Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨

char 𖤓 @charyoung.bsky.social · Jul 13

🎸 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

#BluePit #Q #A #LF #M #BluePit📖

a moodboard detailing nine images related to my work in progress 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

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Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨ @taralewiswrites.bsky.social · Jul 13

Love this concept!!

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Diamond Doyle (she/ella/elle) is Querying @diamonddoyle.bsky.social · Jul 13

Ashley Rose is a floriculturist whose life changes when she inherits a madam’s diary from 1910—along with a serial killer’s blood in her veins.

VERITY meets KING OF ASHES in a thriller about inheritance, violence, & the cost of uncovering buried truths.

#Q #A #T #bluepit

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MechaniChris @chrisakins.bsky.social · Jul 13

Grim Portents

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE X CONSTANTINE

A man is murdered by a hell-beast on his wedding day. Now, with the help of the reaper who collected his soul, he must uncover who is releasing monsters from Hell if he wants to return to the life he was robbed of.

📖 #Q #A #P #F #M #D #Hu #BluePit

Grim Portents cover featuring a skeleton hand holding a feather and emerging from an open book. The title is on a burning banner that envelops the feather and a large beast looms over it all. At the top, the tagline reads: Welcome to the first day of the end of your life…

"I always told myself it wasn't real. It was a figment of my imagination, the mind playing tricks. It was just a shadow.
But now the monster had been given a name, an identity.
It was real."
BILL BAKER WANTS NOTHING MORE THAN TO MARRY THE WOMAN HE LOVES, BUT WHEN HIS WEDDING IS INTERRUPTED BY A RAMPAGING HELL-BEAST, HIS LIFE IS THROWN INTO DISARRAY. DESPERATE FOR A SECOND CHANCE, HE WILL DO ANYTHING TO SET HIS FUTURE BACK ON TRACK.
NOW, WITH THE HELP OF A SOUL-COLLECTING REAPER NAMED SONNY, HE MUST UNCOVER WHO IS RELEASING MONSTERS FROM HELL, IN ORDER TO EARN BACK THE LIFE THAT WAS STOLEN FROM HIM AND PREVENT THE ONCOMING END OF DAYS.
FACED WITH THE CHOICE BETWEEN WHAT IS RIGHT, AND WHAT IS EASY, BILL MAY HAVE TO SACRIFICE ALL HE HOLDS DEAR FOR ONE LAST SHOT AT LIFE.

Black and white sketch of characters Bill and Sonny. Bill is a dark featured man in a suit and kind of a Mark Ruffalo vibe. Sonny is a rotting corpse man with a cardigan.

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Reposted by Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨

fabs is editing 🫣✨ @simplyfabs.bsky.social · Jul 13

#bluepit 📖 #NA #A #POC #R #DR #W

TITLE: the villain's muse.
COMPS: god of fury x king of sloth x perfect addiction
GENRE: bipoc dark romance!
WORD COUNT: est. around 90k+ after dev edits!

She healed. He destructed.

- the fmc is bangladeshi, the mmc is puerto rican!
- the fmc is writing/bookish content creator + freelance editor, the mmc is a dj and illegal underground boxer!

these are the main tropes of the book *not* including the numerous microtropes that would've made this list TOO LONG otherwise !!

the comps of the book !!! i added silly little captions for just the vibes and with the current direction of the book as it undergoes heavy developmental edits and revisions—they honestly make the most sense !!! it felt right to have ONE movie comp here because i wanted to, hehe <33

spoiler alert: i came up with the dedication on the spot and it'll be a working dedication for now *unless* i'm not changing it! enjoy being delulu and kicking your feet besties <33

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KalSDavian.Author @kalsdavian.bsky.social · Jul 13

#BluePit #BluePit📖
NAMING THE BANE

Daggis is an outcast fleeing a goddess hell-bent on the destruction of his family & friends. He tries to protect them, but when their caravan's raided by the goddess's army, one man can only do so much.

🧛Vampires
✨Gods & magic
🩸Murder
🐙Dark creatures
#P #F #PN #H

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Reposted by Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨

Rissa Allen (is querying) @honeyscribbles.bsky.social · Jul 13

Ooh I forgot I updated my moodboard for #BluePit! Here’s the one I meant to use lol #Q #YA #M

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Valiant 🏳️‍⚧️ | Follow BOOM Goes the Bride on Backerkit! @valwrites.ca · Jul 13

Really enjoying the comp titles like "THE TASTE OF HER LIPS X BUTTER"

I'm sure it's a book but I'm imagining the condiment applied like lipstick.

We should have more food comps tho.

INDEPENDENCE DAY X FRIED PICKLES

LES MIS X THAT CRUST OF BREAD

DRACULA X HAMBURGER HELPER

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Sophie Pinkoski @sophiemlpink.bsky.social · Jul 13

Based on the haunted mansion where MCR created THE BLACK PARADE
After witnessing her fave musician’s death, Finn starts a band to cope.When they’re invited to a summer retreat, she takes it as an opportunity to create the album of the century.But demonic forces have other plans. #BluePit📖 #A #H #PN

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · Jul 13

THE PAPER PALACE x SANDWICH

THIS ENDS NOW: Wedding planner Lainey can orchestrate the perfect exit: she's done it in her own 2 marriages. But she can't stop bolting 'til she's tracked her toxic 1st love to Yale, where he's tenured, still terrifying and overdue for a reckoning. #UP #Q #A #bluepit 📖

A collage of photos: a weathered stone window in Gothic architecture; a classic red Vermont farmhouse in autumn, with a low stone wall in the foreground; a forest scene, with a path cutting through the trees, suffused by sunlight, branches reaching towards each other; a man’s hand clasping a woman’s hand, with a snow-covered fir tree in the background; many candles, all lit, dripping in candleholders; a dark-haired woman floating face upwards in water, surrounded by white flowers, her eyes open. Beneath the last picture is the title of the novel, “This Ends Now.”

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Isabelle Ranney @isabelleranney.bsky.social · Jul 13

DOWNTON ABBEY x THE WAY HOME

After being thrown back in time Paige meets the man of her dreams, except for the fact that he lives in 1915 and she knows he’s going to die in a year. Will she risk changing history for love?

#BluePit #BluePit📖 #A #R #Q

1915 imprinted in metal, old-fashioned cursive writing, modern woman sitting, 19th century historical house, garden roses, Edwardian man in three-piece suit, old stone archway, old watch with roman numerals.

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Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨ @taralewiswrites.bsky.social · Jul 13

Sharp Objects meets The Silent Patient

A ritual killer. A fractured detective.
A journalist digging too close to the truth.

Some monsters aren’t born.
They’re remembered.
WHERE THE HOLLOW BREAKS
#bluepit #A #T #Q

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky

$WHERE THE HOLLOW BREAKS Adult Psychological Thriller • 74,000 words Detective Dominic Calhoun is no stranger to darkness—but nothing prepares him for the ritualistic murders terrorizing Gravemont County. The victims are posed, mutilated, and marked with eerie symbolism. The deeper Dominic digs, the more unsettling the case becomes. And when he begins losing time—waking up disoriented, with memories that don’t match—he’s forced to question what’s real, and what he’s forgotten. As his grip on the case—and himself—begins to slip, Dominic teams up with a journalist chasing leads of her own. What they uncover points to buried corruption, a pattern of overlooked victims, and a past neither of them is ready to face. WHERE THE HOLLOW BREAKS is a haunting psychological thriller about fractured identity, buried trauma, and the weight of truth. Perfect for fans of The Silent Patient and Sharp Objects, it asks: What if the killer you’re chasing… is already inside the house?$

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Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨ @taralewiswrites.bsky.social · Jul 13

#WIPSnip

It’s not just a message. It’s a reckoning.

From chapter 29 of Where the Hollow Breaks
#Writesky #WritingCommunity #amquerying #amwriting #thriller

“But the pattern matches the victims,” she added. “It’s not just rage. It’s personal.”I let out a pained groan and finally stood up. I stared at the notes still scattered across the floor. The deaths weren’t random. Someone was sending a message.“This was done by someone who knew,” I said slowly. “Someone who saw it all happen and couldn’t forget.”

Excerpt From
Where The Hollow Breaks
Tara Lewis
This material may be protected by copyright.

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Meg is Rewriting ✨ @megsteadman.bsky.social · Jul 13

AMONG THIEVES x TRAITOR OF SHERWOOD FOREST

All major thefts in the city belong to one man. Nev wants him dead, and not just because of her job. But if she is to save her city from the threat he says is coming, allying with him is her only hope - before he figures out who she is. #BluePit 📖 #W #A #F

A mood board of nine images. Top row: Gustave Doré's etching of "Over London by Rail"; a photo of two hands wearing rings clutching a leather bound book; slum street of Paris at night from AC Unity with an oil filter. Middle row: Garrett from "Thief" crouched in ruins, framed by a circular safe door; cropped digital painting of Billie Lurk from Dishonored by Cedric Peyravernay; burning wreckage in front of stone gates. Bottom row: "Big City Train Station," an oil painting of a train yard from above in orange tones by Hans Baluschek; a hand in a leather glove grasping a wooden railing in the rain; black and white photo of foxtails on a wooden surface.

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Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨ @taralewiswrites.bsky.social · Jul 13

True Detective x Sharp Objects

A detective with blackouts
A killer sending messages

The deeper he digs,
the more the truth slips through his fingers

WHERE THE HOLLOW BREAKS — a dark psychological thriller about buried trauma, fractured memory, and monsters we try to outrun
#BluePit📖 #A #T #Q #ND

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Thelma Mantey - author @thelmamantey.bsky.social · Jul 13

CAPTIVE PRINCE x INTERVIEW W/ THE VAMPIRE
A rare magical trait forces Vindt into a blood bond with mages who use his voice as a weapon. All he wants is freedom. What he gets is a new bond with the cunning, sly Asche—and an offer of freedom. He only has to betray Asche.
#BluePit 📖 #IN #A #LGBT #F

Digital painting of two male characters against a dark red background. On the left, Asche has long black hair, pale skin, and sharp fangs visible as he leans in with a predatory smile, his hands resting on the shoulders of the other man. On the right, Vindt has light skin, a short blond beard, and long blond hair tied back. He gazes outward with a calm, defiant expression. The image conveys tension and intimacy, with strong lighting emphasizing their contrasting appearances.

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Author Adlin K.T. @adlinktauthor.bsky.social · Jul 13

🇵🇷Irene's Summer Plan:
🧓🏾Visit Abuelo, but guess what he's evil
🌀Stumble into a new world via a portal
🏝️Learn Taíno gods are real
🌟Unlock star magic
🦜Wake Slumbering Parents
👻Purify a spirit
💎Destroy a medallion
🕷️Stop a power hungry chieftain
#BluePit #MG #F #UF #PF #OWN #OV #LGBT #LGBTQIA #Q

Percy Jackson and the Olympians meets The Chronicles of Narnia.

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Reposted by Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨

Allison Stalberg @stalbergwrites.bsky.social · Jul 13

#BluePit #LGBT #Q #F #A

Heidi built her familiar rescue from the ashes of her old life as a cruel witch’s familiar. After three years of rescuing familiar pets, she discovers Leto, a mysterious human familiar like herself that works for an evil wizard. She vows to save him, no matter the cost.

Moodboard that says HEIDI'S HOUSE OF RESCUED FAMILIARS. Images include:

- A bird in a cage.
-A woman holding a bird to her chest.
- An open herb book.
- A window looking out to a barn.
- A white house in a field.
- A girl surrounded by cows.
- A girl in black on a bridge.
- Laundry hanging between trailers.
- Herbs hanging from the ceiling.
- A pentagram with handles.
- A tied up lamb.
- A fenced in field.
- Moon phases.
- A tree by a dirt road.
- Candles under maximalist witch decor.
- Cigarette smoke in a car.

Themes and tropes:

Found Family
Classism
Small town decay
Healing is the hardest part
Eldritch Gods
Blood magic
None of us are free until all of us are free

Romantic subplot between asexual, autistic nerd and a white-haired broody boy.

Meet the three POVS:

Heidi: Rescue Founder, ex-familiar, shy but brave
Piper: Social media coordinator, trans witch, stubborn and protective
Mangar: Groundskeeper, buff redneck wizard, the father figure

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Layne Johnson | Children’s Author - Is Querying @laynejohnsonkidlit.bsky.social · Jul 13

JORDY THE FABULOUS DOG (500 words) is an SEL picture book about a short-haired mutt who longs for warm, fabulous fur like his friends. While the other dogs play outside at the neighborhood dog park, Jordy shivers under a mountain of blankets. #q #BluePit #amquerying #bluepit📖

Portrait of a dog in a blue plaid hoodie with a blanket on his back.

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Reposted by Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨

Gert Ramm 🦋 @rammwriter.bsky.social · Jul 13

Slow Horses x Life on Mars

When an intelligence agent is framed for the UK's role in a temporal disaster, he must clear his name and seal a lethal time rift - before a Russian spy from the future gets everyone killed.

#Q #A #T #SF #BluePit 📖 🦋
#litagents #agentguide #writesky #writers

Dark blue background with a circular, time-delay image of the night-time stars. They resemble a time tunnel, or vortex. Text reads:

An Agent's Guide to:
Out of Time
By Gert Ramm

Espionage/Time Travel/Thriller

Images from Pixabay

Dark blue background with a circular, time-delay image of the night-time stars. They resemble a time tunnel, or vortex. Text reads:

1972 is a rough year for intelligence officer Eddie Fletcher, and it’s only January.

First he discovers the Cold War is really about time travel, then he’s framed for the UK’s role in a temporal disaster.

Sealing a lethal time rift is the only way to clear his name - much easier said than done when he’s being hunted by the British government.

Then there's a Russian spy on a mission so vital he’s travelled from 1997 to complete it.

Pitch:

Slow Horses X Time Travel

Images from Pixabay

Dark blue background with a circular, time-delay image of the night-time stars. They resemble a time tunnel, or vortex. Text reads:

Comps:
Slough House Series (Mick Herron)
Wrong Place, Wrong Time (Gillian McAllister)
Four Minutes (Brian Andrews/Jeff Wilson)
Dark Matter (Blake Crouch)

TV Comps:
The Ipcress File
Day of the Jackal
Life on Mars
Callan

Images from Pixabay

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Reposted by Tara Lewis ✨ Querying ✨

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · Jul 13

After tragedy and family drama broke them up, Jasper and Brett moved on with their lives. Ten years later, they reunite for a wedding in the place they fell in love and fell apart. Has their dormant love story reawakened or are they just yearning for nostalgia?

#bluepit📖 #a #q #r #bluepit

an agent’s guide to
None of This Was Real
upmarket romance
89,000 words

The Pitch
Jasper and her ex reunite at the lake 10 years after a painful breakup. When feelings become too hard to ignore, Jasper must decide if she'll heal her old wounds or reopen them and risk ruining not only their repaired friendship, but her sister's wedding too.

Comps
happy place: What if your happy place
stopped being happy?
every summer after: Two timelines,
lake house setting
adelaide: Upmarket story
about heartbreak

excerpt:
“You look good.” His legs brushed against mine as he sat on the ottoman across from me.

I clutched the stem of my wine glass. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you look good.” His eyes moved from my legs to my chest, back up to my eyes. He bit his lower lip, trying to suppress his bedroom eyes.

“You as well,” I said.

Jade interrupted us to talk about wedding cake flavors.

By dinner, we were out of cocktail ingredients. Wine bottles were starting to empty. We had a big Christmas ham, a turkey and vegetarian sides for Jade’s wedding diet, Auntie Jenny’s latkes included. Jade got drunk long before we sat down and ended up eating the meat.

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Dawn Berkoski @dawnberkoski.bsky.social · Jul 13

Raised by corporate vampires with little freedom or choice, Alex is used to Yakuza business rivals and back-alley deals. But nothing prepares him for Jason, a witty bartender who challenges everything he knows, and who harbors secrets as deadly as the vampires after him. 💙📚📖
#BluePit #PN #R #Q #A

Agent guide for I Am Chosen, an M/M paranormal romance by Dawn Berkoski. The picture is of a fiery orange and purple sunset over a highway. Photography by Dawn Berkoski

Several photos are shown on this mood-board for I Am Chosen, a paranormal romance by Dawn Berkoski. From the top left, a glass of aged scotch surrounded by butterscotch candies, a CEO standing in a high rise office, staring out a window, a giant hotel clock surrounded by Christmas decor, a photo of art depicting demons rising from hell, a sunset with black, billowy clouds hovering over an orange stripe, a dirty cement staircase near a darkened entrance, and the city of London as viewed from the river. Photography, except the man, by Dawn Berkoski

Photo of a vibrant sunset over a graveyard as seen from the window of a fast moving vehicle.

It reads:

PITCH: IN A WORLD CONTROLLED BY CORPORATE VAMPIRES, TWO MEN STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY. WILL A CHANCE MEETING LEAD THEM TO FREEDOM, OR A WEB OF SUBTERFUGE, WHERE EVERY THREAD BRINGS A MONSTER OFFERING DEATH OR PERMANTENT CONFINEMENT?

Photo by Dawn Berkoski

Book vibes are all about the feel of the writing, setting, and story.

The Blue Blood Series by Melissa de la Cruz Is used to represent the wealthy elite vampires living in New York, the fish out of water trope, dark secrets, and others.

The Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice is used to represent young vampires rebelling against old rules and customs. Travel and setting also play a role. A plot point was inspired by the novel.

Yakuza, Japan’s Criminal Underworld by David Kaplan and Alec Dubro, is used to represent some of the vampire rivals business practices. It plays a role in the series arch.

Photography at the bottom: A dark cement staircase and photo of the London Eye by Dawn Berkoski

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B. van Bodegom 📃is querying & writing @bvbodegom.bsky.social · Jul 13

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 rely on years of #TTRPG experience—and puns—to solve the crime before they're all killed off like NPCs in a badly written campaign.

#BluePit 📖 #A #H #M #Q

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.

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Ange @gunsmile.bsky.social · Jul 13

JOHN WICK x THE COLOR OUT OF SPACE

For readers who like:
🩸 dangerous criminal underworlds
🩸 secret occult organizations
🩸 married villain protagonists
🩸 no-nonsense women in STEM
🩸 attractive men covered in blood
🩸 terrifying body horror
🩸 the threat of an Elder God

#BluePit #BluePit📖 #A #H #W

A page from an old book showing a skull drawing and the word MORTEM, a well-dressed couple in shadow staring at you with glowing eyes, two skyscrapers looming overhead in the fog, several pistols lying in a cushioned case, a black hole, two doctors performing surgery, a man with his back turned and a woman's hand cradling his head, a cork board of documents and string, six figures cloaked in black and gathered in a semi-circle.

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