iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Lee Burton - Author | Editor

Melissa Caruso @melissacaruso.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Discoverability for new SFF books seems way down these days, especially outside of bestsellers and certain subgenres. I'm noticing this as both a reader and a writer. Great stuff is in danger of sinking without a trace. Please post about new/recent books you love or are excited for!!! I'll start:

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🏳️‍⚧️ Amy had a little pond 🔞 @amypond.gay · 21h

The new Star Trek film will be the "darkest on ever written". When will they learn we watched early Trek for the utopian fantasy and the happy future it promised, not for the dark edgy tone that didn't exist until post Enterprise?

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Susanna Shore, Author @susannashore.bsky.social · 20h

I have the cover and description for my upcoming book. Now all I need is editing date and I can plan when to publish it. And maybe start letting people know what the book is about... 😀

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 22h

Sir, don't you have something else you're supposed to be doing rather than bothering me about my books? #amwriting #amediting #amFightingCrime #TheDarkKnaight

A spam email from "Bruce Wayne" offering book designs.

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Reposted by Lee Burton - Author | Editor

A.J. Calvin @ajcalvin.bsky.social · 23h

It's October - and there's a great lineup of new releases coming this month! You can view the full post here: ajcalvin.net/the-indie-au... (There are a lot of amazing titles! I'll tag the authors in the comments.) #booksky #newreleases #indiebooks #comingsoon

The Indie Author Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror New Release List: October 2026
Promo image features:
Her Bloody Vengeance by NC Scrimgeour
Children of Wrath by Cheyenne Brammah
The Ruin of Rage and Reckonings by Steven Pannett
Forest of Stone by Emma L Adams

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Got a story that's under novella territory that you find hard to submit? The Writers of the Future contest is open this quarter ... for another four hours... writersofthefuture.com/contest-rule... #amwriting #writingcommunity

Picture of the button to enter the Writers of the Future contest, 4th quarter. September 30th, until 1159 PST.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I think the aesthetic of the #Backrooms derives from #GenZers being born in the 2000s. The material culture & styles of the late 80s into the 90s was old & worn to them, in nans' houses & old shows. My backrooms would be striped 70s concrete, flowerprint couches, brown wood paneling, & ashtrays.

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Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫 @lookitup.baby · 30/09/2026

BREAKING NEWS: “Do geese see God” is a palindrome

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Me ol' man wants to watch the hockey game together, then he pumps the TV up so loud I can't hear a word he's saying from three feet away.

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Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Starts in less than two days!!!!

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Sometimes I get French ads pop up in my various social media feeds -- cuz Canada, eh -- and I've taken to clicking on them and interacting. I don't speak French (much), so if my adblocks won't work anymore, I'll anonymize the ad delivery at the wetware level.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Youtube resurrecting Elvis and ghoulishly making him twist and sing a song that doesn't exist has got even my 76 year-old dad to take notice of, and be disgusted by, AI.

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Joshua Keep @jekeep.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

People who expect me to be calm, measured and understanding about their "nuanced" AI take are insufferable. They stole my life's work with the express purpose of ruining my career and leaving me destitute. Fuck you.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I never thought a book about a Space Marine fighting giant ants would ever become one of my favorite books, but here we are. Re-reading it for the nth time. I appreciate how the writing is succinct to the point of being spare, yet I feel we're kept quite close to the characters. #amreading #SFF 📚💙

The cover of Armor by John Steakley, depicting a space marine with his helmet held in one arm, and a huge honkin' gun that looks like a hair dryer in the other.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

New fan theory: the "ghosts" in The Overlook are the characters of all the books Wendy has mutilated, seeking vengeance. #amreading #StephenKing #booksky #books #TheShining #Movie

A screenshot from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, showing Wendy and Danny Torrence sitting down for lunch. Danny is in his PJ's eating a sandwich, and Wendy is reading a book with her page dog-eared as a bookmark. The fold is circled.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Just yelling at the radio driving home listening to the CBC "As it Happens" story about the French author accused of using AI. Yes, "AI detectors" suck. No probs. But then the yahoo they were interviewing began to "both sides" it, and said he hoped the author had his family and support around him.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Finally tweaked my editing site to offer a service between copy edits & dev edits, b/c a lot of people are ALMOST ready to publish but are still willing to make story edits based on experienced feedback. www.oceansedgeediting.com/services.html Booking for mid-Nov. #amediting #amwriting

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

In my ongoing series of "Movies I Watched Latenight on TV in the '90s & Never Forgot," I present a sweaty Brad Dourif in Graveyard Shift. Not a GREAT movie but interesting to look at. The working mill is scary all by itself. In true Stephen King fashion, the real monsters are the people with you.

A sweaty Brad Dourif from Graveyard Shift.

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Reposted by Lee Burton - Author | Editor

This American Life @thisamericanlife.org · 23/09/2026

Some NPR podcasts started getting mysterious comments on Spotify. They made no sense to the staff reading them – until someone from a younger generation cracked the code. Hear the story: link.podtrac.com/78g1b584

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Yesterday I didn't do any work. Today, I'm taking the day off. There's a difference. I think if I sat down & opened up a book to edit today, my eyes would slide right off the page, rejecting it. #FreelanceLife #amwriting #amediting #WritingCommuning (Pictured below: freelancer avoiding working.)

Old book cover. A picture of a man hiding inside some kind of mechanical cave, holding a plunger. Meanwhile, at the mouth of the cave, a 10 foot robot is blocking the entrance.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I know "jumping the shark" is when a show/story basically runs out of material & becomes a parody of itself. But is there a term for when a #series (book/show/movies) crescendos a long-awaited storyline, & it's amazing, & then struggles after that? But it's not bad, just ... smaller. 📚💙 #SFF

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm a bit divided on hiding the warts of older shows. I think a case can be made that what might have been thought "edgy" at the time just reads as punching down years later. If the point is to be funny, it's simply not, and it's not what the creators want to say anymore.

mirror.co.uk

BBC removes That Mitchell and Webb show scenes that 'no longer work'

The broadcaster has been accused of ‘classic overkill’ after it removed 11 sketches from the comedy duo's BAFTA-winning television show amid concerns of racism and racial stereotyping

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Reposted by Lee Burton - Author | Editor

Alyssa Matesic @alyssamatesic.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Bad dialogue is one of the most obvious signs of amateur writing. And it's one of the things that will make a reader set down your story prematurely. Here are the 5 most common dialogue mistakes I see in manuscripts and how to fix them.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

There's scenes from Jesus Camp I will never forget. And I haven't seen in since 2006. I think it should be required viewing in any modern politics class.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It can be a bit of a pain as my name doesn't appear first in Google searches, but it is occasionally amusing when stupid AI bots spam me w/ offers thinking I'm a children's author who died in 1968. Sometimes they get mixed up w/ my books and mention magic too. #amwriting #books #writingcommunity

A spam email from a bot messaging Virginia Lee Burton, offering opportunities.

A bot "marketing guru" thinking I'm Virginia Lee Burton, who died in 1968.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Using AI to "restore" vintage photographs is an oxymoron. To quote my missus: "She has some incredible bazooms, but that is some AI fuckery." #antiAI #vintage #photos #art

A photo of actress Sophia Loren standing next to a wall, wearing a red shirt and staring at the camera. She is busting out of a red shirt. The photo was "restored" using AI.

A photo of actress Sophia Loren standing next to a wall, wearing a red shirt and staring at the camera.

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C.H. Schwartz @chschwartz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

There is a contracting firm near me that has a sign on the side of their building that says "STD Contractors" and I always say surely you could have phrased that better

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Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Repost: Things you should know but didn't know you needed to know before knowing: A nasothek is a collection of the broken noses of statues and busts. Now you know.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I dunno if any movie deserves 2.4b, but admittedly it was nice that they did their best to make it an enjoyable "movie" and not just a "Spider-Man/Superhero" movie. #filmsky #movies #etc

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Using AI to "restore" vintage photographs is an oxymoron. To quote my missus: "She has some incredible bazooms, but that is some AI fuckery." #antiAI #vintage #photos #art

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Been rumblings in these parts to re-watch The X-Files for well nigh on five years now. But not without the proper fonts, we ain't. Standards must be maintained. #TVsky

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Just sorta reminiscing on how genre-adamant some people could be back in, say, 2012 about self-publishing. Like if you showed up in the KDP forums and asked a question about publishing literary work, someone would be along shortly to call you an asshole. #amwriting #writingcommunity #books

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The first book I self-pubbed in 2011, & which led to me working as an editor, it's been nice for my novelette Ella to have received some attention of late. Fourteen years ain't too long to wait. ✦ Most Retailers: books2read.com/u/3R5VVY ✦ Itch: lsb337.itch.io/ella #amreading 💙📚🖋️ #BacklistSaturday

Book cover for "Ella," depicting a little girl standing on a little hunk of land, on her tiptoes with a small leash tied around a bird.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I've sold just enough books on D2D (wide) retailers to cover the $12 they charge if you don't make $100. Which means zero bucks for me. I think it's time to zoop back to 2015 & publish to those retailers individually & pay $12 to publish to libraries, b/c I like libraries. #amwriting #books 📚💙

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The Pentagon has announced mandatory testing of Midichlorian counts.

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Hope it's not too soon for spoilers or whatever, but Cannonball Run II is not that great a movie. #moviesky #filmsky #controversy

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

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Lee Burton - Author | Editor @leeburton.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Just spent two days trimming 1750 words from an already trim book, & didn't cut more than 2-3 sentences longer than ~10 words. I'd say I feel like I beat some final boss of editing, but it's more like a final obstacle course, one with wacky jumpscares & big foam hammers that knock you into water.

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