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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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

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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...I don't... know where the doll is, currently

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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

So do I! When I asked my daughter about it she just laughed really hard and didn't elaborate

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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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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

It's been a rough week and it's only halfway done, haha. I am trying not to forget about the countdown so much! Today's snippet is from page 41 of the ARC for THESE FAMILIAR WALLS, coming out in 41 days!

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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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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

THESE FAMILIAR WALLS comes out in 45 days!!

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

47—NO, wait! 46 days until THESE FAMILIAR WALLS comes out! (I had yesterday's whole post made and typed and just...forgot to click the button.) Anyway! Yesterday and today's snippets, from ARC pages 47 and 46! Add it on goodreads: tinyurl.com/3jkvwhf5 Pre-order here: tinyurl.com/vd9xf3nr

A black cat sits on a hardwood floor next to a copy of an ARC of the book THESE FAMILIAR WALLS, which is leaning against a wood wall. Beneath the book and beside the cat are the words "47 DAYS"

A black cat sits on a hardwood floor next to a copy of an ARC of the book THESE FAMILIAR WALLS, which is leaning against a wood wall.
Around this, text reads:
Amber took another tiny sip, suppressing her grimace. Nathan had already finished his wine, faint purple coloring his lips, and Amber licked hers self-consciously. Nathan saw and grinned, raising his eyebrows in a way she didn't entirely understand. Awkward silence fell. Amber took a longer sip of her wine and tried to think of something cool or funny to say.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

48 days until THESE FAMILIAR WALLS comes out! Today's snippet is from page 48 of the ARC. Add THESE FAMILIAR WALLS on goodreads: tinyurl.com/3jkvwhf5 Pre-order THESE FAMILIAR WALLS here: tinyurl.com/vd9xf3nr

A black cat sits on a hardwood floor next to a copy of an ARC of the book THESE FAMILIAR WALLS, which is leaning against a wood wall. Around the book and cat, text reads:
Through the kitchen a door opened to the basement stairs. Amber glimpsed an unfinished room, all concrete floor and cinder-block walls, piled up with unopened cardboard boxes. There must have been small windows out of sight, because dim light cast the room in blues and grays and deep shadows.
“Come on,” Nathan whispered.

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

49 days until THESE FAMILIAR WALLS comes out! And a snippet from ARC page 49, in which 12-year-old Amber has been caught making some bad decisions. Add THESE FAMILIAR WALLS on goodreads: tinyurl.com/3jkvwhf5 Pre-order THESE FAMILIAR WALLS here: tinyurl.com/vd9xf3nr

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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

THESE FAMILIAR WALLS comes out in 50 days! Poor Amber, it's hard to be 12 and still figuring everything out! Add THESE FAMILIAR WALLS on goodreads: tinyurl.com/3jkvwhf5 Pre-order THESE FAMILIAR WALLS here: tinyurl.com/vd9xf3nr

A black cat sits on a hardwood floor next to a copy of an ARC of the book THESE FAMILIAR WALLS, which is leaning against a wood wall.
In the image's negative space, text reads:
"I assumed you knew better." Mom's voice was cold. "That's not a mistake I'll make again."
Amber's stomach clenched with the injustice--punished for a rule Mom admitted had never actually been given to her!

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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

51 days until THESE FAMILIAR WALLS! When you're little, awake in bed listening to grownups getting to stay up late, you don't even really notice the comfort and familiarity under the envy that you don't get to stay up that late, too. Goodreads: tinyurl.com/3jkvwhf5 Pre-order: tinyurl.com/vd9xf3nr

Warmly lit by three candles in the lower left corner, image is of a stone wall with a small, rounded door type opening leading into deep darkness, festooned with cobwebs. The book THESE FAMILIAR WALLS stands in the opening, and emerging from the darkness is text reading "51 DAYS"

a warmly lit stone wall with a small, rounded door type opening leading into deep darkness, festooned with cobwebs. The book THESE FAMILIAR WALLS stands in the opening, and surrounding the book is the quote:
Darkness shrouded her room when a sharp sound pulled her itno a bleary wakefulness.
She sat up. From downstairs drifted the murmuring voices of her parents and the canned laughter of a sitcom.
The out of place noise had been nearer than that.

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

I give it 15 minutes tops, honestly

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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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C.J. Dotson @cj-dotson.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

THESE FAMILIAR WALLS! 52 days! Add THESE FAMILIAR WALLS on goodreads: tinyurl.com/3jkvwhf5 Pre-order THESE FAMILIAR WALLS here: tinyurl.com/vd9xf3nr

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