iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Wtf makes people so susceptible to magical thinking with this shit? If a slinky unexpectedly stops going down stairs should we be worried it will soon experience emotions?

From an article I’m not going to link:

If computer systems could behave in ways that are unexpected — or even shocking - without being directly steered by humans, it seems only a short step until computers might have desires, ambitions, and even malice.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 26/09/2026

Letterpress flyers we made for Hunted Down and Other Tales by Marcus Clarke. The text is taken directly from Clarke’s 1870 story ‘When the Circus came to Bullocktown’.

A framed letterpress flyer that reads:

BUNCOMBE'S IMPERIAL
YANKO-AMERICAN CIRCUS:
THE MOST COMPLETE STUD IN THE AUSTRALIAS!
THE BONELESS BROTHERS OF BLAZING BELT!
FEATS IN THE HAUTE ECOLE!
MADEMOISELLE ZEPHERINA, THE FAIRY EQUESTRIENNE!
MR. STANISLAUS BUNCOMBE, THE MACHIAVELIAN CLOWN!

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 25/09/2026

“But possibly the best-known example of design and narrative working together is Danielewski’s House of Leaves. In one example, a square of text is carried through the following twenty-five pages, like a rogue narrative tunnelling its way through the rest of the book.”

A page spread from House of Leaves showing the square of text against a two column layout some of which is upside down and back to front. It’s a lot.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 25/09/2026

“help feed the porpoise” Don’t just stand there. His name is Russell. We’ve all given him a fish and frankly we have better things to do. So now it’s your turn. Go on. Feed the porpoise. Feed Russell!

More ad copy:

"see living, growing coral"
"bask on golden Pacific beaches
"find secluded, romantic coves"
"thrills on skis"
"see "Dreamtime" national parks"
"he sure to see Brishane"
"help feed the porpoise"
SEE QUEENSLAND FIRST
IN Brisbane, see the QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT TOURIST BUREAU at ANZAC SQUARE, 31 2211.
In Sydney, book at 149 King Street, 28 1785.
Melbourne, 90 Elizabeth Street, 63 7121.
Adelaide,
12 Grenfell Street, 51 2397.
Newcastle, 112 Hunter Street, 24768
and to further your Queensland Holiday, contact Bureau offices at Coolangatta,
Surfers Paradise, Toowoomba
Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville or Cairns.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 25/09/2026

“see strange mountains”

A Queensland tourism ad from 1966: Queensland?
a wonderful place for a holiday!
Bask in the year-round sunshine from Coolangatta to Cooktown. Queensland will never cease to surprise and delight you with its multitude of different attractions.
Why not do what I did.. see the
QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT
TOURIST BUREAU
Let the people at the Bureau, who know their State, arrange everything for you... travel, accommodation, tour itiner-aries. The Bureau provides a complete, efficient, FREE travel service.
"see strange mountains"
"enjoy tropic fruits"
"cuddle Koalas"
"life's a breeze on the Reef"

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 24/09/2026

Everyone suggests the bin chicken for Brisbane’s Olympics mascot which would be fine, but we shouldn’t discount the potential of the brush turkey.

A brush turkey. It looks like a turkey but more scraggly. Not one of Australia’s more attractive birds.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 21/09/2026

Monday night. Draft of the manuscript is open. Willing myself to engage with it.

Seamus the greyhound flaked out on the bed with his tongue sticking out.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 20/09/2026

“B. S. Johnson explores space and layout in his novel House Mother Normal where every chapter represents a fixed set of time. The long gaps of characters with advanced dementia represent an absence as heartbreaking as any words could convey.”

A two page spread from House Mother Normal that’s completely blank save for the phrase “No, doesn’t matter”

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 06/09/2026

Time to play what the fuck is this thing in my garden?

A clump of fibrous material with holes in it. Is it a nest? An alien pod?

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 05/09/2026

Reading day. Two narratives both running backwards. A lot of work still to go but it feels like such a long way from the initial page of scribbles.

Two stacks of paper, the manuscript in progress. Both begin at chapter eleven.

A matrix of chapters printed out on paper and covered in my scribbles.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 26/08/2026

This mural reminds me of a lyric by Anabella Cartolano: “Estas lejos de tu lugar pero mas cerca de lo que crees de tu hogar.” You’re far from your place but you’re closer than you think to your home.

A mural in Fortitude Valley featuring a man struggling through an empty plain with a Queenslander house (complete with stilts) strapped to his back.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 23/08/2026

Ready to make its journey to the USA.

On my desk a copy of the Ephemeral City boxed edition lovingly wrapped in butchers paper with a little Ephemeral City sticker holding it together.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 19/08/2026

Ron Howard is attached to direct.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 16/08/2026

You weren’t planning to work or anything right?

Seamus the greyhound being extremely in the way in front of my laptop.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 12/08/2026

Discovered the last sweet brought back from my visit to Bulgaria last year. I think it’s literally a piece of freeze dried banana covered in something vaguely chocolate related.

The actual Krem Banana with a bit taken out. It looks like freeze dried banana with a thin layer of chocolate. Sort of.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 11/08/2026

Barely related images from the past week.

A beautiful old building on Constance Street, Fortitude Valley.

Harper the greyhound lounging while I work on my manuscript.

A rainbow lorikeet going to town on flowers blooming in a tree.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 09/08/2026

Prepare your ears, people.

The 345 bus at a quarter to eight on Monday morning.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 08/08/2026

I didn’t get this but I was sorely tempted.

A record titled Music from the Cloudland Ballroom. If you know you know.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 08/08/2026

Although this is a cool thing today, Australian record companies were notoriously cheap back in the day. Did any other country skimp on the box and produce a trifold with the inner sleeves glued in? @stevenc63.bsky.social do you know?

All Things Must Pass by George Harrison but not in a box.

The trifold with one side open. The apple jam credits listed.

The trifold open. It’s a top loader because they’ve simply glued the ATMP inner sleeves into the package. Kind of cool really but if I was buying in 1970 I’d have felt ripped off.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 04/08/2026

Had some black sapote again. It’s been a while. It’s ok. Not great. But ok.

A black sapote cut in half. It’s contents supposedly look and taste like chocolate pudding. Look? Maybe. Taste? Absolutely not.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 03/08/2026

This must get annoying though.

110

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 02/08/2026

I’m so glad I had the presence of mind at the time to keep every single one of those typewritten memories. They’ve stayed safe with me for the past decade and I still appreciate them all.

An enormous stack of typewritten papers from every iteration of Memory Makes Us.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 02/08/2026

If I remember correctly I did seven Memory Makes Us events in Australia and the US from 2014 to 2016. A live writing event where the featured writers took inspiration from memories submitted by the audience on manual typewriters.

People at the State Library of Western Australia typing their memories. One lady has a young child on her lap.

Paddy O’Reilly and Randy Osborne at the Decatur Book Festival. The submitted memories are attached to the table as which they’re working and flow onto the ground.

An audience member at the Melbourne Writers Festival reading the memories of others.

Memory Makes Us at the Darwin Writers Festival where the three writers are working and two audience members submit their memories.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 01/08/2026

Looking through the archives and I came across this memory shared from someone who attended Memory Makes Us in 2014. What an extraordinary story. Thank you whoever you are.

I have so many memories I
can wrige about but this difficult
writing my short memony on a manual typewriter at the old lib rary.
I am an Australian Aboriginal woman my life span has s
so far been on a journey of 62 years. I am a Birri Yuru and Haggera Yuggera woman on my Mother,s side and both her parent wereaamzing. incredible people who survived the Aboriginal Australian Holocost. I remember my mother was denied voting rights, not even a citizen in her own country, a first nation woman who taught me so much abbut, what it means to be an a human being,
a woman, a coloured woman and never to feel
shame orshelter myself from anything or anyone. Shetaught me to be proud, and that I counted in my male dominated famil of four brothers and ead Dad. We grew up in an interesting household in pretty impoverished conditions. When Dad who was a coloured man himself and worked in the trucking industry fell on hard times wtth no work life was tough and we would live on potatoes, onions and pumpkin which we grew or Dad would buy from the local market. We walked everywhere I or my older brother carried the baby bag. Mum seemed forever pregnant or breast feeding. She was a funny lady. Best Warrangnu and Dad was her Jubanna and the five kids.
We fished from the Brisbane River at Mowbray Park and gader the City bridge.
We would set up a fire near the water and
cook the fish mullet, bream, catfish, that was dinner. We would stay until late at night and the fire was our light and warmth inwinter. Dad was at work on the trucks most of the time. Dad and Mum met at the Murri dances in the hall at Milton we also when I wwas little catch the electric bus in Holland Park to the Boathouse Dances in town on North Quay We would go with my Aunties and Auncles. The Bedes Rallah, Broderick, Moyden, Ah Wang families. We all related and y Dad wes+who is now 86 yers old was well accepted by all o

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 27/07/2026

Took some new glamour shots of the book for a funding application.

A copy of the Ephemeral City boxed edition on a lovely woodgrain background.

Ephemera and booklets popping out of the open box.

Th ephemera laid out. You can see Yuri Gagarin's big giant head on the poster with various pages, photos, coaster, and other stuff artfully laid on top.

The empty box where you can see the subtle collage design of ephemera on the inside surfaces.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 25/07/2026

Me: Duolingo: Wanna be a creep en español?

A screenshot of a Duolingo lesson where junior gets me to translate the sentence “I want to see your face without makeup”. Ew.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 19/07/2026

The famous “or whatever”.

A self pitying tweet from Sam Altman that reads:

Sam Altman Y
@sama
...
>be me
›grind for a decade trying to help make superintelligence to cure cancer or whatever
>mostly no one cares for first 7.5 years, then for 2.5 years everyone hates you for everything
>wake up one day to hundreds of messages: "look i made you into a twink ghibli style haha"

Boo fucking hoo, Sama

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 18/07/2026

Somebody* decided my chapter cards were a fun toy. RIP chapter D1. *It was Seamus.

A torn up index card next to a stack of index cards on which I’ve written chapter outlines.

021

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 17/07/2026

You there, servant boy. Bring me some treats.

Harper the greyhound with a coat and a blanket on the couch in the sun. Must be nice.

080

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 12/07/2026

About 40k words of notes distilled into cards and arranged in what I think will be one of the orders of chapters. Shit's complicated, okay?

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 09/07/2026

New book arrival. This looks like fun.

The cover of Codex Unfertho by Kienn Nguyen.

Pages from the text consisting only of jagged black vertical lines.

A page that switches languages font size and fades out halfway through.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 07/07/2026

Where’s the mayor from Jaws when you need him?

The fake beach at South Bank closed for repairs. There’s no water and the sand is piled into high dunes. You can still see palm trees and buildings in the background.

020

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 04/07/2026

Long day in the story mines, folks. Time to unwind with some appropriate tunes.

A copy of Eel’s Electro-shock Blues on the turntable. I keep rediscovering tracks off this. Today’s was Dead of Winter. Amazing song.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 04/07/2026

There’s a squirrel on the field. This is the most exciting thing that’s happened so far.

A squirrel at Coors Field. Cute. Don’t look at the score. Look at this instead.

000

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 30/06/2026

When I get an idea for the story I take a note down on whatever is handy. This time it’s my phone and as the title suggests I think I might have solved a particularly gnarly narrative problem.

A screenshot of my notes app. All you can see is the time and the title I gave the note: Holy fuckballs.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 22/06/2026

Microsoft Word having a normal one.

A photo of a document on a screen. All the text has vanished as has a goodly chunk of the fucking ribbon. A single oblong blob with a deep shadow sits atop the page absorbing my anger and frustration. It feeds on it. It grows stronger every day.

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