iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 27/08/2026

The person I love most in the world had their gender-affirming surgery today. We are now back at the hotel, they are happy and whole, and we're eating a couple plates of home cooked (or, well, hotel kitchenette cooked) pasta. Feeling very, very grateful 💙💚

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 25/08/2026

not counting Michigan and Colorado where I've only had layovers or Delaware and West Virginia where I've only stopped at rest stops

A map of the United States of America with North Carolina highlighted in red and New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Washington highlighted in green. Below, three boxes say "20/50 visited", "1 lived in", and "40% complete"

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 22/08/2026

Got my preliminary schedule for the Dream Foundry Flights of Foundry! This was such a unique and enriching convention experience last year and I can't wait to see you there!

Elijah J. Mears
Flights of Foundry Schedule
September 18-20

Friday, September 18
Queer Joy? In This Economy? Yes.
22:00 UTC - 6:00 PM EDT - 3:00 PM PDT

Saturday, September 19
A View From the Slush Pile
17:00 UTC - 1:00 PM EDT - 10:00 AM PDT

Sunday, September 20
Reading
20:00 UTC - 4:00 PM EDT - 1:00 PM PDT

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 30/07/2026

Got inspired by some of the authors I saw at Lavender Con this past weekend and spent tonight working on designing a little zine with some of my older stories that are out of exclusivity... 👀

Screenshot of a two-page spread in InDesign. The left page, page 2, shows an illustration of a coconut crab and the base of a tree. The right page, page 3, shows the beginning of the story "The Memory of You is Contained in the Crab Rave" beneath a crab emoji.

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 20/06/2026

Respect to those who stayed home but you didn't get to stick your tongue out and drink Jarvy's liquid so

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 15/06/2026

It's a party at the Lenny... now to get ready for the most anxious twenty minutes of 2026! #SoundTheSiren

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 19/05/2026

Beryl and I got some peppers from the farmer's market 😊

Several pepper plants in clay pots sit on the edge of a balcony in direct sunlight. In the background, you can see various flags hanging off the balcony, including a trans flag, a gay pride flag, and the flag of North Carolina.

The "I guess we doin x now" meme with the caption "I guess we growin peppers now" and the other image in this post photoshopped into it

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 03/05/2026

Spent an afternoon out in the woods with @beryl.rubacky.dev!

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 24/04/2026

we are experiencing Carolina Hurricanes hockey

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 21/04/2026

yes goddd I love physical media

WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA by Slayyyter CD sitting on a counter, still in the plastic with the parental advisory sticker

WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA by Slayyyter CD sitting on a counter, open, revealing an insert showing Slayyyter lighting a cigarette in a wedding dress against pink sky with fireworks and the CD, with a big red $

WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA by Slayyyter CD, the back, which is a red disc, held up against Windows Media Player which is currently ripping it

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 11/04/2026

Oh, and a good book, of course

A similar photo to previous but with a Kindle open to Chapter 9 of "The Subtle Art of Folding Space" by John Chu

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 11/04/2026

Not to be pretentious or anything, but sometimes the meaning of life really is just sitting out on the balcony on a Saturday morning, drinking a really good cup of coffee out of your papaw's old mug

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 20/03/2026

Went exploring after work and found a pine forest that the local university keeps up as a public park/forest management school! 🌲

A caucasian man with blue eyes, a mustache, and brown hair stands in a forest with a gray shirt and backwards ball cap.

A pine forest against a blue sky with the sun peeking through the branches.

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 18/03/2026

everyone please tell @beryl.rubacky.dev happy birthday 😤

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 11/03/2026

Going to go into the woods and do a colors training montage until I can get a higher score than MR, brb www.keithcirkel.co.uk/whats-my-jnd...

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 09/03/2026

thinking about the panel I attended today where the panelists were talking about wanting to see more queer characters of a certain age as I dive back into this scene in my novel

William grumbled and started yanking cords out of the computer terminal. “Fine. I’ll just stay all crouched down like this and set back all the progress I’ve made with my knees. It’ll be fine.”

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 07/03/2026

At @retconnc.bsky.social last night, today, and tomorrow! I'm terrible and forgot to publicly post my schedule but if you'll be around, come see one of my panels!

Smiling brown-haired, blue-eyed white man with a mustache wearing a T-shirt and holding up a Ret-Con guest badge

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 04/03/2026

didn't think about this when I did it but naming my sandshrew Balin and then teaching him Rock Tomb...

A screenshot of a Pokemon summary from Pokemon Leaf Green of a Lvl 10 Sandshrew named Balin who knows Scratch, Defense Curl, and Rock Tomb

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 30/01/2026

FINALLY got to grab a lunch tray from my favorite barbecue place for the first time since moving back to the Triangle and folks, Heaven is a place down by the railroad tracks on the edge of town with a yellow awning and the lightest, crispiest hushpuppies you ever ate

A styrofoam tray with a barbecue sandwich, hush puppies, fried okra, and mac and cheese next to a styrofoam cup of sweet tea

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 13/01/2026

Transit-oriented Peruvian chicken. That's the skeet

A plate of Peruvian charcoal chicken with beans & rice, fries, and an Inca Kola

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 02/01/2026

welcome back 2015 tumblr i guess

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 01/01/2026

Alright let's play some hockey 🏒

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 30/12/2025

In case it's interesting, I'm also adding a view of my custom, personal tracker I have in my Notion account, which differs from the Submission Grinder's view in that everything is grouped by the date of the original submission rather than the date of the response. I also like sharing this one...

A color-coded bar graph labeled "Submissions Tracker" showing the following data: 2022: 1 personal rejection, 2 form rejections, 1 withdrawal; 2023: 1 personal rejection, 6 form rejections; 2024: 1 acceptance, 11 personal rejections, 38 form rejections; 2025: 6 acceptances, 10 personal rejections, 51 form rejections, 2 withdrawals, 6 pending responses.

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 30/12/2025

With what's likely to be my last short fiction sub of 2025 out the door this morning, I thought I'd share some stats. I'll try to put a more comprehensive write-up on my blog tomorrow, but 2025 was a good year for getting my stories out into the world, with 6 acceptances and 75 overall submissions!

A "Yearly Statistics" table from The Submission Grinder showing submissions and responses by year. 2025: 75 submissions, 6 acceptances, 57 form rejections, 11 personal rejections. 2024: 50 submissions, 1 acceptance, 34 form rejections, 11 personal rejections. 2023: 7 submissions, 0 acceptances, 4 form rejections, 0 personal rejections. 2022: 4 submissions, 0 acceptances, 2 form rejections, 1 personal rejection.

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Elijah J. Mears @elijah.mea.rs · 29/12/2025

There's a used books & media place about halfway between Raleigh and Greensboro we've been stopping by as we go back and forth and we traded in some old things for store credit and scored a used Blu-ray player and some really cool physical media with it