Tessera

Mel Reynard

@meljrey.bsky.social

SFF author #FutureWorldsPrize SL 2023 | #RevPit SL 2025 | @writementor LL 2025 | 📚 hoarder 🌱 enthusiast 🤓 social media dabbler 💫 she/her

2224 Posts3034 Follower 1654 Folgt

P.S.C. Willis 🌈🖋️ Crying Out for Magic - Out Now!@pscwillis.bsky.social · 3d ago

I have set myself a personal writing challenge for August. Got a nice soft start as the month started on a weekend and the goal is week-day based. What are your goals for the month ahead? #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

A beach graphic with the text August WWriting Challenge - 10k, 500 words per day Monday to Friday

A.Collie ✨@fancymuffin.bsky.social · 5mo ago

OF STEEL AND SEALSKIN ⚔️🦭 After years of captivity, a selkie enters a marriage of convenience with a swordsman to reclaim her stolen sealskin ✨️dual pov romantasy ✨selkie bride ✨️mysterious swordsman ✨️marriage of convenience ✨️magic ✨️bachelor trials ✨️touch her/him and 💀 ✨️HEA #WSPit #W #A #R #F #BIPOC

A reader's guide to OF STEEL AND SEALSKIN

Alyssa ✨ A.A. Hampton @alyssawantsaword.bsky.social · 2w ago

▪️ Very excited to share a bit more about ANTEROGRADE, my sapphic sci-fi horror novel! ▪️ SEVERANCE x GIA x HACKS 🏢 corporate culture as horror 🧠 memory-based mystery 🖤 doomed sapphic romance 👯‍♀️ age-gap friendship Coming to agent’s inboxes Fall 2026. #questpit #W #A #SF #H #LGBT

Cover page with title and metadata. Text over a decorative dark black background with blue and purple light flares.

An agent’s guide to Anterograde, a 69k-word adult sci-fi horror novel by A.A. Hampton

An image of skyscrapers extending into the sky, with descriptive text explaining the pitch.

The pitch: When Ryan Williams accepts a job training AI for an eerie corporation called The Company, she’s determined not to mess up this time. So what if her coworkers are disappearing? Anything is better than ending up back on the job market.

But when she starts fighting with her partner about things she has no memory of, she suspects something is very wrong with her—and that her new employer is responsible.

With her personal life crumbling around her and the threat of layoffs looming, Ryan must decide how much she’s willing to risk in her search for answers—and whether the promise of stability is worth sacrificing her identity.

Images of comp titles over a close-up shot of blue server wires.

Anterograde combines the dark technological satire of Black Mirror with the corporate dread and horror of Abyss by Nicholas Binge and the memory-based mystery of There Is No Antimemetics Division by Qntm.

An aesthetic Pinterest moodboard representing the vibes of Anterograde. Images include a cubicle farm, dark skyscrapers, dozens of zombie-like people wearing virtual reality glasses, a chair in a dark empty room under a spotlight, and a silhouette of two women kissing.

Gert Ramm 🦋@rammwriter.bsky.social · 2w ago

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

Chantal Danieli — is editing! 🕯️@chantaldanieli.bsky.social · 2w 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

Tereza Maze @terezamazura.bsky.social · 2w ago

📁 CASE FILE: GAMA // QUERYING 📌 Location: Post-apocalyptic Switzerland 👉🏼 When her brain chip starts failing, Anna must return to the scientific collective she fled, where trusting the mysterious stranger she saved may cost her the only thing she has left. Her sanity ☠️ #QuestPit #Q #A #RS #SFF

M is queer-ying MG @notonlyicarus.bsky.social · 2w ago

Summer 1920. 8 children. 1 house. 1 games master. He’s a kid too, but this is his house, and it answers to him alone. Trapped in his games, they’ll have to get creative if they want to survive. 🐊 RevPit 25 winner 🐊 big 5 editor interest ✉️ in your inbox 👀 #QuestPit #Q #MG #H

The bottom one has a hand reaching through tree bark; painting of Icarus as he falls by Gowy; a hand reaching to grasp berries; a lightbulb attracting butterflies; a tree grove; a piano in a greenhouse; Houasse painting of Daphne’s hand growing foliage; painting of crows on a branch; hands reaching through lily pads.

Black quote on white background: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you.” Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Mike Mizov @mikemizov.bsky.social · 2w ago

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

INQUISITOR FOR HIRE

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

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

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

OPENING LINES

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

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

These apostates would face justice here or burn.”

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

A FANTASY INVESTIGATION WITH TEETH

THREE TOUCHSTONES. ONE DECAYING EMPIRE.

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

The Tainted Cup - a secondary-world mystery engine

Chinatown - slow-burn corruption and a poisoned victory

INSIDE THE CASE

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

A post-conquest secondary world inspired by the Crusader states

Fallen hero / disgraced legend

Missing ambassador

Forbidden magic

Secrets beneath the city

Corruption at the highest level

Reluctant found family

Power no one understands

Morally gray choices

Kat is querying!@katgoestoshows.bsky.social · 2w ago

ETERNALLY DEAD explores how an injured musician gets a second shot at stardom--only it's by joining an all-vampire rock band in the dangerous Vampire Realm. When blood shortages hit the Realm, she's forced to confront if living out her rockstar dream is worth dying for🩸🧛‍♂️🎸 #questpit #a #f #pr #rf #q

Background of concert audience with giant vampire fangs floating above alongside the words "An agent's guide to: Eternally Dead, Adult Paranormal Romantic Fantasy, 103k words, by @katgoestoshows." A one sentence pitch is featured on bottom that reads: An injured musician gets a second shot at stardom -- only its by joining an all-vampire rock band in the blood-thirsty vampire realm. A red splatter of blood is splashed is corner.

Emilia Young | Author @emiliayoung.bsky.social · 2w 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

Christian Oxford @christianoxford.bsky.social · 2w ago

THE LESSER SOUL After a heist gone wrong binds a thief to the soul of a long-dead hero, she must outrun the law and bargain with a goddess for her life, all while deciding whether the world would be better off with her survival or the hero's resurrection. #QuestPit #Q #A #F #DF

🌱 El(iza)beth 🌬️ K 🔥 T 🌊@elizabethtitus.bsky.social · 2w 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

Soph @soph-pl.bsky.social · last mo.

Aaand we’re on! ✨ eARC requests are now live ✨ Only One Summer in Berlin is my debut, and I’d love to take you along on Camille & Kosta’s journey. See 🧵⬇️ for more information. All the 🔗 are in my bio. 💖 Thank you so much in advance! 📚💕 #booksky #romance #summerread

Adregem ཐིཋྀ @adregem.bsky.social · 2w ago

LIGHT WIELDING & OTHER MORTAL MAGICS In a dark realm where light is toxic and steel is untouchable, a mortal woman with a flashlight and a cosplay sword must ally with a monster king to stop a vengeful demigod. #QuestPit #NA #F #ND #Q

Mood board for the fantasy novel "Light Wielding and Other Mortal Magics."The moon behind the clouds; bats in a cave; a death's head moth, fog in the redwood forest; a lighthouse, cracked earth; a sword. Moth and mushroom details.

Melissa Bergum @writingbubbly.bsky.social · 2w ago

BROKEN DOLL’S + SPIRITED AWAY After spiteful younger sister Samara unplugs 13yo Eve’s nightlight, she unknowingly lets the monsters that’ve been hunting Eve for years finally get her. Now Eve has to survive in the world of her nightmares while Samara figures out how to save her. #QuestPit #Q #MG #F

Kat Devitt @katdevittwrites.bsky.social · 2w ago

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

Kirsten | Fantasy Author @kirstenwrites.bsky.social · 2w ago

A DEADLY EDUCATION x NANCY DREW What if the chosen one failed, and the only one who could save him was a magic school reject? NOT A WITCH / YA Fantasy with dark academia and dystopian elements #QuestPit #Q #YA #F #DF #MY #D

Stephanie Winter @wintersleep85.bsky.social · 2w ago

NAUSICAÄ X FF7 Hana is sure she’s the chosen one, even if her magic is resisting her and the previous chosen one insists she isn’t. But if it isn’t her destiny, then no one can save the world from poisonous dark magic, endless wars, and powerful demons. #Questpit #A #F #Q

Dark forest. An agent's guide to The Blessing Returned. Adult fantasy. 98,000 words.

Dark forest. Pitch. Idealistic Hana Hahl lives in a world that is slowly dying after a failed quest to bring back magic. The only ones left with power are self-serving royals and dark mages, while desperation has given rise to an anti-magic order. Caught up in a mystical event, Hana is blessed with an immense power that could restore nature to the world. As Hana struggles to control the overwhelming force, Lady Kalyn Nossi, the only known survivor of the disastrous quest, directs her to the one person who can help her. Matthias Azel, the failed chosen one, reluctantly agrees to teach Hana while concealing his past from her. Accompanied by Kalyn and a charismatic prince with a dangerous secret, they journey to seek answers about Hana’s destiny. They fend off demonic threats and the anti-magic forces as Hana struggles with magic that seems to resist her and a growing fear that the world isn’t meant to be saved.

A dark forest. Snippet. She took a cautious step forward, unaware she was in a spectral form. Little drops of shimmering light followed her path, dissolving into the ground. “But this has to be a sign?” Grass grew where the light fell, delicate bits of nature that should be impossible. “Maybe it’s returning!”
The young woman spoke with such bright reverence as if life was a fairy tale and magic was all they needed for a happy ending. It was as if she couldn’t see the shadows approaching her. The inevitable death.
“Magic should never return.”
After speaking those words, he sprang forward and shoved her away from the shadows. Pain rocked him as soon as he touched her. The scorching mystical agony tore a scream out of him, but it kept her away from the unearthly menace, and the shock did what he intended.
Sent him back to his body.

A dark forest. Comps. Nausicaä. One Dark Window. The Starless Crown. Godkiller. Final Fantasy VII Remake. Tropes. Chosen One (s)? Ecofantasy. Dieselpunk. Grumpy/Sunshine. 1930s vibes. Love triangle. LGBTQIA+ rep. Cynical mentor. Dying world. Found family.

K.M. Carlson @wanderingbutton.bsky.social · 2w ago

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

Milla is ok 👌@heytheremelilah.bsky.social · 2w ago

Jyothika is the opposite of what her traditional Indian mother believes a woman should be. But when an emergency hysterectomy at twenty-eight blindsides her, she is left not only without her womb but also without the identity she has built around womanhood. #QuestPit #Q #A #WF

An Agent's Guide To: PALASH

Women's Fiction, 96k Words, Completed Manuscript

A childfree British-Indian woman undergoes an emergency hysterectomy and is forced to confront her identity as cultural expectations surrounding marriage and motherhood begin closing in around her.

Holly C | #QuestPit Pinned 📌@hlcauthor.bsky.social · 2w ago

Three friends descend into an abandoned Cornish mine. Two return. Police don’t believe Alyx’s story of their folkloric encounter — those who do belong to a covert force. Strong-arming her way into their ranks leads to answers, but they come at a cost, and loyalty can be fatal. #QuestPit #Q #A #SFF

A mist-strewn Lake District landscape background. Centred is the title: TRINITY. Beneath, the subtitle: Contemporary Fantasy | 99,000 words.

The same misty Lake District backdrop. On the left, four vertically stacked images: a thin tunnel inside of a Cornish mine with bright blue copper staining. A Land Rover Defender with its fog lights blearing, making its way through a misty forest. A regal Lake District stone mansion, cropped to show the bay windows. An abandoned factory, empty, but bathed in an eerie green light. On the right, a white box featuring the following pitch text:

BRITAIN'S FOLKLORE IS ONLY THE COVER STORY.

When an urban exploration ends with her closest friend being dragged into the darkness by a creature of local myth, Alyx Delaney can't save him. Worse, nobody believes what she saw.
Refusing to accept Conor is gone, Alyx claws for evidence and uncovers
Trinity: a covert,
science-forward organisation that has quietly shaped Britain's response to the horrors hidden within its folklore.
Grief drives Alyx to unearth hidden truths that the powerful at Trinity kept buried for decades.

A misty Lake District background. In the foreground, three book covers: Adam Nevill’s The Ritual, Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House and Samantha Shannon’s The Bone Season. Beneath, the title: SHELVED WITH.

Jen Hall Smith - ✍️🌙✨@jenhallsmith.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Lunaria Witch (🎵Crystal - Stevie Nicks or Upside Down Tori Amos) 🍃 Elemental Magic ✨ The threads that bind us all together ❤️‍🔥 Yearning fated romance 🧙‍♀️ Folklore and Witchcraft 💫 ND Rep 💃🏻 Self acceptance #questpit #q #na #a #f #r #ownvoices

Chase Grayson is Agented🌙@adropofmagick.bsky.social · 2w ago

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

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

THE PITCH
COZY YA FANTASY 89,000 WORDS

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

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

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

B. van Bodegom 📃is AGENTED @bvbodegom.bsky.social · 2w 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.”

Mel Reynard @meljrey.bsky.social · 2w ago

STRANGE FAMILIARS/HAZELTHORN When sentient plants take over the world & an eminent botanist ends up 💀 a reporter enlists a rival plant hunter to seek the truth. But as they become entangled, the victims pile up, so they’ll need sharp secateurs to avoid being next. #QuestPit #W #NA #F

Gert Ramm 🦋@rammwriter.bsky.social · 2w ago

A celebrity author teases his upcoming novel by building a Stonehenge replica - raising the ghosts of an English town’s Roman past. As violent pagan cults clash, a father races to save his estranged son; before the Winter Solstice unleashes madness, mayhem and blood sacrifice. #QuestPit #W #A #H

British Fantasy Society @britfantasysoc.bsky.social · 3w ago

BFS Online: Power in SFFH, taking place Saturday 25th July 2026, has readings throughout the day. Please check for listings. Ticket: tinyurl.com/bfspowr @cannotbegrouped.bsky.social @brightflame.bsky.social @meljrey.bsky.social

Mel Reynard @meljrey.bsky.social · 3w ago

Ooh - I spy me! 👀

British Fantasy Society@britfantasysoc.bsky.social · 3w ago

British Fantasy Society @britfantasysoc.bsky.social · 3w ago

Every Friday, we meet a BFS member & peer deep into their soul. This week we're up north with the BFS's Manchester events coordinator @alethearlyons.bsky.social , who says "there are stories in everything if you twist the world a little sideways". britishfantasysociety.org/meet-alethea...

On a black background with flourishes of red dots and lines is the text: Meet the BFS members! Alethea Lyons. The member is pictured in the centre: she is a woman with long honey-coloured hair, standing in front of a book case of old books. Her eyeliner curls upwards and she wears golden coloured lipstick.

Sasha Kielman (she/her/hers) 🦋@sashakielman.bsky.social · last mo.

A very happy book birthday to @awayintheshire.bsky.social and THIS BLADE OF OURS! One of my 5 star reads from this year, I highly recommend this duology to those interested in darker fantasy that takes an unflinching look at institutions, particularly the justice system. With bonus Darklina vibes! 😍

White text on a brown marbled background reads:
STREET TEAM MEMBER
OUT JULY 2026
With the book cover for THIS BLADE OF OURS by Shalini Abeysekara in the middle! The book cover features a bloody disembodied marble hand holding a golden blade.