iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Bravo. But too bad it's come to this.

Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I love the enthusiasm of people who have clearly been waiting for the earliest socially acceptable time to put up Halloween decorations, and decided on October 1.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Unfortunately, I don't have any remaining that I didn’t post.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Everyone has two minutes to speak. My government (the U.S.) decides to lead with complaining about the word "equity" and so can't complete its remarks. (2/2)

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I'm at the UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response. We're all here to make sure we don't repeat everything we went through (and many people are still going through) with Covid. Everyone has two minutes to speak. (1/2)

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I'll have a new Irini story coming out in 2027 in a cool magazine I've never been in before. Looking forward to sharing the details.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Spent the weekend in Pennsylvania. Independent bookstores everywhere. Caught live music outdoors. In Leighigh Valley happened upon a Punk Rock Flea Market and picked up some art, then visited the Bethlehem Steel Plant and saw an outdoor market where I bought a book from a local author, Jean Estelle.

Pop-up market outside of Bethlehem Steel Plant.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

You are clearly considered a subpar nut when you are flavored to taste like different nuts.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Thanks @bmccosar.bsky.social for the kind words about "A Family Forged" in your Recommended Reading series.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This story came to me as I was falling asleep. What if a boy's uncle took him to a shop filled with wonders, and while he was there he realized he was never meant to leave?

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

If you think AI is good at writing now, just wait until it steals what I'm working on next.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

A family member lost her home to fire outside Spokane. It was a work of art, shaped over years.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

...which is what provided all the wealth and power for the later emperors to pillage. (2/2)

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

As a guy, I'm supposed to think about Rome at least once a day, if I'm understanding social media correctly. And to me, the main takeaway of Roman history is that everything we associate with their greatness was established when they were a republic... (1/2)

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

The Water Knife was a riveting novel, but I didn't want to live it.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I just saw this post and checked, and one of my stories is on the site. No consent, and like you write, no contact information.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

My new story, "Strip Mine," out now in @mythaxis.bsky.social, is my take on the toll of climate change. Kevin needs his job in the Maya Mountains, but keeping it might cost more than he can afford. I love this line from the editor's intro: "Returning contributor Aaron Emmel sugar-coats nothing.”

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Glad to be back in @mythaxis.bsky.social with such a great lineup.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I'm not usually a fan of flashbacks in general, but that one filled out Anne's backstory and brought back Steve Carrell, so for me it was a double win.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I've been a loud part of the chorus pointing out how well Octavia Butler anticipated contemporary America. But if there's anyone truly prepared for the current era, it's Warhammer 40K fans.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I'm at the beginning of Tana French's latest novel, The Keeper. The plot is thickening. I can begin to sense the outline of dark secrets that are soon to emerge. But like all of her novels, I'm enjoying the writing and the characters so much that I'd have a hard time stopping in any case.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

My new story, “A Family Forged,” is out today in the summer 2026 issue of @kaleidotrope.bsky.social. It's about a boy who goes looking for his brother and ends up trapped by the same dark magic that captured him.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Excited to be in this issue with my new story "A Family Forged."

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

My daughter is part of a short story writing tournament that she and about 20 other 6th graders are running. They have a panel of judges who are giving away Skittles as prizes. The kid who came up with the idea is paying with his birthday money.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Downtown Baltimore has Balticon and a death metal festival going on at the same time, so the outfits on the sidewalk are all amazing.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

At Balticon today and saw a writer whose name I recognized. I went over and introduced myself and said we'd been in an anthology together. He said, "Oh." So, that was exciting, I guess.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Pleased to share that Aaron Kreader and I have just sold an option for an animated version of our graphic novel Zanján. Hopefully will have more to report soon!

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I'm in a coffee shop in Geneva and I'm supposed to go to a meeting but they keep playing good music so I think I'll give it five more minutes.

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Reposted by Aaron Emmel

Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

It’s staggering How swiftly states in the South can still move to stymie Black voters And how ready they were to do so

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

There was a guy solving a substitution cipher in a notebook on the DC Metro today and I am certain I just caught a glimpse of a race against time that will end with the unraveling of an ancient Masonic conspiracy.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

A fantastic creamery in Maryland. If no one's there, you just take ice cream and milk from the refrigerator and cooler and leave your money in the cash box. I was going to post the name, but the internet tends to ruin good things, so I’ll just post a picture instead.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

There's an agency site that says they don’t accept simultaneous submissions, but also that they don’t respond to most queries. I’m not sure how that’s supposed to work.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Last week, I participated in the launch of the Kenya Parliamentary Immunization Caucus in Nairobi. Senator Crystal Asige gave a personal explanation of the importance of public health.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

We took our kids to see The Empire Strikes Back for May the 4th weekend.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Every subscription service I have is raising their prices at once.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

More and more UN staff are leaving NYC and arriving in Kenya as centers of leadership shift. I'm currently at the United Nations' growing global hub in Nairobi.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Based on observation, AI seems to be great when you have three sentences' worth of information and want to stretch it out over three paragraphs.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

I've just figured out how I should rewrite my query letter! Too bad I've already sent it to a dozen agents.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

And they all explain why the ways all the other publications do it are wrong.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

A big part of being a writer is reformatting manuscripts to meet the specs of different publications.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Pleased to have served on the editorial committee of the Casebook on Advocacy in Public Health, vol. 2, published today by the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) at the Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva. www.wfpha.org/casebook-on-...

wfpha.org

The WFPHA Casebook on Advocacy in Public Health

The Casebook on Advocacy in Public Health is vital for strengthening efforts to improve population health worldwide.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Yesterday, a spontaneous, international network of 11 and 12-year-old girls conspired on both sides of the Atlantic, by word of mouth, to perplex the boys in their classes by all showing up to school in braids and seeing if they'd notice. I feel like there's movement-building potential here.

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Which is why learning that publishers use comps to set advances really surprised me. 2/2

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I get why comp titles are useful for agents and publishers. But reading other people's query letters suggests that a lot of comparisons are...random at best. For myself, I'll change my story if it reminds me too much of something else, only to have to say what it's similar to when I'm done. 1/2

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

"Evil is bad." "Why are you getting political?"

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Aaron Emmel @aaronjemmel.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

I'd love to see more human-made art and less AI art in my feed.

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