iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Quick shout-out to fantasy novelist @rjbarker.bsky.social, as I embark on the second book in his Wyrdwood trilogy. I loved his Wounded Kingdom books. I loved his Tide Child Trilogy even more. And Wyrdwood's amazing world-building is giving me "Tide Child but in the forest" vibes in the best way.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Sending up the @bcdreyer.social flare, though happy for anyone to opine. The dictionary tells me "eponymous" refers to something named for a person. But what about something like Picasso's Guernica, named for a place? Can one call it eponymous? Is there a different word one ought to use?

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Fútbol matches are just like the end of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Hear me out: (1/5)

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Reposted by Dorian Hart

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

I'm doing a quick AMA over on reddit /rpg this evening to promote MERRYSHIRE... www.reddit.com/r/rpg/commen...

reddit.com

From the rpg community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the rpg community

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Last night my teenage daughter pointed out that the roof of your mouth isn't a roof, it's a ceiling, and now that's going to bother me for the rest of my life.

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Reposted by Dorian Hart

W&S_BOOKCLUB @wsbookclub.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Shout out a favorite #selfpublished author! Let's build an amazing TBR! #selfpublishedauthors #booksky #bookblogger #indiebooks I'll start with 3: Dorian Hart ( @dorianhart.bsky.social), Joel Flanagan-Grannemann (@servantand.bsky.social), and Jonathan Nevair ( @jnevair.bsky.social )

static.klipy.com

John Watson Says Fantastic!

Alt: John Watson Says Fantastic!

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Adrian Tchaikovsky. 40+ books, all of them great, spanning a wide variety of SFF sub-genres. Plus, even though you specify "imminent," he'll probably write another 6 or 7 books before it actually happens.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

There's some tension regarding the goal of copy editing. It's a) making sure prose is technically correct, but also b) minimizing the number of times readers will pause, blink, and think to themselves, "Wait, is that correct?" Those two end results, as with "feetfirst," aren't always in sync.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

I live near Boston, and my window is open, and I just heard the sound of millions of New Yorkers screaming.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s 10-book epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's BEAR HEAD, book #2 in his Dogs of War series. Great book. Lots to say about free will, societal prejudices, and the banal sociopathy of evil. But a part of me can't help but think the whole thing was a way for @aptshadow.bsky.social to set up a ton of "bear" puns.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I'm irrationally annoyed that "undimmed" is a word but "undim" is (technically) not. I mean, if you dim the lights in your kitchen while people sing "happy birthday" to someone, then afterward you undim them to eat the cake. That's just science!

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

New slogan in school cafeterias: "Eat your fruits and veg...before they eat you!"

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Discovering the video game "Wizardry" when I was 12. That led to me playing all the Wizardry/Bard's Tale/Ultima games. *That* meant, years later, I could talk intelligently about those games during a job interview with Looking Glass Studios in 1992, launching a 20+ year career as a game designer.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Honestly, I'd be alarmed by even a single bee the size of Boston. But, seriously, that is amazing. The world needs more bees!

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

One Thing In One Place At A Very Specific Time

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

That's very kind! I have a finished epic fantasy series: The Heroes of Spira. It's got, among other stuff: flawed-but-lovable characters, evil math-priests, an enchanted tower, a 9'-tall oracular toad, an unflappable butler, a snarky cat, and a ghostly spy grandma. www.amazon.com/dp/B077LBHV92

All five books of the Heroes of Spira epic fantasy series, arranged on a fluffy white blanket. The books are:

- The Ventifact Colossus
- The Crosser's Maze
- The Greatwood Portal
- The Infinite Tower
- The Adversary's Hand

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Recent comment about one of my books: "If you love DnD influenced books like Spiderlight, Iconoclasts by Mike Shel or Kings of The Wyld then you will probably love this one. I am surprised it only got 53 ratings on Goodreads since 2017!" If you knew how little self promo I do, you wouldn't be! 😛

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

I'm going with a Dr. Who episode, but *not* modern. I was a HUGE Who fanatic in high school. Loved Pertwee, loved T.Baker, loved Davison, meh on C.Baker... and then (for me) the McCoy episode "Delta and the Bannermen" was so bad it turned me off the show until the reboot 18 years later.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Hey, did you know that in addition to my fantasy novels, I've also written some short stories, several of which have won (smallish) awards? You can read a story about wishes/fate, one about Santa Claus, and 2 (non-fic) stories about my kids' near-death experiences! dorianhart.com/shorter-works/

dorianhart.com

Shorter Works

Non-fiction:Lucy and the Gold CoinThird Mountain Fiction: Blindfold Xenia The Eight Percent Poetry Rat Bastard October and November

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

I am "grocery stores are playing the music of my teens" years old, and I'm not sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, I'm actually enjoying grocery store music. But on the other hand... 👴⌛🪦

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

This site needs a break. Post 3 good things, none of which are the cessation of a negative. 1. Realizing you've lost track of time while reading a book, and then you keep reading anyway. 2. Playing board games w/ good friends. 3. When your kid loves a thing you love and is better than you at it.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I once won a contest for the best poem about 3.5e D&D written in the style of Dr. Seuss. I also nearly killed myself as a 4-year-old by stabbing myself in the neck with a rocking chair. Missed my carotid by 1/8", so I've been told.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Marc Iavaroni. Though I was a big Sixers fan in the 80's, so he'll never be obscure in my heart!

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I know it's very likely that tonight's SotU will be mostly unhinged ranting, grievances, and lies. But there's a chance it will be > 50% *cleanly* delivered grievances and lies. In which case, what's the over/under on number of mainstream outlets afterward lauding the president's "change in tone?"

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

I'm a 56-year-old vanilla-white dude, and I thought the Bad Bunny Super Bowl performance was an absolute delight, beginning to end. I can't even remember the last time I sat and watched an entire halftime show. (And I was extra happy to learn that couple actually got married as it happened!)

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

While out driving with with my wife today, we noticed that about one in every 10-20 street lamps on the highway had an odd attachment like a capped nozzle. Do any of my followers know what they are?

A lamp post along the side of a highway, with a mysterious nozzle-like protrusion near its upper end. The protrusion is circled in red to draw attention to it.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Looking for ways to spend your holiday lucre? I have a finished epic fantasy series featuring flawed but lovable characters going on increasingly perilous adventures, peeling back onion-layers of plot as they quest to save everyone they love. (Also, all books on KU!) www.amazon.com/dp/B077LBHV92

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

My 20-yr-old, while watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, noted that Sean Connery looked a lot like me: bald, glasses, graying beard. It also turns out I'm about the same age now (56) as Connery was then (57): OLD ENOUGH TO BE INDIANA JONES'S DAD HOW CAN THAT BE POSSIBLE JUST BURY ME ALREADY

An image of Sean Connery playing Henry Jones Sr. in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He's looking up and to his left, with a worried expression. His beard is gray and he wears glasses.

A picture of Dorian Hart (me), wearing glasses and smiling. Like Sean Connery in the previous picture, I am bald, wear glasses, and sport a mostly gray beard. I am smiling, and two of my book covers can be seen in the background, though they're not really the point, which is that 56-year-old me looks distressingly similar in age to Indiana Jones's dad in Last Crusade.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

I will never knowingly use any LLM/AI in my writing process, research, editing, or output. It's both unethical and counterproductive. The closest I have/will come is when the MS Word red underline squiggle reminds me that I'm incapable of spelling "bureaucracy" correctly on the first try.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

In the earliest days of the "67" phenomenon, I saw an explanation for it in two unconnected places. It was.. not a traditionally kid-friendly origin, one involving a nearby and more famously meme'd two-digit number. But since it's hit the mainstream? Never heard that again. Am I imagining things?

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

"Nintendo 64 turns 30 in 2026. The console you spent countless hours huddled around as a kid..." No, that was the Atari 2600, which I'll have you know was a big step up from our Apple II. Now please excuse me as I finish turning into that guy from Last Crusade after he drank from the wrong Grail.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

OMG THIS GAME. I can only imagine the multiple hearts attacks Dodgers and Jays fans are having right now.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

If, like me, you are a fan of both Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias and Philip Larkin's This Be The Verse, you will recognize this mashup as one of the greatest achievements in the history of the Internet.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

My daughter hand-draws maps on commission, and her most recent -- depicting Terry Pratchett's Discworld -- is amazing!

A hand-drawn map of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, showing the whole Disc in the upper two-thirds, and a blow-up of the city of Ankh-Morpork in the lower third. Marginalia includes the orangutan Librarian, the Luggage, and Death. Other details include the turtle and elephants who carry the world, a custom compass rose, and numerous named cities and geographical features.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Imagining this exchange from, say, 10 years ago: "in 2025 a player is going to get on base NINE TIMES in a single game in the World Series." "Whoa! That's hard to believe. Are you sure you're not making th-" "And that same dude is going to be his team's starting pitcher THE NEXT DAY."

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

It's odd how divorced NFL box-scores can be from the actual score. In the Rams v. Jags game, the Jaguars had more yards (358-271), and more yards/play. The teams had identical 3rd-down conversion rates, neither team committed any turnovers, and time of possession was very close. Rams 35, Jags 7.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

I don't know how I missed until two minutes ago that @alixeharrow.bsky.social was releasing a new book (The Everlasting, out on 10/28), but when I found out, I called my local indie bookstore to pre-order so fast, there's still smoke rising off my phone.

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Do you read self-published fantasy novels? If you've read the Heroes of Spira books and particularly enjoyed them, I encourage you to vote. If you've read other such books you like, I also encourage you to vote. 🙂 Whoever are your favorites, show them some love! www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/co...

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Dear cookbook whose lasagne recipe instructs me to "sprinkle" ricotta cheese: Have you *met* ricotta cheese? Do you have a recipe somewhere that invites me to dust lightly with whole watermelons? Or drizzle with a baguette? 🤪

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Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

I want to find the right readers for my epic fantasy series, so if you want: - a characters-first series starring an ensemble cast of good-hearted misfits, and also -a peel-back-onion-layers story that will *feel* like the greatest 15-year-long D&D campaign you’ve ever heard of or experienced...

All five books of the Heroes of Spira epic fantasy series by Dorian Hart, arranged on a fluffy white blanket. The books are:

- The Ventifact Colossus
- The Crosser's Maze
- The Greatwood Portal
- The Infinite Tower
- The Adversary's Hand

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Reposted by Dorian Hart

Dorian Hart @dorianhart.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

My older daughter has drawn some AMAZING maps for a contracted project. (They're the world map & the "Pangea" map.) I'm also including maps she's drawn for a couple of D&D campaigns, including mine. She's open for commissions, though nothing on a tight deadline as she heads back to college! 🙂

A hand-drawn fantasy map on a large piece of stained parchment. It shows a variety of terrain features, including ranges, forests, deserts, and cities.

A hand-drawn fantasy map on stained paper. It shows a number of islands connected by lines, and is labeled at the bottom: "The 39 Islands of the Teraxian Empire."

A hand-drawn map showing the world as it might have been represented in the 18th century. It includes labels for the continents and oceans, as well as artistic embellishments, lines, and a compass rose. It is labeled "World Map" at the top.

A stained parchment map of a continent labeled "Pangea." It includes numerous artistic embellishments and some (literally) colorful short phrases, as well as a compass rose on the right hand side.

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