iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Kristina Ten @kristinaten.bsky.social · 18h

New story day, and it's a short one! “Ivan Ivanovich” is about spacecraft dummies & the illusion of safety & an adriftness that makes you feel far from your own self. Based on a real Soviet test flight mannequin from the '60s. In @othersidespec.bsky.social! 🧑🏼‍🚀 othersidespec.com/pieces/ivan-ivanovich

The cover of Otherside, issue 3. In shades of orange to yellow against a black background, a figure looks toward a grand stone structure with columns, a staircase, and two giant statues. There are leaning trees and what looks like wind or smoke. The issue is dated September 2026 and the contributors' names are listed in white at the bottom.

A screengrab of the Otherside page hosting my short story, "Ivan Ivanovich." Otherside's illustrative purple banner is at the top, followed by the story's word count (1500 words) and the first three paragraphs of text.

A photograph of the Ivan Ivanovich display at the National Air and Space Museum, sourced from Wikipedia. The mannequin is in the foreground wearing a helmet and orange flight suit.

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Guan Un @thisisguan.bsky.social · 19h

Investigation has turned up further details.

A picture of Reacher at a thrift-store, buying jeans, t-shirt, jacket, socks, boxers.

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Ryan Packer @typewriteralley.bsky.social · 23h

George Saunders on using AI: "Writing is the most precious way one person can communicate their essence to another person. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get better at making myself present in my writing. Why would I want to sacrifice even one iota of that?"

Have you spent time trying to write or revise with AI? Is there an experiment that would be interesting enough to try?

I have not. Not for a second. To me, this whole idea of using AI to write is . . . anathema. A thing to be most radically avoided.

Writing is the most precious way one person can communicate their essence to another person. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get better at making myself present in my writing. Why would I want to sacrifice even one iota of that? Not even in an email and certainly not in a short story or novel.

Who are we ceding our authority to, exactly, when we let AI write for us? And why? Why surrender our agency (that amazing ability we have to reach across time and space, with our strange, idiosyncratic phenomenon, and land within the sensibility of another human being) to something that, by its very design, pushes the individual sensibility aside? And in the name of . . . what, exactly? Ease, I guess? Efficiency? The person who chooses to write with AI has also sacrificed, from the start, the opportunity of experiencing difficulty, of struggling to say what he wants to say, of making himself evident in his prose, of trying to find out what he believes. By this, he sacrifices a chance to know himself and his mind better. To me, that’s a shame. And it’s dangerous, because, as we are now finding out, it affects the brain and lessens our capabilities. Thanks, but no thanks, get thee behind me, etc.

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Eden Royce @edenroyce.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My contributor copy of the FORGED IN FIYAH anthology from @fiyahlitmag.bsky.social is here! Edited by the super-talented @davaun.bsky.social this beauty hits shelves tomorrow, and you can delve into these incredible tales of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, perfect for Black Spec Fic Month in October.

Cover of Forged in Fiyah Celebrating ten years of Black Speculative Fiction, done in hues of purple, green, and blue. Two elegantly dressed magicians stand in a forest around an anvil, holding hammers, about to strike a glowing chalice.

Back cover of Forged in Fiyah listing all contributors names: M.H Ayinde, Maurice Broaddus, C.L. Clark, Eboni Dunbar, WC Dunlap, Emmalia Harrington, Veronica G. Henry, Tonja K. Johnson, Brent Lambert, L.D. Lewis, Tonya R. Moore, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Tobi Ogundiran, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Nelson Rolon, Eden Royce, Sheree Renee Thomas, Tade Thompson

Beginning of story "All That Remains" by Eden Royce (me!) starting with the quote "The most marvellous thing to watch is the death of a person." -Pauline E. Hopkins, Of One Blood, or, The Hidden Self

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Guan Un @thisisguan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I am spending my brain space on the important questions of our age like “Does Reacher not change his underwear?”

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Guan Un @thisisguan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Maybe Hainanese chicken rice will fix me

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Cislyn Smith @cislyn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

If Flights of Foundry means something to you, if you've gotten something out of it - whether that's inspiration for a project or a friendship or good memories or the comfort of knowing someone out there is designing events like this... Put some money in, please. flights-of-foundry.org/donate/

flights-of-foundry.org

Donate – Flights of Foundry

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K.M. Veohongs @kmveohongs.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

My Flights of Foundry schedule! Hope to see you there!

Graphic of a brown cow against a blue sky displaying the con schedule for writer KM Veohongs at the 2026 Flights of Foundry convention including a reading on Friday 9/18 at 6 pm EDT, a panel called Revealing Plot Structures through Adaptation on Sunday 9/20 at 1 pm EDT, and a panel called Being a Good Literary Citizen on Sunday 9/20 at 7 pm EDT

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K.M. Veohongs @kmveohongs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Read my latest newsletter post! Also sign up because it's free, I really don't sent that many, and I am very funny. Truly, it's like one extra email in your inbox every 1-2 months. Really Good (throat clearing noise) woman-screams-at-cloud.ghost.io/really-good-...

woman-screams-at-cloud.ghost.io

Really Good (throat clearing noise)

The title of this post is actually "Really Good Assholes" but I was afraid if that was the email subject line my newsletter would be sent to spam jail. At my first writing workshop in 2019 (Viable Pa...

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Deborah @deborahzafer.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Ted Kooser 🖤

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daryl "rupert pumpkin" b 🏳️‍⚧️ @hypercubexl.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

GDT's reddit AMA spitting fire www.reddit.com/r/movies/com...

reddit comment:

Hello! Did you intend the ending of Pan’s labyrinth to be real or in Ofelia’s mind?

Guillermo Del Toro's reply:

My interpretation, and it's exclusively mine, is that it's real.

Because there's two things. One is what people call “The Shining Question.” The Shining Question is, Who opens the door for Jack to get out of the fridge? And Ofelia is in an attic with a guard outside her door, and she draws the door with the magic chalk, and she shows up in the labyrinth. So, the only way she could have gone into the labyrinth is the magic chalk. And the flower is real at the end. The flower that blooms in the dead tree. And the reason I think it’s real is because—and this is why I'm in favor of the human factor in art—I think that art does transform the world. You know?

Think about it for a second. One of the goals, with all this movement, is to make you believe that art is vulgar. That art is nothing special, and anybody can do art. That is like me telling you that I'm faster at running than Usain Bolt but I “run” in my motorcycle. Well, that's not the same. That’s not the same at all.

Art is important, and they want you to believe it isn't. It's part of the idea of control. The goal is not to have artificial intelligence. The goal is to foster natural stupidity. The goal is to foster you not looking for answers, and to trust yourself entirely to an engine. Look at the way we are dipping our toes into these things. We are starting to ask the machine, Is this true? For now, there's a correlation between reality and what the answers of the machine are. For now. But soon, we won't even investigate further. We will be told it's true. And if the machine is in the hands of somebody who should not be trusted, then your reality has been completely and utterly fucked. Because your intelligence ends at the question. You don't seek the answer. It's given to you.

Q: You recently mentioned that AI creates 'semi-compelling screensavers' and that you'd 'rather die' than use it. As a filmmaker who relies heavily on practical effects and creature design, what do you think is the biggest thing lost when a computer generates an image instead of a human hand?

GDT:

The three quarters of the process that gave you the chance to think of the idea that people don't think about without that process. Meaning, AI can get you to the middle really fast, but there's a dialectic with the process that gets you to that top 10%. I'll give you an example with the Pale Man.

We sculpted it as an old man, with a face. And then I said, Let's take out the face. This happened because I saw a photo of a manta ray and the poster for Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm. That combination, which happened at two different times during a week or a month, are not permutations that are chemically part of an equation. They are alchemy. And then I said, Take out the face, and then I said, Let's put the eyes on the hands. This triangulation happens because I spent a month or two months living with the idea of this creature. And it's not linear.

AI is like a super-fast engine that makes semi-sentient permutations of things that are already done. Creation is things that have never been done. Coming to exist.

And the second thing is the loss of the apprenticeship that one has as an artist. You're never a master; you're always an apprentice. This is a kinship I have with, for example, Chris Nolan. When he showed me The Odyssey, there’s a scene when Matt Damon is floating in the stormy ocean and I asked him—because we were talking about practical effects, and how great it is and that we both always use a maquette or a model—and I asked him, How did you do it? He said, “We put him in a storm in the ocean.”

And you're gonna find that 30% of a great image occurs accidentally. You know, either a drop of water hits the lens, or the camera shakes. I remember when in 1993, '94, Jim…

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Dhiyanah @bydhiyanah.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Would appreciate any help for funding long-term treatments and meds to support daily pain management and injury recovery. ko-fi.com/bydhiyanah Maybe get something for yourself or loved ones from my art shop on there. Always human-made, and hand-drawn. #DisabledArtist #SupportArtist #bsnm

ko-fi.com

Support Dhiyanah Hassan

Support Dhiyanah Hassan's art and livelihood! Leave a kind word or two, let them know what you've enjoyed or like to see more of. Thank you.

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Kathleen Jennings @tanaudel.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I’m giving a silhouette workshop in San Francisco in October! bookbindersmuseum.org/event/worksh...

In a silhouette border of dancing hind girls: Making Silhouette
Bookplates
A Workshop with Kathleen Jennings
American Bookbinders
Museum, San Francisco
17 October 2026

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Imogen Cassidy @imogenwrites.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

As always with cons I've come away exhausted and socially drained, but also energised and full of ideas. I was particularly happy with @thisisguan.bsky.social's short story workshop, fingers are itching to try some of the things I learned and finish writing the story I started in it.

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Imogen Cassidy @imogenwrites.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#consyd was an amazingly lovely experience all around, fingers crossed it becomes a yearly thing. It was small, but super well organised and I'm pretty sure everyone who turned up whether they were panelist, presenter or punter felt like they were part of the writing community.

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈 @spacevalkyries.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

alright my dear giant robot enthusiasts - I'm finally writing my keynote for flights of foundry and am including giant robots because, well, I can!! I feel like I've forgotten some though. so this is a good excuse to ask: what are your favorite giant robots? let's see if I missed any 👀

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Karen Beilharz @kbeilz.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Hanging out at #ConSYDeration today with @thisisguan.bsky.social, talking about books, comics & writing 😊

Old Government House in Parramatta Park.

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Guan Un @thisisguan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Starting my trek up to ConSyderation for the weekend. If you see me, feel free to say hi!

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Karen Beilharz @kbeilz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Super sad to be missing @thisisguan.bsky.social’s short story workshop this Sunday 😢 Maybe you can go! scribes.com.au/consyderation

scribes.com.au

ConSYDeration – Sydney Speculative Scribes

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Rose Ciesla @roseciesla.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I'm at Flights of Foundry come see me: Sat 9/19 5pm: Music and Narrative (panel) Sun 9/20 5pm: Well, Actually (dialogue w/ @ashsmash.bsky.social on historical research) Suny 9/20 6pm: More than Milford (panel on critique techniques) flights-of-foundry.org Sign up here for the best online con!

Rose Ciesla's Flights of Foundry schedule superimposed over a cute pic of a raccoon clinging to a tree

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈 @spacevalkyries.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

hi yes I'm SO excited that my trans giant robot flash fic is out now at @lightspeedmagazine.com. please enjoy "The Chrysalis of Moth One" 💜 this one is a bit Pacific Rim drift compatibility but make it angry and defiantly trans. I'm so proud of this one ✨ www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-...

lightspeedmagazine.com

The Chrysalis of Moth One - Lightspeed Magazine

They didn’t want either of us to live this long. Sucks for them—we’re good at living in spite. We’re good at surviving, at fighting, at never stopping. Today is the last day we exist in spite of Comma...

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S.L.Johnson @sljohnson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Are you coming to ConSYDeration this weekend? Have you got merch for your books/ zines/ photocopied poems/ stickers that you’d like to share? We will have a table dedicated to sharing stuff, bring it on in! scribes.com.au/consyderatio...

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Rivqa Rafael @rivqa.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

you're going to have to read them if you want to write them

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Kate Heartfield @kateheartfield.com · 08/09/2026

I have found it fruitful to ask "what if I start with the weird/cool idea instead of building to it?" Neither is correct but whichever option feels most like working without a net serves me best. Another thing I didn't know is that "a good short story" is a culture-dependent notion in many ways.

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felicia martínez @feliciafm.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I don't know why, but when the Bookshop . org link goes live, things feel official 🩵💙💜🩶🤍 pre-order for the paperback is also on sale right now! "Layered, lyrical, and heartbreaking -- a sci-fi reimagining of the tragic myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus." bookshop.org/p/books/thes...

bookshop.org

These Bright and Perilous Designs

Layered, lyrical, and heartbreaking, These Bright and Perilous Designs is a sci-fi reimagining of the tragic myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus, exploring grief, love, and the things that make us feel ali...

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Sumitra Singam @pleomorphic2.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Be unapologetic about your own voice - use words or vernacular from your own language, use cadences and rhythms and smells and tastes from your own culture. If you find yourself whiting out your story, stop! Be brown and proud!

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Faith Allington @faithallington.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Get weird faster in stories, and experiment with different writing and story styles. Write as much as you can and if you can't write, take notes. Read a short story for dissection purposes. Jot down ideas or vibes you want to explore. It's all writing - sometimes you gotta let the brain lie fallow.

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Kate Ravenna @fantasticalkate.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Not everyone is a plotter. I spent *years* carefully plotting out pieces only to learn that it sucks out all the joy for me. I am a pantser and I have to write completely out of order.

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Samantha (Sam) Mills @samtasticbooks.com · 08/09/2026

And the wibbly nature of writing means any definition I try to pin down, I will inevitably think of counterexamples later tonight XD but that's my general approach

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Samantha (Sam) Mills @samtasticbooks.com · 08/09/2026

-- watching characters grow and change or subplots intersect or entire worlds be explored or all of the above. Shorts can tap into those book elements but have to strip them down to their core

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Samantha (Sam) Mills @samtasticbooks.com · 08/09/2026

For me, when I write a book, I'm building a journey to an end. In a short, it IS the end, or a dissection of a moment, or tale telling, or some other structure/focus. My earliest shorts read like book scenes and I had to learn a different kind of storytelling that didn't rely on time spent --

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Wen Wen @muteddragon.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Submission Grinder. Read magazines you want to be in to check if their vibe matches yours or if you can write to that vibe. Have a Plan B, C, etc for when you get a rejection for that story. In flash, make every sentence justify its existence with a backspace-knife at its throat.

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E.M. White, load-bearing grad student @emwhite.sadbutbuildingworlds.blog · 08/09/2026

What I wish I'd known about writing short stories: 101: achieving much greater concision and punchiness in my writing. 201: re-remembering that prose should still sing and dialogue should still sound natural; not everything needs to be trimmed with maximum optimality.

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Premee Mohamed @premeemohamed.com · 08/09/2026

1. SHORT STORY TERRIBLE 2. Too short 3. Cannot go off on long rambling tangents!! 4. MY PRECIOUS TANGENTS 5. The shorter the harder 6. Flash story = another way to say 'sorcery' 7. TRICKSY STORIES 8. WE HATES THEM 9. Why so hard?!!? however, 10. Usually pay quicker than novvles

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Samantha (Sam) Mills @samtasticbooks.com · 08/09/2026

It isn't doing the same thing as a book, smaller. It's doing something else!

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Kiera Lesley @kieralesley.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It doesn’t have to have a “twist” & don’t just read the greats - modern SFF shorts are varied in form and look v different to the golden era. Also you can cut way more words than you think.

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Sasha Brown @sashabrown.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Oh! Here's what I would tell these people: it's not about any one story, it's about your approach to stories. You should produce many stories and not get precious about any of them. When you go to a restaurant, you don't go because you like one dish: you go because you like the chef's take on food.

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P H Lee 🪬 @p-h-lee.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

how to run a submission calendar strategically.

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Seoung @seoungkim.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

you can make a short story look really weird if you want!! it can look like a recipe or a multiple choice test or a giant crab. short stories are great to have fun and play with different techniques, POVs, styles, etc.

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Guan Un @thisisguan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I am teaching a class on Sunday at ConSyderation on "Short Story Essentials". Writers, what are some of the things you wished you'd known when you started out writing short stories?

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Guan Un @thisisguan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Sydney writers, I have been remiss in saying that I will be at ConSyderation this weekend: the first SFF-specific con in Sydney for a hot minute! Guest of honour Siang Lu, also featuring Tiffany Tsa, Gautam Bhatia and many more. Please come, help make this con successful, and ensure it has a future.

scribes.com.au

ConSYDeration Program – Sydney Speculative Scribes

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Vida Cruz-Borja @laviecestmoi.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

We are open for work! Editing - developmental editing - copy editing - line editing - proofreading - sensitivity reading - book coaching Design - typesetting - layout - book design - cover design (we don't illustrate ourselves but we can connect you to someone!). arcaneoblong.com

arcaneoblong.com

Arcane Oblong

Making stories come together

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S.L.Johnson @sljohnson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

here are some of the inspiring voices that will be participating in Sydney’s inaugural Spec Fic focused Writercon, 11-13 September. Tickets available on Sydney Fringe. Please share! sydneyfringe.com/events/consy...

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Guan Un @thisisguan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

scribes.com.au

ConSYDeration Program – Sydney Speculative Scribes

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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 03/09/2026

I know I already posted about this...but to reiterate: Anthropic copyright settlement authors, PLEASE contact me (Writer Beware) if your publisher is making a claim on a book whose rights have reverted, or claiming anything other than a 50/50 split on an in-contract book. beware@sfwa.org

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The Welkin Press @welkinpress.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Announcing the WelkinPress Best Small Fiction nominations for 2026: @gilloshaughnessy.bsky.social @thisisguan.bsky.social @jmgatford.bsky.social @melissafitz.bsky.social @authorgreene.bsky.social Links to their brilliant pieces below 👇

Welking Press. Best Small Fictions Nominations 2026. Gillian O’Shaughnessy. Guan Un. Jo Gatford. Melissa Fitzpatrick. Randal Eldon Greene

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence. Wendell Berry, What Are People For?

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