M Rae MacIver

My guess for when it happens is:

Mrs Tangerine
In the ballroom
With a 5 iron.

#Clue #Cluedo

A CHESTERFIELD CARESS

Jamaica, 1811

Passion ignites between a UK bookkeeper & an enslaved biracial laundress but he lacks the £250 to purchase her freedom.

Devastated, he betrays her in a love quadrangle.

Her resilience helps her raise their son, with or without his help.

#questpit #Q #A #HFic

THE GENTLE ECONOMICS OF DEATH:

A medieval black widow murders a series of husbands to steal their inheritance as her own.

#QuestPit #YA #W #HFic

A CRUMBLING CERTAINTY: Historical Urban Fantasy set in an alternate version of Egypt in 1952.

💥 Political tension
👹 Paranormal Demons
😵 Dealing with trauma
📜Historical fantasy
🐪 Egypt in 1952
👨‍👨‍👧 Found family
💬 Witty banter

#Questpit #Q #HFic #F #MY #A #amquerying

A DEVOTION SO RUINOUS is a 90K adult fantasy following Soraya, a young woman tormented by a jinn, a dictator, and her first love, as she fights for freedom

🏳️‍🌈 LGBT characters
🧠 Mental Health Rep
🌍 Middle Eastern Setting
✨ Gods Based Magic System
❤️ Lovers To Enemies
#️⃣ Own Voices

#QuestPit #Q #F #A

A guide to Gin and Fog. 87,000 word historical mystery written by a former police officer who has studied early forensics. For fans of; Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, The Alienist by Caleb Carr, The Strings of Murder Oscar de Muriel. Historcial Background. The Pitch 1877 Scotland, and a mixed-race Detective Sergeant. The wife of a well-known psychic claims a mythical Celtic creature intends to kill her, pitting myth against scientific belief. She turns to the Black Heathers, a gang of female criminals for protection, but they have their hands full dealing with governmental colonial interests more corrupt than their own. New research has uncovered at last three mixed-race police officers in the UK from the 1830s onwards. One reached Superintendent rank in the 1840s. In the period in which this book is set Scotland had a mixed-race MP. The book aims cast light on forgotten history, putting new flesh on old bones. “Enough,”McIntosh’s voice hardened. “My sergeant speaks two languages and has a degree in sciences from the Sorbonne. I’m lucky he’s not white, because he’d never do a job like this if he was. No force in the country has a sergeant with such an education. That’s an end to this nonsense, General. He might be your musty-whatever you called him, but he’s our respected colleague. I won’t have it.”

#Questpit #Q #W #MY #HFic
Counter-narrative historical mystery
✨️ Mixed-race detective in 1870s Scotland
✨️ Female criminal gang
✨️Colonial interests running counter to justice
✨️ Complex mystery set around the world of Victorian theatricals
✨️ Woman fighting extradition as Scots law gave her more rights

Clinging to the Stones Adult fantasy heist by Hussain A. Ayoub 109K Words Multi-POV The river of fate drags everyone forward. Only the desperate dare to cling to the stones.

The heist: Acyrnar Acyrnar has fragile bones, a dying father, and only half the will to hunt his rogue master. But here he is anyway, because living hurts. When he learns his master’s mission might hold the only cure for the rot killing his father, Acyrnar turns coat and joins him. Simple enough. Except he must first kidnap the Empress of the Crimson Empire, brand himself an outlaw forever, and make enemies of some of the most powerful and vindictive people alive. The Counter-heist: Melam Across the sea, Empress Melam fights to protect her son from a succession ritual that will slaughter all but one heir to the throne. Scarred by personal loss and a world rigged against her, Melam does what any desperate mother would do—she turns to the criminal underworld to break her son out of the impregnable Cage. She doesn't need a savior; she needs a distraction. Their colliding paths are set to ignite a war, unravel loyalties, and decide the fate of nations.

Comparative titles: The Age of Madness series. The Lies of Locke Lamora. Andor. Grave Empire.

“You are marked by the stars.” Mother used to repeat that grim prophecy, her voice a warm feather tickling his cheek, her words an icy blade piercing his soul. “Like the Surabrenna, three daughters bind you: one will pass without you, one will weep for you, one will burn with you.” Clinging to the Stones A fantasy inspired by Syrian history & mythology.

Here's CLINGING TO THE STONES, inspired by Syrian history & mythology:

🌟A broken philosopher-warrior seeking a legendary spear.
🌟An imperial mother must extract her son from an impregnable fortress.
🌟Their paths are about to collide.

#QuestPit #Q #A #F #agentsguide

A priest-detective is called to the scene of a murder, only to find the victim is one of the Undead.

#questpit #w # f

(my new WIP! Very exciting!)

Gothic text treatment with a red skeletal graphic overlay with a spooky, dark forest photograph background. Text reads "An Agent's Guide to the Banshee of Clan Murtagh, a gothic love story, 82,000 words, adult horror, by Anna Hirsch."

Tropes & comps: Irish folklore, she's the monster, generational trauma, only one grave. The yearning in the time of plague found in Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, Catholicism vs the Supernatural in The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas, the medieval horror of Between Two fires by Christopher Buehlman, the death-crossed lovers of Nosferatu directed by Robert Eggers.

The pitch: When Ciarán Murtagh hears the cry of his family’s banshee for the first time in a decade, he knows one of his own is fated to die. Yet, his family doesn’t believe his warnings, and why would they? The last time Ciarán heard the banshee, he didn’t tell a soul until after his younger cousin tragically died under his watch. He’s been the family pariah ever since. Desperate for redemption, Ciarán hunts down the banshee in search of answers. She’s equal parts frightening and alluring, and in his struggle to confront her, he inadvertently triggers the banshee’s memories. Memories of when she was a servant of his household, decades ago—a woman named Deirdre. In hopes of learning whose death she foretold, Ciarán tenuously agrees to help Deirdre remember who she was. They begin meeting by moonlight, and with every clandestine encounter, his macabre desire for Deirdre grows. When the devastating bubonic plague befalls the Murtagh household, and Deirdre’s memories reveal a dark scandal in the family’s history, Ciarán must decide whether to stay by his family’s side in their final hours or embrace the seduction of the death-bringer. But fate demands more than death, and Deirdre is no longer the only ghost cursed to haunt Clan Murtagh forever.

The first line: I was a boy of ten when I first saw death, but I'd heard her for years.

HAMNET x NOSFERATU

🖤 The black sheep of a powerful 14th-century Irish family falls in love with the banshee who’s haunted his household for generations—but as the bubonic plague closes in, he must choose between the living and the dead.

💌 SmoochPit 2025 Mentee

#QuestPit #Q #A #H #HFic

The Whalebone Theatre x In Memoriam
From the Devon coast to Oxford lecture halls, BOTANY BEACH follows a young woman who falls in love with botany while growing up by the sea—only to have that future reshaped by the First World War.
#questpit #Q #HF #LF #HFic #WF

CYRANO DE BERGERAC X THE LIGHTNING BOTTLES
1984: A popstar’s muse finds a diary that forces her to confront her guilt over his disappearance 10 years before. And her conflicted feelings for the ghostwriter coerced into concealing his love for her behind the band’s hits. #QuestPit #W #A #HFic #R #U

A defrocked exorcist investigates a body in a bonfire in Savonarola's Florence. Torn between two women and God, he follows a trail of corpses, a missing painting and a desecrated body in a bid to heal his soul. Will he choose love or salvation?

"Studies of Vanity"

#W #A #MY #HFic

#QuestPit

Perdonami, Signore – I have sinned.

I was sent to learn why there was a body in a bonfire. I buried a suicide in consecrated ground, took a dead man’s wife to bed, spilled blood inside a church. I am a wretched sinner, unworthy of the priesthood.

"Studies of Vanity"

#W #A #MY #HFic

#QuestPit

Take one Numidian Princess, a measure of Caligula, an Egyptian cult, some treasure, a lost manuscript from Julius Caesar, gladiators, a few corrupt officials, one lynx, an ingenious engineer and a dogged investigator. Season with owls. Cook in Ancient Rome.

Ex Umbris, Lux

#Q #A #HFic

#QuestPit

What’s a Numidian Princess supposed to do in Ancient Rome while her husband is toiling for the Empire?
Not go robbing senators’ homes?
Not find adventure that spans the Empire?
Not chase treasure in Egypt?
Ridiculous.

Ex Umbris, Lux #Q #A #HFic

#QuestPit

The fall of the ayatollahs could be the best thing to happen for world peace and specifically Ukraine. It will dry up the supply of drones for Russia. Could be enough to tilt the scales with the current stalemate.

Is it normal to write something you think is decent, then get grabbed by an idea you think is incredible, and while writing that, get grabbed by an idea so good there aren't enough expletives in the English language to describe how good you think it is? #AmWriting #AmResearching #HistoricalFiction

Would you read this?

"Florentine noir: A defrocked priest investigates the mystery of the body in the bonfire, while deciding whether to abandon love or Salvation." #AmWriting #Hook #WritersOfBluesky #HistoricalFiction #Noir

Awkward Googling for Writers, #48
What would Savonarola’s go-to order be at @Starbucks?

Almost certainly a plain black tea - austere, and free from sinful luxury. Milk and sugar would be moral failings; ice or syrup would be heresy.

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #WritersLife #Savonarola #Florence

The top result came from gemini, of course. It said he'd definitely be a metal head and would put TSwift's music on the bonfire of the vanities.

Not certain I agree, but let's roll with that...

Awkward Googling for Writers, Vol. XXI

I'm told you must know what kind of music your characters would put on Spotify:

Savonarola - would he be more of a Swiftie, a metalhead, a country boy, or just up for a good old-fashioned rave?

#WritersLife #AwkwardGoogling #HistoricalFiction #ResearchNotes

Awkward Googling for Writers, Vol. XX
"What is a Savonarola, anyway? A Swiss roll made out of soap?"

#AmWriting #WritersLife #AwkwardGoogling #HistoricalFiction #ResearchNotes #Renaissance #Florence

Therapy for Writers, Session I
"Why does it feel like I’m cheating on my novel if I’m querying one and actively plotting another?"

#AmWriting #WritersLife #WritingCommunity #AmQuerying #TherapyForWriters #HistoricalFiction #ExUmbrisLux

Awkward Googling for Writers, Vol. XIX

What is the penalty for arson at the imperial stables?

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #WritersLife #AwkwardGoogling #AncientRome #ResearchNotes #ExUmbrisLux

Latin Grammar, Lesson VII:

agentem quaerere
- to seek an agent

1. agens quaero
2. agens quaeris
3. agens quaerit
4. agens quaerimus
5. agens quaeritis
6. agens quaerunt

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #RomanEmpire #Latin #Grammar #WritersLife #AmQuerying #ExUmbrisLux

Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.

When I try to be brief, I become obscure.

Or, more aptly: In abbreviating, I obfuscate.

- Horace, Ars Poetica 25

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #RomanEmpire #Quotes #WritersLife
#Horace #Classics #ExUmbrisLux #AncientWisdom

Awkward Googling for Writers, Vol. XVIII

In a query letter, is it worse to address an agent as ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ or just start with ‘Hey you’?

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #WritersLife #AwkwardGoogling #QueryLetter #AmQuerying
#HistoricalFiction #AncientRome #AdventureFiction #ExUmbrisLux

Discovering that two fictional characters are related. What do you do when you discover that two apparently unconnected fictional characters in your narrative would have been related in real…

I discovered that two of my (unconnected) fictional characters were cousins.

medium.com/@mraemwriter...

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #Cleopatra #AncientRome

Awkward Googling for Writers, Vol. XVII

Could a respectable #Roman matron in 39 CE conceal a dagger in her clothing without causing a scandal? Which garment would be best suited to hiding it?

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #WritersLife #AwkwardGoogling #ResearchNotes #ExUmbrisLux #AncientRome

Maxima industria historiae operam dedit, atque etiam scripsit bellorum civilium historiam ac vitam Augusti.

He studied history eagerly, writing of the civil wars and the life of Augustus.
- Suetonius, Divus Claudius 41

#AmWriting #HistoricalFiction
#Claudius #Classics #ExUmbrisLux