Seeking Literary Agent

Wanted:

One awesome Literary Agent who is passionate about blends of literary fiction prose and genre tropes.

Contact me

 

My novels play with convention and mainstream storytelling – the narrator is often not the obvious or easy character choice, and my books usually include meta-narratives, or moments of lampshading and self-awareness. My casts are usually queer, diverse, unafraid to tackle issues, and are socially or politically active. I’ve been repeatedly praised for my ability to convey emotion on the page, and spend a lot of time delving into motivation and emotional truth. My worlds are thoroughly crafted, filled with delicious details, and slow-burn worldbuilding that makes readers want to start rereading the book right away.

On the whole, my books err more on the side of Literary Fabulism or Light Speculative Fantasy rather than out-and-out mainstream Epic Fantasy and Space Opera Sci-Fi. While on the surface they contain elements of genre, my work tends to be more in the vein of character-driven literary fiction, where character’s challenges come from the context of the speculative world they inhabit.

I’m a self-marketing go-getter, a hybrid author with experience in both trade and self-publishing, and well-versed in the worlds of digital serialization and fandom.

Publications

View my full bibliography   

Awards and Accolades

Praise

“Time and Tide” sends a modern disaster bi back in time to meet an authoress bound by the homophobic social taboos of Austen’s England. Frey’s curtsies to the bonkers, bodice-ripping yarns of Johanna Lindsey and Bertrice Small. [The story] fascinates by committing to the idea that chronological dislocation is a kind of violence, and not being afraid to get a little messy about it.
-Olivia Waite, The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, in the New York Times Best Romances of 2024 article

In Time and Tide “Frey starkly paints the Regency period’s misogyny as Sam butts up against the strictures of the time. A suitable comeuppance for one of the tale’s worst villains offers satisfying catharsis and the heroines’ sweet love story enchants. This should win many fans.”
–Publishers Weekly

“Interweaving historical, romance, and science fiction elements, the story is immersive and surprising. Sam’s modern sensibilities create tension, often clashing with the norms of her new era and resulting in laughable moments. Her contemporary expressions, including “cross my heart and hope to die” and “shake a leg,” baffle her nineteenth-century companions until she settles into easier conversations with them, her language evolving to complement the two-hundred-year age gap. Engaging a spectrum of emotions, the novel transitions between steamy scenes as Sam searches for a suitable partner in marriage and tough conversations, as when one suitor takes advantage of her through physical abuse and manipulation. It maintains suspense by leaving the impact of Sam and Daisy’s relationship on future events unresolved until the final pages; it holds attention through its entirety. Time and Tide is an exciting queer romance novel about the the effects of choices made over the course of time.”
–Foreword Reviews

“To say more [about Time and Tide] would ruin the many twists of the novel’s long and satisfying plot. By the time this eventful story comes to a close, the reader will want more of the complex, big-hearted, passionate characters, as well as Frey’s command of the details of daily life in 1806 England. The outlandish plot depends on far too many coincidences, but in that it resembles the gothic novels of the period, and the amusing dialogue between the slangy, plainspoken Sam and her proper English found family keep the story fresh and appealing all the way through.”
–Historical Novel Society

[The Untold Tale is a]”superb novel grabbed me from the opening sentence, and never let go. […] The whole tale is several clever twists on the oh-so-familiar fantasies we’ve read before. I want more. Books more.”
-Ed Greenwood, Forgotten Realms

“Let me start by saying […] that I think that J.M. Frey’s The Untold Tale is the most important work of fantasy written in 2015. It may be the most important work of fantasy written this decade.”
-Dr. Mike Perschon, The Steampunk Scholar

“A stirring adventure, as well as a tender love story, from a first time author who truly embraces the limitless possibilities the future may bring. JM Frey’s Triptych satisfies any sci-fi reader looking for a different take on the first contact motif, or anyone looking to explore the possible evolution of human sexuality and love.”
–Lambda Literary, Read the full review

“I finished Triptych in one go last night, couldn’t put it down even.  It’s a very impressive first novel and if Ms. Frey continues to do with science fiction what she’s done in this book she might single-handedly be credited with reviving the entire genre.  Bravo!  Encore, encore!”
–Todd McCaffrey,  The Dragonriders of Pern series

“Time travel, aliens, and the politics of sexuality combine with tragic violence in Frey’s deeply satisfying debut. Aliens seeking refuge from their broken planet find it on peaceful Earth. Gwen Pierson and Basil Grey work for the U.N., helping the aliens to integrate. When alien Kalp joins their team, they learn that Kalp’s people mate in threes, and soon the trio become the first human-alien marriage. Violent protests and assassinations threaten to unravel the fragile trust between the refugees and their human hosts, so Gwen and Basil follow the assassins–back in time to the 1980s, where Gwen’s parents are still adjusting to raising newborn Gwennie. The near paradox is appropriately disorienting, but the story is so well-grounded in the characters that it never once loses its course. Frey tells the story from varying points of view in distinct voices, imagining a world at once completely alien and utterly human.”
-Publishers Weekly

“The thing that truly sets Frey’s work apart is the depth of emotional resonance she manages to pack into everything.”
-Kisa Whipkey, editor of The Accidental Turn series, and The Skylark’s Saga

“The Skylark’s Song “soars with action, adventure and clever world building. The details are perfect, the characters are snappy, clever and real. Strap on your seatbelts, it’s quite the ride!”
—Arthur Slade, bestselling author of the Mission Clockwork series.

“A romantic, action-packed and just plain fun adventure, The Skylark’s Song is a classic superhero origins story that also manages to subvert tropes and expectations. I give it five fabulous jet packs.”
—Adrienne Kress, The Friday Society & The Explorers series

“I would highly recommend JM Frey’s The Untold Tale. It’s easily the strongest I’ve read in the last year. Frey’s novel takes a familiar trope – the idea that every novel written creates an actual world that the reader can enter, and it’s corollary, that we might be living in such a world ourselves – and gives us an entirely new take on it. […] In The Untold Tale, however, we have the entirely fresh perspective of the story being told by one of the fictional characters.  […] The fictional world = real world trope isn’t the only one Frey twists. She also plays with the ideas of the hero and heroic adventure, feminism, gender roles,  and the role of the narrative itself, in innovative – and occasionally cheeky – ways.”
—Violette Malan, Dhulyn Parno Series

Written:

  • DRAGON COFFEE SHOP BOOK (Title in Progress) – A bi barista. A shy dragon. A kitchen fire meet-ugly. Colin is into the homo draconis guy who accidentally torched his café, but he’s not sure if their romance is worth being hoarded away. Yet if he refuses, it may destroy human/dragon relations worldwide. (Ready to shop; currently serializing/ beta-testing on Wattpad. Contemporary Romantasy, Queer Romance.)
  • NORTHANGERED – A modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Northanger Abbey”, set in the world of Hollywood, insular film festivals, backstabbing celebutants, and smack-dab in the middle of the #MeToo movement. (This project needs a re-write to transfer it from YA Market to Adult. Contemporary Het Romance)
  • IS SPIDER-MAN INTO BONDAGE? – Graphic novel script about a small-town girl moving to the big city and using a dating blog to discover who she is not only as a person, but as a proudly out queer geek. But when her blog becomes super popular, she faces a backlash of fannish hate, and has to come to terms with a brand of fame that’s come at the expense of others. (This project is still in the process of being converted from a screenplay to a graphic novel script. Contemporary Romance, Queer Sapphic Romance)
  • TO A STRANGER – Mark Farthing is an unremarkable lawyer living an unremarkable life, when his twin brother is diagnosed with breast cancer. After Mark falls for his brother’s oncologist, life suddenly seems remarkable. But the tragic death of his brother puts the lovers on opposing sides of a legal dispute, and Mark learns that finding your way back to yourself sometimes means having to leave others behind. (This project is still in the process of being converted from a screenplay to a graphic novel script. Contemporary Romance, Queer Gay Romance)

In Drafting:

  • THE WELSHMAN’S DAUGHTERS – A stereotypical Regency-era Gothic Romance, except in this one, the wealthy daughter of the lord is secretly in love with her hired companion, a curse seems to stalk the romantic relationships of everyone who lives in the dark and twisted Tŷ ar y Bryn Manor, and the vengeful creature from the depths of the ocean is no ordinary specter. (Gothic Romance, Queer Sapphic Romance)
  • THE MADDENING SCIENCE – A Toronto Arts Council Grant winning first-person account of the life and loves of a pansexual (former) supervillian, told in a blend of memoir-style prose and fabricated ‘found’ documents. Based on my short story of the same name. (Superhero Memoir, Dark-ish Het Romance)
  • DRAGON COFFEE SHOP BOOKS #2 and #3 – books two and three of the Measure of Worth series, following the queer, contemporary romantasy DRAGON COFFEE SHOP BOOK. (Contemporary Romantasy, Queer Romance)
  • LETTERS – In a world where we’ve always known about bloodsuckers, a possessive lesbian vampire seduces a professional blood donor into becoming her personal thrall, while battling a government faction determined to wring profit out of progress, no matter who they have to silence. (Dark Romance, Queer Sapphic Romance)

In Outlining:

  • LATE BLOOMERS – An adult-market graphic novel about a group of 30-something friends who secretly saved the world as Magical Girls in high school. Now the Big Bad is back, and they have to repair their fractured friendship while also grudgingly donning the ridiculous sparkles and bows of their youth. (Contemporary Fantasy)

Contact me

JM FreySeeking Literary Agent