kristy bowen | horror writer & book artist

As we close in on the last couple weeks of the open reading period, I am enjoying wading into the submissions pool and have even started accepting some titles for the first couple months of the 2026-27 season (and amazingly am somewhat on schedule getting these last handful of books out for this past season, which is wrapping up as we speak.) I am once again thinking about what makes a manuscript a definite "yes" and what makes me take a pass on the "no's. Some manuscripts stand out for their strangeness, their innovation. This can be subject matter wise, language-wise, stylistic, or narrative. It can mean using page space in interesting ways. Using art and graphics mixed in. Using found texts and appropriated forms like glossaries and diagrams. I like books that go for bold in some ways. That aren't afraid to take risks. I've often heard from authors that the book I accepted had been out in submission for a minute and no one was biting. I sometimes am just h...