iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Today's folktale index raid: "In order to destroy the young man, the antagonist arouses in his sister (rarely: in him himself) a desire to possess wonderful objects, the attempt to obtain which is deadly dangerous. The young man sets off to obtain the objects." (Berezkin/Duvakin)

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Monteiro @monteiro.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Looking for the perfect gift to put in your beloved’s Bela Lugosi stocking this Halloween? I got you! What could be better than my new book, How to die (and other stories)? It’s spine-curdling! www.mulebooks.com/store/how-to...

A very stupid diorama containing my book, a giant green chocolate Frankenstein head, and a green Jimothy. All laying on pink peanut hearts.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Today's folktale index raid: "The abandoned one turns into a bird and returns home faster than the one who abandoned him." (Berezkin/Duvakin Motif Catalogue)

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We Need Diverse Books @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Want to learn more about the fight against book bans? Follow and support these groups/organizations!

Gold-colored graphic with a dotted line border. There is one question and its answer displayed at the center of the graphic. Question: “How Can I Learn More About the Fight Against Book Bans?” Answer: Follow and support these organizations/groups: Ad Astra, American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, Authors Against Book Bans, Authors Guild, EveryLibrary, Florida Freedom to Read Project, Freedom to Read Foundation, Massachusetts Freedom to Read, National Coalition Against Censorship, PENAmerica, Publishing Professionals Against Book Bans, Texas Freedom to Read Project, and Unite Against Book Bans.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I just realized my happy place is pretty much anywhere with high quality eavesdropping.

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Jim Ray @jimray.net · 29/09/2026

We, being decent people, hate self-promotion because we are enlightened beings whose work speaks for itself and will surely be recognized in our lifetimes. Right? NO! And the assholes who are naturals at it are ruining the world, so learn how to get good at that part.

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Monteiro @monteiro.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A reminder that you could be using the office copier to make these amazing zines that help people overcome barriers to voting. They’ll never know. howtovote.tips

howtovote.tips

How to Vote / Cómo Votar

A free field guide to what stops people from voting, and what to do about it. English and Spanish, ready to print.

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Monteiro @monteiro.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Please join us this Friday for our last Summer School session of the season! We are hosting a SELF-PROMOTION CLINIC. Bring us your problems. Bring us your hesitation. Bring us the little voice inside your head telling you that you aren’t worthy. WE’LL CRUSH THEM WITH MALLETS!

eventbrite.com

Self-Promotion Clinic

We will help you get out of your own way and put your best self out there.

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jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I am an election official who is a complete pain in the ass about everyone who is even remotely eligible being able to vote (I am lucky because in Vermont this is not a weird opinion/practice) and I read this through and it is EXCELLENT. Good job.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This is so incredibly cool. Print it and hand it out! Bring them with you to every event you go to. Bring them to your coffee shop, your regular, your church, your temple, your mosque, your library, your farmer's market. We've got this.

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Game Devs of Color Expo @gdocexpo.com · 14/09/2026

🔓Full decryption complete! Turns out all you needed was launch day 👀 The 2026 GDoCExpo merch collection is here! T-shirt, our first-ever hoodie, enamel pin, keycap keychain (made with MKRO), & a diecut sticker pack - all live now at @theyetee.com! #gdocexpo

Full collection for game devs of color expo merch!

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Behold, @mollycrabapple.bsky.social’s Here Where We Live Is Our Country in the wild of a tiny town bookstore.

Books displayed flat on a table at a bookstore, with colorful covers. The writer of this post calls attention to a book by Molly Crabapple in the left side of the photo.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Today's stranger: Pest control guy is a hoot. Got his life story, coaching on how to plug mouse holes, demo of a deluxe foam gun, a detour to see a tree stump that's more ants than stump. Then, it's gone on too long so I do the thing. I take just a baby step back. And we're done. Works every time.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

There is also “be joyful that you are curious beautiful humans who are here to learn, and learning is part of the fight.” Or something. A little St. Swithin’s Day energy.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

As someone who hears routinely from both Mike and Erika to stop overthinking and just do things, I give this my absolutely highest recommendation. Do this.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

That actually applies to the unnamed movie at hand as well. Fucking men, amirite?

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Based on watching this exact same unnamed movie, I concur. Who is the original dead girl upon whom a plot turns? We can name it after her.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Woman w/ bike & a bleeding knee gets on the train. 1 person gives tissues, another shares water. Folks keep giving up their seats. All have eyes on a grimacing, hugely pregnant woman who says she's fine. It's not the kindness itself that strikes me. It's how people look around to see who is in need.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Today's stranger. Long subway ride, I'm sleepily looking over a guy's shoulder while he plays a word game on his phone. I try to guess the rules. After a while, he's stuck, & says, w/o looking at me, "can you solve it?" I do. After a few stops, he gets off the train. That's called fleeting intimacy.

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Monteiro @monteiro.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Hey, who wants something to look forward to? This Friday, @stephmoney.bsky.social and I will be talking all things newsletter and answering all your questions! It’ll be a good hang. Come join us! www.eventbrite.com/e/1996742234...

eventbrite.com

How to Start a Newsletter

You wanna tell people what you’re thinking. How do you get started? And how do make sure the first issue isn't the last one?

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Outside, there is a banana peel on the sidewalk. I pick it up, just in case this is a universal problem today.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Today's stranger: I've been klutzy all morning, can't even get words right. At the bagel place it takes 3 tries to say my order right. Clerk laughs. When he rings me up, he keeps getting the total wrong. "I've had 2 left feet all day!" I tell him me too. "Let's both have a better one now, ok?"

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Talking about the weather is kind of great, & wrongly maligned. It's a momentary acknowledgement of shared experience, with "we're in this together as humans" energy. Sometimes an opening to more talk, to connecting with your neighbors. And hey, you can't have a revolution without your neighbors.

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Monteiro @monteiro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

You should be out making friends in the park or grocery store. But meeting people is hard, especially when the world’s most unfriended nerds want you to use slop machines to make slop friends. This Friday, @erikahall.bsky.social and @kiostark.bsky.social will teach you How to Talk to Strangers!

eventbrite.com

How to Talk to Strangers

There are 8 billion new friends out there. Or at least encounters that can make memories and good stories. And that’s all life is, really.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Yesterday strangers, bookstore: I hear teens looking 4 gift &wondering which Sally Rooney is 'next.' "It's not a series," I interrupt. Then kids unsure which one friend is reading now, ask 4 other ideas. I say Maggie O'Farrell, literally any of hers. They leave w/Hamnet & cheerful teenage gratitude.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

If you would like some high quality interactions with strangers, start by talking to their dogs. I am in no way kidding about this. You will make the dogs very happy. And usually when you greet a dog, the person on the end of the leash greets you. And if they don't, you have still enjoyed a dog.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Downtown F train 2:14 pm. Approx 40 people in this car. Four conversations, four reading paper books, three drawing. 13 ( I think) looking at phones, everyone else just looking around.

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Kate Tuttle @katekilla.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

And also, as we all continue to talk about the source material, the translations, the movie versions, the movie reviews, the book reviews -- this is the way culture works! This is the fun stuff! And I feel so lucky to be a part of the maelstrom.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Today’s strangers: at small town train station. woman w/ fancy suitcase is beaming genuine smiles. goth kid reading a library book, it’d be too creepy if I went to ask what book. older woman drawing in a notebook. I get 6 steps over to peek what she’s drawing, Fancy suitcase says “you a pacer too?”

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Mandy Keifetz @besecretandexult.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

The brilliant and delightful @erikahall.bsky.social and @kiostark.bsky.social have an upcoming event you should totally check out. The path forward runs right through Talking to Strangers and that is their bailiwick.

eventbrite.com

How to Talk to Strangers

There are 8 billion new friends out there. Or at least encounters that can make memories and good stories. And that’s all life is, really.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Thank you! We are so excited for this.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Public service announcement (without guitars). Just went on a journey double-checking settings in zoom, which seems to have added like a dozen new AI settings to opt out of since I last looked. I suggest chanting NOPE, NOPE, NOPE as you toggle the buttons from blue to grey. Very satisfying.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Today's stranger: The most chatty phlebotomist on the planet. She's 58, has amazing skin.Tells me about her potions & lotions she makes. I'm like, you should sell this stuff! She says oh, no, it's just my hobby. And it's you know, proprietary. Smiles, winks, shows me the limits of her public self.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Come join me and @erikahall.bsky.social on Friday, August 14 to learn about why and how you should talk to strangers! tl;dr it's good for you, it's good for the world, and it's not as hard as you think. www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-tal...

eventbrite.com

How to Talk to Strangers

There are 8 billion new friends out there. Or at least encounters that can make memories and good stories. And that’s all life is, really.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Today's stranger. I'm wearing @yourewrongabout.bsky.social shirt "IT WAS CAPITALISM ALL ALONG." A Dude asks "Hey what does yr shirt mean, what don't I know??" Me:"Uh, that unregulated rampant capitalism turns out to be the cause of many societal problems." Him: "OK I'm gonna give that some thought."

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

TIL that the FAA, as in the agency that oversees crop dusting, doesn’t call pesticides “pesticides.” It calls them “economic poisons.” Do with that what you will.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

There is something very medieval feeling about having the diaphanous curtains drawn against the sun.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

If you have not already bought Mike's book, now you are seriously going to have to. And if you have a copy already, order this, keep the tombstone, give the book to a friend. Everybody wins!

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Resident teenager has not seen her 5-year old half-brother for a few weeks. Upon return to that house, she finds him changed in a way that any grandparent would recognize. "It’s like he's constantly replaced with a slightly larger and more articulate clone of himself."

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

TFW you realize you and your daughter are both eavesdropping on the same person. My work here is done.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Do not sleep on this. I’ve seen these two people talk to each other, and it’s a marvelous experience.

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Jeremy Ghooooost Shipp @jeremycshipp.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

As always, today is a good day to support artists, writers, creators. If you have the means, maybe consider signing up for a Patreon. Buy a book, a game, a painting. Commission a new piece. Tell a creator what they mean to you. Signal boost their work.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

My tiny town bar is also extremely happy

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Historic use of an exclamation point in a municipal alert email.

Screenshot of a Notify NYC email “notification issued 06-13-2026 at 11:46 PM. For the first time since 1973, the Knicks have won the 2026 NBA Championships!” It goes on to describe expected traffic delays.

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

This one really hit home for me this morning (even tho I read it after I already got out of bed). Thanks for the reminders @monteiro.bsky.social. buttondown.com/monteiro/arc...

buttondown.com

How to get out of bed

Mike, how do I get out of bed every day? How do I try?

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Kio Stark @kiostark.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

You're a mensch, my friend.

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