James Armijo
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abjwriter.bsky.social
James Armijo
@abjwriter.bsky.social
82 followers 120 following 110 posts
Author of queer 20th c historical fiction. I'm not posting about politics on Bluesky; if you want to see my political takes, look at https://www.tumblr.com/amielbjacobs where I have the wordcount for nuance. Here it's all writing, all the time.
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abjwriter.bsky.social
James Armijo @abjwriter.bsky.social · Jan 14
Killing Eve X Mad Men

An American spy uncovers a plot masterminded by his Soviet counterpart. As the two men match wits, they discover an attraction which is inseparable from their enmity - but the same things which brought them together may destroy them. #BluePit 📖 #Q #LGBT #DIS #A #HS #D #T
Four images: a soviet and American flag smudged and lying on the ground together, two sillhouetted figures close together as if embracing, a typewriter in black and white, a gun in black and white, blackout poetry showing the words "Is this the life we really want?", burning letters, and two shadowy figures sharing the shelter of an umbrella.
abjwriter.bsky.social
@pauldavidgould.bsky.social So I've wanted to read your book for so long, but my local library didn't have it and I'm broke. BUT I FINALLY PERSUADED THEM TO BUY IT 🎊🎉
November 18, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Reposted by James Armijo
kikumi67.bsky.social
Japanese-American teen Misa navigates abuse at the hands of a deceased family friend, risking her family's clean image in their culturally insular community—where silence is conformity—if she speaks up

🎌Immigrant story
🌸Coming of age
🫂Family tension
❤️First love

#QuestPit #YA #OWN #Q #agentguide
November 5, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
tiffbartel.com
A nerdy agender experimental art gremlin and an ex-wunderkind roboticist in exile team up to find out why the local tech co is bricking robots and stealing memories, and who's sending weird dispatches from the wasteland that's supposedly empty. Then mutually pine a little.

#QuestPit #W #A #SF #S
tiffbartel.com Tiff Bartel @tiffbartel.com · 21d
Finally put together an #agentsguide for Snaggleteeth, the adult speculative novel I'm currently polishing in hopes of querying in the new year! 🦷
(all slides are in the style of a vintage 80s/90s VHS box cover) / 1st slide: An Agent's Guide to Snaggleteeth / adult science fiction / near-future cyberpunk / retro tech & robots / 80k words (all slides are in the style of a vintage 80s/90s VHS box cover) / 2nd slide: Premise / When a lonely audiovisual archivist's assistive robot BFF gets bricked, he enlists the help of an illegal repair shop owner to resurrect her, while also using his anachronistic media know-how to investigate a tech conspiracy involving stolen memories. / (there is a little graphic of a lotus flower created by Dutchken @ Noun Project) (all slides are in the style of a vintage 80s/90s VHS box cover) / 3rd slide: It's Got Everything / 🏳️‍🌈 Scrappy queer/neurodivergent MC ❣️ Dorks aged 35+ in love / 🌲 Mutual pining 🗓️ Multiple timelines / 👽 Art gremlins / 🔥 Anti-capitalism 🤖 Prickly robot familiar / 🇻🇳 Southeast Asian folklore 📼 Cassette futurism vibes / (there is a little graphic of a nine-tailed fox created by Mariana Vinagre @ Noun Project) (all slides are in the style of a vintage 80s/90s VHS box cover) / 4th slide: Comps / Klara and the Sun: robot POV, subtle dystopia / Luminous: sibling drama, murder mystery / Both Klara and Luminous: companion robots as family, intergenerational conflict, explorations of grief, childhood illness / Light From Uncommon Stars: queer joy!, romance w/ older characters, so much food, music bringing people together / Severance: speculative workplace intrigue, weird memory stuff
November 5, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
maximilliangruff.bsky.social
Princess Mononoke x Dunkirk

Estonia. 1916. War.
For her being a werewolf means living outside of oppression. His entire crew vanished while he was in prison. Haunted by an army of memories, what is submerged must be risen. Between holy Russia and the sea.

This is a WIP

#W #questpit #L #HR #A
February 12, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by James Armijo
hadiyahsama.bsky.social
Kindred x Life on Mars
A Muslim young man must grapple with generational trauma and the very real danger of racism and discrimination when he is thrown back in time to 1970s Britain from 2024.

🌙muslim mcs
🗡️murder mystery
🗣️1970s british racism deepdive

#questpit #Q #YA #S #HF
Alt: AFFINITY BY HADIYAH SAMA Pitch: Octavia Butler's Kindred meets BBC's Life on Mars in this YA historical novel with a speculative twist, about a Muslim young man who must grapple with generational trauma and the very real danger of racism and discrimination when he is thrown back into the 1970s from 2024. Blurb: Second generation desi Imran just can't understand his traditional parents. They have a chip on their shoulder he can’t quite get with. It’s 2024 and this is England; things are different now, aren’t they? When he's gifted with a pendant that throws him back into 1970s Britain, realises his parents' fears are not so far away. Stranded in the past with a dead body at his feet, Imran must fight to survive the way his parents did... or not at all. Comps: Kindred – generational trauma narratives, life on mars – time travel murder mystery, all my rage - muslim MCs & community commentary, I’ll stop the world – time travel, throwback – time travel / coming of age, blinded by the light – muslim mc, coming of age.
November 5, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by James Armijo
kotegentarri.bsky.social
A MASTERY OF SELF
. ݁₊ ⊹ . 📽.ᐟ
the year is 1938
and something isn't right
. ݁₊ ⊹ . 📽.ᐟ
an actor has lost his true identity in the many roles he's played on screen

- speculative hollywood
- friends to lovers
- eldritch horror that seeks to replace him

#questpit #W #WIP #A #H #S #RF #T
A picture of a writing pitch in the form of Netflix UI with the title, the genres Horror and Psychological Thriller, a description, and similar recommendations in the form of comparables: The Twilight Zone, Alan Wake II, Siren Queen, and Uzumaki. The background of the UI is a red velvet movie curtain with a man's hand coming through the curtain.
November 5, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
keltondavis.bsky.social
SINNERS x THE DEVILS x CASTLEVANIA

There's three rules to surviving as a nightrunner: don't get comfortable, don't be a hero, and don't be unlucky.

Corado's about to break all three.

🤠 Vampire Cowboys
🦇 Monstrous Night Hordes
🏜️ Pueblo Pit Cities

Querying soon!
#A #F #W #QuestPit
Image: A man in a black cloak and a wide brim western style black hat, holding a revolver; only his eyes as yellow pinpricks are visible. Text: A Novel By Kelton Davis Blood Red Sand 109000 Words Adult Gothic Western Fantasy Querying Soon Art: Apocalypse by Oliver Odmark Title: Comparable Titles Images of the covers of The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, Godkiller by Hannah Kaner, and Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian. Text drawn with an arrow from each image: Found family (from the Devils) Reluctant parent figure (from Godkiller) Western-inspire Gothic setting (from Red Rabbit) Unlikely travel companions (from all). Background image: same as first slide. Title: Pitch Text: Corado is just trying to survive the night—every night. Being a nightrunner, one of the few brave or foolish enough to defy humanity's vampire masters to traffic himself and others across barony lines, doesn't make it any easier though. With vampire posses stalking the desert during the day and their ravenous Horde filling the sky each night, it's a miracle he's survived as long as he has. Some of it he chalks up to skill, some to instinct, but he knows that when the dawn comes, the main thing seeing him through the night is good old-fashioned luck. Nothing lasts forever though, and Corado's lucky streak soon comes to a quick and bloody end. After nighttime attack from the Horde leaves him stranded in the desert with a newly-orphaned boy named Hectar, he finds keeping the rest of the world at bay may not be as easy as he thought. Newfound companion in tow, he sets out to find what remains of the boy's family and finally put the whole thing behind him. But as he knows by now, no job is ever so simple. As he tries to escort Hectar to safety, whispers of rebellion start drifting on the wind. With a world free of the Horde beginning to look like a real possibility, Corado must face vampires, twisted monstrosities, and the darkness lurking in men's hearts before he decides whether the world he's cut himself out of is one worth fighting for after all. Background image: same as other slides
November 5, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by James Armijo
goodsamiratan.bsky.social
AMARI X JUJUTSU KAISEN
After stealing her first mission, 13yo Maeve opens a portal to the realm of the 7 Deadly Sins—where she must strengthen the barrier keeping them imprisoned. If only ex-friends, talking urns, and magical mazes weren’t a part of the deal too… #Questpit #MG #F #Q
Left to right: (Left) A 13-year-old Native American/Māori boy with long curly hair tied in a ponytail. He wears tiny gold hoops in his ears. His uniform is lilac and gold. A lilac jacket with the initials MA stitched into it, a gold vest with purple lining, a gold tie, and plaid, purple pants. The tallest of the group. (Middle) A 13-year-old Black girl with light blue hair styled into cornrows. She has multiple piercings on each ear, including two dangling crescent moons. She has a mole under her eye. She wears the same uniform as the previous boy, but her jacket is buttoned up and she wears a skirt. She has a slight gap between her two front teeth. Much shorter than the boy on the left, slightly taller than the boy on the right. (Right) A 13-year-old Black/Filipino boy who's wearing the same uniform as the previous two. He's added a dark purple hoodie to his uniform. His dark hair is sectioned into twists. He's wearing circular, golden-rimmed sunglasses. A small, red fox is perched on his shoulders.
November 5, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
carolinekwriting.bsky.social
Not querying yet (finishing final revisions) but testing out my agents guide!

SINNERS x IWAV

Angeline wakes up with a taste for blood and 200 years of missing memories. As visions reveal flashes of her past, she must uncover the truth before danger crosses her doorway.

#QuestPit #W #A #F
November 5, 2025 at 8:29 AM
abjwriter.bsky.social
Changed my name but it's still the same me - just a new penname
November 3, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
rayrx.bsky.social
Lebanese ORPHEUS & EURYDICE x THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS x ONE DARK WINDOW

• 1920s Lebanon
• A memory-stealing plague
• A girl who needs to save her family
• A hesitant alliance w/ the rival village's prized musician to find a cure…

…even if it ends with 1 of them in the realm below.

#MENA #MV #DVPit
October 8, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
reyinkbooks.bsky.social
BABEL x CITY OF BRASS x BOBH

Hadiqa thought testing into the best Caliphate university would save her from Mongol invasion. But when scholars become war pawns she must choose: protect divine jinn knowledge but lose the empire or seize power & win but embrace darkness

#DVpit #A #F #HF
standalone
October 8, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
viola-grace.bsky.social
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES is an adult historical mystery set in Chicago, 1929, where a math genius living in her crime family’s luxury hotel must ally with an investigative duo to solve a series of murders, all the while secretly pursuing her own revenge.
#HM #A #Q

Late to #dvpit but glad I made it :)
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES, 96,000 words, Adult Historical Mystery Chicago, 1929. Val’s life in her adoptive crime family’s hotel used to be nothing but bartending and calculating guests’ cards with her mathematical brilliance. But then her uncle Maximillian, the head of the syndicate, is killed before the hotel’s star-studded gala—and his death is identical to her secret suitor’s unsolved murder. With the chance for revenge in her grasp, Val allies with an infamous investigative duo to catch the killer. Comps Last Call at the Nightingale Katharine Schellman Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building Inspirations The Great Gatsby Agatha Christie The Tower of Terror (1997) Tropes Roaring 20’s Jazz Age Speakeasies Settings that are characters Diverse cast Puzzles and secret codes High speed chases Whodunnit Locked room mystery Found family Chicago, 1929 1:34 a.m. The man with the bowler hat was going to lose. He looked so confident, with his slightly unbuttoned white shirt and condescending smirk. He didn’t even bother putting up the mask of a poker face to hide his prediction of the outcome. In his mind, he had already won. All that was left was to play the game. Valentina had been watching the round for several minutes now. She twisted a rag inside a dirty glass, keeping a subtle eye on the match. She couldn’t see the man’s hand from behind the bar, but if she had calculated it correctly, there was a seventy-four percent chance that he was holding two kings and three different nine cards— a full house. With a hand like that, he was in the perfect position to win. But he was wrong. He was going to lose. Val didn’t know this because of mathematics, however. She knew this because the man sitting across from him never played fair. Why would he? He was the owner of the joint, and if there was anything that Maximillian Eulio liked more than playing a dirty game of poker, it was getting away with it.
October 8, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
laurelhvauthor.bsky.social
EVELYN HUGO x HBO’s PERRY MASON

When Alexandra, a Latina actress passing for white in 1930s Hollywood, finds her best friend murdered and the police try to pin the crime on undocumented immigrants, she takes it upon herself to root out the true killer.

#DVpit #A #Mys #HF #Thriller #R #Latine
October 8, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
saadfacchine.bsky.social
SEVERANCE X KLARA AND THE SUN

Kamaal’s “Awaz” gives him cheat codes for life: how to stand, speak, even love. But it also keeps him in a lavender marriage. When his newborn son is due for his own Awaz, he must obey, or risk toppling his curated life.

#DVpit #LGBT #MV #Own #Asian #SF
October 8, 2025 at 10:01 PM
abjwriter.bsky.social
Got the feedback from my agent for my next editing pass. It's good to have it! I don't know if I can quite bear to dig in until Wednesday, though.
October 7, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by James Armijo
pdloupee.bsky.social
METRO 2033xNOTES FROM THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD

Piotr defects from a totalitarian regime only to face jail time. Decades later, Skaz, a UN investigator, visits the same place he came from, and how their stories connect will unfurl the whole meaning of the word "family."

#PicantePit #A #GN #Drafting
Norilsk, Russia.
September 30, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
austinsgrace.bsky.social
After serving time for betraying his family's syndicate, an ex-Prohibition fixer takes a job with a handsome disabled shopkeeper to get back on his feet—but when business turns to affection, he must reckon with the sins of his past to build a future lived in partnership.

#preDV #HF #LGBT #ND #TV #A
September 29, 2025 at 8:58 PM
abjwriter.bsky.social
I can't participate in DVpit because I already have an agent, but I'm gonna be haunting the tags looking for people I can befriend <3 Would love to meet other historical fiction or spy thriller writers! #preDV
September 29, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by James Armijo
liliamoore.bsky.social
Just wrote a cartoonishly evil moment into my WIP, but it’s sadly realistic as well. If I’m reacting this strongly to it, imagine what the audience will think!
#writersky #writingcommunity #writersofbluesky
August 29, 2025 at 10:34 AM
abjwriter.bsky.social
Karaoke today!!!!
August 26, 2025 at 11:50 PM
abjwriter.bsky.social
on the bright side I'm almost done with reading that 800 page history of the Russian Revolution
August 21, 2025 at 3:32 AM
abjwriter.bsky.social
I triggered some kind of automated spam protection and got indefinitely suspended from reddit. I'm really bummed out! Was sitting here thinking about how Reddit & Tumblr were the only good soc media left . . . guess it's just Tumblr. Hearing that it can take months of daily appeals to unsuspend
August 21, 2025 at 2:11 AM