Maxine Shen

UPDATED JULY 27, 2026

I am extremely behind on manuscript reviews! Thank you for your patience while I catch up… 

Currently acquiring for both Alcove Press and Crooked Lane Books

ALCOVE PRESS: 

I’d love to see urban fantasy-themed stories (for fans of Kate Daniels, The Dresden Files, Rivers of London) and humor-driven fantasy (The Lies of Locke Lamora and Assistant to the Villain vibes).

And when it comes to Romance (all leads must be 18+), I’m looking for:

• Sports romance:
  • Preference for pro or college ice hockey and football titles
  • Romcom or darker plots are preferred (angsty is also OK!)
  • Spicy/steamy is good
• Paranormal: 
  • Preference for wolf shifters, vampires, witches or demons
  • Cozy, romcom or darker/”edgier” plots are welcome
• Fantasy:
  • Stories involving magic, vengeful (or helpful!) gods, unusual creatures, fae or myths/folklore
  • Dark academia settings (please)
  • Stories set in an alt-historical world
  • Cozy fantasy with a bit of a mystery would be great
• Contemporary:
  • Dark romcoms or dark(er) romance (consent is a must)
  • Enemies/rivals-to-lovers relationships
  • Small town settings with a romcom feel (cowboys/girls and ranchers are a plus)
  • Motorcycle club-meets-??? (aka genre-blended biker stories)
  • Holiday romance with a twist (a mystery, lots of hijinks and/or shenanigans etc)

Fine print:

For planned series, Book 1 must be able to stand fully alone (ie with a HEA or HFN). Dark romance submissions cannot feature non/dubcon acts or relationships between leads, due to Alcove Press content policy.

***

CROOKED LANE BOOKS:

• Mystery/crime/thrillers with leads like Jack Reacher, Nick Ryan, Nadia Stafford, Rizzoli and Isles, Jonathan Quinn, Walt Longmire, and Elvis Cole and Joe Pike
• Sci-fi or cyberpunk detective stories (Altered Carbon-style, but no space operas at this time)
• Historical mysteries for fans of C.S. Harris, Deanna Raybourn, Alison Goodman, and Jennifer Ashley
• Cozy mysteries of all type
• Military/techno-thrillers (a “new” twist on these is very helpful)

Manuscript word count guidelines: Ideally between 60,000 and 90,000 words.

Looking forward to reading your manuscripts!

Submission Guidelines

Agented authors: Please submit to me directly.

Unagented authors: Please follow the appropriate submissions guidelines below.

• Alcove Press: https://alcovepress.com/submissions/
• Crooked Lane Books: https://crookedlanebooks.com/submissions/

Submission preferences:

• Word docs are preferred over PDFs
• Plot synopsis is great to have
  • Will ultimately need a synopsis to share with the team during acquisitions meetings
  • ~500 words would be fine
  • Bullet points also fine!