Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · May 7

Thank you!

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · May 7

Thank you!

1

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · May 7

Thank you!

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · May 7

Thanks!

1

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · May 7

One Dark Window x Divergent
The most dangerous game of all is the one played by the heart.
#Questpit #Q #A #F
❤️Dark Alice in Wonderland reimagining
♠️A fate they both wish to escape
♦️A secret Rebellion led by a prince
♣️It takes a monster to destroy one
🃏A wild card

7 14 48

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · May 7

Thank you!

1

Reposted by Judith Webster

Gwend💫lyn Vines @gwenvines.writes.fyi · May 7

WITCHER x CRIMSON PEAK
Survive the winter. Survive the girl.
💉Medical horror
🚨Unreliable narrator
🦥Slow-burn romance
🖤Addiction/chronic illness rep
🩸Blood, so much blood
🗡️Pseudo-period piece
🍎What's with the apples
🪖His father's soldier, not his son
#questpit #A #H #W #gothic

a moodboard for a gothic romantic horror in tones of red and black. Images from top left to bottom right are silhouettes of a man with a sword and a woman at night from behind, in front of a large window and candelabra; a close up on an apple with beads of moisture on it; an old manor at dusk or dawn, surrounded by snow and trees; old medical or chemical bottles behind a clothbound journal; a painting of a man playing violin; a wooden writing desk with an open book atop it; a prosthetic ring finger made of metal; a stained glass window featuring roses; old metal syringes; a man wearing a red eyeglass over his right eye; snowy woods with a trodden bloody trail winding through them; an apple tree at night with many apples on the ground; an anatomical drawing of the interior of a man's ribcage, his organs removed and only the ends of the vessels remaining

Background photo of a misty apple orchard. Textbox reads "PITCH:
Recovering from a grievous wound, Sol, a soldier in a secretive unit, is assigned to protect a northern countess’ estate through the long winter.

Convinced at first that he’s being sidelined due to his injury, Sol quickly learns that the threats to the estate are very real & very hungry; only a member of his company could keep the ailing Countess and her shy country doctor Mari alive to see spring.

But when doing his duty could require his death, Sol must choose between breaking his oath & breathing his last, with Mari’s fingers on both the scales and his pulse." Title images for The Witcher, Broadchurch, and Crimson Peak in lower left, title AN ORCHARD OF MOSS by Gwendolyn Vines in lower right.

6 47 95

Reposted by Judith Webster

Gwend💫lyn Vines @gwenvines.writes.fyi · May 7

A low-magic, high-intrigue crossover #A #F w/
🎭genre-savvy actress FMC
🤬hate triangle
🤺fencing to first blood
🚢treaties, trades & treachery
✨drift compatibility
🗡️"touch her and die" about a friend
😤infuriating love interests
🏝️archipelago setting
👩‍👦 ride or die siblings
#questpit #W

Moodboard for an adult political intrigue fantasy taking place on an archipelago. The text reads "Were you in any way suited for this world, you would know that diplomacy is often most effective in the absence of flags." The images show a rocky island coast from above, the rigging of a tall ship from below (sails lowered), a girl with dark eyes and dark braided hair with gold beads, the inside of a grand theatre, a large unfurled scroll of writing, a chess board with a knocked over piece, two fencers preparing to fence, palm trees at sunset, a khaen, and more ship ropes and rigging at night from the deck.

Photo at night of a tall ship's rigging and sail with a textbox over it reading "PITCH: Sabamere’s Crown is dead, & no one can know.
Least of all the two other nations at the Amber Coast diplomatic summit—if one isn’t responsible for his death, that is.

Luckily, the reclusive Crowns hide behind their selected Aftcastles, so the old Aftcastle can keep up the charade of stability until delicate negotiations are done & the new Crown can take the throne.

Enter street actress Rev, stage left. She’s the new Crown’s choice for Aftcastle, which must remain a secret until the summit ends, but her duty to her country—& her brother, jailed in a dungeon right below the negotiating table—has already begun.

All Rev needs to do is keep her head down, her ears open, & stay alive until her Crown’s coronation, then she can free her brother.

Too bad the diplomats have other plans for her."
REVERENCE SEVENTH AFTCASTLE
by Gwendolyn Vines

6 27 58

Reposted by Judith Webster

B. van Bodegom 📃is querying & writing @bvbodegom.bsky.social · May 7

CABIN IN THE WOODS×JOHN DIES AT THE END×KNIVES OUT

When their detective friend is murdered during their annual gaming retreat, 5 dads must use their years of #TTRPG experience—and puns—to solve the crime before they're all killed off like NPCs in a badly-written campaign. 🎲🥓

#QuestPit #A #H #MY #W

The image shows a horror-comedy novel cover titled "DAD BODIES." The top of the cover reads "THE GAME JUST TOOK A DAD TURN" with "DAD" in a different color.

The background features a haunted house with multiple towers and illuminated windows against a dark backdrop. At the center is a 20-sided die (D20) used in tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, with visible numbers including 1, 7, 13, and 19. The die is surrounded by red blood splatter effects.

At the bottom of the cover are six men with expressions of terror and shock. One man is wearing a white shirt over his head. These men are the dads referenced in the title.

23 110 250

Reposted by Judith Webster

Shida Ketzer (follows back all fiction writers) @wisteraverse.bsky.social · May 7

Godkiller❌Damsel
👑The chosen Empress is assassinated
🗡️Her gutsy, disabled ex-GF must defeat a dysfunctional family of gods or be enslaved forever instead of her.
❤️Forbidden Love
🌶️Hot Banter & Dark Humor
🏳️‍🌈LGBT, BIPOC,♿️ female-lead
🫂Found Family
#questpit #Q #YA #F #RF #SFF
#writingcommunity

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.
90,000 words YA Crossover Fantasy
Comps: Damsel (2024 film)
Hannah Kaner’s Godkiller
T. Kingfisher’s A Sorceress Comes to Call
Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves

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

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 hell fire, 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.

Excerpt:
A gaunt mouse nibbled greedily at a stale bread roll left on my lunch tray. I didn’t have the heart to give her a name as I might lose her too.
The lingering scent of mud and mildew hung in the air, a long-forgotten tomb. I clenched my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering. The bed’s cast iron rods dug into my ribs through the thin mattress. The medications I was forced to swallow left a cotton taste in my mouth and a dull ache in my skull. The faded floral pattern of the peeling wallpaper was my only reminder of life beyond these walls.
I 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. At least no screams echoed through the halls today.

4 32 80

Reposted by Judith Webster

Sarah Helmrich @sarahhelmrich.bsky.social · May 7

Plagued by the choice between duty to her people and following her heart, a competition for the princess’s hand in marriage holds the key to her Kingdom’s survival.

🏹Marriage Competition
✨Secret Romance
🔮Meddling Mind Magic
📚Secrets of the Past
💕Second Chance Romance

#QuestPit #Q #A #F #RF

12 64 180

Reposted by Judith Webster

char 𖤓 @charyoung.bsky.social · May 7

🎸 daisy jones x knives out 🗡️

the songstress, the high-flyer, the gambler, the sweetheart, the watcher, the matriarch and the rogue. seven suspects. one the killer of renowned rockstar sam corvi. but who? only they can tell you

#questpit #Q #A #LF #MY

a moodboard detailing nine images related to my book ALL THE DEVILS in order they are: a neon rock n roll sign, london (notably big ben), a man playing the guitar, a man punching a mirror, a man staring forward into the camera with only his eye showing, someone walking down a hallway, stars falling from the sky, photos hanging from the ceiling and finally, an audience at a gig. all nine images have a red hue.

16 84 190

Reposted by Judith Webster

Gwend💫lyn Vines @gwenvines.writes.fyi · May 7

ARCANE x BLD OVR BRIGHT HVN x DISCO ELYSIUM
🧑‍🎓cut-throat postgrad STEM academia w/
🩺corrupted magic tech/ethics
🩻body horror
🤌obsessive ace yearning
🧠neurodivergence as power
🚨unreliable narrator
🛠️blacksmith biceps
🏆dangerous duels
🌿strange plants
👤& the strange man growing them
#questpit #A #F #Q

Image from a medical textbook of a man with his arm extended, skeletal structure shown in part, with the text "an agent's guide to SEE IN ME THE WOLF by Gwendolyn Vines," an #agentguide #agentsguide for an #amquerying manuscript.

PITCH: (dark STEM academic science fantasy, 107,000 words)
When Institute grad student Jim invents a device that could revolutionize medicine, his intoxicating suitemate Bash warns him it could be weaponized—and stops at nothing to prove his point. Are Jim's degree & the lives he could save worth staining his conscience?

For fans of: the grounded and ugly magical academia of BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN, BABEL, and THE TWO DOCTORS GORSKI; the criticism of tech venture capitalism of RIPE; the obsessive acespec yearning, body horror, and unreliable narrator of DON'T LET THE FOREST IN, and the corruption of tech and its makers of ARCANE.

Image: a silhouette walking up the stairs, head haloed by a lit chandelier.

EXCERPT from SEE IN ME THE WOLF by Gwendolyn Vines/@gwenvines

This time, though, it was not Six whose face was bathed and baptized by light. It was Bash’s, his lone gold hoop gleaming amidst his curls, the spindly shadows of his lashes stretching over his dark eyes, and the sleeve of his linen robe where it draped from his arm rendered translucent by the sun’s rays. It was Bash who sat atop his regal, woody throne and passed judgment upon Jim.

Jim, his blond hair set aflame not by Kontrolle or diffuser but by the sun’s fleeting gift, stared back, waiting. Unlike Etienne, the King Reluctant, Jim had never been told he was the best. Unlike Six, the King Desirous, Jim had never needed to be the best. Unlike Bash, the King Apparent, Jim had never been the best.

Jim’s calling, his compulsion, was to be of use. That is all he had ever needed, wanted, or been. And it was Bash, now, to whom he wished to be useful.

16 70 150

Reposted by Judith Webster

Emma Al-munshi @emmaalmunshi.bsky.social · May 7

Presenting to the #questpit & #writingcommunity crew…

Reasons to love To Ruin the Sky ⚡️

Kingdom of the Wicked x Crescent City
♥︎Led by a sassy, 'shadow mommy' FMC
🫶🏼Fresh take on Romantasy
🪞#MiddleEasternRep
🚨Fills that Xaden-shaped hole in your life
#agentsguide #RF #Q #NA #writersky

ELECTRIC SEXUAL TENSION.
Excerpt reads: There's a possessiveness in how he touches me and I wish I hated it.
"How would you punish me?" I breathe out, unable to control my impulses.
Fingers touch my zip as he slowly slips it down, millimetre by millimetre. My body is completely in his thrall, unable to decipher the beat of my heart from the thump of the speaker's bass.
Cloudy background with one half of a lightning bolt

MORALLY-GREY IS THE COLOUR OF CHOICE...
Two moodboards with information about the two main characters

INCLUDES TOP TIER TROPES...
Four book comparisons: Crescent City, Kingdom of the Wicked, Book of Azrael, Quicksilver with tropes attached
The other half of a lightning bolt with a cloudy background

8 46 85

Reposted by Judith Webster

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 7

🌊A small boy finds a body floating in the fish hold of his father’s boat.

🌊A writer packs up her missing lighthouse keeper father’s things.

🌊A private investigator searches for the missing and the drowned.

🌊A horror rises from the deep.

#questpit #onsub #editors #m #h #a #os

A killer whale tail rises from a Black Sea, a red-headed woman throws back her hair, a lighthouse stands against a wind-whipped sky.

4 12 37

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · May 7

In Cardonia destiny is dealt w/the pull of a card from the Deck of Fates. When Elara draws the Joker—a card that shouldn't exist—she must unlock her powers or lose her head but her only hope lies w/the Prince whose charm hides a rebellion to shatter the kingdom #Questpit #Q #A #F

3 12 32

Reposted by Judith Webster

Katy Townes @katyreadsromance.bsky.social · May 7

PERFECT FITxTHE PARADISE PROBLEMxTHE HANGOVER

Becca has 3 weeks to raise $100k and save the job she loves-if she can survive a work trip to Vegas with her ex’s hot best friend first. ♥️♣️♦️♠️

♥️ gambling lessons
♥️ meddling co-workers
♥️ millennial themed nightclub party

#questpit #Q #A #R #agentsguide

6 22 61

Reposted by Judith Webster

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · May 7

If you love:

🐉accessible magic
🐉friends to enemies to lovers
🐉palace intrigue
🐉feminine rage
🐉Viking vibes
🐉one dragon

this is for you!

#questpit #W #romantasy

Raegan, an aspiring mage, is forced to give up her dream of protecting the realm after the king betroths her to Prince Arlon, the boy who broke her heart the night her mother perished. As Arlon’s icy exterior thaws, Raegan learns the true nature of his cold shoulder, and with time the walls around her heart begin to crumble. But with war looming across the sea and secrets around every palace corner, Raegan must choose between trusting the boy she loved, and protecting her heart and fleeing for good.

5 35 72

Reposted by Judith Webster

Katy Townes @katyreadsromance.bsky.social · Apr 19

ALL IN ON LOVE ♥️♠️♦️♣️

Becca has three weeks to raise $100k and save the job she loves—if she can survive a work trip to Vegas with her ex’s hot best friend first. 🎰🎰🎰

#PosterPit #A #Q #WriterSky

3 19 54

Reposted by Judith Webster

Emma Al-munshi @emmaalmunshi.bsky.social · Apr 19

An eclipse triggers an ancient ritual & lots of problems for Lyla. Brokering a deal with the enemy in hope of answers, will she give into forbidden chemistry with Axel or risk finding out just how closely her fate is tied to the end of the world?⚡️
#PosterPitq #RF #NA #posterpit #writersky

alt text: a pretend movie poster with the title To Ruin the Sky, a novel by Emma Al-munshi. Beneath that reads, available now for all na/Romantasy seeking lit agents.
There’s a background of a grey sky. Across the top includes book tropes all rated 5 stars. Tropes are: brokered deal, Middle Eastern rep, good vs evil, enemies and lovers, morally grey book bf and spice (with 3 chilli rating)
There is a tag line of “I’m a ruin. And now, I’m your ruin” over an image of a lightning bolt and the silhouette of a curly haired woman.
Along the bottom it reads: starring, shadow mommy FMC, tatted up hunk of carnage MMC, ancient ritual, toe-curling banter.
Across the bottle is a black silhouette of the London skyline. Below the title of the poster reads: now available to all NA/Romantasy seeking lit agents.

11 43 120

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · Apr 19

In Cardonia destiny is dealt w/the pull of a card from the Deck of Fates. When Elara draws the Joker—a card that shouldn't exist—she must unlock her powers or lose her head. Her only hope lies w/the prince whose charm hides a rebellion to shatter the kingdom #PosterPitQ #F #A

2 6 20

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · Mar 17

I can’t deal with the major temp extremes. It’ll be 40 degrees in the AM and then 75 in the afternoon. Like make up your mind!

1 1

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · Jan 14

It’s my fave I had to 😂

1 1

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · Jan 14

#Agents posting here as well! My loose Alice in Wonderland retelling dark new adult romantasy is coming to the trenches February 2025! One Dark Window meets Divergent in this thrilling tale of fate and love . . . but the most dangerous game of all is the one played by the heart. #querying

2 2 5

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · Sep 19

That’s what I’ve been doing which is why I was like am I doing this wrong? 😅

1 1