iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Absolutely. I understand the need for some form of classification to the reader to navigate, using it to assign badges of merit or ignominy is... well, indicative of something else.

010

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A vast, dramatic painting—by John Martin, perhaps—forms in my mind: The Gates of Literature Open to China Miéville. [As an aside, both the ISFDB & @sfencyclopedia.bsky.social, less interested in policing literary borders, contain entries on Bolaño & Cărtărescu.] www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...

Screen snippet from a (positive) review of China Miéville's The Rouse, by Stuart Kelly in The Guardian. The highlighted text reads as follows: 'It means that rather than classifying Miéville with "the new weird" or "speculative fantasy", he ought to be compared to Roberto Bolaño or Mircea Cărtărescu.'

240

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I am doomed! I have just stumbled across a gargantuan rabbit-hole, created and curated by wargaluk.com (who sounds so suspiciously like me that I wonder if my sleeping self is managing to get through all the books that my waking self has no time to read...) figcat.com/categories/l...

figcat.com

Literature category

All the lists filed under the Literature category.

010

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

kuzhali manickavel/குழலி மாணிக்கவேல் @kuzhalimanickavel.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

it's the day guys! my novel is finally out in the world whaaaat WHAAAAT- thank you to everyone who helped bring it to life. i will now celebrate with my favourite koothu song ever. then i will eat some cake. then i will watch a horror movie. it's a good day friends www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQuA...

youtube.com

YouTube video by Ayngaran Music

3176

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Jonathan Gibbs @jonathangibbs.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I’m continuing A Personal Anthology but also thinking about a similar but different project around the novella. So if novellas (novellae?) are your thing, or if you even have strong thoughts about them, and if you have a favourite novella, then do let me know!

3196

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Good cover image for any book about higher ed these days.

072

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

It's always a good time to remember the fundamental things of life...

010

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Dr Sam Hirst @romgothsam.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Engaging with an existing trope or plot pattern, isn't about simplicity or robot formulas. It's rather about an acknowledgement of the history of your field, a constant intertextual conversation with (or against) the meanings that have built up around certain tropes.

117923

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Small Robots @smolrobots.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

JRR Tolkien: You paint that picture of the key scene from the Two Towers where Frodo and Sam fight Gollum? Donato Giancola: Sure did, Ron, real fuckin' sexy just like you asked. JRRT: What.

5486232711

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Book & reader exist in contexts that change both, so there is always some fresh insight or nuance or even revelation from re-reading. Sometimes you think you are revisiting an old friend, but find yourself confronted by a stranger; or the reverse. New books become part of an ongoing conversation.

110

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Just got an email from a former student who took my class a decade ago, asking me for the reading list because she enjoyed the course so much and wants to revisit the texts. And she *apologized* for making the request. Are you kidding me?

static.klipy.com

Sad Old Man Crying

ALT: Sad Old Man Crying

1226410335

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Swan River Press @swanriverpress.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

0216

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

kuzhali manickavel/குழலி மாணிக்கவேல் @kuzhalimanickavel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

for fun i thought i'd do one of the hobart interviews i don't think i did very well tho. is it stealing to do this? probably, right? Social media you most use bluesky Sally Rooney or Ottessa Moshfegh i don’t know who they are. i feel i shouldn't admit this. Literary website you regularly read lol

142

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

hookland.bsky.social @hookland.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

A constant recommendation.

J is for …
Jansson
One of my favourite imagined places to inhabit as unhappy
child was Moominvalley. I am still an unofficial ambassador
for it, telling young writers I mentor that they will struggle
to find a better constructed fictional world. I push those
writers into reading Tove Jansson because she makes
words dance, because she makes locations shimmer with
a sense of nature holding within it the not-quite-real that
may manifest at any moment. I push because she is one
of the finest storytellers, because her imagination still
pushes me. I hope that is all in Hookland, as no book ever
taught me more about the power of dark absence in a text
than Moominvalley In November. While the Moomins may
sometimes overshadow Jansson’s stunning lines as illus
trator, the sheer fairytale menace of her early paintings,
they cannot obscure her power to create spaces where the
mind may walk in hope of wonder

723444

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Happy National Public #Libraries Open Day! As well as being full of books (the highest praise I can think of), libraries are one of the few services left that are genuinely open to all. Which makes them pretty radical, really. Join the biblioresistance! www.librariesireland.ie/national-pub...

librariesireland.ie

National Public Libraries Open Day

Check out your local library on Saturday, September 26th and ‘Take a Closer Look’ at what's on offer.

000

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Karl Bell @karlbell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It is World Maritime Day, so here's a timely reminder of The Perilous Deep: A Supernatural History of the Atlantic @reaktionbooks.bsky.social 'Bell ... brings exemplary scholarship as well as storytelling flair to the lightless depths of the “supernatural and monstrous Atlantic”.

03312

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Jonathan Gibbs @jonathangibbs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Tomorrow it's Friday, and there's a new Personal Anthology incoming. This week's guest editor, picking and introducing a dozen favourite short stories, is author, salonist and generous supporter of all kinds of literary endeavour @davidcollard.bsky.social. Details & sign-up below. RTs appreciated!

apersonalanthology.substack.com

About - A Personal Anthology

A weekly guest-editor picks and introduces a personal anthology of twelve favourite short stories. Click to read A Personal Anthology, by Jonathan Gibbs, a Substack publication with thousands of subsc...

191

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Perfused With Signs / Paradoxographorum Reliquiae @perfusedwithsigns.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Picked up these classics yesterday in Khan's bookshop in Kilkenny. Normally a happy occasion to fill some gaps on the shelves at bargain prices, but this was a closing-down sale, with Khan driven out of business by rising costs, particularly electricity. Who needs books when we've got data centres?

A stack of six books lying flat, showing the spines. From top to bottom: The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester; The Seven Dials Mystery, by Agatha Christie; The Glimpses of the Moon, by Edmund Crispin; Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, by Philip K. Dick; The Three Stigmata of Palme Eldritch, by Philip K. Dick; and Northwest of Earth, by C.L. Moore.

031

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Jonathan Gibbs @jonathangibbs.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Great to see M. John Harrison on the Booker shortlist. We were honoured to have him contribute to A Personal Anthology, picking and introducing a dozen favourite short stories, with some writers you'll expect, some you won't and some you just love to see: apersonalanthology.com/category/m-j...

apersonalanthology.com

M John Harrison (as editor) – A Personal Anthology

M. John Harrison was born in 1945. He published his first story in 1966 and his first novel, The Committed Men, in 1968. Climbers won the Boardman Tasker prize for Mountain Literature in 1989. His …

13910

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Congratulations! Somerthing to look forward to as the nights get longer. 🍾👏

011

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Like Machen, his work evokes the same sense of landscape and place as something living and sacral, where past co-exists with present. I might just risk ordering a physical book from Tartarus based on your experience - it would sit nicely alongside the Swan River volumes!

120

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Yes! We are gradually building up a solid library of his fiction & essays. Valentine's is a world into which it is very easy to become drawn. If it weren't for the ghastly, lingering curse that is Brexit, a lot more of our collection would be sitting on the shelves rather than residing in e-readers.

140

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The apples on our trees are ready for picking (how TF did it get to be Autumn already?), &—since an exclusive diet of apple crumble is for some reason considered unviable—I've been investigating savoury dishes that use them. Happily, many of the recipes seem to include cheese, sausages, or both. 🍎🧀♥️

010

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Great quote from @portersqbooks.bsky.social's Josh Cook (the Libromancer): "If you aren’t acknowledging those systemic attacks on literary culture, it’s hard for me to muster any enthusiasm for your arguments about apps and young people."

0103

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Dr Susan Maxwell @muinbeoarchives.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

And a very good course it is, too; shining well-informed lights into (to me, at least) unfamiliar corners to see what darts out. And lots of additional material. Just what your October needs...

165

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Dave Rudden's off to Fantasycon! @daveruddenwrites.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

An occupational hazard of research is finding details that inspire new books. Like finding out the Dublin franchise roll (1468 - 1512) records female apprentice armourers, butchers, justices, tanners and vintners. Does Sister Wake need a sidequel about a female armourer in a world of Celtic-kaiju?

static.klipy.com

Martin Starr as Bohdi: It's A Very Strong Maybe

ALT: Martin Starr as Bohdi: It's A Very Strong Maybe

091

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

British Association for Modernist Studies (BAMS) @modernistudies.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

We're delighted to share #TheModernistReview63, the first of two special issues dedicated to this year's MSA & BAMS Weird Modernisms conference. This issue includes a selection of reports and interviews reflecting on the conference's programming: modernistreviewcouk.wordpress.com/2026/08/28/t...

modernistreviewcouk.wordpress.com

The Modernist Review Issue #63: Weird Modernisms Special Issue Part 1

28 August 2026 For the first part of our special issue celebrating the joint British Association for Modernist Studies and the Modernist Studies Association conference Weird Modernisms (1-4 July 20…

1157

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Dr Tiffani Angus @tiffaniangus.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Plus, people seem to forget that there were groups in history that fought against this sort of thinking. Abolitionists, anyone? Yes, some were still racist, but many *weren't*. Were they not "people of their time"? So why do we give historical racists a free pass? Populations don't all think alike.

2267

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Chapters Bookstore, Parnell St, D1 @chaptersbookstore.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Godot may never arrive, but this copy certainly travelled. A Canadian 1969 edition of Beckett’s En attendant Godot, via Shakespeare and Company at Kilomètre Zéro in Paris, has made its way to Chapters in Dublin. Canada to Paris to Ireland. Now in Secondhand. Do not wait indefinitely!

A 1969 Canadian Macmillan edition of Samuel Beckett’s En attendant Godot standing among vintage books. Its cream cover features a stylised orange figure in a bowler hat, a yellow sun and flowers.

Close-up of the title page of Samuel Beckett’s En attendant Godot, bearing a faded circular Shakespeare and Company, Kilomètre Zéro, Paris bookshop stamp.

172

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

David Thomas MooahahahAHAHA! @dtmooreeditor.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

"hello, i'm calling from Acme Family Law Services, has your boyfriend ignored you to look at a hot blonde girl in the street?"

1312

Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés @bibliorefuses.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

My sincere apologies for any confusion, @theirishaesthete.bsky.social. I was responding to the original post looking for information on the 'big house' near the Slieve Blooms inhabited by the Ashbury family, mentioned by Sebald in the book; you sprang to mind as a likely authority in such matters.

010

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Today is #InternationalOwlAwarenessDay. Here's "Two Owls", a 1921 print by Dutch artist Julie de Graag. Buy as a print here: publicdomainreview.org/product/two-… And more on the good work of owl conservation here: www.owls.org

010721

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

Blaft Publications @blaft.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Call for subs!

6138113

Reposted by Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés

🕸️👻 Dr Evilyn K🎃ch 👻🕸️ @evelynkoch.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

My timeline might be pleased to know that there's now a statue of Sylvia Townsend Warner on Dorchester's high street.

A statue of Sylvia Townsend Warner. The statue sits on a bench holding a book and papers in her hand. There are more books near her feet. Part of the statue is a cat canoodling with the writer's legs and feet.

25215