iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Johnathan Perkins @johnathanperk.bsky.social · 21h

Sexual assault is on the rise. And recent examples in higher ed and across multiple industries, remind me how many grown men still apparently struggle with the concept of CONSENT. Here’s a useful illustration my colleagues in academia show incoming 17 and 18-yr-old freshmen: youtu.be/oQbei5JGiT8?...

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Chace Verity @chaceverity.com · 28/09/2026

It's my birthday and I'd love for you to tell your people that Radio Silence, my 1940s m/m historical romance, is coming out October 6! Preorder on Kobo, Apple, B&N, bookshop.org, Indigo Chapters! Itch and payhip links to come Oct. 6. Ask your library to buy Radio Silence!

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Olivia Waite @oliviawaite.com · 26/09/2026

This time in the #RomanceColumn it’s all about roommates! One of them is invisible (and gay), one of them is a mild-mannered botanist (and kinky online dom), and one of them is the reborn god-emperor you’re engaged to but who knows you betrayed him to his death! (Gift link) #Romancelandia

nytimes.com

Sizzling New Romance Books (Gift Article)

Our columnist on three books worth your time.

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Jordan L. Hawk @jordanlhawk.com · 25/09/2026

OUT NOW! The Devouring time is available in ebook and paperback! Bookseller Sterling Caine and investigator Adrian Evans must find out what happened during Sterling’s forgotten year, or all of humanity will pay the price. CLICK HERE: buy.bookfunnel.com/2n2porj6w5

An ebook and paperback stand against an orange gradient. The covers are the same, and feature a cracked clock face against a blue background. Two illustrated death's head hawkmoths flutter around it. To one side, there is a "bug" featuring a light blue vortex surrounded by the words Widdershins Universe. Text reads: Bestselling author of Whyborne & Griffin, Jordan L. Hawk, The Devouring Time, a Widdershins Universe Novel. Beside the books is text reading: Now Available, The Devouring Time. Can a handsome investigator help an amnesiac bookseller regain his memories before it's too late?

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Jan Falk (ThistleArts) @thistlearts.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I decided to do some fake #covertart for my website to show them along the stuff I do for my authors just to help people make their choice and see what I can do. AND OH BOY I lost myself in time. Spent 3 hours brainstorming and it was SO MUCH FUN! #bookishart #illustration #art #digitalart

Fake book cover that says Broken in blond pink font. It has a cyberpunk style portrait of a young man looking at the camera

Fake cover that Says "Mine" with a neon font. It shows a couple of men laying in the dark.

Fake cover that says "No more heart ache" it shows to men in a passionate embrace

Fake cover that says "Echoes of midnight, tales of desire" that shows one man on his knees before another man who wears a black suit and hold the kneeling man by a silver collar.

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 26/09/2026

i have the privilege of seeing all my print sales in ingram and the amazon-reported numbers are only 1/3 of what i have actually sold (amazon says this figure is ~85%, though 🫠)

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Alice Wickenden @awickenden.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

my favourite typo is, & will always be, ‘the literary cannon’

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 24/09/2026

IT IS LIVE! behold, the cover to my next book!! Thank you so much to Dahlia at LGBTQReads for revealing it exclusively, and ofc to @thistlearts.bsky.social for creating this STUNNING classic romance cover art for me! preorder here: books2read.com/AffairsandAssets (lol, how this crops. i love it!)

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 25/09/2026

love it when a jstor article assumes i can read french. (this is on me... by researching france. 😂)

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Skye Kilaen @skyekilaen.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Queer authors, if you will be publishing a book on ITCH DOT IO and/or KOBO PLUS between now and Dec 31, please make that book known to me below. Especially if you're not publishing on the Evil River! Pre-order link is best, itch profile is great (so I can follow you), or whatever ya got. 🌈📚

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 24/09/2026

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R.B. Lemberg. Yes, still in Kansas @rblemberg.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

As I wrote, I know this attorney very well, and he is a long standing supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community. He has taken many pro bono cases, and at this point he can't take another pro bono case, but he can be retained. Siobhán needs another 3k for this to happen. www.gofundme.com/f/protect-si...

gofundme.com

Donate to Protect Siobhán from Discrimination, organized by Siobhan Kirchstein

Hello, everyone, my name is Siobhán, a 41-year-old trans woman who works as a c… Siobhan Kirchstein needs your support for Protect Siobhán from Discrimination

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 23/09/2026

always dragging my feet to get my butt into vs code and update the website. (it is not hard. i am lazy.)

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 23/09/2026

for some reason, i find writing newsletters really hard to sit down and focus for. i just get squirrelly! idk! anyway, newsletter soon. news soon. eeeeeee

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 22/09/2026

book is done (for now), now i can do all the things, like clean my oven and maybe do some laundry

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Jennifer Laughran @literaticat.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Heads up, Bookworms: There will likely be💀supply chain issues💀 this holiday season. So if there are specific books you have your heart set on for holiday gifting, I strongly suggest you buy/order them ahead of time (✨like now✨) rather than waiting until November/December.

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Jae 🏳️‍🌈 @jaeauthor.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

What is it really like to write and publish sapphic fiction today? I asked 490 sapphic fiction authors about their experiences & challenges. Now I'm sharing the results of the survey. If you read or write sapphic books, you might find the insights interesting. thesapphicquill.com/2026-sapphic...

thesapphicquill.com

Results of the 2026 sapphic fiction author survey

The sapphic fiction author survey shows how authors are doing in 2026: Is their income decreasing? Are they changing strategies? What's their biggest challenge?

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Sarah JH Fletcher @sjhfletcher.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I just finished this one and LOVED IT, highly recommended

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Sarah JH Fletcher @sjhfletcher.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I read REARS & VICES last week and really enjoyed it. Great characters, really cool use of language(s) and it kept surprising me all the way through. (Incredible title too!)

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 18/09/2026

folks... Rears & Vices was reviewed in Publishers Weekly!! And it's a FANTASTIC review! 😭 www.publishersweekly.com/9781968767006

review in publishers weekly:
Rears & Vices
E.M. Caro. E.M. Caro, $18.99 trade paper (380p) ISBN 978-1-968767-00-6
Caro debuts with an entertaining polyamorous pirate romance set in 1816. After the disastrous loss of his ship, Capt. Everard Anderson de Anglada is just trying to hang onto his Royal Navy career long enough to be put to shore with a pension. When he’s called to assist in a court-martial, Everard finds one former lover, Post-Capt. Preston D’Arcy, at his side as part of the court-martial panel—and another, Vitaliy Gray, in the dock, under charges that mean he’ll hang. Panicked, Everard fabricates enough evidence to contradict the charges. But Vitaliy is more than just a Marine, as Everard thought; he’s the notorious pirate V. Varfolomey, and defending him means Everard has put his own neck on the line. A grateful Vitaliy concocts a plan: should Everard become his husband and heir to his command, Vitaliy’s crew will surely accept him. But with D’Arcy joining them as they flee south, intent on rekindling things with Everard himself, and three nations and a rival pirate crew all after them, the path to a happy ending is far from smooth sailing. The quantity of double crosses and political intrigue sometimes overwhelms the love story, but the emotional and physical chemistry between the men is strong and the swashbuckling adventure is good fun. As naughty as it is nautical, this is a winner. (Self-published)

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Bree (half of Kit Rocha) @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 17/09/2026

If anyone wanted to grow lettuce at home on easy mode, it looks like some aerogardens are on clearance here! (I would probably get the XL for lettuce. I'm honestly eyeing one right now even tho I have a giant aerogarden already!) scottsmiraclegro.com/en-us/brands...

scottsmiraclegro.com

AeroGarden Clearance | ScottsMiracle-Gro US

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Danielle (TBQ) @thebookqueen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Whoever was in charge of the movie poster for WICKER, bless you for giving us a classic historical romance clinch pose 😍

The movie poster for the upcoming October 23rd release "Wicker". It looks like a classic historical romance clinch pose, with the Wicker hero behind the heroine, his arm around her waist, her head thrown back against his chest and her pale grey dress flowing around.

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Nix~🍉 @punklenix.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Welcome to the polycule, tag yourself in the comments.

screenshot of a clothing add with four piles of clothes, labeled 1 Primary top, 2 Layered top 3 essential bottom 4 mystery accessory.

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 16/09/2026

man, writing really is a compulsion, huh?

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Freya Marske @freyamarske.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Bodies of Magic: OUT NOW! Grey's Anatomy meets A Deadly Education, a mystery set during the final exam week of a magical medical school. (Or: five queer nerds solve a murder and have some feelings.) Buy US: bit.ly/BoM-US Buy UK: bit.ly/BoM-UK

A book cover for Bodies of Magic by Freya Markse. A deep blue building with a quadrangle, spires and cloisters fills the lower half of the cover with the title text in gold across it. Behind that, the upper background is grey and stormy with a prominent twisting white design that could be a bare tree rising up from the main tower OR an anatomical diagram of the lungs. Centered above the lung-tree are the words DO NO HARM in stark white. Honestly: a complete banger of a cover.

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Felicia Davin @feliciadavin.com · 15/09/2026

it's #SapphicSeptember so I should tell you all about Errant, a series of fantasy novellas about a stoic swordswoman and a cheerful pickpocket actress causing each other a lot of trouble. Co-authored with @ghostalservice.bsky.social & KR Collins books2read.com/errant1 feliciadavin.itch.io/errant1

an illustrated book cover depicting two women facing each other, one tall, white, and slender with short brown hair and the other shorter, curvier, with brown skin and long brown hair. the taller woman is touching the shorter woman's face while the shorter woman is picking the taller woman's pocket. the title is "Errant," written in gold text surrounded by an elaborate gold frame, and the author is L. K. Fleet

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Dahlia Adler 📚 @missdahlelama.dahliaadler.com · 10/09/2026

It's here! I'm so excited to share the cover of SUMMER CAMP ROMANCE, a book that is so close to my heart (13-year sleepaway camp veteran here) and perfect for fans of Wet Hot American Summer: people.com/dahila-adler... (and yes, it's a companion to Soon By You!)

people.com

‘Beach Read’ Meets ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ in Dahlia Adler’s ‘Summer Camp Romance’ — See the Cover! (Exclusive)

PEOPLE can exclusively reveal the cover of Dahlia Adler’s next novel ‘Summer Camp Romance,’ out next year. The adult romance from the ‘Soon By You’ author follows the relationship between two camp sta...

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Justine Lombardi @jlombardi.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

There are tons of non-AI images in the public domain that indie authors can use for covers and marketing! Here are a few of my favorite places to look for them. www.cosmos.so/public-work artvee.com www.nga.gov/artworks/fre... www.metmuseum.org/hubs/open-ac... pdimagearchive.org

artvee.com

Artvee

Browse and download high-resolution, public domain Paintings, Drawings, Illustrations and Posters.

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daryl "crimetime after primetime" b 🏳️‍⚧️ @hypercubexl.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

GDT's reddit AMA spitting fire www.reddit.com/r/movies/com...

reddit comment:

Hello! Did you intend the ending of Pan’s labyrinth to be real or in Ofelia’s mind?

Guillermo Del Toro's reply:

My interpretation, and it's exclusively mine, is that it's real.

Because there's two things. One is what people call “The Shining Question.” The Shining Question is, Who opens the door for Jack to get out of the fridge? And Ofelia is in an attic with a guard outside her door, and she draws the door with the magic chalk, and she shows up in the labyrinth. So, the only way she could have gone into the labyrinth is the magic chalk. And the flower is real at the end. The flower that blooms in the dead tree. And the reason I think it’s real is because—and this is why I'm in favor of the human factor in art—I think that art does transform the world. You know?

Think about it for a second. One of the goals, with all this movement, is to make you believe that art is vulgar. That art is nothing special, and anybody can do art. That is like me telling you that I'm faster at running than Usain Bolt but I “run” in my motorcycle. Well, that's not the same. That’s not the same at all.

Art is important, and they want you to believe it isn't. It's part of the idea of control. The goal is not to have artificial intelligence. The goal is to foster natural stupidity. The goal is to foster you not looking for answers, and to trust yourself entirely to an engine. Look at the way we are dipping our toes into these things. We are starting to ask the machine, Is this true? For now, there's a correlation between reality and what the answers of the machine are. For now. But soon, we won't even investigate further. We will be told it's true. And if the machine is in the hands of somebody who should not be trusted, then your reality has been completely and utterly fucked. Because your intelligence ends at the question. You don't seek the answer. It's given to you.

Q: You recently mentioned that AI creates 'semi-compelling screensavers' and that you'd 'rather die' than use it. As a filmmaker who relies heavily on practical effects and creature design, what do you think is the biggest thing lost when a computer generates an image instead of a human hand?

GDT:

The three quarters of the process that gave you the chance to think of the idea that people don't think about without that process. Meaning, AI can get you to the middle really fast, but there's a dialectic with the process that gets you to that top 10%. I'll give you an example with the Pale Man.

We sculpted it as an old man, with a face. And then I said, Let's take out the face. This happened because I saw a photo of a manta ray and the poster for Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm. That combination, which happened at two different times during a week or a month, are not permutations that are chemically part of an equation. They are alchemy. And then I said, Take out the face, and then I said, Let's put the eyes on the hands. This triangulation happens because I spent a month or two months living with the idea of this creature. And it's not linear.

AI is like a super-fast engine that makes semi-sentient permutations of things that are already done. Creation is things that have never been done. Coming to exist.

And the second thing is the loss of the apprenticeship that one has as an artist. You're never a master; you're always an apprentice. This is a kinship I have with, for example, Chris Nolan. When he showed me The Odyssey, there’s a scene when Matt Damon is floating in the stormy ocean and I asked him—because we were talking about practical effects, and how great it is and that we both always use a maquette or a model—and I asked him, How did you do it? He said, “We put him in a storm in the ocean.”

And you're gonna find that 30% of a great image occurs accidentally. You know, either a drop of water hits the lens, or the camera shakes. I remember when in 1993, '94, Jim…

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Alex White @alexwhite.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Hey. If a small press wants to give you a digital-only, royalty-based multibook deal for books that haven't yet been written, run. Lots of small presses use this royalty structure because they have no assets, and this allows them to offload nearly all risk to you.

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gochenourabout @sjgochenour.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

word suitcase is my single favorite newsletter. if you are an etymology nerd who struggles to find new books to read: THIS IS FOR YOU.

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gochenourabout @sjgochenour.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

apparently it is #SapphicSeptember and so! I have two fantasy romances which might interest you! first! SHIPWRECKED: BEING A TALE OF TRUE LOVE, MAGIC, AND GOATS. in which goblin pirates (well, sort of) crash their boat below the goblin village. www.amazon.com/Shipwrecked-...

amazon.com

Shipwrecked: Being a tale of true love, magic, and goats (Sea Goblins Book 1)

Shipwrecked: Being a tale of true love, magic, and goats (Sea Goblins Book 1) - Kindle edition by Butterworth, Juniper. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 08/09/2026

OUT TODAY! 📰✊🗽 1905 M/M historical romantic suspense about a muckraker who must investigate a reclusive, openly queer NYC businessman. Secrets; murder; intrigue; kissing in blueberry fields. Anti-capitalist journalist x marshmallow neurospicy! No compromises made. ✊ books2read.com/ByAnyMeans

cover for the book BY ANY MEANS by E.M. Caro. the man on the left is blond, handsome, wearing a flat cap and a blue houndstooth suit. he's holding a fountain pen in his right hand. The man on the right is dark-blond haired, dodgy-looking, wearing a country suit and knickerbocker plus-twos trousers and holding a pair of sharp-looking glassblowing tongs - called "jacks."
they are surrounded by blueberries on a backdrop of a 1905 photo of the Bowery, NYC

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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

BTW this is after the iconic image by Ricardo Levins Morales www.rlmartstudio.com/product/eigh...

black and white woodcut that says 8 hours for work / 8 for rest / 8 for what we will and there's someone working at (??) , someone sleeping and two people in a boat

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The Smut Report @smutreport.com · 07/09/2026

For those who want to enjoy some smut with their labor day celebrations, here's a list from our archives about romances featuring labor organizing smutreport.com/2024/08/31/s...

smutreport.com

Saturday Smutty Six: Union Strong

Happy Labor Day weekend! In honor of the holiday, we’ve pulled together a list of six romances featuring labor organizers. Books are listed in chronological order by setting. Highland Jewel b…

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 06/09/2026

rowing intervals is murrrrrder but i'm kinda addicted. just tried out a norwegian 4x4 yesterday, as much as that sounds like a salacious orgy

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 04/09/2026

after 17 years together (me having narcolepsy the entire time), husband still has a little giggle at me when i pass out, head back, fingers still on the laptop keys and my document full of eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 😂

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 04/09/2026

the men are doing their best, folks. (this is from the upcoming sequel to R&V.) #fridayfling #romancelandia

excerpt from a&a wip:

“Hm. And we cannot shoot him,” Everard muttered, “if only for him and his government bank?”
“You couldn’t,” he teased. “Not from a distance, anyway.”
“All men deserve a fair trial,” Everard said reasonably. Preston laughed.
“What is he like?” Everard asked. “If that isn’t strange to ask. I find myself curious. There were few enough people that you… er, disclosed to me.”
None that he had ever met, no. Not besides Vee. There’d been a handful of men whom they’d met together—one of the very few ways to get Everard’s shell to crack had been to ask him to watch—but those men didn’t count. They’d been one-offs.
“I know I was a Navy man, Ever, but there aren’t many more, I swear.” Not significant ones, anyway. “When would I have had the time?”

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Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

i love that this has had literally no impact on my day lol

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TJ Alexander (they/them) @tjalexandernyc.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

GENTLEMAN is on sale on kindle for $1.99 for those who might want to pick it up, not sure how long the sale lasts, nobody tells me nothing www.amazon.com/Gentlemans-G...

amazon.com

A Gentleman's Gentleman (Lambda Literary Award Winner): A Novel

Amazon.com: A Gentleman's Gentleman (Lambda Literary Award Winner): A Novel eBook : Alexander, TJ: Kindle Store

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 27/08/2026

I can't say enough what it means to me that readers who loved R&V also love By Any Means. 💖🥹 (I *personally* think the books look nice together, too!)

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 27/08/2026

JUST LOOK at the short little legs!!!! 🥹😭

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gochenourabout @sjgochenour.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

okay one more thing before I disappear into the night: have been on an A.J. Demas ( @ajdemas.bsky.social ) reading spree and HOLY CRAP I NEED EVERYONE WHO HAS NOT TO HASTEN TO READ HER BOOKS PLEASE SO I CAN TALK LOUDLY AND TOO FAST AT YOU

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Aulet 🍂 @aulet.es · 26/08/2026

"LibreOffice 26.8 contains no generative AI features. Documents are not transmitted to remote services for processing, and no component of the suite requires network access to function. This is a deliberate position."

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eri (e.m. caro) @authoremcaro.com · 25/08/2026

bring back linguistic whimsy!!!

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Shecky @shecky.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

ORPHAN CATS STILL SEEKING A FOREVER HOME I've updated the original thread linked here. It has *all* the pertinent information, so please read the whole thing.

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