ALT An Agent's Guide to One Thousand and One Voyages by Ayishah Hasni.

ALT Pitch: In a YA retelling of the Arabian Nights tale of Sinbad the Sailor, a snarky pirate must accompany a happy-go-lucky princess on a journey across the monster-filled Indian Ocean to rescue her fiance from a mysteriously moving island.

ALT Comp titles: The Stardust Thief, Spice Road, Pirates of the Caribbean and Fable.

ALT Snippet first line: Though Prince Zakar of Marjan was not particularly knowledgeable about nautical affairs, he did not think that being chased by an island was a common part of sailing.

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

ALT 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

ALT 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.

ALT 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 blue truck in a field

ALT A Snippet ‎June was the month I finally talked myself into deleting his pictures and his phone number—shocked, but also encouraged by how steadfastly he’d maintained his silence. How there’d been no slip-up in it, no moment of relapse for him. ‎Two weeks later, though I got his number back from one of our mutual friends and cursed myself for deleting all his pictures. ‎July was when I started feeling very sorry for myself. Sorry for the kind of life I’d chosen to live: I said I was okay with being in love with him, and content with checking up on him and knowing he was fine even though he didn’t know I was there. ‎July was also when my lifestyle gave birth to a new type of loneliness. One I sat close to and allowed to talk to me. “You’re wasting your time, Ima. Can’t you see that you’re the only one suffering?” ‎It was in July that I allowed myself to cry again at what I’d lost. To cry about John’s silence and what it meant. To cry about how important it was for me to pick myself up

ALT A 9x9 grid showing a moodboard for the WIP, Monster House. Top left to right: A closeup of a male with blonde curly hair. A haunted house. A book burning. Middle left to right: A window. A quote that reads: “I am the monster you created.” Skulls. Bottom left to right: A man holding an axe. A hallway. A woman with brown wavy hair. All pictures from Pinterest.