iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Photo by Bru--he's having a good day today! #dementia #alzheimers

Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Happy birthday to UNEQUAL TEMPERAMENT, launched into the world two years ago today! To celebrate, I'm giving away a few copies--DM if you're interested. #unequaltemperament #bookbirthday #americanbuffalobooks #debutnovel #harpsichord #meteorology #WomensFiction @buffalo-books.bsky.social

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I once heard someone reading a script pronounce Des Moines dez moynez.

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

My story, which happens to be the first I ever wrote (first draft over 45 years ago!), features a 12-year-old girl having a nervous breakdown.

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

My story "Reunion Fragments" is in the most recent issue of SHIFT. SHIFTing Supernatural: The Spooky, the Spectacular, and the Somewhat Strange. Some horror and madness, a bit of melancholy, and a touch of whimsy. Digital copies available for $5 through www.mtsu.edu/write.

Spooky gray landscape with dark birds flying over the word SHIFT.

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Jesse Lee Kercheval @jesselkercheval.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

isthmus.com/events/jesse...

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Anything Is Possible, by #elizabethstrout. Stories inked and interlinked with one another and Strout's other work. This world: small Midwest town with cliques and social striving and dysfunction and community. Connections between siblings especially moving. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ #imreading

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Out this week from #MiamiUniversityPress by @terrilewis1.bsky.social: A quiet story of courage in the face of psychic wounds, told with such compassion and understanding you share in both the tragedy and the triumph. Loved it. Review at: cherylwalsh.net/blog #WorldWarI #novella #whentheycamehome

Cover of Terri Lewis's novella When They Came Home, head and shoulders of a faceless man is sepia tones, with a woman's face almost imperceptibly superimposed on the left.

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

There's fun to be had at the Shelter House book sale! 860 Quarry Rd, Coralville IA. Open tomorrow, too, 10:30 AM to 4 PM. Good books for a good cause. #shelterhousebooksale #iowacity #coralville

Stack of books: The Master Butchers Singing Club, by Louise Erdrich; Jewel, by Bret Lott; Anything Is Possible, by Elizabeth Strout; Foreign Bodies, by Cynthia Ozick; How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn; The Ninth Hour, by Alice McDermott; The Owl Killers, by Karen Maitland; Waiting for the Barbarians, by J.M. Coetzee, When the Emperor Was Divine, by Otsuka; To Live, by Yu Hua; The final Solution, by Michael Chabon; People in Glass Houses, by Shirley Hazzard; Elegy, by Mary Jo Bang

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Just finished reading Matthiessen's Killing Mister Watson (1990). Really immersive American frontier story, set in southwest Florida around 1900. Great historical fiction written by someone with deep curiosity about history, the natural world, and the human condition. #bookrecommendation

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Twenty years ago today! Older, wiser, but still recognizable. #weddinganniversary #happyanniversary #20Years

Cheryl and Bru on their wedding day, head and shoulders of them in front of a stained glass window.

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Chin-Sun Lee @scribblepost.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

so thrilled my new novel, SOON YOU’LL BE JUST LIKE US, has found a home with Creature Publishing!🩸i spilled my guts all over this weird, dark tale of psychological horror that while writing led me to truly unexpected places. i hope readers will likewise feel a delicious gasp of surprise.

red envelope against a black background announcing a new book deal for SOON YOU’LL BE JUST LIKE US by chin-sun lee

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Yes, gentle because it's about growing old in a community that cares about and supports one another. Growing old alone and isolated provokes much more anxiety!

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Jenny Wong @jenwithwords.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Okay, so this made my day today! A huge thank you to @immcarvalho.bsky.social for including me in her list of favorite poets on BlueSky and X and featuring one of my poetry films! So thrilled!!! Check out the other fabulous writers who made Maria’s list and read their work here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Really enjoyed this novel, absorbing account of the Illinois mine wars pieced together by a 1980s punk with a demon of her own to exorcise. Historical fiction of the best kind, grounded in deep research and curiosity with a compelling personal story. #americanbuffalobooks #prairieashes #bennadler

Cover of the novel Prairie Ashes, by Ben Nadler

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

From Alison C. Rollins's poem "All the World Began With a Yes": "Morality flexes its musculature, trusts // that truth sets out to penetrate mysteries / only for man to rebuild them with fury." #favoritelinefridays #alisoncrollins #libraryofsmallcatastrophes @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social #poetry

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Review of Stewart O'Nan's novel Evensong, which launched last month. Good for those on your holiday list who might like stories about the challenges of aging, feisty older women, or Pittsburgh. www.cherylwalsh.net/blog #stewartonan #evensong #AtlanticMonthlyPress #aging #pittsburgh

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Kent Priore @kentpriore.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

I’m happy to announce that you can now find THE MONSTERS AMONG US on shelves at two excellent bookstores in New Paltz, NY: Inquiring Minds and Barner Books!

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

A favorite line from Barbara Kingsolver's novel *The Poisonwood Bible*: "Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization." #favoritelinefridays #barbarakingsolver #thepoisonwoodbible #womenwriters #postcolonialliterature

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Kaz Cooke @kazcooke.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

For those who will bear witness. For everyone who pretends there was benevolence from 'employers' & governments, and no slavery in Australia; who believes Tony Abbott's version of history. Debra Dank writes with beauty and anger of the truth we cannot dodge. theconversation.com/friday-essay...

theconversation.com

Friday essay: Debra Dank’s grandmother was a ‘drover’s boy’. Her stolen wages can’t be recovered

Stella Prize shortlisted author Debra Dank reflects on how her family’s lives were scarred by stolen wages and colonial violence – and on the complexities of apologies.

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

New blog post--review of a new book out this week: Lorissa Rinehart's biography of Jeannette Rankin. Someone I've always been curious about, and the book is a pleasure to read--there's lots about Progressivism, woman suffrage, and 20th-century American politics. www.cherylwalsh.net/blog

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

A favorite line from @jenniferfawcett.bsky.social's brand new book, *Keep This for Me*: "When did all their tiny movements get so layered with meaning? It was exhausting." #favoritelinefridays #keepthisforme #thrillerbooks @atriabooks.bsky.social

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

New blog post up today, a review of @jenniferfawcett.bsky.social's new thriller, #KeepThisForMe --out this week. As a child of the Great Lakes, I was totally into the Lake Ontario beach town setting. www.cherylwalsh.net/blog #bookreviews #thrillerbooks @atriabooks.bsky.social

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Kent Priore @kentpriore.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Come check out booth #223 at the Brooklyn Book Festival!

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Favorite lines from T. S. Eliot's poem "East Coker": "Do not let me hear / Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly, / Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession, / Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God." #tseliot #eastcoker #favoritelinefridays #poetry

Black and white photo of two pairs of clasped hands, wrinkled and gnarled, next to each other from across a table, not touching.

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Matthew Freeman, Poet @freemanpoet.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

I'm sort of pinching myself here. I got a book signing in November at Barnes and Noble. SO very excited! Dopamine and the Devil, out now with Coffeetown Press. Thanks always to my wonderful friends!

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Happy birthday to UNEQUAL TEMPERAMENT, launched into the world two years ago today! To celebrate, I'm giving away a few copies--DM if you're interested. #unequaltemperament #bookbirthday #debutnovel #harpsichord #meteorology #WomensFiction @buffalo-books.bsky.social

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

A favorite line from Jim Harrison's wonderful novel *Returning to Earth*: "I awoke delighted with life on earth despite its desperately compromised nature." #jimharrison #favoritelinefridays

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Today I made guacamole with garlic chive blossoms and it was fantastic! #backyardherbs #guacamole

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

A favorite line from Linda Pastan's poem "Cosmology": "Someone has spilled the moon / all over the trees." #favoritelinefridays #LindaPastan #poetry @wwnorton.com

Photo of pine trees against a dark sky with the tips illuminated by moonlight.

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Oh, they are! However, when you cook them the purple speckles disappear and they just look like wax beans, though they are flatter than the typical wax bean, more like a runner bean in shape. Very tasty, though!

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Dragon tongue! I don't grow green beans because I can't see them to harvest. So I grow purple or speckled beans instead. Dragon tongue is a very tasty variety. Stringless, bush habit. #gardenbounty

large metal bowl full of dragon tongue beans: purple speckled wax beans.

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

I just learned that an old and dear friend of Bru's, the best man/emcee at our wedding, Neil Hornick, passed away last spring. Such regret that we have been so out of touch that I didn't know until now. We cherish his memory. Long live the Phantom Captain! www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/a...

Neil Hornick as the Phantom Captain, holding the book "The Best Man's Duties," with Bruce Hart, the groom.

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

This line from Anne Enright's novel *The Wren, the Wren* made me laugh out loud: "I never tell my mother anything. I am not that stupid." #favoritelinefridays #anneenright #thewrenthewren

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Thank you, @patricklatour.ca. For reading and for letting me know it touched you. And I agree that life is better with a grain of silver. We have silver all around us on our walls--deep joy!

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

First new blogpost in a while: Welcome to the Darkroom. www.cherylwalsh.net/blog #filmphotography #darkroom #cognitivedecline #grief Photo of John Pochee and Bernie McGann © Bruce Hart. All rights reserved.

John Pochee playing drums and Bernie McGann wiping his forehead during a performance at a jazz club.

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Aaron Burch @aaronburch.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

I've got 3 extra copies of YEAR OF THE BUFFALO, would love them to be in the hands of a reader rather than in my way on my desk. hmu and I'll send you one.

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

A favorite line (of many) from Charlotte Wood's novel *Stone Yard Devotional*: "The subtlety of the lilting chant belies the blunt instrument of the words themselves." #favoritelinefridays #charlottewood #stoneyarddevotional #booksky @riverheadbooks.bsky.social

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

If you don't have time to get to your local independent bookstore this week, Bookshop has free shipping through July 12. Check out my five-star recommendations. bookshop.org/lists/cheryl...

bookshop.org

Cheryl's Five-Star Reviews

I often review books on Goodreads, and I'm working on gathering all my five-star reviews here. This list is always growing!

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Cheryl Walsh @cherylwalsh.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Another five-star review. #StoneYardDevotional is an intriguing exploration of grief, spirituality, and forgiveness during a time of isolation and covid lockdowns in Australia. What does is take to be a good person in times of environmental and personal crisis? #charlottewood #yournextread #booksky

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Native American Rights Fund @nativerights.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Did you know 85 percent of Western voters support creating new national parks, national monuments, and national wildlife refuges and Tribally protected areas for historic sites or areas of outdoor recreation? Learn more: buff.ly/N83RiEc

coloradocollege.edu

2024 Poll Results - Colorado College

Indian Peaks Sunset, Colorado

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Annette Gordon-Reed @agordonreed.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Happy July 4th— the first year I’ve thought more about the list of grievances than the famous opening paragraphs. But both parts are essential.

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