For over a decade, Laura has worked with books in every way from bookselling to editing to self-publishing. A literary agent since 2014, she finds the most joy in working closely with authors to build their long-term careers in ways that contribute positively to their financial and mental health, as well as the greater community. Since 2016, Laura has hosted Print Run, a publishing podcast, with Erik Hane and is increasingly passionate about teaching, mentorship, and the role books play in the fight for social justice.

 

In her spare time, Laura plays tabletop role-playing games, cooks elaborate meals, weaves tapestries, and drinks a lot of tea. Connect with her on Bluesky @LZats.bsky.social.

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LAURA’S REPRESENTATIVE CATEGORIES: 

• YA

• Science fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

• Romance

• Mystery/Thriller

• Literary fiction with speculative elements

• Select contemporary and historical fiction​

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I am most aggressively looking to acquire in the adult horror, mystery, and thriller spaces, but please note that anything listed below (or honestly. one step away from what is listed below) is something you should feel free to query me with. If it's listed, I have room on my list for it! 

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I particularly love to work on books that appeal to readers of different genres or subgenres—if you’re querying something that crosses multiple areas of my list, I want to see it! This means popular portmanteaus like romantasy, but also means less common genre mashups and subtler examinations of the edges of subgenres.

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YA

I’m interested in reading about standout characters I’ve never met before, clever twists on familiar themes, and compassionate writing. I’m also very interested in seeing marginalized creators take on “tired” tropes.

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I’m not interested in dystopia/big government stories and I'm generally not the best fit for quiet contemporary romance, but I’m very much open to anything else. This is a category where I don’t quite know what I want until I see it, so take the above and run with it! 

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ROMANCE

I gravitate towards tropes that build conflict from the roles and expectations a character brings with them at the start of the book—think enemies (or rivals) to lovers, fake relationship, and coworkers. Put another way, I like the tension to come from forces outside the relationship versus forces inside the relationship (like accidental pregnancy, love triangle, miscommunication, etc.) Feel free to query me with contemporary romance, historical romance, romance with speculative elements, and romance in speculative settings.

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I’m not a good fit for Christian romance. I will also not be a good fit for you if you describe your romance as “clean,” although closed-door romance is fine!

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I gravitate towards romance MCs with a little grit to them—not necessarily huge baggage that only love can cure, but more along the lines of lovable people who aren't always likable.

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I unintentionally work largely with LGBTQ+ romance and am always excited to add more to my list in all subgenres! I particularly would love to see more f/f and nb/trans characters.

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MYSTERY/THRILLER

I am looking for series or standalone books that bring something fresh to the genre. For example, I’d love to see projects that play with romance or speculative fiction tropes as much as traditional mystery tropes, or that feature antiheroes. I am interested in mysteries and thrillers in contemporary, historical, and speculative settings.

 

I am actively looking for projects that feature a BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ protagonist.

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Some recent authors I've enjoyed include Lev AC Rosen, Mia P. Manasala, Vivien Chien, Jesse Q. Sutanto, Juneau Black, Colleen Cambridge, Elly Giffiths, Katherine Schellman, Rupert Holmes, and Nekesa Afia.

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I am particularly drawn to sharp, intelligent heroes, cozy mysteries, thrillers that are built around long-standing relationships and unspool slowly and deliberately (a la Lucy Foley), and anything with Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher vibes. I also will probably enjoy a mystery if it has an air of metafiction to it, especially engaging with the "rules" of Golden Age mystery fiction.

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I am not a good fit for police/law enforcement heroes or love interests. I am also not a good fit for plots that include gaslighting of female characters. 

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​SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR

SFFH will always be my first love, and as such will always take up a large part of my list. If it helps to dig down to the foundation, I was raised a Star Trek kid over Star Wars, am kind-of-sort-of named after Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer, cut my teeth on Robin McKinley and Tamora Pierce, and have a Buffy the Vampire Slayer tattoo. 

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I am always sucker for really interesting worldbuilding, reluctant and deeply flawed protagonists, and community-focused politics. I would love to have more decolonized worlds come across my desk and am  interested in seeing any stage of colonization from the view of the indigenous population. 

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I run the gamut from really light, cozy stories to raucous slashers to dark, challenging tales. Generally, I like my magic mean, my heroes soft, my romance gothic, my monsters scary (and also maybe a little hot), my fights bloody, and my wilderness weird. 

 

I am generally less interested in dystopian/big gov stories, superheroes, steampunk, military SFF, and traditional English Tolkien-esque high fantasy, but still willing to look at these books if they’re doing something new or have a twist.

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LITERARY FICTION WITH SPECULATIVE ELEMENTS

The primary distinction between literary fiction with speculative elements and general SFFH is usually a matter of sales, not content. I’m separating this section out only in the event that you, the reader, haven’t considered querying agents who rep SFF!

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I’m looking for a wide range of speculative elements here—from something as fantastical as the Cthulhuesque monsters in RING SHOUT to something as subtle as the earth’s slowing rotation backdrop in THE AGE OF MIRACLES.​

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SELECT CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORICAL FICTION

I am looking for historical fiction with LGBTQ+ and/or BIPOC main characters.

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I am also looking for historical and contemporary fiction that isn’t actually speculative but either feels adjacent to SFF (like LITTLE by Edward Carey) or appeals to related fandoms (like A STUDY IN SCARLET WOMEN by Sherry Thomas)

 

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