iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

In this month’s newsletter: finally some facts ’n’ dates for the long (LONG) overdue sequel to Seeds of Truer Natures! Sign up on my website www.traversingz.com

A little detail from the cover of my forthcoming novella, showing hints of Tudor-era figures, buildings, and symbols in a woodcut style

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Me revising this novella for the umpteenth time

A still from the last episode of The Vampire Lestat, where Lestat says, in a voice laden with emotion, "Grammar." Same, Lestat. Same.

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Trying to explain air quality and why we can’t open the catio

A Siamese and an all black cat refusing to believe the air numbers are that bad

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Woke up this morning thought I was back in California 😞

110

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I was going to say this game is like watching paint dry but I stand corrected 🇳🇴😃

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Still available: In Her Mind a Darkness, my novella about a haunted teenager in 1980s NYC. Limited to 300 hardcovers, with cover and interior art by Alex Eckman-Lawn, cover design by Najla Qamber. Only $15, and US shipping is free. Get yours today! shop.traversingz.com/b/4eCxW

A picture of the cover of my novella In Her Mind a Darkness, with cutesy little arrows pointing to phrases that describe it: "1980s NYC," "the thing in the laundry room," "haunted girl and bad boys," "weird fiction," "only in limited edition, numbered hardcover," and "buy direct and support an indie author."

050

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

My June newsletter goes out tomorrow, with some thoughts on boredom, doing cons in your 50s, and what interests me about Gorgons. Sign up today! www.traversingz.com/newsletter

Late sixth century antefix of Medusa holding her baby Pegasus, with curled hair, wings, tusks, and possibly a beard? In other words, freakin' awesome.

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

It's that time again ... find me this weekend at table A1608 at @fanexpodenver.bsky.social where I'll have books, stickers, and a preview of my next novella!

A floor map of FanExpo Denver, showing my table A1608 in Artist Valley, fourth row in from the comic creators and cosplay alley.

020

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Have you signed up for my monthly newsletter? This month I’m rambling a bit about Wolf Hall and writing history, along with writing updates and of course my monthly poem selection. You can sign up on my website, www.traversingz.com

A picture of Mark Rylance as Cromwell and Damien Lewis as Henry VIII in Wolf Hall. I believe this is the moment when Henry is telling Cromwell about his first night with Jane Seymour and he utters that hideous phrase "such maidenly pudeur" which always makes me gag.

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

There's still time to sign up for my newsletter! This month I'm musing about personal objects and history, along with a writing update and a particular poem this month. You can sign up on my website, www.traversingz.com

001

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Good morning, sleepyhead. How about you and I crack some wet food and start calling our reps about fascism?

A very well fed Siamese, leaning against an orange blanket with a come-hither look that he saves for mornings when I dare to sleep in.

020

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

As part of snow prep I filled up all the bird feeders, put in fresh suet cakes, etc. woke up this morning to about a hundred grackles braving the storm to eat -everything-. (Imagine two other poles similarly swarmed, and a few dozen more in the trees waiting to jump in)

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Hunkering down for the storm? All my ebooks are pay-what-you-can over at my shop: shop.traversingz.com

The covers of four of my books: Vacui Magia, Harkworth Hall, Rare Birds, and Seeds of Truer Natures, all available as pay-what-you-can ebooks

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Was Ms. Ginger Stray pleased at being shut in the porch last night? No, she was Very Displeased. Was she sheltered and warm and safe from the howling, -3 winds outside? Yes, yes she was.

An orange and white cat before the door of an enclosed porch, soaking up the freezing draft and meowing plaintively but alas! She cannot go out! Woe is her, for she had to stay inside with the heated bed and the heaping bowl of food! Poor baby!

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

I don’t know what she was seeing but I absolutely believe she was seeing something very important

A fluffy black cat is stretched against a window staring very intently at nothing visible to the human eye

020

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

I SWEAR I left the “stray cats eat free” sign in California. 😞 🐈

An orange and white cat with a very pink nose in the morning snow; not visible is the fact that she is shaped like a potato with legs.

020

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Back in novella revisions, where the vibe is a little grim.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Triumph of Death, which depicts horrific scenes of death and destruction 16th-century-apocalypse style, and fits the mood of a novella about 16th-century vampires.

110

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Have you signed up for my monthly newsletter? This month I’ve got a little thing about seeing Laurence Olivier in Lost Empires, along with writing updates and of course my monthly poem selection. You can sign up on my website, www.traversingz.com

A picture of Laurence Olivier as a vaudeville comedian in the miniseries Lost Empires, one of his last roles, with the caption "have you signed up?"

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Wishing everyone a day filled with quiet wonder ❤️

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Best early present ever 😻 (reposting with alt text)

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

My dad got an email from the VA and nearly had another stroke at this wording:

President Trump opposes a lapse in appropriations, and on September 19, the House of Representatives passed, with the Trump Administration’s support, a clean continuing resolution to fund the government through November 21. Unfortunately, Democrats are blocking this Continuing Resolution in the U.S. Senate due to unrelated policy demands.

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Shirley says never be afraid to show your delectably soft belly to those you love.

A floofy black cat with a grey patch on her belly sprawled magnificently on a blue carpet, waiting for the inevitable rubs and to be told how adorable and beautiful she is.

050

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

At this point I’m just fascinated by the journey these books are taking. (They were supposed to go from Delaware to Louisiana.)

A tracking history that shows the box went to Texas (which kind of makes sense, 79127 instead of 70127) but are now in Nebraska, which is beyond sense.

140

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

Found @theesnakebitch.bsky.social at GalaxyCon and stocked up on my faves 🐍

Six stickers of my favorite Ludo designs, though I could also have bought six of the biblically accurate angel and been quite content

040

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

50% of my books arrived! We’ll see what tomorrow brings … but started my sticker shopping in case I’m done early. Lovelies courtesy of @hexabeast.bsky.social

020

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

NOLA, it’s been too long. I am here, my GalaxyCon table is F5 … and my books are in four different states. 😂😭 When life hands you lemons, you google the nearest beignets for breakfast, go to sleep early, and just take whatever the shipping gods hand out, day by day.

A view of the Mississippi River with an orange moon rising, because if I don’t have books to sell, at least I have an amazing view

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

On this hot summer day in this hellish timeline, wishing everyone a few minutes to listen to the birds and dream of murder

A perfect panther of a black cat sprawled in a windowsill, listening to a dozen birds singing the avian version of “cant touch this”

020

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

My cat Lord van der Kitten, Prince of Darkness (aka Kitten PoD) watching me doomscrolling the day's news

A black panther kitty giving me proper side-eye as I lose my sh*t reading today's news. As someone who has endured younger cats stealing his crunchies for three long years now, he now knows life is suffering, and the best we can hope for is someone who cares enough to give us butt-scratches and the occasional Churu.

050

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Humid summer afternoon, need caffeine

A fluffy black cat asleep on my lap, wrapped around my left forearm, who has cunningly made it all too easy for me to also sleep

040

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

A quiet Sunday morning— watching the birds, thinking about murder

A large short haired black cat looks out a window on a lovely morning, dreaming of bloody feathers, hot flesh, the squirt of organs between his teeth

0320

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

That is a mighty fine tuna sandwich you have there

An elderly tabby, well-versed in the fine art of begging by staring, and his young fluffy all-black protégé, who is fighting the urge to just smack the sandwich out of my hand.

050

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 14/10/2024

Post a PERFECT album from the 90s that isn’t nirvana or pearl jam or soundgarden or Alice In Chains.

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 26/09/2024

Looking for print copies of my weird fiction? Right now both collections and my new novella are only available in hardcover, and only available directly through me! This means your copies come signed AND with fun swag. Check them out here: shop.traversingz.com

Pictures of the covers of my weird fiction books: Rare Birds, In Her Mind a Darkness, and Vacui Magia.

000

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 16/08/2024

Look! A table number! Find me this afternoon at GalaxyCon San Jose! (And forgive me if I yawn - there was 3 am cat ruckus)

A picture of a sign that says I, LS Johnson, am at booth B4 in Artist Alley

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 01/07/2024

If you see this post a photo without explanation

A picture of the Welsh defenders hung at Conwy Castle, which is also the number clue for a children’s game.

100

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 23/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 20:

The cover of Kelly Link’s Stranger Things Happen.

040

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 22/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 19:

The cover of Andrea Barrett’s Ship Fever

040

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 21/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 18:

The cover of Yu Hua’s The Past and the Punishments

020

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 20/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 17:

The cover of Elaine Scarry’s Body in Pain.

120

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 19/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 16:

The cover of Thomas Ligottti’s Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe

030

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 18/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 15:

The cover of Hilary Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety. It is one of my personal theories that Mantel was hot for a certain kind of man. Her portrayals of Cromwell and Danton here feel a little … thirsty at times. 😆

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 17/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 14:

The cover of Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble. Cannot emphasize enough how the idea of gender as performance rocked grad school seminars

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 16/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 13:

The cover of Adrienne Rich’s Time’s Power, which includes “Dreamwood,” a hugely influential poem for me

020

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 15/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 12:

050

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 14/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 11:

The cover of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, surprising no one probably.

020

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 13/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 10:

The cover of my copy of Infante's Three Trapped Tigers

010

l.s. johnson @lsjohnson.bsky.social · 12/06/2024

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 Day 9:

An old cover of Toni Morrison's Sula, the cover I remember.

030