iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Here’s the beautiful illustration on the Papio Press calendar for October. If I ever do a collection of Witches of Woodville short stories (would you readers be interested in that?) I’m definitely knocking on Harry Goldhawk’s door!

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Authorized Novelizations Podcast @authorizedpod.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

OUT NOW! @mattfisher.bsky.social, having submitted to the whims of the wheel, as reward has wisely chosen a book by consistently compelling Star Trek author Vonda N. McIntyre. @markstay.bsky.social also joins, and we have a whale of a time discussing The Voyage Home! Listen: shorturl.at/lDZ45

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The Bestseller Experiment podcast is the gift that keeps on giving. I’m still getting books sent to me from listeners who were inspired by the podcast and How to Mend a Broken Mallet by James N. Parkes is the latest, digging deep into men’s mental health issues. Thank you, James and congrats!!

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Today I’m selling and signing m’books at AbbeyCon in Abingdon

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I’m at the Crawley comic con at the K2 centre today! I’ll be selling and signing m’books, but if you just want to come and play there are two delightful young ladies willing to show you around…

Me posing behind a replica of the smashed door from The Shining.

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

At a loose end in London today, so went to see Shaun the Sheep and the Beast of Mossy Bottom, which is choc full of horror movie and folk horror gags, including one very funny nod to Game of Thrones. Also saw the trailer for Laika’s new film Wildwood, which looks astonishing.

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Did my Toast of London bit for the special introduction to the audiobook of The End of Gods! Don’t worry, the mighty Dan Calley is taking care of the actual narration of the book.

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Poppy T Perry on the Creative Differences Livestream TONIGHT! We'll be discussing... The 15 years from Poppy's first writing lesson to publication How she uses zines to promote her books And what it takes to be a 5am writer And much more! FB: fb.me/e/9500J3y0c YT: www.youtube.com/live/n-uVhFF...

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The End of Magic audiobook narrated by Dan Calley is out today!!! rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Last book of the holiday (finished it on the flight home) is Case Histories, the first of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie mysteries. I’ve read many of Atkinson’s stand-alones and they’ve all been outstanding, and this was no different >>

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Miranda Dickinson @wurdsmyth.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Today is a day to go and find all the brilliant children's authors who *should* have had the shelf space and visibility all along. Because the #kidlit world is so much bigger, brighter and bonkersly brilliant than one dodgy 'celeb' who was given everything... ☺️

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Cut Him Out in Little Stars by Lucy Strange is a brilliant wartime mystery with just a hint of the supernatural and it has such a moving and satisfying ending. If you enjoyed the Witches of Woodville series you’ll definitely love this!!

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

One week till the release of THE END OF MAGIC audiobook, narrated by Dan Calley - pre-order wherever you get your audiobooks: rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...

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Gavin / G. B. Ralph @gbralph.com · 13/09/2026

Mystery writers, how are your stories coming along? 🕵️‍♂️💀 I can't wait to read everyone's "Locked Room" short stories along with my fellow judges @angelacnurseauthor.bsky.social @markstay.bsky.social and @dunfermlinereads.bsky.social 👀 Details: www.mysteriousmurders.com #Mystery 🌈📚🇳🇿📚💙🔎💀📚👀📚🌎🌈✒️

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Catching on my Pinboroughs while on holiday. We Live Here Now grabs you from the off, doesn’t let go and delivers a deliciously wicked ending. Bloody loved it.

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💜Raax/Emily🤍Kickstarter - Galactic Conquerors🖤 @ejstewart.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

More praise from End of the Galactic Conquerors by Author @markstay.bsky.social It's been fun having lots of authors saying nice things about my stuff! www.kickstarter.com/projects/577...

"End of the Galactic Conquerors had me chuckling from the first page. It’s a meta look at what happens when the hero of your favourite based-on-a-toy-range cartoon has an existential crisis, but it’s also written with a genuine affection for those shows. It’s thought-provoking, funny and insightful. Highly recommended!" - Mark Stay, writer of Witches of Woodville, End of Magic, and Robot Overlords

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Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It's just weird isn't it when the British Museum is running a sold-out exhibition, when The Odyssey reports $1billion at the box office, when the V&A has just opened the most innovative and accessible museum model in Europe....and this is what our minister for research comes out with.

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

One of the strangest novelisations I’ve ever read (and I’ve read the E.T. sequel!)

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This afternoon’s storm clouds lingered…

A 3-second exposure of the house, pool and mountains where we’re staying in Spain.

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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Pre-order The Green Man's Debt ebook right now and you can be reading it on 10th September. You will find a comprehensive roster of UK and international purchase links on the Wizard's Tower Press website. wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/book...

Cover art by Ben Baldwin for The Green Man's Debt by Juliet E McKenna. A grey wolf with pale eyes stands in the shadows of a derelict building with a black and white tiled floor. The wolf is looking straight at you. Its snarl reveals blood on its teeth and jaw.

Cover copy reads: Dan Mackmain’s mum is a dryad, so he knows asking someone from the supernatural world for a favour means there’ll be a price to pay, sooner or later. He’s been waiting for the Hunter, the antler-crowned guardian of predators and prey, to call in his debt.

He wasn’t expecting this to happen when he and his girlfriend Fin were planning to visit her sister Iris and her new husband Conn. Dan has prepared for this unknown challenge, reading up on Irish folklore. So far, he’s learned how different those who live in that unseen realm will be from anyone he’s encountered before – and that crossing them could be very dangerous.

A modern fantasy rooted in ancient myths and folklore.

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

As recommended by Poppy at The Little Green Bookshop, Habibi is an extraordinary graphic novel following orphans Dodola and Zam and their lives in a desert city. It draws on stories from the Koran and the Bible and the artwork is stunning. Not a book to be rushed. Thanks, Poppy!

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Enter the Mysterious Murders short story competition here… www.mysteriousmurders.com/home

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Another good day at Bournemouth comic con!

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The venue has only supplied 4-foot tables for today’s comic con in Bournemouth (we normally get six-footers!), so I’ve gone for the compact and cosy option today!

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

From the same guys who did the Dungeons and Dragons movie, Mayday is lots of fun. Branagh is brilliant and there’s a bit with a wine bottle that had me laughing like a loon. Recommended.

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hookland.bsky.social @hookland.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Today's answer to the question what is Hookland?

What is Hookland?

Hookland is England as seen from the ghost train.

It is a fierce refusal to let psychogeographers tell you that when you talk about spirits of place you can’t really believe in them. It is all the books you borrowed time and time again from the library as a child – encyclopaedias of horror films, Usborne’s Worlds of the Unknown UFOs and Charles Berlitz’s The Bermuda Triangle.

It is walking home through the woods in November mist and feeling that the place has monsters, not the sort they made into Aurora model kits, but old, nameless things that are fed by the fear you’ve had of this place since that murder a few years back. It is the terror of living in a haunted landscape. It is the delight of living in a profoundly haunted landscape. Hookland is the place that you can almost allow yourself to believe in magic again before realising it is a territory you already inhabit. Shared space where all the broken memories of childhood are resuscitated and walking alongside you.

It is knowing the names of Soviet spacemen orbiting above and feeling the youthful power if recognising which mushrooms are poisonous. It is sneaking into fields to release crows from cruel traps and thinking up mad schemes to raise money to buy fireworks when the air becomes rich with the intoxicating smell of bonfires. It’s being more scared by gaudy movie posters for films that you haven’t ever seen than being afraid of the things your parents constantly warn you about.

It is knowing that everywhere is layers of story, layers of memory and realising you may be the ghost of someone else’s future.

It is a French radio station on AM, full of songs you hear and instantly love, but will spend the rest of your life trying to remember what the title was, which band it was.

On its jagged rocks, its snaring brambles, fragments of ripped cloth that you know are clues to something you have forgotten. Something important you cannot unlock.

It is home.

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Chuck Tingle @chucktingle.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

thank you lesbian tractor witch

image with swirling green background of the lesbian tractor witch it says: congratulations if you are seeing this you have been chosen by the lesbian tractor witch, she has removed all curses have a wonderful day

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

So Claire discovered today that I have a Wikipedia page! I have no idea who put it together, but thank you mysterious Wikipedian… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_St...

en.wikipedia.org

Mark Stay - Wikipedia

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The words every screenwriter loves to type (even if they know that there will be many drafts to follow).

The end of a screenplay. The words: IRIS OUT
Follow by
THE END

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Britain, 1940. War is coming—and not everything threatening the village is German... witchesofwoodville.com#bookshop

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The End of Magic audiobook: 3 weeks to go… Just three weeks till THE END OF MAGIC spills into the world’s ears via the miracle of audiobooks! It’s narrated by the amazing Dan Calley and you can be the first to hear it by preordering from your audiobook purveyor of choice here…

markstaywrites.com

The End of Magic audiobook: 3 weeks to go…

Just three weeks till THE END OF MAGIC spills into the world’s ears via the miracle of audiobooks! It’s narrated by the amazing Dan Calley and you can be the first to hear it by preordering from your audiobook purveyor of choice here…

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Location recce at Dungeness for a book. Enjoyed a bit of beautiful desolation.

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British Fantasy Society @britfantasysoc.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

A little public service announcement for the horror community: You are always welcome in the British Fantasy Society. We exist to celebrate and support ALL of speculative fiction - including horror, dark fantasy, paranormal and supernatural, and crime stories - across the spectrum. 🧵⬇️

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The Whisper Man is a classic they-don’t-make-‘em-like-that-anymore serial killer thriller with an incredible cast. Full disclosure: it’s based on the novel by @alexnorth.co.uk who is a writer chum and I couldn’t be happier for him!

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Award-winning author Ivy Ngeow returns with a page-turning thriller In Safe Hands. We discuss: Why books are like buildings How art is built on observation Why we shouldn't fear our mistakes and much more! LISTEN: www.buzzsprout.com/2399041/epis... WATCH: youtu.be/4LgNT2iPvAo

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Coyote v ACME is very funny and a welcome escape from the woes of the world and Peter Lorrie’s best film since 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

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Caimh/CK McDonnell @caimhmc.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Out now! Book available in all formats, doggos currently not for sale although if I find out who keeps digging holes in the lawn that may change…

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Woke to see a purple haze* creeping through the window, so I thought I’d check out the sunrise. This pic simply doesn’t do it justice. Nice to have a little moment of peace in all the madness. *With apologies to Jimi.

A sunrise of purple and gold, silhouetting out neighbour’s tree.

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Fare thee well, Dolly. As well as being a music legend, you’ve encouraged generations to pick up a book and read. RIP

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Mark Stay @markstay.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

End of the Galactic Conquerors had me chuckling from the first page. Highly recommended and it launches on Kickstarter very soon! Sign up here to be notified when... www.kickstarter.com/projects/577...

kickstarter.com

Coming soon: The End of the Galactic Conquerors - Issue #1

The characters of an '80s cartoon slowly become aware they are in a show designed only to sell toys and break out into the real world

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