Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

gabby is now ✨elle reed✨ @gabbywrites.bsky.social · Apr 19

“Sometimes it takes two tries to get it right.”

#PosterPitW #YA #R

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H. L. Docherty @hldocherty.bsky.social · Mar 17

New name because after removing 67k words, it's basically a new book!

ROMEO & JULIET meets THE HUNGER GAMES when a fiery rebel and shy aristocrat find forbidden love amid a brutal uprising, hidden magic, and deadly monsters that could destroy them both.
#LuckyPit #PopUpPit #PopUpPitA #NA #FR #Q

ROMEO AND JULIET meets THE HUNGER GAMES in:
SNOWDROPS AND STONES
A 110k New Adult dystopian romantasy by H. L. Docherty

The fire snarled as it chewed the wood of my home.
Heat singed my face, winter's bite contrasting with sweat soaking through my ragged hoodie. I gagged on smoke curling in my throat but swallowed the cough. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction. If they wanted me scared, they should've used explosives.
Mum's eyes flashed at the burnt college entrance sign in our garden. Harroworth Central College was still visible beneath the scorch marks with Scabs not welcome scrawled across it.
Like we were nothing but dead skin, picked at until we bled.

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Jennifer Luce @jenniferluce.bsky.social · Mar 17

A mortal woman teams up with the God of Light to put a stop to a power-hungry shapeshifter. But as she falls for his charms and nears uncovering the enemy's identity, she's forced to choose between love or duty—before the world & everyone she loves—falls to darkness
#LuckyPit #PopUpPitA #F #RF #NA

3 by 3 grid of pictures: a woman in a forest with a giant wolf; a silhouette of a woman; an image of a hand with puppet strings; a woman reaching out to light; two hands touching; a woman surrounded by a phoenix; art of a winged person saving someone falling; silhouette of couple kissing in the sun; a crown and dagger

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gabby is now ✨elle reed✨ @gabbywrites.bsky.social · Feb 12

Fan of the childhood friends to lovers, years of yearning, and angst in THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY?

Genny + Aiden are perfect for you 🫶🏽

#questpit #Q #YA #R

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Reposted by gabby is now ✨elle reed✨

Fiona G Otsu @otsu-books.bsky.social · Feb 12

Do you bow to tradition or burn it all down?

Don't anger the forest. And yet Vivi does just that when her little sister is taken. Facing ancient monsters and uncovering the terrifying truth that lies at the heart of it all, Vivi discovers just how powerful her rage can be. #QuestPit #YA #Q #DF

A collage of images. One woman with her skin cracking and light shining through. A ghostly girl with her back to you. A girl sinking through water. A mossy lake. snowdrops. A girl in a misty forest. Mushrooms

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Kirsten E Bell @kbellwrites.bsky.social · Feb 12

❄️CLARA❄️
#YA #My #F (60k words)

A dark & whimsical retelling of a holiday favorite: The Nutcracker. After someone is found dead at the
annual Yule Ball, Clara, a young adult witch, must recover the dark gift stolen from her before any more
harm can be done to her magical kingdom.

#W #QuestPit

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Lexi Heathermoor @lexiheathermoor.bsky.social · Feb 12

Daphne & Remy hated each other at first sight, but dating his BFF meant no escape. When she & Jax split, the two admit their lust & agree to a sex contact. But a secret looms & Daphne must decide to protect her heart or risk it all for the one who makes her world burn.
#Questpit #Q #A #DR #R

Lexi Heathermoor @lexiheathermoor.bsky.social · Feb 7

Day 4 of Snippets and Sleep Token 🖤

Everything I Once Had: an enemies to lovers contemporary dark romance. 🔥

#writingcommunity #amquerying #darkromance #writing #romance #romancebooks #booksky

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R. K. Washburn - on sub! @beccawashburn.bsky.social · Feb 12

Hey, editors!

SORCERY OF THORNS x A MARVELLOUS LIGHT

When an academic cult unleashes a blood-hungry paper magic on their city, a historian, a mage soldier, and a tantrum-throwing demon are forced to work together (and maybe get together) to stop them.

#QuestPit #A #F #OS #AG

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V.L. Lanius 🏺 is writing, again. @vl-lanius.bsky.social · Feb 12

ROYAL MAGPIE'S OATH
When your sidequest turns into saving the world.

✨ high magic, epic fantasy, poly romance
✨ PTSD, trauma, healing
✨ dragon POV
✨ cool ship
✨ shapeshifters, paladins, and dragons, oh my!

#QuestPit #Q #A #F #RF #LGBTQ
Pica art by Moustawott
Bronze Dragon art by Allie Briggs

Mock newspaper page with several snippets.

Nuntii Gethki

Crown Prince Leaves Legion
Regillvs Pica, heir apparent, departs VIII Gethki after a heated conversation with his uncle, Regillvs Monedvla. Pica, whose royal name means Magpie, has grown increasingly vocal of late, calling for an end to the glorious conquest in Fetocia. Sources state he is discharged with full honors despite the dispute.
It is not the first time the prince has butted heads with his family. Trusted palace sources state that his relationship with his father, Aqvilla Pavo, is non-existent.
Pica was last seen re-joining the Celestial Shield and boarding a ship in Curia. His destination is unknown.
Dragon Activity on Sparkling Coast
There is increased dragon activity on the Sparkling Coast, between Cvria and Caltava. Residents report seeing the territory master, Levnys, on patrol for the first time in ten years. Reports of a strange dragon spotted around the area have not been confirmed.
Travelers Beware!
An increase in shady activity plagues Geth's harbors of late. Travelers purchasing passage in good faith have been abducted and sold into servitude. Be cautious especially if looking for employment, as these pirates prey especially on the impoverished.

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Vaughn Roe | adult romantasy @authorvaughnroe.bsky.social · Feb 12

HER SOUL TO TAKE X NEON GODS

DEMON CHEVALIER I 89k
romantasy

A crossroads demon falls for an exorcist & risks a death penalty when he takes her to Hell. But exposure brings a punishment crueler than death: either sacrifice her soul or she's sent into slavery.

hard-earned HEA

#QuestPit #Q #A #RF

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Ilana Kelley @ilanakelleyauthor.bsky.social · Feb 12

THE BARGAINER x SIX OF CROWS x THE LOST APOTHECARY

A Reader’s & #LitAgents Guide for NIGHT BIRD, an adult romantic fantasy ft:
🕰️dual timeline
✴️invisibility & intangibility magic
🔪FMC vigilante for wronged women
💞friend or foe?
☠️poison & female rage
🫂found family

#QuestPit #Q #RF #F #A #AgentGuide

A Guide to Night Bird
An adult romantic fantasy novel

The Pitch
Ava can become invisible and walk through walls but can’t escape her warded cage. Destined to follow in her dead mother’s footsteps as a courtesan and spy, she’s trained to get close to—and betray—those in the highest levels of society. But alone at night in her room, she listens to the steam engine’s whistle, plays her cello to the night birds, and dreams of escaping her prison. Until one stormy evening, a boy, Zev, breaks through her window and gives her a taste of life beyond the bars.
Their chance meeting spawns two years of secret friendship until her eighteenth birthday, when her seduction training will begin. Instead, she wakes up to a grisly scene—a bloody trail, dead guardians, and broken wards. Given what she knows of Zev’s powerful abilities, she assumes her freedom came at his hand. She waits for his return, which never comes.
Eight years later, Ava has reinvented herself as Night Bird, a vigilante for wronged women. She’s assisted by a group of former street kids who’ve matured into a misfit gang. A botched mission finds them in the crosshairs of a shadowy man known as a high-powered fixer. That man turns out to be the boy who’d disappeared years earlier. It’s unclear if he’s friend or foe. However, when she takes on her biggest target—the last man to see her mother alive—Zev may be the only person keeping her from going up in flames.

For Fans of:
Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa—dual timeline & lost love
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner—female rage & poison
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo—found family & misfit crew

Chapter One
Only the night birds provided company in my caged existence. They sang for me after the sun dipped, gliding beyond my window’s metal bars as their trilling tunes wove through the moon’s light. They were my link to the outside world, a fragile tether to life beyond my warded room. My self-given name—Ava—was an homage to them, the beautiful creatures that kept me sane.
During the day, when I was granted time away from lessons, the noise and bustle of the street scared them beneath the eaves, into the holes and crannies of buildings. I’d sit, fists clenched, ears straining for their hopeful notes. But I was alone. The lectas didn’t count. They were caretakers, not company.
When streetlamps glowed in the satiny darkness, the night birds’ warbles piercing the quiet, I’d pull out my cello. My bow swept the strings like a feathered wing, and the resonant chords danced with the birdsong. They’d swoop and dive, triumphant in their freedom—something I’d never known and never would.

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SM BUSH 🇨🇦📚 @smbushwriter.bsky.social · Feb 12

When wealthy socialite Beatrice Calloway’s birthday comes to an abrupt end by the arrogant demon, Charysyllon, the unlikely duo unwillingly set out on a road trip from Hell to save her soul.

#questpit #Q #NA #R

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gabby is now ✨elle reed✨ @gabbywrites.bsky.social · Feb 12

tysm!!😭

Reposted by gabby is now ✨elle reed✨

Catherine Ford @catherinewford.bsky.social · Feb 12

UPROOTED X FIDDLER ON ROOF
🌳Mesopotamian, edge-of-desert world
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Multi-gen family
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Multi-POV
🪄Symbiotic family & god & farmland
🌳Farm magic vs land reform
❤️Slow burn subplot
👨‍🦱Seduction & betrayal
👨‍👦Meaning of sacrifice
🏜️Slow unraveling

#questpit #F #A #W

Dagger, person holding soil & seedling, bare feet walking on fallen tree, cloaked figure with bow & arrow looking around side of house, peasant with sword, married couple holding sword, peasant woman looking behind her in fog, mysterious underground burrow, tree turning into a hand, burrow under tree.

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Morgan Wodring 🦑 NEW WEIRD NATION @morkalmarrh.bsky.social · Feb 12

🌊 THEY TOOK SOMETHING FROM YOU // THEY PUT SOMETHING IN YOU 🌊

CYANOSIS, where pagan gods move through human souls in the shadow of a city that grasps the sky.

You probably need it like a hole in the head.

#QuestPit #SF #H #A #Q #AgentsGuide

Verinn, a monstrous conurbation home to bird folk, shapeshifters and immortals. Five years ago, all data was wiped from cyberspace by devastating blackouts.
Kioki thinks she knows the truth about what happened that day. That’s why she shut down the laboratory in the sea beneath the city’s superstructure.
Trigger, though, doesn’t think he knows anything. Not his past, not what he wants, and not about the infection changing him into a species unknown to the scientists in that same laboratory.
Like a lot of things in Verinn, that lab won’t stay dead. Not when there’s work to do.

Agent's guide to cyanosis, 98k sci-fi, standalone with series potential. THE SEA IS RISING

For fans of Midnight water city, perdido street station, annihilation or our wives under the sea.

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John W Treviño @johnwtrevino.bsky.social · Feb 12

🏀 Catalina Corazón 🏀
Hates: Quinn
Likes: Sofie
Loves: Basketball, Xanax, & Quinn

💕 Quinn Carter 💕
Hates: Herself
Loves: Music & Catalina
Murdered: ???

🔥 FIX YOU 🔥
The story of a totally healthy Catholic high school romance.

#questpit #YA #Q

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Brandon Love @blovewrites.bsky.social · Feb 12

17 is hard, but when you're set to take over presidency from your father, survive a ☠️ attempt, are betrayed by the two you love & learn your role is to maintain peace by keeping 200yo lies & manipulating the public or start the biggest war in centuries, 17 is REALLY hard.

#QuestPit #Q #YA #SF #LGBT

Dystopian, manipulation, hidden knowledge, The Alpha Project

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AJS ✨ Querying @authorajs.bsky.social · Feb 12

‘The idea of a woman ruling is so terrible to powerful men, they’ll do anything to stop it from happening.’

THE JASMINE THRONE x SIX OF CROWS

• Sapphic slowburn 🌈
• Forbidden magic 🖤
• Enemies to allies to lovers ⚔️
• Band of misfits-turned-heroes 🥷
• All female POVs ✨

#QuestPit #Q #A #F

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Bookishbabeiswriting @bookbabewriting.bsky.social · Feb 12

Jennifer's Body x Together We Rot
Lyric's best friend/crush Eleanor swears she isn't in a cult but as the boys Eleanor was chasing start to disappear from their backwoods town, Lyric must investigate the cultish town and if there is something monstrously with her friend.
#Questpit #Q #YA #H #R

Creepy moodboard with Ferris wheel, bar, cowboy hat, church, stained glass window, girls shadow, girl with match between teeth, eart, broken her necklace all with a pinkish haze.

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gabby is now ✨elle reed✨ @gabbywrites.bsky.social · Feb 12

thank you!!🫶🏽

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gabby is now ✨elle reed✨ @gabbywrites.bsky.social · Feb 12

AN ACADEMY FOR LIARS X NINTH HOUSE

To get her dad a new kidney, Ryan needs to master her illusions, but when her classmates' memories start to shift with false ones replacing the real, Ryan wonders if her dad's transplant is all she needs to worry about.

#questpit #W #NA #F

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Tyler is querying 👑🪲🌿 @tylerstasi.bsky.social · Feb 12

#QuestPit #Q #F #R

#agentguide for

TOG x ODW x OUABH

A dangerous rot is spreading—and Daphne must find a way to stop it before her world plunges into ruin.

👑epic garden fantasy
🌷dash of botanical horror
🐝slow burn romance
🌱 insect/floral imagery

👀editor interest👀

black spring original fantasy novel with romance subplot by tyler stasi

a young woman braves her kingdoms hidden dangers to stop a mysterious rot from spreading.

moodboard with tropes and unique features of original fantasy novel

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