Mel Reynard

Ooh you need to watch the whole thing!

Have you watched it yet Tim?

Meme showing the Kombucha Girl's positive reaction to a massive house with the caption "has a nice 'cottage' in the country". Underneath, it shows her pulling a face at Benedict Bridgerton saying to Sophie "be my mistress."

Real time reactions to Bridgerton S4 Part 1

Part 2 of my Indie Books series focusses on books published by Small Press. Thanks to @meljrey.bsky.social.

Books inc @fiphillipswriter.bsky.social, Julee Balko, @joannepaulson.bsky.social , @alethearlyons.bsky.social & @pscwillis.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/lilylaws...

#books #readers

Fantasycon 2026 prices will increase on 1st March, so if you haven't booked yet, now is a great time to do so!

britishfantasysociety.org/events-calen...

February Pitch Events!

FEB 13 #MupPit @PitMup (X)

FEB 14 #Cupit @cupitch.bsky.social

a man with a beard and mustache is laughing with his mouth open Alt: Pedro Pascal laughing hysterically and then bursting into tears.

Is there nothing so depressing as the QueryTracker email announcing your subscription will auto-renew in 30 days?!

Whoop 🙌🏽 👀🕯️ forming a circle now!

*whispers*

Big 5 Editor and agent like on the other place 🕯️🧿❤️

Can I interest anyone in a manifestation circle 😂

Thanks 🤗

Well done Kala 👏🏽🤩

a man in a tuxedo is sitting in an auditorium Alt: Shia LaBeouf in a tuxedo in an auditorium. He’s clapping enthusiastically, face very serious.

My January wrap-up? I wrote 9,764 words. Please clap.

Thank you 🥰

6 photo collage. Top left is an image of a city with lights beaming from the sky. Top center is a close up of a girl with pink hair singing into a microphone. Top right is a close up of a screen with a warning sign and the word malware underneath in pink font. Bottom left is a hand grabbing a phone with a pink tint and a blue cube bouncing off the screen. Center is a 5 girl silhouette with a purple backdrop. Bottom right is a crowd in front of a music stage with a blue hue over the stage.

SAILOR MOON x HANNAH MONTANA x TRON

By day, Mia & her friends are a hot pop group. By night they're vigilantes who fight virus monsters in a metaverse.

⚡️Mixed race & Chinese rep
🐶TALKING CORGI
🔥Magical Cyber Girls
🗺️Diaspora themes
💞Rivals to lovers

#questpit #ya #f #sf #poc #q

A pirate aesthetic with a ship, a map, seashells, coins, a pirate flag, etc.

In a SINBAD THE SAILOR retelling, a snarky pirate must accompany a happy-go-lucky princess on a journey across the monster-filled Indian Ocean to rescue her fiancé from a mysteriously moving island. He may yet live through the treacherous voyage, but will his heart survive unscathed? #questpit #Q

moodboard for Lady Han's Manual for Matrimonial Mayhem showing plum blossoms; a man fighting in bamboo forest; a view of a Chinese palace through red gates; a woman with a death stare; a man with a serious displeased look; moon-gate looking into a Chinese garden with a pavillion on the pond; a man kissing a woman's neck intimately; Chinese calligraphy and brush pen

HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS x A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS

She planned to be the terror in his life.
He planned to ignore her.
Neither planned on saving a crumbling empire from a tyrant—or falling in love.

91K-word adult fantasy romcom / Smoochpit '25 mentee
#questpit #A #RF #Q

Book cover for "Mark of the Jester" by B. van Bodegom (author of Dad Bodies). Dark fantasy novel. Features a split jester mask in black and white halves with a red smile on the white half. 'The' runs vertically down the center, with decorative silhouettes of roses framing the mask. High-contrast graphic design in black, white, and red.

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA × BEST SERVED COLD × THE BUTCHER BOY

When a Court Jester snaps and brutally murders the tyrant king, he must perform and slay his way out of a kingdom in chaos, hunted by loyalists, hailed by rebels, while his sanity slips and fractures.

#QuestPit #A #F #DF #H #W

A mood board of eight tiles and a centre square with lockpicking tools and ancient writing: 1. Always have an escape plan. 2. A swindler never lets herself feel like a fraud. 3. Don't look for the easy grab, look for the easy mark. 4. Never get involved with golems. The pictures depict, clockwise from upper right: A) A city of canals and towering footbridges. There are minarets and steeples and red-tiled roofs. B) A market selling elaborate lanterns, all aglow. C) A porcelain and gold hand, reaching upwards. D) Two figures leaping across rooftops against the coming dawn. E) A pocketwatch--or is it? Constellations and continents cover the front, the body of the watch engraved with runes. It's sitting on ancient parchment. F) A wax stamp with removable chits that function as coins in a card game. G) The lords of the city overlooking grand canals and issuing edicts. They are dressed in fine red robes and silks. H) Assorted bones and shells used for divination and more.

When 16-year-old Nia picks the wrong pocket, she unlocks a magical talent she didn’t know she had. Now she’s posing as an heiress, a con man’s gone missing, and Nia and her friends are on the run with a living doll, pursued by gangs, magehunters, and the governor herself. #QuestPit #W #F #LGBT #YA

An #agentsguide to my contemporary romance, DEFINITELY NOT A BUCKET LIST featuring:

🚗Tension-filled road trip
💉Illness rep
🌄Coastal Canadian landscape
⛴️Boat ride in costume
📝(Not) a bucket list

#questpit #Q #A #R

Quote from T. L. Coughlin agented work: I have 2,925 days left of my curse and I’m not going to let one fool of a knight ruin my chances. A black and white image of a girl with long hair looking down at a sliced off marble head of a man with a bloodred “tear”. Behind them is a collage. A girl sunken in water with a white dress flowing. A pearl with fire swirling around it. A boy, up in a tree, laying on a branch. A hilt of a jeweled sword, a stone bridge across a small river in a forest. A curled, pink, rosebud. A stone carving of a qilin. An open book laying upon leaves. A vial of liquid in an enchanted forest.

TANGLED X PRINCESS BRIDE X STARDUST

💘 He fell first (literally), she fell harder
☀️Golden Retriever MMC meets 🌑Black Cat FMC
🐦‍🔥🐉 Mythological creatures ft. Chinese/Italian beasts
🗡️ Impossible quests
✨Intertwined curses & a trickster slug

#questpit #NA #YA #F #AG

Editor's Guide To MARK OF A MAGPIE Crossover Romantic Fantasy 118k Words Text is on a piece of parchment. Behind the parchment are blue seas 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 who has 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 be a fool to take up, but with her family scattered across the sea after the draft, a fool is what she’ll need to be to find them. Five for Silver, Six for Gold… Seven is set on his own plans, however much they interfere with hers, and they won’t be the only ones in attendance with hidden agendas. Once whispers of the past begin to resurface and nobles begin dying around them, it’s survival of the cunning and silver-tongued. The castle is under lockdown, and all bets for the crown are placed on their capture. Seven for a Secret, Never to Be Told. Text is on a piece of parchment. Behind the parchment are blue seas and gold flower outlines.

Tropes and Themes - Thief x Assassin - Mental Health Rep - Identity vs Duty - Class Difference - Forced Proximity - Secret Code - Morally Gray - Women's Wrongs - Unlikely Allies to Lovers Comps: Throne of Glass's castle-setting murder mystery and theme of "who you are versus what you have to do" meets the banter-heavy dialogue, strong female protagonist, and nautical setting of Daughter of the Pirate King. Text is on a piece of parchment. Beside 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 are blue seas and 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. Picture seven shows a bottle of alcohol. Picture eight has a medieval alleyway. And picture eight shows a ship's crew enjoying a sunset. There is text below the collage that says: ON SUBMISSION NOW! Represented by Amanda Wooden at SBR Media, contact information available on my website! Behind the parchment, with gold flower outlines surrounding it.

MARK OF A MAGPIE is #OnSubmission! 🐦‍⬛📖

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 #YA #A #F #RF
#OS #DIS #EditorsGuide #Editors

Mood board/Agent's guide for my novel CARGO - a queer SF/heist/romance - 113,000 words "Did you hear? There's a human on board." A graphic of the wall of a spaceship with sticky notes and polaroid photos taped up. There are twinkle lights hanging from the ceiling. alien ship's cook (fussy, anxious) + terrifying monster (ordinary human)

PITCH: Tai’s terrified of humans. Everyone is. Violent pack hunters, humans are notorious for their strength, sharp teeth, and carnivorous appetites. But the ship’s cook is safe among the multispecies crew of the cargo hauler Coreward Baker: everyone knows the warrior species rarely leave their own space. Then Captain Raz hires Clarke, a human horticulturist. Even after Tai overcomes their fear, they can’t stand Clarke. She’s bossy. Annoying. Useless in the galley, bad in a space suit. She might as well be cargo. Worse, she’s intent on befriending Tai—and why can’t they stop thinking about her, anyway? That’s when things go wrong. As Tai starts to realize their feelings for Clarke, they’re horrified to learn that nobody on their crew of dropouts and runaways is quite who they seem, least of all Clarke. And it’s no coincidence. Raz reveals they’ve each been handpicked for a heist he’s spent years planning—and no one’s allowed to say no. PRIORITIES: make dinner remain cozy haul cargo go for drinks pull off one last score try not to fall in love

FIRST PAGE: “Did you hear? There’s a Human on board.” I choked on my noodles and turned to stare at the diners at the next table. Like most of the restaurant’s patrons, the pair had hidden their profiles, a halfhearted attempt at anonymity. “Gross,” the speaker’s crewmate said, oblivious to my alarm. “I hope it leaves soon.” “Don’t let it hear you say that,” the first worker laughed. She made a show of looking for Humans, her eyes darting from table to table. It. I frowned. I knew the workers’ language distinguished between people and things, and ‘it’ was an unkind choice of words at best. The second worker shuddered. “I don’t know why we let them come here.” The first laughed. “Are you going to stop them?”

COMPS: Murderbot by Martha Wells Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers TROPES: Non-binary narrator masking anxiety with sarcasm lying to themselves non-human perspective (afraid of humans) neurodivergent main characters metaphorically disabled protagonist slow-burn friends-to-lovers and enemies to lovers in the same relationship disabilitynorm and queernorm setting found family loveable pet/terrifying monster

F/NB WAYFARERS x MURDERBOT

Ship's cook Tai is horrified to discover their new crewmate is a terrifying alien: an ordinary human woman. Now Tai's stuck with bickering crewmates, sinister criminals, explosions, and worse, a human who wants to be friends. #QuestPit #Q #SF #A #R #LGBT

"Hat" 84K cosmic horror. Join the beta. Querying soon. Pitch: Chris is cursed to see Shadow people since almost dying as a child. Now, as the new MILLENNIUM dawns they are INCREASING in FREQUENCY and GAINING power. His peers think he is psychotic, The Red Eyed God in the woods speak of a great change, and a HATEFUL shadow wearing a hat seeks to use him for his own ends. Tropes: 2000's setting Space and Nature WitchCraft Spooky New ENgland Stoner Goth kids Madness possession Vibe Comps: The Bababook, Donnie Darko, The Exorcist

THE EXORCIST X DONNIE DARKO

Chris is haunted by Shadows since almost dying.
They are increasing in power.
A Red Eyed God talks of change.
A Shadow with a hat seeks to use him for his dark purposes.

🍂 New England
💽 2000's nostalgia
🧹 Witchcraft
🌕️ Cosmic Horror

#Questpit #H #Agentsguide

Love the sound of this!

What? You wrote a Nordic adult romantasy without vikings? ✨gasp️✨

UNFATED is instead set in a John Bauer inspired medieval Sweden, steeped in folklore, mythology and authentic Swedish culture...not a horned helmet in sight 🫢

A 92,000k standalone novel

#questpit #Q #A #RF

Crimson Peak x Lake House

She longs for a place to belong.
He longs for someone to see him. Two soul in separate times living in a manor passing by one another.

#QuestPit #W #A #RF

AGENT INTEREST in my WIP after a full request. THEY'RE ALL HIDING SOMETHING. SO IS SHE. Snippets of dialogue The letter heading, crisp, startling, hooks her gaze. Irresistibly, she reaches out, her heart suddenly thudding... 'What the hell do you think you're doing?' The dark furious voice makes her jerk back guiltily like a marionette pulled sharply up on her strings. The papers in her hand spill to the floor again with the sly whisper of shifting sand. A man stands in the doorway, his hand still on the door-knob, his expression one of absolute blazing rage. Kate (later) defensively to Alex: Well, it was his fault. He jumped to the wrong conclusion and I…well, I couldn’t tell him who I was and what I was doing there, could I?’

Oh, I wouldn't say that,' he drawls. 'Some women of my acquaintance would hold ‘that I have a great deal of charm.’ (Girl comes out to drape beach towels over stone balustrade to dry. Stands, hands going to hips, and glares at them – or rather at Kate. Someone calls her. Calls again sharply when she ignores them. With a final dark glower, aimed again at Kate, she swings round and stalks off indoors.) 'I take it she's one of them,' says Kate. 'Poor girl. Never mind. I understand you can get very good treatment nowadays.' He looks pained. 'I'll have you know I have an army of fans out there.' She can't help laughing. 'Oh yeah?' 'Yeah.' Then the most astonishing thing happens. They smile at each other. I could like him, Kate thinks. He can be high-handed and insufferable but in spite of that, he does have charm, dollops of it. Under different circumstances, if he wasn't gunning for every journalist who comes within ten yards of him, and if my name wasn't mine, we might even be friends.

GLASS ONION x MISS CONGENIALITY
Mistaken for someone else, a reporter plays along. But she's not the only one acting a part. To uncover what's going on she must know who to trust, try not to get killed and definitely NOT fall for the man she's fake-dating.
#Questpit #W #A #RF #MY

Thanks Sally!

A moodboard featuring nine photos in a 3x3 grid shape. From left to right, top to bottom: 1. A shot from the back of a person wrapping their arm around another person. They’re both leaning on each other, while sitting down. They appear to be next to a river or pond and sitting on grass. 2. Hands holding up a flower crown. 3. A close-up of an elf-like, long pointy ear. Colorized to be almost black and white. 4. A hand holding up dirt with what appears to be parts of a plant. Below it a patch of dirt with more green plant parts can be seen. 5. A wooden sign, pointing to the right, with big letters that say, “HOPE.” 6. A hand being stuck in water. The water seems to have dirt and some debris in it. I interpret it as a river. 7. A rustic village with a winding road, lots of trees and greenery, and a cluster of houses visible on the left. 8. Two hands hovering above a green plant. 9. An assortment of five chickens sitting on a wooden fence. Greenery can be seen in the background. (Images from Pinterest)

Blurred image of daisy flowers with text on top of it: Project.Greenfield Playlist: 1. Favorite Place (Humbear) 2. Somewhere Only We Know (Keane) 3. Sunflower (Amber Run) 4. Always Home (Leucadia) 5. Woodland (The Paper Kites) 6. Wolves of Worry (Chance Pena) 7. Waking Up (Sam Burchfield) 8. To Build A Home (The Cinematic Orchestra)

Short Pitch: Set in a war-torn country. An orphaned boy and his older brother feel like everyday is a struggle and a reminder of what they lost. Until one day, when they get the opportunity to move to Greenfield — a small, rustic village on the outskirts of the country and a chance at a real home. There, the boy meets Sam — a mysterious, closed-off girl with pointy ears. Together the two kids realize that facing their internal fears might not be so scary if they don’t have to do it alone.

Hello, #QuestPit!

🌲🌱 Meet Project.Greenfield, a cozy slice-of-life fantasy!

~ My passion project
~ Multiple POVs
~ Status? Drafting! (130k words so far)
~ Part of a CHUNKY series
~ Cottagecore vibes
~ Covers heavy themes, but it’s full of hope

#W #F #Writing #Writesky #WritingCommunity