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sandrafriend.bsky.social
Sandra Friend
@sandrafriend.bsky.social
910 followers 590 following 480 posts
Author. Science geek. History wonk. Nature nut. Space Hipster. Recovering guidebook writer now making things up. SandraFriend.com FloridaHikes.com TrailsandTravel.com ThoughtsAfoot.Substack.com
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sandrafriend.bsky.social
Fall author run #3: John Scalzi. Started the year with his newest and worked backwards; I've shared some previously but hubby, not a sci-fi enthusiast, is now a convert thanks to the snark. Next up: diving into the Old Man's War series by @scalzi.com

📚 #booksky #bookreview #scifi #funreads
Book cover: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, an often hilarious romp between parallel Earths Book cover: The Android's Dream by John Scalzi where electric blue sheep mean a lot to an alien culture and a quirky sort of diplomacy meets the challenge Book cover: Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi, where the self-determination of a alien species isn't something the mega-corporation strip-mining their home wants to see Book covers: When the Moon Hits Your Eye and Starter Villain by John Scalzi. My faves so far among his many books: the what-ifs will keep you rolling on the floor with laughter.
December 10, 2025 at 3:29 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
From my #WIP Star Struck:

A ménage à trois with Miss Atomic? Bob found it hard to swallow that either Gordy or Ruhl had designs on her. She was hot, but in all the wrong ways.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
December 9, 2025 at 12:10 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
A mesmerizing piece of kinetic sculpture at Wellfield Botanic Gardens in Elkhart, Indiana. This stop on our summer travels surprised with its sculptures threaded throughout the plantings.

#glassglobe #sculpture #fountain #garden #elkhart #indiana #soothing #videosky
December 9, 2025 at 12:22 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
Accidentally found: a pirated book in a little free library. I've had #Buckeye on my TBR list. At home I discovered this "book" has no copyright page, no spine or back identifying publisher, and the interior is NOT the novel. I pity the reader who bought it. #booksky #pirates
#writersbeware 📚
Exterior of supposed copy of Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. No spine graphics. Back cover of supposed copy of Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. No graphics, blurb, publisher, nada. Note the author does not match the cover. Should be Patrick Ryan. No front matter, except a bogus copyright page that doesn't mention the author or publisher or ISBN. Goes right into this, which I quickly confirmed online is NOT the novel Buckeye. In fact, paging about ten pages in, it's dreck. Who the hell does this to a reader? Pirates! Into the recycle bin. I don't want anyone to think Patrick Ryan would write this crap.
December 8, 2025 at 4:32 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
From my #WIP Star Struck:

Colonel Whittington didn’t put Bob on the invite list? Victor thought fast. “I’ll check on that. There’s a dinner at the club on the Fourth of July, a meet and greet with the movie guys and Miss Miller. Consider this your invite.”

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
December 8, 2025 at 10:17 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
Fall author run #2: Mary Robinette Kowal. Started into her Lady Astronaut series earlier in the year - love the interweave of real-life astronauts - and decided to try another outside the series. A delight! Will seek out more next year.

📚 #booksky #bookreview #scifi #alternatehistory #womeninspace
Book cover: The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal. Four astronauts against a lunar background. Book cover: The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal. A solo astronaut against a fiery background Book cover: The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal. An elegant couple and their dog on a starship cruise.
December 8, 2025 at 3:17 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
A moment for reflection among the ancient trees of Clear Springs Nature Preserve near Montague, Michigan.

#stunday #bigtrees #reflections #autumnleaves #michigan #naturephotos #photosky
A massive oak trunk on a steep shoreline with leaves turning color and autumn leaves floating on the surface of the water
December 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
From Star Struck:
Kurning walked in with a small crate. The frogs sank under the water when his shadow danced across their tank. Ulysses motioned for him to leave it atop the only empty table. Touching the box, he tingled when the pigeon cooed.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
December 7, 2025 at 12:44 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
Where aviation began.

#blueskyartshow #sky #photography #photosky #aviationhistory #historicsites #wrightbrothers #kittyhawk #nationalpark
Person descending stairs from an upswept monument against a dramatic sky of white clouds against deep blue
December 6, 2025 at 5:36 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
From my #WIP Star Struck:
Acknowledging his security guard with a quick thanks, Dick snatched the receiver off the hook, speaking in a quiet, level voice so as not to disturb the animals.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
December 6, 2025 at 10:57 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
There's a hole in our hearts today with the passing of our friend Bob Eggleston, who was as close to a brother as my husband John ever had as an only child. They'd met more than 50 years ago in Boy Scouts and we adventured together locally this past decade. RIP old friend.
#cancersucks #gonetoosoon
A woman and two men in holiday attire on a beach during an event A man paddleboarding in a lagoon Two men with bike helmets standing on a trail bridge A man crossing a plank boardwalk while wearing a hat and bright orange vest
December 5, 2025 at 6:36 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
From my #WIP Star Struck:
She’d picked up a few synchronized swimming gigs with MGM to stave off boredom. Staying in the water kept her profile low, on screen and off.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
December 5, 2025 at 10:40 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
Another good, kind human, another friend.
Descended through the portal of no return.
Goodness doesn't equate to good health.

Don't put off that #colonoscopy
Don't break more hearts.
#takecareofyourself
#youmatter
#fuckcancer
Interior of an ancient adobe dwelling with a series of keyhole doors in half shadow
December 5, 2025 at 2:17 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
From my #WIP Star Struck:
Their war pigeon display was yesterday’s news. City folks laughed off seeing the same birds as on their windowsills, so Catskill sold them off.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
December 4, 2025 at 9:48 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
The wonders of nature come in all shapes and sizes.
rosemarymosco.com Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 6d
Another comic from this past year. Sometimes I'm in awe about how incredibly small birds can be.
In a comic strip panel, person in a red shirt walks through a sunlit forest. The text says "Sometimes I go looking for a tiny part of the universe." "This part only takes up as much space as: half an apple, a salt shaker, or 2 ping pong balls." Each of these items is shown. Galaxies and stars swirl as the text says "But somehow, in an unfathomably huge universe," and then there's a complex mess of forest leaves, with one tiny Wilson's warbler in one corner, and the text says "this one tiny part". There's a close up of the warbler, blazing yellow against a sparkly yellow background, and the text says "can fill up my whole heart."
December 3, 2025 at 11:53 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
I love the idea of #waterfallwednesday, as it lets me dig into photos from our travels. This one pours off a rocky bluff into a ravine below the trail I'm standing on at Glen Helen Nature Preserve in Ohio.

#glenhelen #waterfalls #ohio #yellowsprings #hiking #takeahike
Author of the post, a lady in a Tilly hat, beside a waterfall splashing into the gaping mouth of a small cave on a bluff
December 3, 2025 at 8:34 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
As close as I get to "dominant" in my #WIP
Star Struck:
A painting of a pigeon, three feet square, dominated the dining room wall. Bob took a sharp breath. It looked exactly like the painting—paintings—that had hung in their billet in Verviers.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
December 3, 2025 at 11:15 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
Now that I'm back in #WIP mode with Star Struck:

Paul put a hand on his shoulder. “Life is one hundred percent terminal, Dick. You might as well focus on the parts you enjoy.”

#WIPSnips
#WriteSky
#WritingCommunity
#WritingPrompts
December 2, 2025 at 10:40 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
Fall author run #1: Louise Penny. Had the first two on my TBR shelf for years and enjoyed the balance between quirky Three Pines residents and self-doubting Chief Inspector Gamache I tracked down her latest releases. All engrossing reads.

📚 #booksky #bookreview #mysteries #cantputdown
Book cover: Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny. A person walking on thin ice. Book cover: The Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny. A small cabin in a snowstorm. Book cover: The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny. A pair of gray wolves over a stylized forest of pines all in cool blues. Book cover: The Black Wolf by Louise Penny. A pair of black wolves over a stylized forest of pines all in glowing reds.
December 2, 2025 at 10:02 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
A sense of perspective on the sandy slopes of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore, its dune front dropping precipitously into Lake Michigan.

#stunday #nationalparks #lakemichigan #photography #photosky #sanddunes #michigan
November 30, 2025 at 6:30 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
More recent reads, all mysteries. Griffin: WWII physicist retrieval, bloody military mission; Penny: charming while deadly; St. John: Hollywood glam movie gone bad, didn't see plot twists coming; James: WWII espionage & Hollywood.

#recentreads 📚 #booksky #bookreviews #mysteries
Book cover: The Devil's Weapons, by WEB Griffin. V-2 rocket launch and a man in a WWII uniform Book cover: The Madness of Crowds, Louise Penny. Silhouette of a spruce against a Northern Lights stylizied sky Book cover: The Siren by Katherine St. John. Woman on a beach with waves. Book cover: Last Stop Union Station by Sara James, a woman wearing 1940s attire and a locomotive in a city station
November 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
Remembering the random joys of fall at a Midwestern farm stand (Goshen, IN) before winter sweeps these colors off the scene.

#farmstand #fallcolors #autumn #pumpkins #thanksgiving
Mini pumpkins in orange and white Funky mini pumpkins more like gourds with bubbly nubby skins Ghostly white pumpkins Yellow mums
November 29, 2025 at 10:46 AM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
A reminder for this Shop Small weekend: grab an app, explore more of #Florida on your own two feet. floridahikes.com/florida-trai...

#shopsmall #smallbusiness #takeahike #hikingguides #exploremore #gooutside
November 28, 2025 at 8:41 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
This book. Wow. I'd avoided reading it because it was so overhyped. I didn't want to see the movie because movies so rarely provide the richness of the author's words. Well worth the read, and the hype was clearly deserved.

#booksky #bookreviews #readthis #literaryfiction 📚
Book cover of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. A young girl's face, eyes obscured by a version of her in a boat in a Lowcountry marsh.
November 26, 2025 at 4:30 PM
sandrafriend.bsky.social
Such a lovely sentiment for readers and creatives from L. Frank Baum, fitting in this age of ongoing copyright theft of our works by Big Tech.

#booksky #authorquotes #copyright
bertsbooks.bsky.social Bert’s Books @bertsbooks.bsky.social · 14d
It’s chilly today, but I’ve defrosted the books and they’re ready for you. - Michael
No thief however skilful can rob one of knowledge - L Frank Baum
November 26, 2025 at 1:54 PM