Cover image of Beth’s Dead podcast
Just came here to recommend a new-to-me podcast called Beth’s Dead. It’s co-produced by Monica Padman of Armchair Expert, and it features a unique spin on true crime. I’m only three eps in, but it’s great, y’all. #podcast #truecrime #recommendation
Y’all… Yesteryear?! This book will be the All Fours of 2026. Everyone will read it. Some will LOVE it and others will definitely not. I was captivated. What storytelling! It’s the perfect book club book. #booksky #books #novels
Call for Chapters for a book on Richard Linklater’s Slacker!
Have you seen this film? Richard Linklater’s Slacker? What’s your impression of this cult classic?
Please share with your colleagues and friends who love indie cinema! Call for Chapters! #cfp #callforpapers #indiefilm #popculture
1. It was not an accident.
2. It was not a staffer.
3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia.
4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares.
5. His base agrees with him.
6. He will do it again.
7. No one in power will hold him accountable.
Cover of the book Death of the Author.
Starting off February with this gem! So far, it’s unique speculative/sci-fi with a powerful MC voice. #booksky #books #reading #blackhistorymonth
It’s open to all writers. Check their website.
A pitch event!
Images of book covers: Play Nice, I Hope This Finds You Well, The Sequel, Homegoing, The Correspondent, The Art Thief, Happy Land, Best Offer Wins, Finding Flora.
Now that Questpit is over, and I've made so many new author friends, let me introduce myself by my book tastes. Here's what I read and enjoyed in January. My favorite of the month-The Correspondent! #Books #Bookreviews #Reading #BookSky
A collage of photos: a young woman in repose with her eyes closed, in half-profile, sun reflecting on her face; a man’s hand pushing an elevator button; John Singer Sargent’s “Portrait of Madame X,” a painting of a young woman in a sleeveless black dress; a black and white photo of a man embracing a woman from behind, in front of what looks like hotel room window sheers; red and white dahlia flowers on a black background; looking over the shoulder of a person reading a manuscript; a black and white photo taken from the vantage of a woman looking down at her black high heels; a view down a hallway where doorways are visible on the walls; a collection of botanical books open to pages with flowers; a black and white photo of a hotel bed, with an open book, a room service plate, and what looks like recent signs of intimacy; a colorful row of books on a shelf; the title of the WIP “Surface Tension” is superimposed in a central rectangle.
MY LAST INNOCENT YEAR x GREEN DOT
SURFACE TENSION: The problem with studying intelligent women who make bad choices? You start to see yourself scribbled all over the syllabus. Jenny’s entanglement with her English professor isn’t fiction, but she’s starting to wish it was. #U #W #A #questpit
THE BONE COLLECTOR. a light green background, comps: Eragon, Where the Dark Stands Still, The Last Unicorn, The Counterpart, and Daughter of the Bone Forest. There are floral elements, bones, and art in the top and bottom right corners. "Pitch: Raised to compete to become her father’s heir, Olena Thunderchild has kept her bone magic a secret all her life. But when a plague threatens her siblings and village, she treks into the mythical woods to find the “cure.” With the support of two Animal Weavers, Olena learns how to be a Bone Breaker and the ways of the world." "Snippet: Olena cinches the purse shut, turning it over to study the intricate threads and beads of the outside. Black spiders with brown dots and dark green vines flow across the maroon fabric. Olena traces them like she imagines her mother did. Did she keep her bones in it too? Did she collect bones at all, or were Bone Breakers not supposed to store the dead so close?"
Olena needs to find a dragon to save her family, but everywhere she turns a new myth sprouts up. Including herself.
🌿death/bone magic
🪻inspired by slavic folklore
🌞mythical coming of age
🪻missing someone you never knew
🌿a magical band of misfits
#questpit #YA #F #AG
Mood Board of Jolene McQueen Sails Away includes a photo of a stand up comedian, a cruise ship, a yoga class, a blue daiquiri, a little girl all alone, a brightly-painted home in New Orleans, a concert on a ship, and a couple kissing.
JOLENE McQUEEN SAILS AWAY - Cult survivor Jolene McQueen’s twisted plan for redemption and success is a comedy contest on a Caribbean cruise ship, but it might cost her everything she has left to lose, including her five-year-old daughter.
Upmarket, 85K (final revision stages)
#Questpit #W #WF #U
A collage: Row 1: Snowy red covered bridge surrounded by bare winter trees and icy branches; close-up of a person removing a gold wedding ring from their finger; vintage map of Northern Vermont showing towns like St. Johnsbury and Walden in pastel tones; text in white serif font on a dark green background: “This Ends Now,” accented with a red and orange autumn leaf graphic. Row 2: a woman kneeling on a windowsill, peering out a rain-flecked window next to 2 lit candles, with city lights glowing outside and icicles hanging from the window frame; a vase of pink carnations on a desk beside a stack of hardcover journals and scattered trinkets including a journal with pressed flowers. Row 3: A man and a woman embracing on a couch in low lighting, with the woman kissing his forehead while she sits on his lap; a dimly lit, narrow library aisle lined with tall shelves, dissolving into a well-lit vanishing point, an image from Yale’s Sterling Library stacks; a woman reading a typed document marked with red handwritten editorial notes; a hand holding a lit match in darkness with the flame casting a warm glow.
HELLO BEAUTIFUL x WRECK
THIS ENDS NOW: Ditching good husbands is a bad look, especially for a wedding planner. But Lainey won't stop bolting until she takes down the cunning, brilliant ex who convinced her she was never enough—and won't let her go without the fight of her life. #A #U #Q #QuestPit
A 9 by 9 grid of pictures including a Los Angeles skyline with a plane over it, a multiracial lesbian couple, a meteor shower over Joshua Tree, a star on the Walk of Fame, and a faded polaroid of a married straight couple.
MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES meets THE ANIMATORS in this #Upmarket #LGBTQ #A #LF novel about a failed actor, her successful girlfriend, an estranged family, and a life-changing audition. #Q #POC #questpit
THE OFFICE X GOOD OMENS
A satire of both business and the supernatural, Virgil Mora, Hell's Consultant, must restore Heaven's faith in Hell by saving a vampire-run Ohio gas station in just three months to save his job and Lucifer, the angel he's fallen for.
#QuestPit #W #A #F #LGBT
Pitch: When the chosen Empress is assassinated, her disabled and gutsy ex-girlfriend must triumph over a dysfunctional family of ancient gods or submit to fulfilling the chosen’s grim fate as the gods’ eternal slave and weapon against mortals. 94,000 words Crossover Fantasy Comps: T. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone Damsel (2024 film) Hannah Kaner’s Godkiller Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves
Moodboard: Dark fantasy Victorian vibes with purple color composition. Top row, left-to-right: a Byronic handsome man in black, a palace, a dark figure burning in hellfire, a masked female assassin of dark complexion holding a dagger, a serpentine forest trail at night marked with red flowers. At the center, next to a silver plume, is the text: “This world, my dear, is the slaughterhouse of noble ideals.” Bottom row, left-to-right: a dark gaslit street, a gaslit city blanketed in coal smog at night, a young woman in a Victorian gown, wrought-iron gates opened to a foreboding foggy estate in the dark, a trail of red petals leading to a dark stone temple gate.
Themes & Tropes: - Forbidden Love - Hot Banter - Feminine Rage - Anti-Chosen - Found Family - Second Chances - Dark Humor - Identity - Friends-to-lovers - Faustian Bargain - Choosing vs. being chosen - Dual-Timeline Representation: - LGBTQIA+ - BIPOC - Mental Health - Disability - Neurodivergence - Chronic Illness
Excerpt: A gaunt mouse snatched bread crumbs from my lunch tray. I did not have the heart to give her a name, afraid I might lose her, too. The lingering scent of mud and mildew hung in the air, a long-forgotten tomb. The bed’s cast-iron rods dug into my ribs through the thin mattress. I clenched my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering and pulled the threadbare blanket tighter around my body, hugging my knees to my chest. It did little against the chill creeping into my bones. The raging blizzard had transformed the courtyard into a churning white sea, rattling the broken window shutters hanging askew. I was not allowed visitors or to set foot outside. The faded floral pattern of the peeling wallpaper was my only reminder of life beyond these walls. The medications I was forced to swallow left a cotton taste in my mouth and a dull ache in my skull. At least no screams echoed through the halls today.
An empress with disability. A Dragon hoarding romance novels. A dysfunctional family of gods. Not the start of a joke, but Sy's undoing. When her ex, the chosen one, is murdered, feisty Sy fights the gods to escape a fate worse than death: becoming their eternal slave.
#questpit #Q #F #BIPOC #LBGT
Dark forest. An agent's guide to The Blessing Returned. Adult fantasy. 98,000 words.
Dark forest. Pitch. Idealistic Hana Hahl lives in a world that is slowly dying after a failed quest to bring back magic. The only ones left with power are self-serving royals and dark mages, while desperation has given rise to an anti-magic order. Caught up in a mystical event, Hana is blessed with an immense power that could restore nature to the world. As Hana struggles to control the overwhelming force, Lady Kalyn Nossi, the only known survivor of the disastrous quest, directs her to the one person who can help her. Matthias Azel, the failed chosen one, reluctantly agrees to teach Hana while concealing his past from her. Accompanied by Kalyn and a charismatic prince with a dangerous secret, they journey to seek answers about Hana’s destiny. They fend off demonic threats and the anti-magic forces as Hana struggles with magic that seems to resist her and a growing fear that the world isn’t meant to be saved.
A dark forest. Snippet. She took a cautious step forward, unaware she was in a spectral form. Little drops of shimmering light followed her path, dissolving into the ground. “But this has to be a sign?” Grass grew where the light fell, delicate bits of nature that should be impossible. “Maybe it’s returning!” The young woman spoke with such bright reverence as if life was a fairy tale and magic was all they needed for a happy ending. It was as if she couldn’t see the shadows approaching her. The inevitable death. “Magic should never return.” After speaking those words, he sprang forward and shoved her away from the shadows. Pain rocked him as soon as he touched her. The scorching mystical agony tore a scream out of him, but it kept her away from the unearthly menace, and the shock did what he intended. Sent him back to his body.
A dark forest. Comps. Nausicaä. One Dark Window. The Starless Crown. Godkiller. Final Fantasy VII Remake. Tropes. Chosen One (s)? Ecofantasy. Dieselpunk. Grumpy/Sunshine. LGBTQIA+. Multi POV.
NAUSICAÄ X FF7
Hana is sure she’s the chosen one, meant to save the world, even if her magic is resisting her and the previous chosen one insists she isn’t. Pursued by enemies, she must learn if this is her destiny or if it was a mystical mistake. #questpit #F #A #Q #agentguide
THE BRASS THAT BITES
LEGENDBORN meets FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: At an elite academy, Xavier learns pattern-driven intelligence isn’t honed—it’s hunted, and his neurodivergent mind is prime prey.
🧠 Neurodivergent MC
🤝 Ride-or-Die friends
🧸 Missing kids depend on them
#questpit #agentsguide #writing
Split promotional slide on a dark navy background. Left side shows a book-cover style illustration: a silhouetted girl inside two cupped hands, standing in golden-green fields under a starry sky with swirling light. The title reads “HEIRS OF BALANCE” and the author name “LESLEY PARRY.” Right side text reads: “YA Science-Fantasy, 90,000 words. STUDIO GHIBLI meets ANDOR where healing is heresy and compassion sparks rebellion.” Handle “@lesleyparrybooks” and hashtags appear beneath.
A five-panel moodboard framed by black borders. Top-left shows two small figures standing on a hill under a dramatic night sky with the text: “What if medicine was illegal… and you had the power to heal?” Center panel shows shows glowing hands in a forest. Top-right shows an overgrown, glass-domed eco-building rising from a misty valley. Bottom-left a bright green rural settlement with wind turbines in the background. Bottom-right shows a cozy tabletop scene with a mortar and pestle, herbs, and jars, suggesting herbal remedies or healing craft.
“The Story” slide on a dark navy background with a buff watercolor brush stroke across the top. Large serif headline reads “The Story.” Body text summarizes the plot: in a post-apocalyptic world where medicine and touching the sick are forbidden, nineteen-year-old Mira Elders discovers she can heal after saving a dying child; she poses as a Watcher, finds love, is betrayed and taken to the Citadel, and learns a long-buried truth that healing caused the world’s collapse; she must choose to bury her power or use it to spark an empathy revolution.
“If you liked…” slide on a dark navy background with a buff textured brush stroke across the diagonal. Three book covers are centered across the slide: The Nature of Witches (left), The Grace Year (middle), and The Scarlet Alchemist (right). Captions beneath each read: “eco-magic + atmosphere” (left), “oppression + survival stakes” (middle), and “illegal craft + moral cost” (right).
What if medicine was illegal and you learned you had the power to heal?
HEIRS OF BALANCE
GHIBLI x ANDOR
🌱 Post-apocalypse hopepunk
🤐 Family secrets
🧬 Science-based magic
❤️🔥 Slow-burn romance
🥹 Found family
REP: 🧠 ND 🤎 BIPOC and 🌈 LGBTQ+ characters
#QuestPit #Q #SFF #RF #WritingCommunity
Love the comps! I'd read this!
A collage of photos: row 1 (l-r): the interior of Yale University’s Sterling Memorial Library, showing a Gothic cathedral-like entrance; a classic red Vermont farmhouse in winter, covered in snow, nestled among bare trees; a woman silhouetted against a frosted window, while sunlight spills through the window; row 2 (l-r): two hands reaching for each other in low lighting against a black background; a dark-haired woman floating face upwards in water, surrounded by white flowers, her eyes open; Spilled glass candle with wax still aflame, flickering against a black backdrop; row 3 (l-r): Sunlight streaming through a quiet pine forest, illuminating a narrow dirt path; black and white photo of a person gripping the back of another person’s head from behind ; a man’s hand clasping a woman’s hand showing her wedding ring, with a snow-covered fir tree in the background; row 4 (l-r): three antique keys on twine; dark green leaves, covered in dew; the title of the novel, “This Ends Now” written on a scrap of spiral-bound lined notepaper.
ALL FOURS x THE WEDDING PEOPLE
THIS ENDS NOW: Lainey can orchestrate perfect days but can't stay put in a marriage, no matter how good the man. Only one way to quit bolting: face the cunning ex who taught her love is a disappearing trick—and who still has his hooks in her. #A #U #Q #WF #QuestPit
Love the sound of this!
DEFINITELY NOT A BUCKET LIST / contemporary romance
After receiving a life-altering diagnosis, a woman teams up with her brother’s (irritatingly) charming boss to recreate her father’s road trip across Atlantic Canada—but it sparks a longing for a future that's out of her reach.
#questpit #Q #A #R
red and green moodboard with a black text box and white writing reading: "I'm not in my own bed when I wake up. It's more confusing than terrifying because I swear I should be in a jail cell right about now."
What happens when a vampire & an insomniac journalist start flirting? A vampiric cult begins stealing peoples faces, of course.
🦇late night coffee shop/bookstore
🍒small town murder mystery
☕️comedic found family
🍒horror rom-com
🦇halloween episode
#questpit #A #onsub #PR
Sounds like my kind of book!
Comps for WRITING HENNIE include ROMANTIC COMEDY, FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK, YOU, AGAIN, and HAPPY PLACE
FLEABAG x ROMANTIC COMEDY
WRITING HENNIE is also perfect for readers who love vivid settings (hello, London) and anyone looking for a romance featuring a plus-size woman where being fat is NOT something she needs to change.
#Questpit #A #R #Q
PORTRAIT OF A THIEF + THIEVES' GAMBIT
How far would you go to repatriate what was stolen from you?
🎓 Prep school criminology students
💎 A stolen colonial diamond
🔥 A heist for justice
They study crime, now they're pulling one.
#questpit #YA #T #R #Q
Dark stone well surrounded by overgrown ivy and moss, title WHERE ECHOES WAIT overlaid in white text.
WHERE ECHOES WAIT #W #A #H #LF
A woman restoring a remote Cornish manor slowly loses her sense of where her mind ends and the house begins.
The village knows the pattern. They just won't say it out loud.
Epistolary gothic horror.
#QUESTPIT
I would def read this!
Title card: An Agent's Guide to "Jolene McQueen Sails Away" on a blue screen that mimics the sea with seagulls in the sky. Subtitle: Women's Upmarket Fiction, 85,000 words.
Comps for Jolene McQueen Sails Away; Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams – flawed MC dealing with unchecked trauma in reckless ways, dating disasters and witty friends; Margo’s Got Money Troubles – funny pitfalls of balancing work, love life, and motherhood, unconventional family, questionable decisions; HBO’s Hacks – MC like Ava Daniels (bisexual, goody, impulsive, crass, and seeking validation through comedy ambitions
Illustration of woman wearing a striped shirt and rose-colored star-shaped sunglasses. She’s also holding a microphone. There’s a seascape behind her with a cruise ship in the distance. The Pitch: Cult survivor Jolene McQueen’s twisted plan for redemption and success is a comedy contest on a Caribbean cruise ship, but it might cost her everything she has left to lose, including her five-year old daughter.
Excerpt from manuscript: Fifteen minutes until showtime. Jolene slips down from the barstool and heads toward the door to get some air and mumble through her set outside. As she draws near Sherwood, he looks over, catches her eye, and leans in for a side hug. He’s big and soft, like Jolene likes. “Hey Joleeeene.” Sherwood’s northern drawl is so low her pelvic floor vibrates. “Can’t wait to see what you’re cooking up tonight.” “Yeah?” Well, I got a big, warm pancake for ya. In the pan.” Jolene cringes. A big warm pancake? Just one? Sherwood laughs from deep in his belly. “Okay, okay. I get it. Buttery and sweet.” “Yep. You know it.” Shooting finger guns, Jolene hops outside into a cloud of smoke, wincing. What was that? Absolute zero game. To burn off a humiliation spiral, she bums a cigarette and paces the sidewalk, trying to focus on her set.
JOLENE McQUEEN SAILS AWAY
Margo's Got Money Troubles x Queenie x HBO's Hacks
🛳️ Messy mom MC
🛳️ Slapstick & situational comedy
🛳️ Pursuit of creative ambition
🛳️ Self-help/sex cult trauma
🛳️ Cruise ship forced-proximity
🛳️ Female support system
🛳️ Financial anxiety
#questpit #W #WF #U
a moodboard detailing nine images related to my book ALL THE DEVILS aka devilswip. in order from right to left they are: london notably the landmark big ben, a band performing on stage, a sheet of music, a record store, the silhouette of a rockstar, some musical instruments scattered on a bed, two men running, a pile of evidence and finally a hand holding a cigarette
🎸 daisy jones x knives out 🗡️
the songstress, the gambler, the sweetheart, the watcher, the matriarch and the rogue. six suspects. one the killer of renowned rock star sam corvi. but who? only they can tell you
#questpit #Q #A #LF #MY
