iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Les Taylor

𝕯𝖚𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖔𝖓𝖑𝖚𝖘𝖙🌙🦇 @dungeonlust.com · 30/09/2026

Me getting ready for spooky posting in October.

Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Got my author copies of Wars in the Stars from Flame Tree Press. Pretty great lineup of classic and contemporary Space Opera about war. My story “The Wreck” is also pretty amazing. 10/10, would write again.

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies Magazine @bcsmagazine.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Live BCS #466: "Sous Lumière Aigre" @jduckwriter.bsky.social "Guy got behind his cart and pushed it forward. To his displeasure, amid the shushing song of cicadas and the loud creak of the wheels, he also heard soft footsteps following behind. Damn girl." beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/sous...

beneath-ceaseless-skies.com

Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Sous Lumière Aigre by Jonathan Louis Duckworth

He had neither the energy nor the interest to argue. Nor to talk at all. With a grunt, Guy got behind his cart and pushed it forward. The night would only get darker, and he had a long way to go to th...

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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

LOL, the gotcha part in the second paragraph is truly hilarious. Who will think of the straight white rightwing men in the literary world? WHO? WHO?

Last week, the longlists for the National Book Awards were announced. Among the 20 authors in the fiction and nonfiction categories, nearly all are straight white males. Most are also on the political right, some even on the far right. Remarkably, mainstream media outlets haven’t reported this, perhaps because they don’t think it’s noteworthy. It’s as if we were living in 1956 rather than 2026.

If you’re scratching your head at this “news,” well, it’s because I made it up. Or rather, I inverted the particulars about the authors’ identities and their political views to make a point: If today, as a reader, you recoil at the thought of a time in which minorities were systematically marginalized when it came to the literary world’s public honors (and so much else), shouldn’t you also recoil now that the tables have been almost completely turned? And if you object to the right’s efforts to politicize the arts, won’t you also object when the efforts come from the left?

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

M.R. James really wrote a dozen variations on: “Oh wow, this old object is spooky. Better go to the library! Here’s the entire story of Lord Davis Atticutty, gentleman and satanist who was eaten by a tree.”

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

“You can’t buy happiness.” Yeah, but Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron ships cost money, so that’s objectively wrong.

A pile of Jazzwares Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron ships.

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Today’s Nintendo Direct announcements were wild.

A fake cover for Book of the New Sun on Switch 2

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Jonathan Louis Duckworth @jduckwriter.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

ICYMI, this came out a few weeks ago, and is one of the most ambitious works I've yet published. If you're a lover of scifi, gothic fiction, and complicated relationships/power dynamics, this might be a story for you!

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Flame Tree Press’s Wars in the Stars anthology is coming out soon. My short story “The Wreck” is one of the new stories featured in it. I’m thinking of doing a breakdown of every story when it comes out if the Gods of Teaching are amenable.

WARS
IN THE
STARS SHORT STORIES
WARS IN THE STARS SHORT STORIES
Collecting the very best stories of war and escapades from across the galaxy, in which political allegiances are formed, other worlds discovered, aliens confronted and empires built and destroyed.
Often impacted by environmental factors, governments, technology, and heroic individuals, the stories in this anthology ask us to explore all perspectives, Celebrating the epic adventure of space travel while also asking hard-hitting questions about war, this is a gripping new collection of stories from contemporary and classic authors
FLAME TREE

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Edgar Rice Burroughs was the GOAT.

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SF Encyclopedia @sfencyclopedia.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Some interior magazine illustrations for EE Smith's story "Galactic Patrol" - from parts 3&4 (of 6) serialised in Astounding's November and December 1937 issues (Artist: HW Wesso). [Artwork from parts 1&2 were in the previous anniversary post]:

Interior magazine artwork from the serialisation of EE Smith's "Galactic Patrol" part 3, in Astounding, November 1937

More interior magazine artwork from the serialisation of EE Smith's "Galactic Patrol" part 3, in Astounding, November 1937

More interior magazine artwork from the serialisation of EE Smith's "Galactic Patrol" part 4, in Astounding, December 1937

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This is the kind of store where you meet a cat named Edgar Allan Paws and find a lightly used copy of De Vermis Mysteriis.

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Oisín McGann @oisinmcgann.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This is set up for laughs, but it’s actually one of the best demonstrations I’ve seen of how being capable of producing convincing sounding language and understanding meaning are two completely different things. A chatbot does not understand you, it just has automated responses based on your words.

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Leo @infrabeige.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Book of the New Sun retold by dril

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

The Internet Archive is a treasure trove of old pulp magazines. My favorite discovery is the Captains Future series: a magazine focused around one character, each issue containing a novel by Edmond Hamilton (and later other authors). Hamilton was a master of pacing and action, but not of… subtlety.

An excerpt from a Captain Future magazine: "The secret that would give its finder unlimited power” — A look of fear distorted his studious face. His whisper was thick with apprehension.
"If somebody evil got the whole secret, it would be a night-mare!"

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Perusing books for my daughter, my wife reread this banger from Stan and Jan Berenstain (not stein). At first expecting a sexist screed, the book is about something very relevant to today…

Cover of The Berenstain Bears’ “No Girls Allowed”

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

On a livestream tonight, I claimed I saw an ad from an old pulp magazine advertising Listerine for washing hair. I haven’t found it yet, since I spend too much time reading old pulps on archive.org than, you know, reading comps. Here are other discoveries. 🧵 @geekyjules.julessherred.com

An ad for listerine shaving cream from a Captain Future pulp magazine in 1941.

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Went to the bad place to see Derek Smart’s profile. I got this message. Are you really a fan of SciFi games if Dr. Derek Smart hasn’t blocked you?

A Twitter message saying “@dsmart has blocked you” followed by “You can view public posts from @dsmart, but you are blocked from engaging with them. You also cannot follow or message @dsmart.”

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Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Rest in peace the legendary John Blanche (1948 - 2026)

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Leaked footage of my space opera novel.

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Today, the Pope released a long, well thought out essay about AI and its effect on humanity. At my Episcopal Church yesterday, we painted kites. I guess each denomination has its own way to accomplish its goals.

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Sasho Todorov @sashotodorov.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Fun fact: a conclave burns black smoke to announce that no Pope has been chosen, white smoke to announce that a Pope has been chosen, and red smoke to announce to the faithful that it is time for the Butlerian Jihad.

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

I pirated The Boys, and I think there’s something wrong with my copy.

Image of the characters from the movie Mystery Men, not The Boys, but it’s kind of weird how close the aesthetic is. It’s actually a frame from the “All Star” Smash Mouth music video which is stranger. Also, I Googled what a “Herogasm” is and that knowledge is now the worst thing Jeff Bezos has done.

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

This is the best proof of concept for my “Tom Brady as Flash Gordon” pitch. Just bleach the man’s hair and hand him a sword. It’s perfect.

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Ted Turner died. Mourners are advised to hang out with the Burger King Kids Club and use magic rings to summon a dude to beat up polluters.

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

David Allan Coe died. Mourners are directed to drink Jack Daniel’s until they forget their names.

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Kaleidotrope @kaleidotrope.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

For the record, I’m not opposed to AI writing and art because it’s *bad*. There’s a lot of bad writing and art I’m perfectly happy to say just isn’t for me. I’m opposed to AI writing and art because what it does to get to bad is *also* bad.

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Michael Damian Thomas @michaeldthomas.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

JFC, all SFF literature & media is political. It always has been and always will be. So ridiculous that this point has to be made again & again. Success or failure might be connected to how the politics were expressed, but it’s never audiences hate political art. Because it’s always political!

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

My story “The Wreck” will be in Flame Tree Press’s Wars in the Stars Short Stories anthology in August. The story takes place in the same setting as Stars Beyond Comprehension but fifty to seventy five years after the sixth book in the series.

blog.flametreepublishing.com

Gothic Fantasy | Successful Submissions | Wars in the Stars

We’re excited to announce the authors featured in our new anthology: Wars in the Stars Short Stories!

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Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

So there’s another big bland beige Dune film coming. A reminder that David Lynch made Dune in 1984 and it’s a (flawed) masterpiece. With Space Pugs.

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Reuben Willmott @reubs.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon Newsprint vs nice matt paper

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

I may have modified this quote a touch.

Image of the character Dean Learner from Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place. A caption says “An eagle eyed reader can see the tropes. A pedant can see the tropes. But if you’re looking at the tropes, you’re missing the story. If you read a SciFi story and point out the tropes, you’re a freak!”

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Wife: Let’s keep the politics to a minimum, it’s Christmas. Me: sure. Also me five minutes into dinner:

Christopher Lee as Count Dooku saying “What if I told you that the Republican was now under the control of a dark lord of the Sith?”

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

No One: Me at 6am: How do I tie a Windsor tie knot?

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

There is nothing anyone can tell me to make me believe the American Games thing is real and not a Poe’s Law parody of Trump AI video. No. Not allowed. Bad reality. Go in the corner and think about what you’ve done.

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

No “right to receive information”? Then what is the point? What is any of this? What are we doing here? “You can write Common Sense, Mr. Payne, but no one is allowed to read it.” What???????

A screenshot from a Texas Tribune article about the Supreme Court not hearing a book banning case from Texas. The highlighted text states, “The Monday move by the high court lets stand the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that says the First Amendment doesn’t acknowledge a right to receive information.”

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

If you’re not watching football and are tired of MST3K and need something to watch on Thanksgiving, check out this bizarre anthology show Chillers hosted by Anthony Perkins. It’s… full of choices…

Screenshot of two episode descriptions of the show Chillers on Amazon Prime. Episodes 10 and 11.

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

I may start something here, and I don’t have much of a platform. I also don’t have bridges to burn. This seems… bad. Theft is one of many problems with AI. Others include: not paying an artist, destroying the environment, AI art being total ass (see the new Feast for Crows illustrated edition), etc

Tweet from Abyss & Apex Magazine saying the following: “Going forward all Abyss & Apex story illustrations will be done with either Adobe Firefly, which does not steal artists’ works, or without AI if the author so requests.

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SF Encyclopedia @sfencyclopedia.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Artist Wally Wood sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/wood_w... died on this day, so here's some examples of his early 1950's work: a couple of his covers for Weird Science and two pieces for 'The Spirit Sunday Supplement':

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

The downside to Joe Bob Briggs switching to once a month is I forgot what time his show starts. So now I’m stuck between jumping in an hour late into a killer clown movie or just watching the stream on Sunday. Now I actually have to sleep at a decent hour tonight.

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Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Today's Classic Cover of the day is the 1985 edition of Gene Wolfe's A Devil in a Forest, illustrated by Bruce Pennington

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

On a backwater planet controlled by a mining company, Zara, a young corporate space ranger, investigates the murder of a manager, which leads to a conspiracy that puts everyone’s life at the colony, especially his own, at risk in Stars Beyond Comprehension (96k). #SFpit #SO #A #Q

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Josh Dobbin @joshdobbin.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

If anything, the debate raised Curtis' Q rating & approval among a whole new generation taken in by his Archie-Bunker-meets-Rorschach goofy charm. CUOMO should drop out-- has HE ever been featured on the cover of early 80s KARATE ILLUSTRATED magazine?!

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Les Taylor @lestaylorwriter.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Every presidential candidate should be required to write a novel without assistance (especially AI), minimum 50k words ready in time for election season. Why? When someone writes their first novel, their soul is laid bare and they write the craziest stuff.

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