iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 14h

My latest chat with a Fantasycon Guest of Honour has just gone live! And @lunapress.bsky.social's Francesca is the absolute bestest.

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 19h

Watching more shitty paranormal listicles, as is my habit, and I swear if/when I do my own I won’t care about the algorithm and absolutely will not substitute words. If I hear another “demise” or “red life juice”, I swear to all that is unholy…

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Garth Marenghi's Catbus @catbus.phd · 30/09/2026

don't bother addressing a congregation unless you're in the baroque creature pulpit

Baroque pulpit ca. 1750, rebuilt 1856, Parish church in Dobroszów.

a fanciful scaled sculpture where the serpents open mouth serves as the pulpit

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British Fantasy Society @britfantasysoc.bsky.social · 20h

We're officially in the countdown to Fantasycon 2026: just EIGHT DAYS until we meet in Glasgow! Tickets are still available for both individual days and the whole weekend. Get the details ➡️ britishfantasysociety.org/events-2/fan...

A graphic advertises 10 days until Fantasycon 2026, to be held from 9-11 October in Glasgow. It's illustrated with tentacles and parchment paper

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Finally sat down to update my very old and shit website now all my eggs are in the fiction/author support basket... But WordPress is driving me mad so I've given up for now. Forgive me if you happen to stumble across my actual website and it looks like an accounting firm or book store or something 🫣

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Hellebore @helleborezine.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

⚡️IT’S HERE!⚡️ Ruined temples, living myths, riddles and enigmas, Medieval mystics, a gas-lit world of secret societies and energy grids, psychedelic revivals, and sonic experiments at the City of the Dead. 👉🏼 Gaze into the eyes of the sphinx and pre-order The Mystery Issue on helleborezine.com

A woman standing by a sphinx, the wind beating her cape

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

What did @vlatinalondon.bsky.social choose as her Con Prom Queen signifier? Only one way to find out...

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

No spoilers for the con interview - instead I ask the questions we're all desperate to ask, like what Peter F Hamilton would like to wear to mark him out as Fantasycon Royalty. (Spoiler: it's Prisoner-related)

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It's not this weekend but the one after! I'd love to see you in Glasgow, even if it's only for a day - and if it's only a day, make it Saturday so you can see me lose the award for best short story to one of @clhellisen.com @emfcamp.bsky.social or @jamesbennett.bsky.social 🤨

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Back on the research train just because it makes me leave the house and go be among actual people 😭

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

@davidgreenwriter.bsky.social's latest is imminent!

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Dr Frazer Lee @frazerlee.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Google plans to bulldoze a wildlife haven in Essex – home to rare species – for a data centre. Sign the petition now to help save it before it’s gone forever 🐝🦋 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...

you.38degrees.org.uk

Save Arena Essex- Tell Google to search elsewhere!

  Wedged between the Mar Dyke Valley and Lakeside Retail Park, the former Arena Essex Raceway is not your usual wildlife haven. Where once stock cars and speedway bikes lined up to cross the fini...

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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 26/09/2026

So apropos of nothing in particular, let’s talk about media tie-in novel pay vs. original work pay, shall we? Let’s say you write a novel. It’s set in your own world, your own characters, and titled The Original. You get a book deal! Look at you go!

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I've spent the last few days chatting with the Guests of Honour at this year's @britfantasysoc.bsky.social Fantasycon, which happens in Glasgow next month. My word, these are some impressive, impressive people. My chat with them was silly, but they'll get serious(ish) at the con. Come join us?

The background looks like old parchment paper, and illustrations of tentacles peek out from the sides. In the bottom half are the photos of the four guests of honour at this year's Fantasycon in Glasgow, to be held 9-11 October. They are: V Castro, horror writer; Francesca T Barbini, publisher; Peter F Hamilton, scifi writer; and the artist Chris Baker, aka Fangorn.

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I bloody love Phonogram. Go party with the creators if you're in Harrogate.

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Dr Tiffani Angus @tiffaniangus.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I'll be at NorCon in Norwich THIS WEEKEND with copies of Spec Fic for Newbies and other books! Come see me and my fellow SFF/H author friends as part of your day at NorCon at the Norfolk Showground Arena! #writing #norcon #sff

B& W photos of 5 authors with their names and books:
Rachel Churcher: YA Dystopia, YA LGBTQ+, Children's Books, SF
Julia Blake: Fantasy, Steampunk, YA, SF
MT McGuire: Comedic Dystopian SF, LGBTQ+ SF
Tiffani Angus: Historical Fantasy, How to Write Spec Fic
Josh Winning: Contemporary Horror, Queer Vampire Romance
Plus SF and Fantasy from Philip Purser-Hallard and Bona Books
NORCON: Looking forward to NorCon at the weekend! I'll be in Artist's Alley opposite the guest signing tables with all these fantastic authors!
26th-27th September
Norfolk Showground Arena
Norwich, UK

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I'm excited to learn about more mags and journal opportunities through this new column!

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CL Hellisen @clhellisen.com · 24/09/2026

The Shape of Monsters is finally out in print and ebook from Tor UK! If you're here for a dark gothic fantasy with all the broken people, twisted dynamics, mages, murder and monsters then you have gone through the correct door Get it now from your favourite bookshop

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Two of the nicest humans of hashtag-ConLife spill the beans on what it's like to run a stall at book events.

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The ever-delightful (don't tell them I said that) @clhellisen.com gets a physical release of their Audible fantasy book The Shape of Monsters in mere days from now!

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Got lost in Brookwood Cemetery today. Good start to the week?

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Fabulous, inspiring, exhausting weekend in DerbVegas for Edge-Lit. As always, am emerging from it in a mental frenzy of imagination alongside the memory of all the love and hugs from friends and awesome late-night chats.

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David Barnett @davidmbarnett.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

One day Kindle deal! WITHERED HILL only 99p for Friday September 18th only! Grab it while it’s hot and cheap. www.amazon.co.uk/Withered-Hil...

amazon.co.uk

Withered Hill: A dark and unsettling British folk horror novel

Withered Hill: A dark and unsettling British folk horror novel eBook : Barnett, David: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Greetings, DerbVegas. Good to see it’s raining here as per usual.

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Will I see you tomorrow at Edge-Lit? @alexdavis1981.bsky.social has assembled QUITE the programme this year - and it's especially good for those of us who like the dark stuff

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The way this profile is written is seriously so damn @adefletcher.bsky.social it's uncanny

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Been prepping the exercise for my workshop for Edge-Lit on Saturday - we’re going to be creating our own urban legends. I’m last on the schedule so I’ve included some random, weird and wild options as well as more traditional ones for the hat-picking ceremonies. Thanks to all who helped with ideas!

Slips of paper coloured pink, yellow and blue with writing on them

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Andrew Knighton @aknighton.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

For anyone in the Hull area, this fantastic new anthology is getting a launch event on 17 October. Come along to hear some of the authors talk about how they tackle hopeful futures. I'm really hoping to be there, though it's a week before my wedding, so we'll see how much time & energy I can spare.

humbersff.wordpress.com

Challenging The Tides – October 17 Hull Central Library Launch

Readers of Hull, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire are invited the launch of a unique and hopeful book set in the Hull and Humber area. Sat 17 October, Hull Central Library.

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British Fantasy Society @britfantasysoc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Mirror, mirror on the wall... Okay, so I can't think of a damn thing book related that rhymes with all - please insert your own rhyme and get a ticket for tonight! tinyurl.com/islingmir

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CL Hellisen @clhellisen.com · 17/09/2026

It's ONE WEEK to go before The Shape of Monsters is out in print! I am so amped for readers to meet Aleks, Vai and *evil grin* my sweet innocent precious Ilea. Come join @heatherpalmer.bsky.social and me at Blackwell's in Edinburgh at 7pm on Thursday the 24th September!

Cl Hellisen: The Shape of Monsters in conversation with Annabel Campbell (sadly she can't make this,but the wonderful Heather Palmer is taking her seat)
Thursday 24th September, 7pm

And a picture of me in a stripy top, with the red and dark purple cover of the Shape of Monsters with its creepy stag head

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Nicolas Hénin @nicolashenin.net · 17/09/2026

Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I need a handful of examples of the following to write on slips of paper and put in a hat for people to choose: Urban/suburban locations Believable but fantastical/supernatural baddies A moral to teach _____ Any ideas?

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Some help, please, sky people. I'm running a workshop this weekend, and for the exercise I'll give them three things to smoosh together to create their own urban legend. Which means I need a bit of help brainstorming right now! 🧵⬇️

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Workshop for Edge-Lit now officially planned and Canva'd... Just got to sort the exercise. Which brings me to...

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Just got a notification that I was followed from a starter park titled “heroes of horror” and honestly: day made 🥹

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Lyndsey Croal (she/her) @lyndseycroal.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

New story out today! A woman is haunted by a hermit crab who takes up residence in her dead husband's bones, gradually moving up his skeleton...out now, with @electricliterature.com !! 🦀🌊💀 Free to read here: electricliterature.com/the-bone-her...

The Bone Hermit
It’s very inconvenient that the hermit crab has taken up residence in your bones. At first it was disconcerting, to see him skittering along the beach, parading your salt-bleached toes outside our cottage. Sometimes he stops, right at the edge of the garden, and folds himself up into the crook of your remains, staring straight at the gate, watching me.

I thought I’d done a better job at hiding your body. I thought the sand and sea would wash your bones clean and sweep them away. But the sea, it seems, is resourceful. And now this tricksy little creature has come back to haunt me. Maybe he is you, reincarnated, and this is your final joke. You always did tell me you’d get the last laugh.

My dead husband still wants the last word - The Bone Hermit flash fiction by Lyndsey Croal

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The more shitty paranormal YouTube listicles I watch to switch my brain off, the more annoyed I’m getting by mispronunciation of simple words AND endless AI bullshit. It’s actually making me want to create my own. Yes they’ll be boring talking heads & still images, but it’ll be imperfectly human…

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The Spectre Haunting Europe @frightfulhobgoblin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Ed Sheeran claiming to be 'culturally Irish' gives the vibe that he thought being Irish was pints o' Guinness and shamrocks rather than implacable multi-generational communitarian struggle against imperialism.

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Latest ep of Mr L’s podcast is now on your airwaves

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Alexandra Beaumont - Folklore Fantasy Author @abeaumontbooks.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

THIS THURSDAY, find out what menopausal werewolves, gothic nature and judge dredd have in common at this wonderful British Fantasy Society event with: @sambeckbessinger.bsky.social @jelliottcoleman.bsky.social Rose Biggin Tickets on the @waterstones Islington webpage! #booksky #fantasybooks

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The Alternate Histoween 🎃 @althistorian.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

FBI agents in the 1990s: "No, the X-Files aren't real." FBI agents in the 2020s: "No, we don't fuck horses."

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Between you and me, blue place, life has been total shite of late and I really cannot wait to escape on my own to Edge-Lit this weekend and talk shit with my writer friends and get hugs galore.

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Archaeology and ancient curses and folk-horror tinged eco fiction? This sounds awesome - go get it and support @anna-orridge.bsky.social! (Just don't tell her I was consistently writing her name wrong and the entire article/graphic was nearly about Abba Orridge's new book 🫣)

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Fancy donating your book / some of your books to the FantasyCon book bags, dear publisher / author?

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Lauren (LJ) McMenemy @laurenwrites.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Fancy donating your book / some of your books to the FantasyCon book bags, dear publisher / author?

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