iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is me every October. Well, every evening. Let's be real.

You should definitely check Mary out as she is awesome.

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I am here for this one! Spooky Books Must Be Shared!

I've been thinking a lot about Twin Tribes' "Cauldron of Thorns." Their music video for it is literally my entire personal and professional aesthetic. I'd honestly write fanfic of that video, a young woman pursued by two very creepy suitors. Just a rose in a cauldron of thorns. #HorrorWritersChat

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Lux Interior (RIP) from The Cramps arrives in a zombie apocalypse scenario, but ends up having a heck of a lot of fun, turning it into the most entertaining doomsday ever. It would make one hell of a music video. #HorrorWritersChat

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Funny you should say that. My recently-rejected story involves a goth band who accidentally summon an ancient demon (as one does). It is always part of my personal writing process, though. Twin Tribes has kept me the most productive lately. It's like turning on a switch. #HorrorWritersChat

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It's me. I write weird gothic fiction with Victorian vibes. I listen to a few genres, but tend toward much of what would be called goth or goth-adjacent (hi, I'm goth). Lyrical content matters to me more, so I like profound stuff in music, which you can find in a lot of places. #HorrorWritersChat

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I've rarely seen a truer meme/art project. Well done!

I would definitely read these at midnight. Spooky books must be shared.

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Cracked open The Shining before taking a nap. Initial thoughts: I had forgotten that he was gonna be at that hotel as a caretaker over the winter. I was like, "But he's a writer..." but then, I thought, "Oh yeah, he's a writer." Already, I feel attacked, @stephenking.bsky.social #writer #horror

My lifelong dream is to run a nocturnal bookstore with a nonalcoholic goth club/coffeehouse in the back. Ahhhh.

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Spooky books must be shared! :)

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Help a person, #horror! This is a public service for soul who needs to be creeped out!

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Jack Nicholson's Iconic 'Here's Johnny!' Scene

I have obtained from the library a very shiny copy of The Shining. I am going to read my first (I know) Stephen King book (outside of On Writing). I feel like I am going to highly identify with a writer losing his mind. Oh it's going DOWN! Let spooky season begin! #booksky #writer #horror

static.klipy.com

Alt: Jack Nicholson's Iconic 'Here's Johnny!' Scene

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Should you find yourself in the Atlanta, GA area, please look me up at my first literary festival, the Gwinnett Literary Arts Festival. It's held in my hometown of Lawrenceville, and I am so excited, because I am have been through a lot to get to this point! #HorrorWritersChat

A plain but stylized flyer with a picture of people browsing a bookstall.

Reads:

All ages welcome!

Sunday, September 27
3:00pm-7:00PM

Bookworms unite! Join us and our partners at Gwinnett County Public Library for a relaxing evening at this showcase of authors and artists.

Vendors wanted!
GwinnettHistoricRentals@GwinnettCounty.com | 770.822.5450

Gwinnett Historic Courthouse
185 West Crogan Street, Lawrenceville
GwinnettParks.com

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Diversity AND vampire AND AND awesome artwork and writing? What is not to love? Give this one a go! #booksky

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Dear Heart, a bigger horror enthusiast than me, encouraged me to write and to start to publish. I was terrified of shopping out my work, so afraid. He helped me out of homelessness and into a situation where I could breathe, and therefore create. I cannot thank him enough. #HorrorWritersChat

Sit me between Louisa May Alcott and Edgar Allan Poe, with Baudelaire next to Poe, as he's a big fan. Aubrey Beardsley would probably be selling prints nearby, chatting with Oscar Wilde, who would smirk at it all. H. P. Lovecraft would be hiding in the bathroom hyperventilating. #HorrorWritersChat

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Undoubtedly my favorite conference would be about the gothic novel and tradition. I have presented academically on the subject several times, and forever want to learn something new. And if I am lucky, they summon the ghosts of Ann Radcliffe, Daphne du Maurier and L. M. Alcott. #HorrorWritersChat

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C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Good evening, #HorrorWritersChat I am myself, write a lot of things. What I am working on now with both shock and delight. Imagine a TTRPG with the candlelit creepiness of a classic Victorian ghost story. But with a twist, for this is a haunted house where your actions determine ghostly reactions.

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Yesterday was a weird day: birthday of my late mother and death day of my late father. My father's abscence during the vast of majority of my life hits hard sometimes, even several years after his death. I often think of Stromae's "Papaoutai" when I think of him. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiKj...

youtube.com

Stromae - papaoutai (Official Video)

YouTube video by StromaeVEVO

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C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I do exist. Kind of bummed as I had a three month streak of not having any panic attacks, and ruined it by having two in 24 hours. Oh well. I can start the count again and maybe go four months without a panic attack this time!

C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This is going to be my everything. Two childhood icons in one? Yes, please! #horror #goosebumps

Alt: A GIF focusing on a clearly sick looking person from the 19th century, wasting away in bed. No idea what the source image is.

Here is another #writer life thing they don't tell you: the cycle of shame for not being productive, while stuck in a social media or literally anything else freeze, but add more guilt because you're not doing anything productive. It has been so hard getting back into a writing routine.

static.klipy.com

Victorian Child Painting

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I need more Clive Barker. Now that I've finished "The Hellbound Heart," I need something that does something similar. That beautiful twistedness that I'd never encountered prior. However, I am struggling to find Barker at the library or in bookstores. Good places for used copies? #booksky #horror

I originally read this as "Things You Should do ASAP for Artists/Authors" and got excited. I really want people to do things for me! Nonetheless, this should be worth a gander!

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Hey #booksky is there any way to flag posts that are irrelevant to the feed, to help keep them from repopulating? I've seen a lot of pointedly NOT book related posts lately and, while I block or mute, wondered if there is a way to just flag them. I get if this is impossible, however.

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Read bell hooks. She will change your life.

C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Thank you to those on Bluesky who have been kind and reasonable to me, even when I spout not-popular opinions. It is a testament to how kind and charitable the people of Bluesky are. I've been here well over a year and have only had to block two people for harassment. Thank you for community.

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C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Why does everyone seem to be writing in present tense these days? I really feel out of the loop here, because most of what I still read is not contemporary. Growing up, everything was written in past tense, and I find present tense so jarring I will just put it down altogether. #booksky #writer

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C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I joined the Atlanta Horror Writers Association for the release party for Southern Monsters, a yummy horror anthology. I am thrilled to recommend it, as anthologies are a labor of love, and horror is done best in short stories, IMO. #horror #booksky Find yours here! www.amazon.com/dp/B0HBXW8QP...

A woman in bat-framed glasses and black lipstick, standing in front of blacklight artwork in a selfie-style portrait.

A black metal bookshelf holding the Southern Monsters anthology in display, the housed in the shelf books in the background. To the left is a placard with the words, "You goth this."

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C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

It's Suicide Prevention Month. Please take a gander at a (free) article about my professional-level experience of having ideation, and how I worked through it. It's a good story and you staying matters a LOT. 🖤 #writer #mentalhealth #suicideprevention #stay cmblack.substack.com/p/it-gets-be...

cmblack.substack.com

It Gets Better, I Fucking Swear

Working past suicidal ideation from someone with an extensive resume in it

C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I am a creature from the black pleather lagoon. (Because vegetarian creature.)

C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Do you need to fabricate a whole name as a professional author? I see a lot of people using initials, then last names I know aren't real and wonder. Look, I can't help it that I got lucky for the horror writer/goth last name. I just use my (IRL) initials to keep people guessing. #writer #goth

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C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This looks yummy. Spooky books must be shared!

If I were part of a secret society that controlled the world, it would be the Procrastinati. Here I am, yet again, procrastinating the writing I need to do. #writer

Hands down my favorite. Horror poetry FTW!

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This is great news! So excited! <3

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The tone here is *chef's kiss*.

In my recently rejected story, a guitar plays a key role, from the summoning of the demon lady to her destruction. It's a story about a goth band and a very ancient demon. The guitar plays (excuse the pun) a double meaning, as it is instrument of destruction and restoration. #HorrorWritersChat

Three adorable puppies: beanbag bodies and plastic heads, their doe eyes just...watching. Why do they look so secretive? Why did they come out of their mother? I put them in her belly last night! Why is blood pooling from beneath their tiny bodies? Why are they looking at me? #HorrorWritersChat

I tend to do the opposite, actually. I like to create a dreadful, scary atmosphere around a story, then let the reader see the thing they think is scary is not. That's kind of my thing: working people up only to let them down, because a lot of what we think is scary is not. #HorrorWritersChat

C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Hi, it's me. I am in a writing slump but do some gothic thing. IMO, it would be cool if any of my childhood toys were turned into a horror object, so I can't answer this to your liking, perhaps. TMNTs into an animated conga line? Sure! Barbies coming after jerkish adults? Yup! #HorrorWritersChat

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C.M. Black @foucaultu.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

My core life skills are standing up for the right thing and making people highly uncomfortable in the process. The joy of being a weird little Marxist in the South.