iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I didn’t think I could do it. But I did! 💪 One final revision pass to get under 101K before querying. A month of interrogating every paragraph, sentence, and word. Final result: 99K, baby! 🔥📚 My book is refined, ready, and rocking. If you’re cutting too, I have faith in you. #WritingCommunity

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Five years ago, I stopped writing. Not because I wanted to, because life happened. One year ago, I returned. Today, after 19 revision passes, my manuscript is preparing to enter the querying trenches late this fall. I wrote about my journey here: joy-shaw.com/2026/09/05/t...

joy-shaw.com

The Book That Called Me Back

Five years ago I stopped writing. Not because I wanted to. because life happened. One year ago, I came back. Today, after 19 revision passes, that manuscript tis preparing to enter the querying tre…

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

A trafficking survivor turned vigilante stalks Manhattan’s ruins with a sentient flaming machete to rescue girls from a grief-harvesting regime. When she joins a subterranean rebel, her trauma-made-visible glyphs mutate, threatening to remake her into the predator she hunts.🔥 #QuestPit #Q #A #DF

Dark fantasy poster featuring a scarred armored vigilante 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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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Five ’90s movies to get to know me, because I couldn’t pick three: 1. The Fifth Element: Sci-fi rules 🚀 2. The Matrix: Twisty plot + Keanu 😍 3. Titanic: Still makes me cry. 😭 He should’ve lived too! 4. Ever After: Probably my most-watched 5. The Secret Garden: Watched it a dozen times #writers

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

So yeah, the algorithm is fickle. In case my pitch got buried in yesterday’s #QuestPit chaos, click through and meet my adult cyberpunk fantasy, SCARELLA—THE MACHETE MARAUDERESS. 🔥 Thanks to everyone who liked, commented, reposted, or followed along. You made the event feel incredibly special.

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Blythe Gilpin @blythewrytes.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

THE STARDUST GRAIL x MOSS’D IN SPACE ☀️The Sun is dying ahead of schedule. 🏺Roan, an expert in dead coding languages, finally has a chance to go to Earth and excavate artifacts before the Sun swallows anything of value. 👀 But is she truly alone on the doomed planet? #QuestPit #A #SF #R #Q #LGBT

A collage of photos with text in the middle saying “Archaeologists will date any old thing.” The other pictures include a circuit board, archaeology tools, a record player, a museum interior, an astronaut looking at San Francisco buried in sand, a man holding a dark rose, a person reaching out to a ghostly figure, and an espresso machine.

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Sasha Kielman (she/her/hers) 🦋 is Querying 🙏🕯️📿 @sashakielman.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Kazmera's grandfather murders her parents & orders her, a shadow witch, to marry light witch Edan for a false peace. To save her kingdom from her grandfather’s totalitarian regime & impending war, Kazmera & Edan form a fragile alliance while facing their inner struggles. #A #Q #FR #OWN #QuestPit

A chibi commission for BETWEEN THE SUN AND MOON by Sasha Kielman by Afterblossom art! Background: A palace in blue and purple marble with yellow twinkling lights and cherry blossom branches. A man with brown skin, black hair, and a beard dressed as a knight with a gray cape kneels before a woman. She has pale skin and rosy cheeks, brown hair curled into a braid, a golden crown, and a black dress with golden detailing.

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Florrie Auclair - Querying and Drafting @florrienne.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

MONK & ROBOT X EMILY WILDE When a blight strikes, an optimistic archivist must track down her hero's fabled garden with the help of an archaic engineer—but secret origins and disillusionment lurk between hard drives and petals. ☀️ Solarpunk 🌷 Floriography 💚 Enby LI #QuestPit #W #A #SF #R

Floral background with the text Mending Glass. By Florrie Auclair. Solarpunk Romantic Sci-Fi

Character portrait of a blond woman making a heart with her hands. Juniper Penrose. An archivist specializing in botany. She idolizes the old world botanist, Miriam, who helped lead the resistance centuries ago. Optimistic and a little reckless, she seeks to uncover the past and find Miriam’s garden. Her drive to help people, sometimes comes at her own expense—like the reason for the mechanical leg she now cherishes.

Next to that is a character portrait of a nonbinary character with light blue eyes and duotone hair in black and blonde. Eli Winter. An aloof engineer who specializes in old world infrastructure programming trying to prove their skills are just as important as the nouveau programmers of the city. They leave their home and grandfather to help Juni break into archaic servers and hard drives—and often pull her out of trouble.

Comp slide with Horizon Zero Dawn, Emily Wildes, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Violet Evergarden, and Fruits Basket. The text pointing at the various media are Ruins of a fallen industrial world, Solarpunk, Flower Motifs, Traveling to help others and find self discovery, Joyful but melancholic character connections, and Sunshine MC x Sunshine Protector

Data is as fragile as flower petals. That’s why Juniper, an archivist in a recovering solarpunk world, wants to immortalize the past in the Glass Archives. Safe from time’s decay, unlike the archaic hard drives of the old world. Specifically, information on her hero, Miriam, a botanist who legend says grew a garden of resistant plants—ones that could survive the blight ravaging their crops. But to find it, Juniper will need the help of Eli, an engineer who specializes in old world technology. Together they traverse ruins and follow a trail of flower language from village to village to unearth what led to the dark age of information. But Juniper starts to question her identity when they uncover that the woman she modeled herself after was not the hero she believed.

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Taelyn Gray is querying 🦋 @taelyngray.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

BRIDGERTON x AGNES AUBERT'S MYSTICAL CAT SHELTER with a magical butterfly twist 🦋 magical butterfly rescue 🤭 hate to love ✨ fake courtship 🤍 #ownvoices scoliosis rep 📰 The Press make or break reputations 🫦 banter starts in CH 1 #questpit #Q#A #F

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Blythe Gilpin @blythewrytes.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

NETTLE & BONE x STAR DAUGHTER 💰 Cheating a suitor out of his money to help her family was easy. 🌌 Falling in love with the night sky trapped in a mortal body is harder. 💔 And helping them return to the sky at the expense of her heart might just be impossible. #QuestPit #A #F #RF #Q #LGBT

A collage of images, going from top left clockwise: a bouquet of colorful berries, swooping white towers with spiral balconies, a shiny purple beetle, a colorful shop full of knick-knacks, a blooming crocus in a dark forest, a drawing of a woman reaching out to the night sky as if to pluck a star, a crumbling castle on a moor, and mushrooms growing on a tree. In the center is a quote by Virginia Woolf: “I see you everywhere, in the stars, in the river, to me you’re everything that exists, the reality of everything.”

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Zoe is ✨querying✨ @zgauthor.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

🗝️ sapphic princess x thief 🗡️ impossible heist ⚔️ only one horse 🌙 found family ☀️ sunshine x gremlin 🐦‍⬛ morally gray heroine ✨ disability rep 🤫 everyone has secrets 🏹 touch her and die 🧭 ragtag crew 💀 sprinkles of horror #QuestPit #W #YA #F #R #MY #H

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Panda 🖤🩶🤍💜 @celticxpanda.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

KING ARTHUR X SAILOR MOON Once and Future King’ were words Morgan McArthur often heard in her childhood and academic career, but she never thought they might apply to her. Reincarnation pulls no punches, and neither so the armies of the Aesir when Mordred’s at the helm. #QueerPit #NA #UF #F

A quick guide to SHE IS KING featuring art by tacticiankate

comps for she is king, including silver in the bone by alexandra bracken

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Jo @jodmello.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Utterly Unprepared for QuestPit, but here's a quick moodboard of my #RoyalsWIP #A #F #questpit

Palace, Praying Fire, Jungle, Bride, Journey on horses, Sea Dragon

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amberjollyauthor.bsky.social @amberjollyauthor.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Jack Frost (1998) x Sweet Home Alabama YULE ALWAYS FIND ME is a holiday paranormal romance with: 🤍second chance romance 💀murd.er 🤍fake dating ❄️frosty magic 👯‍♀️sister bonds 🐶a cute pet sidekick 🎄Christmas festivities 🔼love triangle Would you read it? Art by @mknzgmbn #questpit #wip #P #R #A

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Celine Kos - amQuerying 🩷💜💙 @cl-kos.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Anxious Letyf has no place on a world-saving quest, but when his elf-supremacist cousin declares war, Letyf joins the world's champions to protect their only hope—a child who can quell magic. In their way? World-hopping demon Lia, unwilling servant to the enemy. #Q #A #F #SFF #QuestPit #AgentsGuide

Title Page: WEB TRAVELER, Adult Epic sci-fantasy, 129k, dual POV. Art of an ancient staircase carved into a mossy cliff. tagline: "...is one small world worth dying for?"

Pitch Page: Letyf Duilles has no place on a world-saving quest. Elf-supremacist Roksa Morthir took everything from Letyf—his best friend, his magic, and his future. An outcast in his rural elven village, Letyf is a constant reminder that an elf with no magic is no elf at all. When Roksa returns with an all-powerful demon on his side, Letyf must defy his endless self-doubt to protect a young elvish prodigy in the war for Crelan’s freedom. Lia, the demon in question, doesn't consider herself all-powerful. She's served heroes and villains many times before. With a string of dead masters behind her, she needs a win, or her immortality and her powers will be taken from her. If Roksa wants to conquer his backwoods, fantasy home-world, Lia will just have to do it with gritted teeth and minimal complaints about the plumbing. After all, why would a world like this be worth saving? Set on a parchment background, with photography of a spring green forest behind it.

Comps: Parchment featuring five book covers: The Magicians (Magical Multiverse, I can't believe it's not Narnia, Anxious MC, Meta-fantasy, Classic Fantasy World Reimagined); This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Metapantasy, classic fantasy world, action-packed and bloody, dry humor, highly competent FMC); The Goblin Emperor (Anxious MC, No romance, deep friendships instead, Naive, fish out of water MC); The Bright Sword (No Romance, Naive MC, Action-packed, Classic Fantasy World, Epic Setting); Nine Goblins (Action Packed, Epic setting, Dry Humor, Highly competent FMC)

First Lines: Letyf drew back his arrow, sighting down the shaft at a kingbird on a low branch.

The bird cocked its head, beady eyes darting around, but they passed right over Letyf, crouched as he was in the brush. He adjusted his aim, gave the string a touch more pressure, and released.

The arrow arced away—and missed the fat gamebird by a clear foot.

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We arrived in my master's home-world with enough force to buckle my knees.

As I yanked the heels of my pumps out of the super-heated soil, my master turned to gaze around at the brilliant green hills of his land. The rise we stood on was dotted with little white flowers, the sky was a perfect blue, and the trees shimmered with promise. Even the ring of burned grass around us couldn’t diminish the sweeping landscape.

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Raymond Currier @teaandcharcoal.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

You know what? Let's do a silly one. Wanna read a fairly neurodivergent and even queer fantasy book about a trans nobleman, his autstic alchemist boyfriend, and the moon taking down the government in a way that boils down to this meme? Watch this space. #questpit #Q #A #RF #HF #LGBT #OwnVoices

Meme of a gundam shooting over a person's head. The person looking at the gundam says "wow!! We must build solidarity because none of us are free until all of us are free." The text flying over the person's head reads "the sun is evil and i miss trees."

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Galen Bunting is querying 👽📚 @galenbunting.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

WITNESSERS OF THE UNKNOWN: HELL FOLLOWED WITH US X OLD WOUNDS X INTO THE LIGHT: 💥trans coming-of-rage 👽cults, aliens, the paranormal, and pain as weapon 🔮a chosen one who refuses to be chosen 🛸different just like me 🏳️‍⚧️trans men in love #Q #Questpit #SF #YA #lgbt #amquerying #agentguide

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DH Strange @dhstrange.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

THE FIFTH ELEMENT x HOT FUZZ After a job gone wrong, data thief Enmity and space cop Mirek end up handcuffed together, at the center of a political coup, and on the run from space thugs, disco-dancing assassins...and catching feelings for one another. #questpit #OS #AG #A #SF #R

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M.B.Taylor - Fantasy Author @mbolt89.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

BRIDGERTON X PRACTICAL MAGIC with the mystery and amateur sleuth vibes of ENOLA HOLMES When witches start disappearing from the Ton, Seraphina must unravel the mystery before she looses her reputation, her magical tea parlour and her missing best friend Primrose, forever. #SFF #W #MY #A #questpit

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B. van Bodegom 📃is AGENTED @bvbodegom.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

CABIN IN THE WOODS × JOHN DIES AT THE END × JUMANJI When their detective friend is murdered at 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 supernatural campaign. #QuestPit #A #H #AG

Poster-style graphic with a black background and heavy red blood splatter. Large distressed white and red text reads “DAD BODIES.” A dagger runs horizontally through the letters, and a 20-sided die showing low numbers appears on the right. Along the bottom are black silhouettes of heads with X-shaped eyes. Beneath, smaller text reads “ROLL FOR FUCKERY,” and at the bottom: “A co(s)mic horror novel by B. van Bodegom.”

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Duke @jgduke.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Politics of ASoFaI X imagery of Miyazaki X dynamics of Pride and Prejudice LONG LIVE THE QUEEN Three hundred years after the rightful lineage is exiled, the heir comes to reclaim what is his. Taking Ral Palace is easy; keeping it is another story. #QuestPit #YA #F #Q #AmQuerying #EpicFantasy

Picture is a temporary book cover. A golden crown sits over a black background. White text reads "Long Live the Queen, a story of Dainu, by JG Duke."

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Erica Noel @ericanoelz.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

ECHOES OF YOU | 62K YA Speculative Romance A boy dies. His spirit wakes up in someone else’s body. And the girl who loved him has no idea she’s falling for him twice. #Q #YA #S #RF #R @questpit.bsky.social #questpit

A mood board for ECHOES OF YOU - shows 9 photos that set the mood of this YA Speculative romance.

Metadata genre: speculative fiction. Word count 62012.

The body swap of Freaky Friday meets the reality-bending tension of Before I Fall with the emotional vulnerability of See You Yesterday.

First line: Some people believe in luck. I believe in serious color-coded planning. Levi? He believes in football and he says I’m his good luck charm

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Tamara 🌽👻🍁🎃🧛‍♀️ @tamaratoday.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

♣️♦️ PHANTASMA X SINNERS ♥️♠️ This New Adult Fantasy Features: 🃏 Multiple POVs 🎲 A Bisexual Love Triangle 🃏 Deadly Bargains 🎲 Sinful Behavior 🃏 Poisons & Playing Cards 🎲 Black Social Commentary #QuestPit #NA #F #BVM #POC

Left to right.

Top Row: Playing cards that spell out LOVE. A martini glass with a clear drink, dice, and a floating candle inside. A Queen of Hearts card with its eyes scribbled out.

Middle Row: Stairs and an elevator with moody red lighting. “Life is a gamble.” An eerie red hallway with many doors and chandeliers.

Bottom Row: A joker card with a demon on it. A beverage being poured into a glass. Playing cards that are three 6s.

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sierramoeykens.bsky.social @sierramoeykens.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

In an alternate, magical Regency era, Lucy Korvas must hide her "improper" wings from high society while finding a cure for her curse, or she will be transformed into a crow forever. 📖 Pride & Prejudice x 🐦‍⬛ Howl's Moving Castle x 🪷 Graceling #Questpit #Q #YA #HFR #F #RF #HF #R #HR

A woman with large black wings attached to her shoulder blades.
Text: Pluck by Sierra Moeykens. Pride & Prejudice x Howl's Moving Castle x Graceling

An illustrated lady in a Regency era dress with large black wings over a ballroom background.

Text: The Pitch
Nineteen-year-old Lucy Korvas has worse problems than complying with high society’s tedious etiquette — she must steal a diamond necklace from the Duchess of Thistal, or her cursed father will perish.
In an alternate, magical Regency era where ladies and gentlemen with improper magic are shunned from high society, Lucy Korvas has hidden a pair of giant, unladylike crow wings beneath her dresses for years, but tonight she risks exposing them to save her cursed father. She needs that diamond necklace to afford his cure. How dastardly it is, then, when she discovers soft-spoken Lord Simon pilfering his own mother’s jewelry first.
But when Lucy and Simon are cursed while trying to steal the necklace, Lucy slowly transforms into a crow and Simon starts dissolving into flower petals. Lucy must find a cure while posturing as the presentable, composed lady that she isn't before she loses her cursed father, the shy gentleman she's becoming smitten with, and her humanity.

Three transparent symbols, a heart, a scroll, and a banner, with lists in each symbol. The background is a photo of white feathers.

Text: Romance. Slow-burn & Yearning. Cinnamon Roll x Chaotic Flirt. Touch-Starved. He Falls First. Historical. Witty Regency banter. Literal Ladybird (she's transforming into a crow). Dukes, Duchesses, and Pirates. Fantasy. Repressed Magic. Curses. Magical flowers with restorative properties.

Three book covers with an arrow under each of them describing their properties. The background is a photo of a lotus.

Text: Comps. A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin. Dry humor and witty voice. Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater. Accessible, creative world-building & magic. A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft. Regency romance with an abundance of yearning.

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🌱 El(iza)beth 🌬️ K 🔥 T 🌊 @elizabethtitus.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

💫 Light After the Fall 💫 a tarot-themed odyssey across the climate-ravaged former US to retrieve a key to peace coming this October 🧙 Feedback requested: Which cover/what elements of each cover do you prefer? All feedback welcome & appreciated! #W #YA #S #hopepunk #CliFi #Questpit

Title: "Light After the Fall"
by Iza Krendl Titus

colorful background of orange & purple abstract desert scene with river path into horizon, a figure standing on a cliff holding sunflower

An empath leads a hopeful tarot themed odyssey across climate-ravaged former US to retrieve a key to peace, using meditation powers, survival skills, and archaic tech in the race to save her people.
elemental magic
visions
survival skills
climate fiction
#clifi
indigenous futurism
plant medicine
meditation
wilderness
permaculture
neotribalism
community
backpacking
post-apocalyptic
hopepunk
#hopepunk
#tarot

Title: "Light After the Fall"
/an adventure guide to thriving teh post-apocalypse
by Iza Krendl Titus

colorful background of orange & purple abstract desert scene with river path into horizon, a meditating figure glowing

An empath leads a hopeful tarot themed odyssey across climate-ravaged former US to retrieve a key to peace, using meditation powers, survival skills, and archaic tech in the race to save her people.
elemental magic
visions
survival skills
climate fiction
#clifi
indigenous futurism
plant medicine
meditation
wilderness
permaculture
neotribalism
community
backpacking
post-apocalyptic
hopepunk
#hopepunk
#tarot

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Neha Yazmin🍉Author | Reader | Dessert Person @nehayazmin.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Aaryana is winning the contest that decides who will be the next Queen/King but her enemies at Court—which may include her sisters—are determined to change that 👸ambitious FMC with a soft❤️ 🫅brooding LI who’s protective of his siblings 💕slow🔥hate-to-love 🧜‍♀️ books2read.com/Aaryana1 #booksky #f #ya

Moodboard with seven images and title along the bottom: Heir to the Throne Series. Image 1 is of a young man who appears to have huge angel-wings and a fire burning in the background. Image 2 is a scene of a ship that seems to have crashed against the rocks edging the sea. Image 3 is of a young woman with her arms around a young man. Image 4 depicts a young woman wearing an elaborate gold headpiece studded with blue crystals. Image 5 is of a young woman holding a sword and plummeting in the ocean. Image 6 depicts the outside of a beautiful castle, a huge moon in the sky, and a young woman in a black gown staring at the stars in the sky. The final image is of two ships caught in a storm at sea.

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Gert Ramm 🦋 @rammwriter.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The UK government frames an intelligence agent for a temporal disaster, putting him in the crosshairs of ruthless state assassins. To save his skin he must seal a lethal time rift, before a Russian spy from the future uses its secrets to start a war that will destroy everything. #QuestPit #Q #A #SF

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Blythe Gilpin @blythewrytes.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

BEAUTY & THE BEAST x STAR TREK Roan, part of the last team of archaeologists sent to Earth, stumbles into an ancient bunker haunted by the synthetic mind of a trillionaire. She’s the only one who can fix his tech, but can she save him before Earth is swallowed by the Sun? #QuestPit #A #SF #R #Q

A pair of hands, one warm and one grayscale, reach towards each other over a NASA image of the Sun. Text at the top reads “She brought me back to life…and I don’t want to die.” Text at the bottom reads “BEAST OF EDEN”

An image of the Sun, with a wilting rose, a black and white robot, and an espresso in a glass mug in the corners. In front of it reads the text “LOGLINE” and more text below it reads, “In this adult 99k sci-fi “Beauty & The Beast” retelling, an archaeologist excavating long-abandoned Earth can only save one before the Sun explodes: her research or a repentant synthetic copy of the man who doomed the planet.”

An image of the Sun, with old records for a record played in the top left corner. The words “OPENING LINES” are in the right corner and text above the Sun reads, “Roan’s wrist buzzed with a notification. She pointedly ignored it.
She fidgeted against the wall of what would eventually be her first curated exhibit,
“Captured Sound: A Pre-Culture War Celebration of Musical Ingenuity.” Her family milled around the space, taking in the sad, mostly empty podiums.
Her moms insisted on a preview tour before it opened to the public, if it did at all. Roan
gripped her elbows, wishing she’d done more to stall, wishing she had more here to impress them. But what could she do when they wanted a private showing, especially when they made the trip all the way out to her station?

An image of the Sun. In front of it is the word “COMPS” and the covers or movie posters for “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” “Moss’d in Space,” “Volatile Memory,” “In the Lives of Puppets,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and “Beauty & The Beast.”

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K.M. Carlson @wanderingbutton.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

#Q #A #F #Questpit ASHMARKED: Feminine rage, social commentary, dangerous power... "They made obedience feel holy and used it as permission." Querying now!

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Kat Devitt @katdevittwrites.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Hello! I'm Kat Devitt, and I'm an 🖤Author of Gothic Things🖤 Currently, I’m querying my queer gothic horror set in the Scottish Highlands, ONLY MONSTERS LIVE HERE. When I’m not writing, I’m ghost-hunting and reading dark (mostly) books. #querytrenches #amquerying #meettheauthor

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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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Danielle Ippaso is📝Querying📝 @danielleippaso.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

STARLING HOUSE x ADDIE LARUE X MY COUSIN RACHEL A Gothic Fantasy Romance 📰 marriage of desperation 🏚️a secluded New Orleans estate 🥀mysterious, reclusive MMC 🕯️suspicious, determined FMC 🖤slow burn, forbidden obsession 🗝️a dark secret locked away #QuestPit #Q #A #F #H #R #Gothic #AmQuerying

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Jules @jules.northsky.social · 24/07/2026

THE SHADOWS (WIP in 3rd Draft) #W #F #A #QuestPit A middle-aged shopkeeper & retired magical con artist takes one last job to save store & family. She could end the corrupt power of the Skyborn mages. She could end up losing herself, her magic & all she holds dear. Talk about a midlife crisis.

Moodboard for The Shadows WIP. Upper left: Illustration of a crowded, cramped city alley. Upper mid: Four black-clad people with face masks in a warehouse. Upper right: Shadowed cobblestone alley with someone at the mouth sweeping. Mid left. Two memes. "A niche character trope I like is the person who is nice, a good person and acts well-adjusted, then they do something where it's like oh you're secretly a little bit insane actually. Middle: A shadowed portrait of a woman with sparks coming out of her hands. Mid right: A meme: Original poster: "80% exhaustion 10% sarcasm %20 don't care" Reply poster: "that's 110 percent". OP: "20% of me doesn't care." RP: "should've seen that coming." Bottom left: Warmly lit storefront doorway on a cobblestone street. Bottom mid: Painting of fancy buildings on islands floating well above the ground. Bottom right: Cramped thrift store with shopkeeper.

The Shadows: The Pitch

The worst day of Ania’s life was when her beloved cousin Piren was dragged off to the floating towers of the Above to serve as a source to the Skyborn mages. The second worst day was when he was returned. Discarded. Drained of his magic and broken in spirit.

Ania left behind her rebellious past to support her cousin as he once
supported her. In a city where any display of magic makes you a target
of the Skyborn, keeping your head down and your magic a secret, taking care of your friends, your family and your neighborhood is the only safe way to survive.

But now, everything she’s built over twenty years of safe, carefully
constructed life is falling apart. To recover what she’s lost, Ania takes on one last dangerous heist that strikes at the heart of the Skyborn’s power. She may end up losing herself. She may just bring the entire system crashing down.

The Shadows: Comp Titles
MA Carrick: Mask of Mirrors. Con artist MC out to save her family (and maybe the world).
Shannon Chakraborty: Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. I'm retired. Really. Okay, fine, one last job.
Robert Jackson Bennett: Foundryside. Magical technology, a corrupt ruling class and problematic heists.
Fonda Lee: Last Contract of Isako. I'm too old for this shit but no one else can do it.

“Except you can help me without bringing the bluejackets and their hunters down on my head!” Ania yelled, throwing her arms in the air. “All I’m asking you for is money. You’re asking me to risk my life! My family’s life!” She glared at him, grinding out her words through clenched teeth. “You want me to dust off magic I haven’t used in twenty years! How is that fair?” She spat the last word.
“It’s not fair!” Verasi spat back at her. “None of this is fair!” He flung a hand out. “Our people, our friends and family, our neighbors, are ripped from their homes in the middle of the night. They’re enslaved, ridden so hard they break. Maybe it takes a year. Maybe it takes five. Maybe it only takes a couple of months.” He continued in a harsh whisper. “We live in constant fear that it’ll be one of us. If not one of us, someone we know. Someone we love. Their propaganda machine is turning our own people against us. You know they’re not even testing people to see if they have any magical talent now? They’re just rounding people up at random and carting them off Above. None of them come home, not the same way they left.”

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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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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Part of my month-long writing break is spending time here. Quiet water. Fresh air. No deadlines. Just a chance to refill the creative well. 🌿📚✨ #WritingCommunity #Writers

A peaceful lake reflects a lush green forest beneath a bright blue sky. A wooden dock extends into the calm water, with a blue paddleboard resting along the edge. The scene is quiet, serene, and surrounded by nature.

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Reposted by ✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨

Stevie Kilner @1steviekilner.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

If anyone would like to see a short video of a baby Armadillo having a drink of milk, this is your lucky day.

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

#QuestPit anyone? Is that a thing people are doing on Friday? Perfect timing to take my new genre positioning for a spin. 🔥 I’d love to support you!

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Guess what? I’m taking a month-long break from writing. After a year of rewriting and revising, it feels like the right time to let my story breathe and my mind create in other ways for a while. 🖋️ 🌿 What do you do after a writing sprint? #WritingCommunity #Writers

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Exactly one year ago, I started my ground-up rewrite. Seventeen revision passes and twelve months of intense work later, I’m happy to report my story is hitting the query trenches this fall. I’m proud of the book it became. I’m even prouder that I didn’t give up on it. 📚✨ #WritingCommunity

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

Four weeks ago, I paused social media and vanished into my editing cave. One deep revision later, my book is stronger than ever. 💪📚✨ Huge thanks to the editor whose feedback inspired this final revision. #WritingCommunity #AmEditing

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

✨ Every writer builds in shadows before they share their #stories. I’ve recently returned to my #book after giving myself a month-long break. This is my 17th revision pass, and I’m finally ready to tackle this last polish. 💪🔥 #Writers, how do you know when a book is truly done? #WritingCommunity

static.klipy.com

Chill Cow: Lofi Study Session

ALT: Chill Cow: Lofi Study Session

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Reposted by ✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨

Revise & Resub @reviseresub.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

One week until the #revpit 2026 Showcase goes live!! Bookmark www.reviseresub.com and return to it on Monday, June 8! #booksky #amquerying

Save the Date: 2026 RevPit Showcase. Monday, June 8 on reviseresub.com

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Walked through a field of peonies yesterday. The newly opened flowers reminded me that this world can still be breathtaking. 🌸 #Peonies #NatureLover #Photography #WritingCommunity

Collage of a woman smiling in a sunny peony field, surrounded by close-up photos of pink and white peonies in bloom. The flowers are full and bright, with green leaves and a soft outdoor garden background.

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Saturday morning thread time ☕ #Writers, serious question: What’s the hardest #chapter to write in a #novel? Because I’m starting to think it’s not just one 😄

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Throwback to Hyder, Alaska, where the views were wild and unforgettable. One of those places that makes you feel tiny in the best possible way. Travel has a way of reminding me how big the world is, and how much #kindness matters. 🌲🏔️ #Writers #Travel #NatureLover #photography

A woman stands on a rocky overlook above a deep blue lake in Hyder, Alaska, with forested mountains, cliffs, patches of snow, and a bright blue sky in the background.

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Lately I’ve been thinking about how easily technology can mimic connection. Social media did it first. Newer tech may be doing it in a different way. And I’m not sure we’ve fully reckoned with what that does to us, as a society or as human beings. #philosophy #technology #humanity #writers

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✨ Joy Shaw | Author ✨ @joyshaw.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Or waking from a dead sleep at 2 AM because your chaos brain decided NOW is the perfect time to become a speed-running hamster with plot notes.

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