Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · Aug 15

you know what I am the queen of intrusive thoughts put that on my tombstone 🤣

Shrimp and Crits @shrimpandcrits.com · Aug 13

Happy Birthday to the brilliant and talented @ladystroud.bsky.social !

Go and wish the queen of intrusive thoughts and oddball characters a good day! 🎂🎉

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Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · Aug 7

One of my favs!!!

Quinn Majeski 👁️ Absurdia Crowdfunding Ends 10/17! @quinnmajeski.bsky.social · Aug 7

If you like:

🥀 Exploring the forbidden wilds of the public park
🏡 Working with your neighbors to bring down the HOA hive mind
🤺 Dueling faceless bureaucrats with red tape sabres
🧌 Outwitting the concern troll living under the Bridge to Nowhere

Absurdia is the game for you
bit.ly/46upHBR

Get Ready for Absurdia: The (Meta)Physical Edition

From Quinn Majeski - Get Ready for Absurdia: The (Meta)Physical Edition

bit.ly

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Iris Andersi @goodwords.bsky.social · Jul 31

Sharing my #AgentGuide for any #LitAgents seeking a cozy romantic fantasy 🌱💚

14 requests so far!

💜 Chronic Illness Rep
🌱 Plant Magic
💚 Bisexual Witches
🐈‍⬛ Familiars
😈 Evil Pharmaceutical Potion Company
☀️ Grumpy X Sunshine
☕ Cozy Vibes

Perfect for anyone who loathes big pharma 💊

#amquerying

Potions Unincorporated is written on a brown leather novel with wildflowers and "A Cozy Romantic Fantasy Novel" is written below. Tropes on the right side say "Grumpy X Sunshine" "Found Family" "Evil Pharmaceutical Potion Company" "Plant Magic" "Chronic Illness Rep" "Cozy Vibes"

A Garden of Comps is written in the top corner. Covers of novels are surrounded by wildflower pictures with words underneath. They are: Legends & Lattes: Cozy Fantasy Seeds, Under the Whispering Door: Humor Sprouts, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches: Romance Blooms, Howl's Moving Castle: Growing Self-Acceptance, The Spellshop: Weeding Out Social Injustice

Pitch is written at the top. Underneath says, "A curmudgeonly witch with a chronic illness must work with a cheerful thief to stand up to a greedy pharmaceutical company." Wildflowers sprout beneath the pitch

Snippet is at the top and an open book with wildflowers is at the bottom. The body text says, " “Hmph. Really, Linatta? I chose you for your good sense, and only a ridiculous witch would believe that hats are harmless. Everyone who wears them is untrustworthy.”
Despite Linatta’s best efforts to lock away the name, it slipped from her mouth, “Charly never wore hats. That didn’t make her trustworthy.”
Toad leapt onto Linatta’s lap and placed a paw over her heart. In his sincerest voice, he said, “Charly was different. She probably wore hats in secret.”

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Neѕѕα @nessamoulay.bsky.social · Aug 6

CITY OF BRASS x the Scorpion & the Night Blossom

A girl with dormant magic infiltrates a gilded empire to save her best friend—only to uncover a court built on ancient blood oaths, the boy she once mourned, and a lost heiress no one wants found.

#YA #F #wip #questpit

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Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · Aug 6

Exactly my reaction 🤣 (I didn’t know this was even happening today!!!)

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Sophie Pinkoski @sophiemlpink.bsky.social · Aug 6

DAISY JONES x MCR x GIDEON 9TH

4 bands arrive in New Orleans for an artistic retreat:

💅A girl punk band
❤️‍🔥An undead goth rock duo
💀a necromancer & their ghosts
🎪an ex-circus troupe

They don’t know they’ve been lured as ritual sacrifice & the house might just eat them alive… #QuestPit #A #H #Q

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Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · Aug 6

Hey!!! I know you!!!

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Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · Aug 6

Villain FMCS 🫱🏻‍🫲🏼

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Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · Aug 6

With a twist!!!! ✨

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Diamond Fore is ✨querying✨ @diamondf.bsky.social · Aug 6

ATLA x WICKED

Calypso must steal 12 divine amulets in order to regain her powers and seek revenge against her enemies.

Villain FMC
Hero MMC
Hate at first sight
Destroy the world, dont save it

#questpit #Q #YA #F

Collage of images, zodiac wheel, solar system planets in a straight line, scorpio constellation, virgo constellation, text saying the villain and text saying the hero

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Laeti is ✨ querying ✨ @lnmbeck.bsky.social · Aug 6

The death of the God of Knowledge comes on silently, a whisper of old parchments crumbling to dust in the ever-so quiet Library of Yashay.

📚 Dark Academia
📚 Found Family
📚 Twisty Plot
📚 Eerie
📚 Sacred Artefacts
📚 Gods & Curses

#questpit #Q #A #F

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Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · Aug 6

I’m working today so can’t interact or boost as many #QuestPit posts as I would like but I am rooting for everyone and can’t wait to look at everyone’s pitches tonight!!!

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Izzy Grace (𝚒𝚜 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐) @izzygraceauthor.bsky.social · Aug 6

An agent's guide to RUNELIGHT BURNING for #QuestPit

SPARK OF THE EVERFLAME x THE CITY OF BRASS

🔥Norse-inspired rune magic that burns you from inside
🔥She's the selfish anti-hero, he's the moral compass
🔥Subverted chosen-one trope
🔥Forced proximity + slow burn
🔥Rich worldbuilding

#Q #A #RF

Runelight Burning. New adult fantasy romance. Izzy Grace. @izzygraceauthor.

Pitch: Her power could spark a war. But will she let it burn? Callous half-breed criminal, Aelia, is forced to go on the run with an unfathomably moral pure-blood mercenary, after she reveals a powerful Runelight that turns her into a hunted weapon for a war between realms.

Tropes: Norse-inspired rune magic that burns you from inside, reluctant allies to lovers, slow burn and yearning, political intrigue and quest-like journey, she's the selfish anti-hero and he's the moral compass, forced proximity, rich worldbuilding, subverted chosen-one trope

Comps: The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig, Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole, The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

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Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · Aug 6

A reluctant, messy princess must navigate a twisted portal realm—complete w/ time-bending complications, cryptic riddles, & one maddeningly distracting stranger—to right her wrongs.

Dark, adult Narnia meets Prime’s MLJ in this romantic fantasy full of twists, humor, & heart 🧪

#questpit #A #RF #F

Yield is for fans of books with queer main characters, slow burn(s), found family, the one horse trope, fantasy with spicy romantic subplots, and women’s wrongs.

Comps include elevator pitch of NARNIA x My Lady Jane, book comps include Assistant to the Villain, Emily Wilde’s Encylcopaedia of Faeries, One Dark Window, Nettle & Bone, and the Folk of the Air series

Vibe/mood board including songs like Hot to Go by Chappell Roan, Fickle Game by Amber Run, and Vertigo by Alice Merton

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Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · May 8

Thanks everyone for a great time yesterday! It was a successful #questpit and I loved reading everyone’s pitches. Not to be that guy but I think these events are more about the writer friends we make along the way 🥲🤣

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Gert Ramm 🦋 @rammwriter.bsky.social · May 7

Slow Horses x Dark Matter

When an intelligence agent is framed for the UK’s role in a temporal disaster, he must clear his name and seal a lethal time rift - before a Russian spy from the future gets everyone killed.

#A #S #T #QuestPit #Q

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Nadine 📝 @noodlesandnovels.bsky.social · May 7

Prophecies don’t have age limits.

Now the fate of the Kingdom rests on the bad hip of a retired librarian.

Will curmudgeonly Dorris answer her calling, or ignore impending doom for a good cup of tea?

#questpit #F #A #Q #LGBTQIAbooks #amquerying #writingcommunity #fantasywriters #booksky #writesky

A cream-coloured slide with green ink splatters in the upper left and lower right corners. The lower right splatter has a cottage illustration within it. The text on the slide reads: THE UNLIKELY MALARKEY OF DORRIS AND BERYL - Pitch - Prophecies don’t have age limits. It’s a fact 82-year-old Dorris learns when an uppity gnome arrives on her doorstep and declares she’s the Chosen One… sixty years late. Now Dorris must exchange her books, cottage, and weekly visits with her best friend Beryl for a noble quest. If she refuses, the kingdom of Grit (and Dorris’ beloved home library) will burn to ashes. Will the octogenarians break the sixty-year curse as prophesied? Or will Beryl’s shady past with dark magic reappear and doom them all?

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Jax Wolff Writes @jaxwolffwrites.bsky.social · May 7

Barely a week into his first adventure with his mage best friend(/crush), luckless Mick finds himself stuck in the body of a dragon with a god in his head. Now he and mage Eleanor must navigate what it means to be the dragons' chosen—before his existence triggers a divine war.
#QuestPit #W #NA #RF

Three-panel moodboard consisting of three pieces by Alphonse Mucha.

Left: Emerald. A serpent snarls at the viewer from amidst green lilies.
Center: The Moon. A woman wearing nothing but a navy blanket covered in stars stands against a backdrop consisting of the night sky and a crescent moon. She covers her smile with one hand. This image is noticeably lower in quality than its neighboring panels.
Right: Salon des Cent. A woman conceals her mouth with a hand, her index finger curled down. She's glaring intensely at the viewer.

A golden filigree lines the bottom and frames the sides, partially covering the left and right panels.

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Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · May 7

*TIME IS RUNNING OUT by Muse plays softly in the bg*

YIELD, if you like:
one horse but it’s not a 🐎
a rly hot faerie w/ rly hot magic 🔥
burn the world for you, if you don’t burn it 1st w/ ur dumb choices 🥴
a cryptic prophecy that could DOOM THEM ALL??? 🔮
he’s got ✨horns✨

#QuestPit #Q #A #F #RF

Catie Stroud ✨ @ladystroud.bsky.social · May 7

✨ dark NARNIA x MY LADY JANE ⚔️

A missing faerie. A forbidden elixir. A whole lot of missteps.

One reluctant princess’s quest to right her wrongs.

She craved freedom. What she found could cost her everything.

#QuestPit #Q #A #F #RF

1-paragraph pitch for YIELD, a 100k adult romantic fantasy debut novel.

Book comps for YIELD include Assistant to the Villain, Emily Wilde’s, One Dark Window, Nettle and Bone, the Cruel Prince. Media comps are My Lady Jane meets a dark, adult Narnia.

YIELD will appeal to fans of: queer characters, a golden retriever MMC (with teeth), one “horse,” cozy AND dark, women’s wrongs, romantic subplot (but still spicy), found family, knife to throat, slow burn(s), and reluctant allies to lovers.

A snippet from YIELD in which Thea, the main character and POV, threatens Brynn, her reluctant guide, with a knife to the throat.

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Iris Andersi @goodwords.bsky.social · May 7

THE SPELLSHOP x HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE

A curmudgeonly witch with a chronic illness must work with a cheerful thief to stand up to a greedy pharmaceutical company.

#QuestPit #A #RF #F #agentsguide #disabilityrep #chronicillnessrep #cozyromanticfantasy

A slide with green leaves and green watercolor stains says "The Pitch: A curmudgeonly witch with a chronic illness must work with a cheerful thief to stand up to a greedy pharmaceutical company." A black cat looks over it's shoulder at the text in the bottom right corner.

Tropes and Highlights include: found family, one bed at the inn, witches and familiars, cozy vibes, grumpy + sunshine, bi-for-bi romance, chronic illness rep, and foraging dates. Think, The Spellshop X Howl's Moving Castle. This text is on top of a green slide with green watercolor splotches and leaves. The book covers for The Spellshop and Howl's Moving Castle are in the center of the image.

Comps is written in the corner. Four book covers are shown in a row. Under the Whispering Door + Legends & Lattes + The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches = Potions Unincorporated. The words The Humor, The Cozy Fantasy Vibes, and The Romance make up the formula for the not yet published book on the far right. The slide is green with green water color splotches. A green vine is on the top right and the outline of a leaf and two mushrooms is on the bottom right.

First Lines is written at the top of the slide. The Text in the middle is on a tan, worn looking page background which says: Potions Unincorporated. Twelve vials sat on a shelf where one hundred should rest. Linatta Mosset picked up one of the tapered glasses---thumb-sized and filled to the brim with a warm, green liquid.

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Sabrina is editing a portal romantasy ✨ @sabrinamars.bsky.social · May 7

INUYASHA x SAILOR MOON x DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS

✨College lacrosse player turned fated magical girl (portal fantasy)
✨Reluctant hero
✨Forbidden magic + even more forbidden romance
✨Found family
✨Sexy sparring
✨D&D wild magic

#questpit #w #f #r #ya

#writingcommunity

A collage featuring lanterns, roses, a ballroom, flowers, a red book, a crystal, a young woman with blonde hair carrying a bouquet of flowers

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Alyssa 🌊 is QUERYING! @amcknightwrites.bsky.social · May 7

FOR THE WOLF x SORROWLAND

Might I present my #agentguide for THESE TIDES THAT BIND, standalone adult horror fantasy featuring a Siren POV, a love triangle, body horror, and themes of selfishness as self preservation?

#questpit #q #f

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Angie is ✨querying✨ @angie3tomatoes.bsky.social · May 7

An #agentsguide for AON
When Tayah sees the Obsidian Hart, her fate unravels. Now she must uncover Ravensford’s forgotten history—before she’s the next to disappear
🖤Gothic Fantasy + Feminism
🏠Sentient House
❤️‍🔥Slow-burn Romance
✨Art as Magic

#QuestPit #AF #R

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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Claire Kidwell @kiddyjoy.bsky.social · Feb 26

UPROOTED x NAUSICAÄ

🪲 A naïve natural historian in desperate need of a guide through the cursed forest.

🌌 A non-binary rogue who will do anything to rescue their family.

👀 A plot to trap the rogue brings them together.

❤️ Their hearts will draw them closer.

#WSPit #WSPitQ #A #F #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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Reposted by Catie Stroud ✨

Jeannette Lane is querying @cjtruwriter.bsky.social · May 7

Aster would do anything to be the best writer the world has seen—even if it means spilling her blood to commune with the greats that came before her.

• power v obsession
• what’s real v what’s not
• LGBTQ & mental health rep
• dark academia vibes

#NA #H #Q #QuestPit

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