About Us

Keir Alekseii

Keir Alekseii

 

Keir Alekseii is an associate agent with Azantian Literary Agency. She is an educator and anti-GBV activist born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, a twin island country in the West Indies. Keir is a writer, gamer, lover of folklore, and former research scientist. As a neurodivergent, queer woman of color, Keir is invested in discovering engaging work with similar representation, and is passionate about creating space for voices not often recognized. She is especially interested in stories from BIPOC who are born and raised in the Global South.

Please include any content and trigger warnings in your query.

Please DO NOT send:

  • Novelizations of your tabletop campaign
  • Books with gratuitous gore
  • Splatter or slasher fiction
  • Books that employ fridging
  • Copaganda
  • Military science fiction
  • Literary fiction
  • Adult contemporary
  • Middle grade
  • Novellas

Wishlist

Keir is seeking YA & Adult SFFH and YA contemporary novels. She is ONLY open to receiving queries from writers who identify as belonging to a marginalized or underrepresented community.

Keir's favorite traits and tropes include:

  • Found family
  • Protags that are too smart for their own good
  • Stories about embracing your identity
  • Friendship is magic
  • Stories that center BIPOC and queer happiness
  • Enemies to friends/unlikely friendships
  • Nonbinary MCs tasting power and choosing chaos
  • Grump & sunshine/stabby & cinnamon roll pairings
  • Femme villains corrupting cinnamon rolls/himbos
  • Non-white power couples/non-white love interests
  • Sapphic everything
  • Enemies to lovers & friends to lovers
  • Slow burn & second chance romance
  • Heists

Keir's hobbies, background and identity deeply inform what they love. Some examples of how this influences their taste include work that:

  • Burns down the patriarchy and/or destroys colonizers
  • You're reversing or reimagining colonialism
  • DnD or other TTRPG Easter eggs, or inside jokes for games like Hades, Devil May Cry, or Final Fantasy.
  • Your story has the emotional resonance of games like Gris or Old Man's Journey
  • Has the political complexity and ethical realities of anime like Gundam or Full Metal Alchemist

Keir is currently craving (in no particular order):

  • Kink- and poly-positive work
  • Sapphic power couples. Think Korra & Asami (The Legend of Korra) or Michiru & Haruka (Sailor Moon)
  • The sweet slow burn of Mitsuri & Obanai (Demon Slayer) but with a happy ending
  • The powerful sibling love of Tanjiro & Nezuko, or Daki & Gyutaro (Demon Slayer)
  • Anything that gives her the same rollercoaster of emotions as Demon Slayer
  • Queenmaker as a sapphic political fantasy
  • A book that feels like Poker Face or Knives Out
  • A YA protagonist of any gender identity or orientation who can be comped to Miles Morales
  • BIPOC vampires
  • All the feelings of the moment Angelus became Angel again and then Buffy had to run him through with a sword (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
  • Dark academia, but replace "academia" with e-sports or tabletop gaming
  • Contemporary or contemporary SFFH that engages deeply and authentically with the gaming, anime, cosplay, streaming, or convention communities (within one or multiple fandoms)

In YA contemporary, , Keir prefers books where the romance is secondary but identity and self-love are primary, like TJ POWAR HAS SOMETHING TO PROVE. Keir would also love work like ICEBREAKER, with queer love and found family, or HUNGRY GHOST where strength is not about being perfect and alone but flawed and surrounded by community. They are looking for diverse representations of queerness and love that runs deep even without a romantic element. Keir prefers coming of age stories that do not include romance.

In fantasy, they love immersive worlds that are based outside of western cultures like THE JASMINE THRONE, IRON WIDOW, KAIKEYI, or RAYBEARER. In general, Keir would love to see books with BIPOC leads that use fae and folktales from non-western cultures. She's particularly excited to see West Indian culture and mythology. Keir accepts all sub-genres of adult and young adult fantasy.

In science fiction, Keir is primarily interested in seeing SF that forces us to explore the human condition, like the XUYA UNIVERSE or THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS. Though Keir's SF tastes do lean toward Adult, they would welcome YA work that explores such ideas and makes her crave adventure. Keir accepts all subgenres of adult and young adult science fiction, except military science fiction. DO NOT send them military science fiction.

In horror, she prefers work that makes her feel disturbed or unsettled rather than gore or jump scares. If your book reads like a Black Mirror episode, she probably wants to see it. Keir accepts all subgenres of adult and young adult horror except splatter and slasher. DO NOT send her splatter or slasher horror.

Across all genres, Keir loves complex, smart, emotional characters and they would love to see more books with morally gray, unapologetic characters.

Genre blending and/or bending books are welcome.

Retellings or re-imaginings that match this wish list are welcome.