iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Also Patrice Lawrence’s Elemental Detectives books.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yes! @clairelinney.bsky.social’s books are great!

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Yes! Don’t deface other people’s mementos!

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

>>* An author who wrote a page of acknowledgments * Someone who used the word “copse” on Threads, because some Americans didn’t know what it was. Honestly, it’s like the worse of leftie purest Olympics days or Twitter.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Good lord the book discourse on social media has been particularly exhausting this week. People have been hating on: * A woman who had a long-cherished tote bag with the signatures of her favourite authors and was mildly annoyed that a random author signed it without being asked

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We’ll manage because we always do, but we have no budget for associate lecturing staff. HE ITE is in a very precarious situation.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Every year I say “this year induction week is sorted and Nothing Can Go Wrong.” Every year the fates spit in my tea. This year I have a colleague in an emergency hospitalisation and another on extended bereavement leave, and we’re already covering another colleague’s maternity leave.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The Hilda series by Luke Pearson if she doesn’t know them already. My now-teenager and I loved them when he was younger. Oliver and the Sea Wigs by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre are loads of fun too. When she’s a little older I recommend Ottoline and the Yellow Cat by Chris Riddell.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

It’s reminding me of Amelia Bedilia but I don’t think that’s correct

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Nicholas Jackson @njj4.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Well, I've pretty much finished my latest knitting project: a copy of the scarf Tom Baker wore in his last season of Doctor Who. It's basically unwearable but it was certainly a fun project. I'm thinking I might knit a shorter (and narrower) one that I can actually wear normally.

Me, standing in my garden, wearing a longish black coat and an absurdly long red, purple and orange scarf.

A very long red, orange and purple scarf, hanging in my conservatory.

A ridiculously long red, orange and purple scarf, stretched out on the floor of my lounge. I've folded it in two so it'll fit in the room.

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The Midnight Society @midnightpals.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Mr Beast: submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of the most dangerous game Richard Connell: hey wait a second

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Good morning! I am reading Ross Montgomery’s magnificent The Midnight Guardians, and I’ve just bought an ebook of Joan Aiken’s thriller The Ribs of Death.

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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

There you go. Absolutely gobsmacking. But mostly just incredibly embarrassing. bsky.app/profile/adam...

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

*You’re not asleep, just resting your eyes ** I have never called anyone “babes” in my life

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Yup. She was the final thing that made me continue to read the Guardian. Done.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Mmm. Marina Hyde, eh. Her Q and A is the final nail in the Guardian coffin.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Yes! It’s very odd. Mr Gruber is definitely a German Jewish refugee though.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I’m re-reading Tin by Padraig Kenny for podcasting reasons and Please Look After This Bear by Melanie Ramdarshan Bold and @actuallyaisha.bsky.social

A white book cover with a squashed red hat. The title is Please Look After This Bear.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

It's being treated as a policy victory that we have less of the world's smart young people coming to learn from us, participate in our society and economy. This is just so depressing to me, it feels like a complete victory for know-nothing ignorant bigotry over enlightened sensibilities.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I defended Twilight at an SFF event about 10 years ago. Yes the approaches to purity culture and sexuality are awful. Yes, adorkable heroines make my eyes roll. But an awful lot of the criticism was just “teenage girls like it so it must be crap”.

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Redwall Feasts Bot @redwallfeasts.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

He stuffed himself with toasted bilberry scones, slices of woodland plum spice cake, cucumber sandwiches, a cheese 'n' onion pasty, and a large tankard of October ale.

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Dave Cook @davecook.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

We’re only £194 from the goal now 😳 Thanks to our backers so far. If you’d want to help us hit the goal, we’re doing a cheap £4 digital copy, and a digital catch up bundle with issue #1. Either way, it’s always incredibly appreciated 🙏 Reposts welcome ❤️ www.kickstarter.com/projects/bus...

kickstarter.com

Killtopia: Phantoms #2

Cyberpunk and horror collide! An elite Neo Tokyo police unit hunts a mind hacker who makes peoples' fears a reality.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

StepTeen and I are in London for a few days. Travelling from our hotel to the city centre by Thames Clipper is always a joy.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Union member, BLM supporter, literacy advocate and LGBTQ+ ally? That Dolly? She was anything but neutral.

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TarZangief @tarzangief.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"Neutral in the culture war"

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Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I am so looking forward to being in conversation with Daphne du Maurier’s grandson Paul de Zulueta at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October! We’ll be talking about Paul’s forthcoming memoir, LAST NIGHT I DREAMT. Tickets on general sale 3 Sept www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/last-...

Paul de Zulueta, Daphne du Maurier’s grandson, at the Cheltenham Literature Festival

Last Night I Dreamt: A Personal History of the Du Mauriers by Paul de Zulueta

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saxylizbeth @saxylizbeth.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

BBC News - do better. JKKK - take her name out of your hateful transphobic mouth and fuck off into the sun while you do it.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I can’t see the eclipse from where I am, but on the other hand I have a cold drink and nobody wants anything from me.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Next episode of Fantasy Book Swap is messing with the format but not jumping the shark as my guest, screenwriter Tajinder Hayer chose a contemporary book! So I have chosen Michael de Larrabeiti’s brilliantly anarchic The Borribles. You can read more about it here: vector-bsfa.com/2023/12/02/s...

vector-bsfa.com

Vector 294 SFF and Class

Vector 294 is now available to download. We open issues to the public after about two years. An index of back issues of Vector can be found at the ISFDB. For the availability of individual print is…

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Oh Yay! Xan, your books look amazing

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Los Angeles Worldcon @laworldcon.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Congratulations to our Toastmaster Ursula Vernon @tkingfisher.com for recently being named the winner of the 2026 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature for her work, Snake-Eater! (This is your sign to add this book to your TBR if you haven't already.)

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Ok, in that case I’m going to do a dramatic interpretation of Time by David Bowie.

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Wizard's Tower Press @wtpress.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

It is Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'ride'. We are in the last week for the Best of British StoryBundle, which includes Fight Like A Girl #2. This extract is from 'The Seamstress, The Hound, The Cook and Her Brother' by K T Davies #BookQW storybundle.com/bestof

Through the narrow panes she saw the strangers throw saddles on their mounts and ride from the castle still tightening their girths. Such was their haste that one of the horses slipped on the mist-slicked cobbles and fell. The rider lay where he fell, but the horse staggered to its feet and charged after the others. When the riderless horse overtook the others, none of them slowed or looked back to see what had become of their companion. Defying the rules about kitchen staff wandering the halls of the castle, Onya rushed up the stairs, and was almost knocked off her feet by a dozen of the Aubro’s men as they ran into the courtyard. She followed them as far as the door. Beyond the gate she could see the plotters split up and ride off the road, which was dangerous even on a clear day, let alone a miserable fog-bound morn. And then she saw why. A column of mounted knights resplendent in the scarlet and gold livery of the king were riding along the road from the east.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Anyway, if you want a brilliant book to read around Halloween, The Blackthorn Branch by @elencaldecott.bsky.social is brilliant. As a very poor Welsh speaker I particularly love the interweaving of Welsh words and phrases into the text, which changes the rhythm in my head as I read it. Wonderful.

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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I keep reading autumnal books at the moment. I am about to do my hundredth (possibly not hundredth) re-read of The Borribles for the podcast. It’s a book that I associate with London in 1976. A US reviewer called it dystopian. London in 1976 was fairly dystopian, I suppose.

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