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ajlockhart.co.uk
AJ Lockhart
@ajlockhart.co.uk
360 followers 470 following 600 posts
Author - Pandora's Secret
www.ajlockhart.co.uk
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ajlockhart.co.uk
One of the few Nazis to be prisoned & not executed.

The man was delusional & fascinatingly awful

#booksky #readingcommunity
#writesky #writingcommunity
February 3, 2026 at 7:42 AM
ajlockhart.co.uk
You know you’re a dog owner; when you have at least one of these in every coat pocket
This is going into a novel 😜 - not sure why or where but little quirks make a character real I recon.
#BookSky #authorchat #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
How do you bring your characters to life?
February 3, 2026 at 7:34 AM
ajlockhart.co.uk
No new pictures. Where are you at mentally?
February 3, 2026 at 7:18 AM
ajlockhart.co.uk
Given how the US is going and the DOJ, which frankly just works for dictator Trump now, the UK company I'm a director of is moving our Dropbox business to www.infomaniak.com and their KDrive solution, a fully Swiss-based solution with no US influence/power.

What a time to be alive, eh...
🚀 Prestataire Cloud Souverain - Hébergements, Domaines & Outils Collaboratifs
Maîtrisez la gouvernance de vos données avec un cloud indépendant. Des solutions hébergées au cœur de l’Europe, conçues pour protéger votre confidentialité.
www.infomaniak.com
February 2, 2026 at 10:40 AM
ajlockhart.co.uk
I was yesterday's years old when I realised it's a massive mistake to go shopping at Costco on a Saturday evening, the first payday weekend after Christmas.

#writingcommunity #BookSky #authorchat #WriteSky - what have you learned way too late in life...
a crowd of people at a concert with a sign that says ' i love you '
ALT: a crowd of people at a concert with a sign that says ' i love you '
media.tenor.com
February 1, 2026 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
racthoh.bsky.social
Racthoh's Tale:

Racthoh, an exiled elf confronting profound loss, demands vengeance from those who destroyed his home and family. Alongside a compassionate Paladin and a struggling minotaur, they navigate a war-torn world of forgotten gods, necromancers, and dragons.

#QuestPit #Q #A #F
January 31, 2026 at 6:27 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
racthoh.bsky.social
#WIPSnips Academy. Subbing in School for this one. Some lore around the protagonist and necromancy.

Text in the alt.

And don't forget QuestPit is today as well!

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky
Tyrinal was much like his master, Alfrost, strictly keeping to the school of Legacy. However, she had no interest in bringing back a loved one to have one last moment with them or to see a friend one last time. She specialized in raising her fellow disciples of Phandra, those who were adept in the other two schools. Her depth of understanding was so great that not only were her minions able to perform at their absolute peak, but she was able to absorb the information into herself. Complete and absolute mastery of all three schools of necromancy was at her disposal. A master sailor, ruthless with a sword, mace, or halberd, and a genius alchemist, Alfrost was the true jack of all trades. She even conquered death, granting immortality to her dearest disciples, the closest of all being Tyrinal himself.
January 31, 2026 at 6:40 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
saraduran.bsky.social
Coming soon to agent inboxes!

• • •

ANNIHILATION x BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

💫two exiled men (and their secrets)
💫one lunar prison (and its horrors)
💫a cosmic entity that wants them dead
💫the love they’ll lose if they don’t survive

#SF #H #R #LGBT #amquerying #QuestPit
BABEL ON CALLISTO Querying February 2025 @saraduranauthor sara.duran@bsky.social COMPS The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler, labeled “isolated research station” and “philosophical alien threat.” The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw, labeled “queer, visceral horror” and “love as a consuming force.” The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei, labeled “psychological unraveling” and “fracture under mission pressure.” PITCH “On a lunar prison outpost, two exiled men uncover a cosmic presence waking beneath the ice. As their uneasy alliance against it twists into something tender and terrifying, they are confronted with the one thing they never expected to find on a dead moon: a reason to live. But the ice is thinning.” TASTE “Neither spoke as Elias bypassed the security protocol on the keypad. The metal hatch shuddered as it unlocked, slinking back to hidden panels in the wall. They cleared the first few floors with carrion precision, methodical as Dermestidae stripping a carcass to bone. In Elias’s imagination, the gore thinned into something vaster—the time-lapse unraveling the ruin from above. Wordlessly, corridors were scoured to nothing as he and Jack moved like insects beneath an overhead lens. As the hours dissolved, their work became abstracted into a cold anatomy, intimacy pared away as cleanly as flesh from the frame until only the architecture of survival remained. When Jack hacked into the collapsed doorway to the next stairwell, Elias marveled at the contradiction: how those same brutal hands had, only that morning, traced him with the delicacy of a scalpel.”
January 31, 2026 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
authorrjwebb.bsky.social
HAZELTHORN X THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH
Journals of a Familiar
Hawthorne has never left the cathedral. Raised in silence and prepared for a future he doesn't understand, everything changes when he meets Violet, a witch with wild dreams of escape.
#questpit #W #YA #H #LGBT
January 31, 2026 at 6:20 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
nehayazmin.bsky.social
Kavi makes BFF Ryhan a Practice Boyfriend so she’ll become the perfect girlfriend to her actual bf Aaron Mirza. It’s her last shot at love—due to a Qasam—& has to be perfect

But Ryhan has a secret & if her family learns of any of this, she’ll lose it all—inc dreams of studying🩺 in🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
#QuestPit #YA #Q
Movie poster-style graphic for novel called ‘ALL YOUR QASAMS’ with author’s name Neha Yazmin underneath the bold title. Image is a close-up of a young south Asian girl in south Asian bridal wear and jewellery, smiling down at her maroon outfit. Along the top of the poster are the names of two comparison book titles ‘NEVER HAVE I EVER’ and “THE BEST LAID PLANS”. In the left corner of the poster, are three 5-star movie review-style texts pertaining to different aspects of the book. 1: “South Asian Main Cast. 2: “Friends to lovers with a difference” 3: “Bengali teens in STEM”. Moodboard for ALL YOUR QASAMS with a quote from the novel reading, ‘You are madness incarnate’ and five images: picture of a hot chocolate drink and heart-shaped cookies, a couple embracing during a boat ride, a young south Asian girl in south Asian bridal wear and jewellery smiling down at her maroon outfit, a close-up of a young man kissing the forehead of a young woman, a close-up the joined hands of a south Asian bride and groom, a young man in an aesthetic library reading a hardcover text book. The Moodboard is surrounded by arrows pointing to text that allude to the themes and tropes in the novel: “Meddling grandpa”, “perfect firsts”, “friends-to-lovers with a difference”, “only one bed”, “a decades’ old Qasam and some new ones”, “Bengali teens in STEM”.
January 31, 2026 at 9:07 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
aryazare.bsky.social
A DEVOTION SO RUINOUS is a 90K adult fantasy following Soraya, a young woman tormented by a jinn, a dictator, and her first love, as she fights for freedom

🏳️‍🌈 LGBT characters
🧠 Mental Health Rep
🌍 Middle Eastern Setting
✨ Gods Based Magic System
❤️ Lovers To Enemies
#️⃣ Own Voices

#QuestPit #Q #F #A
January 31, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #Questpit! I present to you, for your consideration, an #agentsgude to

Tides of Sourcery
(The Witcher x Dresden Files)
#W #A #F #DF
On a background of a starry night sky, a dark forest canopy and a shooting star, text reading: Proudly Presenting TIDES OF SOURCERY A very early stage fantasy currently at 110K words. On a background of a dark, spooky forest at night, text reading: THE PITCH Ten years ago the world we knew changed, flooding with magic and monsters we thought were mere stories. Now Gracelynn, one of those afflicted with magic powers during that terrible day, must take a dangerous mission to find her long lost brother, with the hope of asking forgiveness for that terrible day. But is the quest for old family worth risking her new one?" On a background of a wizard casting magic in a glowing enchanted forest, text reading: PRELIMINARY COMPS The Witcher X Dresden Files Tropes • Magical Outcast FMC • A new magical Earth, Guns meet Elves • A multitude of magic portals • elves and Orcs, Robes and Cloaks and so much more • Mythical creatures • A forbidden forest • A Quest! On a background of our planet earth surrounded by a glowing cloud of magic and a parson looking at it while standing on a cliff, text reading: EXCERPT: “The Celestial Council has decided. A world has been chosen, and the process has already begun,” a female voice said. Relief flooded Kr'alda'ur. “Which world?” he asked, the traditional inquiry for this ritual exchange. “A human world, in the Arm of the Vanquished Goddess. Further details will be provided via official Council Degree within the day. The Celestial Council offers its congratulations,” the female voice said. “I am thankful for the words of Direction, and of the opportunity. My House is at the Celestial Council's service as always,” Kr'alda'ur said in reply, finishing the traditional exchange."
January 31, 2026 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
bvbodegom.bsky.social
THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA × BEST SERVED COLD × THE BUTCHER BOY

When a Court Jester snaps and brutally murders the tyrant king, he must perform and slay his way out of a kingdom in chaos, hunted by loyalists, hailed by rebels, while his sanity slips and fractures.

#QuestPit #A #F #DF #H #W
Book cover for "Mark of the Jester" by B. van Bodegom (author of Dad Bodies). Dark fantasy novel. Features a split jester mask in black and white halves with a red smile on the white half. 'The' runs vertically down the center, with decorative silhouettes of roses framing the mask. High-contrast graphic design in black, white, and red.
January 31, 2026 at 8:35 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
bvbodegom.bsky.social
CABIN IN THE WOODS × JOHN DIES AT THE END

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

#QuestPit #A #H #MY #Q
The image, made with free non-AI stock pictures, 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.
January 31, 2026 at 8:21 AM
ajlockhart.co.uk
#questpit
Pandora’s Secret #Q #AG #A #T
When a suspended Secret Service agent saves a journalist from a mass‑casualty public shooting, the two women are thrust into a conspiracy that began with a presidential cover-up twenty-six years earlier — and a truth that could bring down governments.
January 31, 2026 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
questpit.bsky.social
Welcome to the first #questpit event of 2026! Have fun and remember to support one another!! We’re so excited to see your pitches!
winter wonderland #questpit winter 2026 jan 31st
January 31, 2026 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
elizabethtitus.bsky.social
When marauders menace her village, an empath-scholar leads an odyssey across the climate-ravaged former US to retrieve a rumored key to peace, before her people are obliterated.

Clan of the Cave Bear x A Psalm for the Wild-Built

🔮 #EarthMagic #tarot
🌪️ #CliFi
🌷 #Hopepunk
#F #S #Q
#Questpit
Long after the dust settles, what will grow from the rubble? Seven generations after collapse, oceans have reclaimed coasts and civilization’s remains are rotting back to the earth. Extreme climate and violent humans threaten a peaceful community hidden in the Green Mountains. Niwa, a gifted yet timid young empath-scholar, is prompted by group vision to lead a perilous and mystical quest to retrieve a rumored key to peace. Using unique psychic gifts, archaic technology, and nature-based survival skills, Niwaju’s group traverses a depopulated but healing landscape to save their people from impending doom. The travelers draw upon their survival skills, varying levels of control over their own unique psychic gifts, and residual tech artifacts, encountering diverse, unique characters on crumbling highways and swollen rivers through the mountains of Appalachia, moody swamplands of “New New Orleans”, and the Rocky Mountains. As she finds her inner resilience, Niwa’s mission becomes about more than saving her People from destruction; it offers humanity a way forward in a world desperately in need of change. Incorporating mindfulness, sustainability, earth based magic, and wilderness skills, this tarot-themed journey offers a vision of hope, transformation, and growth in a narrative adventure guide to thriving civilization’s aftermath, with surprising twists. a hand drawn map of a route across a sea-risen US, superimposed over a background of hopeful leaves sprouting from trees in an sunset sky over the Earth elemental magic visions survival skills climate fiction #clifi indigenous futurism plant medicine meditation wilderness permaculture neotribalism community backpacking post-apocalyptic hopepunk
January 31, 2026 at 5:51 AM
ajlockhart.co.uk
The #WIPSnips word for January 30th is "suggest"

Suggested - from Pandora's Secret once more

Younger Rourke vs the bully

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
And that’s when the bullying stopped, and Rourke learnt an important thing about himself. There was, obviously, unknown to him, a line somewhere that marked where tolerance of something became a straight no. The fact that Julian was on the floor, clutching his testicles and groaning, suggested the bully had crossed it.
January 30, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
#WritersCoffeeClub 30/1: This month, how did you successfully navigate a challenge or a sticky point in your writing?
Had to ask someone for advice on a sensitivity subject in my writing, have enacted edits accordingly, i believe the book is better now for it.
#Writingcommunity #Writesky
January 30, 2026 at 10:17 AM
ajlockhart.co.uk
Good question

for Anderson - prepared isn't something she thinks about, she's more of a 'stop thinking start doing person'... dealing with whatever happens, and the next and so on
General Rourke is the GOAT of prepared. His approach is to always be 'three steps ahead' on anything.
charliedeltawrites.bsky.social ❄️Charlie (Chelizabeth) Delta ☃️ @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 4d
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

How prepared is your character?

Do they plan for every contingency and occasion? The type to have duct tape, Advil, and a sewing needle in their bag?

Or do they pack light and figure things out on the fly?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
January 30, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
m-walshwrites.com
An ancient prophecy.
A madman's ambition.
A girl with a secret.
A failed Chosen One and a cursed pirate.
A chance to make things right.

...or much worse.

LINKS: www.books2read.com/ghostprincess
also: m-walshwrites.itch.io/the-ghost-pr...

#BookSky #ReaderSky #Fantasy #books #IndieAuthor 📚💙⚔️
Banner for M. Walsh's fantasy novel "The Ghost Princess" with the tagline, "Sometimes... destiny isn't all it's cracked up to be..." Also shows cover blurb: "Graylands is where people go when they don’t want to be found. A neutral, mostly frontier country between two opposing empires, it is a haven for drifters, pilgrims, outlaws, and everything in between hoping to build a new life, find adventure, or just disappear. "Katrina Lamont is one such individual. "Once upon a time, she was the Chosen One—a warrior charged with a great and heroic destiny. But when she finished her journey, there was no happy ending waiting for her. Now she lives as an embittered, alcoholic drifter, haunted by the ghosts of her past. "But when an evil sorcerer, Jacob Daredin, seeks to fulfill an ancient prophecy that may grant him god-like power, Katrina will have to take up the sword once again as she finds herself caught in a race to find the young woman whose sacrifice is the key to Daredin’s mad dream. "Along the way, she will contend with Krutch Leeroy—an infamous outlaw who is not all he seems—and cross paths with Lily Blackthorn—a perky, but mysterious woman with a dark secret of her own. "As Daredin’s forces close in, they will traverse a haunted landscape of pirates, demons, killers, con-men, an immortal juggernaut, and worse in an adventure where the line between destiny and plain bad luck is razor thin." The book cover and background image depicts a black tower on the edge of a cliff by a dark sea and stormy skies with a red horizon. Art by Anthony Jensen
January 29, 2026 at 1:42 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! I do believe it is indeed time to switch back to Cavern Clipper for these snips in Feb, as I believe I've used this particular passage from TLC three times now.
#WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity
The shape remains dark, contrasted from the red light behind it, until it moves into the light of the corridor we’re in. It… it’s difficult to describe. Mostly it’s a large mechanical sphere, about three meters in diameter, hanging from the ceiling on dozens of cables, or mechanical tentacles or something else, I don’t know. It has three eyes in a triangular formation, and they glow blue-green. I was really expecting them to glow red for some reason. Most of the sphere was covered in curving plate with telltale signs that suggested removable panels. I can only guess what would come out of those. “Driona! Greetings!” Rondu says, and the voice is very different to what I imagined it to be. It was deep and gravelly without any hint of mechanicalness to it. “I must say I was surprised to see you approach and request landing, and I was even more surprised to see the state of your ship. You took a great risk, attempting to fly in that thing.” I look sideways at Driona. “Excuse me?” “It’s good to see you too, Rondu!” she says, pointedly ignoring my question. “I wasn’t expecting to make the trip today at all, really. It was a spur of the moment situation.”
January 29, 2026 at 8:44 AM
Reposted by AJ Lockhart
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Just as a disclaimer, MC Jennifer here does not condone drinking and driving, and is fully aware that this is a stupid, reckless and potentially deadly activity.
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
I’m also stupidly tipsy while I’m driving this back road back home, which it only barely qualifies as such, being a small one-room building in the back yard of a friendly family’s property. Wondering if I should just park nearby and sleep on the back seat so I don’t disturb them. They’re nice people with well behaved kids, and it’s a weeknight. I glance over at the dashboard to see that it’s actually a week morning now. Damn. Joey had me forget my troubles a little too hard at the bar, it seems. At least he was buying. Buying. Not a lot more of that I can do for the time being. Time to look for another job. At least I have the month’s rent stashed away. Better get used to ramen again. Joey had suggested a position, but I can’t exactly remember what it was he said now. Too busy drinking and watching yet another lonely girl try and hook up with his husband and nearly lose her shit when shot down. Warren looks like what most straight women dream about, not too muscular as to look threatening, just the right proportions to drool over. The devastation is always worth watching. I shake my head and concentrate on the road again, dismissing the rambling train of thought. I’ll call Joey tomorrow to ask him what his offer was. I have a good excuse with the drinking anyway.
January 30, 2026 at 9:01 AM
ajlockhart.co.uk
The #WIPSnips word for January 29th is "formation"

#WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

Don't have a formation but do an arranged - so that will have to do.

From Pandora's Secret once again.

Rourke vs prescribed drugs that make you giggle
‘No. But this isn’t Russia. I can’t just arrange for them all to fall out of windows.’ ‘Shame.’ Rourke giggled. ‘I’m going to go do my rounds, check in on some other less important customers.’ He hung the clipboard on the foot of the bed. ‘You need recovery time. Sleep. I’ll be back later. Maybe when there is less giggling.’
January 29, 2026 at 7:47 PM
ajlockhart.co.uk
London baby!
More casting shenanigans..
Yesterday & today,
What a difference a day makes
January 28, 2026 at 8:22 AM