iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

New story is live! "If You Must Leave the City" on Sunday Morning Transport ( link to get the free 60 day subscription & read it is (www.sundaymorningtransport.com/smt2024)

Silver crackled leather pattern - decorative tile for the Skeet.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Was packing for the Writing Excuses cruise wondering which Gibson book to take I hadn’t read, then their title told me.

Black paperback book with green bicycle built for two drawing on cover, titled: Take me with you by Andrea Gibson.

Left side of Andrea Gibson book page: ink blot explosion , right side of book says “ We have to create. It is the only thing louder than destruction.”

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Thanks so much for a hilarious and educational evening. I hope my regard for you and husband’s chicken photos was passed along late last night… here is Ozzie, one of our newer hens of rockstar qualities.

Polish breed chicken, tan and black dappled feathers named l Ozzie with full fluffy plumage crowing her head

Polish chicken breed with crown of plumage named Ozzie with “ Buff 2.0” Buff Orpington behind her

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

LACon I am with ya! First panel tomorrow, hope to say hi to many folks. My dance card in image and alt text. And remember Uncanny Magazine poetry submissions close Monday ( Aug 31). So get those poems ( up to five, submit each separately) in this weekend!

Fri 13:30 Pacific time Anti-genre roundtable.
Sat 10:30 am Pacific What Editors Look for in Speculative Poetry
Sun noon Pacific panel ( I moderate ) From Poetry Writer to Guest Editor

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Today I saw an early preview of Coyote vs Acme. If ever you heard a ” meep meep” in your childhood you MUST GO.

Movie poster of Wile E Coyote pushing a boulder/bomb up hill with a lit fuse, in a Sisyphus-like silhouette. Fluffy feathered roadrunner peers from the right side of the frame, uphill.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

If you like Wait Wait Don’t Tell me, this is a definitely a worthy reward from Matt Peters in our final kickstarter hours … I wonder if he does ringtones :) ? www.kickstarter.com/projects/unc...

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

And when I say unicorn plushies I mean SPACE UNICORN plushies! www.kickstarter.com/projects/unc...

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

As I don’t own a sword like @wiswell.bsky.social ( alas!) I tried a chicken feather ( does not work) and scissors ( better) to do author copies unboxing of @criticalrole.bsky.social : The Mighty Nein- Stories Untold! Even the hens were impressed! Available at online & bookstores on Aug.11 !

Betsy Aoki clutches a hardbound copy of The Mighty Nein—Stories Untold above the cardboard box of books she just opened.

The cover of Critical Role: The Mighty Nein-Stories untold features an arch of greenery carved with sigils and centering around a Mighty Nein emblem. Authors on the cover besides Betsy are: Kiri Callaghan Sani Carr Rin Chupeco Mae Catt Mike Chen Nino Cipri Nadia El-Fassi and Chase K

Three hens- a ginger, black, and ombre gray— look on in the background as the Critical Role: The Mighty Nein — Stories Untold anthology is held up for their clucking analysis.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Currently reading _these are the waterfalls in my head_ by JeFF Stumpo. Speculative poets, particularly horror ones, take serious notes…this is a nightmare-laden masterclass ( a more upbeat excerpt here)

Book Cover of dark and light blue falling lines on white background with the title “ these are the waterfalls in my head

poems

by JeFF Stumpo

“ Tonight you are making dangerous art” by JeFF Stumpo ( note: orig formatting not possible)

Tonight you are making dangerous art. Your spray paint springs to life like fireflies on brick. Every misrepresented friend you’ve known, every downtrodden icon. You are populating the sides of buildings with the histories they tore from your books. You are working faster than they can sandblast pride. You are swirl of pressurization and hiss, and the buildings themselvss begin to grow alive, grow heads and arms and legs and more, rise out of cement foundations and walk. You are leading downtown down its own main avenue, a parade of those who refuse to be erased.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Yay! Excited to share a sneak peek from my story, “Fight for the Soul,” part of Critical Role's new anthology, The Mighty Nein--Stories Untold. (Uk’otoa and The Wildmother DEFINITELY have things to say). Coming out August 11 to a bookstore near you!

Text on blue background: Uk'otoa and the Wildmother clash in "Fight for the Soul" as told by Betsy Aoki.

Pullquote on green background: "As his dying soul screamed for recourse into the sea's cold depths, Fjord didn't realize there was a bargain to be made. But Uk'otoa did.

And Uk'otoa made it for him"

The Mighty Nein | Stories Untold. Foreword by Taliesin Jaffe.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Reading @redscribe.bsky.social ‘s new novella, Grief Eater. Folks this is hella fierce queer zombie horror! go get your copy! ( www.interstellarflightpress.com/griefeater.h... )

Bright pink square tote and paper coffee cup on stone sidewalk— this is the backdrop for the Grief Eater print novella, which has a green skinned woman zombie with black hair dripping blood and screaming red flames into the night. Grief Eater is a debut work by Emma Osborne, an Australian author.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Just got @dim0kq.bsky.social ’s signed memoir, Ordinary Guy at War … will read more deeply on the train this weekend, but since I deleted my X acct, good to have this history in print. History of his charity @dzygaspaw.com and how Dzyga came to be named, included!

Ordinary Guy at War: a Ukrainian’s journey. Cover has Dimko Zhluktenko in traditional Ukrainian vyshyvanka embroidered shirt, facing camera head on.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Still making sure I didn’t miss stuff but current Awards Eligibility List ( poetry and fiction) betsyaoki.com/awards-eligi.... Cat pic for tax.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Recent trip to NYC had the chance to chat with @mcflycahill90.bsky.social & talk AUDITION FOR THE FOX! Loved it, it's a dose of what we need right now. Also damn Breads cheesy focaccia for the win!

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Sure sure the Hugo Awards but how many ppl have a Disco Chicken Award waiting when they get home? Hmmm? ( the mystery of why these ads follow me around the Internet is solved- J bought one!!)

Chicken figurine covered with mirror mosaic —similar to disco ball —with red comb and beak.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Very wild and surreal to see, very grateful to our readers.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Today’s panel jewelry included #teamarsenic symbol ( Clarion West 2016 class) #worldcon #worldcon2025

Necklace of silver swords and red beads. Alchemical symbol of arsenic in enamel pin on the teal Worldcon badge lanyard.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Today (2 poetry panels) is for Team Arsenic ( Clarion West 2016) at #worldcon2025

Antique brass necklace with alchemical symbol for arsenic “ the healing poison” as Cae Hawksmoor would say.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

I have to say @peculiarityshop.bsky.social that multiple people came up to admire “ the stabby bladed necklace” at #readercon … there may be more of a market than just me :)

Silver metallic sword/knife blades dangle from a silver chain necklace in a widening spiral

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Watching @nameshiv.bsky.social read from novel in progress “Djinn and Tonic” & audience chuckling from get go #readercon

Shiv Ramdas in dark purple shirt reads into a microphone at the center of a wide table with multiple microphones.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Latest signed copy of Wearing the Lion by @wiswell.bsky.social ( this one is going to a friend I see tomorrow, mine’s electronic) #readercon

Book cover: Bearded ( line drawing) figure holding lion in fireman’s carry across night landscape. Title: Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

And another happy mail moment! The Folded Sky by @matociquala.bsky.social Elizabeth Bear

Yellow sun, orange fading to purple sky, spaceships fighting and/or emerging from a radial shape.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Woohoo happy mail time ( I have local bookstores ship new launches).. Wearing the Lion by @wiswell.bsky.social !

Hardback copy. Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell. Cover has dark etching of man in toga with lion on his shoulders against blue night sky and purple mountains in distance.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Just arrived: Kimiko Hahn’s new and selected: The Ghost Forest.

A brown blue and green cover with four partitions showing spiky thin trees in a field. Title reads: Ghost Forest: New and Selected by Kimiko Hahn.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

The stabby is back ( with bigger clasps!!) and just in time for a writer retreat! @peculiarityshop.bsky.social

Spiral design made with necklace of silver knives and bracelet of knives.Bracelet of blood petals to upper left.

Blood petal bracelet and bracelet of knives on one forearm, necklace of silver knives on neck in background against black Critical Role Pride shirt.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

After many months’ delay, I finished The Crow Thing that I was rewarding myself with the fall mystery box from @peculiarityshop.bsky.social . Box opened tonight! I should have studied the blade more :) ….

Parchment style letter with cursive script listing the very-bladed necklace and bracelet, laser cut pendant in crow form by The Peculiarity Shop staff: Sara Eileen, Hillary, Becky who “ swelled in power making all these gothy goodies.”

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

At the celebratory book launch for The Mosquito Fleet by @andrewpennromine.bsky.social modeling said book!

Betsy Aoki, woman with glasses and red sweater models the red and maroon/brown cover of The Mosquito Fleet by Andy Romine.

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 07/11/2024

A very fine Nibs piece can be yours…..

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

Grace giving the Look, Spencer using his one brain cell to zone out.

Two tabby cats laying down on an armchair: ( Grace) female golden striped with arm paw around more silver tiger striped ( Spencer).

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Betsy Aoki (she/her) @betsyaoki.bsky.social · 30/09/2024

My Q & A with @Asimovs_SF blog for "And To Their Shining Palaces Go" fromearthtothestars.com/2024/08/21/q... (for those in the game industry reading the print novelette in the issue, iykyk )

Black and white image: Three shadowy women dance on a hillside next to a gnarled tree trunk as silhouettes of birds fly across a cloudy sky. Text reads: Asimov's Science Fiction. Sept/Oct 2024. Highlighted authors: Stephanie Feldman, Naomi Kritizker, Susan Shwartz, Robert Reed, Nick Wolven, Ray Nayler, James Patrick Kelly.

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