iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 05/12/2025

It’s finally done. It’s taken me 6 months, but what a rollercoaster ride. Brilliant, heart-breaking and - despite its length - dark and intense. Part western, part crime story with a quest, a coming-of-age tale and much more thrown in for good measure. #TomsCrossing

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 05/11/2025

The gorgeous hardback of @markzdanielewski.bsky.social’s TOM’S CROSSING has arrived in Glenavy! The StoryGraph tells me I started reading the e-galley on May 29th and that I’m 39% through. My brain can now grasp that, having seen it in the flesh. It will go much faster from here!

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 25/06/2025

I have resisted for as long as I can. If I start tonight, I might just make it on time to write a review around publication day 😜 The excitement is palpable! #KingSorrow @joe-hill.bsky.social #BookSky

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 09/06/2025

The #EdenBookSociety #Kickstarter ends soon. If you're not in, best get signed up quickly! www.kickstarter.com/projects/dea...

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 08/04/2025

Sonya has returned from her long weekend in Kraków with this rather handsome edition of Stephen King’s IM MROCZNIEJ, TYM LEPIEJ (The Darker, The Better) for my foreign-language collection #YouLikeItDarker #Polish

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

And last, but by no means least, Scott Carson ( @mjkoryta.bsky.social )’s third novel, #LostMan’sLane, is his best yet.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

One of 2024’s biggest surprises was @harkaway.bsky.social picking up his father’s pen and writing a new adventure for British institution, #GeorgeSmiley. #KarlasChoice is the result and it’s like visiting an old and cherished friend.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

That man Will Dean is back, this time with the latest instalment in the #TuvaMoodyson series, #IceTown. ‘Nuff said.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

The #Boogeyman books put @richardchizmar.bsky.social firmly on everyone’s radar. #Memorials is a good old-fashioned horror story that shows the great writer at his best.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

I’m late to @amshine.bsky.social’s #TheWatchers, but I really enjoyed the concept. #StayInTheLight moves from the single room setting of the first book to the wider Ireland, but there’s a lot of setup here for a much bigger story in book 3.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

I find English folk horror to be hit and miss. #WitheredHill by @davidmbarnett.bsky.social is most definitely a hit. It’s delightfully creepy and tough to put down.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

#William by Mason Coile (the sadly missed Andrew Pyper) is technological horror at its finest. Short and very sweet, this is a masterclass in how to do horror right.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

Northern Ireland’s Stuart Neville seems equally as comfortable writing about his home and the wilds of America. #BloodLikeMine is what Neville does best: dark crime with a supernatural twist. Perfect!

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

Another triumph from Chris Whitaker. There’s not much else needs to be said about #AllTheColoursOfTheDark, except that you should read it.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

#Polostan is the first book in @nealstephenson.bsky.social’s new #BombLight cycle. This feels like it could be on a similar scale to his #BaroqueCycle. Off to a great start, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next instalment.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

The first of two entries for the brilliant Will Dean. #TheChamber is a claustrophobic tale of a group of underwater workers stuck together in a compression chamber as one by one they seem to be being picked off.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

It wouldn’t be one if my #BooksOfTheYear lists if it didn’t have a Stephen King book on it. 2024’s offering, #YouLikeItDarker is a great short story collection, and includes a story that’s closely tied to #Cujo.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

2024 was another good year for #horror and one of the best, unsurprisingly, was @paultremblay.bsky.social’s latest offering, #HorrorMovie.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

Not my usual style, I picked @percivaleverett.bsky.social’s #James up on a whim. Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of the slave Jim, it’s essential - and fantastic - reading.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

The brilliant Stuart Turton was back last year with another mind-melting genre-bending masterpiece in the form of #TheLastMurderAtTheEndOfTheWorld. Incomparable talent.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

I’ve been a fan of Steven Spielberg’s #Jaws forever, so I jumped at the chance to read Robert Lautner’s #Quint. Told in the distinctive voice of the man himself it’s the perfect prequel to the story we all know so well. Perhaps more than any other book on this list, this is my book of the year.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

#DeadlyAnimals by Marie Tierney is a fantastic debut. Very dark, but a wonderful, precocious central character and a great conceit.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

First up, Dean Koontz’s #TheBadWeatherFriend. I’ve had a recent resurgence of interest in Koontz’s work and I found this to be a fantastic novel. Intense yet playful, it’s told in a wonderful voice.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 22/01/2025

Today’s #bookpost comes courtesy of @rapturepublishing.bsky.social. I love a good chapbook, and these - from @tjoneswriter.bsky.social, @scribeofhades.bsky.social and @pfracassi.bsky.social are gorgeous. Looking forward to reading them, and seeing what’s coming next! #BookSky

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 05/12/2024

L. A. CONFIDENTIAL? A Christmas movie? Really?

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 27/11/2024

It was my birthday yesterday. Which means new #Lego to build today! #StarWars #C3PO

Box of Lego featuring Star Wars character C3PO. Black box with Lego C3PO in his classic pose.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 20/11/2024

The timing was almost, but not quite, perfect for the delivery of the latest #StephenKing #LimitedEdition from #PSPublishing. It’s an absolute beauty (as you’d expect)! #112263

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 17/07/2023

I think I discovered the film first too, but do prefer the book now, despite the cover.

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Matthew Craig (Reader Dad) @readerdad.co.uk · 11/07/2023

Is that Blue Elon in the new #Ahsoka trailer? How evil! #Thrawn

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