iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Emily Tesh

My third novel, HERO COME HOME, officially has a cover! Preorderable from the usual places us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

The cover of my third novel, HERO COME HOME. Four human figures centred, the main image being that of a bearded man looking back over his shoulder (that's Oro, the protagonist), with a circle of symbols behind him. We can see a swan and a key. In the foreground are three people: two women, one with a mysterious marking? scar? who knows!? on her cheek and the other carrying a sword, flanking an older, balding man holding up a pistol. The possibly-scarred woman looks ever so slightly amused, and that is certainly very like her. Everybody else is not happy to be here, or indeed, anywhere

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 8h

it has now been two months of suddenly having my reading mojo back. I have read or reread twenty-nine books. I can now share such revelations as 'it's been 13 years but Ancillary Justice is still a perfect book' and 'has anyone else heard of this Tchaikovsky chap?'

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 29/09/2026

the two lengths of SFF novella are 'ok fine I'll make it just long enough to be hugo eligible' and 'ok fine I'll make it just short enough to be hugo eligible'

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Thomas Ha @thomasha.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

i should clarify, when i write people doing bad things, it's because i am bad. they are me. more importantly, when you read about those bad things, they also become you. that's how story works. in fact, you are going to think about murder before this skeet ends. how's that feel, sicko.

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 22/09/2026

it's simply impossible to write a book. there's no way. it can't be done. stop trying to trick me into - [eats lunch] turns out books are made of scrambled eggs.

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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 21/09/2026

apart from the known standard model of novels, novellas, and novellettes, we are yet to find evidence of the hypothesized novelino, noveletto, noveluccio, noveluzzo, or noveluolo. a great deal of work remains to be done

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 21/09/2026

I'm done with September. I think three weeks is long enough for one month.

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

SORCERER OF THE WILDEEPS by Kai Ashante Wilson is a fantasy novella with awesome worldbuilding, a queer love story, and beautiful writing. If you ever wanted to see dialects like African American Vernacular done well in a fantasy setting, this is your book. It's so good.

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Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcculloch.com · 20/09/2026

I have been reading the Anne McCaffrey Pern novels for the first time yeah I don't know why I hadn't read them before and I don't know why I'm inhaling them so fast now BUT importantly I know they're not trying to actually do linguistic worldbuilding but BOY do I have linguistics thoughts anyway

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Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Narnia books as Isekai Manga

1. My Sweet Tooth Made Me The Villainess’ Slave
2. In Another World, The Dwarves Picked Me To Lead The Revolution
3. All At Sea With My Level 0 Sailing Skills
4. On A Mission In Another World And I Can’t Remember The Cheat Codes
5. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Horse
6. Help! My Uncle’s In Love With The Demon Queen!
7. Reincarnated In Another World Just As The Game’s Ending

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Macey Levington @macey.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

THE UNSPOKEN NAME by AK Larkwood. gorgeously written adventure fantasy of an orc sacrifice turned warrior fighting free of the terrible wizard mentor who saved her, takes Tombs of Atuan & blossoms open at Planeswalker scale. doomed by its Feb '20 release 😭 dead planets! fighter/mage f/f! butch mc!!

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 16/09/2026

look I know I shouldn't look at goodreads but then I would miss things like this

goodreads screenshot:

Hottest main character omg I want Dr Walden to step on me

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Freya Marske @freyamarske.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

BODIES OF MAGIC, out Sept 2026: Grey's Anatomy meets A Deadly Education, a mystery set during the final exam week of a magical medical school. (Or: five queer nerds solve a murder and have some feelings.) Cover design by Jamie Stafford-Hill. Preorder US: bit.ly/BoM-US Preorder UK: bit.ly/BoM-UK

A book cover for Bodies of Magic by Freya Markse. A deep blue building with a quadrangle, spires and cloisters fills the lower half of the cover with the title text in gold across it. Behind that, the upper background is grey and stormy with a prominent twisting white design that could be a bare tree rising up from the main tower OR an anatomical diagram of the lungs. Centered above the lung-tree are the words DO NO HARM in stark white. Honestly: a complete banger of a cover. Doesn't it make you want to preorder? Yes, yes it does.

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 10/09/2026

It's good to memorise a bunch of shakespeare as a teen so that when you're trying to make yourself do chores you can mutter 'if it were done, when 'tis done, were well 'twere done quickly' at the cleaning cupboard.

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Rebecca Fraimow @rebeccafraimow.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I started a podcast 😔

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C. W. Maurer @cwmaurerwrites.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Finished @emilytesh.net 's The Incandescent, and don't think I've ever seen the experience of being a teacher of teens put into words so well. I lost track of how many times I chuckled or sighed resignedly or teared up a bit while thinking "Yup. That's exactly how that goes." 10/10. Very good book.

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 07/09/2026

I hope whoever runs the Reactor new releases lists knows that they are saving my life every month.

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 01/09/2026

from 2014 to 2023 when I worked in education, I more or less stopped reading for pleasure. when you get a passion job, it eats your passions. it’s only this year it’s really started to come back.

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Eddie Clark @dreddieclark.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

23) The Fall of Elvenesse by Kai Ashante Wilson (Mar) If there is a single book on here I'm most excited for it's this. Kai Ashante Wilson is one of the best writers in contemporary SFF & this is his first novel and I cannot wait to read it.

barnesandnoble.com

The Fall of Elvenesse

Barnes & Noble’s online bookstore for books, NOOK ebooks & magazines. Shop music, movies, toys & games, too. Receive free shipping with your Barnes & Noble Membership.

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Reposted by Emily Tesh

Los Angeles Worldcon @laworldcon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The 2026 Hugo Award for Best Series goes to Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (Tor US; Tor UK).

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Los Angeles Worldcon @laworldcon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The 2026 Hugo Award for Best Short Story goes to “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223).

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Los Angeles Worldcon @laworldcon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The 2026 Hugo Award for Best Novelette goes to “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220).

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Los Angeles Worldcon @laworldcon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The 2026 Hugo Award for Best Novella goes to The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK).

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Los Angeles Worldcon @laworldcon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The 2026 Astounding Award for Best New Writer (sponsored by Must Read Books Publishing) is Antonia Hodgson (1st year of eligibility).

Astounding Award for Best New Writer (sponsored by Must Read Books Publishing)

Antonia Hodgson (1st year of eligibility)

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Los Angeles Worldcon @laworldcon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The 2026 Hugo Award for Best Novel goes to The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK).

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 28/08/2026

a thing I sometimes think about when I'm reading these days: does this book know about Coworkers and In-Laws?

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 28/08/2026

you find a body in the snow! it's your secret work nemesis from a thousand years ago. this bitch who never refilled the photocopier when it ran out of paper 😒 (in this scenario you are the photocopier)

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Rebecca Fraimow @rebeccafraimow.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

fair warning, our reading lists more or less doubled while we were going through the questions to address in this episode, so brace yourselves

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Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones @eightdaysofdiana.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Thank you all so much for the reams and reams of great questions and comments you sent in to us for this season, which has resulted in a full THREE HOUR final bonus episode for S3! zencastr.com/z/QO_WfPUL

zencastr.com

S3 Bonus Episode 3 - Q&A · Zencastr Video

This ae nighte, this ae nighte, Every nighte and alle, Fire and fleet and candle-lighte, And Christe receive thy saule. In our final S3 bonus episode, we spend either three hours (from your perspecti

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 18/08/2026

okay NOW I have to do these edits

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 17/08/2026

As a child I had a collection of poetry by the incomparable American master of light verse, Ogden Nash. It did a number on my sense of humour (still find a brutally forced rhyme funnier than almost anything).

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 17/08/2026

the family holiday is Over. the house is Clean. I need to do these edits.

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Sam @irishwol.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Morning Womble. I'm just finishing The Incandescent by Emily Tesh. Marvelous book. I really want to gush about how gorgeously the plot is constructed and the protagonist character but it really IS a story that is very easily spoilered. It's great though. Fucking loving it!

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Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Have to reshare this every time I see it. Raymond Chandler mocking science fiction in 1953 and sounding cool as hell. He should have written some space stories.

Did you ever read what they call Science Fiction? It’s a scream. It is written like this:

“I checked out with K19 on Aldabaran III, and stepped out through the crummalite hatch on my 22 Model Sirus Hardtop. I cocked the timejector in secondary and waded through the bright blue manda grass. My breath froze into pink pretzels. I flicked on the heat bars and the Brylls ran swiftly on five legs using their other two to send out crylon vibrations. The pressure was almost unbearable, but I caught the range on my wrist computer through the transparent cysicites. I pressed the trigger. The thin violet glow was icecold against the rust-colored mountains. The Brylls shrank to half an inch long and I worked fast stepping on them with the poltex. But it wasn’t enough. The sudden brightness swung me around and the Fourth Moon had already risen. I had exactly four seconds to hot up the disintegrator and Google⁵ had told me it wasn’t enough. He was right.”

They pay brisk money for this crap?

Raymond Chandler | Letter to H. N. Swanson, 14 Mar 1953 | Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler

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The Arthur C. Clarke Award @clarkeaward.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

We’re delighted to share that WHEN THERE ARE WOLVES AGAIN by E.J. Swift, and published by Arcadia, is the 40th winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award science fiction book of the year.

Winner of the Clarke Award 2026: When There Are Wolves Again by E.J.Swift

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Jennifer Prokop @jenreadsromance.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

stop assuming all fantasy written by women is romantasy or YA. stop assuming all women are writing romance. stop assuming any books with sex scenes (or "spice" god make it stop) are romance. WHAT ARE WE DOING.

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Tinker Tailor Super Fly @johnnewhouse.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

@emilytesh.net I just finished Some Desperate Glory and it is instantly one of my favorite books. I was crying and contemplating and hootin and hollering the whole time. Thank you for making such beautiful art

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 30/07/2026

My grandparents were children (unemployed) a century ago so perhaps I would instead take up my great-grandparents’ business activities, such as ‘coal miner’, ‘career criminal’, or ‘professional bridge player’. I might try to avoid ‘abused housewife’.

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 25/07/2026

my favourite thing I've read this month is Meredith Lanzen's FORMULA ZERO, a romance about racing against your childhood bestie/rival in very fast spaceships

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 06/07/2026

once again it's time for 'this academic book looks extremely relevant to the novel I'm working on but I can't find it anywhere for less than £50'

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alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

picked up NOTES FROM A REGICIDE off this list and it absolutely whips. the story of two revolutionaries in the distant future, as told by their son. I've cried twice, and a third time from envy

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Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

She’s here! Today is the start of this Couch to 5k for reading I’ve put together! Come and join us :-D open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...

open.substack.com

let's do a 'couch to 5k' for reading

we're going to work ourselves back to good 'reading fitness' over the next eight weeks. come and join us.

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Jared Pechaček @vandroidhelsing.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

nobody yells READ A DIFFERENT BOOK at silmarillion fans because our hearts are pure

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 04/07/2026

'exercise routine' 'exercise routine for person who doesn't care about all that' 'exercise routine for specifically the feeling of dread I get when it's time to carry the vacuum cleaner up the stairs' 'lightweight vacuum cleaner'

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 04/07/2026

so I WAS trying to catch up with the Le Guin shortlist but I read Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung and had to stop and read everything else Chung has published in English. now please picture me sitting hopefully on Anton Hur's doorstep waiting for the next translation. wow.

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NickPheas @nickpheas.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Audible #UKSFFBookBargans anyone? Some Desperate Glory by @emilytesh.net won the Hugo in 2024 and deserved to. I don't know the reading, but the book is so good. £3.99 www.audible.co.uk/pd/Some-Desp...

audible.co.uk

Audible | Listen to Audiobooks, Podcasts, & Originals

Try Audible free for 30 days. Discover best-selling audiobooks, free podcasts, and exclusive Audible Originals. Listen offline with the Audible app.

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Emily Tesh @emilytesh.net · 30/06/2026

picked up MIDNIGHT TIMETABLE by Bora Chung in Anton Hur’s translation, read it in a day, and now I need to read everything else Chung has ever written. good to be reminded of how much I love ghost stories!

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