On Submission
Published on 20. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
264 pages
978-1-960988-81-2 (ISBN)
Description
The author of home invasion horror hit, Anybody Home?, brings murder to the publishing sphere in On Submission, where Scream meets Yellowface when an A-List agent's top clients all end up dead.
Hotshot literary agent Henry Richmond Pendel knows how to find the next big thing and is even better at selling them. But a perfect career becomes increasingly disconcerting as he begins to feel like he's being watched. There are rumors of a boogeyman in publishing, a rejected writer who has cracked and started killing off writers.
When Pendel's star clients turn up brutally murdered and unsolicited queries become more and more frantic, Pendel must decide whether to act out of safety for himself and his clients or to capitalize on the attention. Is it worth a few more casualties if it means inking a few seven-figure deals?
Part slasher and part scream at the publishing industry, Michael J. Seidlinger, the master of psychological terror, offers a brutal new take on the relationship between art and commerce. On Submission is full of villains, where some harm with a pen and others with a knife.
Hotshot literary agent Henry Richmond Pendel knows how to find the next big thing and is even better at selling them. But a perfect career becomes increasingly disconcerting as he begins to feel like he's being watched. There are rumors of a boogeyman in publishing, a rejected writer who has cracked and started killing off writers.
When Pendel's star clients turn up brutally murdered and unsolicited queries become more and more frantic, Pendel must decide whether to act out of safety for himself and his clients or to capitalize on the attention. Is it worth a few more casualties if it means inking a few seven-figure deals?
Part slasher and part scream at the publishing industry, Michael J. Seidlinger, the master of psychological terror, offers a brutal new take on the relationship between art and commerce. On Submission is full of villains, where some harm with a pen and others with a knife.
Reviews / Votes
"Short, sharp, bizarre and brilliant, On Submission is a scathing autopsy of the publishing industry." -FanFiAddict"Sharp in all the ways that matter. If you're not afraid of gore, want a shadowy look into the world of publishing, or savor the mind of confidently deluded characters, pick up On Submission." -Independent Book Review
"The novel is a fast-paced, pointed critique of publishing's focus on financial success versus artistic merit and also a slasher with enough gruesome details to please casual fans of the subgenre. This unsettling title could be recommended to readers who enjoy dark and grisly stories about authors and obsession, like Travis Thrasher's Ghostwriter (2009) or Stephen King's Misery." -Booklist
"A tortuous affair that marries psychopathy with writerly ambition, On Submission is a serial killer revenge fantasy set within the publishing industry's already ruthless echelons, a social satire that enacts the darkest imaginings of any author forced to endure yet another blanket rejection slip. It's gruesome, troublesome, impish, and lampoonish-a fast-paced splatter romp whose resourceful antihero shares a moral compass with Patrick Bateman. Seidlinger doesn't just bite that hand that feeds him, he devours it." -Joe Pan, author of Florida Palms
"A relentless, brutally comic story of ambition. Seidlinger vivisects a nightmare version of the publishing world, where stories require sacrifice, self-promotion needs ferocity, and the marketplace craves scandal and atrocity. Fast-paced. X-ACTO sharp. This book is bloody mayhem." -Dennis Mahoney, author of Our Winter Monster
"Seidlinger has masterfully crafted a striking meta-narrative of an industry with bodies in its closet-and with surgical precision-extracted the story of one writer's blood-soaked journey from each incision. If you peel back the layers of text far enough, peer between the viscera on each page; you'll find every writer you've ever known swimming in that crimson river, wading in it." -Adam Fall, Underbrush Books
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
352 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-960988-81-2 (9781960988812)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Michael J. Seidlinger is the Filipino-American author of Anybody Home?, The Body Harvest, and other books. He has written for, among others, Wired, Buzzfeed, Polygon, and Publishers Weekly. You can find him at michaeljseidlinger.com.