Alec Shane
Writers House Literary Agency
My Manuscript Wish List®
Alec Shane majored in English at Brown University, a degree he put to immediate use by moving to Los Angeles after graduation to become a professional stuntman. Realizing that he prefers books to breakaway glass, he moved to New York City in 2008 to pursue a career in publishing. Alec quickly found a home at Writers House Literary Agency and is now aggressively building his own list.
On the nonfiction side, Alec would love to see humor, biography, history (particularly military history), true crime, “guy” reads, and all things sports. In fiction, Alec is looking for mystery, thrillers (though he’s experiencing terrorist fatigue at the moment), suspense, horror, historical fiction, literary fiction, and middle grade and Young Adult fiction.
He doesn’t want Romance, straight sci-fi, high fantasy, picture books, self-help, women’s fiction, food, or travel memoir.
Fun facts about me:
- I’m a huge Patriots fan and moonlight as a wannabe sportswriter for the SBNation blog patspulpit.com. It has been incredibly therapeutic, but has done little to quell my mania.
- I’m a huge dog guy – and by that I mean I love dogs, and I especially love huge dogs. St. Bernards, Newfoundlands, Mastiffs… if your manuscript has a big, oafish, slobbering dog in it, I’m yours. Little dogs that yip and can fit inside of a purse…not so much.
- I’m about 60% sure I saw a ghost once. I’m not sure, and there are certainly other explanations for what happened that night on the beach…but I don’t know. If an author can convince me one way or another as to the existence of ghosts, I’m all ears.
- I’m staunchly anti-Hollywood remake of any kind. If it was a movie I loved as a kid, I refuse to see a new version of it as an adult. It needs to stop.
- Nobody understands how terrifying Zelda from the Pet Sematary movie is and it drives me nuts.
- I hate cheese. This might be the one facet of who I am that I’m most ashamed of.
- I also hate wine. I’ve had cheap wine, expensive wine, domestic wine, foreign wine. I’ve swirled it and sniffed it and chewed it and everything else you do with it. Not for me. I feel no shame in this whatsoever.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be emailed to ashane@writershouse.com
I accept e-mail and snail-mail queries (although email is preferable), and will usually respond within 5-8 weeks. Please send the first 10 pages of your manuscript, along with your query letter, to as****@**********se.com with “Query for Alec Shane: TITLE” as your subject heading – no attachments please!
I no longer accept snail mail submissions.
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
"Big Idea/Think", #ownvoices, #wndb, AAPI Fantasy, AAPI Horror, AAPI Sci-Fi, Accessible Literary Fiction, Action-Adventure, Adult Horror, Adult SFF, Adventure, African Diaspora, African Fantasy, African Sci-Fi, Africanfuturism, Amateur Sleuth Mysteries, Asian American Literature, Asian Diaspora, Asian Fantasy, Asian Horror, Asian Sci-Fi, Author-Illustrator, Author-Illustrators, BIPOC, BIPOC Fantasy, BIPOC Horror, BIPOC Mystery, BIPOC Sci-Fi, Bible studies, Biography, Career Development, Caribbean Literature, Character-Driven Horror, Character-driven SciFi, Children's, Children's Nonfiction, Children's and Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction, Christian, Christian Living, Christian romantic suspense, Classic retellings with BIPOC characters, Cli-Fi, Concept SF, Contemporary YA, Cozy Mystery, Crime & Thriller, Crime Fiction, Cross-genre, Dark Female Friendships, Disability, Diverse Protagonists, Diversity, Domestic Suspense/Thriller, Dystopian, East Asian Literature, Fantasy YA, Feminist Horror, Feminist SF/F, Film/TV, Finance, Folklore, Gothic Fantasy, Gothic Horror, Graphic Novels (for all ages), Hauntings, Health, Health and Wellness, High Concept, High-concept YA, High-concept YA/MG, Historical (as long as the period is of consequence), Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction YA, Illustrated, Illustration (for all ages), Illustrator, Illustrators, Immigrant Experiences, Immigrant Voices, LGBT YA, LGBTQ Contemporary, LGBTQ+ Sci-Fi, Latine Diaspora, Latinx Fantasy, Latinx Horror, Latinx Sci-Fi, Latinx stories, Literary Fiction, Literary Horror, Literary MG, Literary Thriller, Literary YA & MG, MG, MG Action Adventure, MG Fantasy, MG Horror, MG Nonfiction, MG Sci-Fi, MG adventure, MG contemporary, MG mystery, MG/YA, Mental Health, Middle Grade, Middle Grade Adventure, Middle Grade Contemporary, Middle Grade Fantasy, Middle Grade Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Horror, Middle Grade Mystery, Middle grade magical realism, Military, Mind/Body/Spirit, Minority Voices, Monsters, Muslim, Mysteries, Mystery / Crime, Mythic, Mythic Horror, Narrative, Narrative Nonfiction, Occult, Occult Horror, Occult Nonfiction, Own Voices, Paranormal, Paranormal Horror, Paranormal Thriller, Personal Development, Picture book non-fiction, Psychological Horror, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thrillers, Racial Justice, Relic/Artifact Action/Adventure, Religion, STEM, SWANA Horror, Sci-fi Thriller, Science Fiction YA, Science nonfiction, Self-help, Self-help for kids, Self-help for teens, Social Issues, Social Justice, South Asian, South East Asian Literature, Subernatural Horror, Supernatural, Supernatural Elements, Supernatural Horror, Suspense, Tech Thrillers, Techno-Horror, True Crime, Underrepresented Voices, Upmarket Commercial Fiction, Upmarket Fiction, Upmarket Nonfiction, Upmarket YA, WWI, WWII, Wellness, West African Literature, Westerns, YA, YA SF/F, YA Thrillers, YA horror, YA thriller/mystery, Young Adult Fiction (Historical Fiction only), Young Adult Narrative Non-Fiction (Both Contemporary and Historical Narrative Non-Fiction), Young Adult Non-Fiction, action-packed graphic novels, afrofuturism, body horror, children's diversity, children's graphic novels, contemporary MG, dark academia, dark fantasy, diverse, diverse and own voices, diverse heroines, diverse voices, domestic thrillers, horror, literary mystery, locked room, middle grade non-fiction, mystery, narrative non-fiction, narrative non-fiction YA/MG, personal finance, psychology, queer, queer horror, science fiction, science fiction horror, space horror, traditional mysteries, upmarket genre fiction
I’d like the next…
I’d like the next Roald Dahl and the next Stephen King. I’m not really one to set the bar too high.
My favorites include…
Books
Danny, Champion of the World
The Stand
Invisible Man
Movies
Rocky
Dumb and Dumber
Caddyshack
Braveheart
Jaws
TV
The Wire
Sons of Anarchy
The Simpsons (Seasons 2-8)
Seinfeld
