Tommy Dean

Tommy Dean is a literary agent, specializing in mystery, suspense, thrillers, crime fiction, and upmarket fiction with danger and secrets. He gravitates towards stories with deep emotional resonance, with characters who come to life through their actions and responses to the world around them. He is searching for stories that investigate the mysteries of being human. He is always interested in clear stakes, surprise endings, and stories that make him forget the outside world.

A fellow writer, Tommy, is an award-winning storyteller, the author of two flash fiction chapbooks, Special Like the People on TV (Redbird Chapbooks, 2014) and Covenants (ELJ Editions, 2021), and a full flash collection, Hollows (Alternating Current Press, 2022). This Fear We Harbor, a flash collection, is forthcoming in March 2027 (Unsolicited Press). He lives in Indiana, where he is currently the editor of Fractured Lit and Uncharted Magazine. A recipient of the 2019 Lascaux Prize in Short Fiction, his writing can be found in Best Microfiction 2019, 2020, 2023, and Best Small Fiction 2019 and 2022. His work has been published in Monkeybicycle, Laurel Review, Moon City Review, Pithead Chapel, Harpur Palate, and many other litmags. He has taught writing workshops for the Gotham Writers Workshop, The Writers Center, and The Writers Workshop, as well as at numerous conferences across the country.

He is an editorial agent who loves helping writers achieve their publication dreams.

You can now find him on Query Tracker!

I love stories fueled by gossip and lies that hold families together and tear them apart. I love it when past crimes bubble to the surface. I love stories set in small towns, rural locations, and the Midwest. Stories of blue-collar workers, and the generations that eschew this work to go to college, to live in a city, to forget where they came from, only to be yanked back to the provincial settings of their youth. 

If you’re pitching literary fiction, I want deep emotional resonance, with characters who come to life through their actions and responses to the world around them. I’m searching for stories that investigate the mysteries of being human; the sorrow and the joy of connecting to the diverse population. I want your best sentences and your sharpest language, with specific and unique characters, I can imagine coming to life. 

For Non-Fiction, I’m looking for true crime in the vein of Murderland or Killers of the Flower Moon. I want non-fiction that reads with the tension and pace of fiction. I want to feel like I’m on the stage of the story with the characters, to feel like I’m also living this moment in time. Think scene, conflict, antagonists, and a main character who, though they might be unlikable, is deeply interesting! 

I’m not interested in:

Young Adult

Sci-Fi Thrillers

Fantasy

Hard Science Fiction

Nazi-related historical fiction

Romance

Romantsy

You can now find me on Query Manager.

Submission Guidelines

Send all queries through Query Tracker.

Please include a query letter and a one-page synopsis.

Paragraph 1: Introduction. Please include metadata such as word count, title, genre, and comps.

Paragraph 2/3: Back copy blurb that includes important stakes, plot and action, and the hook. Focus on your main character!

Paragraph 4: Your bio, including some background information and writing experience/success.

Please attach the first 10 pages of your novel. If interested in your project, I will request the full manuscript.

I aim to respond within 12 weeks.

Given the nature of the submissions we receive, I regret that I cannot provide personalized feedback at this time due to the high volume.

Guidelines & Details