Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · Jun 10

CONGRATULATIONS EMILY!!! I can’t wait to make this book my whole personality

Reposted by kate is here!

emily gray @authoremilyg.bsky.social · Jun 10

Now that we’re finally PM official—my debut novel will be out NEXT YEAR! I love this book with my whole heart, and it’s been such a weird and winding journey to get here. I have so things to say and people to thank and it’s very overwhelming, but I’m so so excited to bring this book to the world. 🪐

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Reposted by kate is here!

Soumi Roy 🇮🇳🇰🇷🏳️‍🌈 @soumiroy1.bsky.social · May 7

🌟UPCOMING AUCTION 🌟

I'm grateful to the writing community for launching a literary auction on May 9 to help my survival. Please boost and participate.
Stay tuned for the link in the next few days. 👀
In the meantime, here’s a teaser of what’s being offered:

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kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · May 4

yesterday was amazing 🥹💖

Author Brooke Archer and I after meeting Cass Biehn who was handing out Vesuvius ARCs!

Met some amazing friends & incredible authors!

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kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · Apr 28

i didn’t even realize that, i knew what you meant 🤣

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kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · Apr 28

LOVEEE this!!!! ❤️‍🔥

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kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · Apr 23

happy #worldbookday!

to celebrate, i am thrilled to share commissions of the spirits featured in BELOVED INCARNATE:

lilith— drowned
desire— burned
sophie— buried alive

three murdered by one man. two seeking closure. one on the hunt for revenge.
#YA #F#R

The ghostly spirit of Lilith, soaked to the bone and constantly dripping with the waters that took her life.

The ghostly spirit of Desire, burnt and singed from the fire that consumed her.

The ghostly spirit of Sophie, beaten and bruised from being shoved into a small opening in the castle wall after being poisoned, left to die in her manmade grave.

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kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · Apr 8

Soumi and I are offering query critiques to anyone who sends proof of donation!

Soumi is an incredibly talented author with words published in The Love All Year ‘21 anthology, repped by Looking Glass Literary & Media.

… and I am a plus one! 💖 two critiques in one :)

Soumi Roy 🇮🇳🇰🇷🏳️‍🌈 @soumiroy1.bsky.social · Apr 8

I sincerely thank @keiralekseii.bsky.social for setting up the GFM and @xiranjayzhao.bsky.social for their guidance throughout the process. Please help.
www.gofundme.com/f/help-soumi

Donate to Help Soumi survive after she lost her life savings to a scam, organized by Keir Alekseii Roopnarine

Hey all, My name is Keir and I am a friend of Soumi's. … Keir Alekseii Roopnarine needs your support for Help Soumi survive after she lost her life savings to a scam

www.gofundme.com

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Reposted by kate is here!

Keir Alekseii @keiralekseii.bsky.social · Apr 8

My friend @soumiroy1.bsky.social is a brilliant writer and scientist who is in a terrible position right now. Please help in any way you can, even if it's just sharing or boosting ❤️

gofund.me/74bc7dde

Donate to Help Soumi survive after she lost her life savings to a scam, organised by Keir Alekseii Roopnarine

Hey all, My name is Keir and I am a friend of Soumi's. … Keir Alekseii Roopnarine needs your support for Help Soumi survive after she lost her life savings to a scam

gofund.me

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Reposted by kate is here!

Soumi Roy 🇮🇳🇰🇷🏳️‍🌈 @soumiroy1.bsky.social · Apr 8

I can express my gratitude enough to Keir to help me set this up. Please help, even if a little, even if by sharing

Keir Alekseii @keiralekseii.bsky.social · Apr 8

My friend @soumiroy1.bsky.social is a brilliant writer and scientist who is in a terrible position right now. Please help in any way you can, even if it's just sharing or boosting ❤️

gofund.me/74bc7dde

Donate to Help Soumi survive after she lost her life savings to a scam, organised by Keir Alekseii Roopnarine

Hey all, My name is Keir and I am a friend of Soumi's. … Keir Alekseii Roopnarine needs your support for Help Soumi survive after she lost her life savings to a scam

gofund.me

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Reposted by kate is here!

Soumi Roy 🇮🇳🇰🇷🏳️‍🌈 @soumiroy1.bsky.social · Apr 8

I sincerely thank @keiralekseii.bsky.social for setting up the GFM and @xiranjayzhao.bsky.social for their guidance throughout the process. Please help.
www.gofundme.com/f/help-soumi

Donate to Help Soumi survive after she lost her life savings to a scam, organized by Keir Alekseii Roopnarine

Hey all, My name is Keir and I am a friend of Soumi's. … Keir Alekseii Roopnarine needs your support for Help Soumi survive after she lost her life savings to a scam

www.gofundme.com

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kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · Apr 7

#YA #F #R #amquerying (soon)

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kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · Apr 7

i need to be more active here soooo here’s the opening of my book + a pitch deck!

A wail breaks through the night, a harrowing sound that digs deep into my chest,
burrowing further with desperation like a trapped rat trying to escape a lit flame.
It isn't the Myths I fear will find me. I stop in my tracks. Up ahead, I see her
crooked frame in the distance. Cloaked in ragged white cloth stained with the color of
death. My heart thumps in my ears, and I will myself to calm down, god, Odessa, calm
down!
I turn my eyes downward, and pass her without a second glance.
It's the fucking ghosts.

Pitch:
A RUINOUS FATE x DAMSEL
'Til death do us part' seems far fetched- until Odessa is haunted by the spirits of the murdered queens before her.
Warned she is next in the grave, Odessa must escape to survive. The queens agree to help, but their aid comes with a deadly price:
vengeance.

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kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · Mar 19

Thank you so much Katie!!!

Glad to hear you enjoyed the event 💗

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Reposted by kate is here!

Kayla ✨📚 @kaylawhittle.bsky.social · Mar 17

Elodie, born with rare memory magic, shows historian Vivian around a botanical garden in hopes of solving a century-old disappearance—only to uncover a twisted, monstrous memory instead.

It’s hungry. It’s angry. It wants Elodie.

feat. sapphic & ace rep

#PopUpPit #PopUpPitA #LuckyPit #A #F #LGBT

Pastel and white mood board featuring garden scenes

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Reposted by kate is here!

Victoria Lilly @victorialilly.bsky.social · Mar 17

My new pitch card for the sapphic gothic horror novel I #amquerying

With the economy crumbling and inequality skyrocketing, what can be more pertinent than a story about proverbially eating the rich 😁❤️
#PopUpPitA #LuckyPit #adult #horror #gothic

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Reposted by kate is here!

Natalie is ✨ seeking new rep ✨ @natalielouise83.bsky.social · Mar 17

Orkney, 1909: Twenty-five years ago, men made history. Now, one woman will change it…

🔥 Feminine rage
🪢 Twisty plot
🌊 Atmospheric setting
🧜‍♀️ Fading folklore
❤️‍🔥 Vengeance and redemption
💫 Chronic illness rep (own voices)

#PopUpPit #LuckyPit #A #H

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Reposted by kate is here!

Ivy Lin | Querying Author @ivy-lin.bsky.social · Mar 17

SOMETHING MORE x TOMORROW (x3)

When 16yo Mia Pan learns her mom can't afford rent, she must win a $100k coding competition to stay in NYC—her childhood home—while navigating feelings for her autistic teammate and wondering if she's autistic herself.

#YA #LuckyPit #PopUpPitA

An illustration of Mia, the female lead, and Owen, the male lead, sitting together on a desk. Owen is typing on a keyboard and focused on his work. Mia is looking towards Owen and twirling her hair with her index finger.
Artwork by Joy Ling.

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Reposted by kate is here!

Q’Zion T. Gipson is ✨ON SUB! ✨ @qziontgipson.bsky.social · Mar 17

When bloodthirsty shadows come alive, seeping through the barrier between The Human World and an enchanted forest with roots to her ancestry, Vee must embrace the forbidden magic blooming in her veins before both fall to an eternal darkness.

#PopUpPit #LuckyPit #PopUpPitA #YA #F #SF #Q

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Reposted by kate is here!

austin (🛤️ is querying 🛤️) @austinsgrace.bsky.social · Mar 17

(re)introducing HOW TO COME HOME:

⛓️ PEAKY BLINDERS x CAT SEBASTIAN
🏳️‍🌈 upmarket queer historical romance
🛤️ an ex-con w/a head for numbers
🎼 a former musical prodigy dealing w/disability
📚 small-town troubles & big-city ghosts

#LuckyPit #PopUpPit #PopUpPitA

Pitch card for HOW TO COME HOME, pitched as PEAKY BLINDERS X WE COULD BE SO GOOD.
Ten years ago, Nathan Gilliard stole $100,000 from his family’s safe and turned informant on his family’s Prohibition contraband empire, damning his brothers to life in prison in exchange for a ten-year sentence of his own. Stepping out as a free man in 1937, he’s set on spending his life alone and penitent, never forgetting what he did to his family—or why.
Taking a job in a small-town general store is the perfect stopgap, even if Nathan uses a false name to hide his identity...and even if his new boss, handsome, bespectacled single father Lawrence Freburg, is as earnest and kindhearted as Nathan’s upbringing and time in prison weren’t.
Pitch text is set against an image of a cornfield and full moon at dusk, with gold decorative borders in the top left and bottom right corners

Trope/theme map for HOW TO COME HOME, with a digital painting of Nathan and Lawrence at the center. Lawrence, sitting to the left, is a white blond man playing piano and smiling, with glasses hanging from his neck. Nathan, right, is a dark-haired white man watching him play.

Tropes/themes read:
Upmarket historical romance
107,000 words
Dual POV with flashbacks
Running from the past, returning to the past
Crime family/criminal brothers
Unconventional family structures
Queerness & homemaking
Disability =/= disabling

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Reposted by kate is here!

Liv Wrightes || QUERYING @livwrightes.bsky.social · Mar 17

Some jobs come with benefits.
Hers came with monsters.

Cassandra’s fresh start near Yellowstone takes a wild turn after an accident reveals two life changing truths:

✨Magic is real.
👁️And her hot boss?

Yeah, he’s a dragon.🐉

SECRET EMBERS

#PopUpPit #LuckyPit #agentguide

A background of glowing embers and fire sparks sets the tone. In the center, a dark, semi-transparent overlay contains the book’s title in bold, glowing white letters: Secret Embers. Above it, the text reads: “An Agent’s Guide To:” in a smaller, elegant font. Below the title, a tagline states: “Some jobs come with benefits. Hers came with monsters.” The genre is listed as “Adult Contemporary/Urban Fantasy,” with the manuscript marked as “Complete @ 97K.” At the bottom, the author’s name, Olivia Wrightes, is highlighted in gold.

The background remains fiery, with floating embers and dark shadows. The header asks in large, white text: “What if one impulsive choice shattered your world and revealed something extraordinary?” Below, the blurb introduces protagonist Cassandra Jones, who takes a suspiciously good job near Yellowstone, only to discover that magic is real, monsters exist, and her boss is—of all things—a dragon. The blurb describes Yellowstone’s super-volcano stirring and Cassandra facing a world where humans are no longer the top predators. The final lines tease a high-stakes adventure of self-discovery and survival.

A split design with an aesthetic collage on the left and a text list on the right. The collage contains nine moody images: a glowing red mountain, a shadowy figure, an illuminated red doorway, hands entwined with strings, a ballroom with a red chandelier, a close-up of a teary eye, a misty landscape, and a silhouette holding a glowing light. In the center of the collage, bold text reads: “HERE COMES TROUBLE.” On the right, a list in elegant white font highlights major themes: Self-Discovery, Found Family, Hidden Magic, Fate & Free Will, Monsters Aren’t Myths, Clean (No Spice), and Morally Gray Characters.

A dark background with embers floating in the air. At the top, the centered title “COMPS” introduces the section. Three book covers are displayed in a row: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, Moon Called by Patricia Briggs, and Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews. Below each cover, captions highlight similarities to Secret Embers. Rivers of London is noted for its magic, mystery, and dry humor. Moon Called appeals to fans of strong heroines facing supernatural threats. Kate Daniels is recommended for readers who enjoy action, snark, and unique magic.

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Reposted by kate is here!

wordskadiealex.bsky.social @wordskadiealex.bsky.social · Mar 17

Lilli finds luck within herself when a leprechaun teaches her that all she needs is to believe in the magic she holds. She doesn’t need to seek it, she has to believe in it.
#PopUpPit #LuckyPit #PopUpPitA #PB

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kate is here! @akatepockett.bsky.social · Mar 13

i’ve seen a couple people make these pitch cards as an alt to agent guides so here’s BELOVED INCARNATE ❤️‍🔥
#YA #F #R

A RUINOUS FATE x DAMSEL
'Til death do us part' seems far fetched— until Odessa is haunted by the spirits of the murdered queens before her.

Warned she is next in the grave, Odessa must escape to survive. The queens agree to help, but their aid comes with a deadly price: vengeance.

Imagery of a floral border in red, a red ink flower, a maroon butterfly above the flower, a maroon crown above the pitch, and imagery of a distressed woman with her hair in a large messy bun with the faded image of a woman adorned in royal clothing behind her.

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Reposted by kate is here!

Brianna Heath | Author @briannahwrites.bsky.social · Feb 22

In super fun news... I'm very excited to share that I'm now represented by Olivia Fanaro and Laura Pawlak at UTA for film/TV rights. I love their enthusiasm for Robbie McNeil's Hit List and their approach to building creative partnerships. Thrilled to have them join the amazing team for this book!

Glittery gold background with illustrated red theater curtains pulled open. In the center, text reads: Represented by Olivia Fanaro & Laura Pawlak, United Talent Agency

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