Viengsamai Fetters

Updated 6/25/24

I am an assistant editor at Erewhon Books acquiring adult novel-length (50k-120k) standalones and series in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative literary fiction. I love accessible books on the literary side with a splash of speculative, chewy book-club books, and genre fiction with a flair.

At Erewhon, we want innovative speculative fiction that tugs on your heartstrings and explore meaningful sociopolitical questions. We’re particularly looking for books that bring to the page people who are usually relegated to the margins – including, but not limited to: racial/ethnic minorities, queer & trans people, fat people, disabled people, working-class and poor people, religious minorities, and intersections of the above. I’m especially interested in supporting marginalized writers.

Across genres, I am hungry for a transportative sense of place, a compelling emotional core, a strong aesthetic, electric line-level prose, and characters to go feral over. I generally prefer compact books over sprawling ones, and I tend to be drawn to stories that are more intimate than epic, but I’m always eager to be surprised. My favorite kinds of stories are the ones written with love–for the subject matter, for the setting, for the reader, for the genre.

In fantasy, I’m looking for fresh secondary world settings and propulsive stories set in our world; low-stakes whimsy and high-stakes adventures; swoony romances and high-octane mess; magic systems core to the themes of the book. Bonus points for libraries, dead gods, and magical creatures. I’d especially love a book that gives you that same sense of wonder as being a kid with a flashlight under the covers. Ex: Someone You Can Build a Nest In; Nimona; Black Sun; The Lies of the Ajungo; The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi; Ink Blood Sister Scribe; Lonely Castle in the Mirror; The Starless Sea.

In sci-fi, I’m looking for high-concept social commentary; warm/hopeful stories about the nature of humanity; twisty mysteries and/or adventures. Bonus points for neurodivergent robots, cli-fi beyond dystopia, and Afrofuturism & Africanfuturism. Ex: Psalm for the Wild-Built; The Echo Wife; Who Fears Death; The Deep Sky; The Prey of Gods; This is How You Lose the Time War; Murderbot; Sorrowland.

In horror, I’m looking for intimate character-driven stories; explorations of femininity/womanhood/gender & the expectations that come with them; horror-satires; crossover into domestic thrillers and/or women’s fiction. Bonus points for cannibalism, vampires, the horrors of suburbia, and cults (& not-not-cults.) Ex: A Certain Hunger; The Other Black Girl; Natural Beauty; youthjuice; Manhunt; Camp Damascus; Sister, Maiden, Monster; The Woods All Black.

Personal wishlist items: intense female friendships; work in translation; stone butches, high femmes, and trans people; food, music, and/or highly-specific careers; flyover country (affectionate); Southeast Asia, Laos specifically; collective action; stories that inspire unique interiors like Horrorstör.

Some themes that especially appeal to me: monstrosity & embodiment; the archive & cultural memory; language; diaspora & displacement; restorative justice; bittersweet & complicated family dynamics; explorations and/or deconstructions of faith.

Hard sells for me at the moment include: doorstoppers in any genre; hard SF; dark academia (with an exception for same-sex education); occultism; Greek myth retellings

I am not the right editor for: stories that glorify state violence; superhero fiction; graphic novels; kidlit; non-speculative work; nonfiction.

Submissions should be emailed to submissions@erewhonbooks.com

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