iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 14h

LAND OF THE GIANTS, in which a standard suborbital flight (as, you know, we had in 1983) goes through a dimensional barrier and crashes on a planet where everything is twelve times bigger, and the crew and passengers struggle to survive.

Still frame from the credits of LAND OF THE GIANTS, with the title looming large, as if cut from stone, with a giant figure in shadow.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 24/09/2026

Repost with an image of your favorite James Bond (wrong answers only):

Promotional still of THE Richard Grieco in a hot car with Gabrielle Anwar, where he casually holds a gun next to his cheek with absolutely horrific trigger discipline. It's from IF LOOKS COULD KILL, the best damn Bond satire you never saw.
Him having terrible trigger discipline is in character, mind you, because: the boy is an idiot.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 21/09/2026

Sometimes you don't need analysis, you know what's up

Bill S. Preston, Esq. tells Sigmund Freud he doesn't need a therapy session, he knows what's going on with him,

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 21/09/2026

I'm not sure what would have imprinted on my brain at 11, I mean, what even came out in 1984... Oh. Huh. I'm sure this says something about me

Sigourney as No Dana Only Zuul in Ghostbusters

Kathleen Turner inventing "grimes up good" in Romancing the Stone

Catherine Mary Stuart (in green) and Kelli Maroney (in cheerleader) at their apocalyptic best in Night of the Comet

Molly Ringwald cannot believe they forgot her birthday in Sixteen Candles

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 21/09/2026

Look, I am 99% sure that my wife is, in fact, real, and not the ghost of a movie star from the 1930s, but you can see why I might have my doubts.

My wife, in sepia-toned black&white, looking glam as all get out.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 15/09/2026

Ooh, another couple taken by Keith Barnfather's significant other on the Future of Doctor Who panel. I don't think Keith and I AGREED but it was delightful discussing with him, Paige Ewing, Greta Kelly and @looseleafellie.bsky.social about the show.

Me (resplendent in purple), Keith Barnfather and Paige Ewing on the Future of Doctor Who Panel. I don't know what I was saying here but I was clearly amused with myself.

The full panel, left to right: Me (resplendent in purple), Keith Barnfather, Paige Ewing, Greta Kelly, Ellie Blackwood.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 15/09/2026

I remain terrible about documenting my con experiences. I have this photo of my (shockingly completely full) reading only thanks to @mjkuhnbooks.bsky.social

In which I am apparently chairman of the board at my reading. A small room but it was FULL, which is a new one for me after over a dozen years on this grind. Thank you, MJ!

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 04/09/2026

I make it easy and give you a solid opening. You see me and say, "Hey man, nice vest!" and we're off to the races.

Marshall in a purple vest (the whole suit is purple, plus a mask, because this is 2021), next to an equally purple-fitted Cass Morris.

Marshall in a black silk vest, posing with Fonda Lee. Its 2022, so still masked.

Marshall in a green vest in front of the Wings of Mexico in Chicago, posing with the fantabulous Jessica Hedrick, who he randomly bumped into there after not seeing for twenty years.

Marshall again in a green vest, this time at BookPeople in Austin, where he's clearly presenting something to his right.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 02/09/2026

ArmadilloCon is just around the corner! I'm always so excited for this one, and it's going to be great. Here's my schedule.

ArmadilloCon schedule for Marshall Ryan Maresca, Pt 1.

Friday, September 11

Fantastic Maps and Where to Find Them
Oak, 8pm - 8:55pm
Marina Lostetter (moderator), Marshall Ryan Maresca, Mark Finn, Gabriella Buba, Liza Anderson
Maps have always represented adventure, mystery, intrigue, and excitement, both as a representation of real space and an extension of one's own imagination. Let's talk about our favorite maps in F/SF and other speculative fiction arenas. What makes a good map? Who are our current cartographic heroes? Does every book or series need a map?

Saturday, September 12
Reading - Marshall Ryan Maresca
Magnolia, 11am - 11:25am
Marshall Ryan Maresca
Reading - Marshall Ryan Maresca

ArmadilloCon Schedule for Marshall Ryan Maresca, Pt. 2

Is There Such Thing As Too Much Worldbuilding?
Cedar, 1pm - 1:55pm
Greta Kelly (moderator), A. Lee Martinez, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Rowenna Miller, Sarah Toups, A.P. Hawkins
Is there too much worldbuilding these days? Did we take the wrong lessons from Tolkien? Do we over explain for readers rather than leave less-relevant areas up to the imagination? What does this look like? Can we even all agree on what "worldbuilding" means, let alone what "too much" looks like?

Which New Trek Show Best Expanded Roddenberry's Vision
Sycamore, 2:30pm - 3:25pm
Stina Leicht (moderator), Marshall Ryan Maresca, Rick Klaw, Alan J. Porter
The panel will review each of the Kurtzman produced Star Trek television shows, and compare them with Roddenberry's vision as express in TNG and TOS, and also how we determine what "Gene's Vision" even means in after 60 years of Trek.

Autographing - F
Dealer's Room - 4pm
Tags: Fandom*, 📁 Signing
Rob Rogers, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Tonia Ransom, MJ Kuhn
Autographing - F

The Future of Doctor Who
Cherry, 5:30pm - 6:25pm
Paige E. Ewing (moderator), Marshall Ryan Maresca, Ellie Blackwood, Greta Kelly, Keith Barnfather
After 60+ years, the question of "What's next for the Doctor?" is more of a mystery than it has been in over two decades. What IS next, or at least, what should be next? And what led us to this point of mystery?

ArmadilloCon Schedule for Marshall Ryan Maresca, Part 3:

The Future of Doctor Who
Cherry, 5:30pm - 6:25pm
Paige E. Ewing (moderator), Marshall Ryan Maresca, Ellie Blackwood, Greta Kelly, Keith Barnfather
After 60+ years, the question of "What's next for the Doctor?" is more of a mystery than it has been in over two decades. What IS next, or at least, what should be next? And what led us to this point of mystery?

Stephen King's Parks and Rec: A Trip to Widow's Bay
Cedar, 9pm - 9:55pm
Beth Anderson / A.E. Dethlefsen (moderator), Aaron de Orive, A. Lee Martinez, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Derek Austin Johnson, Mariana Colín
This panel discusses Apple TV's horror comedy gem, from its unusual premise (imagine Parks and Recreation set in the Stephen King universe) to how it approaches standard horror tropes.

Sunday, September 13

Endings: Reader Expectation vs Reader Desire
Oak, 11:30am - 12:25pm
Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (moderator), Marshall Ryan Maresca, Rowenna Miller, Marina Lostetter, Paz Pardo, Kristina Gruell
There's an interplay with endings and the relationship the book has built with the reader. What has the reader been led to expect and anticipate, and are those expectations rewarded. But at the same time, are those expectations based on what the story is actually doing, or are they built from desires for a "happy" ending that may not reflect the story's intentions.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 02/09/2026

(Has a glorious trilby he almost never wears, awaits answers.)

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 01/09/2026

My first WorldCon I had the privilege to be hanging around @stinaleicht.bsky.social when she was a nominee for the then-Campbell award, and there was similar love and energy between all of them ( @chuckwendig.bsky.social @mightymur.bsky.social @maxgladstone.bsky.social)

Max, Mur, Chuck and Stina being joyously silly at the 2013 WorldCon

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 31/08/2026

And a delightful time at Los Angeles Worldcon, where I got to hang out with my incredible brilliant cohosts and celebrate our sixth time being Hugo finalists. I am deeply blessed to have the incredible Natania Barron and Cass Morris in my life.

Natania and I looking fab on our way to the Hugos.

Natania, Case and I, before we got lost another Hugo.

Are Cass, Natania and I the bi pride flag? Maybe…

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 31/08/2026

I did not win a Hugo this year but I do win every day I get with this woman by my side.

My wife, resplendent in red with a crown. Like the queen she is.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 26/08/2026

If you've been saying to yourself, "I need a fantasy series with a LOT of books in the setting", have I got the thing for you: maradaine.com

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 22/08/2026

There was a whole thing of "dead people help the living to secure their afterlife". There was "Second Chance", in which a man dies in the distant future year of (checks notes) 2011, and gets to go back in time to steer his younger self (Matthew Perry!) on a better path.

Promo photo of "Second Chance" from 1987, a show that itself got a second chance, because midway through this one-season-wonder, they did a hard retool and removed the whole "ghost from the future steers himself right" and made it "Boys Will Be Boys" about Matthew Perry's "Chaz" and his stupid friends.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 28/07/2026

JASON STATHAM DOES NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Still shot of STATHAM from what I presume is one of the Crank movies, but it could be anything, really. He's got the red jumper cable on his nipple and the black on his tongue. NO, JASON! It's red-to-red, black-to-ground. C'mon.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 24/07/2026

This is the best I’ve had but it’s only available in Mexico.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 22/07/2026

Twenty six years ago on this day, right at this time, my wife’s aunt screamed down to her from a hotel balcony “Why are you in the pool? You’re getting married in an hour!” One hour later:

Our wedding picture, literally an hour after we got out of the pool. My wife’s aunt burst into tears and said to her “you look so beautiful and you DIDN’T EVEN TRY.”

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 21/07/2026

Steeling myself for these sort of fannish responses to fan theories not being right.

Seymour Skinner "the children are wrong" meme but it's:
"Did I make up a scenario without any real evidence?"
"No. It's the movie that got it wrong."

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 19/07/2026

I love when my timeline shows my exact feelings.

A bunch of Bluesky posts all about the world cup half time show and the Muppets being there, which is exactly what I was feeling too.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 17/07/2026

Dayne Heldrin lost his chance to advance in the Tarian Order. Jerinne Fendall fears she’ll never have one. But only they can stop the deadly plot against the parliament, from both political radicals and a secret cabal of Maradaine's elite. amzn.to/4w96RKl

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 14/07/2026

Asti and Verci Rynax were raised to be thieves, but got out of that life to start to build a legitimate business. But the Holver Alley fire took all they worked for away, and they have to fall back on their old skills to rebuild what they had and get revenge for what was lost. amzn.to/4wHmp7U

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 10/07/2026

LISTEN, I'm going to be UTTERLY SELFISH and it say a Maradaine Saga game where you can play a number of the primary characters and wander the whole city. Because A. I happen to think it would be cool as fuck but also B. it'd be good for my bottom line.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 10/07/2026

Someone who actually wrote a thing will surely HAVE THOUGHTS and be able to articulate them, it's really that simple. Hell, one time an editor asked me if a made-up word should have two f's in it because another similar made-up word did, and this is how I responded:

Text reading: "I had intentionally given it a single f, but that might be a bad instinct on my part. (Need to finalize Poasian phonemic inventory and transliteration…) Part of why I spelled the two differently was due to conlang geekery of the difference between transliterated Poasian (efitssa) and Druthalization (aka Anglicization) of a Poasian word (effitte) and difference between a bilabial approximant and a labio-dental fricative— but that’s more conlang-geekery than most people care about. Most people will just think one f is strange given effitte has two. Especially since I’m certain that the POV character would not hear the subtleties of Poasian pronunciation. I can fiddle with that when I have a Poasian-fluent character who wants to be a pronunciation snob in a scene.

Short answer: two f’s is fine, and I overthink things. "

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 09/07/2026

My sister was a MASSIVE Little House fan when we were growing up, so I got to hit her with this.

A text exchange of:
"In case you were ever wondering “Am I distantly related to Laura Ingalls?” the answer is yes."
"WHAT??????"

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 09/07/2026

The Little House Discourse sent me down a whole rabbit hole where I asked myself a question and got myself an answer:

Image that reads: Relationship to Laura Elizabeth Ingalls
My 7th cousin three times removed. Which means we have common ancestry from the 17th century.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 08/07/2026

Like, she literally looked like this when the show started and five years later she's married.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 04/07/2026

Fourth of July brunch but Mexican household.

Blue corn tortilla stuffed with black beans, egg white and salsa fogata, with a bit of queso cotija for garnish. Plus white plate, blue placemat and red table cloth, and agua de jamaica.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 01/07/2026

I went and rewatched parts of this, and I had forgotten how much the moment of @dianefranklin.bsky.social emerging from underneath Lane's Camaro had impacted young Marshall back in the day.

Diane Franklin as Monique Junot in BETTER OFF DEAD, where she emerges from underneath Lane's broken Camaro, having taken it upon herself to fix the thing.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 29/06/2026

Satrine Rainey is a former spy who forges her way into an inspector job to take care of her family. Minox Welling is an untrained mage and an outcast among the inspectors. Together, they work for the Maradaine Constabulary, solving the weird murders no one else can. amzn.to/447puC7

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 26/06/2026

Veranix Calbert is The Thorn: Magic student by day, street vigilante by night. He wages his personal war against the drug trade of the Fenmere cartel, while also facing threats from street gangs, assassins, vengeful alchemists and the occasional irritated professor. amzn.to/4vBuACO

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 25/06/2026

Every once in a while I'm struck by the fact that I married an absolute icon.

A picture of me and my incredible wife, looking at each other as if we don't even know there's a camera there, in front of the Austin landmark "i love you so much" wall. And I do love her so much.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 25/06/2026

Right now the ebook for THE VELOCITY OF REVOLUTION- a dieselpunk fantasy with motorcycles, tacos, psychic speed mushrooms, queernorm culture and fighting a colonial power-- is only $1.99. amzn.to/4uYDWYe

Promo image for THE VELOCITY OF REVOLUTION, with the text
"He went undercover to stop a revolution
He might just ignite it instead"

And the pull quote: “Maresca sends the pages flying with a clever plot, well-defined characters, and high-stakes atmosphere. This tense outing will keep readers spellbound from page one. ” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The image show a faded image of the silhouette of two cyclists on a city street, with a orange to yellow gradient, and the cover of THE VELOCITY OF REVOLUTION.

Cover by Natania Barron

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 24/06/2026

[PROTECTIVE DAD MODE ON] Look, Natania is very busy, so YOU GO BUY HER BOOK or SO HELP ME I WILL TURN THIS CAR RIGHT AROUND. Don't think I won't! www.amazon.com/Game-Hearts-...

The cover of Natania Barron's THE GAME OF HEARTS, which is BOOK THREE of the Love In Netherford series: A Comedy of Manners and Werewolves.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 24/06/2026

THE THORN OF DENTONHILL Veranix Calbert—struggling magic student by day, street vigilante by night—fights his personal war against the drug cartel that destroyed his family. “Veranix is Batman, if Batman were a teenager and magically talented.” —Library Journal bookshop.org/a/16841/9781...

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 19/06/2026

Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I think the years have been kind.

Marshall at 24, looking bloody and battered, laughing with another man who he's handcuffed to. This was for a show, all stage blood. The actual shot was not a promo shot for the show, but simply a photo taken because we were done with promo photos and there was one more shot on the roll.

Marshall at 36, as a student in the ArmadailloCon Writers Workshop, sitting next to fellow student Nicky Drayden. That workshop I brought what was to become the first chapter of THE HOLVER ALLEY CREW.

Marshall at 45, kneeling after an author event at a book store, with Stina Leicht, Amanda Downum, Patrice Sarath, Jessica Reisman, Robert Ashcroft, Chris Brown and Don Webb.

Marshall at 52, on a plane to Seattle WorldCon with his beloved wife next to him. Honestly, doing pretty well, I think.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 17/06/2026

Tonight’s walk encounter: Night Toad

A toad just chilling in the grass on a hot Texas summer night.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 12/06/2026

After WorldCon Chicago, my wife and I wandered over to the Wings of Mexico late on Sunday and randomly ran into an old Austin theater friend I hadn't seen in 20+ years.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 11/06/2026

THE MARADAINE SAGA is a fantasy series that is epic in scope but personal in stakes, looking at different facets of life in the same city, as heroes from different walks of life come together to save each other and the city they love. bookshop.org/lists/marada...

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 11/06/2026

Lotta great answers in the quotes and comments, but I love any "Here's a team of lovable losers" that find a way to come together and win, which you THINK would mean The Replacements-- which I love-- but I gotta go with Necessary Roughness.

Promo still from NECESSARY ROUGHNESS, in which Scott Bakula plays a 40-something college freshman, because something something technicality.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 08/06/2026

HOT TAKE: 1989's VALMONT is the far superior adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

Young Colin Firth and Annette Bening in period clothing smolder at the camera, and rumor has it this is the only photo they got because the lens melted from the heat they are putting out there.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 04/06/2026

17. The bit where Rey hears all the former Jedi and channels their energy to win? That hits my buttons, and I dig it.

Poster image for STAR WARS EPISODE IX: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 04/06/2026

16. While it serves absolutely no narrative purpose, this scene does, in fact, look really cool.

Shot from GHOST RIDER where motorcycle and horse Ghost Riders ride together. I mean, there's NO REASON beyond "ride together", but I respect that.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 04/06/2026

15. I do enjoy how this movie makes Kirk/Spock/Uhura the "Enterprise trio", it's a fun dynamic.

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Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.com · 04/06/2026

14. The cast for this movie was perfect, especially Kidman and Elliot.

Promotional cover for the movie of THE GOLDEN COMPASS

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