Bianca Marais (0:00)

Omg. Have you seen the Deep Dive Virtual retreat lineup for the 1st and 2nd of February? It's incredible. Gatekeepers galore. As well as the authors who managed to get past them, we've got the editors and agents who worked on phenomenal projects like Station 11, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Crazy Rich Asians, the Flight Attendant, Maame Wayward, the Wife Upstairs, the Tinder Swindler, Big Little Lies, the Perfect Couple, the Other Black Girl, and so much more. The presentation topics are brilliant, so practical and valuable regardless of where you are in your writing journey. One of our speakers, the brilliant Annabel Monaghan, who wrote the best selling Nora Goes Off Script, was a delegate at the very first Deep Dive Retreat and now she's kicking butt all over the place coming back to present. That could be you one day. Those of you who take part in the Thousand Words of Summer will also be super excited to see the fabulous Jami Attenberg in the lineup as well. Trust me, you do not want to miss this. Head to our website, theshitaboutwriting.com go to the deep Dive page to see more information and and to register. We hope to see you there. Hi there and welcome to our show, the shit no one tells you about writing. I'm Bianca Marais and I'm joined by Carly Waters and Cece Leera from PS Literary Agency. Hi everyone. Welcome to our November bonus episode with our comps segment with Emily Summer from East City Bookshop. Emily, welcome. Thank you for having me. Yeah, and thank you for joining us. We have got a bumper edition today. We have got 19 comp requests which is incredible. We're going to get through all of them. Keep in mind listeners that we will take a break from the segment in December and we'll be back again in January, which is when the hotline will open for all the rest of your comp requests. Okay, Emily, here is our first one. I'm hoping to receive comps for my novel, Hazel Deevey's Good Goodbye Contemporary fiction set in Michigan. 30 year old Hazel, owner of a coffee shop, is reaching the end of her decade long commercial lease. At the same time, Seamus, her best friend from college and a coffee shop employee, is moving to Nashville to pursue music because his band broke up. Hazel decides to sell instead of sign a five year lease extension. But intent on giving Seamus a good goodbye, she doesn't tell him. While juggling his last week, including his band's final show, the coffee shop's annual Halloween party, and a surprise visit from the third friend and their college trio, Hazel realizes her feelings for Seamus are more than platonic and that her creepy landlord stuck a right of first refusal clause into her lease, meaning she can only sell to him. Withhold ultimately breaks Seamus's trust, which forces Hazel to either withstand the discomfort of having hard conversations or risk losing him. The novel explores life with high masking autism and the messy relational dynamics of chosen family. The cozy coffee shop setting was inspired by the bookstore in the Storied Life of AJ Fickry. The autistic MC and romantic through lines are similar to something more though my book isn't ya. Thank you for your help. Okay, so I love hearing the title of the book, so if you have a working title, please put it in the comp request because I love thinking that in a few years I'm going to hear that title and think oh we talked about that. And this one I think has a particularly good I love the good Goodbye. I think that you're right on the money with the cozy coffee shop bookstore connection with the Storied Life of AJ Fikry and of course Gabrielle Zevin has become so huge now with Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. But the storied life of AJ Fikry is so lovely and I think is not too big for a neurodivergent autistic character. I thought about Helen Huang's books have a neurodivergent main character. Same with Chloe Lease L I E S E. I hope I'm saying her name correctly. Both of those have neurodivergent main characters and they write romances. They may be too spicy, they may be spicier romance than what you're looking for. So in the vein of something that is not spicy but might have the same feel as the storied life of A.J. fikry, I thought about Linda Holmes's second book Flying Solo, which is a book about old friends. It is about not just chosen family but the life that we decide to choose for ourselves. It's a main character at a crossroads and I love that book. So I would add Flying Solo and then take a look at the romances with the neurodivergent main character. Thank you. Emily here is number two. Hey Emily, S.B. parker here. I'm seeking comps for my commercial fiction work in progress with the paranormal speculative twist Protocol for Lost Souls. Written in third person close dual pov. The story takes place in present day Toronto when Casey gives birth to her second child to a second baby daddy Mark. A series of events unfold which prove that the baby girl is a reincarnate of Mark's late wife. Mark finds this distressing, but Kaysi has been hiding a secret about her older child, Evan for the past 10 years. Rapid scrutiny of the newborn thrusts the family into the arms of a power hungry government agency that seeks to control the global network of emerging reincarnates. My book explores themes of undying parental love, family legacy, and the notion that we do not have ownership over our children or our spouses. We're simply fellow travelers in time and space. I've considered Claire NORSE the first 15 lives of Harry August, but it's a bit old and I'm unsure if it was commercially successful enough. I've also looked at Glendy van der Rohe's where the Forest Meets the Stars as it involves a child and a single paranormal element, or at least suspicion of one, but explores different themes than I do. I do really love it when you all start off with a great comp and I think where the Forest Meets the Stars makes perfect sense. I would add that in absolutely because of the presence of a child, the paranormal element. My first thought is the book Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poor, which may be a little bit too old and I don't know how well it sold, but frankly it is the only book that I can think of with reincarnation at its size center. So I immediately thought about Reincarnation Blues. Take a look at that and see if there's any connection there. And and also I would look at who blurbed it and maybe that would give you some other ideas for other authors or books to look out for. And anytime we're talking about commercial fiction with a speculative twist, especially a book that is focused as this one is on undying love and and positive things like that, I think about Matt Hague so so I would look at Matt Haig's books and see which of his might resonate. Wonderful. Here we go, here is number three. Hi all, thanks so much for this and everything else you do for us. I'm looking for a comp for my 95,000 word contemporary crime novel. Set in Dartmoor, England and seen from the first person point of view of a foul mouthed, wise cracking, mentally ill 27 year old care leaver whose memory has been damaged by experimental ECT. Sorry CeCe. And who has visual hallucinations. When her hallucination on Dartmoor turns out to be a real corpse, she must discover the killer before she's arrested for murder. Scarred but determined, she's tough and loyal, attracting true friends despite her problems and I hope the book conveys subtlety and a range of emotions alongside tension and page turning suspense, its oddball championing of a loser makes me think of Belinda Bower, for example Blacklands, but that's probably too old and its irreverence reminds me of the Boys, but it's not that fouled mouthed and has nothing to do with superheroes. Although my protagonist's grasp on reality is shaky, the book is firmly set in our real world. Okay, so usually for the comps I tell myself I have to come up with two comps, either title or author. So everybody's getting two. But when we have so many this month I only came up with one for some of them and sometimes it's because one is just feels so right on the money that then I can't come up with anything else. And this is a case where the one that I came up with I think feels really apt to me. And that is the recent book Listen to the Lie by Amy Tintera, which I loved and it's selling very well for us. I hope it is selling well elsewhere. It is also a contemporary crime novel. It is also the first person pov and it also features a main character who cannot trust her own memory. And I don't know that she's foul mouthed and wisecracking, but she has a very snappy voice and the voice of the narrator is what makes the book so alive and so interesting. But again, she can't trust her own memory as she's working to solve this mystery that she's involved with. So I think that that is a really good comp. Thank you Emily. For our listeners as well, something I want to remind you of is often people who listen to the segment will come to our Instagram post about this particular segment and they'll be like, I love the suggestions of Emily's. It also made me think of X, Y and Z. So also keep your eye on our Instagram page on our post each time about the comps segment to see how other writers weigh in as well. And if you listen to anything here and you think of something you want to add, please come and leave a comment there for us as well. Okay, here we go. Here's number four. Yes. And just to echo Bianca, yes, we love the crowdsourcing. Bianca has created such a wonderful community here, so I love that we're all contributing. So yes, please help me. Especially if it's sci fi or fantasy or something that I'm always struggling with. Come and help in the comments. I am seeking comps for a speculative thriller for fans of Sarah Flannery, Murphy's Girl 1, and the Netflix TV series Sense8 and the OA. Wren is a drifter drowning the memory of a horrific crime in booze and pills. After a terrifying assault, two strangers explode into her life. Lila, a mysterious specter who has protected her since childhood, and Katie, a flesh and blood woman with whom she forges an immediate intense bond. Wren risks abandoning her blossoming relationship with Katie in order to investigate Lila's subsequent disappearance. On her way out of town, a dreadful premonition awakens her own supernatural ability as a protectress when her ethereal self is transported home in time to save Katie's life. To protect the woman she loves, Ren must untangle a mystery involving a death row inmate, a sinister drug company, and dark agents who share her special ability. But whether Ren can be Katie's protectress and her lover may be the most dangerous question of all. So for this one, again, I think you start off like you know exactly what you're looking for. Girl one meets Sense eight in the oa. I know exactly what I'm dealing with. I think the Girl one comp is particularly good. It tells me that it's got that speculative thriller angle. It tells me that there's some kind of like superpowers are involved. So I think that's a great one. One that I will add that I think I've mentioned in previous comp sessions is Lauren Bukus Bridge that also has speculative thriller vibes. That one has like a multiverse element, which I am always susceptible to, along with like a friendship story. But I would look at Bridge and see if that feels right. I think that could be another one and that one again has done very well for us, but I don't think it's too big to comp and it's very recent. Thank you, Emily. Next one. Hi Emily. Hi Bianca. Thank you so much. I'm looking for comps for a new project I'm working on. It's a literary suspense with speculative elements involving three childhood best friends, now estranged and now almost 40, who each receive a cryptic email from a ghost. The message has been sent from an email address seemingly that belongs to a girl who died on their class trip to an amusement park when they were just 14. In this multi POV story, the past resurfaces as three former friends reunite to analyze what did and didn't happen on that day when their other friend died. The only comp I have at this point is In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead. There's a darkly humorous tone to this. It is literary, I think, also in its tone, and much of the story takes place in the past at an amusement park with 14 year olds. Okay, we start out in my dreams. I hold a knife. Boom. You guys know exactly what you're doing and you're coming up with your own great comps. I will add a book that may be too old to be helpful, but it is so good that everybody needs to go read it even if it doesn't work for this particular comp. Although it does work, I think, and it's the Long and Far Away Gone by Lou Bernie. It is split between the past and the present to find out what happened to a teen who disappeared. There are actually two crimes at the heart of this book. One is a missing girl, a girl who disappeared at a county fair. So it has that amusement park class trip vibe that we got from the call. And then it's got the present day where we're trying to figure out what exactly happened. I can't tell from this voicemail if it is actually speculative or it just seems speculative because it started with this cryptic email from someone who is supposed to be dead. So I'm assuming that it's maybe not like feel speculative but is not. But one other one that I will suggest just came out and it's the Missing Half by Ashley Flowers and that is not old friends teaming up to solve a past crime or analyze a past crime, but it is a very good friendship duo, new friends duo who are figuring out what happened to their sisters in the past. It is also darkly humorous, it has a very good voice and is very well written. So I think it could work for the literary tone that we've got in our call and the darkly humorous tone. And I really enjoyed it. The Missing Half Half. It's not out yet, but will be soon. Marvelous. Okay, next one. Hi Emily, thank you for any advice on good comps for my character driven young adult mystery novel. Gemma Black's world is a dark and dangerous place. There's a predator around every corner, a criminal lurking in every basement, and a creepy neighborhood watcher who sits at his upstairs window night and day watching. So she structured her life around being strong, safe and self sufficient. But the murder of classmate Kaylee 2 years ago has thrown Jemma's world off kilter. Creating a podcast to dive deep into true crime used to be enough, but as the second anniversary of the murder approaches, the police investigation is stalled and she feels certain there's a killer walking the halls of her high school or living next door. When she takes matters into her own hands and lands herself on the killer's radar, Jemma realizes that for all her paranoia, she hasn't been nearly cautious enough. Hi, thank you so much for calling in. I am sure that A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson is already on your radar. But if it's not, put it on your radar because it sounds very, very close to what you're describing here. Where a high school girl is investigating a murder, she feels that the wrong person has been convicted. Maybe there's a killer in her high school or in the neighborhood, maybe they're onto her. Lots of similarities there. And A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is so successful, and maybe it's even too big to comp, but it certainly is close. So I would take a look at that. And you could look at Holly Jackson's other books too. She has standalones that aren't quite as big as A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. I will also suggest one of my personal favorites, the Agatha's by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson, which is another teen detective story. Very character driven and just a wonderful young adult mystery. And then probably Karen McManus and Maureen Johnson are already on your radar, but those do very well for us. And anytime I hear about a YA mystery, I will suggest those. Thank you, Emily. Here's our next one. Hello. I'm writing a novel about a successful woman who's made it to the top of her field in the arts world, and she's living the dream professionally, but her personal life is quite a shambles. She's living a lie and her past is about to bite her with the resurfacing of an estranged sister who's intersecting with her both professionally and personally. It's really a story about emotional trauma, family healing, and dealing with the past so that you can move forward in the future. It's literary fiction and I'd love to have some help with comps, so look forward to hearing back and we'll wait to hear on the episode whether my request made it in. Thanks. So literary fiction about dealing with past trauma is probably my favorite thing to read, so I'm here for that. I do think in this instance I would probably need to know more about the emotional trauma, what happened in the sister's past, why our main character's personal life is in a shambles, and maybe something that's tonally similar. I feel like I don't quite know enough to give a good comp, but I have. I do have one suggestion in terms of a character who needs to deal with the past in order to move forward in the present and in terms of a personal life that is in contrast with one's professional success. I have to mention the Tell by Amy Griffin. It is a memoir, but it reads like a novel. It is going to come out in March from Dial and is so good. But Amy Griffin, in this memoir, she is at the top of her game as a wife, a mother. She's always sort of done everything right and has really succeeded. She is an overachiever in every respect and yet she has this secret and a traumatic path that she finally, in the memoir, is able to deal with and move forward. It's fantastic. So it's a memoir, but it's so well written that it's for novel readers as well. And I want everybody to look at it, look for it when it comes out in March from Dial. A to be read pile is growing exponentially. Always. That's what I'm here for. That's what I'm really here for. I love it. I love it. Okay, next one. This time of year we're all thinking about the perfect gifts for our loved ones. But what if the most meaningful gift wasn't something, something that you could wrap? What if it was the gift of language? Imagine giving someone the ability to connect with a whole new culture, to understand a different way of seeing the world, to truly communicate with people that they might not have been able to before. That's the magic of Rosetta Stone. Do you need a gift idea or last minute gift? Give your family and friends the gift of language. 50% off all 25 languages for a lifetime. And there's no shipping fees. So give that gift that keeps on giving. Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app. And it truly immerses you in the language you want to learn. Rosetta Stone is trusted expert for 30 years with millions of users and 25 languages offered. That's Spanish, French, Italian, German, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Arabic, Polish, and so many more. There's fast language acquisition. Rosetta Stone immerses you in many ways. There is no English translation, so really you learn to speak, think and listen in that new language. There's an intuitive process to pick up a language naturally, first with words, then phrases and then sentences. And they have speech recognition. The built in True Accent feature, which gives you feedback on your pronunciation. It's like having a personal trainer for your accent. It's convenient, flexible learning anytime, anywhere on the Go mobile app or desktop. And there's amazing value. Lifetime membership for all 25 languages for all trips and languages needed in life. That's lifetime access to 25 languages for 50% off. That is a steal. So don't put off learning that language. There is no better time than right now to get started. Today. The shit about writing listeners can get Rosette Stone's lifetime membership for 50 off. Visit Rosetta Stone.com today. That's 50% off. Unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your Life. Redeem your 50 off at rosettastone.com today today for yourself or as a gift that keeps on giving. Hi Emily, My contemporary book club character driven novel is about a 39 year old woman who delays calling 911 when her abusive husband collapses from a heart attack during a heated argument. Horrified by her behavior under duress, she takes a sabbatical to Rome to address her guilt and identity crisis. She sees herself as weak, meek and compliant and questions the monster within her. As she explores the eternal city, she attempts to reinvent herself into a stronger, bolder person. She makes friends, takes lovers and grows. But in her attempt to be assertive, she destroys two valuable new friendships and then disappears. The story is told with a sense of humor and emphasizes human connections. The protagonist is mixed race, Asian and white. For a comp, I plan to use Exciting Times by Nisha Dolan for its expat character, identity issues and tonality. You've mentioned Half Blown Rose, which I hope I can use, but what I'd really like is a humorous mixed race woman abroad reinvention story, if one exists. So my favorite of the calls is when I get a really specific request and I'm able to deliver. So humorous mixed race woman abroad reinvention story. I thought as soon as I heard that I was like, that's very specific. Does one exist? Well, it probably does. And this is not exactly right because it's not technically abroad, but Jung Yun's book oh Beautiful reads like a woman abroad story. So it is about a mixed race Asian woman who goes to North Dakota from her, I think east coast home. I can't remember where she's from, but she goes to North Dakota to report on the oil industry. And let me tell you, when she gets to North Dakota, it feels like she is in a different world. Like she very much is having what feels like an expatriate experience because it's so far out of the realm of her usual experience. It's very much a story of identity and it's very much A story of like, am I going to reinvent myself? What am I doing here? She's got a wonderful voice. It is a great, great, great book. So look for. Oh, beautiful. It's outstanding. Thank you. Here we go. Next one. Hello, Emily. Thank you for helping me. I'm looking for comps for my literary speculative novella that explores a world where books are no longer in print. The book follows a dedicated conservator who faces a moral dilemma when a notorious book dealer blackmails her into authenticating a dubious book, leveraging her past involvement in its forgery. The book will appeal to readers of literary and speculative fiction who also enjoy a little bit of touch of dark academia. Comps so far that I have used are the People of the Book by Georgin Brooks, which is a bit old, the Last Painting of Sarah DeVos by Dominic Smith, and the Australian bestseller the Book Binder of Jericho by Pippi Williams. I have been trying very hard to find all the comps and I love your help. Thank you so much. Okay, here we've got a laundry list of great comps. People of the book, Last painting of Sarah DeVos, which I love to recommend anytime people are talking about art and historical mysteries. The Bookbinder of Jericho, I like all of those, even if people in the book is maybe too big. And Last painting of Sarah DeVos is maybe too old. I love those because it gives me the tone, the audience, the art, and the literary angle. I will add a couple of speculative literary novellas just because you mentioned that this is a novella. I would look at Seanan McGuire's novellas and see if any of those might work just in terms of tone, even if it's not specifically about the book world. And then Susanna Clark, who wrote Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and Piranesi, has a new novella that just came out that's already selling steadily for us. It's called the Wood at Midwinter. But maybe those speculative novellas might be a good companion for one of the books you've already mentioned. Thank you. Okay, next one. Thank you so much, Emily and Bianca. I am looking for comps from my YA Speculative Western, complete at 99,000 words. 15 year old Brett has a rare secret gift. She can cast a shadow that completely hides her from view. But gifts aren't for the likes of orphaned Bond servants like Brett. When the evil puritanical leader of Western territory decides he wants Brett's gift, she flees across the prairie to the City of Light. In the city, she befriends a crew of young pickpockets and reluctantly joins them. But when the youngest, sweet Maeve is sold to the dreaded Light Mills, Brett must learn to trust and depend on the others in order to save her friends, create a family, and lead them all to a new home. There is also a romantic triangle subplot. This book features a Pacey take on the western tropes in Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson, the Gas lamp world building of Cielpo's Witchmark, as well as overtones of Dickens. But they're not exactly right comps. Thank you. Okay, so the speculative westerns that I thought of right away are not ya, but there is always some YA adult crossover. So the first two I thought about are she who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker Chan, a speculative western that we love at East City Bookshop, and the Thousand Crimes of Ming sue by Tom Lin. Again, a speculative western that we really like. My colleagues have recommended that one heavily. We've had a lot of customers who enjoy it. And then I also thought about Outlawed by Anna north and that one definitely has YA crossover appeal so that one might work well. And then I also want to shout out Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens, which I know I've mentioned before. It is not ya, it is not speculative, but it is the best western about a young girl that I have read in ages and ages. So put it on your list because it's just so wonderful. Okay, here we go. Next one. Hi Bianca and Emily, thank you so much for having this comp segment. I am looking for comp se for my book Follow the Leader, which is an adult dark fiction novel that tracks a cult of serial killers whose purpose is to change the world's perception of death, art and beauty which we witnessed through their creation of art pieces using their victims bodies as the canvas. The novel is written in a mostly dark and sinister tone and told through multiple point of views including the cult leader, the followers and the detective assigned to catch them for comps. I have considered YOU by Caroline Kepnes as the point of view from a killer is similar and also how we get a clear understanding of the character's motivations. However, it is much more sex driven than mine. I also consider Dexter with its gruesome art elements and the detective storyline, but my serial killers do not have a complex of who they are and I wonder if it's too old to be a comp. Thank you so much for your help. Okay, I'm here for all of the dark fiction. I love the dark stuff. I cannot quite tell how sympathetic the serial Killers are supposed to be here. But I love the mention of you and Dexter because that gives me the sort of anti hero, very anti hero vibes that I know what I'm dealing with. So I like those. And I will suggest two more. One is Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coriel. The narrator is not a serial killer herself, but it's new, it's doing very well for us. It's dark, it's interesting, it is sort of a turn on its head look at a serial killer story. There is some sympathy there, but just a great read and like a very fun but dark page turner. And one of my personal favorites of the last few years is Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Curian. And in that book we don't have a cult of serial killers, but we have a university department full of diagnosed sociopaths. And that just gives a whole dark element to the story. And it could have the same vibes since we've got people who are out for vengeance and maybe have a different moral compass than the rest of us. Marvelous. Okay, next one. Hello, Emily. I'm looking for comps from my adult hard sci fi novel. Dawn of the Pioneers is a multi POV story that follows a group of scientists and engineers colonizing a planet inhabited by alien dinosaurs. The story is more optimistic than most sci fi and hinges on the colonists efforts to coexist with their planet's biosphere rather than destroy it. So far I've looked at Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, All Systems Red by Martha Wells and Sybil of bern by James S.A. corey as comps, but the hopeful aspect has been a major hang up. I'm really hoping you can help. Thank you so much. Okay, so hard sci fi is for sure my area of weakness. Although I do buy it for the store and my husband reads a lot of that. So I think the suggestions you're starting with are great. And in terms of a more hopeful and optimistic lens, I would say look at the books by Connie Willis and John Scalzi because both of those authors write sci fi with a lot of humor and wit. And as a result I think that they read as more hopeful and optimistic. Just sort of a. I don't want to say light because that's not. That's not the right word. But I think the Witness and the Warmth maybe is a better term. I think that those will read as more hopeful, optimistic and could balance out the ones that you're already thinking about. Thank you. Okay, another one. Hi, Emily, I'm looking for comps for My work in progress Women's fiction novel with elements of romance and adventure Jane is in a college teaching a two week summer field course in rural southeast Alaska when she breaks an ankle in the backcountry. Thankfully, she's rescued by Joshua, a tall, handsome Texan who takes her to his off the grid cabin. But Joshua's past is clearly troubled and he goes to great lengths to make sure they aren't found. When she starts falling for him and his idyllic way of life, Jane must decide if she can accept his troubled past and complicated present. Some comps I've been thinking about are KA Tucker's the Simple Wild and Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Sinner, but these are both a bit dated now and my book doesn't strictly follow romance beats. My novel also has some heavier themes around climate change and humans relationship to nature. Thanks so much. Okay, so for romance and adventure, and specifically since we're talking about Alaska, the first book that came to mind for me is Whiteout by Adrianna Anders, which is a romance adventure set in Antarctica, so it'll have those snowy, off the grid Alaska vibes. I also thought about Something Wilder by Christina Lauren, which has that adventure angle, but if you want something that is more literary and less romance. I know you said that the book doesn't strictly follow the romance beats and that it has heavier themes of climate change and nature. Look at Once there Were wolves by Charlotte McConaughey, which is definitely not a romance, but there is a possible love interest in it and it is one of the most beautiful books that I think that deals with these heavier climates, heavier themes of nature, how we interact with nature, what we're doing to the world. I just. I love Charlotte McConaughey, so I would look at that one. Thank you. Okay, here's another one. Hi Emily, do you have any comp recommendations for my historical murder mystery Five Nights in the Caldera, which is set in the Cape Verde islands in the 1800s during the golden age of natural history collecting. It's told in the first person POV of Iselle, a young woman from the island who must solve the murder of her friend, a young man who'd always harbored unrequited feelings for her while being pulled into a dangerous game of wits with agents of a selfish colonial empire who are searching the island to collect its rarest species. Olga Tagarzik's Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a great comp in terms of tone, the balance of light and dark and a determined underdog narrator who's led by her heart, but it's uncomparable as a Nobel winner. Once There Were Wolves is in a similar eco thriller category, but my story lacks extra dark plot elements and gore. Thanks for your advice. Okay, so then I did that one and then I listened to the next one and Once There Were Wolves it's mentioned. Sometimes I'm like are we living in a simulation? Because what is happening? But we're not, I hope for the Natural History Historical fiction book I thought immediately one of my favorites and I think it may be too old, it may be too big, but maybe those things will cancel out each other and make it a good comp after all. And that's the Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, which is set in the 1800s. It takes place in England and I want to say Tahiti, but I could be wrong that it could be a different island, not a murder mystery. But I feel like it gets the time period, the setting, the female main character and the natural history elements all correct. And maybe the fact that Elizabeth Gilbert is so big, but it's an older book, maybe those cancel each other out and make it okay. At the very least it is a great read. I never thought I could like a book about moss, but it is so beautiful and so wonderful. So put that on your list. And then for more recent historical, like more traditional murder mysteries, I would look at the books by Nev March, starting with Murder in Old Bombay and Sujata Massey's books which are great historical mysteries. Particularly I would start with the Widows of Malabar Hill so those might get the more traditional historical murder mystery part. I love the Signature of All Things, one of my all time favorites. Such a good. So good. Yeah. Okay, next one. Hello Emily and thanks in advance for your comp titles. Help. My historical fiction manuscript with a romantic Undercurrent has three POVs and dual timelines, first 1905 through 1920 and second the late 1970s. It's set in small town Newfoundland as well as London, England. Deals with themes of complex family dynamics, class distinction, loyalty and search for identity. My goal is to take readers on a journey using strong characterization, vivid locations and well researched historical detail. One protagonist is a strong historic female character who is stepping out of the shadows of her powerful and eccentric husband. The other two protagonists, a young fatherless man and later his granddaughter, are inspired by family stories. I'd love my writing to be compared to Amar Tolle's A Gentleman in Moscow or Michael Andaji's the English Patient, but understand those are far too big and dated. I've considered comps such as House of Doors by Tan Twain Ng and Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. And very interested in your thoughts, please. All right. I think that Amor Toles and Michael Ondaatji are indeed too. Probably too big to comp. But, wow, do those comps make me want to read the book. So maybe that means that they're right on the money. I love the House of Doors comp by Thanh Twin Ng because even though he is so lauded and has gotten so much acclaim, I still think he's really underrated. I think he hasn't published that many books. There's been a long time in between all of his books. So I think when House of Doors came out, a lot of our customers were not as familiar. So I don't. I think despite his success, I think he's not too big, and I loved that book. And it sounds exactly right. I would say maybe not Black Kate, because the tone doesn't quite feel right. It's not as literary as the others that are mentioned. So I would add one of my personal favorites, and that's Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, which also has very strong dual timelines. It is marvelous historical fiction. It absolutely deals with class and identity questions. And most importantly, I think it has such strong characters, but it also, the settings are so strong. Maggie Shipstead, in her day job, I think, is still a travel writer, and you can really feel that when she's writing the places in Great Circle. So I love your suggestion of House of Doors. And I would add In Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, and anyone who's listening who loves historical fiction and has not read that one yet, it's just a masterpiece. Yeah. Geez, that was incredible. I think that was the first book that I binged while alternating between the written text and listening to it on audio. Because when I was walking. Because generally when I walk, I will change to a different book that I'm listening to on audio. And I was like, I will buy both of these copies because I need to keep hearing the same stories. Sometimes I will listening to a book, and then I think, oh, it's so good. I just. I have to have it. I have to own it anyway. Yeah, yeah, I was the same. I started listening. I think I did that with Bright Young Woman. I started listening to it, and I was just listening to the sentences, which was so incredible that I was like, okay, I need the hardcover of this as well. Okay, I think we've got four left. Is that right Emily? That is correct. Number 16 I'm reaching out for comps from for my middle grade fantasy novel set in a climate adapted future where preternaturals, those with superpowers and typicals, those without, work to keep the remaining natural world in balance. The novel follows Sarah, a sarcastic, struggling 12 year old pan preternatural who has failed to achieve mission autonomy. After Sarah botches some unusual missions, she meets Camille, a new typical at the Academy who alerts Sarah to unexplained climate disruptions. Sarah is skeptical of Camille until she finds herself trapped in a wildfire with her powers neutralized. Emboldened and desperate, Sarah sets off with Camille to expose the plot to automate climate monitoring and neutralize preternaturals, all before a superquake destroys the habitable region. While the book explores heavy duty themes, it's grounded in Sarah's voice and her unlikely friendship with Camille. I'd love to find issues driven middle grade fantasy comps that never descend into preachiness. This book is character driven first and foremost and will hopefully help middle grade readers laugh and persevere in the face of our warming world. Thanks so much. Okay, so for a middle grade book about climate change that is very character driven, there's a book called Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet. I would take a look at that, see if any of that feels right in terms of a great middle grade fantasy where people are struggling to keep the world in balance. Very strong characters we love at East City Bookshop. We love the Marvelers by Dhonielle Clayton, so that one's probably the best one that I could come up with for you. I also thought about the Last Quintista by Donna Barbara Hegera, but that one, the Newberry, so maybe it's too big, but look at Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet and see if the climate change character driven has any resonance. Thank you. Here is number 17. Hi Emily. Imagine a long ago world where two women fight for a shared voice even as the men divide and silence them. Inspired by an ancient Mesopotamian legend, this feminist retelling offers a deeper truth of what could have happened. Amata is a gifted young weaver who longs for an independent life in a walled city beside the Euphrates. When her father denies her dreams of weaving for the temple priestess and her husband betrays her, she's forced to betray her beloved handmaid. Now, with the community turned against her and her husband threatening the life of their son, Amata must finally summon the courage to defy her family's lifelong insistence on obedience or lose the child she loves. The Weaver of Ur Upmarket Historical Book Club fiction, complete at 92,000 words, opens in single POV, then expands into dual POV. It will appeal to readers who identify with the still relevant struggles against the patriarchy in Amelia Hart's Wayward, the hope amid despair of Elodie Harper's the Wolf Den, and the obedient daughter to powerful goddess arc of Sumont Kidd's the Book of Longings. So I think I love a feminist retelling. There are so many of them now, and we just need more and more as far as I'm concerned. I really appreciate the mention of Amelia Hart's Wayward. I think that and the Wolf Den, but I am. I have just started Amelia Hart's newest book, the Sirens, which is coming in 2025 and is so good. So I think I love a mention of her. I'm glad that people are still reading Wayward, and I look forward to everybody discovering the Sirens. So I think someone like Madeline Miller is, of course, probably too big, but there are lots of others that are writing in that space and. And reclaiming these ancient legends. I would look at the books by Jennifer Saint, Natalie Haynes, Genevieve Gornicek, and if you have missed Pat Barker, who's been doing it even longer than Madeline Miller, she has a new book coming out in 2025, so I would look at Pat Barker as well. Thank you. Yeah. We're super excited to have the editor who edited Wayward be part of our upcoming Deep Dive retreat in February. We've got some incredible agents, editors, and authors for that. And when you go through the list of the books that they've represented, it is insane. It's just gimme, gimme, gimme. Your listeners are so lucky. Everybody's so lucky to get all this good stuff. Yeah, we've put together a really, really good lineup for that. Okay. 18. Hi, Emily. My novel is upmarket with humor and suspense. Set in the mid-1970s, college dropout Lou seeks the easy life within the counterculture of the Pacific Northwest. When his girlfriend moves away and his best friend, friend Billy, paranoid about FBI surveillance, takes off on short notice, Lou feels lost until he meets Jax and falls into a vexing and volatile relationship. Lou gets entrenched in the activist community while he grapples with his feelings for Jax, who struggles with mental health issues. These two journeys, his growing social awareness and his emotional awakening remain separate until they ultimately collide, and Lou must decide what he really wants for comps. I'm thinking of Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer for its style, humor and wordplay and the Overstory by Richard Powers for its exploration of social activism in the Pacific Northwest. Okay, so I love this one because I hear Less Is Lost meets the Overstory. And I I cannot think of anything else that fits that a juxtaposition of those two. So I really like that because it piques my interest because both of those I think are very like, I mean, maybe too big but very pointed. And I really, I know the vibe of both of those and I'm very interested in how they might intersect the book. I will add that is is not as big as either of those, so might make it a really good comp is Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson, which it's been out in paperback now for a couple of years, but it's, it's recent more, more recent than the Overstory even. I think it is set in 70s Northern California, so I think the setting would fit and it is definitely concerned with activism in the activist community because it's about a family that I believe are I think that they are timber, like a timber family. So it's got those overstory vibes. I feel like it might work. So it's Northern California rather than like the deep Pacific Northwest. But I think, I think that it is worth considering. So look at Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson. Thank you, Emily. Okay, here is our last one. Sadie Wright has only ever had one goal to win the first ever Olympic medal in biathlon for the usa. She's made it to the elite level, breaking her coach's rules. She snowboards and injures her knee. After surgery and in rehab, she takes a job substitute teaching in the town where her brother lives. One day, planning to go to the range after school, she locks her handgun in her desk. While she's meeting with a student, an armed intruder enters her classroom. She shoots and kills the man, saving her student's life. A hero to many, she may well be convicted of gun possession on school grounds, which carries a lifetime ban on guns. She must also deal with the emotional and moral upheaval of taking a life and finds out that making amends with the dead man's family may be impossible. An unexpected bright spot. Zander, the student she saves, turns out to be an unlikely friend and ally, as the key question becomes, even if the jury doesn't convict her, will she be able to pick up a gun again? This novel has elements that will appeal to readers of John Grisham and Alan Eskins. The social issues similar to those in Jody Picolt and Jennifer Hay novels and bears some similarity to the novel Gold by Chris Cleave. I think your list is great. I see when you mentioned John Grisham and Alan Eskins, I'm like, okay, we've got a courtroom drama, courtroom vibes, Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Haig. I see that we've got, you know, sort of issue driven. It's going to hit like an emotional cord. So that was very helpful for me. And the two that I would suggest in addition to what you've mentioned are Evvy Drake starts over by Linda Holmes. It's not a struggling Olympian, but one of the characters in Evie Drake starts over. Not Evie Drake, but the other main character is a professional baseball player who is now experiencing the yips and can no longer perform and cannot play. And the question is, will he ever play baseball again? That is his dream. That's what he's good at. That's all he's ever done. Will he ever play again? We don't know. So I think that one might work. And that one, Linda Holmes has that sort of very appealing, accessible, wide readership of like, I think there's some overlap between she's not a Jodi Picoult, but I could see that there's some overlap in the readership there. And I also thought about Matthew Quick's recent novel We Are the Light, which takes place in the aftermath of a school shooting. And I know here it's a, it's a different sort of school shooting. It's not, you know, a classroom of children who are affected, but it reads like very like emotional book club fiction and deals with how do we move forward after a traumatic event. It does have that school setting, so I would consider that one as well. Amazing. Emily, thank you so much again for all the time you take and the care and consideration you put into these comps for our listeners. For those of you who want to get in your comp request, remember we're taking a break over December. We'll be back in January and then you can go to the shit about writing. Have a look for the Ask a Question tab and you can leave your comp request there. Thank you, Emily. We will see you back in January. Thank you, Bianca. And thank you to everybody else who called in. A reminder that this is an unscripted program and our conversations have been edited and condensed and is not a full picture of our feedback or conversation directly with each author. As always, refer back to our written notes for the fulsome picture. Carly Waters and Cece Lira are agents at PS Literate Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency and the views expressed by Carly and Cece on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies or position of PS Literary Agency. A reminder about all the ways that you can support us as a show. Rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts. Tell your writing friends about us. We'd love to help as many writers as possible and follow us on our Substack newsletter. Get our stacked newsletter on a weekly basis. Bonus videos, articles, essays, advice and more. You can find it@the shitaboutwriting.substack.com that's the shitaboutwriting.substack.Com and that's it for today's episode. I hope you'll join us for next week's show. In the meantime, keep at it. Remember, it just takes one. Yes omg. Have you seen the Deep Dive Virtual retreat lineup for the 1st and 2nd of February? It's incredible. Gatekeepers galore. As well as the authors who managed to get past them, we've got the editors and agents who worked on phenomenal projects like Station 11 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Crazy Rich Asians, the Flight Attendant, Mame Wayward, the Wife Upstairs, the Tinder Swindler, Big Little Lies, the Perfect Couple, the Other Black Girl, and so much more. The presentation topics are brilliant, so practical and valuable regardless of where you are in your writing journey. One of our speakers, the brilliant Annabel Monaghan, who wrote the best selling Nora Goes Off Script, was a delegate at the very first Deep Dive Retreat and now she's kicking butt all over the place. Coming back to present. That could be you one day. Those of you who take part in the Thousand Words of Summer will also be super excited to see the fabulous Jami Attenberg in the lineup as well. Trust me, you do not want to miss this. Head to our website theshitaboutwriting.com go to the Deep Dive page to see more information and to register. We hope to see you there.