iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 9h

Even in serious movies and books, characters often use adjectives, adverbs and full sentences in speech and dialogue, in a way that rarely happens in real life, even among very articulate people.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

"Movies are made of movies." Such a cool description of influence, inspiration and homage, from.an interview with Zach Cregger Books, likewise, are made of books.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Whatever the qualifications needed, I think Elevated Horror is a very clear and useful term.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

the fact that I'm tempted to use the Big Book Club collective read as a prompt to re-read Ducks Newburyport,

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Being a box office bomb will undoubtedly help cement the actually pretty darn good new MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE movie as a cult classic.

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Reposted by Michael James

Across The Pond Podcast @acrossthepondbooks.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

We've got a great new episode about the mighty Stephen King: www.buzzsprout.com/1728150/epis... Features an interview with Caroline Bicks, author of Monsters In The Archive, a fantastic book about delving into the great man's drafts. Plus general appreciation of his talent.

buzzsprout.com

137. Caroline Bicks, "Monsters in the Archive" - Across the Pond

Galley Beggar Press's forthcoming books, and we talk to Professor Caroline Bicks about her  new book, Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear With Stephen King, which draws on her time research...

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

So... I've started, every so often, to use our home espert machine to make myself a mocha. And I'm not ashamed to admit it.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Did you know in 2008 ScarJo recorded an album with multiple Tom Waits covers? open.spotify.com/album/2bBRv5...

open.spotify.com

Anywhere I Lay My Head

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

My long-held conviction is that U2's Songs of Innocence is (apart from 'California') a really good and interesting album. My recent Wild Idea is that Songs is Experience might be, too. What if they knew what they were doing, but I wasn't on their wavelength?

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Sincerely honoured and proud to have a short story, 'Once a jolly swagman came through these parts', included in ISLAND issue 177. My local literary journal! Thankful to attentive editorial input from Kate Kruimink and Jane Rawson.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

"the sea itself had become a gaseous, voluminous, screamingly hot malformation of its proper self, out of which was ejected a writhing column of angels." WATERBLACK by @alexpheby.bsky.social @galleybeggars.bsky.social

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Characteristic chilling irony from Jarvis Cocker on Pulp's glorious new album: "And life's too short to drink bad wine and that's frightening."

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Second half of WATERBLACK has returned to Nathan Treeves... and I'm struggling. I preferred the origin story of Sharli much more to the methodical activities of demigods and the (meta)physics of the Weft universe.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

STRANGER THINGS finale: they did it! So thrilled and relieved that they pulled off the ending.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Finally getting around to WATERBLACK by Alex Pheby. A nice change of pace from Malarkoi: the first sections featuring long detailed first-person scenes of camp, factory, brothel and kitchen.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Finished À la recherche vol 2: À L'OMBRE DES JEUNES FILLES EN FLEURS. Seaside hotel is closing up for winter. Time to go home. Third last page he says he's now going to have to get used to sleeping in his old room in Paris. Poor guy. THIS is the real poetic tragedy of the passing of time.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

David Bowie and Bing Crosby doing 'Little drummer boy/peace on earth' is one of the most AI things ever (that isn't). youtu.be/lCpXMy5GalI?...

youtu.be

Bing Crosby, David Bowie - Peace On Earth / Little Drummer Boy

YouTube video by BingCrosbyVEVO

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Reposted by Michael James

The Whimsical Muse @whimsicalmuse.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Okay but hear me out: A book club, and everyone brings a cat.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Great year to be a Tasmanian buying books as Christmas gifts.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

The same people hating on DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE also raving about A Complete Unknown mystify me. They're both guilty pleasures and flawed films in pretty much the same way... If anything, Unknown is worse, because I'm Not There and Inside Llewyn Davis make it so redundant.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Trent Dalton's GRAVITY LET ME GO book tour event in Hobart was a fun night. He's definitely a showman! Liked the 10-up green Docs, too.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

"Is horror too good now?" "We have an insane between greatness... and everything else." pca.st/episode/89fe...

pca.st

The 10 Best Horror Movies of 2025 and ‘Black Phone 2’

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

"There’s no shame in self-publishing. There should be considerable pride. So much so that I’d suggest there’s no utility in self-publishers calling themselves independent publishers. They already have a term that is more than good enough. And it doesn’t hurt to be clear about these things."

open.substack.com

What is an independent publisher? What isn't?

The meaning of 'independent publisher' is becoming less clear. Self-publishers are also using the term. Does that matter?

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Reposted by Michael James

Ben Walter @benwaltez.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Tasmania/Lutruwita based folk, this is next week! Tickets (possibly) selling fast. Would love to see you there.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

"The horror is not in the jump scare. The jump scare is relief. The horror is in the dread." pca.st/episode/7f7c...

pca.st

World building in horror fiction: Julia Armfield on Private Rites

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Really not sure why so many recipes talk about oxymoronic 'sourdough discard'. That's just 'using your sourdough starter'. If you regularly use and feed your starter, there's no need to discard. And if you're using some of your starter, by definition you're not discarding it.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Good to hear Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli make the case for public arts funding. The arts ought not only be conceived as a commercial product but a public good—like libraries and parks—and so worthy of public funding. pca.st/episode/078c...

pca.st

‘The Marvels’ Is Here. Is It Too Late for the MCU?

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

WEAPONS is so fabulous. So glad I saw it at the cinema. Naruto running was never so frightening.

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Reposted by Michael James

Sam Jordison @samjordison.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Announcing a new tool to fight AI slop in the book world - and authenticate that the books we publish are written by, you know, humans. Books by people vs books by AI open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/b...

open.substack.com

Books by people vs books by AI

Announcing a new book certification scheme that enables publishers to prove their books are written by humans

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

So of course both seasons of ANDOR are excellent. But they really should be 8-or-10-episode seasons rather than 12. Really.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

PISSANTS by Brandon Jack is a gritty, gross & funny multi-perspectival book about reserve players in an AFL team. The book event at @ Fullers Bookshop explored experimental forms, sport lit & male readers. Dare I hope agents & publishers might be open to more work in this vein?

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

The Coen brothers are having fun "but they're having fun in God's universe." @seanfennessey.bsky.social on INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Rob Reiner is such a glorious addition to THE BEAR season 4. "He made you a great offer, go suck his balls."

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

"She knew the true shape of the world. All else was shadow and the sound of distant drums." Thankful to my daughter's recommendation to read THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS by Patrick Rothfuss, a gorgeous, meditative piece of literary fantasy.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Sam Jordison raging against the realities of comparative title: why they're probably necessary & they kinda suck. I provide them when submitting, but don't fret too much. An agent/publisher will always think of 'better' comps to suit their needs than I can. open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/c...

open.substack.com

Comparisons are odious?

What to make of the publishing industry's apparent obsession with comparative titles

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

I used to believe that it's rare authors who were bold, brave, daring, innovative.... as in it took a rare writer to do certain things. Now I realise there's probably thousands and thousands who do. The bold thing is actually a publisher taking them on.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

"You're yet to have your finest hour." 'Radio Ga Ga' really does play differently in the era of podcasts.

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Michael James @michaelgjames.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Reading Thomas Pynchon's VINELAND because of the forthcoming One Battle After Another and not especially enjoying it. Just grinding out the last 100 pages. It was on the English syllabus in my first year or university and I didn't read it all then.

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