Lauren Bajek

@laurenbajek

Literary agent at Liza Dawson Associates / open to queries / art, sewing, native plant gardening / another world is possible / she pronouns

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Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Jun 9

🔄 Reposted by Daniel Kraus

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Apr 1

This excerpt especially resonates. I read WHAT WE ARE SEEKING the day after the 2024 election, and it was such a balm to read about complex, often petty people all struggling to find compromises they could live with. There's a lot that's hard in the book, but I found it deeply hopeful.

Excerpt from review of WHAT WE ARE SEEKING: "(a bit like Adam and Eve leaving Eden). Parents, the novel says, do not own their kids: no more than any one God owns us, and no more than Scythians own the snake-trees.

That proposition might seem obvious to some of us, but it’s a far cry from settled law and practice. Seeking good models, or crying out in distress, we might want to read about utopias or dystopias. But we can probably learn more—we might even find more hope—on worlds such as Reed’s Scythia, where thoughtful, flawed characters make choices with limited options. Each figure on Scythia has to consider how strange he or she or they look, how alien their mentality seems, to others. We might see our own lives, our own choices, in none of them, or in them all. ♦"

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Mar 17

Instagram comment saying, "Rears & Vices was so good it made me immediately go to Grindr"

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Dec 10

This book is so incredibly special, and I'm deeply grateful that reviewers are seeing what I saw in it. Thanks to Maura Krause at @reactorsff.bsky.social for loving Raven and Elān as much as I do.

Speaking of grown-up kids, Caskey Russell’s indigenous epic The Door on the Sea got me out of a major reading slump. I came for the raven who describes all humans as varying types of “turd” (this may sound like a limited vocabulary, but no—he gets creative) and stayed for the daydreaming youth who must captain a canoe full of unusual warriors in pursuit of a seductively dangerous weapon. A straightforward adventure tale that is nonetheless morally complex is rarer than you might think. I couldn’t put it down.

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Jul 15

"One of the best feelings in the world is knowing from the first sentence that you’re going to love a book ... I am always so thankful for writers who can breathe new life into the genre elements we love the most, and Russell has done exactly that here." 😭

Reactor review of THE DOOR ON THE SEA by Caskey Russell: "One of the best feelings in the world is knowing from the first sentence that you’re going to love a book, when from the very start you know you’re going to be completely immersed in this adventure. Caskey Russell’s Tlingit indigenous epic fantasy had me feeling exactly that way. Elān, a young Aaní boy, meant only to trap the raven in his cupboard for stealing his salmon. But in exchange for its freedom, the rude and clever raven reveals it knows the location of the Koosh’s death dzanti—a terrifying weapon wielded by the shapeshifting otherworld beings that have been invading Aaní territory. Destruction is coming, and at a meeting of elders it is decided that a single canoe of warriors will go to retrieve the weapon that could turn the tides. Though Elān is not a warrior (in fact, quite the opposite), he is called to his hero’s journey, and sets off on an adventure that will change him and the world. And goodness, it’s so exciting when epic fantasy tropes are done well, when they feel fresh and unexpected. I am always so thankful for writers who can breathe new life into the genre elements we love the most, and Russell has done exactly that here. (October 7, Solaris)"

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Jul 10

Turns out you can add "with trains!" to basically any premise and I will want to read it more.

Publisher's Marketplace announcement reading: "Robyn J. Pritzker's THE MOONSINGERS, in which a teacher takes a last-chance governess job in a remote glen and, after unwittingly endangering her position and the nearby village by suggesting an extension of the train line, conspires with otherworldly neighbors to prevent the project, only to find herself charmed by both her new community and, unfortunately, the earnest bureaucrat managing the railway expansion, pitched as EMILY WILDE'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAIRIES meets TJ Klune, with trains!, to Jocelyn Travis at Sourcebooks Casablanca, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2026, by Victoria Marini at High Line Literary Collective (world English)."

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Apr 7

I cannot wait for you all to fall in love with Joan Tierney's writing.

Author of THE KILLING GROUNDS Joan Tierney's WHAT COMES FROM PICKING FLOWERS, pitched as a queer and cli-fi reimagining of a Portuguese folktale about a young trans woman who must save her elder sisters from the king of the air, the king of the sea, and the king of misery, to Maxine Charles at Flatiron Books, by Lauren Bajek at Liza Dawson Associates.

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Mar 25

you go girl

Deal announcement for QUEENSWOOD by Kathleen Schwab, a romantasy set in 12th-century Ireland, with fae in it. It was announced in the memoir category.

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Dec 20

5. WHAT WE ARE SEEKING by @lateonsetgirl.bsky.social. Cameron is an icon of queer SF, and it's a thrill to get to touch her work. This one is achingly sensitive and deeply weird, full of impossible compromises, doing your best, and becoming something new, strange, and hopeful.

Announcement for WHAT WE ARE SEEKING. It reads: Author of THE FORTUNATE FALL Cameron Reed's WHAT WE ARE SEEKING, in which a doctor arrives at a backwater planet where squabbling human colonists may have discovered a very strange new intelligent species, in an examination of culture, gender, and transformation, to Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor, in a two-book deal, by Lauren Bajek at Liza Dawson Associates (world English).

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Dec 20

4. MUÑECA by @cynthiasaysboo.bsky.social. Unputdownable. Irresistible. An absolutely captivating story of class, race and color, misogyny, power, and queerness, and a love letter to Oakland. I'm salivating to see what Cynthia follows it with.

Announcement for MUÑECA. It reads: Cynthia Gomez's MUNECA, a queer, Latine novel set in 1960s Oakland, about a working-class witch who sets out to rescue a bespelled heiress to Spanish colonial wealth and loses control of her powers and her heart in the process, exploring misogyny, racial hierarchy, and the kinship of found families, to Daphne Durham at Putnam, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Lauren Bajek at Liza Dawson Associates (world).

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Dec 20

3. LIVING LIKE LOCUSTS by Dr. Katherine Crocker. A reimagining of foundational ecology, from a queer, leftist, and Indigenous biologist. It's nuts-and-bolts science NF, and it also gets at deeper questions of how we live & make sense of life. I don't do much NF and was so proud to do this one.

Announcement for LIVING LIKE LOCUSTS. It reads: Indigenous rights advocate, biologist, and University of Puget Sound assistant professor of biology Katherine Crocker's LIVING LIKE LOCUSTS, pitched as a hopeful reconsideration of everything we know about the natural world, challenging Western science's presumption that ecosystems follow the zero-sum logic of capitalism, to Nicholas Ciani at One Signal, at auction, by Lauren Bajek at Liza Dawson Associates (world).

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Dec 20

2. THE FACELESS THING WE ADORE by @steelhester.bsky.social. Absolute zany rollercoaster of a queer cosmic cult horror, but the chewy center is about emotional abuse and how we choose to treat each other. Perfect if you love to go "lmao wtf".

Announcement for THE FACELESS THING WE ADORE. It reads: Hester Steel's THE FACELESS THING WE ADORE, a queer cosmic horror, pitched as Eat Pray Lovecraft, about a heartbroken backpacker who joins a sex-fueled commune working to unleash a hungry god, and discovers she has more power than anyone bargained for, exploring emotional abuse and female rage, to Alexandra Murphy at Page Street, for publication in August 2025, by Lauren Bajek at Liza Dawson Associates (world).

Cover of THE FACELESS THING WE ADORE. A purple and black illustration of a woman's face disintegrating, with a cave in her throat. Background is bright pink.

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Dec 20

1. THE DOOR ON THE SEA by Caskey Russell. Absolutely stunning mythic fantasy-- it originated as bedtime stories the author told to his Tolkien-obsessed sons, to connect them with their Tlingit culture. Major Earthsea vibes. Thanks to @bardythoughts.bsky.social for being its champion.

Announcement for THE DOOR ON THE SEA by Caskey Russell. It reads: Member of the Tlingit Nation of Alaska Caskey Russell's THE DOOR ON THE SEA, pitched as a Tlingit answer to Tolkien, in which a bookish outcast must lead a crew including warriors, a giant wolf, and the mythical raven, to steal the only weapon that can defeat the shapeshifting colonists that threaten his community, to Amy Borsuk at Solaris, in a three-book deal, by Lauren Bajek at Liza Dawson Associates.

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Nov 20

Section heading from the linked article that says, "The rules said to only include books from the 21st century, but you really wanted to say Dune"

Lauren Bajek@laurenbajek· Feb 21