iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The prompt was sift. Obviously I had to go folkloric. It's nice to get back to some writing. May there be more words a-flowing!

My mother left three sieves:
one for flour,
one for salt,
and one for the dead.
She always said:
sift once for bone,
twice for breath,
and three times
for what remains.
When they brought her home,
I chose the smallest.
By morning,
a tooth caught in the mesh
and something under the floor
answered to her name

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I don't know why the prompt endeavour took me to Marlowe, and his line, Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships…? But it did, and I'm not going to argue. We take the words as they come. I don't know if this one's about me, or something real, or even a love I've known. It's a mystery.

We named the ship Endeavour,
as if wanting were enough.
As if the sea would ever care
for the shape of our hands
on the ropes,
for the salt etched deep
into every knot.
We learned the stars by how they
reflected in each other’s eyes ,
and the coast slowly, tracing it
first on paper
and then more gently,
remembering.
Still, every morning,
we raised the sails.
Not because the wind was kind.
Only because somewhere
beyond the black water
there had to be a shore,
and because we had already
given the journey
a name.

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Writing Valentin for the prompt (translucent). But I think his fate will be less tragic than this verse. Or it should be.

There will always be a glass between us,
a glass that shone darkly.
The crime lay in its translucency:
I could see you,
close enough to touch,
but never love.
I loved you for years, Anna.
You looked at me
And that was all.

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

First two lines of the next WIP. Going to crack on with it again. This one is a turn of the century Gothic fantasy romance about a crown that chooses its next King or Queen, and the brighter the crown, the worse the ruler.

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The prompt was scale. I brought a cathedral.

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Someone dropped me in on the feral sewing crowd. I'm fine with it.

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

If writers did dating profiles... wasn't that an ad once? But yeah. Would be interesting.

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I built a whole ass bookcase by myself today. It did nearly finish me off but I did it. How cool does that look?!?

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Marvel (noun): a wonderful or astonishing person or thing; something that causes wonder or amazement. Obviously that means perching on moon rock to see if the one you could love, could see you too. A marvel. Worthy of wonder. Prompt host changes tomorrow! I hope she brings horror words :D

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The prompt was storm: an easy word for me to work with. I am not a garden but a cliff, not a sunny day but a gale. And I'm OK with that.

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The prompt was assassin, so I did some Aunties. Thought it'd be rude not to.

Rain slid across the windscreen, just as it had since they left Cynthia. The wipers dragged left, right, left again, one of them giving a small rubber squeak at the end of every pass. He’d been pretending not to notice it for the last twelve miles.
Mavis had her knitting in her lap, though she hadn’t made a stitch in some time. She looked out at the rain instead. “They don’t pay police officers very much, do they?” she remarked at last.
James glanced at her briefly. “Not really, no.”
“Hm.”
He waited. “I never really thought that sort of thing through,” he said. “And in any case, we weren’t exactly a high-rolling family.”
Mavis turned her head and peered at him. “Well,” she said, after considering him properly, “there’s life in the old dog yet.”
James frowned. “Thank you, I think.”
“You could have a career change.” Then her eyes suddenly widened. “Ooh. You could train to be an assassin.”
James looked at her. “An assassin.”
“Yes. James Bond sort of thing, only bad. And not as glam.”
A laugh escaped him before he could stop it. “What, like you lot?”
Mavis drew herself up and gave a small, offended sniff. “Don’t be ridiculous, James. We don’t assassinate people.”
“No?”
“We stage interventions.” She picked up her knitting again. “I’d have thought you’d know the difference by now.”
James faced the road and swallowed the rest of his laugh, which came out like a cough instead. The windscreen wiper squeaked again on its pass back upwards. Mavis clicked her needles together and said nothing more.

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The prompt was gambit. It took me ages to get off bloody chess so I could think of something else.

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Artemis Quinn 🏳️‍⚧️🎨📚 undead & thriving 🦇👻😱 @vampireantihero.com · 09/09/2026

Thanks for a great #HorrorWritersChat ! I am once again screaming about my grief horror, Such Sweet Sorrow, which crowdfunds on October 29th on Backerkit w/ TBB. Follow it now for updates and info! Also don't forget to check out the rest of the #BookBazaar26 ; there are tons of awesome projects!

backerkit.com

Such Sweet Sorrow

Get notified when Such Sweet Sorrow launches on BackerKit!

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Queen Anna V 👑 🫜🫜 @annavernerauthor.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Thanks so much Eryn! Love this community! #HorrorWritersChat All my stuff is on my Itch page, go and have a look for yourself! Just be aware, there's a few spicy stories as well as horror and my fantasy books. anna-verner.itch.io

anna-verner.itch.io

Anna Verner

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#Horrorwriterschat thanks for being you. Share your promo, promo others, you know the craic. If you've not answered the questions yet, go back, do that, and then come and promo. Build the community you want to have.

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Last one, and the promo will follow. Very shortly. #HorrorWriterschat

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Robb // R.M. Sayan @rmsayan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat Hm that's great to think about. I think, for Devourer, it's language. Sharing a language with his closest friend only is why the MC feels so safe with him -- and when that safety is unexpectedly breached, things come to a boiling point 👀

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Chance Morgan @chancemorgan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat I’m a huge fan of exploring how family and home can be distorted for horror. In my WIP, the MC has a dream sequence where he has a full conversation with his father’s rotten skeleton.

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Thomas @tshorror.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Thomas Simpson, here. I write slashers, ghost stories and creature features. I'd be worried if My Pet Monster came to life as I used to do wrestling moves on it and it would likely want revenge. #Horrorwriterschat

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J.D. Buffington @jdbuffington.com · 09/09/2026

Q2: #Horrorwriterschat Both my current WIPs are kinda about trust, both depending on it and also feeling it broken. In one, a band is haunted while trying to put together a personal demo and need to trust each other for strength. The other, trust & faith are used as weapons to gain access to a god.

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Rami Ungar the Writer @ramiungarwriter.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Sorry I'm late! My name is Rami Ungar, I write horror and dark fiction, and I did have a teddy bear as a kid, but I don't think I would get emotional if it were turned into a nightmare monster. #HorrorWritersChat

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Trish Wilson @trishcwilson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat Safe doesn't figure into my work, but familiar does. I like making the familiar hit the Uncanny Valley. THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR: The Lizzie Borden house is fun to tour, but beware! Things aren't as they seem. SUBVERSIVE CHILDREN'S GAMES: Barbie dolls aren't cute. They're monsters.

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Vincent Lore [Coffee] @vincentlore.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#Horrorwriterschat Tough question in my current state! In my current WIP, the familiar is the detective agency my MC works at. It's home base. But it's not socially safe for him, since he's trans, and he's treated like a rookie because of his age. So he gets the jobs no one else wants...

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MT Hart @mthart.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#horrorwriterschat I am MT Hart author of 8 horror and erotica novels and working on number 9! Sadly, I don't really remember any childhood toys, or comfort toys. I did love Lost in Space on TV. I would hate for that to be horrific LOL

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Rami Ungar the Writer @ramiungarwriter.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I guess the home. A lot of the places I intend for mayhem to break out are people's homes, where they should feel safe and in control. Also a grocery store and a church, because people tend to feel safe there as well. #HorrorWritersChat

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Mitch Miller ☆ 📼 @astramachina.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Hello #HorrorWritersChat! It's me, Mitch; your queer horror writer of the sci-fi and nostalgia-baiting kind. I think horror has already taken care of all things I used to find comforting. Pretty sure my last bastion was Winnie the Pooh, but shout-out to Blood and Honey, I guess. 😂

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AC Cross @aaronccross.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Q3: #Horrorwriterschat ‘Well now,’ I say loudly, ‘I didn’t leave the teddy bear there. What possibly could have happened?’ Giggling- childlike, amused, sneaky - slips out from behind the couch and my eyes flick over. I keep talking as I draw my crucifix and holy water. Time to be done with this.

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Jacob Marsh - Author 🇨🇦 @jacobmarsh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat Q3 I swear, I left them in the enclosure. But now that placeset, plastic fences circling most of my room, lies empty. A glance at the closet tells me everything. Shiny plastic eyes staring back at me. Crunchy microphones snarling from the dark. Painted teeth glistening hungrily.

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Rosé Black (🍁🍂🍠🍎🍏🎃) @roseblack2222.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat "Oh, hell nah! I am not having my cause of death be from a cursed Bop It! That would be even more humiliating than my neighbor who died because the inflatable tube man at his dealership beat him to death."

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James Ryan @jamesryan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat I pick up the ducky and return it to the bathroom when I find it on my desk I get lunch, and the duckie is on my desk again I return it, and after I take a call, there it is on my desk "Why are you on my desk?" I ask casually "That f'n' drain monster scares me" ducky said...

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Willerby @welcometowillerby.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The dog mess nobody in the WhatsApp group isn't nice but when things get odd it's a useful reminder life goes on.

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J. D. Hellen @jdhellenwrites.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Hey, #HorrorWritersChat, I write horror that draws from childhood fears. This chat is right up my alley! My favorite childhood toy was a teddy bear named Bear. If he became evil, it would devastate me. I had a nightmare as a kid that he exploded slime, and I'm still creeped out remembering it. 🧸

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Blair Shedd @onegemini.com · 09/09/2026

#horrorwriterschat I know I left it in its box. A box on a shelf. High up. I can't reach it. Not anymore. But there it was atop me. Brought to me. A gift? A memory. As that's all I am. I reach my hand through the gravedirt to the stuffed turtle. You'll keep me from the cold, lil' Tuttle Turtle.

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Michelle Heller | Indie Horror Author @michelleheller.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I know I never put Milo on the counter. Because I lost him in a cornfield when I was nine (long story). I hadn't thought about him in decades. But all the memories came rushing back when I saw those painted-on eyes. If I didn't put him there. Someone did. #HorrorWritersChat

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Amber Hathaway, Little White Flowers author @amber-hathaway.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

David stares at me with his scratched plastic eyes, his mouthless face a mask of silent reproach. And then I hear the rattle. If you shake him, it's supposed to sound like he's purring. But this is no purr. It's the ball of a rattler. That's when David launches at me. #HorrorWritersChat

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Artemis Quinn 🏳️‍⚧️🎨📚 undead & thriving 🦇👻😱 @vampireantihero.com · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat Why is that teddy even out? I've thrown it away five times. "Just go away," I beg it. It crawls closer.

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Tom [ghostly voice] Coooooooooooombe @calmtomb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

"Army Joe" was a toy soldier knock-off given to me by a distant great-aunt in 1986. I never liked his too-big eyes or the way his pistol and right hand seemed conjoined. I have moved 5 times in 40 years and he always finds his way back. #HorrorWritersChat

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Mitch Miller ☆ 📼 @astramachina.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

If we're talking Blue Circuits: coffee breaks. It's actually been really interesting trying to figure out the right balance between breaks that throw off the pacing and the kind that can build dread by, uh, "edging" the reader. Who doesn't long for that 15? BUT WATCH OUT. #HorrorWritersChat

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Rami Ungar the Writer @ramiungarwriter.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

"Where did that come from?" I ask aloud. "Last I saw it, it was at my mother's house." I approach the bear. It growls at me. I go for the swords hanging on my wall. #HorrorWritetsChat

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Bradley Ramsey @imagine2create.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Such a good question. My current WIP is a cosmic horror, but it's set in the near-future. It's the world we know, warts and all, but now society is also facing a new threat: an alien parasite that infects hosts, lying dormant until it can use your body to spread itself. #HorrorWritersChat

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HD Beird @thebeird.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It stares at me, and in my head I hear it speak; "What the fuck happened to you, son? I mean I expected you to get taller but what's with the ass! Lay off the Jaffa Cakes!" #HorrorWritersChat

static.klipy.com

Pingu Slaps His Own Bottom

ALT: Pingu Slaps His Own Bottom

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Queen Anna V 👑 🫜🫜 @annavernerauthor.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat I like using banter between the characters as their safety. Being comfortable chatting and laughing with each other, before realising their situation isn't fun anymore. "Oh there's an android's eye just lying there." "Wonder how they lost it?" "Look I have an extra eye!" Uh oh.

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Jared Leys @jaredleys.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Growing up, Teddy hadn’t been much for talking. In fact, he had never said a word, given he was stuffed toy bear. But that all changed the night he climbed up on the end of my bed and talked and talked and talked and told me all about his day. At first I was afraid, (1/2)

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Raven Marie 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️🏴‍☠️ Splatterpunk Author. @macabretavern.substack.com · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat Jo sat in the wrong corner, this is the third time this week. "Lilith, please." I roll my eyes as I reached for the bear. "Don't." "Why?" "Because I'm trying to have a tea party." The one thing I've figured out, never get in the way of a demoness and her tea parties.

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Samantha Bryant | She/her @samanthabwriter.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

"Hey, Mom? Why's my book in the window seat?" Receiving no answer, I crawl up. The book is pressed against the glass and resists when I try to pull it away. I almost fall when I wrest it free. There's something about the cover. Has Jack's expression changed? #HorrorWritersChat

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Shelly Blake-Plock @shellyblakeplock.com · 09/09/2026

“Wasn’t so much the wasps swarming around it as the spiders nesting inside it.” “So, what did you do?” “Put it in Andy’s room. He’s good like that.” “Wait, who’s Andy?” “My kid brother.” “You don’t have a brother, Jake.” “Then who’s that eating the spiders?” #Horrrorwriterschat

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Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#Horrrorwriterschat Who likes a wee bit of micro-fiction, then? You do...

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Elliott Dunstan -- GROTESQUE Oct 13th! @fiversdream.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat - Hi! I'm Elliott Dunstan and I write gothic horror with a sprinkle of cosmic/anti-cosmic. I have an entertaining story on this note, actually... I grew up in Britain but was born and had my first birthday in the US, and someone gave me a doll of Molly from the Big Comfy Couch.

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Elizabeth - hand-crafted unique dolls & more @elizabethdollmaker.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

My name is Elizabeth and I write and create art for picture books and story collections of horror mystery/comedy. I recall having a large Grover plush with velcro pads on hands and feet so he could hold onto you... #HorrorWritersChat

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Rosé Black (🍁🍂🍠🍎🍏🎃) @roseblack2222.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#HorrorWritersChat Are you safe in your home, or is it simply choosing not to enter?

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