iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

It is 5:35 in the morning and two of my cats are doing their very best impression of an entire herd of galloping horses.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Important: My 7-year-old still calls root beer "root beard"

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

My 11-yr-old was looking at something on my phone when my husband texted me. My son saw the text & turned to me to ask, "Did Dad just say 'lol'?? You two are too old to use kid-slang!" He was shocked to learn that "lol" predates even his big brother (my son thinks my stepson, at 20, is a Real Adult)

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I just finished this game and it was so good and so fun, fast-paced and exciting and at times touching, definitely recommend!

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Horror Makes Us Happy @horrormakesushappy.com · 19/07/2026

Tonight at 7:30pm Eastern we'll be chatting live with @cj-dotson.bsky.social (The Cut, These Familiar Walls) over on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@HorrorMakes... Come say hi! #horror #psychology #podcasts

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Solaris Books @solarisbooks.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

🐑🏡This house isn't haunted. She is.🏡🐑 @rhiannonagrist.bsky.social 's HOME SICK hits shelves next week! Here's why @cj-dotson.bsky.social @unheimlichmanvr.bsky.social Johanna Van Veen, @rainewilson.bsky.social and @mkhardywrites.com think you should pick it up... Preorder: geni.us/homesick

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C.J. Subko @cjsubko.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

KNIGHT & THE MOTH x GODKILLER x Renn "Italy" Dante, witchkiller with baggage, has one chance to cure his soulrot--team up with witch Drina, kill 7 angels, slay the evil gods who oppress the kingdom. The final spell will make him immortal. But he didn't count on falling in love. #A #F #EF #QueerPit

[[a postcard with bloody marks on it that says be my beautiful enemy, from dante to drina. the second postcard has a picture of two stone angels embracing. the background is a medieval Italian city in black and white]]

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Leon T. @leont.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

OMELASxCAPTIVE PRINCE 🗡️ A prince-turned-mercenary seeking revenge 🥀 A rogue saint with no allies 💫 Sentient magic that can remake reality 🐯 An emotional support giant cat 💓 The enemy of my enemy is... also my enemy? #QueerPit #F #FR #A

A moodboard of several images in gold and warm colours. A hand gripping another's arm by the wrist, streaks of gold on white, a distorted image of a round stained-glass window, torn old paper, hands reaching for the moon, chipping discoloured paint on wood, ornate, gilded details on a painted ceiling, a marble statue with a white line across the eyes. Text at the bottom says: "I'll eat the world whole."

A moodboard of several images in shades of gold and dark blue. In the middle, a hand reaching for a crescent moon; beneath it, a set of ornate blades; a female lion sprawled in the sand; the tied hands of a marble statue; a golden gate opening to a starry sky; the sea at sunrise; the naked back of a light-skinned person streaked with gold. Text at the bottom says, “I won’t stop until you’re gone.”

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Ginger Coffee Creams of Horror @gnofhorror.com · 22/05/2026

The haunted house is not the point. C.J. Dotson's THESE FAMILIAR WALLS is a dual-timeline suburban horror novel that treats the haunted house not as a setting but as a method. Generational trauma, economic precarity, and a protagonist who refuses to look in mirrors

gnofhorror.com

These Familiar Walls Review: C.J. Dotson’s Suburban Horror Burns Super Bright - The Ginger Nuts Of Horror Review Website

These Familiar Walls Review, C.J. Dotson is a dual-timeline suburban horror novel that reworks the haunted house through childhood trauma and buried secrets

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Atomic Geekdom @atomicgeekdom.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

“C.J. Dotson crafts an eerie, tense, mysterious haunted house story that I had trouble putting down when it was time to be a responsible adult and get some sleep.” @theaceofknaves.bsky.social reviews the new exciting horror novel by @cj-dotson.bsky.social on the site now!

atomicgeekdom.com

BOOK REVIEW/ "These Familiar Walls" by C.J. Dotson

In her sophomore novel, These Familiar Walls , C.J. Dotson crafts an eerie, tense, mysterious haunted house story that I had trouble putting down when it was time to be a responsible adult and get so...

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

THESE FAMILIAR WALLS is out now!!!

A shadow-black ghost holding a candle and a copy of THESE FAMILIAR WALLS

In 1998, desperate loneliness pushes preteen Amber to ignore the misgivings of her family, particularly her younger sister, when she befriends the troubled new kid in the neighborhood—a boy with dead eyes, a fascination with fire, and no remorse. Their turbulent relationship is brief but creates lasting consequences.

Twenty-two years later, in 2020, he resurfaces to kill Amber’s parents, and is in turn betrayed by his accomplice and killed in Amber's childhood home.

After the deaths, Amber inherits the house and, in an effort to save money, moves in with her husband and two children, hoping to reclaim some sense of stability in the grief and chaos surrounding her. Instead, she finds that the familiar walls are haunted by more than just bitter memories and lockdown stress. She shifts in and out of dreamlike trances, her reflection won’t meet her gaze, and a menacing voice whispers to her from the gathering shadows. Although she tried to brush off the strange happenings as stress-fueled hallucinations, Amber is soon forced to admit that something much more real—and more dangerous—haunts her family. But
Amber has deadly secrets of her own,
and she must resolve these long-
buried truths or lose the life she’s
contrived for herself.

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Rhiannon Grist | HOME SICK out now! 🪓🐑 @rhiannonagrist.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Thanks again to @mkhardywrites.com for this fantastic blurb. I'm not sure what I love more: "domestic horror of the nastiest order" or "unreliable narrator you can't help but root for". Check out their gothic novel THE NEEDFIRE or preorder their gilded-age horror THE HAUNTING OF AVIS LOVELOCK!

A graphic showing the cover for HOME SICK against a moddy grey mist forest background. Next to the book is a quote from the authors MK Hardy saying "A claustrophobic domestic horror of the nastiest order with an unreliable narrator you can't help but root for."

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Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

When Amber returns to her childhood home after a tragedy, she soon has to admit that the menacing voice she hears is more than just grief. Enjoy an excerpt from C.J. Dotson's (@cj-dotson.bsky.social) These Familiar Walls, coming from St. Martin’s Press on 4/14! reactormag.com/excerpts-the...

reactormag.com

Read an Excerpt From These Familiar Walls by C.J. Dotson - Reactor

Preteen Amber ignores her family's misgivings when she befriends the troubled new kid in the neighborhood…

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Wolfe & Kron Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🚫🧊 @wolfeandkronbooks.com · 30/03/2026

Wednesday April 8th at 6pm JOIN US! ...if you dare... for CJ Dotson's Haunted Murder Masquerade! Nothing is certain, except someone is dead ...and it might be you... www.exploretock.com/portaasburyp... @cj-dotson.bsky.social #murderparty #horrornovel

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

I just went to get my 7-year-old up to get ready for school and the first thing my darling child did was growl, "How dare you waken me??"

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Walking in from my daughter's bus I realized that I'm enjoying the breeze on my face for the first time in months, spring really is on its way!

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

My husband and I become concerned when we don't know where our 7-yr-old's baby doll is.

The kind of baby doll with a soft stuffed body and hard plastic head and limbs, sans doll clothes, with chunks of play-doh that's been all mixed together into a dark, grayish color stuck onto the doll's lips, cheeks, eyelids, knees, fingertips, toes, and all about its head and face, on an unsettling manner, laying on a floral bedsheet

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I hope you're having a less panicked-shouting type of morning than I am here, where A SPIDER dropped from the ceiling ONTO MY FOREHEAD and then fell BETWEEN MY GLASSES AND MY EYEBALL and down my face onto my blanket which I have now thrown across the room. Anybody got a flamethrower I could borrow?

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Solaris Books @solarisbooks.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

🐑🏡This house isn't haunted. She is.🏡🐑 Thank you to @cj-dotson.bsky.social @unheimlichmanvr.bsky.social Johanna Van Veen, @rainewilson.bsky.social and @mkhardywrites.com for these wonderful endorsements of HOME SICK by @rhiannonagrist.bsky.social! Available to preorder now: geni.us/homesick

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Nicholas Binge @bingewriting.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Well, it's out about in the world now, it seems! Check out the US cover for the next big novel, EXHUMATION, out October 2026.

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Raf ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ @rtorrubia.com · 22/02/2026

Really looking forward to chatting all things Shipwright and Shroudweaver with @dunfermlinereads.bsky.social this Thursday 26th at 7:30pm on Instagram live. Come say hello!

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John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Some safety tips for the big storm! Be safe, everybody.

IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST WINTER STORM, REMEMBER FOUR TIPS:
1. FILL UP YOUR TUB AND/OR POTS WITH WATER FOR YOUR TOILET.
2. DO NOT USE PROPANE HEATERS INDOORS. THE FUMES KILL.
3. EVERYONE STAYING IN ONE ROOM CONSOLIDATES WARMTH.
4. THE NORWEGIAN CAMP DIDN'T DESTROY ITSELF. ONE OF YOU IS THE THING.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Update, they're also being uncommonly nice to me so they definitely have something up their collective sleeve.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

My children usually get along well, but they're being WAY too nice to each other and I'm not sure which of them is up to what...but SOMETHING is wrong here...

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MK Hardy @mkhardywrites.com · 20/02/2026

when you don't have to pay for the spooks

A screenshot of a spell checker suggesting a change from 'heebie-jeebies' to 'freebie-jeebies'.

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Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer @left-sharkey.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

*bangs clipboard* TEETH TEETH TEETH

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

My youngest can officially reach the bottom shelf of the cupboards without having to stand on anything. Her reign of terror is growing.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

My children are in the living room LOUDLY vying for our dog's attention, because both of them want to be the one showing off their "karate moves" (flailing) to Cooper who, being a dog, has very little interest in pretend martial arts.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

If you're trying to get out of a grocery store in a hurry and you see me waiting in a checkout line, pick any lane but mine. Trust in my ability to always pick the slowest line regardless of how long it appears, and pick any lane but mine.

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Emma Osborne 🍉 @redscribe.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Hell yes, my debut novella GRIEF EATER is now live on Barnes and Noble for pre-orders! I would greatly appreciate any help in spreading the word. Thank you! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grief-eate... @interstellarflight.bsky.social

barnesandnoble.com

Grief Eater|eBook

Visceral, gritty, and unforgiving, GRIEF EATER is a zombie story like you've never read before. When Kristina rises from her violent death, she's not the same fragile woman her family once abandoned. ...

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

I am done being a person. I want to be something else for a while. Open to suggestions just something cozy with absolutely 0 responsibilities or problems or horrors.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

i have being-an-author impostor syndrome all the time, but i have way more being-an-adult impostor syndrome. wdym i'm gonna be 40 this year? impossible. i'm too dysfunctional and ridiculous to be middle aged!

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C. L. Polk @clpolk.com · 07/02/2026

I don't know what to tell you. You can't sit at a piano for the first time ever and play a sonata. You can't pick up a tennis racket for the first time and serve a 110MPH Ace. You have to fuck up. You have to be able to handle failing. You have to love it enough to not get it right and keep on.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

I want to make lunch but the cat sleeping on my lap just shifted, sighed, snored the tiniest of snores for about ten seconds, sighed again, and fell more deeply asleep so, alas, no lunch for me at this time.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

When I got up to use the restroom a moment ago my seven-year-old decided to keep my seat warm for me, which I know because when I got back and found her in my spot she yelled, "I'm warmth-ing it up here!"

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

The January issue of my newsletter is live! cjdotsonsdreadfuldispatch.substack.com/p/hello-2026 I talk about writing, reading (generally, but also a book recommendation for Our Winter Monster), & where I'll be having author events soon! Check it out, and if you enjoy it, you oughta subscribe!

Image that says

Hello, 2026!
Welcome to the 31st issue of the Dreadful Dispatch!

cjdotsonsdreadfuldispatch.substack.com

C.J. Dotson's Dreadful Dispatch

and below that a picture of the top half of my face with my eyes wide and kind of alarmed but looking at something down out of the shot

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

There's only 75 days until my dual timeline haunted house novel, THESE FAMILIAR WALLS, is out in the world! Starting today I'll be sharing a snippet for every day of the countdown to release! Each snippet will come from the ARC page that corresponds with that day's countdown. Here, from page 75:

An image of a house seen from a high corner angle, the background and most of the house are dark shades of green, with ominous orange glow from the windows, from the cover of THESE FAMILIAR WALLS

Above that, dark letters with an orange glow around them read, "75 Days"

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

A two-hour delay does not count

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Promised the universe that if the kids and I get a snow day tomorrow, I'd fold all the laundry. Which means I'm not procrastinating, I simply CANNOT fold any laundry today. I promised the universe.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

My cat does not understand that I cannot call off from work just because she is asleep in my lap.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

I love when one of my cats decides that it is Time To Lose Their Shit

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Rick Hollon @mimulus.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Velociraptors with day jobs. High school field trips to the Jurassic. Becoming a fossil in a far future museum. My debut poetry collection Time Travel Is Easy is available pay-what-you-want on Itch! dinoholler.itch.io/time-travel-...

dinoholler.itch.io

Time Travel Is Easy by Rick Hollon

Poems of Deep Time, queer embodiment, and life in the late Anthropocene.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

My youngest is seven today! And we got a snow day!

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

We are not even two weeks in and I really need 2026 to take it down like...like at least three notches, please

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

A great tragedy of my life is that is not possible for me to (safely) experience what I have always imagined would be The Best Texture—lava

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