iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 16h

First single you bought with your own money. No Lying! Actually not at all embarrassed by this. It's a great track (lyric by an uncredited Lene Lovich). I knew it because it was used as the theme to THE KENNY EVERETT VIDEO SHOW on Thames/ITV at the time.

Record label of the 45 rpm CBS pressing of SUPERNATURE by Cerrone.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

Ooh, are we doing favourites? We had this in monochrome on our kitchen wall for years.

THE FAR SIDE cartoon of a kaiju outside a city at night reading a sign that towers over it. The sign says "NOTICE: You must be as tall as this sign to attack the city."

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Well, that certainly didn't creep me out at all. Checked and there are a LOT of ghost stories about that stretch. Me, I think it's probably referring to a sally as in a sortie (there was a Civil War skirmish there, so maybe). Anyway, while walking I saw this, which seemed altogether friendlier:

A graffito of No-Face the ghost thing from SPIRITED AWAY (2001), painted in a corner of a rail bridge support, tucked away behind a sprig of grass as if hiding.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Sooooo... yesterday I went on a bit of a train trip to do a boring chore I've been putting off. It meant going on a trainline I'm not very familiar with. Very pretty along that way, southeast of Bath. On the way back, I checked my 'phone to see whereabouts on the line I was... and I saw this:

Grab of a bit of a Google Maps image showing a road running through a wooded area. The road is called "Sally in the Wood."

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

They also had a prototype English Electric Lightning that was very noticeably different from the production model. I dearly wish somebody would do a kit of it.

English Electric Lightning P1.A WG763 in its former place of honour at the entrance to the Air & Space Hall of Manchester's Museum of Science & Industry. After the hall's closure it was transferred to the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

It is nice when you can get a kit of something you've seen in the flesh. The Avro Shackleton AEW.2 WR960 "Dougal" was a centrepiece at the Manchester's MOSI Air & Space Hall until its (shameful) closure. I saw it loads of times, and was delighted when Airfix specifically referenced it.

Avro Shackleton AEW.2 "Dougal" in the middle of Manchester's sadly closed hall and dispersed collection of the Air & Space Museum on Liverpool Road.

Completed (to a very good standard) Airfix model of "Dougal" in 1:72nd scale.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Show me a picture on your phone that has your energy that isn’t a selfie.

Period picture (I'm guessing from the '50s or early '60s) of a policeman with white traffic control sleeves stopping traffic to allow some kids across. In the background is a shop front with a modernist sign reading MODERN RADIO. This place only closed a few years ago (it opened in 1948) and was on Derby Street in Bolton. They never changed the sign, just maintaining it for over 70 years.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

If so, they were wearing headgear like this; those are bowlers.

The Beatles in their pomp, here seen as City gents in pinstripe suits and bowler hats.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Been thinking about DEAD TALENTS SOCIETY (2024) again. Struck me that it's the sort of thing that gets a western remake, but I'm not sure how that would work. The model for how ghosts function is very ESEA: ghost food, money, and goods is important to the narrative. Nah, stick with the original.

The Rookie (Gingle Wang) in her guise as the "Cursed Phone Ghost" dressed in a long black wig and wearing a bloodstained sailor suit-style school uniform looks askance at the army of Sadako lookalikes that surround her in a promotional image for DEAD TALENTS SOCIETY (2024).

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

"And Jesus said, 'Next time, wear a crash helmet you fucking numbnut.' And lo, he did mock the numbnut for being called Poirot, yet having not the little grey cells allotted even unto a squirrel, a stupid squirrel, a stupid squirrel on industrial quantities of acid."

The evangelical speaker had an accident in October 2021, when he flipped backward while riding an electric skateboard at around 30 miles per hour without a helmet, landing on his head and cracking his skull.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Thinking about it, "The Web of Fear" earlier in the year scared me, again because the Yeti were wandering the streets of modern day Britain. The bit where they intercept and massacre Lethbridge-Stewart's patrol when they leave the Underground horrified me.

A brace of Type 2 Yeti from "The Web of Fear" (1968), one carrying one of the energy-absorbing web guns, advance across a storage yard in London. In the background the bodies of two dead British Army soldiers are visible.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It was certainly from DOCTOR WHO, but I recall being mostly fascinated rather than scared. I think seeing the Cybermen on urban streets rather than distant planets put the wind up me, though.

Part of the famous scene (and photoshoot) from DOCTOR WHO "The Invasion" (1968) showing a cadre of Cybermen (Mk.IVs, I think) walking down the since heavily remodelled stairs on Peter's Hill with St. Paul's Cathedral massive in the background.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I often bless the memory of Denis Gifford. I got his (seemingly ubiquitous in the UK) PICTORIAL HISTORY OF HORROR MOVIES in 1975 and it was a formative influence. He made a point of covering the silent era in some detail and made it something I was desperate to sample.

The dust jacket cover of the early hardback edition of Denis Gifford's A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF HORROR MOVIES, first published in 1973. The cover has painted images of assorted horror icons rendered in ghoulish shades of green and yellow of the Universal version of the Frankenstein monster, the Lugosi and Lee Draculas, Lon Chaney as the Phantom of the Opera, and Peter Cushing looking concerned.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Just thinking of the zillions of Magic Robots that must be out there in landfill, feeling very hurt and abandoned, and plotting their collective revenge against an ungrateful humanity.

Box cover of the fourth edition of Merit's "The Amazing MAGIC ROBOT." Three school children watch with glee as an art deco robot with a pointer confidently indicates the correct answer. The box copy states it "Always gives the right answer," which is true as the way it worked made it mechanically impossible that it would answer incorrectly. In that respect, it was streets ahead of LLMs.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I am writing a new thing and I am enjoying the new thing that I am writing.

As if on an unsounded signal, the doors opened and all three women slid out into the darkness like cats, leaving me abandoned like the last pudding on the cart. Now, it behoves a gentleman to know his limits, and — while mine are famously broad — they do exist. Nature has blessed me with a form that is notable, statuesque even, perhaps — as I am aware I have been characterised on occasion — verging upon ursine, which is very handy when calling a cab, but hardly renders me panther-like. In the usual run of things, I would have led the reconnaissance of the house, but I am rather less bulletproof than I would like (although I am working on solutions to that, given how often my endeavours result in ruffians casting bullets at me) and, furthermore, eschew the use of firearms myself. They are barbaric devices, which is why I always have Miss Bixby as my barbarian in residence. Still, a fellow doesn’t like to sit on his hands when the ladies are willingly putting themselves in harm’s way, so I followed them into the night at a sedate amble, staying to the shadow of the trees and remembering not to smoke while I was about it.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Turns out WHOOPS APOCALYPSE (TV 1982/Movie 1986) wasn't nearly ludicrous enough to keep up with reality.

Woman selling patriotic mushroom cloud badges from a tray labelled "Wear Your Mushroom with Pride" from the title sequence of WHOOPS APOCALYPSE.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Get well soon! Just started on the fourth volume (subtitled "Twisted Paths") of WITCH HAT ATELIER by the disgracefully talented Kamome Shirahama. Was blown away by the anime, so now I'm borrowing my son's copies of the manga. I get strong Diana Wynne Jones vibes from it, and that's very high praise.

Cover of the fourth volume of WITCH HAT ATELIER by Kamome Shirahama. It bears an illustration of atelier student Richeh sitting on the edge of a very high cliff, a lake and mountains in the background. Her long pale blue hair is whipped by the winds at such a high vantage.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"It's cute because it 'basically looks like a baby.'"

Photograph of a baby doll standing in the corner of an abandoned stationmaster's house in Nottinghamshire. It is is not, by any stretch of the imagination, cute.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Mixed feelings about my ATOMFALL novel. Delighted that it's out, less so that it was published four months ago and I only found out today. That aside, I think I did good work with this and, considering its less than barnstorming release, It's got nice reviews. ATOMFALL: THE SECRETS OF WINDSCALE

Cover of ATOMFALL: THE SECRETS OF WINDSCALE, showing the protagonist, journalist Jenny Coggins, regarding the Windscale plant in the distance. Blue energy emanates up from the ruined plant, and lighting strikes down from an angry cloud above.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

... a jolly RPG of jolly rogers, strange magics, perfidious imperialism, and dubious personal hygiene employing the systems of BLADES IN THE DARK to power its malefactorious heart. Simply as an artefact, it is a wonderfully illustrated clothbound volume, but aye! Look unto its innards, me buckos.

A very classy red clothbound book with a gold embossed image of a skull and crossbones wearing a tricorn upon its cover. The book is lying upon a rather less classy faux-marble kitchen worktop.

Six two page spreads from the 350 pages of which the book is comprised, all in full colour and showing such things as a ship cutaway, a map of "The Devil's Punchbowl" and a town, and two unfortunate British officers being ensorcelled and thus turned into a shoal of small, silvery fish. They seem generally unhappy with the experience.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Now THAT'S what I call an aircraft. Go Nu-Deco or go home.

Distinctly BUCK ROGERSesque wind-tunnel maquette model of an advanced jet aircraft from THE NET (1953). To be exact, it's the N7, a nuclear powered rocket plane that is actually technically a flying boat (hence its deep keel) that is part of a programme to develop a spacecraft.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Oh, man, that is a handsome cover to what is a must-have collection. Very pleased that the ghost train from "The Companion" is an element on the cover. One of my favourite stories ever, to the extent that it's even got a nod in JOHANNES CABAL THE NECROMANCER.

Cover of the upcoming Ramsey Campbell collection THE SHOW GOES ON, edited by Jeremy Dyson and published by the British Library. The cover is very classy line art in yellow against a midnight blue with elements from several Campbell stories, notably the ghost train from the story "The Companion."

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Ah, the One True Cross, which naturally puts me in mind of the opening episode of BONEKICKERS (2008), a crackers episode that isn't even the most crackers in the series. The most notable thing about that series was how many legendary artefacts were destroyed in it. Yes, including the One True Cross.

Julie Graham, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Hugh Bonneville, and Adrian Lester before they went on to better things, i.e. anything that wasn't BONEKICKERS (2008).

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

yeah but yeah but yeah but just wait until our automatic strawberry picking wonder machine is ready for market yes it may look like a pile of overcooked spaghetti mixed with iron filings right now but it's the future you luddite now give us another billion dollars future'll be ready soon honest

Suzuka of Atarashii Gakko! in 2020 holding a microphone and saying to camera, "Everyone, please watch with moderate expectations."

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Just kicked off with @groomb.bsky.social's MADE IN MANCHESTER. I'm decently au fait with the city's history, but only in bits and pieces. I'm hoping this book helps to draw together that knowledge and give overall context. Not been reading it long, but I've enjoyed what I've read thus far.

Hardback edition cover of MADE IN MANCHESTER by Brian Groom, subtitled "A People's History of the City that Shaped the Modern World."

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Things I was frightened of as a child: 1) "Witch hat" roundabouts. 2) Illus. of "The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall." 3) The Autons. 4) Cave Hill erupting (I'd been told it was a dormant volcano). 5) Cathy's ghost at the window when I ill-advisedly read WUTHERING HEIGHTS at the age of ten.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I was underwhelmed when I saw TRON in the cinema, but on the other hand, if there'd never been a TRON, we would never have had this beautiful and enormously enjoyable game:

Sit down booth (which is the best way to play it because you might be in there for a while once you get any good at it) for the DISCS OF TRON arcade game from 1983.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Some characters are just indecently good fun to write. Miss Bixby in one such. #WiP

For her answer, she came to the rail holding her prize. It was a sub machine gun. “It’s a gun cupboard, professor!” she cried, and I swear her eyes were sparkling. Christmas had come early for Miss Bixby. She slammed a stick magazine into it and brandished the loaded weapon with glee. “There are more magazines, but this is the only loaded one,” she said. “Sensible to preserve the springs, but a mild nuisance in the circumstances. Still,“ she came back down to the floor of the hold via the steps this time, “if one cannot conclude one’s business with 32 bullets, then perhaps one needs to work upon one’s aim.”

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Researching the (pre-separation) Korean flag for reasons, and discovered this is what it used to look like in 1893. ALL HAIL THE HYPNO FLAG

A Korean flag, similar to the modern South Korean flag. The centre is fenced in with four trigrams representing the four classical elements, and in the centre is a taegeuk, a swirling red and blue pattern that is proportioned as a yin/yang symbol without the dots, but in this earlier version is distinctly a spiral although it only makes one full turn.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

This thing is adorable! "Tunnan" literally means barrel. Look at its chubby little cheeks! Oooos got chubby little cheeks? OOOV GOT CHUBBY LITTLE CHEEKS! Seriously, looks like something Derek Medding's workshop produced for UFO. You'd believe this thing being launched from the nose of a submarine.

The SHADO Skydiver 1 model being maintained during production of UFO (1970). Sky 1 is the fighter aircraft mounted at the submarine's bow, which can be launched from periscope depth (let's not worry about subsequent cavitation with the submarine component bulldozing its way through the water while the aircraft's not there. The aft part is the Diver 1 submarine.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I stand corrected, but, wow, when it's lying on the water at rest, it makes me think of an unfortunate moth that's landed on a pond just prior to a perch taking an interest.

Aft view of a Convair F2Y Sea Dart lying in shallow water close by a boat ramp. It looks more like it's ditched and is considering sinking rather than having buoyance, but looks can be deceptive.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

And there is indeed a kit of it to be had. Ooooh, tempted.

Box art for the Xtrakit 1:72nd scale model kit of the Saunders-Roe SRA-1 (yes, the designation's a little different from that given in the Wiki article), showing a painting of one skimming the waves, presumably on a landing approach.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I don't tend to model aircraft, I much prefer land vehicles. But occasionally I come across an aircraft so barkingly eccentric, I kind of want to build one. May I introduce to you the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1, the world's first and possibly only jet-propelled fighter flying boat:

A black and white photo of a Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 floating at anchor. It's aesthetically a distinctively early British jet design, except it seem happy to sit in the water. Its jet engines are tucked under its wing stems.

The very same aircraft with landing gear deployed parked up on an airfield apron. This picture's in colour and we can marvel at its very dull pale aquamarine paintwork.

The only surviving example (only three were built), here seen on display at the Solent Sky aerospace museum in Southampton. We have a good view of its prodigious air intake at the nose, surmounted by louvres for four 20mm autocannon.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I'd like something that echoed the ROBIN OF SHERWOOD TV series (1984-86). Took itself seriously even when it was being weird (VERY weird at times; Richard O'Brien kept turning up), some top tropes ("GISBURNE!" The Sheriff almost permanently in his bath, etc), and Ray Winstone was Will Scarlet.

Publicity picture for ROBIN OF SHERWOOD (1984-86) with -- in the back row -- Will Scarlet (Ray Winstone), Little John (Clive Mantle), Marion (Judi Trott), Robin (Michael Praed), Friar Tuck (Phil Rose), Nasir (Mark Ryan). Front row: Much (Peter Llewellyn Williams), Edward of Wickham (Jeremy Bulloch).

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

@ewacat.bsky.social Discovered this at the weekend and thought you might like to see it, should you be unaware of it.

Boxer cover for the board game RACCOON TYCOON, with an illustration of a raccoon wearing a bowler hat and tweed suit while holding up a storm lantern against a bucolic backdrop with some light industry visible. The game was designed by Glenn Drover and published by Forbidden Games.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

GAMMA WORLD's been licensed out a few times, but I kind of wish WotC would do new versions of some of the others out of sheer bloody-mindedness. C'mon, guys, you know the world needs TOP SECRET 3e. Well, no, it doesn't, but do it anyway.

Box cover art of the second edition of TOP SCRET RPG (1987), showing such high tech equipment as a Walther P-38, a pocket calculator, and a picture of a lady.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Was just thinking about all the other IPs other than D&D that TSR had and now presumably belong to Wizards of the Coast. GAMMA WORLD, TOP SECRET, GANGBUSTERS, STAR FRONTIERS, BOOT HILL... and AMAZING ENGINE, which sucked so forget about that.

Box cover art for BOOT HILL 2nd edition (1979), showing a gunfight breaking out in a saloon rendered in surprisingly psychedelic colours.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Name your fave Disney princess. (Wrong answers only.)

The hapless Penfold from DANGERMOUSE (1981).

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Cricklewood. Bond, John Wick, and Jack Reacher team up as an independent agency for hire, their promise "We Do Anything, Anytime, Anywhere." Bond takes to wearing a Union Jack waistcoat, Wick realises he's more comfortable in academic tweed, and Reacher discovers an interest in ornithology.

Digital Spy UK headline with a picture of Daniel Craig as James Bond. "James Bond writer tempted to set next 007 movie in surprise location."

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

He's off already.

$The journey was expected to take a small fraction over two days, which to a lesser person might have seemed like a towering bore. I, however, am always equipped with my intellect, a thing of infinite variety and boundless creation, so I am never left unamused. I can understand how others might grow bored of the poor quality of their own wits, but I am not to be numbered with such people. I am, after all, Professor Thales Thauma.$

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

The roots of this WWII-era USN obsession are old, but as shallow as everything else about him. bsky.app/profile/jona...

Post by me the other day.

His entire naval expertise dates from seeing the documentary series VICTORY AT SEA (1952) when he was a kid. I wish I was joking, but he's talked about it on several occasions.

19:37 · 14 Aug 2026

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