iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

#208 It took me a little while to get into The Element of Fire, but, once I did, it swept me away. There’s nothing like an old school epic fantasy story.

The Element of Fire by Martha Wells rests on a wooden surface. The cover features an illustration of a castle that appears to be floating in mid air.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

#207 American Sirens should be required reading for anyone living in Pittsburgh. I’m sorry it took me this long to get to it.

American Sirens by Kevin Hazzard rests on wooden surface. The cover features a black-and-white photo of a Black man in a white uniform sitting in the back of an ambulance.

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 09/10/2026

Productivity as an adult is just an endless process of applying new psychological tricks and operant conditioning to yourself until an acceptable number of tasks are completed.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

When I was doing the family shopping as a teen, I easily bought six boxes a week. My brothers could eat a box a day.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I also rely on my remote job. I don’t know what the boys would do, if I started leaving them every day.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I completely understand. I haven’t left my boys (cats) since Cash got his diabetes diagnosis a few years ago. It’s just too stressful.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Traveling and leaving pets is so nerve-racking. I get worried that I left the stove on or water running, even though I always check.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

#206 Over the past few years, I have found Between Two Kingdoms so helpful in making sense of my new life with chronic illness. I was drawn to read it again, and I once again found help and solace.

Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad rests on a wooden surface. The cover features a photograph of a young woman and a small white dog sitting on the roof of a yellow Volkswagen van.

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BAKER @fuckyoubaker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

GRIPPING HOPE HARDER THAN EVER.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

#205 I didn’t know I needed to read a novella about rocs and their humans, but I really, really did. I can’t wait to check out more of Fonda Lee’s work.

Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee rests on a pink velvet surface. The cover features an illustration of a young woman on a chariot with a giant hawk soaring above her.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

#204 It’s been a tumultuous few weeks, and all I wanted to do was sink into the soothing madness of To Say Nothing of the Dog. It was the perfect book for this weekend.

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis rests on a blue and yellow quilt. The cover features of mish mash of images including a cat, a burning cathedral, a man with dark hair, and a glowing figure.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I just ordered new underwear this week for this very reason. Socks are next.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

#203 I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and that is about as big of a compliment as I can pay.

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark rests on a sun dappled wooden surface.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#202 Shout out to @readingtheend.bsky.social who told me I should reread In Other Lands even though I’ve read it once this year. It was the perfect read for a hard week. It’s possible that I identify with Elliot a little too much.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan rests on a wooden surface. The cover features an illustration of a mermaid with long hair.

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Dr Hannah M. Rowland @hannahmrowland.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Hope your day was better than Darwin’s, on this day 165 years ago

I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody &everything.

Charles Darwin
Letter to Charles Lyell
1st October 1861

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geoffrey 💀 (scary now) @parsnip.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

there are moral arguments against the death penalty in its ideal form but in real life you never need to get there. the prior question is "can the state be trusted to end the life only of the rightly convicted without torture?" and the answer is no

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Men Explain Rape to Me.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I read In Other Lands for the first time earlier this year, and your thread has me considering rereading it already. I love it so much that I promptly bought another copy so that I could force my sister to love it too.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

#201 The Secret Country has me hooked. I can’t wait to see where the series goes.

The Secret Country by Pamela Dean rests on a sunlit wooden surface.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#200 I finally had a chance to pick up The Raven Scholar, and it was every bit as good as I had heard. Complex, magical books like this are why I have always loved fantasy

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson rest on a blue and yellow quilt. The cover is purple and features an illustration of a raven.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

#199 I adored The Wizard Hunters, as I do all of Martha Wells’ books. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

The Wizard Hunters by Martha Wells rests on a pink velvet surface. The cover features a young woman in a bright robe holding a golden sphere.

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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

She is awakening bisexuality across several generations, in a just society she would get a medal for this achievement, possibly a park named after her.

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Mrs. Detective PikaBOO, Esq. @clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social · 26/09/2026

How to explain concept of weekend to cat urgent

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

#198 It’s weird to think that I have been reading John Green’s books for over 20 years. Hollywood Ending is beautiful, bittersweet, and full of care and understanding for its characters. In other words, it’s a John Green novel.

Hollywood Ending by John Green rests on a blue and yellow quilt. The cover is shades of green, pink, and blue.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I don’t have it in my budget this month, but I hope to be able to get a piece of your art someday. It’s all lovely.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The dentist that I had been going to for years started to be really mean. They bullied me into getting a night guard that I told them I wouldn’t be able to wear. When I told them that I couldn’t stand to wear it, they got even meaner. I’m trying out a new dentist next month.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#197 I know that summer is in the title, but Summers at Castle Auburn has always felt like more of a fall book to me. It’s become one of my favorites that I reread almost every year.

Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn rests on a pink velvet surface. The cover features an illustration of a young woman sitting in a large window.

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Lu @rendernev.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Welcome, Autumnal Equinox. The King of Autumn greets thee.🍂

My painting of a pumpkin rider on a black horse surrounded by autumn leaves and mushrooms.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

#196 I am very sad to be caught up on Dungeon Crawler Carl. This series has been a welcome distraction over the past few months.

A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman rests on a wooden surface. The cover features an illustration of an out-of-control food truck with flames coming out of the back. A man in a cape is pulling a Teen Wolf on top of the truck.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

My mom did not believe in going to urgent care, unless we needed major stitches, etc. The only time I went as a child was when I had pneumonia (which my mom had already diagnosed at home).

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Cool Bike Art @coolbikeart1.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

📷 Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photo of a man sleeping in a chair at a velodrome track with a bicycle next to him and racers riding in the background. This was taken at a 6-day race at the Vel d'Hiv velodrome in Paris in 1957.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

#195 Despite loving The Thief, I have never read the entire series. I am rectifying that, and I’m loving it so far.

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner rests on a pink velvet surface.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

#194 Interesting journey into the history of birth control and abortion in the US.

Madame Restell by Jennifer Wright rests on a blue and yellow quilt.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It is once again sticky in Pittsburgh. I’m ready for the humidity to be less of a physical presence.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 17/09/2026

Discworld QOTD, from Sourcery

Discworld meme. On the left is Death, a skeleton with glowing blue eye sockets wearing a black robe. Death is petting a small kitten.

On the right is the text of the quote.

“I meant,” said Ipslore bitterly, “what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?’

Death thought about it.

CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.

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Mrs. Detective PikaBOO, Esq. @clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social · 17/09/2026

Enormous skill issue. I would simply have made the precious baby comfortable in my home. Give churu.

In 2016, Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a biologist and National Geographic Explorer working in Bolivia, received a call from a local wildlife sanctuary that had just been given what they described as "a weird cat." It came from a local man who found it as a kitten on a road near a
forest. The man took the animal home, believing it to be a domestic breed. But after about a year of living with the clearly wild animal, he realized it would be better off at a sanctuary.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#193 The Secret Life of Groceries was eye-opening but unfortunately not surprising.

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr rests on the wooden shelf. They cover features a picture of a grocery store aisle.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I feel your pain. I’m on 5-6 (depending on the day) medications to manage mine. Some of them have to be taken at a certain time, some of them have to be taken 30 minutes before I eat, and some of them have to be taken either two hours before or two hours after I eat. I never get them all right.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#192 Whack Job is a fun history of axes and murder. I only wish it had been longer.

Whack Job by Rachel McCarthy James rests on a wooden surface. The cover is red and has a large ax embedded in it.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Reading for pleasure is linked to better cognition, mental health, empathy, memory, and more gray matter. (There are probably confounding factors, but let's just choose to believe it's causal.)

newscientist.com

Reading for pleasure boosts memory, empathy and mental health | New Scientist

Fewer people are reading for pleasure, but getting lost in a good book has repeatedly been linked to substantial cognitive benefits

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This post brought to you by minor surgery and the accompanying stress dreams.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I would kill someone for the ability to drink a cup of coffee right now. It wouldn’t even have to be a bad person. I would kill a mediocre person for the ability to have caffeine.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#191 I am back on my Dungeon Crawler Carl bullshit.

This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman rests on a blue and yellow quilt. The cover is mostly black with bold teal text. In the center, there is a black and pink tower. A cat with lasers coming out of its eyes sits on top.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

#190 Navigational Entanglements was delightful. I really enjoy books that feature tea in space.

Navigational Entanglements by Aliette De Bodard rests on a wooden surface. The cover features a stylized illustration that is primarily a large rooster and a large snake facing each other.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

#189 Someone was posting about the series recently, and it reminded me that The Thief is an amazing read. I’m going to read the entire series this time.

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner on wooden surface. The cover features cupped hands holding a stone with a blue center.

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I’m sending all my positive thoughts!

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Rachel @walkaways.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Shit. I’d better start now.

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