Tessera

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!

@jaztice.bsky.social

Hi y’all! I’m a creative writer, professional editor, ttrpg designer, and actual play performer. I like cats, black tea, trinkets, stories about super kids, and being whatever gender is currently funniest. They/them! 🚫AI 🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸🇺🇦✊🏿 www.kodigonzaga.com

688 Posts521 Follower 442 Folgt

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 2w ago

nothing is worse than going to a convention and making friends and not being able to retain their names in ur shit ass brain. Kill Me Kill Me Kill Me #gencon2026

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 2w ago

And Down the Road Through the End of the World!!! Also at GenCon!!! AAAAAAAAAA #gencon2026

Indie Press Revolution@ipr.bsky.social · 2w ago

10/18 Crucible and A Perfect Rock and other fine games. Almost to the corner of our 10x30 booth.

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 2w ago

Look! It’s Extra Ordinary!!! At GenCon!!!!! :D #gencon2026

Indie Press Revolution@ipr.bsky.social · 2w ago

8/18 So many games. Almost to the halfway point!

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 2w ago

Is marking up typos in your own damn book with red pen unhinged behavior? Discuss. #indiettrpg #ttrpgcommunity #ttrpg

A picture of the Minigames page of Voxinn: A Firebrands Hack. It is marked up with red pen correcting some of the page number typos.

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 2w ago

Come Play My Game Nerds #GenCon2026 (I’m in Hall B near the Legend Story Studios ceiling sign)

A picture of Kodi Gonzaga sitting at a table with a green cover, the supplies for their game Down the Road Through the End of the World scattered around them.

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 2w ago

Officially on my way to #GenCon2026 I’ll see you nerds there!!! :D

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 3w ago

Hey y’all! I’m running four games at #GenCon2026 this year: - Down the Road Through the End of the World www.gencon.com/events/330884 - Voxinn: A Firebrands Hack www.gencon.com/events/330882 - Extra Ordinary www.gencon.com/events/330883 - In This Echoing World www.gencon.com/events/330881

Gen Con | Gen Con Indy 2026

The Best Four Days in Gaming

gencon.com

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 3w ago

Are you heading to #GenCon2026 and interested in playing Extra Ordinary, a game about kids with powers on the run from danger? Sign up for my game on Sat at 10 am! www.gencon.com/events/330883

Gen Con | Gen Con Indy 2026

The Best Four Days in Gaming

gencon.com

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 3w ago

what do you MEAN i cant download the instagram promo video i just spent forty five minutes making in the instagram app i stg im in hell

Hinokodo @hinokodo.com · 3w ago

Chat with your publisher about adding "human made" to the box. There's a chain of folks from start to finish and highlighting the lack of ai can help a lot of folks looking to avoid it. This icon pack is free and on hundreds of books now. (More board games soon!) hinokodo.itch.io/human-made

Human Made by HINOKODO

An icon pack made by humans

hinokodo.itch.io

Elizabeth Hargrave@elizhargrave.bsky.social · 3w ago

Does your game store shout out local designers? @labyrinthdc.bsky.social has always been good about this and @stickydoodler.bsky.social has been getting other DC-area stores to do it too. What else can we do to help average consumers realize/remember that games are made by humans?

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 3w ago

See y’all at #GenCon2026! I’ll be at the @dianajonesaward.org ceremony on Wednesday night and running games all weekend! Plus two of my games are for sale at @ipr.bsky.social booth 449, Extra Ordinary and Down the Road, go buy ‘em!

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 3w ago

Hey guess what? Physical copies of my game Voxinn: A Firebrands Hack are now available for purchase though @ipr.bsky.social! www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Voxinn... #ttrpg #indiettrpg #ttrpgcommunity

Voxinn: A Firebrands Hack [Print+PDF] :: Print+PDF Bundles :: IPR

Indie Press Revolution (IPR) is a direct sales network of quality independent publishers, dedicated to bringing you the best of small press tabletop roleplaying and storytelling games.

indiepressrevolution.com

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 3w ago

me deciding to self publish some of my books and all of my TTRPGs like

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 3w ago

Hey y'all, here's some excerpts from my book THE POWER THIEF, a 120,000 word first-in-the-series #YA novel about 16-year-old super kid Pen Carter! Check my pinned post for more info on the book :) #questpit #Q #S #AmQuerying

A dark and gritty image that’s mostly text. It says EXCERPT: CHAPTER 1 with more text below:
I look back at Tommy, and he’s still watching me, his face filled with so much concern it makes my heart ache like a sprained muscle. Before I even know what I’m doing, I’ve pulled him into a desperate hug.
I must be squishing him, but he doesn’t make a single noise of complaint, and that alone worries me—it must’ve been bad, my nightmare.
“You were making things float again,” he says, his voice muffled against my chest and hoarse with some sniffling sickness.
I swallow again. “Did I hurt you?” I ask.
“No, nothing was moving around. Just floating.”
“Good.” I nod, relieved, and pull back to look at my brother. “You need to wake me up earlier next time, okay?”
His mouth twists into a stubborn frown. “You need the sleep, Pen,” he insists.
“Please, Tommy. I don’t want to hurt you.”
His frown stays, but his eyes fall away from mine, and he ultimately huffs in defeat. It’s always much easier to convince him like this, when I’m actually scared.
“Fine,” he grumbles.
I smile, just a little, and hug him again, less forcefully than before. “Thank you,” I breathe.
“Whatever. Stop crushing me.”
There he is.
I grin wide and pull back again, staring at Tommy as he glares off to the side in annoyance. Little twerp.

A dark and gritty image that’s mostly text. It says EXCERPT: CHAPTER 5 with more text below:
Alice salutes and immediately pulls one of the blueprints up to the front, laying it over everything else. “You got it,” she says. “Alright, so this is a blueprint of the underground lab beneath Asclepius Tower.”
“Where’s the Tower again?” I ask.
“On 58th between Park and Lexington,” Jack says helpfully.
I take a moment to map out its location in my head. “Got it.”
“This,” Alice says, pointing to a room on the blueprint, “is where they keep the kids. These are examination rooms and laboratories.” She gestures at several other rooms. And then she points at a room near the only set of stairs on the map. “This is the trash room, which is where they’ll most likely put Jack’s stuff after capturing him. Meaning it’s where the EMP bomb will be.”
“How exactly did you make an EMP bomb, again?” I ask the girl who I recently discovered is only fourteen years old.
Alice grins nefariously wide. “Stole a bunch of shit from my parents’ lab in the Tower,” she says. “And I’m a genius.”
I raise an eyebrow and glance at Jack for confirmation. He sighs.
“Yeah, she is one,” he says. “Her IQ tested like three points above Einstein’s or something, she’s very proud of it.”
“Technically, it’s three points higher than the estimated IQ of most chess grandmasters, and also they don’t know Einstein’s IQ, and also the IQ test is stupid and outdated and pretty damn classist,” Alice corrects. “I tell you this every time.”
“Whatever.” Jack waves his hand at her dismissively and tells me, “It’s 200 something.”
“201. Can we go back to planning our rescue op now?”

A dark and gritty image that’s mostly text. It says EXCERPT: CHAPTER 10 with more text below:
We trudge up the stairs, arriving on the third floor of the hospital, and I take a minute to relocate the empathic super before bringing us to a vending machine alcove nearby. Tommy leans against the wall opposite the vending machine and closes his eyes, concentrating.
He breathes in through his nose and out through his mouth. His eyes dart around beneath his eyelids.
A few moments pass in silence. Well, relative silence. I’m still kind of wheezing.
Someone in scrubs walks by and doesn’t pay us any mind. Still, I glance out into the hallway, my ears listening for any sign of an approaching cop, but no one else appears. I shift on my feet, impatient.
“Okay,” Tommy says, eyes still closed, but I can tell by the furrow in his brow that he’s locked onto the cop signals. Smart kid. “They’re still blocking the exits, but there’s only, like, five cops here total, going by radio signals. And two of them are searching for us on the first floor. There’s definitely a way out of the hospital that they aren’t guarding, right? Hospitals have more than three exits.”
“Oh, for sure,” I say. “Okay, we’re good then. Just can’t run into any cops on the way out. Good, nice job, Tombo.”
He opens his eyes and gives me a half-hearted smirk. “Can I get something from the vending machine?” he asks.
I roll my eyes and glance over to it, scanning the goods inside. “Get me some mini Oreos,” I say.
He pumps his fist in victory and points a finger at the machine, causing it to whir to life and spit out two bags of mini Oreos. I glance into the hallway one more time as he hands my bag to me. Coast is clear.

🌱 El(iza)beth 🌬️ K 🔥 T 🌊@elizabethtitus.bsky.social · 3w ago

💫 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

Rhiannon J. Taylor/R. J. Howell @mytherea.bsky.social · 3w ago

Starfall: a queer space opera heavy on the intimate-stakes character drama, elfy science-fantasy, and swashbuckling starship adventure about a telepathic space elf who joins off-brand Starfleet. He's a stabby cinnamon roll who doesn't want any friends! (This is a lie.) #Questpit #Q #A #SF #SFF

Title slide that reads "Starfall, Queer Space Opera Adventure, 139,000 words, R. J. Howell."

Slide that reads: "Pitch: Erendesirel was raised for two things: political marriage and political skirmishes. Sadly, the galaxy doesn’t have much call for a well-trained ornamental husband or sword-wielding duelist. Banished from his technologically-hostile homeworld, unskilled, and entirely broke, he applies to the Galactic Survey and Security Fleet,
a company of space-faring scientific contractors.

He just has to somehow pass a basic competency exam he is woefully unprepared for. And agree to a 10-year debt contract to pay for his tuition. And avoid being driven insane by the thoughts and feelings of a crew of a hundred and twenty souls serving on a very small starship. And navigate all the well-meaning people trying to be his friend.

Oh, and not get kidnapped by pirates." There is another section below it that reads "Comps" and show the covers of Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell, Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, Slow Gods by Claire North, and Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. There is also an illustration of a space elf named Eren.

This slide reads: "Excerpt: Erendesirel—the nameless, the houseless, the planetless—had tracked his quarry down to a victuals shop on the outskirts of the space station’s medical district. From his hunter’s hide on a public bench opposite the establishment, he glowered at the incongruously-wooden door, breathed in the smell of roasted nuttiness and sticky sugar wafting out through the open bay window, and fought for equanimity.

His hand tightened on the hilt of his family sword, the blade pressed against his leg to accommodate the rather unfriendly design of the bench. Galactic architecture was, as always, crafted for comfort and unobtrusiveness but singularly failed to take into account a full-length sword at one’s hip. It didn’t matter that of all the peoples of the galaxy, there was only one that insisted on carrying true steel swords instead of some technological marvel that, oh, made the sword shrink or disappear or be constructed entirely out of light.

He would never stoop to touch such a thing. No, the sword and dagger set of his clan would serve him for this purpose just fine.

No matter that they were considered contraband. By both his people and station security, if for rather different reasons."

This slide reads "The Trope Nebula" and contains a series of trope-related terms: All the feels, found family, to boldly go (but contractually), swords but space, touch-adverse telepathic space elves, starships!, stabby cinnamon roll, disaster bisexuals, qu3eer, student debt?, lesbians with laser canons, and friendship! (whether you want it or not).

B. van Bodegom 📃is AGENTED @bvbodegom.bsky.social · 3w ago

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.”

Emilia Young | Author @emiliayoung.bsky.social · 3w ago

☕️ THE THINGS WE RUN FOR #Editors Emma Bridge has done everything to make this plan work. She’s got the new name, the new town, the new life . . . She’s also got a nosy boy next door who’s stopping at nothing to get to know her. #QuestPit #YA #C #MY #R #AG #OS #LGBT #Dis #OV

Editor’s Guide To:
The Things We Run For
YA Contemporary with Romance and Mystery
82k Words
Represented by Amanda Wooden at SBR Media

4/13/1996
Run. What a powerful instinct.
Emma Bridge had wanted nothing more than to be with her two siblings in a home that felt safe, but those wishes never came true. With nothing left to lose, Emma runs away from the spotlight of the Hills to a small town across the country, but this new home is anything but the safety she’d been after.

The weight of the world has fallen on her shoulders, and she can’t carry it alone. But with her old name in every police station and her new name on every tongue in town, she’s not sure who she can trust to help carry the burden.

What we know:
-Runaway in Hiding
-Fake Identity (turned real identity)
-Mental Health Rep
-Genderfluid and Pan Rep
-Found Family
-90s Small-Town Nostalgia
At the bottom, the name Emma Bridge is crossed out and replaced with Peyton Freys

6/23/1996
“The Hills have Eyes”

There’s a collage of pictures. Picture one is of two people, one sitting on the counter with the other in front of them. Picture two is go a small-town street with snowy homes to either side. Picture three shows a row of high school desks. Picture four shows a box of police evidence. Picture five shows a group of kids sitting behind an abandoned building. Picture six shows someone flipping off a police car. Picture seven shows a paper with the words “Child Custody Hearing” printed on it. The last picture shows a boy sitting at a school desk, writing something into a notebook.

In the bottom right, it says ON SUB SOON

Chantal Danieli — is editing! 🕯️@chantaldanieli.bsky.social · 3w ago

JANE EYRE x THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 🕯️forbidden gothic romance 🕯️slow burn 🕯️yearning à la anthony bridgerton 🕯️black swan-esque awakening 🕯️2000's setting 🕯️devouring obsession but make it consensual 🕯️secret lake meetings — coming to agent inboxes September 2026 🍂 #questpit #W #A #NA #R

My Sweet Unbecoming
A forbidden gothic romance
Coming to agent inboxes September 2026

Comps & Pitch
The Phantom of the Opera
Jane Eyre
Bridgerton — The Viscount Who Loved Me

When a scandal exiles her to Lucerne, disgraced Olivia Rooney falls for the one man she’s forbidden to love—Théodore Chair-Beaumont, the brooding aristocrat sworn to matrimony with another.
But beneath his restraint lies a wound that mirrors her own. And falling for him could not only repeat the tragedy that broke him before. It could ruin her reputation, once and for all.

Tropes
Forbidden Romance
High Society Match Making
European Setting
Slow Burn
Love VS Duty
Black Swan-esque Awakening
Masquerade Ball
2000’s Setting
Obsessive yearning
Secret Lake Meetings

K.M. Carlson @wanderingbutton.bsky.social · 3w ago

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

sierramoeykens.bsky.social @sierramoeykens.bsky.social · 3w ago

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.

Catherine Winters @catherinewinters.com · 3w ago

F/NB WAYFARERS x MURDERBOT Ship's cook Tai is horrified to discover their new crewmate is a terrifying alien: an ordinary human woman. Now Tai's stuck with bickering crewmates, sinister criminals, explosions, and worse, a human who wants to be friends. #QuestPit #A #SF #LGBT

Mood board/Agent's guide for my novel CARGO - a queer SF/heist/romance - 113,000 words

"Did you hear? There's a human on board."
A graphic of the wall of a spaceship with sticky notes and polaroid photos taped up. There are twinkle lights hanging from the ceiling.
alien ship's cook (fussy, anxious) + terrifying monster (ordinary human)

PITCH:
Tai’s terrified of humans. Everyone is. Violent pack hunters, humans are notorious for their strength, sharp teeth, and carnivorous appetites. But the ship’s cook is safe among the multispecies crew of the cargo hauler Coreward Baker: everyone knows the warrior species rarely leave their own space. Then Captain Raz hires Clarke, a human horticulturist.
Even after Tai overcomes their fear, they can’t stand Clarke. She’s bossy. Annoying. Useless in the galley, bad in a space suit. She might as well be cargo. Worse, she’s intent on befriending Tai—and why can’t they stop thinking about her, anyway?
That’s when things go wrong. As Tai starts to realize their feelings for Clarke, they’re horrified to learn that nobody on their crew of dropouts and runaways is quite who they seem, least of all Clarke. And it’s no coincidence. Raz reveals they’ve each been handpicked for a heist he’s spent years planning—and no one’s allowed to say no.

PRIORITIES:
make dinner
remain cozy
haul cargo
go for drinks
pull off one last score
try not to fall in love

FIRST PAGE:

“Did you hear? There’s a Human on board.”
I choked on my noodles and turned to stare at the diners at the next table. Like most of the restaurant’s patrons, the pair had hidden their profiles, a halfhearted attempt at anonymity.
“Gross,” the speaker’s crewmate said, oblivious to my alarm. “I hope it leaves soon.”
“Don’t let it hear you say that,” the first worker laughed. She made a show of looking for Humans, her eyes darting from table to table.
It. I frowned. I knew the workers’ language distinguished between people and things, and ‘it’ was an unkind choice of words at best.
The second worker shuddered. “I don’t know why we let them come here.”
The first laughed. “Are you going to stop them?”

COMPS:
Murderbot by Martha Wells
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

TROPES:
Non-binary narrator masking anxiety with sarcasm
lying to themselves
non-human perspective (afraid of humans)
neurodivergent main characters
metaphorically disabled protagonist
slow-burn friends-to-lovers and enemies to lovers in the same relationship
disabilitynorm and queernorm setting
found family
loveable pet/terrifying monster

cassiopeia (cath) ☀️@lagunabayfables.bsky.social · 3w ago

Harrow the Ninth x A Dowry of Blood In the shadows of Gilded Age Manila, an artist’s muse wakes up from death and must solve her own murder feat. 🫀 anticolonial revenge narratives ✨monstrous men & divine abominations 🫀 tropical gothic ✨ doomed siblings #QuestPit #Q #HF #H

M.B.Taylor - Fantasy Author @mbolt89.bsky.social · 3w ago

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

Tamara ⛱️🎇🕶️🌊☀️@tamaratoday.bsky.social · 3w ago

♣️♦️ 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.

B. R. Fontenot is querying 📚☀️🌷🦊@brfontenotwrites.bsky.social · 3w ago

WOLF WORM x DON'T LET THE FOREST IN THE TREES HAVE TEETH - An Appalachian Folkhorror "Olive is eight the first time Death comes for her." 🌲 Nature and rot 💀 Death as an entity 🍄 Botanical Horror ⛰️ Set in the mountains 🐇 Eerie folklore 🍂 Isolated setting #QuestPit #A #H #W

PITCH

Olive is eight the first time Death comes for her. She’s nineteen the second time. And Olive knows Death always comes in threes.

In the heart of the Appalachian mountains, something wicked lingers in the woods. Olive grew up running barefoot through the trees without fear of what might be lurking. But when the woods begin to devour anything that encroaches with ruthless hunger, and a mysterious man who claims to know both the cause and the cure appears at Olive’s door, she may have to face Death for the third (and final) time. If she doesn’t, the town and the boy she loves will be eaten whole.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

COMPS
Wolf Worm, Don't Let the Forest In, Hazelthorn, Morsel, Hollow

Botanical Horror, Appalachian Mountain Setting, Nature & Rot, Isolated Setting, Eerie Folklore

moodboard featuring mountains, eerie woods, and trees

📚 Ellie Rhymer! Spaceships and Scoundrels 📚@ellieyellu.bsky.social · 3w ago

#Editors Heists, spice, and space, oh my! What do you do when: 🏳️‍🌈 You're a disaster bisexual 😱 Space witches want your hyperspace treasure maps 💫 You have to leave Hecate IV before you're caught You ALWAYS GET IN A SPACESHIP WITH A SCOUNDREL 🥵🚀 #QuestPit #AG #OS #A #R #SF

The first page of a pitch deck. A neon pink art deco border pulls words out of a romantic starry space background. This border and background repeat over the following images. The title page reads in art deco gold and neon pink: An editor's guide to -- Always Get In a Spaceship With a Scoundrel -- A Sci-fi Romance by Ellie Rhymer. Representation Christi Cardenas.

Romantic pink and sci-fi neon and stars: Pitch. Good heists. Bad Decisions. Great Chemistry.

Anora is the quick-thinking manager of an illegal casino, fleeing the assassination of her gang's boss with the hyperspace treasure maps thrust into her hands as he died.

Jayro is a mouthy interstellar smuggler from the wrong side of the hyperspace lane with the only ship that can get Anora off Hecate IV before the emperor's relic-hunting space witches close a net around the planet.

The two bad-at-feelings bisexuals try to tamp down simmering, inconvenient attraction as they are forced to work together with the scrappy, tight-knit crew of the Helle Wanderer to survive in the criminal underworld and discover the secret at the end of the dangerous maps.

Their love story is a heist and they're stealing more than each other's hearts.

Always Get In a Spaceship With a Scoundrel by Ellie Rhymer

Romantic neon pink and a starry background: Excerpt. “Those are pre-set…” Jayro warned as Anora toggled a series of switches at the nav computer and began actively moving data streams around the screen.
“Pre-set for scans for //stationary objects//. You pick out your nav programs like you pick out your paint schemes?”
Jayro felt annoyance rising up in him again. The cockpit was his domain. Never mind that he agreed with her about the deco. “It took Fish weeks to get those programs running!”
“Look, unless you want to meet an asteroid face to face, shut the hells up and let me work.” Anora frowned as she watched some data return from the program. “Call engineering.”
“Gladly.” Jayro opened the channel on his wrist communicator.
“Yeah?” Fish’s voice responded.
“The new navigator is having trouble with her—” Jayro broke off as Anora grabbed his forearm and yanked his wrist in front of her own face, causing his chair to whirl towards her.
“What are your pre-sets accounting for?" [...]

Romantic neon pink and a starry background. For fans of: Uncharted Hearts book series by Constance Fay (image of a three book series). Scum and Villainy (TTRPG) (An image of a book cover with a spaceship flying towards a jumpgate). Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne. A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. #AnnoyanceToLovers #FoundFamily #QueerStories #DisasterBisexuals #ForcedProximity #Scoundrel4Scoundrel #NeverTellMeTheOdds #DualPOV. Always Get In a Spaceship With a Scoundrel by Ellie Rhymer.

J.J.W. Lovell (He/Him)@jjwlovell.bsky.social · 3w ago

NEVERMOOR x TURNING RED x TREASURE PLANET Two tiny purple creatures told him he was a Druid. He didn’t believe them. He was wrong. 🐻 Shapeshifting 🐉 World Mythologies ⚔️ Found Family ✨ Portal Fantasy 🗝️ Hidden Heritage #Questpit #MG #F #Q

Kodi Gonzaga ➡️ GenCon!@jaztice.bsky.social · 3w ago

Hey y’all, here’s an #agentsguide to my completed 120,000 word YA spec fic first-in-the-series novel, THE POWER THIEF! #questpit #Q #YA #S #amquerying

Slide one of four of a pitch deck with a gritty, urban vibe. It says: An agent’s guide to THE POWER THIEF, book one of Pen Carter and the Superfreaks by Kodi Gonzaga. Young adult, speculative fiction (superpowers), 120,000 words, complete.

Slide two of four of a pitch deck with a gritty, urban vibe. On the right, there is a drawn image of two kids. One is a teenage girl with short, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin wearing a gray t-shirt, a red hoodie, torn jeans, combat boots, and a backpack. She holds a knife in her hands and stands protectively in front of the other kid. The other kid is a young boy with short, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin wearing a white t-shirt, and oversized green hoodie, rolled-up jeans, sneakers, and a backpack. He holds onto the teenage girl’s arm and has an old and beaten up stuffed dinosaur toy in his arms. The text on the slide reads: PITCH. Pen Carter is a sixteen-year-old girl living on the streets of New York City with her little brother Tommy, running from a bad foster placement and their own childhood trauma. They also have superpowers; Tommy can mentally manipulate technology, and Pen has both telekinesis and the ability to control superpowers themselves. When Tommy is kidnapped by people with superpower-blocking tech, Pen must join forces with Jack and Alice, two other super teens, to rescue him and the other kids in the lab under Asclepius Incorporated. After the rescue, the now seven kids decide to take down Asclepius and their secret military partner STRIKE --- an organization with ties to Pen and Tommy’s dead father. As they unravel the secrets of Asclepius and STRIKE, the kids also discover an entire society of supers kept secret by their own volition and who never came to their aid. Friends and foes alike, super and non-super, reveal themselves as the kids run around NYC trying to take down the people chasing them. And eventually, Pen learns that she could be the key to understanding superpowers themselves, but all she really cares about is keeping her brother safe. And the best way to do that may be to reveal the secret of superpowers to the world...

Slide three of four of a pitch deck with a gritty, urban vibe. It is titled COMP TITLES and lists Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, Maximum Ride by James Patterson, and X-Men & The Power Pack (a Marvel Comics Limited Series). Additional Comps: Renegades by Marissa Meyer, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Legend by Marie Lu. All pictures taken from Google Images.

Slide four of four of a pitch deck with a gritty, urban vibe. It is titled THEMES & VIBES and has phrases over images listed. SUPERHUMAN OPPRESSION is over an image of a person hanging off a wall staring at a skyscraper at night. TRAUMA & ABUSE is over a pair of bandaged, held hands. GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACIES is over a blacked out, confidential, official looking paper. EVIL LABS is over a person inside a cage. FOUND FAMILY is over a picture of the ground with four pairs of shoes in view. SIBLINGS is over a kid in a hoodie on the bus, seen from behind. STREET SMARTS is over a subway platform with a train blur going by. All pictures taken from Pinterest.

Catherine Winters @catherinewinters.com · 3w ago

Nia Moredi just wants to look out for her little brother. Miss Laval needs to attend a governess-teacher meeting. Baarsin Dorvierre's being watched. Pickpocket Wren needs to recharge her misdirection charm. If only Nia could remember which of them she's supposed to be today. #QuestPit #YA #F #LGBT

A Pickpocket's Guide to High Society
(And Higher Mathematics)

YA Fantasy 80K words
Catherine Winters dot com

Against a subtly textured background of mathematical formulae and a hexagonal summoning grid feature a collection of intriguing objects:

The outstretched hand of some mechanical clockwork automaton made of white porcelain.
A purple and gold masquerade mask.
A set of brass architect's tools: a compass, a protractor, calipers.
A set of gears laid out, pulled from some kind of mechanism.

The Pitch
When she picks the wrong pocket, sixteen-year-old Nia unlocks a magical talent she didn’t know she had and catches the attention of people she doesn't want to know. Blackmailed into stealing a mysterious box, Nia accidentally awakens a living clockwork doll—that promptly runs away.

Accused of betraying the blackmailers, Nia and her band of would-be thieves go on the run, pursued by magehunters, street gangs, and the secret police.

When the doll returns to make a deal, Nia turns to the man whose lucky coin unlocked her magic, only to find him missing. Caught in a lie, Nia’s soon posing as an heiress, in the clutches of the man’s elderly landlady—who's intent on introducing the girl she knows as “Baarsin” to high society.

As Nia finds herself disappearing into the role, she and her friends must race against time to track down the people behind it all: a secret society of mathematicians whose influence reaches all the way to the governor herself.

Excerpt
Caz tensed. “There’s someone following us,” she hissed.
“I know,” Nia said. The man had been tailing them through the crowd for almost six blocks now. “He won’t be the only one.” She tugged Caz into the empty foyer of a boarding house and pulled out her misdirection charm. “Take my hand and stay quiet!”
“That won’t work on me,” Caz protested.
“No,” Nia said, willing herself to believe. “I can do this.” With all her strength, she pushed more of herself into the charm, the equation unfolding in her mind’s eye. She reached out, and as the world darkened around them, turned the doorknob, Caz clutching her arm. Nia pulled the taller girl close as the man pushed past them, failing to notice the door was already opening.
On the busy sidewalk, Caz let out a breath. A small boy leaning against a nearby lamppost glanced in their direction, an uncertain expression on his young face.
Caz cringed. “Sorry!” she mouthed.

Comps & Tropes
Includes the covers of four books:

Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan
Den of Liars by Jessica S. Olsen
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo's
Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland

"Tropes" is loosely used here and includes:
Stealing is magical (literally)
Fish out of water (you probably guessed)
Working for the wrong people
Ancient magic (in over their heads)
The MacGuffin is blackmailing us
"Aren't you a little young to be a criminal?"
Metaphorically dyslexic LI (she's also dyslexic)
Creepy clockwork doll that complains all the time
Good at magic, as long as she has a compass & protractor
Grifter vs. con artist
Sword lesbian (in training)
Lying (a lot)
Found family of scoundrels
Ace protagonist (who hasn't had time to think about that)
One big job and then we can retire (oh no, somehow everything went wrong)
Let's break into a data centre!
No chosen ones, no choosing ceremonies, just hard work and practice.