iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

IT’S HERE! Spooky season has officially begun. To celebrate I’m releasing three spooky short stories on my website, completely free. WINDFALL SEASON is already there, ready for you to read—because I love you like that. Which are you most looking forward to reading? brsmithbooks.com/troubled-tales

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Check back here 1st Oct. Spooky season is almost here… 👀

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Kit Raglan’s been running from trouble most of her life. But when she takes a job clearing out a house the locals think is haunted and finds herself implicated in a murder, she decides she’s done running. It’s time to make trouble right back. #QuestPit #AG #T #M #A

A photo of a house in autumn trees with the words: HERE COMES TROUBLE, a thriller.

The pitch: When a young woman takes on a job clearing out a clifftop mansion in coastal Maine, she’s hoping for an easy job this time, a break from a life lived on the run. Instead, on her first night in the house, someone dumps a body by the dock—with her real name carved into it.

The comps: Frankie Elkin meets Veronica Mars meets The Spy Coast.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

When a young woman takes on a job clearing out a clifftop mansion in coastal Maine, she’s hoping for an easy job this time, a break from a life lived on the run. Instead, on her first night in the house, someone dumps a body by the dock—with her real name carved into it. #questpit #AG #T #M

An illustration of a house on a cliff looking out over the sea with the title “Here comes trouble” and the author’s name “B.R. Smith”.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Sorry I’ve been AWOL, I’ve been buried in a book. This one, in fact. It was meant to be an easy job, cleaning out an old lady’s house. Except, the locals think the house is haunted, the previous owner may have been murdered, and there’s a body in the boat house with Kit’s real name carved into it…

An illustration of a house perched on a rocky cliff over the ocean at night. The title of the novel “Here Comes Trouble” and the author’s name “B.R.Smith” are floating above the house.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

A girl. Her dog. A whole lot of trouble. When Kit Raglan takes a job staying a night in a haunted house, she expects a quiet night, maybe a ghost if she's lucky. Instead, she finds herself implicated in a murder, kicking off a cat-and-mouse game with a bird-masked killer. #QuestPit #WIP #T #AG

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

#Editors of #QuestPit Haunted since her father’s drowning by nightmares of a revenant Mariner who bears his face, writer Lee Fisk returns to the lighthouse where he spent his last days in search of closure. But on the island, THE MARINER is more than mere nightmare. It’s a curse. #S #H #MY #OS

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Reposted by Beth “B.R” Smith

Eric Smith @ericsmithrocks.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Writer pals, as we venture into “best of” list season, remember to focus on your other accomplishments. That new draft, the books you’ve read to hone your craft… Maybe the new thing you’re doing outside of writing (these are so important!) Zero in on what you can control, and keep your head up. ❤️

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Reposted by Beth “B.R” Smith

Tali Shammas @talishammas.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

MEXICAN GOTHIC X BOBH X SINNERS Stasi, a gifted painter, enters a competition in which blood magic makes art come alive. But when she uncovers a conspiracy to eliminate magical women, she risks her life to stop those running the show. #GhostPit #A #G #F #H #Agented #LGBT

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

A writer infiltrates a reader’s retreat in an old hunting lodge under false pretences only to find herself the target of a taxidermist with the ability to reanimate the dead - including the hunting trophies in every room of the lodge. #GhostPit #A #H #T #W

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Trapped in a remote offshore weather station in the path of a deadly supernatural storm, a former salvage diver recounts her ill-fated descent into a world of magic and monsters as she plans her perilous escape. #GhostPit #A #W #F #PN

An oil painting of a storm swept sea overlaid with an illustration of a whale with the word SALVAGE inside it.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

A girl. Her dog. A whole lot of trouble. When Kit Raglan takes a quick job staying a night in a haunted house to make a few bucks, she expects a quiet night, maybe a ghost if she's really lucky. Instead, she finds a body with her name carved into it. HERE COMES TROUBLE. #GhostPit #A #W #T 👻

An illustration of a ghost overlaid on an oil painting of an old house in the mountains. Text reads: Here Comes Trouble.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

I had one of those days where the words just weren’t coming yesterday. Here are all the things I tried. I ended up making it over the next 10K interval in my current project and writing the beginning of the next one! #writingcommunity #writersky

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

How I structure a novel, a loose guide:

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

I gave myself full permission to just rest and read for the day and so of course I keep finding myself sneaking words on my WIP on the side. It’s almost more fun this way. I’m cheating on my reading to write my book.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

The horrors persist, but so do dogs. Sharing a snippet of my thriller WIP about a girl, her dog and a whole lot of trouble. #writesky #writingcommunity #thrillerbooks

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Writing about what it took for me to let go of my on sub book and start a new one + the best advice I received about going on submission. #onsubmission #writesky #writingcommunity open.substack.com/pub/writersa...

open.substack.com

What it feels like to let go of a book

The best advice I received about being on submission

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

I may have just written the best pitch of my life. I will never top this. I am 100% maniacal laughter right now. The title is so good it’s breaking my brain. Some books are gift books. I’m convinced that this is one.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

🌊 A storm-buffeted island of folklore and superstition. 🌊 A writer grieving her father’s drowning death in an isolated lighthouse keeper’s cottage. 🌊 A cursed Mariner who will tear her apart to stop her learning the truth. #WriteSky #OS #AG #MY #T #H #questpit

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

“But the image that will stick like a burr in his mind, which will appear to him in quiet moments for the rest of his life, is of long tendrils of red hair swaying like the tentacles of a Pacific octopus in the chill water of the hold.” #OS #AG #A #MY #T #H #QuestPit

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Hi, my name is Beth, and I don’t believe in guilty pleasure books. Give up the guilt. Enjoy the book. #Booksky

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

Introducing my #WIP THE TAXIDERMIST, a romantic horror mystery described as THE HUNTING PARTY X RIP VAN WINKLE. Illustration: own work. Background image: provided copyright free by Birmingham Museum Trust. #RT #MiseryPit #A

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Everything is uncertain and everything is terrifying and every night I sit down and write imagining that, word by word, I am building a better world. #writingcommunity

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

My video this week on Last Chance Writer’s Club is about finding joy in your creative process again. 🍁💛 If you watch it, I’d love you to let me know one of your ‘joy notes’ for today. #writingcommunity youtu.be/XY1jc8YBrBA?...

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

My WIP has taken a turn, as WIPs tend to do, and I’m now describing it as: THE HUNTING PARTY x RIP VAN WINKLE. I am so excited to submit my last assignments so I can dive headfirst into this deliciously spooky book!! #writesky #writingcommunity

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

This week on Last Chance I’m talking writing to your strengths. This was honestly the most transformative practice for me - to actively seek out the gold in feedback and use it to be even better at what I’m good at. I hope this discussion serves you, too! youtu.be/YmxwcmDxddQ?...

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Art + words from my WIP about a doomed reader’s retreat. I’ve never painted in a journal before, and I think I’ll have to continue. It makes me so happy!

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

I’ve been searching for ways to give back to the #writingcommunity that has supported me for so many years, and what I came up with was this: The Last Chance Writer’s Club.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

In this locked room mystery/horror, a horror writer at a reader’s retreat in the Washington woods unravels the tangled histories of the attendees when flooding washes out the only road into town and something monstrous stalks the readers from the trees. #QuestPit #WIP #a #m #h

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

🌊A small boy finds a body floating in the fish hold of his father’s boat. 🌊A writer packs up her missing lighthouse keeper father’s things. 🌊A private investigator searches for the missing and the drowned. 🌊A horror rises from the deep. #questpit #onsub #editors #m #h #a #os

A killer whale tail rises from a Black Sea, a red-headed woman throws back her hair, a lighthouse stands against a wind-whipped sky.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Quick after work oil painting. The sea wolves were calling.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

The most important job of a first line… is to set up the next line. I actually think a first line that is too beautiful, too stunning, that holds you too much in thrall, actually prevents that so-important momentum at the beginning of a book. #writingcommunity #writesky

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

When you sign with my literary agency they ask for a few things, one of which is an author photo. I’ve been putting this one off since… erm, November. But today I did it and I’m so glad I did. For one of the few times in my life, the outside of me looks somewhat like the inside of me. #WriteSky

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Me, trying to explain my genre niche: “… and you HAVE to solve the mystery, or the monster will eat you.” #writesky #writingcommunity

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

#Editors “There is no sleep to be had in winter. The sea wind howls too loud, buffeting the fishing boat and the small boy curled up inside.” #1stLinePit #Gothic #A #M #H

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Just a perfect early autumn afternoon. ☀️🌊🍃

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

I’m the Scooby Doo of the horror writing set.🤷‍♀️ #unhingedpit #os #A #H

I wish I was the “cutting social commentary” kind of horror writer, but instead I am the “abandoned lighthouse, storm cutting you off from the mainland, hauntings and generational curses” kind of horror writer.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

“I waited half a week before I knew he was missing. Knew for sure, in the way of logic and fact, rather than the bone-deep knowing I had carried with me for days before that.” #WIPSnips #WriteSky #writingcommunity

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

My brain: Has an idea for a dark mystery/thriller on a niche topic I’m super interested in that only I could write. Also my brain: Now, how can I add monsters? Once more, the writer I want to be is defeated by the writer I am. #writesky #writingcommunity

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

HELLO publishing and writing friends! Have you seen any articles/interviews/resources on what personal qualities editors are looking for in a writer - beyond a really good book? It’s for a uni assignment. Boosts appreciated. ☺️ #writesky #booksky #writingcommunity

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Six creepy thriller novels set by bodies of water, aka my favourite genre niche! 🌊 #BookSky

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Writers, have you ever given yourself ‘one last chance’ to make it? One last query. One last book. What happened next? I want to hear your Last Chance stories! #writesky #writingcommunity

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

New pinned post! 🌊 A storm-buffeted island of folklore and superstition. 🌊 A writer grieving her father’s drowning death in an isolated lighthouse keeper’s cottage. 🌊 A cursed Mariner who will tear her apart to stop her learning the truth. #WriteSky

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Maybe something good will happen. Maybe it won’t. But if it does, it’s going to find me working.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Hello, #writesky. What if you obsessed over the compliments as much as you obsess over the critiques?

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

“There are still things I can’t reconcile. The stair railing — no human is that strong. The axe in the generator, also. And that roar. I can still feel it reverberating inside me, like my bones are a tuning fork, struck once and ringing on and on.” #WIPSnips #horror

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Mariner is a self-indulgent little mystery/horror novel, so I made myself a self-indulgent little shirt to celebrate.

A woman wears a long sleeve black shirt depicting a lighthouse, lantern and book in line art, illustrated by Beth Smith (me!). The shirt reads: read to me in a lighthouse by the sea.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Last night I dreamt I was a deep sea diver, floating in the depths of a new story while my last novel sailed off to destinations unknown. A gift from the deep. It’s time to start something new.

A quick illustration of a deep sea diver among bubbles and seaweed.

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