iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 21h

I'm trying to not let the fact that I'll be recording an audiobook version affect my WIP word choices... ...but I sure am going to have an interesting time pronouncing things like 'Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea'!

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Went to the woods in search of an old castle ruin (did not find it), but saw some Bronze Age petroglyphs instead!

A river winding between trees and reeds. Blue patches of sky between fluffy clouds; a forest on the far side of the river. No sign of castle ruins, though they ought to be around here somewhere. May not be much left!

The river view in the other direction (west-ish, I think). Sunlight glimmers in the tree-framed dark water.

Sun crosses or wheel crosses carved into a flat rock, coloured in with red paint.

More petroglyphs, chariots and sun crosses in the main, carved into a flat rock in a forest in southern Sweden. Autumn leaves are scattered about.

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Prosper Tipaldi 🌱🌿 @prospertipaldi.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

🏺 Quote with your yellow art! 🏺 From that time I drew The Mountain for A Song of Ice and Fire: Tactics.

A drawing of The Moutain from A Song of Ice and Fire, in full plate armor with yellow cloth. He wields a large yellow pavise shield in his left hand and a very large two handed sword in the right.

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Hel ✨ || Untwined is out now!! 🌀🪷 @helynalc.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Today is publication day for Untwined, my third novel, second and final in the Imbued dark fantasy duology! 💙📚 There isn't much I can say that I haven't said a million times before. I'm incredibly proud of this book, and it means the world to me. Writing it was a terrifying, rewarding, beautiful,

The cover of Untwined by Helyna L. Clove, a digital painting of a purple-pink lotus flower on dark golden water surface spotted with golden lily pads. There is golden magic whirling around the flower.

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

A Murderer on the Moon is out today! On claustrophobic Phobos, Detective Grace Telluride has to tangle with a dead body in a refugee camp, warfare in chemical swamps, dangerous gravity hijinks, and much, much more! www.amazon.com/dp/B0HBKHQYQM mybook.to/amotm

As moons went, Phobos wasn't much to look at. Small, lumpy, about as attractive as an unpeeled potato, it possessed neither the mystique nor the graceful phases of Luna. Twice a day it crossed the Martian sky, quickly making its way from west to east without fuss or fanfare. It cast no light to speak of, set no mood, and while mankind had once looked up at the sky and dreamed of walking on Luna, Grace couldn't imagine anyone had ever dreamt of Phobos.
She certainly hadn't, although when she got the call at 3:40 in the morning – There's been a murder on the moon – she had briefly wondered two things. The first: Which moon? The second: Am I still asleep? Bumping her knee on the bedside table in her haste to get dressed had confirmed that, nope, not a dream; Chief Thebes really was yelling at her to get a move on because the shuttle to Phobos was leaving in thirty.
Shuttle. The word sounded too casual, too easy, as though travelling through the vacuum of space was like hopping on the Kirkclair Central Line, and maybe it was that easy for people who commuted off-world regularly, but Grace had only ever been on a shuttle a few times before, and she'd feel more comfortable about the prospect if everyone else treated it like the big deal it was. Instead, she was stuck with a pilot who cracked jokes over the comms – and a windowless seat.
In one of the psychology classes she'd taken back at the academy, the professor had talked about space and windows, specifically how windows were inevitably a structural weakness, yet even Primaterre warships had them. Containment affected the human psyche negatively. To see the sky, the horizon, the stars, was as vital to the mind as breathing to the body, and to be able to trust one's own eyes mattered even more. Hackable, disruptable viewscreens didn't cut it; only real windows would do.
Grace realised just how true that was when the pilot announced they'd be landing in five. To have travelled through space, from one celestial body to a…

One of the amazing maps from the book, illustrated by mr.OH!

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

A Murderer on the Moon is out on August 11th! Preorders are live now: mybook.to/amotm AMotM is set during Lonely Castles, so my recommended reading order is: Iron Truth -> Lonely Castles -> A Killer in Kirkclair -> A Murderer on the Moon... ...or bravely jump right into this new Primaterre Tale!

A mock-up of A Murderer on the Moon in various formats. Cover art by the fantastic mr.OH!, who has done all my covers since Iron Truth, as well as all interior illustrations and maps. He worked hard on this one - it has TWO maps!

The back cover for A Murderer on the Moon, featuring Detective Grace Telluride. The blurb reads: Phobos. God of fear. Moon of Mars. Crucible of purity.

The Primaterre. Dogmatic, xenophobic, governed by paranoia, yet thousands flock to its borders seeking respite, asylum, new lives.
Phobos is the proving ground, the path to citizenship a brutal gauntlet of the mind. Few are found worthy.
The refugee camp is a hotbed of frustration, grudges and bad blood. When the first successful applicant in years is murdered, Camp Asaph teeters on the brink of calamity as enemies old and new clash.

Detectives Telluride and Bloom must untangle a plot with as many moving parts as Phobos itself, and apprehend A MURDERER ON THE MOON.

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L.L. MacRae @llmacrae.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Want a **sneak peek** into Memories of Fire? I'll be sharing the Prologue and first chapter TOMORROW on Patreon! Whether you're a paid Tea Dragon or a Free Dragon, you'll get a preview of my upcoming epic fantasy quartet! www.patreon.com/llmacrae

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C. J. Daley 👻 Horror & Crime Thriller author @cjdaleywrites.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Okay, okay, even I’m surprised that there’s more zombie shows for me to watch. Watch them I will. Another update, and this time it’s off a rec from @sofietholin.bsky.social #zombies

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

A Murderer on the Moon, the second Detective Grace Telluride mystery and the fourth Primaterre Tale, is now available for preorder on Amazon! Read all about it on my Patreon: www.patreon.com/tholin/posts... Or check out the preorder here: www.amazon.com/dp/B0HBKHQYQM

A mock-up of A Murderer on the Moon in paperback and ebook formats, against a Primaterre sun backdrop. Illustrations by mr.OH!, who's done all my book covers and interiors since Iron Truth!

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Hel ✨ || Untwined is out now!! 🌀🪷 @helynalc.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

It's Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week! #SPAAW And I'm here to appreciate. #SelfPublishedAuthorsAppreciationWeek 💙📚 This will be a thread of cool authors and cool books!

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Guy Warley @warls.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Hello #PortfolioDay Here a selection of my works (red/orange), thanks for looking at them.

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Hel ✨ || Untwined is out now!! 🌀🪷 @helynalc.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Today is the cover reveal of Untwined, the second book in my dark fantasy duology! 💙📚 The fight for freedom, revenge, and agency that started in Imbued reaches conclusion in this final installment. As near effortlessly as Imbued flowed out of me, writing Untwined turned out to be...so difficult. 🧵

The cover of Untwined by Helyna L. Clove depicting a purple-pink lotus flower with a bright yellow center on a lake surface surrounded by lily pads. The pads and the water are in colors of golden yellow. Similar golden magical threads are whirling around the flower.

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dominish_books @dominishbooks.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Hi everyone! It's been too long since I updated some of my lists of favourites, so today I'm revisiting my top five favourite science fiction books. Check it out here: youtu.be/m0V1zvPWcFg What are your favourites?

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

About fifty percent through my final read-through of AMotM and taking a break to see what it looks like on my Primaterre shelf. Yes, it's another big one!

The Primaterre/Primaterre Tales series in paperback on a bookshelf. Iron Truth, Lonely Castles, Chaos Terrain, Summer Empress, Queen of the Corpsepickers, A Killer in Kirkclair, Brighwork and the upcoming A Murderer on the Moon!

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Zé Burnay @zeburnay.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

A window into the process

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Hel ✨ || Untwined is out now!! 🌀🪷 @helynalc.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Hi Hello Have you Heard? 👀 Untwined, my new book, sequel to Imbued & finale of the duology, is coming out in September 2026! Put it on your TBR: www.goodreads.com/book/show/25... Request an eARC: forms.gle/nGYWNuSrDvENeJTh9 Help with the cover reveal in July! (comment here!~) 💙📚💙🪐 #BookSky #books

A trope map-style graphic with labels around the graphic of a book in the middle pointing at it. On the book graphic, it reads: Helyna L. Clove, Untwined (Imbued #2). The background is a blurry, gold and brown colored image showing lily pads on water. The edges of the picture have fancy corner graphics.

The arrowed labels around the book say:
- pesky lost goddess inside my head (but sad)
- my grief and trauma embodied in corrupted magic? Right in front of me??
- ancient underground high-tech city
- dream yearning
- mild(?) torture (sad-face emoticon)
- metaphysical battles (visions, memories, nightmares, otherworlds)
- a fight for freedom at all costs
- tfw you just want to BURN it all (but sad)

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

The final read-through begins. A Murderer on the Moon will be ready for publication soon, and I am super excited! I really love this book (I hope you will, too! :)

Me, holding the paperback proof copy of my WIP, A Murderer on the Moon.

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Tim Hardie @timhardieauthor.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

I was lucky enough to have Wise Counsel, one of my short stories, included in @spotlightindie.bsky.social’s new library! Taken from the collection, A Roll of the Dice, this is the audiobook version, narrated by @rjbayley.bsky.social, introducing Etta's character for the first time. Link below 👇

Spotlight Indie. Spotlight Library Presents Wise Counsel by Tim Hardie. A short story from the world of the Brotherhood of the Eagle. Narrated by RJ Bayley. The graphic also features the audiobook cover of the short story collection A Roll of the Dice, featuring two tankards of ale next to two daggers on a wooden table, with various coins scattered around.

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Happy birthday, Joy Somerset! More on my Patreon: www.patreon.com/tholin

A photo of a page in Iron Truth, listing the details of SOMERSET, Joy Catherine, including her date of birth (1543/05/11).

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Went to see some dinosaurs, then came home to find my proof copy of A Murderer on the Moon in the mailbox. Very happy to get to work on the final edits (it's actually so much fun)!

A photo of an animatronic brachiosaurus.

A photo of the proof copy of A Murderer on the Moon. The text reads S.A. Tholin, A Murderer on the Moon, A Telluride Mystery. The cover features a Primaterre sun combined with the symbol for Phobos against a grey backdrop, a river of yellow liquid, and some mysterious growth-like tendrils.

There is also a bonus black cat in the photo, sitting behind the book with a sort of exasperated look on his face (he wants Dreamies, he has had Dreamies, do not feel sorry for him).

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

A sneak peek at the back cover and blurb for A Murderer on the Moon! Detective Grace Telluride returns to solve a murder on Phobos. For the full cover reveal, check out my Patreon: www.patreon.com/tholin

Phobos. God of fear, moon of Mars, crucible of purity. The Primaterre. Dogmatic, xenophobic, governed by paranoia, yet thousands flock to its borders seeking respite, asylum and new lives.

Phobos is the proving ground, the path to citizenship a brutal gauntlet of the mind. Few are found worthy.

The refugee camp is a hotbed of frustration, grudges and bad blood. When the first successful applicant in years is murdered, Camp Asaph teeters on the brink of calamity as enemies old and new clash.

Detectives Telluride and Bloom must entangle a plot with as many moving parts as Phobos itself, and apprehend a murderer on the moon.

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Steve Hugh Westenra 🕷️🧛‍♂️🏳️‍⚧️📚✒️ @stevewestenra.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I was honoured to be asked to help with the cover reveal for the upcoming indie anthology, Together Is a Distant Star! It features a lot of amazing stories and the work of good friends. beforewegoblog.com/cover-reveal... (with absolutely gorgeous art by @cblansdell.bsky.social !) #booksky

beforewegoblog.com

Cover Reveal: Together Is a Distant Star

COVER REVEAL I'm so excited to be part of the cover reveal team for Together Is a Distant Star, an upcoming anthology from some of today's most talented and u

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W&S_BOOKCLUB @wsbookclub.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Who has books in the Narratess Indie Sale? If that's you, share your social media-sized "about my book" below! There are some incredible books included, readers! I'm going to spoil myself! #booksky #NarratessIndieSale #indiebooks #indieauthors

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Lonely Castles is 0.99 in the amazing Narratess sale! On Amazon UK/US, you can also pick up Iron Truth for 0.99 this weekend. If you like SFF with intense action, love and loyalty above all, and defiance against overwhelming odds... it's a good weekend to start the Primaterre series! :)

Alarms blared through the corridors. Breaches to the east and the west. The lab's main entrance still held, but one turret hung limp and useless, black smoke rising from its fried power cell. The other turret, controlled by Lucklaw, fired relentlessly. Rounds smacked into the concrete residential block and powered through plate glass, but the RebEarthers had slipped out of range, returning fire from a safe distance. Sooner or later, the turret would join its twin in electronic death.
Kiruna and Daneborg haunted the upper stories of the building, observing six RebEarthers climb the fire escape. The first one died before the second made it to the last rung, but Daneborg made his death a silent one, dragging the man away by the combat knife shoved into his jaw. Kiruna stayed back, allowing the other RebEarthers to enter and discover the trail of blood. She let them start tracking it, and as the tension grew enough for the men to start snapping at each other, she made her move. Two more down, and the remaining three ran blindly down the dark corridors. Daneborg quietly waited for them to call in their predicament, and then he and Kiruna flanked and ended the chase. Elegant, and brutal enough that Cassimer estimated that it'd take RebEarth at least ten minutes before they tried that entry point again. Ghosts, the last one had gurgled over his comms, ghosts on the fifth floor.

(The sort of thing you might expect from Lonely Castles!)

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Steve Hugh Westenra 🕷️🧛‍♂️🏳️‍⚧️📚✒️ @stevewestenra.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Journey to former conversion camp Echo Island with cryptid-hunting YouTuber Tyler, as he follows a video of his presumed-dead mom, flees the co-host he drunkenly made out with, & falls in lots of ponds. #booksky #writesky #horrorsky books2read.com/u/boB9YL steve-westenra.itch.io/the-erstwhil...

I glance back at the blackened windows of the hotel office. Inside, an electronic device blinks off-on-off-on like a flickering modem light. Something about this struggling machine on an island technologically trapped in the 1850s compels me. I stand in front of the window, press my palm to the glass. I stare inside, and though I can’t place why, for only a moment, it’s like someone’s staring back. Like the machine is an eye—blinking, assessing, watching.
The breeze ripples against Three Wolf Moon. It could be Echo Island’s breath, a deep exhale after years holding it all in.

A queer horror comedy by a trans author. Is it possible to queerbait yourself? A cryptid-hunting YouTuber. His missingmom. An isolated island that may house the monsters he swears aren't real.

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Hel ✨ || Untwined is out now!! 🌀🪷 @helynalc.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Have you heard about my 1st book?👀 🚀🤖 A hopeful, swashbuckling space opera with the honest, colorful camp of Star Wars & the drama and found family of Firefly and Wayfarers. #BookSky 1. loner smuggler captain rescues grieving queen 2. alien apocalypse tech breaks containment 3. ✨shenanigans✨ ensue

A photo of Helyna, a white woman in her 30s with blondish hair and glasses, holding her book, Skylark in the Fog, up.

A "trope map" type of graphic with the mockup of Skylark in the Fog in the middle. The book's cover depicts a bright blue, turbulent rift in space in the shape of a bird taking flight on a starry background. A small, cylindrical spaceship is zooming out of the "eye" of the bird, leaving two streaks of light behind it. The main colors are light blue and purple. The author name and title are written on the cover with big white blocky letters.

The "tropes" around point with arrows at the book.
- a prickly space pirate with commitment issues
- a runaway queen with AI powers
- a half-brainwashed soldier trying to find himself
- wormhole machine shenanigans
- cute robots & alien BFFs
- shady galactic empire vs rebels
- the cycle of hate and war, the meaning of home
- humanity sucks
- humanity rules
- Star Wars and Firefly vibes with awesome women and strong platonic bonds
- a swashbuckling adventure, now with extra trauma! (and perhaps healing)

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Sheila Jenné @jennelikejennay.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

I've been hearing from people who were in my cozy sale that they feel like it was a success, in terms of sales and fresh attention. If you want to be in future sales, they're all linked here: sheilajenne.com/2026/02/11/i... Next month is April Aliens—really, any and all non-human characters!

sheilajenne.com

Introducing monthly sales

So I was thinking, wouldn’t it be neat to have themed sales? Instead of a single broad promotion, we could have very narrow sales with just a few books, curated to match a specific theme.

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Zé Burnay @zeburnay.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

I have a lot of original art available from my old comics, too many pages to list at the shops in an efficient way. If you are into this sort of thing contact me and I'll show you what I have. If original art isn't within your budget, starting next month I'm going to give you a chance to win some.

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

From Queen of the Corpsepickers - the first page, in fact! #WIPSnips

MIST

Before the planet had gone to hell, someone had put up an archway over the short road between the colony and its six-landing-pad sorry excuse for a spaceport. No doubt the rusting, broken letters on the arch had once spelled out something stupid like WELCOME, which Mist was sure had been a lie even back then. Places like this never welcomed anybody whose granddaddies hadn't worked the mines.

Or maybe the arch had just stated the name of the colony. She supposed it must've had a name. Everything did, from particles to rocks to slum rat babbies. Sometimes the names rang true straight away, and sometimes they had to be changed because the original namer had been a dumb fuck who'd completely misjudged the nature of the thing. Other times, the thing renamed itself.

This planet had. Humans descended on it like a god-damned infestation, their hab-hovels a rash on its terrain, and they'd fucked with the very core of its being. More gravity, they'd said. More oxygen, more atmosphere, more plants – way less volcanic activity, thanks very much – and for a few years, the humans had their way. But this planet's spirit was a tricky old bastard, and as much as it was still an enemy of the Mother Spirit, Mist could respect that. It had let the humans believe that it was a good, well-behaved rock. It had let them breathe and build and mine, and then it had screwed them over but good.

"They say a thousand people died right here," she said to Waters. "Wanted to get to the spaceport, didn't they, like the core spirit couldn't sense that. They say the ground quaked before it opened up to swallow the colonists whole, but I reckon that it was just the spirit screaming its true name for all to hear."

The cover for Queen of the Corpsepickers. It's red with hypnotic black circles and a crowned black phoenix snatching the second 'e' out of Queen.

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E.M. Faulds / Beth or Taxes / Not em faulds @emfaulds.com · 26/03/2026

I'm sure there's an official post coming soon, but I couldn't wait. My new short story, Well Tester, is up on Diabolical Plots! Sara's the only person on the planet (except for Lucifer - yes, that one). She wishes he'd stop bugging her, she's got a lot to do. www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-1...

diabolicalplots.com

DP FICTION #133B: “Well Tester” by E.M. Faulds – Diabolical Plots

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Just hit 35K words on my Joy & Grace short story, which means it's inching into short novel territory... oh well!

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Been thinking about Josue recently, listening to the song that inspired his character. To me, this is the music of his poor, battered soul (not that he believes in such things... or does he?) I'm toying with bringing him back for one last hurrah, but... (1/2) www.youtube.com/watch?v=inBK...

youtube.com

Ana Vidovic plays Asturias by Isaac Albéniz on a Jim Redgate classical guitar

YouTube video by SiccasGuitars

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Guy Warley @warls.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

My illustrated covers for the Illumicrate exclusive anniversary editions of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

In this interview I talk about snake charmers, the number 1 mistake you can make as a writer (you can find it in this very sentence, haha), the inimitable work of @stevewestenra.bsky.social, and my own upcoming SF detective novel!

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Sofie Tholin @sofietholin.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Thrilled to see a Chaos Terrain mention! It's really special to me (okay, all my books are, haha), so big thanks to @dominishbooks.bsky.social for shining a light on it! Only Summer Empress to go... I hope you enjoy the grand finale! :)

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Zé Burnay @zeburnay.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Here's a closer look at the creation of " The Electric Tower".

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dominish_books @dominishbooks.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Bookmail! I haven't treated myself to any new books for a little while, so in honour of finishing the series next month, I thought I'd finish up my physical collection of The Primaterre, too!

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Spotlight Indie @spotlightindie.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

We may be doing an online event this weekend, but in May we're doing it live and in person! Spotlight Indie Live is FREE TO ATTEND. Please support us by spreading the word, coming along or joining our Patreon. Help us spread the love! #authorevents #writingcommunity #bookchat #writerevents

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Spotlight Indie @spotlightindie.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

HELP US SPREAD THE LOVE! In our latest blog post, Holly explains why we've launched a Patreon, what the future holds for Spotlight Indie and why all you need is love (da-da-da-da) #indieauthors #writingcommunity #authorevents #indiebooks #writerlife spotlightindie.co.uk/2026/02/18/a...

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Zé Burnay @zeburnay.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

New 4 color riso print! Get one here: zeburnay.bigcartel.com/product/gosh...

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dominish_books @dominishbooks.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Can I finish 12 SFF series in 2026? I set myself this challenge, but I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Let's see if I can plot a pathway to ace it though: youtu.be/PydD4GN9k5k

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Tim Hardie @timhardieauthor.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Have you taken a look at @spotlightindie.bsky.social's new Patreon? We're dropping posts every day this week in the run up to the official launch this weekend. Today we've released the short story 'Little Claws' by our very own @hollytinsl3y.bsky.social! www.patreon.com/posts/short-...

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