iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

One of my favorite stories just made it to the final round of choices… god I hope it gets picked. 🤞

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Reposted by Zak Cowell

Stephen King @stephenking.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

All roads lead to Derry. #ItWelcomeToDerry is coming this October to HBO Max.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

I do find it funny that Thomas Ligotti is a Cancer ♋️🦀🤣 (I am also)

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

My favorite story I have ever written just keeps getting rejected and I’m like 🤪😫

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

What’s the chances that @stephenking.bsky.social would let me use a line for an epigraph for my novel? I know he loves a good epigraph. If he did, I’d use “We lie best when we lie to ourselves” said by Mike Hamlin in “IT”. “IT” is one of my favorite books, and also why I love living in Bangor. 🎈

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Looking for both agents and editors. Send me your recs!

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Basically finished with my novel but I am finding that a lot of publishers will not accept any submissions containing SA. On one hand I am wondering if I need to rewrite and remove that part. On another hand, in a few different ways it’s an integral part of the story. So not really sure what to do..

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Reading “We like it 🍒right after reading #BHH 2 books before also hit different for me. Really want to read more Native American Horror novels. Also i pictured the titular 🍒 scene in the book almost in an absurdist lynchian way. What’s great story @jacymorris.bsky.social @tenebrouspress.bsky.social

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Just finished @jacymorris.bsky.social ‘s We Like It Cherry. Me definitely like it 🍒! An awesome amalgamation of mythology, horrific imagery, survival and love. It will have you ponder the impact of climate change while also wondering what a human eyeball might taste like @tenebrouspress.bsky.social

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Just finished up Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes and now onto We Like It Cherry by Jacy Morris @sabarnes.bsky.social @tenebrouspress.bsky.social @jacymorris.bsky.social

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Looking for some kind folk to read a draft of my novel “Behind the Veil”. Thematically I’d call it a story inspired by House of Usher, Hill House, Rebecca, Ligotti, Barron, and local WNC historical research. Looking for kind words and constructive criticism. Let me know if you’d be interested!

criticism.me

Domain Details Page

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Submitted my first non-fiction piece for publication, entitled “ Maine’s Foggy Liminality and its influence on Horror & Art”

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

I always fail to write a seasonal story in time for the actual season. Tried to write a springtime story by May 1st and epically failed at that 😂 Oh well, at least I found this book at the library.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Between Neil Gaiman and now Neil Degrasse Tyson, I’m pretty upset at the two Neil’s I used to look up to. I own multiple books by these Neil’s. Next time I have a bonfire I have some kindling I guess. “Death by Black Hole”, “Sandman”, “Stardust”, “Smoke & Mirrors”, “American Gods”, all in the fire!

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Currently in the novel I am writing “Behind the Veil”, I am exploring how a ‘haunted’ house can be both like a person and a liminal space, it felt cool to read a similar situation flipped. Can’t wait to read the rest of the split scream stories @carsonwinter.bsky.social @tenebrouspress.bsky.social

flipped.it

Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia - Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia

Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia produzioni cinematografiche, televisive, giochi e molto altro.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Finally diggin in to the @tenebrouspress.bsky.social Split Scream series and started with “The Guts of Myth” by @carsonwinter.bsky.social . I loved the exploration of a person as a liminal space or gateway. The backstory and dynamics are compelling. The ending is a gut puncher too. Bravo

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

I identify with HP Lovecraft in the fact that, most of the time, I’m more interested in the lore, history and the aesthetics of the setting of the story than I am the characters. Characters feel like the vocals of a song—- they’re important, but they aren’t always what make a song great.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

I think I first gravitated to horror when I lost my belief in god. I realized the fairytale I’d been fed about a god who loved everyone was a lie, and once that happened the horrors of the world were revealed. Horror, in all of its forms, taps the vein of reality more than anything else.

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Reposted by Zak Cowell

Protato @protato42.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Happy Trans Day of Visibility

A picture of David Lynch with the caption Fix your hearts or die

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Nothing like receiving 5 rejections in 48 hours 🥴 #numbersgame

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

“I’ve heard our elders and many-faces men and even chiefs say that it’s the napikwans who are ruining the world, but napikwans are just what happens when we forget we’re Pikuni. When we think a many-shots gun is more important than beaver medicine.” @sgj.bsky.social #buffalohunterhunter

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I am reading it right now about 100 pages in, and it’s truly phenomenal. I have a feeling this will end up being one of the best horror stories I have ever read, and one of my favorite pieces of literature.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Thanks to The Briar Patch in Bangor for having a fun “Derry-free” horror book club meeting this evening! Good discussions about how messed up Fred is.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Super frustrating when you feel like the stories you work the hardest on or are the most unique get rejected more than the ones you don’t feel as strongly about

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Going to this on Wednesday. Found Feito’s “Victorian Psycho” a fun disgusting day read. There are certain turns of phrase that they use that really turn the stomach. And the colorful Victorian vocabulary is the cherry on top.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Just got my copy of Gothic Tales by Thomas Ligotti from Chiroptera Press 🤘🏼🦇

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Spring and summer are my least favorite seasons so I guess it’s a good time to get a head of my autumnal and winter horror stories 😂

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Going to the grocery store at night, you encounter people that look kind of cool like I would wanna go get a drink with them. Then others look like strange night beings out Renfielding for some Dracula. Both of them could be Stephen King characters. Which makes sense considering I’m in Bangor.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Finds a new small publisher: :D Closed to submissions: 😒

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

There are two wolves inside me. One says “basketball is a stupid human activity, another sport used to sublimate the human desires of violence and competition, the desire to crush an opponent.” The other says “wow it would really be cool if Montana won since they’re an underdog”

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

When you get a notification that your copy of “The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein” by Ligotti is on its way 🕺🤠

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Fun fact: my new story “The Sideshow of the Void” is not a direct sequel to “tragedy of the Laughing Clown” which was produced by @thenosleeppodcast.bsky.social , but you may see a familiar clown within the story! Check it out on Dark Harbor Magazine! www.darkharbormagazine.com/the-sideshow...

darkharbormagazine.com

The Sideshow of the Void

From time to time, murmurs and mutterings concerning the carnival spread amongst the houses of town like an unseen plague This signals the carnival’s imminent arrival.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

And at the end you will be left with the wonderfully lonely feeling of having woken up from a dream that you know you won’t quite have again. All in all an amazing tale. Thanks @ivygrimes.bsky.social for giving me the chance to read and review your work!

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

You will re-read certain sentences twice, or even three times. Sometimes because what you read is so peculiar you have to make sure you read it correctly, and sometimes because it was so literary and true that you have to take it in again.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Somnambulate through the experiences of two sisters, each of which is in her own way, called to her duty of destroying the oppressive systems which keep us all, living and alive, trapped.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

…one will recognize the familiarity of the parallels between this and Southern/Aristocratic reality. A reinvention of the horrors of history, a facade of progress as the innards rot and collapse in on themselves.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

It draws from those primordial wellsprings we call Fable and Dream. You will read about a family and community which has attempted to sublimate and dress up its horrible past and its terrible traditions, and though it is a reimagining of Bluebeard…

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

The story feels like when you mix all of the paints together at once; instead of an off-putting brown color, Grimes has created a wonderfully weird Aubergine. In this book, it feels as if Grimes is shedding any preconceived of what a story should or shouldn’t be.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Just finished @ivygrimes.bsky.social new book and WOW. The Ghosts of Blaubart Mansion is equal parts a Lynchian Grimm’s Fairy Tale and a literary southern gothic. Like Dunsany’s Why the Milkman Shudders When He Perceives the Dawn, The Ghosts from Crimson Peak, and a precocious child’s daydream.

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Zak Cowell @reprobvte.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Found out my stories “The Sideshow of the Void” and “Honeymoon” will appear in the March and April issues of www.darkharbormagazine.com 🤘🏼🤘🏼

darkharbormagazine.com

Dark Harbor Magazine

A New Home for Horror

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