iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Just finished The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva. Not sure how I feel about the ending, but the rest was 5 stars for me. Tight focus on 3 generations of a complicated family in a world much like our own, but interstellar communication from aliens was received in 1980.

The cover of The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva. A small house in the woods is lit up at late dusk or early dawn. Above there is a sky full of stars. The one in the canter is especially bright with a line radiating out from it. The way the sky is brighter on one side of the line implies a radar sweep.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Audio: Finally getting to The West Passage by Jared Pechaček. Intrigued by the unique world building. Paper: Just finished Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison, which was a lot of fun and a biting social commentary.

The cover of the book Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison. It shows a young man in 1700s clothing, wearing AirPods and modern (possibly Meta?) sunglasses.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Smoke sky, Greater Boston area this evening

A red-orange sun in a hazy, yellowish grey sky. In the foreground, the top of a municipal building, a mostly slack American flag, and a red traffic light. Taken approximately 6:45pm July 14, 2026, showing the way the sky looks in Eastern Massachusetts with the effects of Canadian wildfire smoke.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Congratulations to all the Hugo Award finalists! Looking forward to diving into the works I haven’t experienced yet. Also, this is where I was when the shortlist was announced this year. Didn’t plan it that way, but it seems appropriate. www.lacon.org/hugofinalists/

The Space Shuttle Discovery on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the National Air and Space Museum.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Currently reading The Edge of Space-Time by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. It’s Physics for Poets, but not in the usual sense of being dumbed down. It’s written using literary, artistic, and musical metaphors that increase accessibility and interest to people who may not usually be drawn to hard science

Cover of The Edge of Space-Time by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. Shows a sphere that is swirled black and white on one side, rainbow gradient on the other.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

What type of Artificial General Intelligence would you get extrapolating from the current state of LLMs? I think it would be something like the AI in Awakened by @aeosworth.bsky.social. Also a good read if you want to support a trans author on this particularly miserable day in trans history.

The cover of Awakened by A.E. Osworth. It shows a cracked phone leaking water, hovering above a pentagram, candles, and Tarot cards.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

If you enjoyed The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, I highly recommend getting immersed in the dark secrets of the fictitious Warren University in An Arcane Inheritance by @wordsiren.bsky.social

Cover of An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole, which shows a dark collegiate looking tower, shining with red light against a black background.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Currently reading The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami. A woman is detained indefinitely because the surveillance algorithm predicts future crimes. It’s excellent so far and way too real at the current moment.

Cover of The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami. Shows a small figure of a person in a cavernous orange space that recedes into the darkness. The background is purple with white text.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

I received these, and now I have both the audio and physical versions of We Will Rise Again, which is great because I love it. My husband was bummed I’d already read it (“What?? It just came out like 2 weeks ago!”), but that means he picked something exactly right!

3 books arranged on a table: 1. We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays of Protest, Resistance, and Hope, edited by Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older 2. The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction by Justine Larbalestier 3. Reclamation by Kristen Zimmer

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Exhibit way further down the list than A: my Dad, born 1947, an engineer who found his passion in amusement park safety regulation. This was one of the (many) notebooks he kept to track his FreeCell games.

A notebook open to a two-page spread showing tightly packed columns of numbers written in pencil, no other text.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Good morning! Current read: We Will Rise Again, Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope. This is a brand new and timely anthology. Recommended.

Cover of the anthology We Will Rise Again, edited by Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malia Older. The cover image is an abstract pattern showing waves of magenta, teal, and peach, dotted with small circles that suggest stars and/or planets.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

You got a much better picture, but my cats didn’t even let the tree get out of the box before they were on it.

An artificial Christmas tree still packed in its box, with one cat already crawling on it and a second with its paws on the edge of the box as if contemplating joining in.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Please enjoy my teenager’s charcu-turkey

A charcuterie board arranged in the shape of a turkey. The body is the turkey is a pear with eyes, beak, and legs made of cheese. Surrounding the body are concentric arcs of meat, cheese, crackers, and fruit forming an exaggerated fan of tail feathers.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Lessons in Magic and Disaster is my favorite work by @charliejane.bsky.social so far, and one is my favorite books of the year. The intimate focus on one family and their relationships reminds me of @sarahpinsker.bsky.social’s We are Satellites. The magic in it feels like a real part of our world.

The cover of Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders. Shows cracked ground, tinted purple, with daisies growing through the cracks. The text is in yellow.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Good morning! I just started Katabasis by R.F. Kuang! I also wanted to shout out a recent read I think would be a good pick for Best Related Work Hugo: Positive Obsession by Susana M. Morris. It’s a biography of Octavia E. Butler, and also includes analysis of each of her works.

Cover of the book Positive Obsession, The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris. Shows a painting of SF author Octavia E. Butler on an orange background.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Currently enjoying Motheater by Linda Codega, a debut novel where a young Virginia woman teams up with a mysterious amnesiac witch to figure out why Appalachian Coal Miners are dying.

Cover of the book Motheater by Linda H. Codega. Image shows a bluejay, some moths, and a couple of animal skulls amid a swirl of green and brown leaves.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

Wow, Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase is so good and is absolutely gutting me every other scene. I’ve been taking frequent stops to recover.

Screenshot of my Libby app showing that I’m 30% into the Womb City audiobook.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Currently reading Luminous by Silvia Park, set in a future Korea, reunified after a second war. Society is grappling with the implications of robots who can pass as human, and robotic solutions to human injuries and illnesses. Many interweaving storylines, all fascinating. Loving this one so far!

Cover of the novel Luminous by Silvia Park.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

I read Godkiller by Hannah Kaner this week, and it won my anti-monarchy-in-fantasy-and-reality heart. If you are a feeling a No Kings kind of way today, what’s a book that resonates with that feeling? #BookSky

Cover of the book Godkiller by Hannah Kaner.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Good morning! Current fiction: Reread of The Disposessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. The non-SFF member of our podcasting team asked for an SFF rec, and we’re planning an episode to see what she thought. Non-fiction: Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer, which is delightful and thought provoking.

Cover of the book Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer. The cover is orange with white and black text overlaid over a renaissance style statue of a person holding a sword and a severed head.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

My daughter got the spreadsheet gene. She would like you all to know that she is currently creating an inventory of every book in our house. She finished my fiction section this weekend.

My fiction section. 3 room-height bookshelves full of mostly Science Fiction and Fantasy.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Happy Pride Month, friends! Please enjoy a Rainbow Beast. One of my favorite pieces of my children’s art from Kindergarten, suddenly relevant.

Child’s drawing of a rainbow with pink spines, pink claws, four pink legs, and an angry, toothy face. My youngest drew this the first month of Kindergarten, when the class was asked to follow a set of instructions to draw a rainbow.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

May I suggest this version, drawn by my child in Kindergarten.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

That time I discovered my husband had used sharpie to make sure the kids left me a pomelo, one of my favorite fruits. I hear you about the despair.

A pomelo with “Mom’s” written on it in sharpie.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Happy Sunday! Currently reading on paper: Timebound, 3rd in Heather Albano’s underrated Keeping Time trilogy, a steam punk alternate history time travel adventure. Currently listening: So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole, Lodestar nominated (so, YA) secondary world fantasy with dragon riding.

Book Cover of Timebound by Heather Albano

Book cover of So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by @scalzi.com was fun! It felt like an extended Randall Monroe What If scenario (except with characters), so much so that I kept having vivid mental images of the characters as XKCD stick figures. #BookSky

Book cover of John Scalzi’s When The Moon Hits Your Eye, which shows a space suited astronaut standing on the surface of a moon made of cheese.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Restarted in the light of day. That was incredibly disturbing and well worth it. #BookSky

The cover of Model Home by Rivers Solomon, bright green with a drawing of a large house looking cracked and creepy with a large eye in one window.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Just finished Pink Slime by Fernanda Trias, which was a heartbreaking read, but so worth it. It’s about an apocalypse, and also about family dynamics and connections between people. Now starting These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs.

Cover of the book Pink Slime by Fernanda Trias. The cover image is red marbled with pink.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Good morning! Just finished Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. Wow, a master class in both setting up reader expectations and highlighting expectations a reader already has. Loved it.

Cover of the book Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

My first book read in 2025 was a worthy choice: These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by @izzyxen.bsky.social. There’s mystery, action, an anarchist commune in a dystopian future, evil corporations, a great trans MC with a terrible parent, all in the space of a novella. #BookSky

The (slightly dog eared) paperback These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein. The cover shows the pixelated outline of a person in fuchsia and black. Text is in yellow.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Good morning! I’m currently listening to Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao, out next week. It’s great so far! Look for a release day review episode on Narrated.

Screenshot from the libro.fm app showing the cover of Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao. Progress shows that the listener is on Chapter 11, Track 18 of 67.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

A post-Halloween kindness from my ten year old. 😍 (Was Halloween really last week? It feels like months have passed since then.)

A pile of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups sitting on a note that reads “for mom. i have to many and you like these” in pencil, with an arrow pointing to the candy.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 01/11/2024

All the ghosts were shopping at Walgreens on Halloween night.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 19/10/2024

Happy Saturday from Billy and Pepper ( @devrose.bsky.social, you’ll want to see this.)

A white and grey striped cat (Billy), and a grey-brown and black striped cat (Pepper), snuggling on a bed with their heads together. Each has one paw stretched out in front of them. Pepper’s paw is resting over Billy’s paw as if they are posing for this photo. The photo has been slightly edited to be darker at the corners (“vignette” filter).

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 04/10/2024

Child got a pumpkin head mask for Halloween. Sorry child, it belongs to Pepper now.

Cat rolling around inside a pumpkin head mask, on a bed.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 03/10/2024

Pepper’s getting ready for his podcasting debut.

A black and grey/brown striped cat sitting primly on a laptop and sniffing at a microphone.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 20/09/2024

Book mail from @neonhemlock.bsky.social 😍. The Transitive Properties of Cheese by @robotleblanc.bsky.social. This looks like so much fun.

A book on a table: The Transitive Properties of Cheese by Ann LeBlanc

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 19/09/2024

My sweet kitties were among @devrose.bsky.social’s fosters. They were born in her house. I can vouch for what a good job she does with them.

Two cats squeezed onto one small chair, sitting in identical positions and looking just above the camera with identical angelic expressions.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 19/09/2024

Pet photos you say? This is Billy and Pepper, littermates whose antics remind me of human siblings.

Two cats on a bed. One has rolled on top of the other, belly up, and looks very relaxed and comfortable. The one underneath has one eye closed in what looks like a grimace of annoyance, and his tongue is sticking out.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 18/09/2024

If you made it this far into my thread, here is a cat video for your efforts. My kitties Billy and Pepper at the exact moment the auto feeder drops their lunch.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 15/09/2024

I was on a social media break when I read this wonderfully weird trilogy of novellas by @tadethompson.bsky.social. He’s spending today promoting everyone else, so I thought I’d promote something of his. Quick reads on the SF/horror line that stay with you. Haven’t read anything quite like them.

Three books on a table: The Murders of Molly Southbourne, The Survival of Molly Southbourne, and The Legacy of Molly Southbourne, all by Tade Thompson

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 13/09/2024

I got the video feature!! In celebration, I’m going to do like everyone else and post a favorite pet video. This is the time Pepper thought the cat on the dry food bag was encroaching on his territory. Also the day I learned cats can understand 2d pictures.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 07/09/2024

Pepper when my family plays a board game:

Brown and black striped cat sitting exactly in the middle of a Trivial Pursuit Junior board. I cropped out my nine year old’s adorably annoyed face for privacy reasons.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 04/09/2024

I love a mystery with a magical or SF element, and Off-Time Jive by @azlouise.bsky.social is a good one! Found it through @theignyteawards.bsky.social short list, which is a great source of recommendations. Glad I brought it with me on vacation last week.

My hand holding the book Off-Time Jive by A.Z. Louise. Background is a car’s passenger side dashboard, and beyond that the woods of New Hampshire.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 31/08/2024

I went to an arcade yesterday with a lot of old games, and spotted a Buck Rogers game. Now I’m filled with nostalgia for Twiki. Anyone with me? Note: I haven’t watched the show since I was about ten, and I’m not sure I want to know how it holds up.

Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom arcade game spotted in the wild yesterday.

Twiki, the little robot from Buck Rogers, carrying the AI Dr. Theopolis around his neck.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 29/08/2024

I once paid a random guy 150 rubles to chase a bus through the forest of Eastern Russia.

“Tell us a true, one-sentence story from your life that absolutely opens more questions than it answers and demands further context.” The text is displayed over a photo of a red smiley face ball floating on water.

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Lisa @ Narrated Podcast @lisajune.bsky.social · 17/08/2024

Not sure how visible this is in the photo, but Billy walked through a spiderweb and it stuck his whiskers together. 😆 He kept turning his head like he was trying to figure out what he was touching but not seeing.

A white and grey cat with his uppermost whiskers stuck together with a piece of spiderweb.

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