Amber Baird

Bio-pic or bi-opic?

The best books I read in 2025 in my top genres: horror & thriller; mystery & thriller; contemporary & literary; science fiction & fantasy.

#bestof2025 #booksky #bookrecommendations

Well my body has knocked me flat again. I love being chronically ill!

Some influences for To the Burrito Gods. Querying soon. #amrevising

First panel is a mood board in pink, gold, and blue. "To the Burrito Gods" printed in the middle. Images in the board: two hands clasping, a burrito, a rainbow, something on fire, someone praying, an eye up close, a smashed up car, a computer and sketchbook, a series of knives. On the right panel against a grungy green background, info: Desperate Amanda doesn't have a lot of options in rural Oregon, but she thinks her dreams have come true when she's hired at Burrito Gods, a hip fast-casual joint, making a thriving wage, only to find that to climb the ranks she'll have to lose her soul. Movie poster for Sorry to Bother You X book cover for Pizza Girl. TO THE BURRITO GODS is a horror story about working in food service featuring a late queer coming-of-age for fans of Rachel Harrison and Grady Hendrix.

TO THE BURRITO GODS: a horror story about working in food service.

⛪️ workplace cult
🌯 foodie satire
💋 sapphic w/ trans LI

Querying soon. #questpit #A #H #LF #WIP

In a black background, in red text: SHADOW DADDY, Geralt of Rivia meets The Pacifier a cloaked figure in black pushes a black stroller on top of a red circle (with the bottom cut off)

Geralt of Rivia meets THE PACIFIER
When Audlan’s boss is killed by a rival sorcerer, he is abruptly saddled with his boss’ “children”—five shadow demons summoned from another dimension. Audlan must hunt down his boss’ killer and stop Ig from getting blood on the carpet
#QuestPit #AG #W #A #F

A collage of mainly black and green images, featuring skulls, candles, dogs, books, flowers, cottages, forests, and ghosts. There are some graphics on it that show dog paw prints, a teacup, and a moon. The text reads: Houndstooth Hollow: When Artemisia inherits a manor from the mother she never met, she expects newfound wealth and a lovely home in the countryside — not a crumbling gothic manor overrun by 73 dogs, countless dangerous ghosts, and one disgraced celebrity necromancer. In order to pay back her debts and save her new home, she must brave the debutante world to secure a fortune and reluctantly enlist the help of the necromancer, whose dark magic represents everything she’s tried so hard to leave behind.

A collage of mostly black and green images, featuring old manor houses, crumbling greenhouses, lots of dogs, and quaint cozy cottages in the sunlight. There are some graphics, such as dog paw prints, a moth, a dog face, and stars. The text reads that this is for fans of gothic cottagecore, afternoon tea & midnight rituals, sentient manor, occult academia magic system, necromancy, forced proximity (haunted house), floriography, haunt the rich, cemetery picnics, and haunting as metaphor. There are also comp titles listed: Belladonna, Half a Soul, The Spellshop, Sorcery of Thorns, The Haunting of Hill House, Crimson Peak, The Addams Family, Tim Burton, India Holton, whimsical macabre, and books where the dogs don’t die.

🌿💀✨

A flower-seller inherits a countryside manor — overrun by 73 dogs, countless dangerous ghosts, and one disgraced celebrity necromancer.

To keep her new home, she must restore the house & work with the necromancer to expel the ghosts… before she becomes a haunting, too.

#questpit #A #F #Q

collage muted green of a friend group spending their summer together in the mountains, playing cards, etc

scrapbook collage of book vibes including comparison titles, music artists with similar vibes, musical instruments, and movies

The perfect romcom escape for fans of Lynn Painter and DCOMs like Camp Rock and Lemonade Mouth!

💚Summer band camp for adults
🩵Second chance romance
💚Found family
🩵Mental health rep
💚Secret summer fling
🩵Coming of age in your 20’s

🎸 EDITORS interact if you're interested ✨

#QuestPit #AG #A #R #OS

17yo Sophie never believed in ghosts until one starts whispering her name beneath the red maples of her family’s cursed Texas estate. The house breathes. The trees bleed. And the boy she can’t stop dreaming about has been dead a century.
#QuestPit #YA #H #Gothic #Q

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous x My Dark Vanessa

Relapse/Rewind: a raw, brutally honest, time-travelling, upmarket page turner about a survivor seeking freedom in all the wrong places.

#QuestPit #Q #A #DR

Image: a white hare sleeping in a golden frame with a black snake coiled around it Title: The Dark Swan Blurb: the witches are hungry, but Eddie Sharpe is famished...

Pitch: A cursed vampiric coven binds gentle, pliant Edmund Sharpe to lifelong servitude. He fights to keep his soul from the coven’s decay, but his shared obsession with their enforcer slowly erodes his morality. When his buried magic surfaces, Edmund wields the power to either destroy his captors or join their hunger to survive.

Mood. Quote: “I want you to crack my ribs open and sink your teeth into my heart, wrap your fingers around it and tear it loose so you could always carry me with you. I want to see it beat in your mouth before you swallow it whole.”

Comps: THE DEATH OF JANE LAWRENCE by Caitlin Starling, THE DOWRY OF BLOOD by S.T. Gibson, THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS by Micah Nemerever, Saltburn (movie)

Dowry of Blood x The Death of Jane Lawrence x Saltburn

🩸1975 small English town
🩸cursed vampiric witches
🩸queer obsession
🩸everyone's guilty

(Original artwork by yours truly)
#QuestPit #F #A #Q #LGBTQIA #WritingCommunity

For #editors !

THE PENETRATION TEST

Contemporary romance x suspense.

🌶️ high spice
🏙️London
👩🏻‍💻women in stem (&real code)
🥷🏻hidden identity
🔀twist ending
❤️‍🩹betrayal

A tech entrepreneur with a debt to pay. An investor battling a mysterious extorter.
= one (unstable) connection
#questpit

Anna Karenina Retelling features the woman from 13 Going on 30 skipping through space over the moon where a space station floats and a woman in a space suit falls out. Underneath there are women in a variety of either mod or retrofuturistic 60s-70s fashion looking at her.

ANNA KARENINA x GOOD LUCK, BABE!

After Kitty accidentally 13 Going on 30s herself into the future, she has a 2nd chance to win Alexei Vronsky's heart. In order to do so, she concocts a plan involving a woman who apparently knows her a little too well from her missed past.

#QuestPit #W #A #R #SFF

The words "A Guide to The Langley Conspiracy by Arlen Ren" over a background of a gap in a chain link fence in a woodland. a silhouette of a UFO hovers in a gap in the trees.

Non-binary teen Sam is on their last warning. Their bully has been excluded from school, but they're having to resit the year. They're separated from their best friend, Katie - but she's barely spoken to them all summer, anyway. Back at St. Jean's Catholic High School, Sam finds out why. While Sam was ditching classes, kids from the commune on the edge of town joined the school, forming the mysterious "Astral Club" whose badge is pinned to Katie's lapel. Sam knows that Katie's weird behaviour must be linked to this "club", but no-one else seems to think there's a problem. No-one apart from Casper, the boy from the commune who's set on helping Sam investigate the conspiracy at the heart of St. Jean's.

character art of a white-haired boy with light brown skin drinking from a straw, and a disgruntled-looking white enby with pink hair. under the white-haired boy (Casper) are the words "what does he want?!", and above the picture of the pink-haired enby (Sam) are the words "hi, I'm Sam". themes are listed on the page: YA Paranormal, non-binary MC, "I want to believe", friendship breakup, queer refusal to conform.

a moodboard alluding to UFOs, disappearances, conspiracy maps, with two inspiration pieces of media linked to it via arrows: the X-Files and Twilight (yes, Twilight. I know. I KNOW.)

Enby teen Sam is supposed to put cryptids & conspiracies behind them. But when bestie Katie starts acting weird, Sam knows the cult on the edge of town is to blame. The only one who'll help them prove it is Casper, who's from the cult himself. Can Sam trust him to save Katie?

#QuestPit #YA #W #H

Not querying yet (finishing final revisions) but testing out my agents guide!

SINNERS x IWAV

Angeline wakes up with a taste for blood and 200 years of missing memories. As visions reveal flashes of her past, she must uncover the truth before danger crosses her doorway.

#QuestPit #W #A #F

A nine image moodboard with a deer skull, a boy with his face blacked out, a wolf's maw, an ao3 note saying "this is gay" , a boy being led into the woods, a raven, hands digging into undergrowth, a pinkie promise, and feet hanging over a brick ledge

DONT LET THE FOREST IN x toxic NARNIA
Owen killed a beautiful monster to escape a magical forest world, but whoever kills the monster must replace it…
🏳️‍⚧️Trans rep
📖Dual-timeline
🔥Toxic obsession
😱Monstrous transformation

+ editor interest (x2)

#questpit #YA #H #Q

Agent's Guide for literary agents and editors for the book DAD BODIES.

An #Agentsguide to DAD BODIES! For the #litagents and #editors during #Questpit.

Big 5 interest! Two editors at publishing houses requested and have received the full manuscript. Complete at 74,000 words.

#A #H #M

THE MAID X FINLAY DONOVAN

10 coworkers.
1 dead manager.

A trio of coworkers must find their office manager's killer, before their scathing resignation emails are discovered, making them the prime suspects. #questpit #editorsguide #AG

🏃‍♀️Escape room whodunit
💘 Office romance

a moodboard detailing nine images related to my book ALL THE DEVILS aka devilswip. in order from right to left they are: london notably the landmark big ben, a band performing on stage, a sheet of music, a record store, the silhouette of a rockstar, some musical instruments scattered on a bed, two men running, a pile of evidence and finally a hand holding a cigarette

🎸 daisy jones x knives out 🗡️

the songstress, the high-flyer, the gambler, the sweetheart, the watcher, the matriarch and the rogue. seven suspects. one the killer of renowned rockstar sam corvi. but who? only they can tell you

#questpit #Q #A #LF #MY

Made from non-AI free stock images. This image is a book cover design for a novel titled "Happy Death Inc." by B. Van Bodegom. The cover is divided into three distinct horizontal sections: 1. Top Section: Features a cartoonish blue sky with white clouds and a bright sun. At the top, a tagline reads: "How much would you pay to die with a smile?" The word "HAPPY" appears in large, playful, hand-drawn-style font, partially overlapping the sky background. 2. Middle Section: A photograph of a deceased man in a suit, lying in a casket. He has an exaggerated smile on his face, almost unnaturally wide and clean, suggesting artificial enhancement or post-mortem alteration. Overlaid on this image is the word "DEATH" in the same large font as the previous word. 3. Bottom Section: A cartoon city skyline in pastel tones, similar in style to the top sky background. The word "INC." is overlaid prominently in the same large font. At the very bottom: A novel by B. van Bodegom

BLACK MIRROR × SEVERANCE × THE GOOD PLACE

Having a happy death is a luxury service for the rich and Wren is the rising top salesman—until a cynical coworker and a depressed billionaire force him to rethink it all in a world where even your last smile has a price tag.

#QuestPit #A #S #SF #W

A fangirl has to help her fave author finish her final manuscript post-mortem while a ghost from its pages threatens their theater.

📝Ghostwriter to a ghost
💗Pastel paranormal
👻Vengeful spirit
🎭Haunted theater
🖤Séance-gone-awry
🌴Florida summer vibes (but spooky)
💕One bed

#questpit #YA #PR #LGBT #Q

Dark blue poster background with a cartoon of a pink and silver pressure cooker. Text: ChemPortal A romantic sci-fi Two awkward scientists just want to be left alone to build a lawnmower. Instead, thy find themselves battling time, powerful corporations, and doomsday cults to save the world from starvation. Fay Irwin

If Andy Weir and Ali Hazelwood co-wrote a book, it would be CHEMPORTAL. This scifi romcom with real chemistry features:
💥Explosions (real and figurative)
📻Science (mis)communication
🥰Enemies to lovers
👨‍👩‍👧‍👧Complex family dynamics
⚛️ #Steminist history
💪ND and LGBTQ rep

#QuestPit #A #Q #SF #R

IF WE WERE VILLAINS x THE DREAMERS (2003)

Three messy bisexuals who make each other worse navigate the challenges of adulthood in 90s Europe.

💌 men who yearn
💕 bisexual love triangle
📚 antique bookshops
🗡️ support women’s wrongs
🌾 working class immigrant MC
🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ rep

#questpit #Q #A #LF

Tropical villa backyard with patio loungers and pool. Photo has bad reception television glitch. Words overtop: Welcome to the inaugural season of LAST CHANCE MATCH. 92,000 word dystopian horrormance

Dear Cera,

Pack your bags! You've been invited to appear on LAST CHANCE MATCH, a new dating show where LOVE ISLAND meets SQUID GAME and BLACK MIRROR. Should you find a soulmate, you won't be exterminated in 2 years.

Are you ready to find the one who's to die for?

#questpit #A #R #SF #H #S #Q

Agent's guide You have to go back

Pitch: haunted by the memory of her friend's tragic death, Rosie returns to Ireland to search for answers and must team up with a grumpy but handsome local man to uncover the truth-and escape the terrifying presence that's stalking her. Blurb: "Like moonlight on a storm tossed sea, YOU HAVE TO GO BACK captivates with haunting secrets hidden just below the surface." - Paulette Kennedy, bestselling author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport

Comps: the guest list, haunting of Maddy Clare, leap year (but haunted); enemies to lovers, horromance, Gothic vibes, a haunting in ireland

Mood board including the Irish coast, a cottage, woman in the water, a ghostly figure, and a couple embracing

An #AgentsGuide to my gothic horromance! 🖤

THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE + THE GUEST LIST

Rosie's travel to-do list:
🇮🇪 Return to Ireland
💀 Solve a murder
💚 Try not to fall for the mysterious local man
🧟‍♀️ Escape the monstrous presence stalking her

#QuestPit #A #H #R #Dis #Q

Grid of pictures: Hands coming out of the dark, a woman with a cloth over her face, a silhouette of a couple, a korean woman, a woman walking down a hallway, a woman with stained red hands and face

Here's a moodboard for GUMIHO:

🇰🇷 Inspired by Korean folklore & mythology
🖤Told from the eyes of an anti-hero gumiho
🌧Set in modern-day PNW
🥀Dark, intimate atmosphere
🌀Psychological unraveling & physical transformation
❤️Slow-burn romance

✨️Currently revising w/ SmoochPit✨️

#QuestPit #A #F #H #R

old church, girl running in cowboy boots, old bible, girl with lighter under tongue, old cassette, girl licking red off hands, fair at night, old field, old church and pews

Jennifer's Body x Together We Rot
Boys start to disappear in Lyric’s backwards backwoods town and her best friend/crush Eleanor was the last person they were seen with, leaving Lyric to investigate if something is monstrously wrong with her friend.
#Questpit #YA #AG #H #R #Ownvoice

Image of a girl floating beneath the ocean, blowing bubbles towards the surface. A seaweed motif sits behind bright green text that reads, ‘The Ballad of Agnes Day’.

When a freak storm wrecks his island’s passenger steamer, sparing only a strange girl believed to be one of the monstrous Finfolk, a grieving musician must uncover who she really is before more of his people die.

#questpit #A #His #M #H #Q

An agent’s guide to: HEART OF THE BAYOU A YA Horror-Romance

The pitch: The deadly legends that prowl the bayou eat more than just souls— and one wants Elle's heart for her own ... When a paranormal migration brings a slew of deadly soul-eating cryptids to the quiet swamps of Louisiana, subsequently cornering the paranormal clinic 17-year-old Elle works at—she must find out why the bloodthirsty monsters are migrating before BOLT, a paranormal branch of the FBI, threatens to shut down the clinic and arrest its supernatural patients. But when she discovers her crush is hiding some monsters of her own, the kind of cryptid that might just take down the clinic and Elle's heart—she'll have to decide if she's ready to take the girl's advice and finally risk letting her own inner monsters out of the closet ... Comps: They Bloom at Night, I Feed Her to the Beast, A Feast for the Eyes, This Ravenous Fate, Hear Her Howl, The Coven Tendency

Snippet from HEART OF THE BAYOU: I'd heard of the brutality of how these cryptids killed. How the survivors were lucky if you managed to escape with only an arm lost. How they enjoyed ripping people from flesh to tendons and finally bone, before they dove for the final kill and snapped their prey's neck, the tell-tale halo of blood flowering above their victims' heads I only hoped there was something I could salvage once the beast finished. The man's shrieks didn't cease until the monster's eyes glowed brighter, rubies sparkling in the center of a dangerous black mass. His body stilled, transfixed in terror. A silent scream began to pry his lips apart as if drawn by an invisible force. I winced, the sounds of bones clicking, dislocating, and popping as the man's eyes rolled to the back of his head. A fleshy lump burst through his shirt, pulsating and twisting like worms had taken ahold of his skin.

Tropes & Vibes: “Only one bed” Abandoned houses & creepy dockyards Sociopolitical commentary Neurodivergent, queer & anxiety rep Lesbian MC’s Cryptids & legends from the Deep South Small town horror The monster wins in the end . . . Sassy x Stabby FMC’s Central moodboard: Swamp pictures, an orange moon, flannels, heart-shaped carabiners, a “don’t go into the woods” sign, girls kissing, a religious sign, a truck in a field

Excitedly presenting an #agentguide for HEART OF THE BAYOU, my sapphic horror-romance—now in an inbox near you!!

🫀Deep Southern cryptids
🫀sapphic pining
🫀coming of rage
🫀monsters as a metaphor for queerness & disability
🫀 ✨Big 5✨ editor interest x2

#questpit #YA #Q #H #R #LGBT