iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Herb Randall

Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Today, we're celebrating the publication of Yelena Moskovich's NADEZHDA IN THE DARK, a novel-in-verse brought to us in the US by Dzanc Books. A story of a relationship, this book offers a review of recent history with Russia's war against Ukraine at the center. #booksky 1/2

Book cover against mossy brick background.
The cover features a partially shaded female face, lying horizontally across the page.
Book info: Nadezhda in the Dark by Yelena Moskovich

A screenshot from the front page of Punctured Lines, featuring the title of the blog and the blog post.
Punctured Lines

Post-Soviet Literature in and outside the Former Soviet Union

“everybody knows . . .” An Excerpt from Nadezhda in the Dark by Yelena Moskovich

A screenshot from the blog post:
When asked to contribute our responses to this book, Yelena Furman said:

“Brimming with references from Russian and Ukrainian literatures to Alla Pugacheva and the Moscow 1990s gay club scene, Nadezhda in the Dark is a poetic disquisition on global history and self-identity. Discussions of Soviet anti-Semitism and the war in Ukraine merge with explorations of immigration and queer love. In language simultaneously lyrical and sharp, Moskovich shows how the personal and political, the present and past, are inextricably linked in ways that are often traumatic but also occasionally hopeful.”

Olga Zilberbourg said: “The Iliad for post-Soviet Jewish dykes . . . Moskovich’s voice commands our attention as it tells – breathlessly, passionately, mixing humor with earnestness – a story about two women whose Soviet roots both unite them and make their relationship impossible. Emotional pitch in this book is turned all the way up! I loved it.”

A screenshot from the blog post:
* * *

everybody knows
Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and Chekhov, and if you’re bookish
Bulgakov and Gogol and Pasternak,
but
who’s talking about Margarita Khemlin,
who died a handful of years back
and left us with a masterpiece,
Klotsvog,

sometimes at night, when Nadya has already fallen asleep next to me
and the blinds on the slanted window of our bedroom are not fully
shut, I lie on my back and
glimpse the broad nighttime sky,
a dark milky sky,
a pauper’s sky,
a dreamer’s sky,

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Brían Hanrahan @hanrahanistan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

in case someone recalls.. an American kids scifi book maybe from the 40s or 50s, about a kid (& his friend?) who walked from N. America to Europe across the Atlantic seabed, wearing pressurized suits don't recall the name, can't find reference to it it is possible I dreamt it but I don't think so

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Early fall evening in the White Mountains

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

З Днем Незалежності 🇺🇦 I cooked Ukrainian borshch as a small way to honor the occasion

A white bowl filled with bright red Ukrainian borshch, topped with sour cream and fresh chopped dill

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Does anyone know if @sublunary.bsky.social is still operating? I’ve not received any subscription mailings this year. I’ve sent a support email but it’s gone unanswered and they don’t seem active here or on X recently. I hope all is ok with them, one of my favorite small publishers.

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Ben O'Connell @benjaminoc.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I'm saddened by the loss of Tim Mohr. Among Tim's many accomplishments were his translations of work by Alina Bronsky and Wolfgang Herrndorf, collaborations with Duff McKagan and Paul Stanley, and his own definitive history of East German punk, Burning Down the Haus.

Tweet by Paul Stanley of KISS with a picture of Tim Mohr and text reading: "Tim Mohr-My dear friend, literary collaborator, pure soul, brilliant mind, street food gourmet and so much more has died from pancreatic cancer. I’m heartbroken. If you knew him you loved him. The world has lost a bright light. A huge embrace for his wife Erin, Greta and Augie."

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Live music is the best. Don’t be lazy, just get out, go to the show! (Saturday night in Portland, Maine)

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Olesya Khromeychuk @okhromeychuk.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Uilleam Blacker and I are delighted to launch The Ukraine Shelf, a podcast where we speak with leading authors, intellectuals, scholars, and journalists about Ukraine and its place in the world. 📚Time to make space for a new bookshelf—you’ll need it! 🎧 Link below.

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Love this album and just look at the back cover photo – Mr. Blakey is not putting up with any bullshit today! #jazz

Back cover of Art Blakey’s jazz album “In My Prime”, showing Art standing on a dock dressed for the seemingly cold weather

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LJ Pemberton @ljabouttown.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

@geoliminal.bsky.social has this story about a lost film, rediscovered and shown to an eager audience of cinephiles, and halfway through, the story becomes a detective noir with a twist. IDK, I think about that story a lot. You should buy his book. malarkeybooks.com/store/toadst...

malarkeybooks.com

Toadstones by Eric Williams — Malarkey

Bloody haruspicy as an archeological technique. The violent premier of a film star’s lost noir masterpiece. A housekeeper’s final job for her late employer. An exhumation to retrieve a poetry manuscri...

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Perfect company on this snowy Sunday: Sibelius and @drdavidvernon.bsky.social’s SUN FOREST LAKE, an erudite exploration of the Finnish composer’s music. Difficult to put down, yet every page is a springboard to discover more works of art that share kinship with the music. Highly recommended!

A collection of books and CDs relating to the music of Jean Sibelius, the iconic Finnish composer

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David Hayden @seventydys.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

The life of the word resides in the fact that it tenses and strains to produce a thousand associations, like the quartered body of the snake of legend, whose separate pieces sought each other in the dark. Bruno Schulz, ‘The Mythologization of Reality’, tr Bates www.brunoschulz.org/mythologizat...

brunoschulz.org

BRUNO SCHULZ

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Frances Evangelista @nonsuchbook.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

A. S. Byatt talk earlier today with @herbrandall.bsky.social @yelenafurman.bsky.social @petipaw.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social made me pull this one from the shelves. I’m going to reread the quartet. ❤️

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. “The Children's Book” was mentioned several times, so I’ll try that next, as well as “The Game”, before continuing on to the Frederica Quartet.

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

A question for my fellow literary-minded friends here: I’ve recently read A.S. Byatt’s “The Matisse Stories” and enjoyed them thoroughly. It’s the first Byatt I’ve read since Possession long ago when it was newly published. What work of hers would you recommend I read next?

A handmade blue and brown ceramic mug filled with black tea, a fountain pen with writing journal and a paperback book atop a wooden circular endtable

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Someone is very happy for the morning’s fresh snow

A Saint Bernard dog happily sniffs and tastes freshly fallen snow

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

I finally tried the famous Tom Nichols lamb recipe. Can confirm: just follow this recipe from his grandmother, ignore the temptation to adjust. I cooked to an internal temperature of 135 F and let rest for 20 minutes for rare / medium rare perfection.

Leg of lamb, “semi-boneless”, covered in garlic salt and oregano, roasted in a large pan

Leg of lamb roast, tzatziki sauce, fresh tomato slices, and spicy roasted potatoes on a blue patterned plate

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Christmas market in Strasbourg, France

Christmas market stall set in front of the enormous cathedral in Strasbourg, France

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

There is so much wonder to experience if you just remember to look

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Eric Williams @geoliminal.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

i just uploaded my own humble contribution to the $5 sampler, which meant i got to peek at the stuff that other Malarkers have put into it and, folks...lemme tell ya... ...get in on this one immediately, for real

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Excellent mail day today! I’ve really been looking forward to hearing this new album from Cracker, packed full of alternative versions, rare demos, and live recordings from across their career, not just the songs forced on you by some streaming algorithm. Check it out! @davidclowery.bsky.social

New retrospective / odds’n’sods CD from alt-rockers Cracker

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

This really is a fantastic book!

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Keith Jarrett’s THE KÖLN CONCERT is still as breathtaking now as it must have been at its release, celebrating the 50th anniversary next year. Largely improvised, Jarrett can even be heard singing quietly along at emotional peaks of the performance: a classic record not to be missed!

Classic jazz vinyl record, with the pianist hunched over the keys, deeply engrossed in his music

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

It turns out listening to THE COMPLETE IN A SILENT WAY SESSIONS by Miles Davis and reading the impressively informative liner notes by Bob Belden was the perfect way to usher in the weekend

Jazz CD from a deluxe box set, with the hardback book containing liner notes facing outwards

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

Practicing pizza today, Neapolitan style dough, topped with cream sauce, sautéed mushrooms, and a mix of French and Italian cheeses

Homemade pizza with cream sauce and sautéed mushrooms

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 28/10/2024

A teasing of snow this morning, first of the season here in the valley

View of a pumpkin overlooking the first snow of the season

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

Frosty and misty this morning in New Hampshire

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 20/10/2024

Enjoying some very fine, seasonally-appropriate weird tales from @geoliminal.bsky.social 🎃

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Eric Williams @geoliminal.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

still got a few of these bad boys left, hit me up if you want a copy of the Greatest Weird Fiction Collection of the Decade, $20 a pop

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 18/03/2024

Many thanks to @LAReviewofBooks for the opportunity to write about this fine and timely memoir by pianist Inna Faliks, about her journey from child prodigy in Odesa to UCLA professor helping guide the next generation of classical musicians. lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...

lareviewofbooks.org

The Journey of a Musical Émigré: On Inna Faliks’s “Weight in the Fingertips” | Los Angeles Review of Books

Herb Randall reviews Inna Faliks’s “Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage.”...

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 19/01/2024

NOTES FROM THE UNDERWORLD by @vikshirley.bsky.social was the perfectly absurdist, absurdly perfect way to break a bit of a reading slump. Also featuring droll illustrations by publisher Joshua Rothes that so suit the text, it’s impossible to imagine the work without them.

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 23/11/2023

A relaxing Thanksgiving morning before the craziness ensues. Happy holiday to everyone celebrating today! 🦃

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Farah Abdessamad @cosmofa.bsky.social · 08/11/2023

I wrote about the desert, prehistoric paintings, and contemporary art in Algeria and Tunisia. I feel so lucky when I get to work on stories like these—everything I love. artreview.com/take-me-to-t...

artreview.com

Take Me to Tassili

The prehistoric desert paintings inspiring a new generation of artists

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 28/10/2023

I got this beautiful bundle of cassette goodness today from @marcissist.bsky.social. Can’t wait to read and listen!

Music cassette tape and book posed on top of a vintage Pioneer dual tape deck

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 22/10/2023

For me, this is the best part when reviewing a book: reading finished, random notes scribbled, now free to contemplate the many different directions my writing might lead as I introduce the work to you, fellow readers

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 22/10/2023

Deep-dish pizza for a spot of cheer on this gloomy, rainy Sunday

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 19/10/2023

I just ordered Marc’s fascinating book “High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape” with the bundled tape and can’t wait to have both in hand! highbiasbook.bandcamp.com.

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 17/10/2023

A welcome bit of light in dark times

A rainbow with mountains in the background and trees in foreground

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 15/10/2023

Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 11/10/2023

Five symphonies to get to know me: 1. Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde 2. Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 3. Nielsen: Symphony No. 3 4. Haydn: Symphony No. 88 5. Mahler: Symphony No. 9 What would you choose?

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Marc Masters 🌵 @marcissist.bsky.social · 10/10/2023

For the latest episode of the Music Book Podcast, my guest is…me! I asked my friend Jesse Jarnow to interview me about my new book “High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape.” Check it out! Thanks Jesse! themusicbookpodcast.buzzsprout.com/2120946/1374...

themusicbookpodcast.buzzsprout.com

019 Marc Masters on Cassette Tapes (w/guest host Jesse Jarnow) - The Music Book Podcast

On this episode, our host Marc Masters is the subject, talking about his new book

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Herb Randall @herbrandall.bsky.social · 09/10/2023

Jumping on the “reading the Nobel prize winner bandwagon.” The Novel prize winner 👇

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