iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

A haunted house where every room is a toilet and you’re already there.

ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I think (especially in the West) there’s a whole am I getting my money’s worth here vibe on books that is about the size, rather than the content. It doesn’t do any of those small mass market books a favour.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Yeah, it is. It’s why I just shrug and let it be. It doesn’t hurt anyone and Shelley is beyond caring.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I don’t know that it’s too worth getting caught up in, though some of the old stuff is still pretty decent. A part of me can’t escape the idea that genre is just a selling tool anyhow. I know it’s not, but default cynicism is comforting

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I do agree that the industry has to take responsibility about the decline as well. I think, for example, ebooks could be much much cheaper and fill the gap left by mass market paperbacks.

x.com

Jacobin (@jacobin) on X

Everyone blames screens for the decline of reading. Nobody blames the consolidated corporate publishing industry that made books pricier, more generic, and harder to find. https://t.co/1ySLaC2IDV

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

It was (and is) pretty popular at the time so not hard to see how the success is influential at the very least. You also get mad scientist stuff which you can see in things like Jekyl and Hyde and some of Wells' books. Someone more into it than me is surely more on point with it all, tho.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

You think you know a thing and then you don’t. It’s the way.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Every year I get older and every year my partner manages to find the most amazing thing I’ve never heard of.

The Song of Igor’s Campaign translated from old Russiak by Vladimir Nabokov

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The original hardcover has the only good cover, I believe

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

You gotta abandon that bad book before it abandons you.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I thought about adding The Man in the High Castle but couldn't find the cover of the first ed, so decided against it lol

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Think it's just the rediscovered series number. I tried to find a pic of the original cover, but it wasn't there - just this one.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Oh yeah, I had that last year. They lowered the age so you get them at 45 now, I think.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I seem to be reaching an age where the government sends me birthday cards. Suicide might be the only sane option left to me.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It's a little late, but here we are, this week's No Substance. It's called Heat 2 Will Be A Terrible Movie.

nosubstance.substack.com

No Substance #283: Heat 2 Will Be A Terrible Movie

I’ve done some things I can’t explain in my time.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Yeah, it's gonna have a good cast, all of which will likely be wasted. Though I suppose we might be wrong. I'll watch it regardless I guess lol

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Oh yeah, I really like it. But I’d rather have someone say I under praised a little than said it was the second coming or something. Now, I have very little good to say about Collateral, which a lot of ppl are now saying is better than Heat.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Top Gun Maverick is pretty bland, really. Hits some of the original notes, makes the enemy generic enough that it doesn’t offend, some plane stuff. There’s worse ways to spend your time, but better ones as well.

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Andrei @theuntranslated.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It’s here

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Mine has been fine for years tbh. It’s just a diet thing and I just watch it do I don’t bother with the meds. Others have it worse, I imagine. But in this case it was a drummer in a band complaining and that was pretty funny.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Lol yeah, I’ve had it. It mostly comes from certain foods for me so I just watch that.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

At a live show and one member of the band just shouted Does anyone have gout? and look there’s a lot of signs you’re getting older and this is probably one of them.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Will be doing a reading in November. I haven't done one in years and it will surely be hilarious. Fortunately there are others to pick up the slack.

Monday 9th at the Shakespeare hotel. I actually hate reading so this is like a 'won't do it for another decade' thing.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

They’re honestly great. A lot of them are just these beautiful little objects as well, which certainly adds to it.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

1000 page books any day now.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

My cats can find a bogong moth before you can.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Someone called me a horror writer not so long ago. It was so weird.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

They seem to be getting bigger. A Nerval one I bought recently is 300 pages and largish.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I had a look and the stuff just isn't my bag. Guess similar for you but who knows.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Three Fingers is great. Never did keep up with what the guy did after though. Think I vaguely remember being not interested? but who knows.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Yeah, I could buy it all. I might do if I keep buying at this rate.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This week's No Substance is just a little more detail on An Incomplete History of Disquiet. Think it might be one of my best titles, maybe.

nosubstance.substack.com

No Substance #282: An Incomplete History of Disquiet

No Substance #282: An Incomplete History of Disquiet.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

have your children tried getting a job?

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Wendy N. Wagner 🎃 @wnwagner.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Don't forget that the legendary LIGHTSPEED and NIGHTMARE magazines have a Kickstarter right now! Let's make sure amazing horror, SF, and fantasy short stories keep getting published. www.kickstarter.com/projects/lig...

kickstarter.com

LIGHTSPEED & NIGHTMARE: Award-Winning SF, Fantasy, & Horror

We've published nearly 10 million words of science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction. Help us write the next chapter.

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 27/09/2026

Happy ten year anniversary of the 2016 blackout in South Australia. I was told that as clean power grew in Aus, we'd see a blackout apocalypse. The chart below shows blackouts for generation shortfall as columns, and renewable proportion as a percent of the eastern grid. Enjoy :)

a chart showing blackout data for Australia

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Really enjoy these books that Wakefield Press out of the US are doing. Interesting choices, stylishly put together. Just great.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Oh yeah, for years. I got a paperback of One to Count Cadence as well. These were the last two for me.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Met Sydney’s other James Crumley fan yesterday. I now own a lovely edition of his never made screenplay written for Emilio Fernandez.

Edition of The Pigeon Shoot by James Crumley. It is very orange.

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The first piece I wrote, Edgar Addison, the Author of Dévorer (1862-1933), appeared in Nightmare Magazine. It was my test piece. You can get the vibe for the project from it if you wanna check it out. www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/edga...

nightmare-magazine.com

Edgar Addison, the Author of Dévorer (1862-1933) - Nightmare Magazine

For such an infamous book, the original edition Dévorer is decidedly ordinary. It is a small, clothbound book, written in French. It is one hundred and forty-seven pages long. It was privately printed...

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ben peek @nosubstance.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

My little project of biographies, An Incomplete History of Disquiet, is going to appear in Remains, edited by Andy Cox and illustrated by Richard Wagner. Below is the title page of it to give you a taste. Remains is a full colour physical mag, so grab yourself a sub if you wanna read it.

Image of a woman's face, possible Constance Weaver. Title page for a short biography about an actor who maybe never existed. Will be in the next issue of Remains. Artist is Richard Wagner.

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