iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

"You're a teaser, you turn 'em on Leave 'em burning and then you're gone." It was always going to end this way. Released OTD in the #Summerof76, it would climb the #1970sUK charts to No.1 by the end of August and that incredible summer. #76NovellaPlaylist www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s

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ABBA - Dancing Queen (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by AbbaVEVO

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

And remember too, at that age, how every memory and every thought of summer holidays was forever golden. For every 'parched' there was a 'quenched', and nothing ever so mundane as in between. – from #76Novella Grab it now for your #SummerReads here: mybook.to/1976

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Here's why I've been quiet... #76Novella, a haunting "supernatural memoir" set in the #Summerof76, is out today here: mybook.to/1976

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Dan/Danj/Daniel @danj72.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Those sumptuous middle three decades gone The sandwich filling The interesting part The bit to lust after (If you could lust after a sandwich) The first 16 years were soft slices Fresh as its gets But now it's just #remnant crust Thicker and drier than wanted And it's not been buttered... #Vss365

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Oh dear, #vss365, such a #rift developing between here and the other place, with no time to be on both. I must do better, but in the meantime, I should catch up with the #76NovellaPlaylist...

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Memories of the #Summerof76 as the temperature rises this weekend – and now there are only four weeks to go to the launch of #76Novella! You can pre-order the ebook now for just £1.99 here: mybook.to/76Novella

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

#KindleCountdownDeal ends today! Grab this #WWII #HistFic #ThrillerFic for only $0.99 / £0.99 here: mybook.to/Borodino

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Not surprisingly, after 50 years, some locations featured in #76Novella are no longer there in 2026. But one isn’t even there in 1976: the ‘Karsino’, the hotel and Palm Court ballroom built on Taggs Island by the great impresario Fred Karno, before the First World War. #1970sUK #History 1/4

The Karsino in its heyday. Adam37, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Dr Steve Fleischer @stevefleischer.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

the hush of crimson #evenfall and the day’s last gentle exhale whispers through the dusk-lit copse enfolding birds in drifting calm the land settles down to rest and as the day loosens its hold something in me finally stills #vss365

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

It’s an act of faith, remembering. You’re saying ‘I believe I can re-create this, from the clues that are scattered about my mind’. You’re saying ‘I believe I can do this, because I believe I was there’. Or rather, I am. It was 1976... #WIPSnips #76Novella.

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

"Every hour, every minute, seemed to last eternally..." It's May 1976. OK, there'll be a bigger banger from ABBA at the end of that endless summer... but this No.1 will stand the test of time (and reappear in Stranger Things!) #1970sUK #76NovellaPlaylist www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQsj...

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ABBA - Fernando (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by AbbaVEVO

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Now this Should have been a miss And was somehow a hit (Another word would fit) #vss365 #misfit

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

It's May 1976. And if you thought The Wurzels were a tough listen on the #76NovellaPlaylist yesterday, wait until you get a load of this country classic, which has just entered the charts and – incredibly – will soon make it to the UK No.1 slot! #1970sUK www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqiA...

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J.J. Barrie - No Charge - TOTP - 6 May 1976

YouTube video by Shadow TV Network 2

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🅲🅰🅼🅸🅴 ℕ𝕆𝕀ℝ @ecamie.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

#vss365 #amwriting #neonoir #flashfiction He hadn't even realized that house and home weren't exactly synonyms until it was too late, until he had to move out of his own home. The new address hurts like a #misfit ’s mark, a badge of dishonor. ... noironthevine.blogspot.com/2026/05/todd...

noironthevine.blogspot.com

TODD IS NOT A GOOD MAN

Todd is not a good man. He's not even a real man, according to his ex-wife. She would often start her sentences with “if you were a real m...

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Elvis Dylan @elvisdylan.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

#vss365 Sun in a #dewdrop right before me and millions of miles away like you

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

TW... the 1970s! It's May 1976. Entering the charts is a song that will haunt us throughout that long, hot summer (and long after). And no, that isn't Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap introducing them, although you might think so! #1970sUK #76NovellaPlaylist www.youtube.com/watch?v=66AG...

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The Wurzels, The Combine Harvester, 1976

YouTube video by chickenindaloo

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The remnants of the Outer London Defence Ring are still there by the Molesey reservoirs. Back in 1976 (in reality and in my #76Novella), they became our base. If you slept out on top of them, you'd avoid the worst of the #dewdrops. Not that there were many by that summer. #vss365 #WW2 #History

Me in our base, in much more recent times

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

1976. For my generation of British lads, born 20 years after the war, it was still a constant presence in our lives. In our toys, our comics – and the black-and-white repeats on our newly rented colour TVs. #1970sUK #WW2 #VEDay #76Novella

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Memory is an involuntary spasm Revealing transpontine secrets #76Novella #horrorprompt 2178-80

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

…the Surrey bank to the south, where we lived, and the Middlesex bank opposite, which was pretty much another country, although if you stood across from The Bell pub and waved vigorously, a ferryman would put down his pint and come fetch you to the north side for a shilling. #WIPSnips #76Novella

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The Thames in 1976 was dangerous in all sorts of ways. We would never have just dived in. (Let alone #dove, #vss365 and other Americans…) But that evening, it nearly took me anyway. The story is in #76Novella (& this is my 📸 taken from my kayak, from roughly that period)

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

It’s May 1976. As we paddle upriver, on the other side of Sunbury at Shepperton, they're filming the climax of a new sci-fi movie. But for our gang of 11-year-olds, it'll soon seem like our planet is at war with its own star. youtube.com/watch?v=yixG... #StarWars #1970sUK #76Novella

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Star Wars IV: A new hope - Final Scene (The Throne Room) and End Title

YouTube video by Benguitar90

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

His father was busy fitting out the first Concorde, but Tony dreamed of trumping that by joining the RAF as a fighter pilot. #WIPSnips from my upcoming #76Novella (and no, the word #wing doesn't appear, but if you had access in those early days, you got to take pics like this 1976 one of mine...)

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

It's May 1976. As Bobby Stokes fires giant-killers Southampton to victory against Man U at Wembley, it seems typical 'Cup Final Weather'. No one realises we’re already in a hot, dry spell that will be remembered 50 years later. #History #1970sUK #76Novella www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_U5...

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01/05/1976 FA Cup Final MANCHESTER UNITED v SOUTHAMPTON

YouTube video by gr8footy

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

It's May 1976. Easter holidays are over, and so is Brotherhood of Man's chart-topping run. ('Fernando' takes no prisoners!) It was cheesy, sure, but 50 years on, that father walking out the door acquires a different dimension... #1970sUK #76NovellaPlaylist www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OW1...

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Brotherhood Of Man - Save Your Kisses For Me • TopPop

YouTube video by TopPop

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Without the occasional Jumbo Jet grabbing our attention on the glidepath into Heathrow––that moment when the engines seemed to rev up in alarm––this might have been an actual wasteland, an actual war zone. The ruins were our world. for #WIPSnips from my novella '76'. (Last day to grab ANIMUS, btw)

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Angela Watt @littlewritespace.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

We stare at the girl left in the woods like discarded rubbish someone couldn’t be bothered to take home. Despite the sun you grow #pale. ‘Your first?’ I ask. You nod. ‘It gets easier.’ It seems the right thing to say. But it’s 18 years for me. Each one still feels like the first time. #vss365

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FizzytwizlerAllsortsOfAllsorts @fizzytwizler.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

#vss365 #poetry Sometimes the world’s Just a spinning cube The moon a yucky #pale yellow With the stars barely holding The sky up But still I wake up To march on Thinking about the sunshine While my soul slithers away Withering invisible with time

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Still FREE for one more day – the chart-topping short story collection beside which even Life and Lust #pale by comparison... 😉 #vss365 mybook.to/ANIMUS

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

"I thought you were on the path to redemption... What happened to 'Things can only get better'?" – breaking ground on a sequel to the title story in ANIMUS for #WIPSnips today (& the original is still free to download!)

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

What is this? His sixth sense? His imagination? A half-forgotten memory... and if a forgotten memory then whose? – something for #WIPSnips that might go in ANIMUS (RELOADED). BTW, ANIMUS itself is currently free to download.

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Like a wounded man in a foxhole he wrestled with his wet raincoat until he found the hip flask of cognac... #wound for #vss365 from ‘The Illusionist’, collected in ANIMUS (nine stories), which is FREE today here: mybook.to/ANIMUS

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Dan/Danj/Daniel @danj72.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

#Ghost owl Beats whisperless wings Fading into nothing as it floats away From a cone of downcast roadside light Out of sight But I watch Hopeful To see it drift back into view Back into existence Back into life #Vss365

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Daniel Cummings @nathanbrazil.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Your #vss365 #prompt for Feb 4 is #ghost "But that isn’t all. Some of my ghosts are planets. Not bright. Not young. Spiraling deep in the dusk of my body as saucers or moons pleased with their belts of colored dust & hailing no others." 'Ghosts', Kiki Petrosino #4

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

We see the expedition members switching positions, swapping equipment, preparing to approach the simple wooden construction that’s wedged into the rock face. A frame, a door, a window. A row of icicles. A line of blood-stained rags. #WIPSnips from ‘We…’, which may be collected in ANIMUS (Reloaded)

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

These disgusting revelations about Mandelson bring back the #pain of first discovering the rot at the heart of Blair's government. Which was very much the bitter inspiration for the title story in ANIMUS. Although, of course... completely fictional... etc., etc. #vss365

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Re neutron activation: pay special attention to chocolate, cocoa, soya, oatmeal, nuts & other foodstuffs with high nickel content. (Also, there’s calcium & phosphorous in Fido’s food, just as there was in Fido himself.) Packaged non-perishable food. Dispose of packaging... #WIPSnips 'HANDOVER NOTES'

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

#WIPSnips from my not-quite-a-childhood-memoir '76... Her lips pursed a little more, suggesting not so much a smile as a sympathetic wince. I saw the orange squash move up and down inside the straw, as though we were caught in some kind of endlessly repeated moment, forever winding back and forth.

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

The formations march past an old-style analogue billboard, a vandalised mug-shot of Mayor Jedward Johnson beside his much-mocked catchphrase KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON, to which has been appended the ambiguous graffito ROBBIN’… a #WIPSnips from 'Once Upon', which may one day appear in ANIMUS (Reloaded)

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Limping a little in the clutch of so much cold stone, the third American peered behind each pillar, scanned every shadowy alcove and searched the obfuscating patterns of ornamental ironwork for a familiar silhouette. Surely she would have come… an #obfuscate for #vss365 from THE HERRENHAUS FORFEIT

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

“We have lift-off...” This was the moment he had been waiting for, when all those memories or what remained of them were blasted away and the only thing that mattered, and all that would ever matter now, was the mission to put the world back the way it was meant to be. ('Aftermath' for #WIPSnips)

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

He must have been recording himself as he went along: “...was wrong... we’re not pilgrims, we’re paladins... Grail knights... Rosicrucians... The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn... Oh Christ, it’s a sodding quest!” #WIPSnips from the short story 'We', perhaps for the mooted ANIMUS 2 (RELOADED)

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

He kept a shrine to his beloved indie authors. Copied out their desperate posts, in blood. #Dappled himself with tattoos of their covers. Displayed selfies he’d taken with them at book events––bordered with the hair he’d surreptitiously removed. He just didn’t buy their books. #horrorprompt #vss365

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Quick update then I'll stop selling... today is the LAST DAY to pick up THE BORODINO SACRIFICE for 99¢/99p here: mybook.to/Chasing-Mercury

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

There's still time (just...) for those last-minute Christmas presents! Plus, if you're in the UK, the paperback of THE BORODINO SACRIFICE now qualifies for FREE delivery on Amazon here mybook.to/Chasing-Merc... – even without Prime. (Or simply gift it as an eBook for only 99p/99¢!)

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

A brand new collection of suspenseful short stories, out now! mybook.to/ANIMUS

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

For the first time – and not for long! – ALL the Chasing Mercury thrillers are reduced to £0.99 / $0.99 here: mybook.to/Chasing-Merc...

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Paul Phillips @paulphillips44.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

"I really like the writing style of the author. The stories flew by and I flew along with them." SpyGuys+Gals is an amazing compendium of fictional spies run by true fan (& sometime doyen of the secret world) Randall Masteller. Very proud to be in there! spyguysandgals.com/sgShowChar.a...

spyguysandgals.com

Chasing Mercury - Spy Guys And Gals

A Fan's guide to the Chasing Mercury series.

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