iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

It was insistent earlier that when I typed nephomantic (my word of the day) I simply must mean nymphomaniac

I saw the same in my garden, potato-wise (not something we grow at field scale). Interestingly, though they all yielded bafly, Kestrel did notably better than the other varieties I planted. Will be growing that again next year.

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I would appreciate the irony more fully were I not staring at a bin full of grain two thirds of its usual size and looking at the cracks in the October earth, having never denied global warming at all. We are not really that far from not having enough to eat. Not getting at you, just worried.

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kae @krholton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Hookland just taught me a new word, and what's more, as an East Anglian it's one I badly needed: 'nephomantic' I will now go and stare at clouds. At least at present they appear to be foretelling a little rain.

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Reposted by Alex D

One week left to get The Last Firstborn at a discount! I'm running a #Smashwords presale, which means not only do you get a few bucks off the ebook, you also get early access to the book to read it before anyone else! buff.ly/WZSPLXf 📢📚💙📚🪐 #dystopian #fantasy #ebook

buff.ly

The Last Firstborn

As Firstborn, Levi is blessed with the power of prophecy. As Firstborn, he is cursed to live under the Merx. Prophet Levi has two jobs: be the mouthpiece of the Goddess and make sure the Merx…

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Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Did I mention that I was reviewing @krholton.bsky.social's upcoming novel debut, The Last Firstborn? It can be revealed, I liked it. Very much. And I've shared a full review on my website. #booksky #fantasy www.alexdartnell.com/post/the-las...

alexdartnell.com

'The Last Firstborn' by K R Holton

Every time I thought I had a handle on this story, the scale of it grew.First things first. K very kindly offered me an advance copy of 'The Last Firstborn' for me to devour (I mean, read with acute l...

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Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Not a #hurricane, they said We spent that night Crouched by the kitchen stove In the grey light Tin sheets whipping round the walls Dishevelled morning rose In broken trees Tiles stuck the land like daggers Staggerment On a wind-up radio Send us, West Wind of fury No hurricane Amen #vss365

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Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Nice to see it's a good parent, nestling up to its baby like that

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Reposted by Alex D

Sab 🔮 @sgkhan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Happy spooky season 🎃 For our #BirdBlog this month, we bring you yet another corvid; dare I say one of the most iconic members of the family. Read all about the raven at the link below 🐦‍⬛ #nature #birds #birdwatching #Ireland #naturephotography #naturewriting theirishbirdblog.com/2026/10/01/r...

theirishbirdblog.com

Raven – Mythology’s Muse

As the days grow colder and darker, I find myself retreating into stories of faraway or imagined places. This year I resolved to read more poetry and have been steadily making my way through tales …

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Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Hi Sab, read this and loved it. (It's Cyan, if you wonder who the hell I am)

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Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The coast stretched northwards Shoaled and stippled With light of sandbanks A dour landline Graceless and low Where it shrank back Scowling under cloud Prow nosed inward Mudflats lifted White birds shrieking Water's outwash Beckoned inward To marsh and reedbed Secret #harbour #vss365

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Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I was thrilled to be given the chance to review this for Kae. How did I find it? You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out, unless you can see the future.

Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

In the vast distance, a giant planet looms, its fragile moon green and blue with the textures and shifting clouds of Earth. "Wait, the orbit's locked. They turn together." A technician traces on the screen the translucent arc linking back to the planet's blotched equator. "It's a #lure." #vss365

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Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Often the slow dream of these places is founded on an individual human will, and time comes rushing back in on their decease, eager to recoup its passage of years. But others have deeper anchors and stranger secrets.

Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Outside the station door she stopped, panicking. "I can't-" "What's wrong?" "I'm an Earth witch. There's nothing here. I'm greying out-" He grinned. "Stone walls and spires: a #mountain. Brick: earth and fire. Glass, in rain: a beach. Basic transfiguration. And so much power." #vss365

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We, as a species, build our stories of the present on (incomplete, partial) stories of the past. I don't see that stopping anytime soon. Humans, me included, like stories - and are interested in other people, whenever they lived. Hope you get some sleep soon, uninvited philosophy at 5am is rough

Fiftywords @fiftywords.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Reposted by Alex D

This #vss365 is inspired by Aristophanes

The Clouds
The Silicon Valley Sophists work away.
They no longer teach persuasion but predict the next word.
Ask correctly,
and truth will arrive in under three seconds.
The Clouds approve.
They have always preferred things without weight.
Below,
the old world persists: debts, bodies, weather, people saying no.
But the Thinkery is confident.
Reality, they explain, is mostly a prompt-engineering problem.

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Have you tried going in the opposite direction from where you believe it to be?

🌈Dr. Frizzle @swilua.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

For a #cloud No bigger than a man's hand I watch Westwards But sweet water no longer falls from the West The Atlantic brings us Only a searing sun As do all ways October dust weeps Save me My dear land The trees are dying Their leaves are blowing now on the dry wind My hope is parched #vss365

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Reposted by Alex D

THINGS ARE THE WAY THEY ARE BECAUSE WE MAKE CHOICES WE CAN MAKE BETTER ONES

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Watch out on your next few bills. When we had a new meter a few years back, they failed to link it to our account and spent ages sending us estimated bills off the old meter which no longer existed. Ended up in a formal complaint, that did.

I was just staring at imagery of Bolivia for different but similar reasons. No fun trying to overlay things mentally by where a road changes direction.

Matt Flintoff @flintyflop.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Reposted by Alex D

Our daughter Lily, four, has a #cloud she keeps. It followed the car home from Blackpool in June. It sits over the house now and it only rains on the garden, at night. Dad has a lawn he's proud of. He’s not moaned about the weather since, and he’s stopped going on about the hosepipe ban. #vss365

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Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The #bequest of the two headed dragon, cause of the great dispute between the Sisters Taminch and the city worthies, was doomed to remain for ever unresolved. The legendarily quarrelsome heads reached agreement before the sisters, and abandoned the Selestine Park for the northern wild. #vss365

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Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Now found a St Michael, arms spread wide, who has either lost a weapon over the centuries or finds simply standing on a dragon is effective

Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Tallying up dragon-slaying techniques as depicted by the artworks in the V & A. So far two sculptors think the best method is lance down gullet, and a painter who recommends you wait for it to roll over and get it underneath. Feeling rather sorry for the dragons.

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Reposted by Alex D

Art & Nature @capecodfairytales.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#Poetry #Art #Stargazing Then there seem'd A music in the sphere, to charm away The serpent sorrows gnawing at my heart, Till, one by one, they dropp'd their demon hold, And left me, all alone with contemplation, Like thee, to love the stars. - John Howard Payne 🎨 unknown

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He's published a Final one? Oop, now I get to see if my Fan theory about a Big Thing he has been setting up is true.

Clock hands shuddering Tick twenty to nine for hours: Battery's dying #poetry #haiku

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Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions To all musicians Appear and inspire Translated daughter Come down and startle Composing mortals With immortal fire

How shall I know WHEN The time is to #purify WHICH Of these things are wrong? What if I TAKE The offering of my evils up and FIND Them accepted as good? If these mirror-lands have upturned my SOUL I will empty out on the ground and scatter away on the WIND purely #vss365 #poetry

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Diana Wynne Jones. Archer's Goon, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Howl's Moving Castle, Dalemark (four of them), The Homeward Bounders - and yes, Dogsbody. How did she keep doing it? Amazing

Alex D @alexdwrites.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

We have bought two stacking bookcases. They are currently all over the living room in bits and the books are still everywhere I kind of like my books free-range, until a pile falls over