not one-off projects.
Her most recent deals (THE MOONSINGERS, LETHAL KISS, TO VEX AND TO HEX, SLAYER/SAINT) suggest a current appetite for genre hybrids that blend romance, fantasy, and danger — consistent with her stated love of 'Romantic+' novels and magic-infused stories.
She is currently CLOSED to unsolicited queries as of February 2025; writers should verify her live submission form before sending anything.
Lately
Her agency's own page confirms she is currently not accepting unsolicited queries, with a specific carve-out for writers who connected with her at ThrillerFest 2025 and received a direct materials request.
What Victoria is looking for
This is the center of gravity on her actual sales list, backed by multiple NYT and indie bestselling series. She wants the full spectrum — sweeping second-world political fantasy, real-world magic, cozy fantasy, and romantasy all qualify. Series potential is a strong asset. Her recent deals suggest she is especially energized by fantasy that blends menace, romance, and propulsive plotting.
She describes herself as drawn to literary or upmarket work that borrows the engines of commercial genre fiction — speculative thrillers, time-loop concepts, literary dystopia. The through-line is that the book must be propulsive and character-driven simultaneously. Fabulism, magical realism, and grounded speculative elements all fit here.
Crime, domestic thriller, psychological thriller, and twisty mysteries are all firmly on her list. She favors suspense with strong atmosphere, secrets, and a sense of dread — claustrophobic settings and small-town hysteria are explicit draws. Mash-ups that blend thriller with another genre (romantic thriller, horror-mystery) are especially welcome.
She is openly drawn to things that go bump in the night — gothic atmosphere, supernatural horror, and dark speculative fiction with emotional weight. Horror-comedy hybrids and horror with a literary bent are flagged as high-interest mash-up territory. Dawn Kurtagich on her client roster further confirms her comfort with dark, unsettling work.
She welcomes romance and rom-coms, with a particular lean toward genre mash-ups — romantic thrillers, romantic fantasy, and concept-driven rom-coms (time loops, high-concept premises). Recent deals like TO VEX AND TO HEX suggest active acquisition in this space. She describes herself as in the mood for 'Romantic+' — romance as an element woven into a bigger genre engine.
Her bestseller track record includes major MG titles, confirming this is a real part of her list and not just a stated interest. She looks for hooky concepts, authentic characters, and the same propulsive storytelling she demands in adult work.
She describes her interest as 'edgy sci-fi' and space opera, but her confirmed deals are light in this area compared to fantasy. Best positioned as a secondary genre for her rather than a primary hunt — a project with strong character work and a mashup hook has the best chance.
A consistent, explicit priority across her wishlist and bio. She is specifically seeking marginalized writers engaging with genres and tropes they are supposedly underrepresented in — mysteries, fantasies, thrillers, romance, etc. — and flags BIPOC, LGBTQ+, South Asian, Southeast Asian, West African, and Caribbean literature. This is not a separate category but a lens she applies across everything she seeks.
Not the right fit
On Victoria's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Victoria
She is currently closed to general queries as of February 2025 — check the live submission form before sending anything; submitting while closed will likely be ignored or filtered.
If you received a direct request from her at ThrillerFest 2025, a dedicated submission link is available on the agency site — use that route, not the general form.
Lead your query with the genre mash-up or high-concept hook: she explicitly responds to unexpected X-meets-Y combinations, so name the collision upfront rather than burying it.
Her deals confirm she thinks in series — if your fantasy or speculative project has series potential, flag it briefly in the query without overpromising.
Underrepresented voices, settings, and time periods are a genuine priority, not a checkbox — if your perspective or your story's setting is underrepresented in its genre, say so plainly in the query.
Atmosphere and tone matter to her as much as plot — your query letter and especially your first pages should establish voice, dread, charm, or quirk immediately; she names 'unforgettable authentic characters' as the single unifying feature of her list.
While she lists a very wide range of genres, her actual sales record is weighted toward YA/Adult speculative fiction, suspense/thriller, and fantasy-romance hybrids — projects in those lanes have the clearest track record with her.
Avoid sending non-fiction; her list is fiction-only across all confirmed sales and stated interests.