Landon McAlister

“A Year to Love"

Before Sunrise × The Midnight Library

At the world’s edge, where magic hums in the sea and time forgets itself, two souls are called together to rediscover what love means.

#Q #A #LF #QuestPit

Romance, love, magic.

Agent guide for I Am Chosen, an M/M paranormal romance. The picture is of a fiery orange and purple sunset over a highway. Photography and story by Dawn Berkoski

Several photos are shown in this Moodboard for I Am Chosen, a paranormal romance. From the top left, a glass of aged scotch surrounded by butterscotch candies, a CEO standing in a high rise office, staring out a window, a giant hotel clock surrounded by Christmas decor, a photo of art depicting demons rising from hell, a sunset with black, billowy clouds hovering over an orange stripe, a dirty cement staircase near a darkened entrance, and the city of London as viewed from the river. Photography, except the man, by Dawn Berkoski

Photo of a vibrant sunset over a graveyard as seen from the window of a fast moving vehicle. It reads: PITCH: IN A WORLD CONTROLLED BY CORPORATE VAMPIRES, TWO MEN STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY. WILL A CHANCE MEETING LEAD THEM TO FREEDOM, OR A WEB OF SUBTERFUGE, WHERE EVERY THREAD BRINGS A MONSTER OFFERING DEATH OR PERMANTENT CONFINEMENT? Photo by Dawn Berkoski

Book vibes are all about the feel of the writing, setting, and story. The Blue Blood Series by Melissa de la Cruz Is used to represent the wealthy elite vampires living in New York, the fish out of water trope, dark secrets, and others. The Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice is used to represent young vampires rebelling against old rules and customs. Travel and setting also play a role. A plot point was inspired by the novel. Yakuza, Japan’s Criminal Underworld by David Kaplan and Alec Dubro, is used to represent some of the vampire rivals business practices. It plays a role in the series arch. Photography at the bottom: A dark cement staircase in NYC and a photo of the London Eye by Dawn Berkoski

Raised by corporate vampires with little freedom or choice, Alex is used to Yakuza business rivals and back-alley deals. But nothing prepares him for Jason, a witty bartender who challenges everything he knows, and who harbors secrets as deadly as the vampires after him. #questpit #PR #Q #A #writing

"The Body Forfeit"

Altered Carbon × Never Let Me Go

In a world where bodies can be stolen, a killer moves through flesh like smoke. To stop them, Sam must trade bodies himself—each jump eroding the line between hunter and hunted.

#Q #A #SFF #QuestPit

“The Red Thirst"

Mexican Gothic × Starve Acre

When a grieving man unearths the Dearg-Dú—the hunger that haunted Le Fanu, Stoker—he awakens a curse older than blood. To free her, he must face the god who made her.

#Q #A #H #DF #LF #QuestPit

Time? Do you need time? Do I need time? I think I’ve had too much of it, and never enough. Time has been both a healer and a thief—steady in its rhythm, merciless in its pace. It’s given me the space to grow, to mend, to write, but it’s also taken people, places, and versions of myself I can’t get back.

Time?

Discovery Day The proposed holiday, Discovery Day, celebrates humanity's realization of shared consciousness, fostering unity and connection amidst the loss of individual solitude.

Discovery Day

The proposed holiday, Discovery Day, celebrates humanity's realization of shared consciousness, fostering unity and connection amidst the loss of individual solitude.

Starve Acre + Slewfoot

#TheRedThirst

On Ireland’s haunted coast, grief is a ritual—and blood is the offering. To save the spirit he’s bound to, he must face the monster who made her. #A #GhostPit #amquerying #IrishMyth #LiteraryHorror #GothicHorror

The Lighthouse Witches + Mexican Gothic

#TheRedThirst

At Ireland’s edge, a man discovers a castle that bleeds. Beneath its stones lies a woman’s sorrow—and a hunger that calls him home. #GhostPit #A #amquerying
#DarkFantasy #GothicHorror

A black background with spider webs and hanging spiders at the top. Below the webs is the title Which Witch is a golden yellow color with orange trim to look like light in a pumpkin. There are also the words A collection of spooky season poetry & short stories. Below the words are 2 pictures. On the left is a witch holding a staff in a yellow hued forest and field. On the right is a Jack-o'lantern. Below those two are 3 pictures. Left to right is an orange hued skull, a zombie woman in a white dress by a business, and a willow tree in a graveyard at night lit by yellow lights from the background.

Top left to right. A cloaked man sitting in a pub smoking. A woman in a forest in a red and white dress carrying a baby dragon. Middle left to right. A horror zombie looking horse head coming out of water. A bird-like entrance in water with a girl in white. A castle bathed In red light and a red moon in the sky. Bottom left to right. 3 cloaked figures riding 3 black horses through fog. A foggy forest with a red sun and curly words in the fog Rutello: The Dark Veil, What happens when monsters and fears come to life? A deer antlered, large, shadow creature with white eyes in a foggy forest.

A black background. Top is a curly orange font for the title, Rutello: Arealia and the Last Flame. It has fire to each side of it. In the middle is a pic of a woman in a dress shadowed in front of flames. To the left top to bottom is: a mob going toward homes, a woman in a dress with wings and a feather mask holding a raven/crow, a woman in a black hooded cloak, and 2 women a red head and black haired walking beside each other in a field. The right top to bottom: a woman in a purple dress with fur around the neck/shoulder area holding a staff and a snowy owl, a woman holding a wolf in wood vines, a woman with antlers riding a big bear with flames in her hands, and a red headed woman in a green dress holding a fox licking her face. At the bottom between the bottom left and right pics are 3 pics, left to right: a shadowed woman standing in a forest, a black haired girl in a black dress in the woods holding a raven/crow, and a woman in a red cloak doing a spell revealing a fire

The top left pic is a castle with a lawn with purple flowers leading to it and the title in purple Arterin Academy. The right is two books, two potion bottles with yellow and blue liquid and a wand in front of the brick. The middle left pic is a lane of wisteria with a quote “I try not to think about what saving our world has cost them, even though I can’t help thinking that it has been worth it.", FADE by Kailin Gow, Fever. The middle right is a cobblestone road with rock houses/shops with plants and lanterns. The bottom left pic is a girl with a purple Hooded cloak holding her hands up in a misty field of purple flowers and a quote “Because I must do something while I still can. Each soul is still incalculably precious.” Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White. The Bottom middle is a sorcerer in a rocky valley holding a staff that's producing purple lighting and a quote That is what revolutionaries do. “We sacrifice ourselves to save others.” Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympath

Here is my list for #GhostPit

1. Which Witch
2. Rutello: Arealia and the Last Flame
3. Ghosts of Our Past
4. The Doll Murders
5. Rutello: The Dark Veil
6. Arterin Academy

Feedback/critiques are welcome.

A House with Good Bones + Starve Acre

#TheRedThirst

He came to Ireland to die. Instead, the earth remembered his name just as it remembered hers... A modern #GH of grief, guilt, and the cursed soil that feeds on both. #amquerying #A #PH #PitDark

Slewfoot + The Lighthouse Witches

#TheRedThirst

Ireland remembers. When an outsider disturbs a buried grave, the old gods stir, and a woman’s curse hungers again beneath the cliffs. Love, loss, and folklore entwine in a tale of ancient vengeance. #amquerying #A #GH #Pitdark

Mexican Gothic + Starve Acre

#TheRedThirst

When a grief-stricken man flees to Ireland’s rugged coast, he awakens the Dearg-Dú—a betrayed woman’s spirit thirsting not for blood, but for guilt. In freeing her, he may damn himself. #IrishMyth #amquerying
#GH #PitDark #A

The Body Forfeit (Querying) In a world where bodies can be traded, one man’s first transfer forces him to question what it means to be human—and what he’s willing to lose.

The Body Forfeit (Querying)

In a world where bodies can be traded, one man’s first transfer forces him to question what it means to be human—and what he’s willing to lose.

To be a kid at heart What does it mean to be a kid at heart? People often say, “you’re such a kid at heart,” as if it’s something lighthearted or naïve. But I’ve come to believe it’s something much rarer, and much harder to hold onto. For me, being a kid at heart has nothing to do with immaturity—it’s about keeping the capacity to wonder, even after the world has tried its best to take it from you.

To be a kid at heart

Hitchcock, Mimetic Violence, and the Death of American Innocence Forgive me for retreating to a more academic mood. On Friday, I was watching the Ed Gein story, and as I did, these thoughts formed. Alfred Hitchcock didn’t invent horror; he revealed it. Beneath the shadows, the blood, and the sudden screams, he exposed something far older—the mimetic violence that René Girard wrote of, that deep instinct to imitate both desire and destruction.

Hitchcock, Mimetic Violence, and the Death of American Innocence

Forgive me for retreating to a more academic mood. On Friday, I was watching the Ed Gein story, and as I did, these thoughts formed. Alfred Hitchcock didn’t invent horror; he revealed it. Beneath the shadows, the blood, and the…

Lately… It’s been a stretch of long days and quieter nights here along the coast. The fishing has slowed a bit with the change in weather, but the rhythm of the work remains steady—checking parlors, mending pots, watching the sea shift moods faster than a man can name them. There’s peace in the routine, even when the wind cuts sharp and the hours run long.

Lately…

Silence

To neighbor well What is a neighbor?

To neighbor well

My Dearest M – Chapter 7 After reconnecting with an old crush, intense feelings of love and vulnerability emerge. Their bond deepens, leading to emotional and physical intimacy amidst complicated circumstances.

My Dearest M – Chapter 7

After reconnecting with an old crush, intense feelings of love and vulnerability emerge. Their bond deepens, leading to emotional and physical intimacy amidst complicated circumstances.

Principles What principles define how you live? If I had to name the principles by which I live, they wouldn’t be chiseled into marble or gilded in certainty—they’d be written in sand, rewritten by every tide that’s touched my life. I’ve come to believe, as Seamus Heaney once wrote, that “hope and history rhyme” only when we let compassion guide the pen.

Principles

What principles define how you live? If I had to name the principles by which I live, they wouldn’t be chiseled into marble or gilded in certainty—they’d be written in sand, rewritten by every tide that’s touched my life. I’ve come to believe, as Seamus Heaney once wrote, that “hope and…

If I Were Not Afraid to Fail I reflect on the transformative nature of love, embracing vulnerability, and the beauty of connection. If only I weren't afraid to fail at falling in love.

If I Were Not Afraid to Fail

I reflect on the transformative nature of love, embracing vulnerability, and the beauty of connection. If only I weren't afraid to fail at falling in love.

My Dearest M – Chapter 6 The author reflects on personal trauma from a strict upbringing and toxic relationships, seeking closure and understanding, while facing profound struggles in life and work.

My Dearest M – Chapter 6

The author reflects on personal trauma from a strict upbringing and toxic relationships, seeking closure and understanding, while facing profound struggles in life and work.

On Rejection Rejection is a vital part of a writer's journey, urging refinement and patience, while ultimately leading to a meaningful connection with the right agent.

On Rejection

Rejection is a vital part of a writer's journey, urging refinement and patience, while ultimately leading to a meaningful connection with the right agent.

The shared existence of my works The author reflects on how their works, starting with My Dearest M, explore themes of loss, love, and identity, creating a shared existence.

The shared existence of my works

The author reflects on how their works, starting with My Dearest M, explore themes of loss, love, and identity, creating a shared existence.

Imagining The Red Thirst Imagining characters from The Red Thirst novel I am currently working on

Imagining The Red Thirst

Imagining characters from The Red Thirst novel I am currently working on

My Writing Routine: Bury ’em deep I share a glimpse into my life, balancing fishing and writing, detailing daily routines, manuscript work, and the struggles of self-doubt in creativity.

My Writing Routine: Bury ’em deep

I share a glimpse into my life, balancing fishing and writing, detailing daily routines, manuscript work, and the struggles of self-doubt in creativity.

My Dearest M – Chapter 5 The journey through Ireland reflects deep personal connections, bittersweet memories, and the contrasting beauty of places, marked by emotional highs and lows.

My Dearest M – Chapter 5

The journey through Ireland reflects deep personal connections, bittersweet memories, and the contrasting beauty of places, marked by emotional highs and lows.

Today What details of your life could you pay more attention to? The honest answer is today. Not some distant past, not a moment buried years ago, but this one—the air I’m breathing, the sky above me, the sound of the sea or the chatter of voices nearby. Too often, I let today slip through my fingers, distracted by memories of yesterday or the burdens of tomorrow.

Today

What details of your life could you pay more attention to? The honest answer is today. Not some distant past, not a moment buried years ago, but this one—the air I’m breathing, the sky above me, the sound of the sea or the chatter of voices nearby. Too often, I let today slip through my…

Hard work? In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled? For most of my adult life, I worked with words, thoughts, and people. I sat in an office chair, listening, guiding, and carrying others through their storms. It was good work, meaningful work, and I loved the crisis teams I was part of. But it was also abstract—an endless cycle of mental strain, with little to ground me in the physical world.

Hard work?

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled? For most of my adult life, I worked with words, thoughts, and people. I sat in an office chair, listening, guiding, and carrying others through their storms. It was good work, meaningful work, and I loved the crisis teams I was part…

Transforming Pain into Strength: The Role of Writing The author values resilience, emphasizing transformation through loss and empathy, using storytelling as a means to connect and share human experiences.

Transforming Pain into Strength: The Role of Writing

The author values resilience, emphasizing transformation through loss and empathy, using storytelling as a means to connect and share human experiences.