iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Kristen Hanley Cardozo @khandozo.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

God, I love this.

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The Nightmare on Timothy St @barturtle.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Thats about the wrongest post I've ever seen from her. First: there are no machine made clothes. Skilled labor makes everything we wear.

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Jodi McAlister @jodimca.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Scholarly types! The call for papers for the next @iaspr.bsky.social conference is now open. It'll be in Oviedo, Spain in June 2027 and the theme is Choosing Love, centring around hope and optimism in a world which often does not engender especially hopeful or optimistic feelings about the future.

iaspr.org

Choosing Love: Call for Papers, IASPR Conference 2027 – International Association for the Study of Popular Romance

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Aerliss @aerliss.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm tearing up just thinking about this tiny hero's story. I recommend you grab a whole crate of tissues before reading this thread.

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I can see why the alt-text couldn't include everything. But I really smiled when I got to the last option: "Are you rich? No. Do you have a rich aunt? No. Are you a vicar? No. Are you from a good family? No. Sir, you are wasting our time!"

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

As the authors say, this is just a study of one novel (Ana Huang's Twisted Love), but I thought the findings were interesting given how many reservations are expressed elsewhere about "dark romance". ukinstitute.org/journals/jop...

ukinstitute.org

View of Suffering as Identity and Love as Moral Exception: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis of Twisted Love

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This is on tomorrow, twice (so at least one of them should be at a reasonable hour in your timezone)!

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

If anyone wants to share my annoyance at all romances being lumped together, and then contrasted against a subset of another genre, I have a new entry in my database! Woledge, Elizabeth. 2006. "Intimatopia: Genre Intersections Between Slash and the Mainstream."

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

@nogoodwyfe.bsky.social Saw this and immediately thought of you after the first item (there's an advert in there later, but I skipped that).

youtube.com

I show TEN THINGS that Medieval Movies get REALLY WRONG!

YouTube video by scholagladiatoria

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📣 Here at JPRS we know that size doesn't matter! That's why we have a dedicated section for pieces that wouldn't fit the scope/requirements of a more traditionally published academic article: our "Notes and Queries Section". Follow the link to submit contributions: www.jprstudies.org/submissions/...

jprstudies.org

Notes and Queries Section – Journal of Popular Romance Studies

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KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 13/09/2026

Create things, and enjoy things that other people have created. Those things will keep your humanity fed and watered. And God knows we need more of that.

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Ella @ellatasm.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Warriston Cemetery awarded fungus rosette for great volunteer work and ghost partnership. @fowarristoncem.bsky.social

Huge rosette of fungus by trunk of tree in cemetery

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Hanna Hoorenman @hannahoorenman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This beautiful piece came my way via the @iaspr.bsky.social community on the first day of the Dutch academic year, and quietly blew me away. I'll be keeping it with me throughout the year. www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

bostonreview.net

The Claims of Close Reading

Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.

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azteclady @azteclady.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Via @lauravivanco.bsky.social on the Teach Me Tonight blog, a call for papers. (I think I can natter about several examples of this--the wacko wills, the good/evil twins, the secret dyslexic/illiterate protagonist, etc, all prevalent in their own time--well enough for a blog post, but not a paper.)

teachmetonight.blogspot.com

Call for Papers: PCA/ACA 2027

Since the organisers want this to be shared, that's what I'm doing! Romance Area Conference of the Popular Culture Association (PCA/ACA) ...

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

"There will never be enough time, or a large enough word count, to create the ‘perfect’ representation of sex; rather, there is always the potential for better (meaning educative, empowering, enjoyable) representations." - From @georgianic.bsky.social 's PhD thesis (with attached novel)

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Can writing and reading popular romance help us rethink the meaning of 'work'? A new book by Alicia Izharuddin, 'The Work of Romance: Creating Moral Worth in Malay Women's Writing (University of Hawai'i Press), says yes! 💥Out on 31st October 2026 in hardback:💥 uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/the-wo...

uhpress.hawaii.edu

The Work of Romance: Creating Moral Worth in Malay Women’s Writing

In the Malay print romance industry, love stories are far more than entertainment. Emerging in the late 1980s amidst rapid social and cultural change, the genre gained popularity and continues to t…

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Steve Ammidown @stegan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

New from me @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social - a capsule history of the 1994’s Summer of Black Love, when romance publishers realized that Black readers existed. www.zocalopublicsquare.org/one-summer-p...

zocalopublicsquare.org

One Summer, Publishers Fell for Black Romances | Essay

And Black Readers Finally Found Their Love Stories on the Shelves

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Open Access: Ingram, T. Romantasy, Virginity and Other Fictions. Sexuality & Culture (2026). doi.org/10.1007/s121...

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

😱 So, in addition to the fact that buying and selling the bodyparts of dead people does not seem at all respectful,

Inhalation of aspergillus spores was blamed for the deaths of 10 out of 12 of the conservation scientists who opened the tomb of King Casimir IV of Kraków, in modern-day Poland, in the 1970s, the paper notes.

It is believed that a severe form of aspergillosis from inhaling spores may have also contributed to the death of Lord Carnarvon, the chief financial backer of the exploration of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

Carnavon’s death in 1923 has been cited as proof of the myth that those who opened tombs would be cursed with bad luck, illness or death, otherwise known as the “mummy’s curse”.

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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Dough Ray Mears Fat Solar Tito. Our book trolleys are alive with the sound of music.

A book trolley with books on it called Dough Craft, Ray Mears, Fat, Solar, Tito.

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K. Morrissey @katiedidnt.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Hi all! I'm trying to collect examples of romance and/or romance-adjacent games, book projects, comics, etc. that would have be affected by the Kickstarter, Patreon, Itch.io, or Steam adult content bans. Does anyone know any specific creators or projects which were at risk or were directly affected?

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Couldn't find the study this is based on (think it may not have been published yet) but noted that the author felt compelled to mention that he himself doesn't read romance. Fiction was split into just three clusters, but I think this doesn't account for romantic suspense, sci fi romance, romantasy

bbc.co.uk

What your summer reading list says about you

Just picked your holiday book? Our choices can subconsciously reveal important parts of our personality, studies show.

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Wish this was being filmed and made more widely available!

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

There doesn't seem to be a lot of overlap between French and English-language scholarship on romance. I've just come across a new-to-me term "New Romance" which they've been discussing for several years! And I'd never heard of it before 😭.

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Jayashree (she/her/they) @profromance.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Wrote about the expansion of socio-political representation in @taliahibbert.bsky.social novels A Girl Like Her and Take a Hint, Dani Brown urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...

urldefense.com

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

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Javaria Farooqui @javariafarooqui.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I'm so glad to share the CFP for the Eleventh conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance. Link to the full CFP www.iaspr.org/conferences/... Please share with your cool academic circles! #popularromancestudies #romance #CFP #AcademicSky @iaspr.bsky.social

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Very exciting - just spotted an article I missed, published in 2024, Cailey Hall's “Redefining the Archive in Queer Historical Romance Novels” in Unsettling Sexuality: Eighteenth-Century Queer Horizons, eds. Jeremy Chow and Shelby Johnson (University of Delaware Press, 2024)

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

I'm sure I keep seeing "pretentious" (and pompous) used weirdly all over the place recently. "a child, with a shock of curly white-blond hair, a pretentious smile" What's that supposed to mean? This is a mother writing a fairy-tale about her own child! www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/p...

merriam-webster.com

Definition of PRETENTIOUS

characterized by pretension: such as; having or showing a noticeably excessive appreciation of one's own merits; expressive of false, unjustified, or exaggerated importance, worth, or stature… See the...

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Feel like this could be an illustration for "Standing on the shoulders of giants" (if one were writing a book about rodent scientists).

en.wikipedia.org

Standing on the shoulders of giants - Wikipedia

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Shelf Love Podcast @shelflove.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

What does it take to stay relevant in romance for nearly five decades? In Episode 175, Jayne Ann Krentz talks about the risks and reinventions that shaped her career, why the alpha hero never disappeared, how romance changes with culture, and why popular fiction matters in unstable times.

Image of Jayne Ann Krentz, an older white woman with cool cat eye glasses and a wide smile, a short bob, wearing a blazer. Text on the image: episode 175. Risk & Reinvention in Romance with guest Jayne Ann Krentz.

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I've posted recently about some of these individually, but here's my latest list of new items of scholarship about popular romance novels. Lots of dissertations/theses and the articles from the new issue of JPRS which weren't online first:

teachmetonight.blogspot.com

Dissertations/Theses, a New Issue of JPRS and more!

Altamimi, Leena (2026). Desert Desires and the War on Terror: Pre- and Post-9/11 Sheikh RomancesPost-9/11 Sheikh Romances . Master of Arts...

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Lasya Tandon on Georgette Heyer's novels: "some see sexuality as a complex contradiction in her historical romances, some find its subversive presence between the lines, and others argue that to expand upon it would destroy the storyline—all of them are quite right."

doi.org

(Dis)Honourable Escapes: Reassessing Sexuality in Georgette Heyer’s Historical Romances | Journal of Popular Romance Studies

Introduction In her 1970 review of Charity Girl for The Times, Marganhita Laski derisively wrote, “even if Miss Heyer’s heroines lifted their worked muslin skirts, if ever her heroic dandies unbuttone...

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Comparing cookbooks and romance novels and finding value in both. From Anne L. Bower, "Romanced by Cookbooks." Gastronomica 1 May 2004; 4 (2): 35–42. doi: doi.org/10.1525/gfc....

The fantasy or imaginative activity that occurs during the reading of a romance novel or cookbook may do nothing more than allow some moments of escapism, but in some cases, reading romances and cookbooks can have some genuinely transformative power.
Radway reports that romance readers she spoke with claim their interactions with romance novels yield improved self-awareness, self-confidence, and, for some, greater power to act autonomously. Cookbook readers, too, can experience adjustments in attitudes and thought patterns that allow for changed views of people and places and history previously seen as unapproachably “Other.”

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

New dissertation on monster romance: "The monster is not a random erotic object, but a figure through which the genre makes dissatisfaction with ordinary masculinity narratively and emotionally legible. (47)"

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New Issue Alert: Very pleased to share the latest issue of JPRS!📢 With articles on trauma in popular romance by Alicia Leigh, cuteness in Thai boys-love novels by Bancha Rattanamathuwong, notes on defining the 'trope' in romance fiction, and many others🎉 www.jprstudies.org/issue-15-1/

jprstudies.org

Issue 15.1 | Journal of Popular Romance Studies

Editor’s Note by Amy Burge General Articles Notes and Queries Book Reviews

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Dr Sam Hirst @romgothsam.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Hey all! Guess who's doing a talk on the history of sapphic romance this weekend!? ME! Come and join me at 10am or 7pm BST on Saturday 10 - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fated-love... 7 - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fated-love...

eventbrite.co.uk

Fated lovers, burning houses and unruly hens: A sapphic history of romance

Dr Sam Hirst introduces a history of sapphic romance with closer studies of work by Tasha Suri, Olivia Waite and more!

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

NEW: Guhr, Svenja (2026). "Between Whispers and Screams: Loudness Standard Deviation as a Proxy for Explicit Content Detection in US Romance Novels." Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Natural Language Processing for the Digital Humanities: 368–380. aclanthology.org/2026.nlp4dh-...

This study proposes and tests loudness standard deviation (SD) of fictional sound events as an acoustically grounded proxy for detecting explicit content in romance fiction. Working with a subcorpus of novels from the Harlequin Men Made in America series, scenes were annotated for character and ambient sound with loudness levels. Additionally, the scenes were annotated on a ternary severity scale with two content advisory categories drawn from the PG-story taxonomy, SEX & NUDITY and VIOLENCE & SCARINESS (Tsai et al., 2024), and tested whether within-scene loudness SD of character and ambient sound correlates with either category. Loudness standard deviation analyses of character and ambient sounds in scenes featuring explicit content reveal that erotic scenes are acoustically marked by significantly higher variability in character-produced sounds, reflecting the dynamic range from whispered dialogue to vocalized arousal, while no significant correlation was found between high ambient sound loudness SD and scenes of elevated VIOLENCE & SCARINESS.

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

I know what I'm going to be doing today! Reading a new PhD thesis, by @jm930.bsky.social ! Moore, J. R. V. (2026). Literature of hope: Reading romance in the religious lives of black women.

proquest.com

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Laura Vivanco @lauravivanco.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Doesn't have alt text, so: a cartoon by Coen. The magic mirror, mirror on the wall is saying to the Wicked Queen (who has had lip fillers put in, to make her fairer and who's sitting in front of her laptop, consulting ChatGPT): "You do know it's just telling you what it thinks you want to hear..."

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