Justine Lombardi

My story Haint Blue from VOICES LIKE THESE follows a scare actor at a haunted house.

Two zombies stare at the camera in front of a shadowy door

Book cover with title VOICES LIKE THESE. Many windows appear against a dark background, each with a different scene.

Story title Haint Blue against a dark background and a window with flames

👻 #WritingCommunity 💙📚 🪐📚 #P #A #WF

Ghost story vibes & feminist journey, “Haint Blue” in VOICES LIKE THESE by @story-forge.bsky.social

When you work in a haunted house, the fake monsters are your family and real props open dimensional windows.
Buy indie at bit.ly/4mLwQSw

I'm taking a social media break see you later during the spooky season. 🍂🍁🎃👻

💕

Indie Book Sale. Fantasy, Sci fi, and horror. August 23-25. indiebook.sale A collage of book covers. Top middle is mine! Etheri by Sage T. Greene (the cover is a hand reaching up over a galaxy background)

Pleased as punch to be participating in the @narratess.com #IndieAugust sale!

August 23-25, #Etheri will be just 0.99. Might get a bit cheeky and discount the whole trilogy 👀

Over 300 folks from the #WritingCommunity are participating—see you there!

Moon on sky over lake

Last night's walk.

Tyvm. The street kid POV character perceives people's thoughts as threads she can tug on and emotions as color-changing puddles at their feet.

Title of my novel; blurred images of faces behind a veil

The pitch for my novel, with a moodboard featuring doors, a dark forest, an empty factory, and shadow figures lurking in doorways.

The covers for my comp titles: The Midnight Library, Under the Whispering Door, The Hollow Places, and Dark Matter

A snippet from my novel

#litagents, I'm happy to present my #agentsguide #agentguide for my #amquerying adult speculative novel, THE WORLD OF NO, complete at 97k words.
It features:
🟢 coming of age (even for adults)
⚫️ second chance love
🟢 twisted realities
⚫️ Life is messy; jump the hell in already.

I adored The Hollow Places!

Great comps

A family of royals aims for perfection and tradition, but a series of whirlwind romances could send the veneer of perfection and desire for tradition up in flames.

#QuestPit #Q #W #A #LGBT #R #F #RF #E
Revival of Chopin Waltz. Hip-Hop version. Background piano music by White_Records (royalty-free)

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 #LGBTQ #WIP

Honored to have my short story The Cosmic Lepidoptera (Commonly: Space Butterflies) included in this fantastic edition of #SciFanSat!

Please check it out and give some love to the editorial team and all the contributors along for the voyage!

#WritingCommunity
#ReadingCommunity
#Sci-fi
#Fantasy

#QuestPit pitches thread:

Agent's guide to Lady Han's Manual for Matrimonial Mayhem: 89K Adult Fantasy Romcom with low spice

Pitch: What can a girl do to escape an arranged marriage, but to prank her husband to hell and back in the hopes that he will divorce her? In the Dazhen Empire, twenty-year-old Wen Anling’s comfortable life is turned upside down when her father forces her to marry Han Shiyan, the wealthy Lord of Qinglan. In a desperate bid for freedom, Anling fights chaos with chaos, by transforming herself into the nastiest wife possible. Shiyan only married Anling to honour his mother’s dying wish. Had he known his new wife would send his simple life straight to mayhem, he would have thrown honour out the nearest window. But when his wife continues to get under his skin, he cannot help but grow intrigued by her eccentric nature—once he sees her irritating antics as what they truly are: harmless. In the face of deadly threats, Anling must embrace her role as Lady Han and turn her cunning mind to their common enemies, or grab the freedom offered to her and watch the empire fall.

Comps: The Darkness Within Us, A Song to Drown Rivers, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Extract: Shiyan’s eyes widened for a heartbeat before he forced composure back onto his features. Her face was powdered with a thick layer of white, as if she had simply dunked it into a bowl of flour. Her bright red lip-paint smudged at the edges and… Heavens forbid women dab their cheeks with uneven blobs of pink. Even the most senile and stern of his guests held their hands to their stomachs, straining to hold back fits of laughter. He would have gladly joined them, too, if he wasn’t the one with the honour of marrying this… this… buffoon. He swallowed and recited the wise sayings of his forefathers: one should not judge a book by its cover; a woman’s beauty runs deeper than appearances; virtues are lasting while beauty is fleeting. Oh, to hell with wise sayings.

A Song to Drown Rivers meets How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days in LADY HAN'S MANUAL FOR MATRIMONIAL MAYHEM, in which the mischievous bride fights for divorce with chaos:
😈 unlikeable heroine
⚔️ enemies-to-lovers
💑 marriage of convenience
👑 political intrigue
#questpit #A #RF #W (line editing for #Q soon!)

A moody, collage-style graphic for a psychological thriller. At the top, torn paper frames the quote: “Some friendships save you. Others destroy you.” To the left is a photo of scissors and a gold ribbon above a headshot of a woman with short blond hair and closed eyes. Below, another torn edge reveals a wedge of cheese on a dark plate with the text “a psychological thriller” and “By Tiffany Darling.” On the right is a photo of a redheaded woman in a winter coat beside a black box reading: “Everything I Gave Her.”

Emily thought she understood devotion.
She never imagined it could cost her everything.

A story of toxic friendship, blurred truths, and the terrible things we do for the people we love.

EVERYTHING I GAVE HER
Adult Psych Suspense | 89k

Currently has 2 full requests.

#QuestPit #T #Q #A

I love this vibe!

This dyslexic writer loves the idea of a dyslexic MC! 🖤

OMG! Yes, but Bone Dog is a sweetheart!

a pixel art drawing of a knight holding a sword Alt: A knight in armor resting at a bonfire next to a sword

#QuestPit

You've reached a pitch event checkpoint.

Relax, have fun, stay hydrated.

😀 🍻

I loved Nettle and Bone!

Text: An agent’s guide to When the Magpie Flies by M H Wottenmoss. Background of mountains, trees, and a giant mushroom. A magpie flies in the sky.

Pitch: Magpie of Lornwhen, hobbyist scholar and incurable troublemaker, dreams of becoming a Conduit. As the realm’s only defense against monstrous spirits, Conduits are beloved and privileged—and it’s Magpie’s best chance to escape the undertow of poverty. When a spirit chooses her for the honor, marking her with a cold, entrancing touch, her dream is suddenly within reach. To fully ascend as a Conduit, Magpie, alongside the other newly-chosen, must embark on a journey into the heart of the spiritwoods. The only thing holding her back is her best friend, Calladonna. There are rumors about how Conduits are changed by the mysterious journey, and Calla can’t shake the feeling that if Magpie leaves, she won’t come back. Determined to reassure her, Magpie convinces Calla to come along in secret, hidden from the other Conduits. For the first time, Magpie’s future is bright and shining—until one of the other Conduits turns up dead, and it seems like Calla may be to blame.

Comps: A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft: clueless lesbians, murder and betrayal, journey of ascension. Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher: found family, humor and darkness, perilous quest. Also featuring undiscovered magic, monstrous spirits, chaotic academia, ill-advised rituals, haunted forest, queer & autistic ensemble cast, giant mushrooms, original music

Opening lines: The world went dark just after she jumped off the roof. In one moment she could see the clocktower before her, the ledge beneath its defunct face familiar and inviting, and in the next there was nothing. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, necessarily, but damn if that wasn't inconvenient timing.

#agentguide for WHEN THE MAGPIE FLIES (81k queer fantasy)

When troublemaker and hobbyist scholar Magpie is chosen by the spirits, she breaks an ancient tradition rather than leave her best friend behind—and brings the wrath of spirits and humans alike down upon the realm.

#questpit #Q #F

Baker's Club- Adult horror

Pitch: Deliah moved to Fair Hollow for a fresh start with family roots. What she didn't expect was a town so tied to tradition that they sell themselves as offerings at the first chance they get. Some on the other hand, are burned by the flame for disrespecting the Hearth and the women. Comps: The Stepford wives by Ira Levin Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Midsommar

Tropes: Feminist horor/ Folk horror Generational cult Cannibalism Ritual offerings each season Recipes Women taking back power Self writing journal Feminine rage Buried history Passing on the torch Collage from top left to bottom right (9 pictures): A pie made of human hearts, a girl n front of the fire, a cellphone ringing, girls dancing around a fire, a quote "forgive me father for i have sinned, and as I kneel here with hands red with blood, deep down I know l' dl it again", a blood stained flower, book with blood sacrifice recipes, burning book, fingertips coated in blood

EXCERPT A sound crackled in the silence. The spoon scraped against something solid. I froze, sifting through the mixture with slow, unsure motions. I reached into the bowl, fingertips grazing against something solid. A cold and hard piece of something. I pulled it free. A tooth. A molar, white and slick with batter. A child's, maybe. I dropped the spoon. It clattered across the table. None of the women flinched as I shrieked. Wide eyes looked around the room until Vivienne gave a weak smile.

#QuestPit
#A #H #W

I present my #agentguide / #agentsguide for Baker's Club

- Female rage
- Rituals for each season
- A sweet tooth with a sour secret

✨️Welcome to Fair Hollow✨️

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

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

Chilling pitch!

Love the 70s vibes!

Newspaper headline reads: Sederwall pleads guilty to concealing death

In 1998, I was arrested for murder after a miscarriage.
A plea bargain was my only way out.
A world where women can be punished for what goes on with their bodies is a very scary place.
#Questpit #Q #NF #M #OWN

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, in smaller capital letters, it says: "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