iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

#WIPSnips Sept 30: I love the pragmatism of Rhiann's runecraft, and the guard-runes are one of my favorite bits of that.

The variety in the terrain meant their travel had no opportunity to become rote. They ended some nights at posting-inns, others camping in fields or forest, and the terrain they crossed by day could change from hour to hour as they forged their way out of the heights of the Auquine Mountains and into lower hills. When they stopped, Rhiann occupied herself with the sorts of tasks that were the earliest runecraft in her memory: purifying water, preserving meat, setting guard-runes around the camp, creating charms to keep vermin away from bedrolls and rations alike. Strange to be doing them on behalf of Requini, but the actions themselves were as regular as breathing.

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K.B. Spangler @kbspangler.com · 4h

I would watch every single one of their ads, too, and not toss their Act Blue texts right into spam.

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The Shire-Reckoning @shire-reckoning.bsky.social · 18h

‘All that is gold does not glitter Not all those who wander are lost The old that is strong does not wither Deep roots are not reached by the frost…’ Strider knows the rhyme from Gandalf’s letter! ‘I am Aragorn son of Arathorn and if by life or death I can save you, I will.’

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 19h

This is exactly where I operate. Most of the time when I block someone, it's not that they've made me that mad, it's just that their arguments are just so goddamn boring that I am unwilling to spend another millisecond of my precious life entertaining them.

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David Avallone @davallone.bsky.social · 20h

If you haven’t figured this out yet, I have some bad news for you: the women in your life don’t trust you. If you believe you have never met a woman who’s had an abortion… same thing. You have. They just didn’t trust you.

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 21h

Hey everyone! This October I'm hosting #Conlangity, a game about fictional languages! The goal is to help total newbies craft a conlang that is realistic & usable! It will hopefully be accessible to non-linguist people, but it won't be for the faint of heart. Prepare for a challenge! MORE INFO👇🧵

Prompt list for #Conlangity, a game for building a fictional language! Hosted by @professoremily.bsky.social. Light yellow text printed in two columns over an orange background showing a faint photo of a large open dictionary.

1. CULTURE: Name & speakers of your language
2. SOUNDS: Basic sounds or units of speech
3. SOUNDS: Rare/never used sounds
4. SOUNDS: Rules of pronunciation, emphasis & tone
5. CULTURE: How did your language develop & what is it for?
6. VOCAB: greetings/farewells

7. GRAMMAR: Word order
8. GRAMMAR: Compound words, prefixes & suffixes
9. GRAMMAR: Noun modification (number, case, gender, articles)
10. VOCAB: Words/phrases about relationships

11. GRAMMAR: Pronouns
12. GRAMMAR: Descriptive words
13. VOCAB: Words/phrases about location and direction

14. GRAMMAR: Verbs
15. GRAMMAR: Verb conjugation & other variations
16. GRAMMAR: Verbals (infinitives, gerunds, participles)
17. VOCAB: Words/phrases about time

18. GRAMMAR: Prep-/Postpositions
19. GRAMMAR: Negations & Comparisons
20. VOCAB: Words for numbers

21. GRAMMAR: Subordinate Clauses
22. GRAMMAR: Asking questions, giving commands, speaking in hypotheticals
23. VOCAB: Words/phrases about food & drinks

24. GRAMMAR: Common abbreviations & mutations
25. VOCAB: Common slang, idioms, cursing
26. VOCAB: Words/phrases about animals and plants

27. VOCAB: Words or phrases that a tourist would need to know
28. CULTURE: A word with an interesting etymology
29. CULTURE: Writing system

30. VOCAB CHALLENGE: Translate song lyrics into your language
31. FREE DAY: Something that wasn’t covered/how you plan to use the language in your work?

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Melissa Caruso @melissacaruso.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Discoverability for new SFF books seems way down these days, especially outside of bestsellers and certain subgenres. I'm noticing this as both a reader and a writer. Great stuff is in danger of sinking without a trace. Please post about new/recent books you love or are excited for!!! I'll start:

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 29/09/2026

I'm an educator and a rhetorician and a creative laborer and I endorse the hell out of this!!!

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 29/09/2026

What makes matters worse is that the more money spent, the more expensive AI infrastructure becomes, meaning that hyperscalers have to raise more debt, which in turn becomes more expensive. AI data centers are an inflationary force unlike any in history. www.wheresyoured.at/dead-money/

And a little under a month later, NVIDIA would bump its prices by more than 15%, partly as a result of memory costs, and partly because it has the entire tech industry by the balls.

So, as more AI data center debt gets issued, said debt becomes more expensive, because the larger the amount of debt any one thing takes up, the more competition it faces, and the more risk an investor carries by holding it. Once the debt is issued, it immediately flows into buying GPUs and associated hardware, slowly growing the cost of memory and hardware, all while increasing the competition for the specialist labor and materials needed to build data centers, such as spiking the cost of Copper, increasing the cost of construction by billions in the process.

In other words, the more you buy, the more you lose. The more money you raise, the more money you need. The more money you need, the more expensive that money becomes. And once you spend that money, everything you spent it on becomes more expensive, including raising more money in the future.

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 29/09/2026

Something else this article overlooks is, uh... lots of us in the prime "dinner party" age range don't really have a home suitable for entertaining *in*. I love my apartment, but there's no room for a dinner table. Or much other seating, for that matter.

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Paul "Princejvstin" Weimer @princejvstin.com · 29/09/2026

Emily has become and embodied what she herself claims to fight against. An abuser.

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 29/09/2026

Today's mood: YT videos of Madam Leota's Swinging Wake on repeat in the background bc the track is still not available on streaming and I am sulky about that

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 28/09/2026

I really need small businesses that I love to stop using AI art because it is bumming me out to have to stop giving y'all money

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 28/09/2026

So, I got this poll, and it's one of those that I struggled to answer because I feel it's pretty poorly framed. I am wildly in favor of tech regulation! We haven't had meaningful tech legislation since the 1990s, and that's A PROBLEM. I frequently advocate for addressing that problem!

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Doctora Malka Older @older.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I appreciate that this is getting covered but I really, really, really don't think "infuriated lawmakers" is the key consequences of "revokes $810M approved by Congress for refugee aid and more"

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 28/09/2026

It is soooooooooooo telling that the dudes in this article are just looking for ways to evade being judged for their choices, including hiding their profession and outright lying about their reasons for pursuing it. They're not interested in doing the work to actually be people worth dating.

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 28/09/2026

I got in SUCH an argument with one of my grad school professors over this. Education has value far, far, far beyond how it affects your monetary earnings. (And this was, mind you, in a **Shakespeare studies** program, so, like...... limited direct vocational opportunities, there)

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VoteHub @votehub.com · 28/09/2026

NEWS — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear criticizes fellow Democrats who say transgender athletes should be barred from women’s sports. “That is not the party that we are. We start as a party of compassion and empathy.”

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 28/09/2026

Looking at how empty my October calendar is as I prep my bujo, and... this can't be right. I must be forgetting like eighteen things. I don't trust this.

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 28/09/2026

Ugggghhhh, five days after the equinox and already it feels like it's getting dark so early. I thought surely it was nearly 10pm. NOPE.

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Foz Meadows @fozmeadows.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Given that AI is ideologically and technologically driven by exploitation, entitlement, theft, plagiarism, sycophancy, narcissism, a refusal to accept consequences and a baseline level of hostility towards human rights, it should surprise nobody that this extends to the industry's treatment of women

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 27/09/2026

#WIPSnips Sept 27 (and actually works for today's #QueerWriters Sunday line share, too): Murderboner prologue!

Still, neither of them moved. Rhiann’s pulse yet raced with battle-fury, and she was sure Lycus’s was no less agitated. Both of them had chased this moment for so long, years of animosity and bloodshed and delayed retribution, rage and wrath pointed at each other—and to have it interrupted before the terminus, before either could make one final end of the other, was nearly unbearable.
“It’s true, Maera.” Osric’s voice rang out, steady as ever, clear and cutting in their own language. “Aylesburh is ours. Let him go.”
Lycus said, low enough that only she could hear, “Well, Tiger. It seems we can choose to die together now, or live to torment each other another day.”

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 27/09/2026

#SundaySnips Sept 27: This is a bit that's been reworked several times as the beginning of the manuscript has gotten adjusted, but I like these phrases so much that I've been determined to keep them.

As they approached the eastern gate, Lycus realized to his annoyance that he wasn’t just taking stock of his surroundings; he was looking for someone.
For her.
Maera Rhiann, the fierce and fascinating thorn in his side. She’d be here somewhere, and he had no doubt he’d see her sooner rather than later. Ever they fell into each others’ orbits, like the twin stars Belasa and Belisar, eternally turning around each other in the sky. No matter how close they dipped to the horizon, neither star ever fell beneath it, and while they moved apart at certain times of the year, always they returned to close proximity. So it had been with him and Rhiann, a connection too sharp to be serendipity.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The response when progressive policies that help millions of people are proposed... "How will you pay for it?" The response when the richest 1% ask for tax cuts, or banks ask for bailouts, or defense contractors ask for more contracts... "How much do you need?" It doesn't have to be this way.

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 27/09/2026

This. This right here. My friends and I, deeply weird and socially outcast and full of brainpower but no emotional regulation whatsoever, entertained fantasies of being Chosen Ones placed here to save the world. Reality asserted itself.

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 26/09/2026

Listening to @courtneymilan.com give a banger of a keynote speech at the @jamesriverwriters.bsky.social conference about the construction of narrative, the inherent fallacies of that process, and how those narrative fallacies shape our view of history and the present.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It seems to me that a solution to encouraging AI 'alignment' would be to hold AI companies and their executives legally liable - criminally, if relevant - for what their AI agents do.

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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A.I. and corporate lingo are dragging language ynto drugged realmes of vague, airy, plastic nothingnesse: glitz and hyperbole wythout meaning. Language must have fur and clawes, make the floorboardes creake and leave wet dirtye footprintes. Wordes are rayne and fyre and stone. Wielde them. Save us.

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The Shire-Reckoning @shire-reckoning.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

After dinner, Frodo reveals that he’s leaving the Shire. The others reveal a surprise of their own: they’ve known all along! And, they’re going with him. Frodo objects. But Sam knows a further secret: ‘Gildor said you should take them as was willing, and you can’t deny it.’

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Eric Smith @ericsmithrocks.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I think the most “adult who was in a gifted and talented program as a kid” thing I could have done to myself was become an author. Just giving myself endless homework and a need for people to be proud of me forever.

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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It's funny that for years now people have been saying that using generative AI very obviously deskills you, and people kept going no no you're wrong you Luddite And now all the genAI CEO's keep coming out in public to announce they forgot how to read and do math and can't remember their address etc

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 25/09/2026

#WIPSnips Sept 25: Given that I'm writing a political fantasy, this word gets quite a bit of play!

“But for all your self-aggrandizing, not everyone’s impressed with Requin’s sense of superiority. That Alencian creature certainly wasn’t.”

He shouldn’t have responded, and he knew it. But, still raw from Tashain’s insults and her barely-veiled threat, he gave in to the impulse to strike back. “Fine words from you, when your nation wasn’t capable of throwing us off without the dual boons presented by the Lijari to the south and the Coriolese to the north. The Lijari were chance, you got lucky there.” He would not have risked his next words had the sorceren still been standing by, but he dropped his voice, striding down the steps into the center of the room, closer to Rhiann. “But the Coriolese! How swiftly Tovira abandoned its determination to be a free-standing nation once Coriol decided to remember you existed.”

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 24/09/2026

AI has not made us better, more productive, more successful or grown the economy outside of GPU sales and data center construction. It has also made the price of every single device of every kind more expensive, depressed the housing market, and increased literally everybody’s cost of debt.

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 24/09/2026

Another scoop brought to me by an intrepid listener/reader...ezitron.76 on Signal if you would like to leak anything from the tech industry, product or revenue or finances wise, I am always listening.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

If we take that at face value the next step is for the UN to pass a resolution declaring the makers of AI to be hostis humani generis ("enemy of humanity"). That would be the predicate under international law to treat them like privates, creating universal jurisdiction to capture and punish them. 🤷‍♂️

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Jeremy C. Shipp @jeremycshipp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

As always, today is a great day to support artists, writers, creators of all sorts. If you have the means, buy a book, sign up for someone's Patreon, commission an art piece. It's also a lovely day to leave a nice comment, post a short review, spread the word about someone's work. Everything helps.

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Nome @nome.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

My first choice is "zero billionaires," but if I can't have that I'll take "billionaires with night terrors of guillotines trying to buy off the public."

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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I’m afraid they get advantage to see us, but given they seem to have disadvantage the rest of the year I am willing to hold my peace.

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 22/09/2026

::sighs in Shakespearean scholar::

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The Shire-Reckoning @shire-reckoning.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Frodo celebrates his 50th birthday, and his last night at Bag End, with a dinner for the young hobbits who have been helping him move: Fredegar Bolger, Folco Boffin, Pippin Took, and Merry Brandybuck. But there’s no sign of Gandalf. For the first time, the Grey Wizard is late.

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Guy Gavriel Kay @guygavrielkay.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Have been thinking a LOT about this outright theft. Context is news scraping but AI has stolen from so many authors, too. And in Anthropic suit writers are now jumping through hoops to get 50% (less legal %!) of what *might* be $3000 a title. For AI it is a pittance. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

arstechnica.com

Microsoft exec called AI scraping the “largest theft of labor in human history”

Microsoft, OpenAI emails reveal fear of AI “doom loop” killing news orgs.

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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

These AI guys want to have the prestige of being knowledgeable or capable without the work. Whether it’s fake art, pretending to be a novelist, coding, whatever. The reason they frame it as a democratizing force is that they think it’s unfair that we don’t praise them for existing as much.

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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Artificial Intelligence and Creative Writing: A Policy of Sorts. I've posted versions before, but I update this each term following conversations with students. Here's my Fall '26 edition. In no way definitive! Learning as I go.

ABBREVIATED FOR ALT TEXT
This is a course for those interested in writing not as means to an end but as an end in itself. Recently... I read a story in New York magazine titled, “Everyone is Cheating Their Way Through College,” by James D. Walsh....
I didn’t think AI would be a temptation for creative writing students. “Everyone is Cheating Their Way Through College” persuaded me that for many students of all sorts it’s not a temptation but a condition. You sleep in a bed, you wear clothes, you don’t scream at teachers. Just the way it is. Maybe AI is becoming that, too, part of “just the way it is.” Maybe it is that already.
My mind raced through ideas about how to “beat” AI. The article dismantled them. Then I thought, “That’s not my job.” I’m a writer and a teacher. I’m not a cop. If you want to work with me on writing, we can do that. If you want to cheat, you have the ability to do that, too, and the truth is, I probably can’t stop you.... Per Dartmouth’s policy: “Students may not use GenAI tools for submitted coursework unless expressly permitted.” I do not permit it....
I’m interested in working with students for whom writing feels, somehow, good. Even if sometimes it’s painful. Who seek that feeling anyway. A feeling of being, of alertness. Of purpose; of intention. Of practice.
This is a course for those who are interested in using writing to experience some variation of this feeling. Sometimes it comes in a moment of clarity, sometimes in the making of a lyrical juxtaposition. There are so many more emotional, intellectual, and spiritual possibilities that arise from the act of shaping language... There is no paycheck, or even a finished book held in hand for the first time, that has ever brought me as much complicated pleasure as the arrangement of words. Maybe you’re like this, too. Or maybe you want to be. If so, I designed this course with someone like you in mind.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The thing about actual Roman damnationes memoriarum is that they didn't really obliterate all memory of a bad emperor. None of our sources are afraid to talk about these figures. It wasn't truly about forgetting the guy, but about abolishing his (positive) public commemoration.

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Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 20/09/2026

After three years of trying, I FINALLY got “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind!!! On my BIRTHDAY!!! I am so pumped!!! This is an omen. 41’s gonna be a good year.

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