iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

So apparently Google forced Gemini on my five-year-old Android phone overnight. Anyone feel like a class action lawsuit?

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Her sense of responsibility. She's taking on a nearly impossible task because she's trying to stone for a mistake her family made.

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Kirsty Isla Thomas @kirstyislathomas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Folks - Category Is Books has had another window smashed in - please donate if you can!! This is an amazing queer bookshop and community hub in Glasgow, we need to support these spaces more than ever just now!

gofundme.com

Donate to Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!, organized by Category Is Books

For the past eight years, Category Is Books has been able to comfortably oper… Category Is Books needs your support for Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!

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Reposted by Dylan Freeman

Hell Itself Magazine @hellitself.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Writers, if you have a hard-to-sell speculative Christmas / Winter Holiday story (more speculative than simply "Santa exists," please), we're love to consider it. hellitself.com/submission-g...

hellitself.com

Submission Guidelines – Hell Itself

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Thank you, ODOT, for closing a massive stretch of highway for three months and increasing my commute by 10+ minutes.

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Undertow Publications 🇨🇦 @undertow.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Publishers and Editors! I'm taking subs for Vol. 3 of the award-nominated "Best Weird Fiction of the Year" til end of the year. Writers! You'll get a chance to submit your 2026 stories in January. bestspecfic(at)gmail.com

Esteemed Editors and Publishers,

I am now taking submissions of original 2026 short fiction projects — magazines, anthologies, single-author collections — for consideration in The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 3. (Publishing Sept. 2027). Vol. 1 is a World fantasy Award Finalist.

I am seeking material first published this year, in 2026. To be clear, only weird fiction FIRST published in 2026 is eligible for inclusion in this volume. I will accept translated work as long as the first English-language publication was 2026.

Stories should be between 500 and 17,499 words. Audio only stories are also ineligible, unless they also appeared as text.

Publishers and editors are encouraged to send electronic or digital copies, via the email address below. (I am not accepting hard copy submissions.) ePubs are preferred, but I will also accept text files (Word), Mobi, or PDF. Please do not cherry-pick selections. Send the entire book, journal, or magazine to:

bestspecfic@gmail.com

Thank you for your time and kind consideration.

Warm Wishes,

Michael
--

Michael Kelly / Publisher / Editor-in-Chief
undertowbooks@gmail.com

Undertow Publications
https://undertowpublications.com/

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I need a new computer chair. Haven't been able to write properly in a hot minute because mine's starting to give up the ghost.

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Merc Fenn Wolfmoor @mercwolfmoor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Hey pals… A good friend and coworker was recently diagnosed with cancer and is out of work for treatment. It really sucks. His brother has started a GoFundMe to help (because American unaffordable healthcare), and I’d appreciate any shares if you could www.gofundme.com/f/support-cj...

static.klipy.com

Awkward Puppets Diego: I Hate This Already

Alt: Awkward Puppets Diego: I Hate This Already

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I always feel less bad about not being able to write during the day when I DM a Pathfinder game. It's a creative outlet that I enjoy, just not one I get to do very often.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Oh boy I love looking at social media and seeing Discourse(TM) about one of my potential comp titles for my WIP. #writingcommunity

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Yet again, I'm paranoid I'm missing rejection notices from markets I've submitted to.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

How would one go politely inquiring about a market that says "No AI Submissions please :)" but clearly uses AI art? #writingcommunity

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Sam Rutherford (he/him) @echomikeromeo.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The window of my local queer bookshop was smashed last week. They're fundraising to install shutters so they can keep themselves and their community safe. Support this one-of-a-kind place, its one-of-a-kind proprietors, and the whole Glasgow queer & trans community: www.gofundme.com/f/categoryis...

gofundme.com

Donate to Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!, organized by Category Is Books

For the past eight years, Category Is Books has been able to comfortably oper… Category Is Books needs your support for Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!

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Reposted by Dylan Freeman

Mari Ness, writer of things @mariness.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

One week later, I have an official response from #LACon #Worldcon! I thought all of you should see the entire thing: "Summary: Walking participants only Action Taken: Noted by Listeners team Current Status: CLOSED"

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

As was revealed to me in a dream, it doesn't rain Skittles. Skittles are actually a form of irradiated hail infused with several flavors, harvested about once every century when a 'double-mega cyclone' occurs. Say what you will about stress, it's been great for my dreamworld. :D

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I need to start keeping a dream journal. My dreams since starting Straterra again have been something else.

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Cohen is a Ghost @skullmandible.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

hey, I was born in the 80s or 90s and I'm looking for a morally acceptable way to continue to like Harry Potter?? you see, I have this special condition where I just... stopped. somewhere along the way, i let the growth inside me die and i gnawed a hole in the past, and there i sit, and there i rot

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Tuta @tuta.com · 31/08/2026

If you have a Gmail account, you need to read this. Google's AI now scans your emails and attachments, bank statements, tax files, medical letters, all of it. It turned on by default, and there's a class-action lawsuit over how. Here are 5 moves to shut it off, the switch is hidden in two places:

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Reposted by Dylan Freeman

Hiro! @a-dragon-from.space · 29/08/2026

Hey, critters. The media's interested in furries again. As someone who's been in the fandom for well over two decades and has worked as a journalist, here's a quick guide to Dealing With The Press: If a journalist approaches you, SHUT THE FUCK UP SHUT THE FUCK UP SHUT THE FUCK UP SHUT THE FUC

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Perils of writing a story out of order: you accidentally write a whole scene with redundant information and don't realize it until you've read through the whole thing in order. #writingcommunity

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

First payday isn't for another three weeks. Anything helps.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

No, I do *not* have to give it to LinkedIn for adding a "Looks like AI Slop" button, especially when the rest of the website is designed by people who think it's a good idea to force you to wait almost a month to reinvite someone to a connection if you accidentally click the wrong button.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

After having an optometrist's appointment at a place that advertises over 4000 locations nationwide, is it just me, or is there something vaguely dystopian about the fact that you can have medical care be franchised like a McDonalds?

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Internet got really bad at my apartment and Bluesky glitched out saying I had over 30 notifications. My first thought was "Oh fuck what did I do?"

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I finally landed a job, but my first payday isn't until mid-September, at the earliest, and I got bills to pay before then. Even a few dollars helps. ko-fi.com/ihpkmn

ko-fi.com

Buy Dylan Freeman a Coffee

Become a supporter of Dylan Freeman today!

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Reposted by Dylan Freeman

Burial Books @burialbooks.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

The anthology Weird Tales to Haunt Your Reptilian Brain is available to read right now! These weird and unusual stories were unleashed in 2025! Click on the link to get your copy now! www.amazon.com/dp/B0F6414WM1 @rebecca_rowland_books @undead_dad_reads @dylantbosworth @authorjlroyce

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

The statement "The Magic the Gathering set for The Hobbit is a better adaptation of the work than the Peter Jackson trilogy" should be an objectively insane statement but here we are.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I am once again begging publishing markets to please use an automated reply system to confirm that submissions have been received. I have ten short stories floating in aether at the moment, and I have no idea if nine of them have been received by the editors I sent them to. #writingcommunity 1/

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Fallout: New Vegas. The opening hours were a boring, glitchy slog and everything after that was already spoiled for me through almost a decade of osmosis, so I didn't see a point in playing through it.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Just sent off another story. That's a total of ten submissions waiting to be responded to. Fingers crossed.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Had to cut almost 2000 words from a WIP, but it flows better now. #writingcommunity

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Bit less extreme than the other examples in the replies, but I once got told a severe case of bronchitis, where I was literally coughing up globs of blood, was just asthma by a practitioner at Urgent Care. I had to go to the ER to get antibiotics prescribed.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I need to stop obsessing over submission turnaround times. It's starting to leak into my subconscious. Last night I dreamt I got a rejection because I submitted a 2000-word piece to a flash-only market by accident.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I feel hesitant reaching out to markets for updates, even if it's been 3+ months since I submitted. My anxiety tells me "asking for an update on a piece is grounds for automatic rejection". Thanks, brain. #writingcommunity

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

August 11th would've been my father's 80th birthday. Fuck cancer.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Legitimately wish I could get motivated to finish my current project. Wrote 60k words in two months, and then it just fizzled. #writingcommunity

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Every time I see discourse about Max Miller, I have to remind myself it's a scumbag from Ohio, and not the Tasting History guy.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Emily Wilson went way too easy on Nolan's Odyssey.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

You ever peek your head into an old fandom, see the kind of 'discourse' that's happening in there, and are glad that you're no longer a part of that community?

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Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

"I don't understand why you, a fantasy writer, don't appreciate the value of making bargains with the fae."

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

My daily routine right now: * write * eat * check Email and Submission Grinder * write * eat * check Email and Grinder * (Tuesdays Only) Play Pathfinder * write * eat * check Email and Grinder * sleep (optional)

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

In the Province of Gal, there are three major schools: Crike, a school for barkeeps and other trades; the Arnest Carter Academy, which started as a school for adventurers but is now more of a scientific academy focusing on magical fauna and archaeology; and Lorintha Academy, a school for mages.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I think I'm secretly an extrovert who's just been too traumatized by bad social interactions to really try putting myself out there in the world.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

The WIP I'm spending the most spoons on focuses on a student of a fantasy trade academy called the Crike School. It teaches things like barkeeping, running shops, metalworking, artificing, and other so-called 'NPC' trades. 1/2

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Squinting. Most of the characters in my setting apparently have really bad eyesight.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

So it seems like Kris Straub's entire body of work has vanished from the internet? Everything from Chainsawsuit to Starslip is gone, and the links on his website are dead. What the heck? Even the original posting of Candle Cove seems to have vanished. What is this?

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

After receiving some harsh but fair crit, I decided to turn my half-epistolary story into a full-on epistolary. Less awkward and lets me have more worldbuilding without every other piece of dialogue feel like an exposition dump.

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

1300 words into a rewrite of a concept I love. Hopefully it gets some traction this time. #writingcommunity

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Dylan Freeman @freemanwrites.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Why do so many markets say "no AI submissions" and then use AI art in their solicitation for stories? It signals to me, at least, that you're a market to be avoided like a bad cliche. #writingcommunity

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