iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Matthew Phillion

Sean Eric Fagan @kithrup.bsky.social · 3h

Cached US #KindleBookGiveaway: 8 copies of Feedback (Newsflesh Novels Book 4), by Mira Grant(although I hear that @seananmcguire.bsky.social helped out as a sounding board). This is a sidequel, not a sequel, to the main series, but reading the original trilogy will help I suspect.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 2h

Maybe one of these is my new author headshot. The funny thing is there were definitely some what I'd call "beefcake" shots from the same shoot I probably won't post even though they make me look good. I'm not vain enough.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 3h

My photo storage kicked me an "on this day" pic that made me laugh - the time my photographer friend Mander Studios rang me up and said "can I convince you to wear angel wings for a photo shoot?"

A man in a white shirt, black pants and tie, with white feathered wings, sitting on a bed in front of bright white windows.)

A man in a white shirt, black pants and tie, with white feathered wings, in front of bright white windows.)

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 5h

Just quote-posting myself that the Crimson Child is still 99 cents on Kindle this weekend. (Going to give away one of the horror novelettes next weekend!)

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Also realizing my brain still references Happy Fun Ball tells me I'm old as dirt. It also made me go immediately to the Super Colon Blow skit.

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Jake Ēkiss @jakeekiss.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

So, I hate that this video is now topical, but I think it's both incredibly well done, and also has a lot to say about public executions. Specifically, who gets publicly executed, and why.

youtube.com

Would You Watch A Public Execution?

YouTube video by J. Draper

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Don't be mean to Claude has "don't taunt Happy Fun Ball" vibes but seriously, they just don't want the algorithm to to spit back what you put into it. Keep being mean to Claude. Claude is not a person. Claude is an IP theft machine.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Continuing the monster theme for October, Book 5 of the Indestructibles series, the Crimson Child, is 99 cents this weekend. It has a werewolf on the cover and there's scary magic inside. www.amazon.com/Crimson-Chil...

amazon.com

The Crimson Child: the Indestructibles Book 5

Amazon.com: The Crimson Child: the Indestructibles Book 5 eBook : Phillion, Matthew: Kindle Store

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I must've told you about the CEO I worked with who used AI to "write" books to read to his kids at night. I'm like: now I know for a fact this guy's a psychopath. I quit about a month later.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Dig a little deeper. Yep, AI art. In a children's book about his own kid. I don't have the energy to call him out on it, but if he'd used a human artist I could've had him invited to a panel.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I'm in a position where I can lift up authors sometimes, get them speaking opportunities on panels, etc. Saw an old coworker's husband had published a children's book and the committee was looking for children's book authors. I check it out. Art rubs me the wrong way. Too Pixar-y. No artist credit.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Also got to use Power Word Kill for the first time in living memory in a perfect story beat. Love running games for players who are up for anything that comes their way.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This was such a rewarding panel to be a part of. Give it a listen if you have time—incredibly timely and a great conversation.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Hasn’t happened in a minute, but almost made myself tear up while DMing as the story was offering a player character her grand, defining moment tonight. I wasn’t the only one, either. I love this game.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Like the transition from "daydreaming about movie adaptations" to "please publishing gods, just let me go be a visually impaired hermit bothering no one and being unbothered" is... something.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Ambitions as an author are funny. Like, year 1: "I hope I can be the next [someone admirable]!" Year 2: "I just want to make a moderate living." Year 3: "I just want the books to become self-sustaining/marketing." Year 12: "I just want enough success to never need a doctor's note for my eyes."

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I know people want to be reasonable about the whole plague thing because modern science can treat, well, the plague, but I don't think it's unreasonable to worry about the level of irresponsibility, stupidity, and selfishness modern society is capable of during another outbreak of any kind.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Didn't have "Boston Symphony Orchestra includes requiring AI use in a graphic designer job description" on today's bingo card, but a friend just shared their job listing with me and there it is. Swim together or sink alone applies to everyone in the arts, guys.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 06/10/2026

Hot news for the sea lion in my comments bothering everyone about how training data is fair use www.courthousenews.com/ai-training-...

courthousenews.com

AI training of copyrighted material not fair use: Third Circuit

Using someone else's "creative spark" to start a competing business runs afoul of copyright law, the panel found.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Me: Maybe I can just live with it and not get eye surgery. Also me: Ambitiously reads three issues of a digital comic book tonight and can't see out of both eyes at the same time for the rest of the night Also also me: FINE maybe I need to get this fixed

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 05/10/2026

Holy shit.

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Jack Badelaire @jbadelaire.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Is there anyone out there who'd be interested in some Dragon Magazine issues from #201 to #240 or so? They are not collector condition but are certainly readable. I just want them to go to a good home. Please share this post so my magazines can find a new place to live!

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Always truly appreciate the signal boost, sir. Thanks as always for spreading the word when one of the books is marked down!

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Blatantly resharing a blatant self-promotional post. (FWIW, this book is written with the intent you don’t need to read the first Indestructibles books already.)

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Blatant self-promotional post - Doc Silence: The Cost of Magic is $.99 this weekend on Kindle. I always refer to this book as the one story I had to write and get out of my head before I shuffle off this mortal coil. www.amazon.com/dp/B09JL2YJZG

amazon.com

Doc Silence: The Cost of Magic (the Indestructibles)

Doc Silence: magician, superhero, adventurer, mentor. Doc was the last man standing when his team of heroes surrendered to despair, and was the one to bring together the next generation of superheroes...

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Reposted by Matthew Phillion

Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 03/10/2026

Don’t accept interviews with USA Today (or Gannet), apparently. Creepy.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I know I'm in a bad mood but I just had to run something down to the basement and it was completely silent down there, and cool, and I just stood in silence for like three minutes and dissociated. Thinking I might be peopled out for the week.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I feel like we've all read enough sci-fi to feel like every time the Pope comes out with a strong anti-AI statement there's a breakaway branch of brainwashed AI addicts ready to start their own church.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I know it's in no small part a me problem but I'd love to live in a world where I didn't frequently become angered enough to make myself nauseous.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Truly enjoying the American traditional humiliation ritual of proving there's something physically wrong with you.

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Reposted by Matthew Phillion

Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Some good news for a change: Overcoming a massive and aggressive tech lobby and a squeamish, Silicon Valley-friendly governor, the labor movement has managed to pass a raft of first-of-their-kind AI laws aimed at protecting workers in California.

bloodinthemachine.com

California just passed the strongest AI labor laws in the US

Finally, some good news

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

If you skipped the prequel to the Indestructibles, I just want to mention I think the Cost of Magic is the book I'm most emotionally attached to as a writer. It's a deep cut into the setting. The Crimson Child and Blood & Bone will get featured on later weekends, too!

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Posting a little early because I know I'll forget - trying to take the sting off being a Salem resident during Halloween season with a sale on the most supernatural-based books in my backlist this month, so Doc Silence: the Cost of Magic will be 99 cents this weekend.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I know. What kills me is for a guy who has written about healthcare off and on for like 18 years, I get so anxious if healthcare turns its gaze on ME.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I mean, there are worse fates than being the guy who doesn’t make it in a John Le Carre novel.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

So apparently if your gut response to needing eye muscle surgery is "what if I don't and just stay like this?" because the idea of it makes you nauseous, people do not find it funny and start bullying you into taking care of yourself. This cancels my plan for going full Nick Fury, in any event.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We know this DOE bullshit is about oppression of thought and keeping people poor, but to be honest, the most money I ever made with my English degree were gigs making sure dudes with MBAs didn't sound like they had two muffins in their skull where their brain hemispheres should be. It's lucrative.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I keep going back to the consultants I was working with who were doing security testing on OpenAI and Anthropic. "I'd never put anything of value in it" was their warning and they never changed their opinion except a couple of them who found a way to monetize it themselves later.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"Canceling because of safety concerns" is just AI company speak for "canceling because we haven't monetized this correctly." These dudes do not give a single solitary damn if someone gets hurt with by their project or we'd have less kids getting self-help self-harm tips from it.

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natemare before christmas @natescape.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Do you know how much has to have gone wrong for me to not like the internet

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joe @shariauncle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

increasingly feels like my Perfectly Fine liberal arts education was an artifact grabbed fleeing a burning temple

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Barry Lyga @barrylyga.com · 29/09/2026

🚨 ONE DAY ONLY! 🚨 Hey, y'all! For TODAY ONLY, Every Hunter is Hunted is a #Kindle Daily Deal! You can snap it up for a mere $1.99! Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity! It's gone by day's end! www.amazon.com/Every-Hunter... @crookedlanebooks.bsky.social

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If I hear one more person say "Claude is the least evil" one when they're the motherfuckers who had to pay damned near every author on Earth for STEALING THEIR LIFES WORK I am going to give myself some kind of myocardial infarction.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Had to make an appointment with a specialist this morning and the woman I spoke with to set it up had a Kerry accent (I spent a LOT of time there a while back) and I think I would find my entire medical journey easier if I got all news, good or bad, in a Kerry accent.

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

(Okay outside of comics except for the Wolverine podcast Benjamin Percy wrote. That was also absolutely fantastic and I think back to that production all the time, too, but it was a very small, nordic noir style story, and the game is more expansive in its Logan deep dive.)

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Matthew Phillion @matthewphillion.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I play maybe one video game every three years so I'm a terrible judge of game play, but story-wise, I've liked Insomniac's portrayal of Wolverine better than any media interpretation of Logan outside of comics, ESPECIALLY his nuanced relationship with Jean. Liam McIntyre's performance is perfect.

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