iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

It's in an interview Le Guin did with The Guardian in 2004. www.theguardian.com/books/2004/f...

Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Finished my reread of Saunders' A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN, & at the end he says exactly what I feel about the effects of art: "I feel I exist on a continuum with other people ... I feel myself liking the world more, taking more notice of it ... I feel more aware of the things of the world ..."

Blue cover of George Saunders' book A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Submitted a short story just now. Went back to an old one. Cut nearly 600 words. Refined links between scenes. I feel it's a leaner, more direct, more engaging story. Well, I hope so. I was inspired by Saunders' A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN to return to the story. Truly amazing book. #amwriting

Cover of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, by George Saunders. Light blue/purple base, with darker blue/purple image of an arch and stairs.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Rereading George Saunders' A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN for a short story creative writing course I'm teaching in May. This book is truly brilliant & very wise. I can't recommend it enough for writers/authors. Incredible, useful insights about story, creativity, reading, Art. #booksky 💙📚

Cover of George Saunders' book A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN. Light blue background with darker blue for image of an arch.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Experienced a 4-player game of Dune: War for Arrakis with friends last night. A great deal of fun! And a very engaging tactical contest between Harkkonen/Corino and Atreides/the Fremen. Play is pretty smooth, as the rules are fairly straightforward. Already loved the game solo. ☺️

Box cover for the boardgame Dune: War for Arrakis. Top Hal is red/orange, showing Paul Atreides. Bottom half is blue, showing Baron Harkkonen.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Reading THE VANISHED BIRDS by Simon Jimenez, and I'm wholly entranced by the prose, just as I was with THE SPEAR CUTS THROUGH WATER (my favourite read of 2025). Love pleasant shocks such as "a carbonation of applause." Poetry throughout. #sff #booksky 📚💙🪐

Cover of the novel THE VANISHED BIRDS, by Simon Jimenez. Black, with concentric circles of red, blue, yellow, and orange.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Super happy to say I'll be giving a paper this May at ACCSFF '26! It will be my first academic conference in *many* years. I'm looking forward to writing my paper on @clpolk.com's novel WITCHMARK. (Just, um, need to, erm, remember how. Ahem. 👀😊) www.yorku.ca/accsff/ #sff #booksky 📚💙🪐

Cover of C.L. Polk's novel WITCHMARK. Blue, with a silhouette of a man on a bicycle and upside-down silhouettes of a woman and man beneath the bicycle's wheels, and trees and a night sky of stars in the background.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Finished @victorlavalle.bsky.social's THE CHANGELING yesterday. I am still feeling spent emotionally. Not just the ending, but the whole story. I've wanted to read it for a while; it fully met expectations. Can't wait now to discuss it with my Fantasy & Horror course. #booksky #sff #horror 💙📚🪐

Blue cover of Victor LaValle's novel THE CHANGELING. White coffee cup and a muffin next to the book.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

I finished my reread of Adjei-Brenyah's CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS yesterday for my Dystopian Fiction course. What a ride. This novel *never* lets you feel comfortable. The persistent horror is powerful as everything is so plausible, as if we're a mere blink of an eye from its world. #booksky #sff 📚💙🪐

Cover of the novel Chain-Gang All-Stars, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Starting a reread of Adjei-Brenyah's CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS to teach it later this semester. A fierce, searing, fascinating novel. #booksky #sff 💙📚🪐

Image shows the yellow cover of the novel CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS, by Adjei-Brenyah. There's a cup of coffee and a scone.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

My Fantasy & Horror course in the UofT English department starts today! I love this course. Booklist in the image. We begin with @premeemohamed.com's excellent "By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars." And, I can't recommend the @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social anthology highly enough. #booksky #sff 💙📚🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Here's the reading list for my Contemporary Dystopian Fiction course in the UofT English department, which starts today! We start off with @naomikritzer.bsky.social's superb story "The Year Without Sunshine" and Le Guin's classic THE DISPOSSESSED. Excited to do this course. 😊 #booksky #sff 💙📚🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

About halfway into a (long overdue) reread of Le Guin's THE DISPOSSESSED. This is just one of those books when you feel like your mind is being stretched & reshaped, page by page. Provocative. Wise. Subtle. Deeply serious. Incredible clarity of vision, style, & structure. #booksky #sff #reading 💙📚

Cover of the 50th anniversary edition of Le Guin's novel THE DISPOSSESSED.

First page of Le Guin's novel THE DISPOSSESSED.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Just finished a very long overdue reread of George Eliot's MIDDLEMARCH. Oof. My mind and soul are in a state of awe. Surely, one of the greatest works we have in English. So, so wise. So generous and compassionate. Unflinching and profoundly assured. Wow. #booksky #reading #books 📚💙

Cover of the Oxford University Press edition of Eliot's novel Middlemarch.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Starting THE KNAVE OF GRAVES today, the second novel by @sjshank.bsky.social! Ornery gravedigger who treats with a night hag? I'm in. A perfect read for Hallowe'en month. 🎃

Image of the cover of the novel THE KNAVE OF GRAVES, by S.J. Shank. Red-orange illustration of a pile of skulls.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Time to read some Agatha Christie, at last. A great analysis of Christie's play with genre in ROGER ACKROYD made me keen to read the novel. I've always loved spy/detective shows & films. Looking forward to these. #BookSky 📚💙

Boxed set of three Agatha Christie novels: And then There Were None; Murder on the Orient Express; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Surprised by a trillium flower in the backyard. 😊

Close-up of a white trillium flower in bloom.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Starting THE SIEGE OF BURNING GRASS by @premeemohamed.com today. Really looking forward to this one. #BookSky 💙📚🪐

The cover of The Siege of Burning Grass, by Premee Mohamed. Red, with a raven bottom centre, and white lettering.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Finally got a chance to play Root. What brilliant design. Very much surpassed already high expectations. Must play again soon. #boardgames

Box image for the boardgame Root. Woodland scene, with cat, mouse, bird, and raccoon characters.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Currently reading THE SPEAR CUTS THROUGH WATER by Simon Jimenez. Sometimes, you have an intuition that a book will be special. Well, this one is mesmerizing on so many levels. The prose, I tell you. The prose is just ... poetry. #BookSky #Books #SFF 📚💙🪐

Cover of Simon Jimenez's novel, THE SPEAR CUTS THROUGH WATER. Mostly blue, with a bright green hand in the middle, with two dark figures in a duel on the palm.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

New boardgames! Very keen on the theme of SETI & hopeful because of positive reviews & 2024 top 10s. I'm a fan of the South Tigris series; had to complete it. Dune Imperium is one of my favourite games, Uprising especially, so I must have ALL the expansions. 😊 #boardgames

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

It's Reading Week now for me. Time to, well, do some reading. Finally starting ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE by @robinhobb.bsky.social, a fantasy class that I've never read (to my shame). 😊 #Books #BookSky 📚💙🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Picked up & have been wandering through the new Monster Manual for D&D 2024. Many memories of just leafing back & forth through each new MM, imagining encounters & stories, loving the descriptions & stats. This is a gorgeous book. 😊 #Books #BookSky #ttrpg #dnd5e 📚💙🪐

The cover of the Monster Manual for D&D 2004, showing a beholder in the Underdark battling a party of adventurers.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Just finished my reread of SOME DESPERATE GLORY by @emilytesh.net. My mind's buzzing & tingling. I've read few books with such persistent momentum & ability to surprise, all while dealing with *intense* themes clearly & honestly & never flinching from what's uncomfortable. Wow. #BookSky #books 📚💙🪐

Cover of the novel Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh.

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Beginning to reread SOME DESPERATE GLORY by @emilytesh.net for my SF course in January. What a great opening chapter. Sets up so much about the world that clicks into place quite differently on a second read. Really looking forward to discussing this novel with my students. ☺️ #BookSky 💙📚🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Have started rereading Scott's WAVERLEY (must teach it in January). I've always enjoyed the opening chapters. He's like, "Nope, not writing any of that romantic, Gothic, Don Quixote adventure, courtship nonsense. It's time for some history and realism, people. Don't @ me." 😊 #BookSky 📚💙

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

New games! Xmas gift for kids and Wayfarers of the South Tigris for me. 😊 #boardgames

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Today's favourite sentence from Orbital: "… the mammalian things … the lovers of excess, the excess of love, the addled with love, the deficit of love, the lacking for love, the longing for love, the love of longing, the two-legged thing, the human being." #BookSky 💙📚🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Opened Envelope 3 in #ZombieKidz with the twins! Things are getting trickier! 😳☺️ #boardgames

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Today's favourite sentence(s) from Orbital: "And then a spike in sound as she thought … of his jaw and the way he spoke with such bright precision so that everything he said was epiphany and discovery and the way he looked at her as though *she* were the epiphany he kept on having …" #BookSky 💙📚🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Finally opening up the new Characters expansion for #Obsession. Hoping to set up the game for some solo play this weekend. #boardgames

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Today's favourite sentence(s) from Orbital: "And then the right side of the earth's curve becomes a gleaming scimitar. Silver pours out and the stars are banished and the dark ocean turns to an instant dawn." #BookSky 💙📚🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Today's favourite sentence from Orbital: "Because who can look at man's neurotic assault on the planet and find it beautiful? Man's hubris." #BookSky 💙📚🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Starting Harvey's Orbital today. Quite keen to read this one. #BookSky 💙📚🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Finished American War a few minutes ago, & I'm in that quiet, meditative, even slightly melancholy state that comes after reading a book that affects me deeply, especially with the weight of tragedy & impossible choices & their consequences. A subtly devastating novel, Ishiguro-like. #BookSky 💙📚🪐

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Great game of #Nemesis with the Void Seeders expansion last night! 👽 #boardgames 👽 • Soldier escapes, but dies from contamination • Pilot died mid-game • Mechanic & Scientist can escape; Scientist gets Panic card, gives Serious Wound to Mechanic, who dies • Scientist escapes, lives, & wins!

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

All set-up for a 4-player game of #Nemesis, using the Void Seeders expansion. 👽

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Reading through the #Nemesis rules for tomorrow's game night. Going to try the Void Seeders expansion for the first time. A top 5 game for me, maybe even my no. 1. 😊👽💀 #boardgames

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Choose 5 movies based on books that were the best book-to-movie adaptations you've ever seen. One movie per day for 5 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just movie posters. #movies #bookstomovies #Books #BookSky #BookToMovieChallenge Day 5 🪐📚💙

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. Day 20 💙📚🪐 #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. Day 19 💙📚🪐 #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

KS delivery today! New expansion for Obsession arrived, along with metal coins. Time to host whist in the gazebo with some of the local gentry, having the butler and lady's maid in attendance. 😊 #boardgames

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Michael Johnstone @mikejwrites.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. Day 18 💙📚 #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge

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