iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Over the past couple of days, I've submitted my application to the Kidlit Firefly Mentor program and submitted my #mansuscript to SCBWI's Emerging Voices Award. Excited to see what happens over the coming weeks and months. #kidlitfirefly #SCBWI #emergingvoices #amquerying #picturebooks

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You, Me, and the Writing Journey Podcast @ymwjpodcast.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

It’s time for another ✨Encouragement from the Writing Community✨ episode!! And YOU are invited to be a guest. See more information below! 👇👇

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

August 1st is a pretty big day - #KidlitFirefly mentor applications open. #SCBWI Emerging Voices submissions open, and #EKBooks #picturebook submissions close. Luckily, I'm primed for them all. #amquerying

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Who Smelt It Dealt It: A Stetson Shush Story  The fart book story for people who don't like fart book stories.  #PB #Q #questpit

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Imelda Taylor @lostsheep.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

An Agent's Guide to a fable-like tale about a carabao on a quest to learn to meow. #questpit #pb #q #poc

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Shelbey @shelbeyd.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

TEDDY BEARWOLF is Creepy Sheepy x Wolfie the Bunny The hook: What if werewolves didn’t have to be scary? When Teddy can't be scary like his pack, he defies their expectations by choosing friendliness over fear, leading to a discovery that changes the forest for the better. #QuestPit #PB #Q

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Chevy Moore @chevymoore.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

PB | 589 words | Ages 4–8 When a young number transfers to a school filled with letters, he disguises himself as the letter E to fit in, only to learn that belonging begins with being himself. JUST BE 3 is a heartfelt, humorous picture book with series potential. #Questpit #PB #Q

White cover graphic for the picture book JUST BE 3. A smiling orange number 3 stands on Alphabet Alley with friendly letters A, D, and O nearby. The title reads “JUST BE 3.” The graphic also includes “Picture Book,” “589 words,” and the author’s name, Chevy Moore.

White graphic featuring a one-sentence pitch for JUST BE 3: When a young number transfers to a school filled with letters, he disguises himself as the letter E to fit in before discovering that belonging begins with being himself. A small illustration shows 3 looking toward the letter E. Covers of The Day You Begin and Strictly No Elephants are shown as comparable titles.

White graphic showing the number 3 sitting at a school desk with a backpack. A thought bubble shows the letter E, hinting that 3 wants to become a letter. The graphic includes a short blurb explaining that when 3 transfers to a school full of letters, he pretends to be the letter E to fit in before learning to accept himself.

White graphic showing the number 3 walking toward a school along a colorful path. Large text reads, “I may look like the letter E, but I’m not. I’m 3.” The words “I’m 3.” are highlighted in orange to emphasize the story’s message of self-acceptance.

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Shelbey @shelbeyd.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

THIS IS A SERIOUS WORD BOOK = The Book With No Pictures x A Chest Full of Words Professor Knowitall is a porcupine giving a grammar lesson. But his dry tone clashes with the book’s interrupting illustrator whose fun art only distracts. Can serious words and silly pictures coexist? #PB #QuestPit #Q

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Shelbey @shelbeyd.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

LEONARD VS THE IMPOSSIBLE = Bathe the Cat x Robo-Sauce When boy genius Leonard runs out of excuses to avoid cleaning his room, he builds a robot to help. But when the robot goes rogue and wreaks havoc across town, Leonard must overcome the impossible to save the day. #QuestPit #PB #Q #Humor

The premise: Leonard is a boy genius whose biggest challenge is cleaning his room.

The pitch: When boy genius Leonard’s cleaning robot goes rogue and wreaks havoc across town, he must overcome an impossible feat to save the day.

Comparative titles: Robot-Rumpus, Robo-Sauce, Bathe the Cat, The Mess Monster, Wendel and the Robots

Vibes: Chaos, Playfulness, Responsibility, Family Dynamics, Humor, Technology

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Scarlet Mitchell ⚒️ The Gerzean Blade out NOW!😍 @scarletvmitchell.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

When a modern body is found at Cahokia, the ruins of an ancient city in southern Illinois, frenemy archaeologists Talia and Brian must put their differences aside to track a strange artifact that may have sparked the murder. 🏳️‍🌈Sapphic PI 👯‍♂️Buddy-Cop vibes 🌃Cozy/Noir #QuestPit #P #A #MY **Out Now!**

Cover for The Gerzean Blade by Scarlet Mitchell. A giant stone knife stands in the middle of the road like a monoliths. Woman on the grassy, sunny left side leans against her car with a map gazing perplexed across to the dusky sunset right side and the St. Louis skyline.

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Kat Devitt @katdevittwrites.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

My Darling, Dreadful Thing X The London Séance Society A fabled witch howled the Blackstone Curse and mired generations in madness, murder, and mayhem. Only a monster and an heir to an earldom may break the spell, but first they must find each other. #QuestPit #Q #Gothic #A #H #LGBT

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Amy Dehaas @amywrites.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

TV producer Abby returns home to cover a cold serial killer case, dredging up the fire that killed her BFF & the truth she's outrun for years. When another woman is murdered & anonymous warnings begin, Abby must unravel the only version of the past she's been able to live with. #questpit #Q #A #T

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Bunny's Ears  An invisible civilization lives on the tongue of a shoe. Only one anxious rabbit can save them — if she can lace them up in time. The origin story that will have you in knots.  #PB #Q #questpit

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T.L. Leicester @bytlleicester.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

And now, let’s tie all the #Questpit posts for THE BRASSWEIL PRINCIPLE into a thread. #W #A #F #M #gaslamp #fantasy #mystery bsky.app/profile/bytl...

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Jan Campana @janycampana.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Spaghetti for Breakfast? Lunch? Dessert? In MORE SPAGHETTI PLEASE, Dario, the world’s biggest pasta fan, faces his worst nightmare: no spaghetti! Determined to satisfy his craving, Dario stretches his imagination & cooks up a sweet surprise. Inspired by chef Dario Fontanella. #QuestPit #PB #Q

Ice Cream shaped like a plate of spaghetti by Fontanella Ice Cream Factory.

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Phernella Wurst Wants to Be First  A confident 5-year-old has a foolproof plan to get in the history books — a time machine and rock-paper-scissors against firsts like Amelia Earhart. Obviously.  #PB #Q #questpit

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Millie Kensen @milliekensenauthor.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

vibes of the book + a taste of the prose ✨👇 THE COURIER & THE CHAMBERHAND #QuestPit #F #R #A #W #WriteSky Querying Late 2026

A moodboard collage titled The Courier & The Chamberhand. Images include a fair-haired young man looking down, a prosthetic leg, a stone fortress wall, a woman in an ornate gown before a gilded mirror, a wax-sealed scroll, a woman holding a mask beside her own face, small boats on a jungle river, a barge on a wide river delta, a booted foot in a stirrup, a dictionary page showing the word 'Lies,' and two people holding hands.

A dark sage green graphic with gold-beige fern borders, headed EXCERPT. Text reads: The officer peered down his nose at Darv. 'Just a courier,' he said, mocking. 'No one is just an anything in war, boy.' The courier stifled a groan. He didn't know what this was about, but he was certain he would not be enjoying any of it. Now, he could flee, of course. He could do what he did best and run. But he didn't. Not because he was brave or clever. Certainly not because he was beholden by some honorable sense of duty to his benevolent employer. No. Darv didn't run, because, well... his foot was stuck in the mud.

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Tara @tarasobot.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Aphelion Lost / SF / Murder on the Orient Express in space When the richest man in the world is murdered onboard his spaceship, rival pilots Dara and Perseus must set aside their differences to find the killer. Even worse, strange temporal effects begin to affect the ship. #questpit #q #a #sf #my

My book mood board (murder on orient express on a spaceship)

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Mike Mizov @mikemizov.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

HE SAVED THE KINGDOM ONCE. MAYBE HE SHOULDN’T HAVE. Disgraced Grand Inquisitor Wynsten is hired to find a missing ambassador. Instead, he uncovers forbidden magic and a conspiracy rooted in the blood ritual that made him a legend and ruined his life. #QuestPit #Q #A #DF #MY

INQUISITOR FOR HIRE

ADULT DARK FANTASY NOIR · 93,000 WORDS · MULTI-POV · STANDALONE

Once Rysia’s feared Grand Inquisitor, Wynsten now catches adulterers to make rent. When he is hired to find a missing ambassador before an uneasy peace collapses, the case leads him through forbidden magic, vanished daughters, and a conspiracy tied to the royal blood ritual that made him a legend, ruined his life, and fused the empire’s worst secrets to his chest.

A MISSING AMBASSADOR.
A DISGRACED LEGEND.
A KINGDOM ROTTING FROM WITHIN.

OPENING LINES

“The heretics had nowhere left to run. Wynsten had made sure of that.

Months of blood and smoke had led him beneath the Sovereign’s castle, into the old mines carved through the bedrock. A stronghold under the heart of the kingdom.

These apostates would face justice here or burn.”

Twenty years before he became an investigator for hire, Wynsten stopped a ritual fueled by Rysia’s own royal blood.

A FANTASY INVESTIGATION WITH TEETH

THREE TOUCHSTONES. ONE DECAYING EMPIRE.

The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan - Institutional rot and compromised justice

The Tainted Cup - a secondary-world mystery engine

Chinatown - slow-burn corruption and a poisoned victory

INSIDE THE CASE

A dark-fantasy noir for readers who want the mystery and the damage.

A post-conquest secondary world inspired by the Crusader states

Fallen hero / disgraced legend

Missing ambassador

Forbidden magic

Secrets beneath the city

Corruption at the highest level

Reluctant found family

Power no one understands

Morally gray choices

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🌿✨beth✨🌿 @elizanane.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

🩸QUEERPLATONIC BEAUTY & THE BEAST x JENNIFER’S BODY🩸 In a forested town, a doomed codependency festers between a heart-eating monster desperate to become human and its vengeful, obsessive hunter. 🥩surrealism + madness 🪱plant-body horror 🥀ONE MUST DIE Querying SOON! #questpit #a #df #f #q

This title slide features two orchids on a black background as its backdrop image. Above it, the text reads FEED ME YOUR ORGANIC HEART in yellow and red text. In white text, below the title, it also reads, 'adult psych-horror contemporary fantasy, 85,000 words' in white lettering.

Image credit belongs to Pinterest

The title of the slide reads, PITCH, in neon red lettering, on the same orchid background. The pitch text, in yellow and white letters, read: To become human, a genderfluid, eldritch monster in disguise must seek, charm, and devour the beating heart of one who truly loves them... but it gains the eyes of its vengeful, obsessive hunter instead. As bodies pile and madness takes hold, the two must either die in their struggle for survival or live the torment of finding themselves in the one they're destined to murder.

Image credit belongs to Pinterest

The title of the slide reads, COMPS, in neon red lettering. The covers of 5 novels are shown. The novels included are: The Fox and the Devil, The Tainted Cup, The Eyes Are the Best Part, The Summer Hikaru Died, and Vicious.

Background image belongs to Pinterest.

The title of this slide reads, TROPES, in neon red lettering. 10 tropes are listed on this slide in white and yellow lettering. The listed tropes read: surrealism + stalking + OBSESSION, nightmarish plant visions, descent into madness, genderfluid, ugly forest monster w/ beautiful guise, aro-ace vengeful hunter, doomed, all-consuming codependency, they're both 'monsters' that don't fit in, deadly game of cat & mouse, quiet, forested town setting, botanical body horror (allegory for twisted adoration).

Image credit belongs to Pinterest

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

What if trauma became coded runes on your skin? And an authoritarian regime hunted the marked, harvesting your grief to fuel its power? JESSICA JONES × ARCANE They call her SCARella. She’s the only one who gives a damn about post-Collapse Manhattan’s disappearing girls. 🧵 #QuestPit #A #SFF

Cyberpunk fantasy poster featuring the vigilante SCARell standing in a flooded tunnel, gripping a flaming machete. A glowing sigil appears on her chest and along her arm. Title reads SCARELLA: THE MACHETE MARAUDERESS with the tagline: “Some things don’t just break you. They remake you.”

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Gus Ryer @gusryer.com · 24/07/2026

SPACE SWEEPERS 🤝 LOGAN LUCKY When an AI-piloted space hauler threatens her home station, aging & indebted traffic controller Dez decides to rob the hell out of it. She's got a plan & a motley crew. But, when things aboard aren’t as expected, all bets are off. #QuestPit #Q #SF #A #BookSky

A black hole spirals in the distance, a fiery trail of material getting sucked into it from across the image. Approaching is a circular, doughnut-like spaceship or station. The title LANE BREAKERS runs along the bottom, the second word highlighted in bright purple and appearing to fall off the edge.

A red ALERT box connected to the ship says 'Now Querying', and the wormhole is labeled 'Taurine Strait'

COMPS & META INFORMATION

Along the bottom right, a black and white sketch of a old woman in a space pilot's outfit holds a glowing magenta martini glass. Smoke from her cigarette glows and wafts in pinks and blues.

Genre: SF Heist
Audience: Adult
Wordcount: +-100,000

Themes and Tropes:
Blue collar heist
(Re)found family
Grungy space life
Sentient AIs

Comps:
Logan Lucky
The Quantum Magician
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Cascade Failure
The Suez Canal incident
Space Sweepers

THE HEIST:

Desdemona Skene hates her job. She spends each day as a glorified crossing guard for traffic through her system’s wormhole. But, ever since she botched a flight of her own, it’s all she has. Dez’s friends have moved on, her ex is seeing someone new, and she’s in debt to the mob. At eighty-three years old, it’s not like she’s a candidate for promotion.

But then Dez learns that the largest civilian ship ever designed by humanity will be passing through her friendly neighborhood wormhole. Piloted by an experimental AI, this cruise might prove computers are finally able to successfully navigate wormholes. Stock prices will blast into orbit, but it’ll spell unemployment for Dez and thousands of human pilots. Probably her home station too.

If that ship’s taking her down, Dez is going to drag it along for the ride—and make a tidy profit along the way. She’ll need to gather a crew (if her old friends will still talk to her), shake the mob, and outwit megacorps and empires both.
But if she pulls this off, she might just get to live out her dream of a quiet retirement.

THE CREW
Golden boxes house titles and descriptions of characters. The top one, Dez, is a magenta circle that looks sci-fi.

Desdemona ‘Dez’ Skene
Washed up and too poor for retirement, Dez has a drinking problem and a mob problem. She might have one last job left in her

Hacker
Finn's got a heart of gold, more backdoors than a hardware store, and would rather be playing video games

The Faces
Dez’s parents might be older than moon dust, but Hank and Gwen have been conning people for almost a century. They still haven’t lost their touch

Sentient Adbot
Marty, the uplifted, digital adbot who dreams of personhood. He also happens to live inside Finn's head

Crack Pilot
Vil is the fastest sled pilot on Midway Station, famous for crushing the illegal racing circuit. Also, he's Dez’ ex of thirty years

The Muscle
The best mechanic on the station, Caius brings some well-needed muscle. But, most annoyingly, he's Vil's new flame

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Kasy Long @kasylongauthor.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Would you read your mom’s diary? Faye’s mom tragically died 25 years ago. Just before her wedding, Faye discovers her mom’s diary and reads it…and can’t stop. What’s in the diary? 🤩 '90s vibes 🥰 Young love 📔 Diary entries with doodles! 🥺 Coming-of-age drama #QuestPit #YA #P #LF #HR #R

A collage of photos from the 1990s and text: “Something Borrowed, Something True,” and a description of the book. It features fun doodles with the ‘90s aesthetic.

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Chase Grayson is Agented🌙 @adropofmagick.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

A STUDY IN DROWNING X GILMORE GIRLS Atticus moved to Havenvale so he could attend the most prestigious knighthood academy in the kingdom, but there's a rose-scented ghost haunting his manor, & he's learning it's hard to focus while falling in love...👻🖤 #AG #YA #F #RF #QuestPit

A HAUNTING TO HOLD
Ghost Romance
𝙷̶𝚒̶𝚜̶ ̶𝙵̶𝚒̶𝚛̶𝚜̶𝚝̶ His Forever
Cozy Fantasy Town
Magical Lantern Festival
Star-Spinning Magic
Gothic Manor
Griffin Riding
Knighthood Academy

THE PITCH
COZY YA FANTASY 89,000 WORDS

After fleeing from his war-ravaged hometown, a timid boy enrolls in an elite knighthood academy while falling for the ghost haunting his rose-scented manor; but when enemy knights invade his cozy new town during a festival that allows the dead to live for a single night, he must learn how to rally his courage before the girl he loves is lost forever.

CHAPTER ONE
My ghost never hides in the shadows.
When the afternoon burns brightest, I’ll catch her silhouette in the sunshine. When night steals the sky I glimpse delicate blue eyes peeking out behind moonbeam curtains. It’s been five weeks since we've moved in, yet I've only ever found her in the light.
“She’s not your ghost,” reminds Olive. “I can see her, too!”
But my sister’s claim rattles out like a lie. Looking at her now, she’s scrunching her face up, squinting real tight, yet her eyes never seem to find the shimmering girl that runs through Rosefall Manor.
Not like mine do.

FOR FANS OF...
The sweeping, magical romance of…
A cozy fantasy town inspired by…
The lush prose and gothic atmosphere found in…

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Jenn Lee Frances @jennleefrances.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

NEVER SUMMON THE DEAD *Simone knew better* But she wanted to save her murdered cousin's traumatized spirit. Except Nina has returned as a vengeful ghost who drowns deserving boys #TheEastRiverWraith Now Simone must stop her from going wrathful on the wrong boy. 👻 #YA #S #H Feminist Horror #QuestPit

The One to Fear, a YA Feminist Horror. Image of Nina the ghost and her summoning cousin, Simone, at the East River in NYC.
The sign for the park is painted over with the word: Wraith, because Nina has returned as The East River Wraith.
Character Art by @demonyong_nini
*Real Photo of The East River Waterfront Esplanade done in line art *with NO Ai!

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Stacey Nash @staceynashauthor.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

BREATHER. 71K words. #YA #SF adventure. #q #amauerying #questpit #agentsguide When a disgraced scientist’s daughter discovers she can breathe her alien world’s toxic atmosphere, she becomes a feared mutation and must uncover the truth about her father’s failed expedition before she’s put down.

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AlexSJames @authoralexsjames.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

GUSTAVO, THE SHY GHOST X THE INVISIBLE BOY GOOD LUCK CAT An ostracized black cat lives in a town where everyone fears black cats. He tries to show that he is actually a good luck cat through kindness and love. #questpit #q #pb

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Am I Black?  A biracial adopted kid has no idea if he's Black. What actually bothers him? The borrrring questions everyone asks the second they meet him.  #PB #Q #questpit

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I have simple graphics to go along with my #picturebook pitches for #questpit tomorrow (actually, I can start posting at 9 pm my time - PST)... I'm still adding people to my list if you want to swap #writingcommunity #amquerying

static.klipy.com

Yeti Bob Ross Painting

ALT: Yeti Bob Ross Painting

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I think I'm doing this right... I'm getting ready for #questpit this Friday and adding people to my list and hoping they are adding me if I responded... #writingcommunity #picturebook

static.klipy.com

David Rose's Unsure Reaction in Schitt's Creek

ALT: David Rose's Unsure Reaction in Schitt's Creek

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

In this last year, I've read so many #picturebooks, and it's been quite eye-opening. A good story can come from any type of picture book, and I love learning new and old voices. There are many successful ways to create picture books. Your job is to find your own voice. #Iamquerying

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Can’t wait for my first #questpit for my #pb - working on my pitches.

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David Z.M. Allison @dzmallison.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I have 9 MS #picturebooks. Love the process - Wish more agents accepted text-only authors. Had a nice critique from @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social on one of my MS and just got the Desert Bloom Award from @scbwi.bsky.social Arizona for a different MS... #Amquerying

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