Mackenzie Crone

Having been part of a group a few years back that later used swapped materials to speak poorly of fellow writers in secret group chats, and at times publicly harass them (when I found out, I almost quit writing), I can’t echo this loud enough

Hello Readers!
I will be attending the Summer Book Fest local author signing event at @barnesandnoble.com in Murray, UT this Saturday! Stop by from 4-7 PM and kick start your summer the right way! 😎☀️🏝️

A greenish gray background with an image of a foggy island and the text “An Agent’s Guide to FORGED IN DARKNESS YA Celtic-inspired fantasy 89k”

THE PITCH A teen blacksmith must embark on a quest with the boy she hates to reforge a magic relic and free their island from a tyrannical god — otherwise, her life belongs to the island's fog-worshiping cult.

SNIPPET Cold wind burned Barra's cheeks as she exited the church, but at least the rain had stopped. She gazed out over the cliffside and down to the harbor, where three ships nearing completion swayed in the choppy water. Barra tensed at the sight. If only she could destroy them and everything they stood for. The Salt Sisters at work below were like a swarm of ants, and the sound of their steady hammering carried across the breeze. Barra eyed the shrouded sun's position in the sky. The solstice ever-neared, along with the vows she was pledged to take.

COMPS The cover of The Hedgewitch of Foxhall with “Slow burn” and “Celtic setting” the cover of BLADE OF SECRETS with “Blacksmith MC” and “Anxiety Rep” and the cover of THE BONE HOUSES with “Banter/Humor” and “Dangerous quest”

Take a look at my updated #agentguide / #agentsguide for the YA fantasy manuscript I #amquerying

Text: An agent’s guide to The Ballad of Agnes Day, a 112k upmarket historical novel. Image: Two vintage-style mermaids with their tails entwined and a blood spatter across one corner.

The pitch: When a storms wrecks his islands’s passenger steamer, sparing only a girl believed to be one of the monstrous Finfolk, a grieving musician must uncover who she really is before more of his people die. Moodboard: Evil-looking mermaids, a violin, poisonous mushrooms and passenger steamers on stormy seas, with a moody blue-green hue.

Comps: The Sirens by Emilia Hart, Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson as book covers

The snippet: ‘Are you seeing this?’ he cried. ‘Do you see them?’ ​ Dazed, Morton peered around him. All he could see was the black oil spill of the water, its steady surge and release. ‘What do you mean?’ he called back, blood thundering in his ears. ​ Edward’s eyes grew glossy with tears. Then he began to jerk around like a petrified beast, causing the boat to lurch beneath them. ‘They’re everywhere,’ he said in terror and wonderment. ‘They’re coming for me.’

Twenty-five years ago, men made history. But HER story will change everything…

🌊 Multi-POV
🌊 Feminine rage / ‘Good For Her’
🌊 Horror elements
🌊 Orcadian folklore
🌊 Atmospheric setting
🌊 Twisty plot
🌊 Editor interest

#questpit #Q #A #HF #agentsguide

An agent’s guide to Catch You In the Trees YA thriller romance Approximately 92k words

Comp Titles: Nothing More to Tell, Karen McManus AGGGTM, Holly Jackson They’ll Never Catch Us, Jessica Goodman Unconventional Comps The Marauders Era PLL (2010) Cruel Summer (2021) Tropes/Vibes Rivals to lovers Running culture Private school Chaotic academia Dual timeline Dual pov Ride or die friendships A good old murder board

It’s always the boyfriend, right? Mowich Bay can take one vanishing teen, but not two. Lennie Torres’s senior year captaining the XC team turns deadly when her ex-bff goes missing and she ends up a suspect. Her only way out? Team up with nemesis golden boy Lysander Hayes, the boyfriend of the missing girl—and the last person to see her alive. But Lysander’s not the only one keeping secrets, and if both Lennie and Lysander want to make it through XC season? They’re going to have to figure out how to trust each other or somebody’s going to end up dead.

Snippet Hayes takes my hand, wrapping his fingers firmly around mine. “Deal.” His eyes glint an odd silver in the chrome and linoleum hallway and I think of people making deals with devils at cross roads. I wonder if they get the same storm of nerves I have swirling in my blood right now. I don’t trust Hayes. But I need him. “Deal.”

CATCH YOU IN THE TREES is a YA thriller set in the Pacific NorthWest where, in order to clear her name, a high school senior must team up with her XC co-captain and nemesis, the boyfriend of a missing girl—and the last person to see her alive.

#questpit #Q #YA #T #agentguide

An agent’s guide to: “Mark of a Magpie” YA Romantic Fantasy 119k Words Behind the text is a piece of parchment paper surrounded by ocean water and gold flower outlines.

Blurb: One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, Three for a Girl, Four for a Boy… Ryn is a small-town thief with a knack for being overconfident in her abilities, but by day she’s a beloved tavern girl with the liver of steel that carries her reputation. On her most daring break-in yet, she runs face first into the kingdom’s last living assassin, Seven, and he’s just offered her the opportunity of a century: a ticket of attendance to the King’s upcoming courtship gathering. It’s a partnership she’d definitely be a fool to take up, but desperation fuels ever decision she makes. Five for Silver, Six for Gold… Seven is set in his own plans, however much they interfere with hers, and they won’t be the only ones in attendance with hidden agendas. When the castle goes into lockdown, it’s survival of the cunning and silver-tongued. The rich are dropped like flies, and all suspicions are on them. Seven for a Secret, Never to be Told. The text is on a piece of parchment paper, with ocean water and gold flower outlines behind it.

Tropes: Thief x Assassin Mental Health Rep Identity vs Duty Class Difference Forced Proximity Secret Code Morally Gray Women’s Wrongs Unlikely Allies to Lovers Text is on a piece of parchment paper. Besides the text are two headshot drawings: one of a girl with brown hair pulled back by braids, and the other of a black-haired boy with a worried expression. Behind the parchment paper are ocean waters with gold flower outlines.

The Atmosphere: There is a collage of pictures on a parchment paper. Picture one is of a boy crouched down with his head covered as a fire burns in the background. Picture two is of two hands tied to a pole on the beach. Picture three shows a person wrapping up the wounded hand of another. Picture four shows an old piece of parchment with unreadable script. Picture five is of an island with a castle and small village surrounding it. Picture six is of a girl on the run with a dagger in hand. Behind the collage of pictures are ocean waters, with gold flower outlines surrounding it.

Agent’s Guide to “Mark of a Magpie”! 📖🐦‍⬛

When a small-town thief crosses paths with the kingdom’s big-shot assassin, an unlikely partnership is born; but can their goals align before their egos and secrets land them both a spot on the gallows?

#QuestPit #Q #YA #NA #F #R #RF
#agentsguide #amquerying

Thank you!

THE CURSE OF MILA GOJSALIĆ is a high-stakes retelling of two prominent Slavic myths—the mysterious death of King Zvonimir and the legend of Croatian heroine Mila Gojsalić.

#questpit #OS #editorsguide #A #F

3 column moodboard in greenish misty colours. 1. A crystal ball, book and other witchy stuff A woman holding a crystal ball A white cat 2. Full moon over trees with text, "The Hiding, Reawakening, The Somnia" Dark, rippling water with text, "Seer of York" 3. Misty treetops The Shambles, York A black candle on the corner of a piece of paper with a seven-pointed star.

Harper's on a #QuestPit to stop an arcane killer. The only way to catch them is with illegal magic, punishable by death, but every murder is on her conscience. The closer she gets to the truth, the more she wonders, whose side she should be on-human or supernatural.

#A #P #F #DF

You'll like OF RAGING TIDES if you enjoy:

🌊 a stabby FMC with a thirst for blood or should I say drowning?
🌊 sexy spar scenes (she does pull his hair mid fight)
🌊a society where touching bare hands is *gasp* scandalous
🌊 he's my enemy...but wait he's hot

#questpit #Q

A STAIRCASE WITH A WROUGHT-IRON RAILING IN FRONT OF A CRUMBLING BLUE WALL WITH TEXT THAT READS: A GUIDE TO ECHOES OF RADFIELD HALL, HEATHER CARTER

A STAIRCASE WITH A WROUGHT-IRON RAILING IN FRONT OF A CRUMBLING BLUE WALL WITH TEXT THAT READS: THE PITCH: ALLOSON AND JOHN ARE TRAPPED IN A DECREPIT MANSION THAT COMES TO LIFE NIGHTLY WITH A TWO-HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD BALL. AMID FLOODING ROOMS, DEMONIC LIONS, AND VIOLENT ENTITIES, THEY MUST BREAK THE CURSE OR BECOME GHOSTS THEMSELVES. COMPS: STARLING HOUSE X CRIMSON PEAK

A STAIRCASE WITH A WROUGHT-IRON RAILING IN FRONT OF A CRUMBLING BLUE WALL WITH TEXT THAT READS: THE TROPES: ADULT GOTHIC ROMANCE, AMNESIA, GHOSTS, TIME TRAVEL/LOOP, HORROR AND ROMANCE, FANTASY ELEMENTS, SPICE

A STAIRCASE WITH A WROUGHT-IRON RAILING IN FRONT OF A CRUMBLING BLUE WALL WITH TEXT THAT READS: OPENING LINES: I DRIFTED ON A STRANGE SEA BBETWEEN WORLDS. BLIPS OF CONSCIOUSNESS, AND THEN? TRAPPED IN A NIGHTMARE OF CLAWS AND DARKNESS. YES, IT HAD TO BE A DREAM. THE HAZY EDGES AND ECHOING RUMBLES FILTERED THROUGH WHAT SHOULD'VE BEEN A HARSH LINE BETWEEN THE WAKING WORLD AND THE REALM OF SLEEP.

STARLING HOUSE X CRIMSON PEAK
Alloson & John are trapped in a ghostly limbo, where a haunted house & dark forces threaten to end them. Spirits come to life at a nightly ball, spinning a mystery they must solve before becoming ghosts themselves.
#QuestPit #W #A #PR #H

Top row: masculine blue eye, golden hilt of daggers, and a man (prince) with his hand on the hilt of his sword middle row: sails of a ship, quote: I can see the end as it begins, and the side view from a ship of the ocean bottom row: a blond woman (pirate) leaning against the rails of a ship, peals and shells, and a blond woman looking down

Pitch for my book about to be on sub with the side view of the ocean in the background

WHEN THE MOON HATCHED x NEVER KEEP

🌊 a deadly quest including dragons
🖤 break the Mark or kill each other
🌊 rivals to allies to lovers to enemies
🖤 bounty hunter pirate x assassin prince

#QuestPit #F #RF #A #NA #AG #OS soon!

Reasons to love To Ruin the Sky

ELECTRIC SEXUAL TENSION. Excerpt reads: There's a possessiveness in how he touches me and I wish I hated it. "How would you punish me?" I breathe out, unable to control my impulses. Fingers touch my zip as he slowly slips it down, millimetre by millimetre. My body is completely in his thrall, unable to decipher the beat of my heart from the thump of the speaker's bass. Cloudy background with one half of a lightning bolt

MORALLY-GREY IS THE COLOUR OF CHOICE... Two moodboards with information about the two main characters

INCLUDES TOP TIER TROPES... Four book comparisons: Crescent City, Kingdom of the Wicked, Book of Azrael, Quicksilver with tropes attached The other half of a lightning bolt with a cloudy background

Presenting to the #questpit & #writingcommunity crew…

Reasons to love To Ruin the Sky ⚡️

Kingdom of the Wicked x Crescent City
♥︎Led by a sassy, 'shadow mommy' FMC
🫶🏼Fresh take on Romantasy
🪞#MiddleEasternRep
🚨Fills that Xaden-shaped hole in your life
#agentsguide #RF #Q #NA #writersky

Art featuring a girl in a blue dress with braided black hair and a flower crown dancing with a ginger-haired boy in a leather vest and trousers, with mountains and forests in the background. Tropes include element magic, cozy setting, disability rep, Ghibli vibes, dislike to lovers, snarky banter, Swiss folklore, and found family.

ANASTASIA X TANGLED

A seamstress’ assistant unable to recall her past recruits a thief to help her win her memories back in a festival. As lost magic surges to oppose them, a dangerous attraction blooms, forcing them to choose between forgotten pasts and tantalizing futures.

#questpit #OS #YA #F

An agent's guide to "The Breath of Silence" a fantasy novel by M J Reynard against a dusk/dawn sunrise. At the top are three awards in laurels: Future Worlds 2023 Shortlisted; RevPit 2025 Shortlisted; Write Mentor 2025 Longlisted.

A sky and cloudscape with sunlight on the left and thick rolling cloud on the right. Title reads 'Comps' and below are four different subtitles with corresponding books: Magic - The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart Politics - The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem Atmosphere - The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne Slow Burn - One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig (The Breath of Silence by M J Reynard)

A dark green forest. Caption reads - The Pitch: In a world where magic is forbidden, an outcast shifter & a heartbroken soldier form a fragile alliance to smuggle a relic, but as betrayal leads to murder, they must stop a vengeful sorceress or lose all magic - forever! (The Breath of Silence by M J Reynard)

Vertical red flames and sparks against a night sky. Two lists for Tropes & Themes: Slow burn Enemies to friends Culture clash Queernormative world Prejudice against magic & wealth Fish out of water Found family Shapeshifters & witches Immortals & reincarnates Dragons & tigers City in the sky!

BONE SHARD WAR/THE JASAD HEIR
There's a reason magic was silenced. Who will bring it back? The sorceress who will tear down empires, the smuggler with split loyalties who doesn't believe it exists, or the warrior who would die to keep it secret.
#QuestPit #Q #A #F #AgentsGuide

To save her realm and her people from extinction, lone Dryad, Eryna, must hide amongst human high society and play their twisted party games to take back the magic that was stolen from her land.

HEARTLESS HUNTER x WHERE THE DARK STANDS STILL

She’s the last Dryad. His family steals Dryad magic.

She must save her realm. He must save his father.

They both need one thing.

No one wins with a heart on the line

#questpit #Q #YA #F

Image of forbidden loves, Jadriel & Simone, from the Truth of Fear, with haunting shadows behind them.

Image of a bloody eyed ghost, the MC's murdered cousin, Nina, who is becoming a vengeful spirit.

Excerpt from my YA Feminist Horror novel w romance & revenge: The Truth of fear

Comp titles for my book, covers for Don't Let the Forest in, The Wicked Deep, and Horrid.

🖤HAUNTED & HEXED
🖤TOUCH HIM & BURN
🖤KISS HER & DIE

When the whispers of the spell become screams…
Death Will Come

✔️2 Big 5 Editor Requests
✔️10 Literary Agent Full Requests *RN*
✔️Winner WriteHive Mentorship 2025
✔️Revised & Soon to be #amquerying

#AgentsGuide #EditorsGuide
#QuestPit #YA #H #R #Q

A quote from the book reading as follows: "Do you hear that music?" he said in the thunder's wake. The dissonate countermelody of Horus's determination was juxtaposed with Arletta's mystic prayers in the winding woodwinds. Lucian pulled her close. "Abandon your thoughts. Listen." The winding melody swelled to an explosive chorus and he launched her into a feverish dance. From Chapter 8, The Monolith

The Revenant of Surolifia by Florence Chien In bookstores summer 2026

✨ THE REVENANT OF SUROLIFIA ✨ JULY '26 ✨

🗡️ An imperial officer with a secret identity
🪽 A thief trying to start a revolution
⚖️ A university student turned diplomat
🩸 They want to kill each other
🔥 But they must cooperate to stop a war

#questpit #P #A #F #2026debuts

THE SPELLSHOPxLATE BLOOMER

A witch, moonlighting as a lady knight, must team up w/ a human to save the ren faire

🪽 magical renaissance faire
✨ women in armor
🧚 meddling magical creatures
🔮 palm readings
⛅️ grumpy/sunshine
🔥 twin flames

#questpit #F #R #lgbtq #AG #OS soon

a moodboard for a gothic romantic horror in tones of red and black. Images from top left to bottom right are silhouettes of a man with a sword and a woman at night from behind, in front of a large window and candelabra; a close up on an apple with beads of moisture on it; an old manor at dusk or dawn, surrounded by snow and trees; old medical or chemical bottles behind a clothbound journal; a painting of a man playing violin; a wooden writing desk with an open book atop it; a prosthetic ring finger made of metal; a stained glass window featuring roses; old metal syringes; a man wearing a red eyeglass over his right eye; snowy woods with a trodden bloody trail winding through them; an apple tree at night with many apples on the ground; an anatomical drawing of the interior of a man's ribcage, his organs removed and only the ends of the vessels remaining

Background photo of a misty apple orchard. Textbox reads "PITCH: Recovering from a grievous wound, Sol, a soldier in a secretive unit, is assigned to protect a northern countess’ estate through the long winter. Convinced at first that he’s being sidelined due to his injury, Sol quickly learns that the threats to the estate are very real & very hungry; only a member of his company could keep the ailing Countess and her shy country doctor Mari alive to see spring. But when doing his duty could require his death, Sol must choose between breaking his oath & breathing his last, with Mari’s fingers on both the scales and his pulse." Title images for The Witcher, Broadchurch, and Crimson Peak in lower left, title AN ORCHARD OF MOSS by Gwendolyn Vines in lower right.

WITCHER x CRIMSON PEAK
Survive the winter. Survive the girl.
💉Medical horror
🚨Unreliable narrator
🦥Slow-burn romance
🖤Addiction/chronic illness rep
🩸Blood, so much blood
🗡️Pseudo-period piece
🍎What's with the apples
🪖His father's soldier, not his son
#questpit #A #H #W #gothic

Moodboard: 1: Woman holding knife against a man's throat 2: Picture of two hands reaching out to each other with the writing "If I die, I'm taking you with me" 3: Woman in dancer's outfit holding a dagger 4: Lotus flowers 5: Man and woman dressed in red Chinese wedding clothes leaning in for a kiss 6: A hand holding down tied up wrists 7: Handsome Chinese man 8: The corridor of an ancient Chinese palace with red pillars 9: A man pressing his lips against a woman's neck

SONG TO DROWN RIVERS x CRUEL PRINCE x 4TH WING x APOTHECARY DIARIES

❤️Soulmates
🗡️Enemies-to-lovers
👑Assassin x Crown Prince
🔥Slow burn romance, fast & furious lust
🩸Vampire-like demons
😈Everyone's morally grey
☠️REVENGE☠️
🪷C-drama vibe

#Q #RF #F #NA #questpit

Image from a medical textbook of a man with his arm extended, skeletal structure shown in part, with the text "an agent's guide to SEE IN ME THE WOLF by Gwendolyn Vines," an #agentguide #agentsguide for an #amquerying manuscript.

PITCH: (dark STEM academic science fantasy, 107,000 words) When Institute grad student Jim invents a device that could revolutionize medicine, his intoxicating suitemate Bash warns him it could be weaponized—and stops at nothing to prove his point. Are Jim's degree & the lives he could save worth staining his conscience? For fans of: the grounded and ugly magical academia of BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN, BABEL, and THE TWO DOCTORS GORSKI; the criticism of tech venture capitalism of RIPE; the obsessive acespec yearning, body horror, and unreliable narrator of DON'T LET THE FOREST IN, and the corruption of tech and its makers of ARCANE.

A painting in the background of a blond man viewed in profile, head bowed, with an X drawn across his face through which an xray of his skull and spine is visible. The text reads THEMES: ivory tower classism & egos manipulative relationships neurodivergence as power grey ethics in technology academic power abuse consent in medicine code-switching in the lower right hand corner in dark text, it reads (there was only one bed)

Image: a silhouette walking up the stairs, head haloed by a lit chandelier. EXCERPT from SEE IN ME THE WOLF by Gwendolyn Vines/@gwenvines This time, though, it was not Six whose face was bathed and baptized by light. It was Bash’s, his lone gold hoop gleaming amidst his curls, the spindly shadows of his lashes stretching over his dark eyes, and the sleeve of his linen robe where it draped from his arm rendered translucent by the sun’s rays. It was Bash who sat atop his regal, woody throne and passed judgment upon Jim. Jim, his blond hair set aflame not by Kontrolle or diffuser but by the sun’s fleeting gift, stared back, waiting. Unlike Etienne, the King Reluctant, Jim had never been told he was the best. Unlike Six, the King Desirous, Jim had never needed to be the best. Unlike Bash, the King Apparent, Jim had never been the best. Jim’s calling, his compulsion, was to be of use. That is all he had ever needed, wanted, or been. And it was Bash, now, to whom he wished to be useful.

ARCANE x BLD OVR BRIGHT HVN x DISCO ELYSIUM
🧑‍🎓cut-throat postgrad STEM academia w/
🩺corrupted magic tech/ethics
🩻body horror
🤌obsessive ace yearning
🧠neurodivergence as power
🚨unreliable narrator
🛠️blacksmith biceps
🏆dangerous duels
🌿strange plants
👤& the strange man growing them
#questpit #A #F #Q

a moodboard detailing nine images related to my book ALL THE DEVILS in order they are: a neon rock n roll sign, london (notably big ben), a man playing the guitar, a man punching a mirror, a man staring forward into the camera with only his eye showing, someone walking down a hallway, stars falling from the sky, photos hanging from the ceiling and finally, an audience at a gig. all nine images have a red hue.

🎸 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

A moodboard showing the pirate (Amir), the princess (Mira), and John. Amir silhouetted against a cloudy sky with a sword slung over her shoulder and a group of joyful sailors on a pirate ship. She has this quote: Continue to love Continue to forgive Continue to grow Mira is shown in the reflection of an ornate mirror. She is wearing long white gloves and a pink ballgown with her hair in a natural updo and the lesbian pride flag is subtly depicted over her photo. There is another photo of two girls kissing in the surf at sunset. Mira has this quote: We looked at each other a little too long to be “just friends” John is shown with his bare back to the viewer, facing the sea with the trans pride flag subtly depicted over his photo. He also has a close up of iridescent mermaid scales and this quote: Go bravely, go deeply, or do not go

Pirates of the Caribbean—if Jack Sparrow were a vengeful sapphic ghost possessing a sapphic princess Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner went on a gender journey, and the curse could only be broken when two hearts meet the light—through love or bloodshed 🫀🗡️

#QuestPit #YA #F #Q #LGBT

ALL THAT'S LEFT IN THE WORLD x UNDER THE SURFACE

He wants to give his sister a better life. She wants to leave her past behind. For either one to survive, they must destroy the person they've come to love the most.

#questpit #OS #AG #editorsguide

Check out this excerpt from my upcoming novel, Vanguard Strike, featuring our first good look at the rippers--biologically engineered monsters driven only by hunger.

Vanguard Strike is available for preorder now!

✨COVER REVEAL✨
I’m elated to share the cover of REAR VIEW, my debut contemporary romance about an ex-con rally racer w/ a dark past who falls for a girl w/ a dark secret

Lauren Asher’s Dirty Air Series x Fast And The Furious.
REAR VIEW is out w/ #harlequin August 12th, 2025. Preorder link in bio 💙📚

Who else is participating in #questpit next week?