iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 10h

A significant cultural touchpoint for sure!

Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 13h

Inquisitive Yank who just stumbled into this, here. I am happily bewildered as to whether this is an earnest remembrance or some words you just made up after too much caffeine and, honestly, that is a satisfying place to be.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The nods to inspirations in all of those songs were a blast.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Not without a 10-foot pole and at least one sturdy retainer.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

You may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house. This is not my beautiful wife."

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The next entry in this newsletter is literally the introduction of the Ranger class.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I'm not saying the folks who were creating DND had some stuff going on. But the folks who were inventing DND had some stuff going on. #OSR

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

We have lived long enough for janky photoshop covers to both become endearing and seem "real. It's a big ol' goofy world.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The odds that Jim Steinman would write this sweeping, weirdo Wagnerian teen-angst epic, then find the perfect, larger-than-life gothic wrecking-ball virtuoso to perform it have to be almost none. But, here we are.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

David Trampier's art on the AD&D Dungeon Master's screen lives rent-free in my brain forever.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

When the android probably has the most well-developed moral compass in the band, shenanigans are likely.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Respectfully disagree on the Miley, but not by miles. Maybe inches. Those three, however, are soul-crushing abominations. "Kokomo" makes me actively need to damage property.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Can't wait for the ask from Oprah, who famously could use a few bucks to help keep the club going!

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The World-Building Only When the Story Requires the World to Be Built Challenge!

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Them: "'Lanterns' ruined my childhood, when I enjoyed comics like Green Lantern no. 76 from 1970." #comicsky Green Lantern no. 76 from 1970:

comic panels in which an older black man asks Green Lantern why he has helped aliens but not black people on Earth.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Now Playing: "The Legend of Billie Jean" (1985) "Fair is fair."

Helen Slater in "The Legend of Billie Jean"

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Reposted by Douglas Gross

Burial Books @burialbooks.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

One week to go before Whispers from the Iron Cauldron drops on September 1st! Twenty-Four sword & sorcery stories of treasure and vengeful gods with an awesome cover by Maciej Kamuda. Pre-order now so it's waiting for you on release day. www.amazon.com/dp/B0D26YD2R4 #burialbooks #swordandsorcery

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Don't listen to those lying scientists, bros! Muskmaxx your hearts out!

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Wawa parking lot pavement is, quite frankly, done with this shit.

three oil stains in the parking lot make a frowny face

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

What I'm saying is that fantasy got, like, 1,000 subgenres while I was getting old and I am proud of it.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

My little sword & sorcery world has built itself as vaguely Victorian in the cities and more medieval feeling in the country and the wild. But I can confirm there is at least one reference to a gaslamp, so I think that counts?

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

"A carnival strongman walking the earth like a gaslamp ronin" has kind of a ring to it, right?

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

"BIG MEATY WOMEN SLAPPING MEAT" reference unlocked! Ahhhhhh!!!

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Yes! After decades writing professionally as a journalist, it feels like I am giving myself more permissions every day as a fiction writer, and I can feel the changes happening in real time.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Any chance it was them wild-eyed boys who went away?

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I think it is really important to remember that the same dudes telling you AI art is inevitable were telling you, four or five years ago, that digital pictures of monkeys were a good investment.

a bunch of Bored Ape images. Remember those?

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

About half the Spanish I still remember comes from the Pixies or The Clash.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

"Estaba pensando sobre viviendo con mi sister in New Jersey."

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Holy hell, that cover is amazing.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

"Hrick Flay-uh put hahd times on the Dream, daddy!"

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Be there or be elsewhere! (I will choose "there.")

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Reposted by Douglas Gross

the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

The thing people should know about ZZ Top is that those early records, like Tres Hombres for example, are the gold standard for how rock records should sound. Immaculately recorded records, true auteur stuff, albums that set out to be exactly what they are

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I think a lot about when Conan went to NYC, started a street gang, bought a leopard and got asked to join the Avengers after nearly ending Cap. #conanthebarbarian

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Sure, Slowpoke Rodriguez was a micro-aggression with the lazy, but let's not forget he also would 187 a fool.

cartoon character Slowpoke Rodriguez holding a firearm

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Reposted by Douglas Gross

New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine @newedgeswordmag.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

💀 LONG IS THE NIGHT🦇, starring the strapping & strange sorcerer Lathra, is the second novella in our upcoming crowdfund; the bloody, Weird tale of a grand siege, private pursuits, psychedelic sorcery and more! 🔎Learn more and sign up to be alerted on launch day👉️ www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...

Cover art for LONG IS THE NIGHT, by Audrey Stollings, art by Brian Leblanc. A tall, terryiginy woman wields strange sorcery in the middle of a mysterious summoning as soldiers barge in with futile hopes of stopping her...

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Wow. Just, wow. This is beautiful.

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Douglas Gross @douglasdamon.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Give me every bit of Toxic Spider inspiration you have in your mortal soul, please.

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