Alec J Marsh
Alec was born and raised in the PNW and thrives in the dark, weird spaces of fiction. Their novels explore the tension between queer identity and success through the lens of fantasy. When they aren’t writing, they are researching historical clothing and perfecting their sourdough bread.They are an associate editor at Duck Prints Press and an alumnus of Viable Paradise class of 2023Enquire within at [email protected]
Calamity of a Coming Spring
Forced into an arranged marriage in the arctic, Prince Naja loses his lover and his plant magic. When his lover is kidnapped and his wife is betrayed, he must find a way to keep them both, and connect to the unique magic of arctic plants.CALAMITY OF A COMING SPRING is an 104,000 word adult fantasy with crossover appeal. It is for readers who want their sweeping fantasies filled with human emotion, queer love, and soft power. It features two bi protagonists and a nonbinary love interest. It can be compared to Priory of the Orange Tree and Winter’s Orbit.I am currently seeking representation for this novel.
Nobleness, Like Stars
In a Scotland ravaged by invading demons, retired thief Cornelius Sinclair is blackmailed into stealing an ancient grimoire, the one used to begin the apocalypse two centuries ago.With the help of a genius socialite and the demon hunter he has loved since childhood, he must attain the book and then decide which he values more: his freedom, or the prestige of joining a brotherhood willing to blackmail him.NOBLENESS, LIKE STARS is an 85,000 word adult Gaslamp fantasy set in magical 1920s Scotland. It will appeal to readers of Witchmark, Six of Crows, and the Will Darling novels.
After a week spent together in October, the Viable Paradise class of 2023 weren't ready to stop writing together. We drafted, edited, and promoted an anthology of SFF themed around transformation and identity. It releases in September 2024.
To Drive the Hundred Miles
Trans man Will dreads going home for the holidays, where his feminist Wiccan family smothers him with clumsy, sometimes harmful support. While stuck in their tiny town for the Solstice, he reconnects with Bea, a woman he went to high school with. Will got out, but she never quite managed it. Over the week, they find comfort in each other and insulation from the pain of small town life.Length: 24,000 wordsCWs: clumsy family support, circuitous misgendering, a lot of gender feelings, narcissistic parents.
Anthologies
Dirty Diamonds #10: Death features comics from 67 contributors in our largest collection about being true to yourself through struggles and failure, and believing in your own strength, resolve, and what you're able to be.
Queer stories themed around masquerades, mistaken identities, and secret selves.To Relish a Love Song is a swashbuckling sapphic tale set during a rococo ball, in which a shy girl is swept away by a dueling opera singer.
Stories set in imagined futures where the discovery of magic has replaced the course of technology. All stories feature nonbinary protagonists.You're Gonna Get Older follows Stardancer, whose discovery of decades queer music gives them the strength to leave the ascetic cult they have been raised in.
Editing Services
To reach out, contact
[email protected]
or
alecjmarsh on discord
Line Edits
These focus on continuity, flow, grammar, overused filler words, light fact checking, and anything else I might notice. A word document or google document will be returned to you with in-line comments. This is meant to be an end step for a book nearly ready for publication.My passions are semicolons, sentences that do three jobs at once, and evocative descriptions of the landscape.Basic Line Edit
$0.01 per wordIntensive Line Edit
This comes with reworking character voice, rewriting sentences, and elevating language. Partway between a line edit and ghost writing.
Between $0.01 and $0.04 depending on amount of work needed.Grammar Lesson
These edits come with in depth comments explaining the language rules behind my choices so you can learn to edit your own work through my examples.
$0.015 per wordThe Epic Fantasy Treatment
If your manuscript is too long to be submitted to publishers, I would love to work with you to trim it to a marketable length. This can mean distilling individual sentences or cutting entire scenes.
$0.008 per original word plus a percentage surcharge for amount necessary to cut (if 25% of original manuscript needs to be cut, a 25% charge will be added).
Past Projects
Scrap Metal Angel by Nicola Kapron (forthcoming)
Finding Their Roots by Tris Lawrence (2024)
Death by Detox by Anne Kopas (forthcoming)
Breaking Boundaries by Gemma Blythe (2023)
Sensitivity Read: The Two Week Roommate by Roxie Noir (2023)
Sensitivity Reads: Trans Rep
I am an a transmasc person who has medically transitioned, and can provide insights to legal, medical, and social aspects of transition. I can also point out unintentional pitfalls cis authors may fall into when describing trans character's lives and bodies.You will be provided with an editorial review, and if appropriate, inline comments.
$30 per hour consultation fee
$0.005 per word reading fee, can be entire manuscript or excerpts.
Query Packages
I love the query writing process and the puzzle of distilling a fabulous story into a single paragraph that will really sell it. Send me your drafted query, I'll ask lots of questions about it, and together we'll make sure your query is interesting, specific, and marketable.Query
$30Query & Synopsis
$50