Thread: Uphill Battle

Here's what I see: A literary market flooded with self-help, children's titles and YA stories. That makes sense, because that is what is in demand.
Unfortunately, that is not what I have written.
My soul resides in a place where reason and science meet the human spirit. To classify my work would be difficult, but it is in the realm of Hard SciFi. But there are deep social issues as well, Soft SciFi? And there's the action and suspense that ties it together...

Great. Now my head hurts again. Here's the problem: A cursory glance of available agents shows that very few represent SciFi. It doesn't appear to be a money maker for the publishers. How the H4ll can I make this enticing? I just want my work read, but I don't want it poached, nor do I want to settle for 99 cent downloads via e-pub (no offense to those that do.)

Does anyone have a list of agents that specialize in alternative history multi-dimensional exploration stories that are rife with obscure middle eastern cultural references?

I use shotguns to dust clay pigeons. That approach with manuscript submissions seems wrong to me. I need targets.

(pinky to mouth, ala Dr Evil)... C'mon people! Throw me a friggin bone here!

36 views and not one suggestion? I am not deterred, but I am confused. The collective knowledge here must yield something besides a symphony of chirping crickets.

I know that Ray Bradbury's wife had an agency that recently closed. There must be at least a couple of dedicated, borderline fanatical SciFi agents looking for original, provocative work. Or is everyone a 'generalist' now? I mean, I have a manuscript that will make Turtledove's work look like the musings of a inebriated redneck. Or are Civil War and WW2 fiction the only thing now palatable to a nation half numb with no attention span?

I mean, I can web-search like anyone else. Just if someone knows, please share.

(Pssst. PM me if it's Super Secret Squirrel stuff that can't be divulged in public)