I am currently seeking representation for my 85,000-word speculative fiction novel “Juneauverse: Eight Unhealthy Stories”—my debut work of fiction.

This novel-told-in-stories is set in 2057 in Juneau, Alaska. In this alternative-future Juneauverse, a nationwide Executive Order limits daily purchases to two nonessential items. Everyone is on consistent doses of appetite suppressants. Tourism has dwindled thanks to overdevelopment. Stories dip into horror, urban fantasy, and magical realism with body-swapping, time-stopping, looming shadow figures, climate change, and severe urban decay. Recurring characters face grief, alcoholism, overwork, and unfit partners, but don't do the work to better themselves, often making “unhealthy” choices.

In “Clutter Cutter, LLC,” Wilma's business helps folks downsize their consumer-heavy homes in this new era of Executive Order 11376 until her work is interrupted by a seemingly interested client, forcing her to go against her principles. In “The Tunnel,” Max loses their mother on a haunted tour of an underground project halted by a three-year pandemic, or was their mom taken? In “Bodies and Resources,” Dais has a severe panic attack from old caffeine pills in a highly developed Southeast Alaska. “The Figure” brings us to overworked Seymour, who freezes her world to rest and in turn invites something dark into her secluded cabin—or was it already there? "But What If We Don't" follows OC, a young home caregiver struggling with the shame and danger of alcoholism. “The Cab” centers on hungover Leti, who is fleeing Anchorage and mistakes a teenager for a threat on the Alaskan backroads en route to a new life in Juneau. “On Shuffle” follows three stifled lives, all seeking what others have until they are advised to visit a "town listener" who can finally help them grow. Finally, “Haint Blue” brings us back to Seymour and OC’s elderly aunt, who, along with the rest of the town, is facing an unnamed doom and must decide if they should use Seymour’s power. 

After 14 years in professional journalism and content creation, I now work in Alaska conservation for the National Audubon Society, which has directly inspired this collection. I am also a fellow in the BookEnds’ 2025-2026 Fellowship at Stony Brook University and the 2025 Virtual Summer Retreat Short Fiction Cohort with Abode Press. 

The full manuscript is available upon request at mscusimano@gmail.com.

(I also enjoy writing about horror and created a place for takes on horror content at @horren_cusimano.)