Oliver Dougherty

I’ve been with Tor Publishing Group since 2019, and I’m delighted to continue expanding my list with ambitious, imaginative fiction for adult readers. I acquire fantasy, horror, romance that’s otherwise speculative in some way, and science fiction. I’m especially drawn to secondary world stories.

Across genres, I’m obsessed with:

• Richly imagined worlds that explore power structures (The Broken Earth Trilogy, A Memory Called Empire, She Who Became the Sun).
• Interpersonal intrigue driving narrative tension. I want to tear through the pages because I need to know how they’ll feel by the last page.
• Clever protagonists, political or court intrigue. Give me the cat-and-mouse 4D chess–I want the next The Traitor Baru Cormorant or Kushiel’s Dart.
• Complex morality and villains as main characters
• Kind characters, where the escapism is that the protagonists are fundamentally good and trying their very best, and the world ultimately rewards that kindness—looking at you, The Goblin Emperor.
• Protagonists who are middle-aged, older, and elders
• Queernormative worlds, gender subversions, polyamorous relationships of all formations.

Horror: I’m looking for marginalized perspectives, especially by authors of color and authors with disabilities. I have a soft spot for secondary world, folklore, and creeping atmospheric horror.

• Historical: Creative historical horror is such a treat—think The Devils and What Moves the Dead.
• Outsmarting rules: I love when characters find the loophole in their deal with the devil or the dark fairytale’s rules. Think a darker Spinning Silver, or all the sound dampening strategies in A Quiet Place.
• Revenge: I’m always a sucker for a revenge or eat-the-rich story.
• Real world bite: I like when horror’s saying something about real world social issues, even from a fantastical POV.

Romance and romance-adjacent: I’m drawn to secondary worlds and cross-genre stories. I’m looking for a range of spice—from a monumental handholding scene that’ll make me cry to high heat and kink. I want polyamorous relationships, queer and trans stories, a queerplatonic love story, BIPOC main characters, body size diversity, and main characters with disabilities in my romance. I’m not acquiring contemporary romance or erotica.

• Fake dating, contractual engagements, political marriage. I love the yearning!
• Achingly slow burn, unresolved tension. I got my sea legs in fanfiction and I’m ready to strap in for the ride.

I’m especially seeking manuscripts by BIPOC, disabled, neurodivergent, queer, and trans authors.

(they/them)

Submission Guidelines

Oliver Dougherty only accepts agented submissions at this time.