I’m always looking for fresh voices–whether that means authors from underrepresented communities, new takes on old tropes, something that hasn’t been seen before, or all of the above. I love a great humorous novel, but I’m also not afraid of anything dark and in particular will tumble hard for any book that can make me laugh or cry. While my list has a lot of YA and a lot of fantasy, and I’m always looking in those spaces, but I’m especially eager to find more middle grade and adult fiction at present. I’d love to find sagas of family or friendship, queer stories of any kind, a super twisty thriller, and historical fiction about times and places that haven’t already been extensively covered. I’m probably not your go-to for political or medical thrillers or police procedurals or stories involving time travel (with very rare exceptions).
Fun facts about me
I’m a giant theater geek, so if there are any other nerds out there that these names mean anything to, these are the current playwrights whose work is, for me, unmissable: Lynn Nottage, Annie Baker, Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Amy Herzog, Stephen Karam, Suzan-Lori Parks, Samuel Hunter. If you can compare anything you do to anything they’ve done? Please send my way. Submission Guidelines Submissions should be emailed to jmccarthy@ Please Guidelines & Details Vital Info jmccarthy@ Website Agent
Fiction
Action/Adventure, Children's, Commercial, Family Saga, Fantasy, General, Graphic Novel, Historical, LGBTQ, Literary, Middle Grade, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, Women’s Fiction, Young Adult
Non-Fiction
Biography, History, Journalism, LGBTQ, Memoir, Pop Culture I’d like the next… I would kill for a friendship story as beautifully executed as Gabrielle Zevin’s TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, which was a note-perfect novel! My favorites include… My favorite books ever since high school have been SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE and SONG OF SOLOMON. Others I have loved of late (in no particular order): A WISH IN THE DARK – Christine Soontornvat THE UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS – Karla Cornejo Villavicencio THE CITY WE BECAME – N. K. Jemisin WRITERS AND LOVERS – Lily King GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER – Bernardine Evaristo NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC – Kevin Wilson LUSTER – Raven Leilani SHUGGIE BAIN – Douglas Stuart JOAN IS OKAY – Weike Wang THE SENTENCE – Louise Erdrich TRUST – Hernan Diaz TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW – Gabrielle Zevin STAY TRUE – Hua Hsu
Favorite Movies
Parasite Eighth Grade Boyhood Get Out The Favorite The Lobster Bring It On Clue Leaving Las Vegas All About Eve Rebecca Up Ratatouille Spirited Away Moonlight Mad Max: Fury Road Everything, Everywhere, All at Once Emily the Criminal Fire Island Bodies Bodies Bodies Cha Cha Real Smooth Good Luck to You Leo Grande Pearl The Woman King Barbarian Bros Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Favorite TV
Succession Insecure Abbott Elementary The Traitors Severance RuPaul’s Drag Race Top Chef BoJack Horseman