an environmental activist / aspiring writer’s query letters get increasingly unhinged as the rejections pile up

City planner by day, tired climate activist by day off, aspiring writer Zilla Novikov’s query letters quickly devolve into a darkly funny exploration of her own psyche. As the rejections pile up, her novel blurbs and biographies grow increasingly unhinged, while Zilla discovers that the road to bestseller-dom is paved with neoliberal hellscapes.

The stunning cover of this satirical novella is finally revealed! Many thanks to the inimitable Rachel A. Rosen for this work of sheer art.

Want an e-book? Want a print book? Want a special edition palm-sized A6 paperback with an exclusive cover too risque for Amazon, delivered in a care package full of rejection-themed swag and other unexpected items? Get ’em all here.

When a beggar reveals himself as a wishgranter, the novelist is taken by surprise. Should she ask to receive something? Or something else? Or should she request permission to reveal her boundary-breaking resistance-art to the world? Working in five genres and eighteen sacred modes of persistence, Zilla Novikov submits her third wish. Perfect for your list; instantly familiar; a triumph of optimism. We’ve all queried, but until now, only the angels of Chelm heard us. Novikov’s derring-do opens the gates. Now the world will know.

–Tucker Lieberman, Most Famous Short Film of All Time

If you’ve ever tried to publish anything, the impersonal form rejections and the unending grind of trying to get someone, anyone, to take a chance on you, will be familiar. If you’ve ever tried to make a genuine difference in your job, if you’ve ever felt small and hopeless in the face of late-stage capitalism, that aspect of the novel will feel familiar too. This book is a scathing satire with genuine passion and heart at its core. Come for the wit and the blackout poetry, stay for the actual inspiration to fight the good fight.

–Rachel A. Rosen, Cascade

HOT HOT CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION is a work of erotic fiction where I seduce you with my words until you rep me.

— Query by Zilla Novikov

A metafictional tale from the publishing trenches, packing poignant queer realism and a fragmented story of loss and climate change, told through wry asides. Don’t miss this witty, melancholy story.

–Michelle Browne, The Meaning Wars

The influences on my work are too many to be detailed on one sheet of A4. It takes a library to write a novel. But if I have to pick just one, I’ll take Pirkei Avot 2:16.

— Query by Zilla Novikov

an environmental activist / aspiring writer’s query letters get increasingly unhinged as the rejections pile up

the special-edition book box will contain rejection swag, among other unexpected items

WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS TO MYSELF (102,000 words) is a cozy mystery, where the mystery is when I’ll give up querying. I’m quietly terrified that it’s got series potential.

— Query by Zilla Novikov

I look forward to hearing from you. Or not, since your policy is not to respond if you’re not interested. But I’m not exactly looking
forward to being rejected.

I dread not hearing from you.

— Query by Zilla Novikov