iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I have been reading a lot! Meridian 😭❤️😭 Goma🦁🚂🪰 Kokoro😺😼😿 Lost Souls😈🔮💰 Kiss Slay Replay👰‍♀️🔪👰‍♀️ (love/grief through stories and time, god-touched animal attacks at a railroad construction camp, cat prescriptions and secrets, an accidental deal with the devil, wedding murder time loop) #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

About halfway through, but absolutely riveted and sad it’s a work night so I have to stop reading. Considering it follows a Matthew (not a Matt) who lost his husband early and is deeply in grief years later, I was primed to be invested!

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I don’t think I’ve ever rooted for a murderous creature (TBF she’s not human and we’re prey) to win the love OR eat the object of her affection so much before. (maybe AND) But seriously, Jenny is such a wonderful character navigating the human world with new mythical friends by her side. #booksky

Jenny Will Eat You Now by Gillian Daniels

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

And a few more queued up from Edelweiss: IT'S ONLY A GAME by Sam Rebelein, THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST by Mindy McGinnis (I loved her YA -- curious what her adult will be like!), RAVENOUS by Mark D Freeman (yay animal attacks!), and WHERE FIRE REIGNS by Jared Pechaček. #ewgc #booksky

The First Cut is the Deepest by Mindy McGinnis

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Edelweiss downloads of translated books I'm super excited for: A MOUTH FULL OF FINS by Cho Yeeun, THE FINAL SIX by Akinari Asakura, THE MOUNTAIN by Nanami Kamon, and THE SOUL CATCHERS by Naoko Higashi. #ewgc #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

BONES OF JADE, FLESH LIKE ICE by Gracie Marsden (a fellow librarian!) is a Taiwanese inspired fantasy. A jing's promise causes a young girl to be sold into a harsh life, but she manages to find love and happiness. When tragedy strikes, she decides to risk a jing's bargain on her own behalf. #ewgc

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Baek Seungyeon's THE SEOUL LETTER SHOP trans by Clare Richards, follows a woman refusing to read her sister's apology letters who gets a job in a letter shop. Her new community gives her a place to rest and recover even as she facilitates their own communications and growth. #ewgc #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Piergiorgio Pulixi's THE BLACK CATS BOOKSHOP, trans by Antony Shugaar, stars a cranky bookseller & his mystery book club members investigating a killer who forced a man to choose whether his wife or son would be shot in the head. Fun for the clever mystery and the bookseller sarcasm. #ewgc #booksky

The Black Cats Bookshop by Piergiorgio Pulixi

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Starting off with Johnny Compton's CHIMERA SKIN, where a cosmic being's gift to humanity has monstrous consequences instead of enlightening us. One such twisted figure manages to keep his mind and struggles to protect his community from those who'd infect it. #ewgc #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Just finished this clever and endearing mystery novel about a book club using their analytical skills to catch a murderer who forces his victims to choose which family members will die before their eyes. And look at that -- Goodreads has a giveaway! www.goodreads.com/book/show/25... #booksky

Black Cats Bookshop by Piergiorgio Pulixi, translated by Antony Shugaar

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is a lie of a title. 🤣 Actually, just a half-truth. It WAS beautiful, following a kind reaper about his duties even as his work could seem random and unfair… but if Travis showed up my last day I’d probably be pretty content. But dang this hurt. #booksky

Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves cover

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Tried two cocktails from The GOTO Bartender’s Guide and both were super tasty. One involved making hojicha infused vodka and I’ve got to say the Hojicha Milk Punch is dangerously delicious. (The Kyoto Old Fashioned was delicious as well — just easier to sip in moderation 😅) #cookbooks

A green cocktail in front of The Big Bad Book of Kaiju

A milky looking cocktail with crushed tea leaves sprinkled on top in front of a kindle displaying The Black Cats Bookshop

A Hojicha Milk Punch cocktail on the GOTO Bartender’s Guide cookbook

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Feeling cool that I got to be part of this panel interview about book reviews for Library Journal. 😁

Headline of LJ Article: Book Verdict: Celebrating the Art, Craft, and Use of Reviews

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Bouchercon is coming up so fast! And I got asked to be on a panel! "Notes From the Checkout/Sales Desk" -- What booksellers and librarians wish readers and writers knew about supply chains, hand-selling, book signings, and shelf space. Th 1130-1215. Anyone going to be there? #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I don't think I'm ever going to get used to the thrill of seeing someone liked my review enough to use it in library marketing emails that show up unexpectedly. 😁 Also, isn't that UK cover amazing? #booksky

An advertisement for Yoon Ha Lee's Code and Codex with a quote that says, "A dazzlingly immersive science-fantasy novel of linguistic domination." Library Journal starred review.

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I hesitated to get to this sequel -- The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, trans by Cat Anderson -- because the first one had me bawling (in a good way). The series understands grief in such a beautiful way, as the characters have a last meal with someone gone. #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

One that I keep coming back to over the years is Micah Dean Hicks' Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones which is this beautifully strange novel of ghosts with weird powers, being trapped in a small factory town, super science, pig people, and it's a lovely, horrific, sad, beautiful...

Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones by Micah Dean Hicks

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Still fiddling with some of the photos to get them to lay right, but it does feel good to see things all laid out!

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I also listened to Baek Seungyeon's The Seoul Letter Shop, translated by Clare Richards. A woman hides from her sister's letters of apology and her own murky future by helping a community connect through letters and a penpal service. Really lovely Korean healing fiction. #booksky

The Seoul Letter Shop

Baek Seungyeon, Clare Richards (Translated by)

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I made MacGuffin pose with Witch Week for me. 😅 This was a pretty dark Diana Wynne Jones MG book set in a world where even children are burned for witchcraft, so when an anonymous notes says there's a witch in class, the bullying and cliques are potentially deadly to the unpopular kids. #booksky

Fluffy black cat MacGuffin and Diana Wynne Jones' Witch Week book

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

My brothers came to visit so we took in some shows. 😁

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

FInished The Final Death of Namjoo Han by Elaine U Cho that I was talking about the other day and... it continued to be amazing. The pacing, the characters, the worldbuilding, the Hades vibes... 🤩 Wasn't sure how it could end satisfyingly, but luckily Cho did! #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

And some others high on my TBR: BONES OF JADE, FLESH LIKE ICE by Gracie Marsden, WHERE FIRE REIGNS by Jared Pechaćek,A MOUTH FULL OF FINS by Cho Yeeun, and FROM THE LIBRARY OF JURGEN LEITNER by Premee Mohamed (a Magnus Archives tie-in). #ewgc #booksky

FROM THE LIBRARY OF JURGEN LEITNER by Premee Mohamed

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Sequels I'm excited for! THE YULE DAY SLAUGHTER by Craig DiLouie, PRUDENCE MARSH IS NOT A NOBODY ANYMORE by Emily Krempholtz,DEVOURING GODS by Jedediah Berry, and REVENGE IN A SMALL TOWN by Delia Pitts #ewgc #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I've never been as excited as when I heard Kulski talk aboiut CRACKS, which follows a bi-racial Korean person encountering a mul gwisin -- water ghost (only the second time I've seen one in English fiction!). Horror dealing with grief, history, and family secrets! #ewgc #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm partway through THE FINAL DEATH OF NAMJOO HAN by Elaine U Cho and am so hooked. A woman dies again and again trying to escape the bathhouse afterlife she's assigned. While not LitRPG, I wonder if it will appeal to the fans because it feels like playing rogue-likes such as Hades. #ewbc #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

THE TURNING OF SALLY-MAE by Nuzo Onoh follows a wronged Christian missionary who becomes caught between two goddesses - one who wants her unborn twins and the other wants her life. Amara, a disease-eater, could be her ally, but Sally-Mae most wants revenge on her home town. #ewbc #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

GODBOUND by Rowan Skye is a GREAT rec for anyone who loved Kerstin Hall's Asunder & desperately wants that sequel! A woman must hide all her memories -- even her name -- to hide from a jealous, psychopathic god she bargained with. But her almost-lover is on her trail, needing revenge. #ewgc #booksky

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Julie Leong's THE ISLE OF LONELY MONSTERS features an island full of creatures rescued from the prejudices and exploitation of the kingdom. They're rescued by a lonely monster hunter with secrets of her own... She's convinced to work with a sorcerer monk to capture the last dragon. #ewgc #booksky

The Isle of Lonely Monsters by Julie Leong

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I don't know why, but I got a wild hair to make one of those yearly book brackets people were doing and then I spent way too much time making one that I liked better and... I have lots of other things I could have been working on instead. 🤣 Anyway, now maybe I can get that review done... #booksky

A book bracket graphic with a cucumber beetle on a rose as the background. Wreck Your Heart is the first quarter winner (over The List of Suspicious Things and Maybe Next Time Will Be Our Turn), As We Fall Through Time is the second quarter winner (over Exit Party and All Hail Chaos), and third quarter semi finalists are Murder at the End of the World and When the Night Comes Knocking.

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Four excellent books I’ve read this week. 😁 How Can My Manager Be So Stupid (funny), Isle of Lonely Monsters (a hug on a hard day), Preaching To the Choir (a creepy good time), and Soft Flotsam, Tender Jetsam (gorgeously devastating and makes my grief feel normal). #booksky

Me with How Can My Manager Be So Stupid and The Isle of Lonely Monsters

Me with Soft Flotsam, Tender Jetsam and Preaching to the Choir

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

How odd. The parts of the country I have little experience with. 🤣 I guess there’s deep oranges on Alaska and North Carolina, which would make more sense.

Map showing Milwaukee, Saint Louis, and Madison.

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

August wrap-up! I'd say Murder at the End of the World was my favorite read of the month. #booksky

Battle of the Round House, Return to Breakneck Island, Devour Me, Murder at the End of the World, Godbound, The Trolley to Yesterday, Don't Go There, The Art of Charming a Changeling, The Tinder Box, Tsubaki Stationery Store, Deadbeat Druid, Preaching to the Choir, The Turning of Sally Mae, In What World, Kiki's Delivery Service, Ithaca

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

What video game changed your life?

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

This was one of the most random spammy e-mails to come back to... A plaque for my feature? Took me a minute to figure out what it was even referring to since it makes it look like I'm being highlighted. I assume it's because I got to be part of this panel interview about reviews for Library Journal.

Screenshot of a ad saying "Congratulations on your recent feature in the Library Journal. Would you like to showcase this proud achievement with a beautiful plaque?"

Screenshot of a Library Journal headline: Book Verdict: Celebrating the art, craft, and use of reviews.

It includes panelist's names -- including mine.

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

My final book stack from WorldCon this year. 😁 #booksky

A stack of books that includes:
That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic by Keala Kendall
The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
Rain Music by Patrick Swenson
This Machine Kills Billionaires by TR Napper
Unpossible by Daryl Gregory
The History of the World Begins in Ice by Kate Elliott
Ghost of the Neon God by TR Napper
Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill
36 Streets by TR Napper
The Future is Antifascist by Brian U Garrison

A sticker that says DoomedA.F. (As Foretold)
A beaded friendship bracelet that says "You'll Let Me Down Again"

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

This is the first time Valesti has ever hung out by my head. She came from the shelter a very timid cat so I’ve trying to respect her very strict, strong boundaries for years while building up trust! (For a while I could only pet her when she waited on a specific stair)

Me and Valesti the cat lounging in bed while MacGuffin cuddles.

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Made it to WorldCon! First panel was on cannibalism. 🤣 (it’s been a fascinating one!)

Kylie Lee Baker, Jared Pechaček, K Valentin, Kaden Love

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The Downstairs People (the bookmobile and outreach folks 😉) are the absolute best! They made my morning so much better with their custom bookshelf for me. 🤣

A paper bookshelf of books with titles such as “Strange Libraries” and “I Could be Digging for Bones: Unused College Degrees”.

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

A slightly heavier Japanese healing fiction novel about a woman who inherits a stationery shop. Her side business is to write letters for people who can’t find the words themselves and I love how carefully she considers everything from ink and paper to matching clients’ voices. #booksky

Tsubaki Stationery Store by Ito Ogawa, translated by Cat Anderson

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I know so many of my friends will love this one — a cozy fantasy romance about a neurodivergent art curator who journeys into fae lands to investigate a forgery because she’s befriended the delightful fairy in the copied painting and wants to free him. #booksky

The Art of Charming a Changeling by Sylvie Cathrall

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If you see this, share your pet 🐾

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I’m so addicted to multiverse stories these days. In this drama club rivals return to high school when their teacher vanishes. They chase him into alternate realities and discover the profound effect they always have on each other, and that maybe rival isn’t the only role they can play #booksky

THESE TWO? IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER?
IN WHAT WORLD
a novel
"This is a story that will carry you off and away."
-HANNAH BONAM-YOUNG, New York Times©
Bestselling Author
R
OF
SUMMER FEELING
Bridget Morussey

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I definitely feel like having all three cats on the bed means I shouldn’t have to go to work yet.

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

You never know where Carey is going next! This one is inspired by Anderson’s fairy tale, following an ex soldier who can summon demons with the box, while being stalked by a witch who wants it, stumbling into trouble in a kingdom that’s anti-magic until he discovers his true desire. #booksky

The Tinder Box by MR Carey audiobook cover

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

“This ship is sinking and you got off it without me.”

Two months until the apocalypse
Two women with nothing left to lose
Murder at the End of the World
Akane Araki
荒木あかね

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

The concept behind this cookbook — breads mostly made with just a cup of flour — and my first one looks super cute! But also, I really like bread so will these be enough to satisfy me? 🤣 #booksky #cookbooks #baking

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

RETURN TO BREAKNECK ISLAND by Tom Ryan feels like getting to experience your favorite classic adventure mystery for the first time again. ♥️ I love these characters so much and this time we get the spooky disappearance of a lighthouse family in a storm… #ewgc #booksky

RETURN TO
BREAKNECK ISLAND
TREASURE HUNTERS
CLUB MYSTERY
TOM RYAN

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Matthew @fineplan.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

A MAGICAL GIRL REHIRED ABY park Seolyeon, translated by Anton Hur is a perfect sequel. It continues to take magical girls in unexpected, strangely practical, fully relevant directions. This also expands the world and lore about their powers and purpose! #ewgc #booksky

A Magical Girl Rehired
PARK SEOLYEON
AUTHOR OF A MAGICAL GIRL RETIRES
TRANSLATED BY ANTON HUR

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