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Catherine Winters @catherinewinters.com · 21/10/2025

F/NB WAYFARERS x MURDERBOT x SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN Everything fell apart when the human came aboard. Instead of nice meals and quiet cargo runs, Tai's stuck with bickering crewmates, sinister criminals, explosions, and worse, a human who wants to be friends. #SFPit #A #Q #R #SO #OV #LGBT

Mood board/Agent's guide for my novel CARGO - a queer SF/heist/romance - 110,000 words

"Did you hear? There's a human on board."
A graphic of the wall of a spaceship with sticky notes and polaroid photos taped up. There are twinkle lights hanging from the ceiling.
alien ship's cook (fussy, anxious) + terrifying monster (ordinary human)

PITCH:
Tai’s terrified of humans. Everyone is. Violent pack hunters, humans are notorious for their strength, sharp teeth, and carnivorous appetites. But the ship’s cook is safe among the multispecies crew of the cargo hauler Coreward Baker: everyone knows the warrior species rarely leave their own space. Then Captain Raz hires Clarke, a human horticulturist.
Even after Tai overcomes their fear, they can’t stand Clarke. She’s bossy. Annoying. Useless in the galley, bad in a space suit. She might as well be cargo. Worse, she’s intent on befriending Tai—and why can’t they stop thinking about her, anyway?
That’s when things go wrong. As Tai starts to realize their feelings for Clarke, they’re horrified to learn that nobody on their crew of dropouts and runaways is quite who they seem, least of all Clarke. And it’s no coincidence. Raz reveals they’ve each been handpicked for a heist he’s spent years planning—and no one’s allowed to say no.

PRIORITIES:
make dinner
remain cozy
haul cargo
go for drinks
pull off one last score
try not to fall in love

FIRST PAGE:

“Did you hear? There’s a Human on board.”
I choked on my noodles and turned to stare at the diners at the next table. Like most of the restaurant’s patrons, the pair had hidden their profiles, a halfhearted attempt at anonymity.
“Gross,” the speaker’s crewmate said, oblivious to my alarm. “I hope it leaves soon.”
“Don’t let it hear you say that,” the first worker laughed. She made a show of looking for Humans, her eyes darting from table to table.
It. I frowned. I knew the workers’ language distinguished between people and things, and ‘it’ was an unkind choice of words at best.
The second worker shuddered. “I don’t know why we let themcome here.”
The first laughed. “Are you going to stop them?”

COMPS:
Murderbot by Martha Wells
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wisewell
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

TROPES:
Non-binary narrator masking anxiety with sarcasm
lying to themselves
non-human perspective (afraid of humans)
neurodivergent main characters
metaphorically disabled protagonist
slow-burn friends-to-lovers and enemies to lovers in the same relationship
disabilitynorm and queernorm setting
found family
loveable pet/terrifying monster

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Catherine Winters @catherinewinters.com · 21/10/2025

F/NB WAYFARERS x MURDERBOT x SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN SF heist meets queer retelling of Beauty and the Beast, where “Beauty” is the non-binary alien narrator, and “Beast” a terrifying monster—or from her perspective, an ordinary human. #SFPit #A #Q #R #SO #OV #LGBT

An orange, black, and white movie poster for my manuscript Cargo, inspired by Saul Bass's famous vintage posters for Vertigo and The Man With the Golden Hand: "Tai's terrified of humans. Everyone is. So why did their captain just hire one, and why can't Tai stop thinking about her?"

Now Querying: Cargo

The credits section is as follows:
CATHERINE WINTERS AND COREWARD BAKER PRODUCTIONS LTD PRESENT A CATHERINE WINTERS NOVEL

‘CARGO’ STARRING TAI OF MICAPA
THYLLIS CHAUMEDEROT
TALATAGARI QUIRIN
TALATAGARI ANENTO
FRANK THE CAT
JEREL BESKROS
CHOST MOL RAZIK
FEATURING COOL MOSS ABOVE STILL WATER
AND INTRODUCING CLARKE

SHIPS BY SETEBO-URANQ AND CONSTANT VERIDITY INTERSTELLAR
COSTUMES BY UPPER CORE ATELIER
“HUMAN” CREATURE EFFECTS BY 3.8 BILLION YEARS OF EVOLUTION

CASTING BY THE TRADE AUTHORITY
WRITTEN BY CATHERINE WINTERS
DIRECTED BY CATHERINE WINTERS
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CATHERINE WINTERS
WITH APOLOGIES TO SAUL BASS

Catherine Winters dot Com

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Chase Grayson is Agented🌙 @adropofmagick.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Love that first page 😁👏🔥!

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