iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Mote Thone Lay

sammytongs.bsky.social @sammytongs.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Caraval meets Sparta In a brutal magic rite where hesitation means death, the nearly magic-less Mara Tedros makes a forbidden pact with a revenant, trading her humanity for the power to survive The Honory. #SEAsianPit #Q #F #A

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

We’re far and few. But we exist though. Yep definitely cool!

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Aww you’re Burmese then. My mother is half Shan

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Mohinga is definitely there! Are you Burmese?

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

V. E. Schwab’s Vicious x Chloe Gong’s Coldwire x Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies A cyberpunk novel with a romantic subplot 📣Voicey 🧬 Grounded sci-fi 😱 Cannibalism 🍲 Unintroduced cuisines 🎯 Professional futuristic darts player FMC 🎲 Two MMCs 🗺️ Set outside the US and the UK #SEAsianPit #NA #SF #Q

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Tiff Bartel @tiffbartel.com · 30/05/2026

PSALM FOR THE WILD BUILT X SORRY TO BOTHER YOU When a down-on-his-luck archivist takes a job from a shady tech company to save his robot friend, he uncovers a darker plot involving stolen memories while falling for a handsome anarchist with a grudge against his employer. #SEAsianPit #Q #SF #SFF #R

Dark background with light text:

Snaggleteeth: A Novel
Adult Science Fiction / 96,000 words
In an isolated tech company town, a lonely audiovisual archivist seeks the help of an illegal repair shopkeep to save his fox spirit-shaped robot friend and unravel a mystery involving stolen memories while confronting his own grief about the past.

Dark background with light text and an image of a hồ ly tinh dreaming:

It's got:
- A BIPOC cast
- A scrappy queer, neurodivergent, and disabled main character
- A prickly robot familiar
- Body positive romance between older queer characters
- Queerplatonic friendship and community-building
- Southeast Asian folklore
- Anti-capitalism
- Cassette futurism vibes

Dark background with light text:

Comps:
Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro)
Luminous (Silvia Park)
Hammajang Luck (Makana Yakamoto)
Light From Uncommon Stars (Ryka Aoki)

Vibes:
Severance (Apple TV)
Maniac (Netflix)
Poker Face (Peacock)
Robot Dreams (Sara Varon)

Dark background with light text:

Mood Board

Images on mood board are various colourful/neon cassette futurism aesthetic stills from the shows Maniac, Severance, and Beef Season 1.

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J.C. Sang is querying medical thriller 🫀 @jcsang.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

@seasianpit.bsky.social THE PERFECT DIVORCE x MY DARK VANESSA. Nurse Rain wants more than anything to believe she deserves redemption but can’t because her unresolved trauma & the consequences of 1 irreversible decision keep her trapped in survival mode. #SEAsianPit #Q #A #Thriller #WF #R

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Jia 佳 is Querying @jiawrites.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

DAUGHTER OF THE🌙 GODDESS x THE SUN & THE STARMAKER A dutiful immortal who cannot feel falls for a mortal musician who cannot afford to. He holds the key to her breakthrough. Now she must decide: Is her perfection worth the cost of his soul? 🎵✨🗡️🩵❄️ #SEAsianPit #A #F #Q #Retelling #xianxia

Moodboard for A Sliver of Frost, an adult Chinese myth-inspired fantasy. Ethereal ink-wash mountains, mist, cranes, winter plum blossoms, a burning calligraphy scroll, a guqin, bamboo flute, and a sword in blood splattered snow surround the title. Two hands reach for one another through mist and silk, suggesting a star-crossed immortal-mortal romance. Themes include magic and music, sentient swords, Chinese mythology, and C-drama-inspired longing and destiny.

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T.N. Lee (she/her) @authort-lee.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

THE THIRD LOVE x THE NAMES After a sudden rebirth, Max wishes for an easy, love-filled life, ignoring the claim that his affection is cursed. As he avoids work & devotes himself to his beloved, de*th finds his loved ones. Max must decide if life is still worth living. #SEAsianPit #Q #A #Spec #F #LF

In the background, spanning all four images, is commissioned art of post-reincarnation Mac in ancient robes, reaching for a reflection of his pre-reincarnation self in modern-day clothes. Paper falls around them, and a red ribbon swirls behind them.
The text in this first image reads: Years of Red Tears, 100,000 words literary speculative novel.
David Copperfield meets time travel C-dramas. Spontaneously reborn as an ancient noble, MAX wishes for all the wealth and love he never had despite high familial expectations and a curse to kill others with his affection. He'll do anything for his ideal life, even if it means marrying a stranger and becoming the next foreign minister. But when death won't stop knocking, he must decide if life is still worth living without someone to live for. Otherwise, the familiar yearning for death may be his greatest calling.

Themes & Tropes
- mixed-Asian character and LGBTQIA+ rep
- East Asian history and fairytales inspo
- sentient nature
- family trauma leading to self-doubts
- modern-day man vs. traditional values
- loser then vs. overly popular now
- love vs. obligation
- undying trust vs. expected betrayal
- chance meetings and destined partings
- timeless societal and familial pressures
- pen pals and soulmates
- sentimental and indecisive man surrounded by women who know what they want

In the bottom corner is smaller character art reincarnated Max holding a book and looking at his past self.
The text reads: Excerpt
When we met, I thought I was hallucinating. That the cumulation of all my make-believe was a mental breakdown. When I found that we were intrinsically tied, I couldn't wish for anything more. That was where I was wrong. The spirits abound reminded me that I am bound to every flower I touch. Because you are not a flower of this world, rather a floating cloud, I can never reach you. You can never entwine with me.
With all that has transpired, I remain a boy who wants to live for myself and die for love.
An impossible, otherworldly love. ___, I dare ponder if you asked about my past since you
cannot fully shed yours either. We have gone through so many names before landing on our current ones. Let's not squander them reviving old vices.

In the bottom corner is smaller character art pre-reincarnated Max holding flowers and looking at his future self.

The text reads: Comps
David Copperfield
- Turbulent coming of age
- Overreliance on love and marriage
- Search for home and found family
- The corruption of status and wealth

The Third Love
- Endless pursuit of love
- Questioning of societal norms
- Caught between different lives
- Bitter aftermath of a doomed relationship

The Names
- Contemplation of choices not taken
- A life cut short
- Fear of becoming one's parent
- The weight of a name/title

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mymaiy.bsky.social @mymaiy.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

FABLED FISHBONES, a modern retelling of Thai folklore set in the 1990s. 🍲Reclaiming the magic in old tales and bittermelon curry 🤍Grieving a grandparent 🇹🇭Critiqueing Western saviorism 🌔Complex female friendships BLACKCAKE x REMARKABLYBRIGHTCREATURES x BIGFISH #SEAsianPit #A #MR #Fabulist

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huzai @huzaiqhu.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

LIGHTLARK x RED QUEEN Using a prince to be the strongest warrior, a young girl must decide whether she should continue holding on to a boy she loves after knowing the secret behind his existence. #SEAsianPit #Q #YA #F #amquerying

A moodboard containing a paper with pitches and the first page as well as some quotes in the sticky notes.

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Reposted by Mote Thone Lay

Ossei Odontidae @filitadraws.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

When the human of a vampire-hating werewolf family turns into a vampire, he must hide his new fangs from his nosy sister all while suppressing his hunger for blood and deflecting the suspicion of his sister’s (very hot) 🐺 bodyguard. That and to avoid a 🧛 vs 🐺 war #SEAsianPit #A #PR #Q 🌈 filo mc

moodboard composed of 10 images (left to right) silhouette of a hand with claws, outside restaurant during the evening, vampire red eyes, wolf necklace, random alleyway in Puglia, silhouette of two men staring at each other longingly, golden eyes, a bucket of garlic and herbs, Fangs Out in Italy with a red background. Silhouette of bats going across the moodboard

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Reposted by Mote Thone Lay

allison e. crisostomo @aecwrites.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE x CAN’T SPELL TREASON WITHOUT TEA with superheroes THIS REALITY AND THE NEXT features superhero partners to lovers, a Disney-esque True Love’s Kiss, a hockey romance, a mirror universe, and much more. #SEAsianPit #Q #F #SFF #R

THIS REALITY AND THE NEXT

adult cozy fantasy
84,000 words

The Pitch: Longtime superheroes Aura-Man and The Diplomat are ready to retire. Together. But when revealing their new relationship to the media incites public panic and the collapse of all realities, they’re thrust into one last mission: save the multiverse from a collapse of their own making.

Comp titles: Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea (early retirement, live-in partnership); Somewhere Beyond the Sea (public expectations, defying stereotypes); Marvel Cinematic Universe (Tony/Steve dynamic, multiverse adventure); and Good Omens (partners through time, us against the world mentality)

The excerpt: Time trickled like molasses. Andres paced the hospital floor, just outside the operating room where they wouldn’t let him follow. His rage had nowhere to go but through his feet. He wished he had something or someone else to punch.
It was so, so stupid. A pack of armed men? That was who took down Aura-Man? The great Lyric Grae, who had wiped out armies of reanimated corpses, who had taken down alien snakes and stopped the planet from getting knocked off its axis. He’d survived deep space, the depths of the ocean, and seventy days alone in the desert. Lyric Grae had endured so much in his life of service to the world; he did not deserve to go down like this.

Andres blamed himself.

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Natalia Wik is in her ✨querying✨ era @weavinguptales.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

The Untamed but sapphic x Indonesian mythology A time-bending hero makes a pact with a queen of monsters to save her cursed family. But in exchange for their free lives, she must cut out the heart of the one person she yearns for the most. Her best friend #SEAsianPit #YA #F

Moodboard of 7 images including an open pocket watch held in a hand, two faceless girls in an embrace and wearing old-fashioned dresses, an Indonesian mythological figure with fangs and large eyes, an Indonesian dagger, hands clasping potion bottles, a body of water flowing, a dagger being held by a faceless figure in an old-fashioned dress

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Kayleigh Fan 💖 is Querying @kayleighfan.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

MATCHA DO ABOUT NOTHING 💘Loose Shakespeare inspiration 🍵Family-owned matcha shop 🇸🇬Mixed Asian American rep 📚Academic rivals to…? 🌉Bay Area setting 🫂Family drama #SEAsianPit #Q #YA #RomCom

The book title "Matcha Do About Nothing" in bold letters above a collage that consists of two Asian American high-schoolers, a shot of San Francisco Chinatown, and a close-up photo of vibrant green matcha.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

I’ll delete the video recording if that’s somehow inappropriate

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

I should've checked your submission link and the dates before I replied 🥲 I'm querying you when you're open. Also thank you for the like

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Thank you! I'm querying you tomorrow!

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

I'm sending it tomorrow! ♥️😍

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

In honor of #SEAsianPit, here’s my pitch for CITY OF THE SOLD, a cyberpunk novel with a romantic subplot. 📣Voicey 🧬 Grounded sci-fi 😱 Cannibalism 🍲 Unintroduced cuisines 🎯 Professional futuristic darts player FMC 🎲 Two MMCs 🗺️ Set outside the US and the UK #NA #SF #Q

Over a large pinkish-purple illustrated camera lens against a deep purple background are aquamarine, pink-outlined phrases: “An agent’s guide to”, “City of the Sold” (in which “o” is a tiny dartboard), “by Mote Thone Lay”, and “Cyberpunk, grounded sci-fi, & romantic subplot”. An illustrated beautiful hand with pink nails touches “ld” of the word “Sold”.

Background: Deep purple
Large texts (aquamarine, pink-outlines): The Pitch, 119k-word
Paragraph (pale purple): Nineteen-year-old November is the celebrated killer, known as the Cyborg Butcher, of a commercial death game show, number one in the ranking, in Year 2402. When Kalayar, a professional darts player from an oppressed social class, is bullied at her school by her rival, the corrupt deputy mayor’s son, the killer sweeps in as a white knight in shining armor, carrying her to the hospital, hiding his identity. After being kidnapped by her relentless bully the same day, she meets Karl, her kind, impoverished ex-boyfriend, who is revealed to be the heir to the corporation that arranges the show and owns a private city and a military, and is November’s one and only friend.

Numbered phrases against a white box at the bottom:
1. Cyberpunk, grounded sci-fi
2. Professional darts
3. Cannibalism
4. Found family
5. Voicey
6. Triple POVs (Three fleshed-out, interconnected plots)
7. Forbidden romance
8. Developed romantic subplot
9. Southeast Asian representations
10. Myanmar & Asian cuisines
11. LGBTQ+ representation

Background: Deep purple
Large texts (aquamarine, pink outlines): The comps
Slightly big texts (pale purple which applies to other texts): Also for fans of Jennifer J. Chow
Image 1: Book cover of Chloe Gong’s Coldwire (Primary colors: Neon pink against neon aquamarine darker hues)
Bottom texts: Theme
Image 2: Book Cover of V. E. Schwab’s Vicious (Black shadows against red and white)
Bottom texts: Character complexity, inner demons (Primary colors: Red, dark green, & pale green)
Image 3: Book cover of Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies
Bottom texts: Forbidden love

Background: Deep purple
Large texts (aquamarine, pink outlines): The snippet
Paragraph (pale purple): She was near the door she had entered, since she didn’t want to walk further inside, but this man just had to make her life more miserable than it already was. As she had said, she was not that brave, but not everything was about bravery. Some things were about losing brain cells and a tooth.
“Look, I know you’re high. I am very sorry about that. So, go stand somewhere else? Kind of like…I mean…I mean… fuck off?”
It might be her imagination, but he stepped closer by about two centimeters. Okay, he was a sicko, and she was bawling before she realized what she was doing. Life was hard. So damn hard! Mom dead. Poverty stunk. Got bullied. Won darts matches—that was not exactly…anyway, got bullied! Took ground-bus. She still encountered a madman.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Reintroduction: I’m Mote Thone Lay. I’m querying CITY OF THE SOLD, a triple-POV cyberpunk novel. I’ve worked on it for more than a couple of years 🧬 Southeast Asian and Burmese inspired 🧬 #authorsky #booksky #southeastasianauthor

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

One mental disorder is based on my own experience. I wrote it as a mean for an outlet. If that's different from yours, remember that we're different individuals.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

*a. Anyway, anything that is unsustainable could be a fatal flaw to any structure.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

I'm the class A idiot then. I don't mind. Being an idiot is better than losing 200 billion dollars or whatever.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

...like a burden. At times, it would feel like unbearable. You have no idea how many more investments, more works, to get you break through and will help solidify your status. It could be one more billion dollars or 1000 billion dollars or even more. Since it could be anything, you have (2/4)

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

...nothing to hold onto as hope. Some improvements take your entire lifetime or more while some improvements take nothing. For instance, if you're working only 7 hours a day and your improvement is the need to put more work, it's feasible to work 10/12 hours a day. But when you're already (3/4)

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

...working 14 hours a day and the improvement takes 20 hours and getting help isn't an option, you'll be torturing yourself and then you might break and it might all collapse. (4/4)

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

AI isn't a bubble. AI is a self-torture mechanism for companies that have already invested hundreds of billions of dollars. The giveaway is the data centers. Everything has room for improvement. AI might too. The problem is when you are stretching yourself already too thin, any more work feels (1/3)

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Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Everything is bad, but books are good. Get a book. Read the book. Cherish the book. Finish the book. Tell your friends about the book, and leave a review of the book. Hold the book close. Listen to what it tells you. Do as it commands. Place it on the dread altar and let it guide your every choice.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Also you can use this chrome extension Source: Chrome Web Store share.google/5FpESTtyWSHZ...

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

I'll be there, and thank you for your work in creating a space for human works.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Yeah it would be better if there are filters like Pixabay so that people can search depending on whether or not they want AI content. I see you use an ai-generated pic as well but I guess everyone wants to have fun every once in a while I guess. I can see how it could be fun to generate images.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

The comment I was searching for!

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

I'm gonna publish my WIP there soon, I promise 😔

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NPR @npr.org · 06/09/2025

A U.S. district court is scheduled to consider whether to approve the settlement next week, in a case that marked the first substantive decision on how fair use applies to generative AI systems.

n.pr

Anthropic settles with authors in first-of-its-kind AI copyright infringement lawsuit

A U.S. district court is scheduled to consider whether to approve the settlement next week, in a case that marked the first substantive decision on how fair use applies to generative AI systems.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Okay random image I took in Bagan to support Bluesky 🥴 Where are authors??? Anyway, this is a traditional wooden puppet. A princess. Or a prince? Don't blame me, they all look similar. I'm local, I don't know, nobody knows, trust me. (Except for Bagan locals) #authorsky

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

I adore Best Adorable Baby the best so I'm sharing this best adorably best news 🥰

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Dear Bluesky, can you increase word count limit? Cause I'm a little annoyed though I want to support you. I'm pretty sure other users, writers at least, would welcome it for sure. I really hate to compare but Threads word count is at least twice yours. And I don't even like Zuckerberg. #feedback

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

...she snores, not constantly like a human, but she whines or moans in sleep. She makes weird poses too, like all paws up in the air and goes to sleep just like that lol. Then occasionally she looks asleep but rolls and raises paws up. I find it so funny.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Not a cat person so I never knew cats snore, but I have this stray cat I've been feeding for over a year. She's been breaking into my place and sleeping on my bed for several months now and... 🦋1/2 #catsky #authorsky

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

He's a prince, I believe. I almost never go on a trip during these years. Usually I'd be just at home, writing. But last year, I went to Bagan with family. #authorsky #bagan #myanmar

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

A class action suit for pirating a billion books.

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Where 95 percent book covers are AI art because those platforms made it clear they preferred it. And people keep saying these days things like "Don't get me wrong. I am not against AI but..." I mean what are they so scared of? To be against something unethical? While Anthropic just settled a class--

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Mote Thone Lay @motethonelay.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Totally! I am not sure how good or bad this platform is but I see someone simply building a platform/ product and announcing its anti genai a good start. Because other platforms keep pressuring writers/users to use AI or otherwise we're like dumb or something. There are online fiction platforms--

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