Photo: Michael Tedesco
Title: Five Haircuts Ago

MICHELE
MORTIMER

PRESENTLY SEEKING‍
‍crime / mysteries / thrillers / suspense
horror / sci-fi / low fantasy / dystopian / weird lit
genre-bending and blending welcome
narrative + prescriptive nonfiction
YA genre fiction + contemporary realism
MG genre fiction, contemporary realism, nonfiction
unconventional romance / romcoms
literary fiction
2ALGBTAQIA+ & BIPOC writers

PRESENTLY FATIGUED WITH
default first-person / self-insert first-person
writer-protagonists / epistolary novels
stories featuring the affluent & privileged
hetero marriage and wife thrillers
aging or former rock star MCs
influencer MCs/ fictionally famous MCs
  gamer-centric stories
the unhinged weird girl
vanilla romance / BookTok tropes
short fiction / auto fiction

NOT FOR ME
high fantasy / romantasy / dark romance
extreme gore-splatterpunk-slashers
fiction featuring serial killers, sex trafficking, animal abuse, or incest
nonfiction on pregnancy, childcare, parenting
anything saccharine or sentimental (heartfelt ok)

 CRIME / MYSTERIES / SUSPENSE / THRILLERS

 Generally inclined to strong prose, complex character work, and earned, resonant revelations.

Drawn to work that speaks to social and cultural issues, including the specific flaws in law enforcement, the courts, and the penal system.

Eager for plot-driven page-turners that subvert formula and current trends.

Happy to see genre mashups and meta-takes.

I am familiar with more true crime than is healthy and can be fussy about fictionalized plots or elements.

detective lit / procedurals / whodunits
locked-room / dark, bleak, grim crime / hardboiled / morally gray / private investigators
arson, tax, or insurance investigators
state-specific Bureau of Investigations
wildlife officers-park rangers / marine police
police corruption / internal affairs
legal thrillers / domestic thrillers / techno-thrillers
spies, capers, and heists
occult / supernatural / paranormal
comic / cozy / quirky

FAN OF

Megan Abbott, Jussi Adler-Olsen, Kate Atkinson,
Graeme Macrae Burnet, Ann Cleeves, Alyssa Cole,
S.A. Cosby, Len Deighton, David McCloskey,
Tana French, Nick Herron, Anthony Horowitz,
Joe Ide, Craig Johnson, Dennis Lehane,
Attica Locke, Laura Lippman, Jennifer McMahon, Wanda M. Morris, Denise Mina, Richard Price, Jason Rekulak, Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
Georges Simenon, Jesse Q. Sutano

ROMANCE

Adult romance is next to impossible for me but when it happens it’s usually a smart contemporary rom-com or even just a rom that has tremendous spark. Would also like to see queer, poly, asexual, or any other sexual/romantic orientation in this space, particularly by those who identify as such.

Holiday fare a bonus.

That said, am always intrigued when romance plays a role in crime, horror, or sci-fi stories.

No dark romance, fanfic, historical,
paranormal/supernatural, or romantasy.

Not keen on books overly dutiful to tropes.

UP MY ALLEY

THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne and the similar…

STAR SHIPPED by Cat Sebastian

THE BROWN SISTERS TRILOGY by Talia Hibbert

YOU DESERVE EACH OTHER by Sarah Hogle

JUST AS YOU ARE by Camille Kellogg

I’m always a fan of YA romance, be it sweet, spicy, serious, or any other flavor. See YA section.

 NONFICTION

 narrative nonfiction
prescriptive nonfiction + self-help
essay collections / cultural criticism
history + oral histories
memoir / hybrid memoirs / novelty

SUBJECTS OF INTEREST
natural world / biodiversity
animals / plants / birds / insects
animal welfare / conservation
climate crisis & action
renewable energy / waste & composting

sports / women’s sports
baseball / soccer / tennis / Olympic sports
Bills / Mets / MLB
Premier League / USWNT / WNBA
fandom / ownership / history / biographies
sports gambling

 music / industry / history / biography / criticism
classical / r+b / pop / punk / indie / emo
electronic / rock / country / alt-country / Americana Latin / niche / holiday

feminism / all waves / intersectionality
trans-positivity / body politics
gender identity / romantic orientation
sex / kink / sexual health
dating / relationships / separation & divorce

 health & medicine / female healthcare
mental health / addiction
accessibility / disability & cross-disability advocacy
caretaking / eldercare / senior living
exercise / running / wellness
plant-based nutrition & cooking

slow living / anti-consumerism / de-digitizing
civics / public service
community organizing / unionizing
urban design / housing solutions 
public transportation / traffic & parking

true crime / murder / disappearances
cults / cons / corruption
law / criminal / contract + tort
property + estate / equity + trusts 

crafts / hobbies / games / puzzles
needlecrafts / papercrafts / watercolors / coloring
gardening / hiking / birding
DIY / tinkering

New York / WNY / NYC / Vermont / Tennessee
Canada / UK / Italy

RECENT READS, FOR REFERENCE

THERE’S ALWAYS THIS YEAR: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqi
V13: CHRONICLE OF A TRIAL by Emmanuel Carrére, tr. John Lambert
BETTER LIVING THROUGH BIRDING: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper
RAISING HARE by Chloe Dalton
ENSHITTIFICATION: Why Everything Got Worse & What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow
THE LAST DAYS OF ROGER FEDERER: AND OTHER ENDINGS by Geoff Dyer
PERFECT VICTIMS and the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd
BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN by Gina Frangello
THE WAGER: A TALE OF SHIPWRECK, MUTINY AND MURDER by David Grann
LONDON FALLING: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
BUT YOU LOOK FINE: Trapped in the Hell Between Sick & Well & How to Break Free by Amy Kurtz
MEET ME BY THE FOUNTAIN: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange
HER COUNTRY: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be by Marissa R. Moss
HOW TO DO NOTHING by Jenny Odell
SINKHOLE: A Legacy of Suicide by Juliet Patterson
THE FREAKS CAME OUT TO WRITE: The Definitive History of the Village Voice by Tricia Romano
DEAD AND ALIVE: Essays by Zadie Smith
THE BEGINNING COMES AFTER THE END: NOTES ON A WORLD OF CHANGE by Rebecca Solnit
QUIT LIKE A WOMAN by Holly Whitaker

MIDDLE GRADE & YOUNG ADULT

Note: my taste differs somewhat for younger readers than it does for adults.

MIDDLE GRADE

Open to fiction and nonfiction for both lower and upper middle grade or books that please all levels. Most interested in reaching struggling readers, reluctant readers, and boys.

Eager to see narratives paired with illustrations of any kind, interactive stories, and graphic novels that exhibit a real partnership between text and visuals.

FICTION
Genres to the Front
mysteries / thrillers / horror / adventure / survival
alternate histories / soft sci-fi / dystopian
urban fantasy / folklore + fairy tale fantasy
paranormal & supernatural / gothic
anthropomorphic / genre mashups

Interested in contemporary or historical realistic fiction geared toward boys, with male MCs, or that sits in gender neutral space, but always a fan of girlhood in all its maddening glory.

FAN OF
Katherine Arden, Kelly J. Baptist, Wesley Case,
Daphne Benedis-Grab, Aaron Blabley, Peter Brown, Michael Buckley, Rob Buyea, Daka Hermon,
Jennifer L. Holm, Erin Estrada Kelly, James Ponti,
Jason Reynolds, Jordan Sonnenbuck

MG SERIES FAVES

FIRST CAT IN SPACE by Mac Barnett + Shawn Harris,
WESTFALLEN by Ann + Ben Brashares, WHISPERING PINES by Hedi Lang + Kati Bartowski
THE ACADEMY by T.Z. Layton
THE TRACK SERIES by Jason Reynolds

MG NONFICTION
Narrative nonfiction that goes down like fiction and transforms the most boring of subjects or niche of topics into dorky cool.

Memoir that speaks to truth, to personal experience, and to the audience rather than their parents.

See nonfiction interests below for subjects in my wheelhouse (obviously some adult subjects do not apply). That said, I would love books on sports, music, and outdoor stuff.

MG RECENT NF FAVES

WITCH HUNT by Andrea Balis + Elizabeth Levy, illustrated by Tim Foley
SEEDS OF DISCOVERY by Lorie Alexander
OMNIBIRD by Giselle Clarkson
RADAR AND THE RAFT by Jeff Lantos, illustrated by Alan Marks
CLIMATE IS JUST THE START by Mikaela Loach
EXTRA LARGE by Tyler Page
THE MONKEY TRIAL by Anita Sanchez
THE LONGEST SHOT by Chad Soon + George Chiang

Please be mindful of word count for age and level, particularly given today’s attention span.

YOUNG ADULT
Fiction only in this space, for now.

 Always eager to see stories of any kind with LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, neurodivergent, or disabled characters, or within any underrepresented community.

horror / mysteries / thrillers / gothic / historical
contemporary realism / contemporary romance
dystopian / paranormal + supernatural / sci-fi contemporary + urban fantasy

FAN OF
Becky Albertalli, David Arnold, K Ancrum,
Angeline Boulley, Libba Bray, Julie Buxbaum,
Katie Cotugno, Maureen Johnson, Kody Keplinger,
Marie Lu, Taharer Mafi, Julie Murphy, Jandy Nelson, Nnedi Okorafor, Aiden Thomas, Liselle Sambury,
Neal Schusterman, Emily Suvada, Kaise West, Nicola Yoon, Jeff Zentner,
any thriller with that same thriller font on the cover

RECENT YA FAVES

HOW TO LOSE YOURSELF COMPLETELY by Peter Bognanni
THE LAST BOOKSTORE ON EARTH by Lily Braun-Arnold
REBEL WITCH BOOK 2: THE CRIMSON MOTH by Kristen Ciccarelli
THEY CALL HER REGRET by Channelle Desamours
SEASON OF FEAR by Emily Cooper
WHEN WE GO MISSING by April Henry
THE DARKNESS OUTSIDE US by Eliot Schrefer
THE THRASERS by Julie Soto
BEAST by Richard Van Camp

MG & YA

Interested in stories that address the following issues without preaching to younger readers.

anger / mood swings / hormones
empathy / emotional literacy
isolation + loneliness / peer pressure / social skills
identity / body image / self-image / dysmorphia
online influences + risks / social media
AI / tech-stress
screen addiction / gaming aggression
family dysfunction / parentification / caretaking
divorce / custody / dating + new marriage
step + half siblings / blended families
overly permissive parents / best friend parents
hyperconsumerism / cosmeticorexia
financial strain / status shame / envy + jealousy
academic pressure / existential confusion
sexuality / identity / sex / health / consent / safety
stress / depression / anxiety
mental illness / medication + therapy
addiction / eating + other disorders
trauma / abuse / discrimination / hardship
eco-anxiety / sociopolitical anxiety

LITERARY FICTION

Most interested in elevated genre work that is undoubtedly literary though it may be marketed as genre-specific.

Also interested in literary work of historical or contemporary realism.

No autofiction or short fiction.

RECENT READS

O CALEDONIA by Elspeth Barker
THE WILDERNESS by Angela Flournoy
THE WALL by Marlen Haushofer
THE DREAM HOTEL by Laila Lalami
PERFECTION by Vincezno Latronico
AUGUST BLUE by Deborah Levy
MOTHERS by Deborah Lazano
CURSED BREAD by Sophie Mackintosh
THE BEE STING by Paul Murray
GODWIN by Joseph O’Neill
FLESH by David Szalay
PALAVER: A NOVEL by Bryan Washington