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Dale Ivan Smith

@daleivan.bsky.social
2.1K followers 499 following 2K posts

Retired librarian, now "full-time" writer/ reader of fantasy, SF and mystery. TKZ blogger. Author of The Empowered series, Meg Booker librarian mystery series, and various novellas and short stories. Avid stargazer, role-player, board gamer. Fez wearer.

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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 12h
It works well for my light polluted circumstances. I’ve only used 10 second handheld exposures on my iPhone. This definitely took time—an hour’s worth of imagining.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 19h
The northern Milky Way in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) and Aquila (the Eagle) here in my light polluted skies, thanks to my Seestar S30 Pro’s ”milky way” mode using it’s wide-angle camera #astronomy #astrophotography
The Milky Way’s starclouds and dark bands of dust run like a stellar river through the Swan and the Eagle. In the far lower left corner of the image is the constellation of the Dolphin.
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Emma L. Adams @emmaladams12.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
My new dark epic fantasy Forest of Stone is now available on Kickstarter in ebook, paperback, and shiny deluxe hardcover! Help me launch this new series and support human artists in the process. 😄 www.kickstarter.com/projects/emm...
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: Forest of Stone: A Deluxe Epic Fantasy Hardcover
New release special edition for Book 1 in a dark epic fantasy trilogy with foil, sprayed edges, and exclusive interior artwork.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Desperate to redirect attention to the actual folks doing massive corruption and fraud inside the regime itself, starting with the gut purportedly in charge.
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Devon Monk @devonmonk.com · 14/10/2026
This very old ghostie of ours is wishing you a happy spooky season! (soft sunrise included)
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Tamara (Rhymes With Camera) Sellman @rhymeswithcamera.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
If you're going to the #PNWA2026 conference in Lynwood this weekend, look for me at the Author Tables! I'll be selling and signing copies of my new book, Trust Fall, and my other three books. Great deals on bundles! Poetry, short fiction, and (mostly) speculative). buff.ly/JBCW7RQ
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Jeff Merkley @jeff-merkley.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
TODAY is the last day to register to vote in Oregon! Make sure your voice is heard—visit OregonVotes.gov to make sure you’re registered.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Happy Birthday, Mike! You’ve provided all of us with countless laughs #mst3k #rifftrax
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Nana Visitor @nanavisitor.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Here at #NY_Comic_Con with my sister from another planet, Denise Crosby, with the doc that tells you the political and social elements that helped fire Star Trek :The Sixty Year Mission. Come say hello and celebrate 60 years of Star Trek with us!
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Trump breaks oil sanctions and wants to thank Putin for our doing so? #insanity
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Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Please look at this dog
This is maybe a dog but also maybe some kind of weird collapsible handbag or a slumbering albino kangaroo or a canine pocket dimension, anyway if it is a dog, it’s a dog sleeping in such a way that his back legs are folded up all the way up past his nose which is only possible in an Escher print, anyway his name is Cooper, he is a hound lab mix, he is baby
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
It’s blood and circuses for him.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Aren’t we (America) the largest oil producer in the world?
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I'm back to tackling the novel revision of Fine Me Deadly, my third Meg Booker 1980s library mystery. I needed some time way and a new approach to the revision. Now I'm refreshed and back at it. #cozymystery #mystery #writing #writingcommunity
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Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association @sfwa.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
With scam artists empowered by LLMs, writers and editors have common cause to worry about submissions. That's why Emerging Tech is gathering @bonabooks.bsky.social, @reckoningmag.bsky.social, & SFWA Publications for I SWEAR I'M NOT A ROBOT Tues, Oct 13 at 1pm PT. RSVP today! sfwa.org/events/?even...
Emerging Tech Presents... I Swear I'm Not a Robot: How Publishers Are Handling the Pressure to Confirm Human Authorship
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
What a wonderful, fun and funny series! Love it!
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
What is the movie that came out before you were born that you’ve watched the most times?
static.klipy.com
Wizard of Oz: Cowardly Lion's Fear
ALT: Wizard of Oz: Cowardly Lion's Fear
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Three views of the North America and Oelucan Nebulas last night. 80 minutes worth is 60 second exposures, taken by my Dwarf Mini smart telescope. The first is straight from the telescope, the other two are processed, with the last having the stars removed #astronomy #astrophotography
Gold copper emission nebulas in a field of stars.The red molecular hydrogen is prominent in this image.The red molecular hydrogen is especially prominent in this image, with the stars being removed.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Fabulous photo. The bestest doggo.
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Author D. R. Oestreicher @oestreicher.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
1920s. Mercy Allcutt moved to Los Angeles to avoid her upper-crust Bostonian parents. Except they bought a home in Pasadena and invited her to Thanksgiving. Worst holiday ever…until Mrs. Winkworth went splat on the parquet floor. Cozy mystery. #booksky 1book42day.blogspot.com/2026/10/than...
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Increasingly desperate Authoritarian flexing on display.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The struggle is real 😬
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Ouch! Hope you feel better soon.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
UGH. AI slop art is such a scourge.
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Pam Brown @pamlivengoodbrown.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
For #BlueBrewBooks currently reading Ellis Peters’ Death to the Landlords. Peters is best known for her Brother Cadfael mysteries, which are great! This book I’m reading is the 11th book in her Felse series. She also wrote historical fiction under her real name of Edith Pargeter. See alt. 💙📚⚡️⏳
Photo of three paperback books on a counter. The books are all by the same author, Ellis Peters, also known as Edith Pargeter (her real name). I’m currently reading Death to the Landlords, pictured with a bookmark. It’s the 11th book of her Felse series. It took me a couple of tries to get into her Felse books, but I’m glad I tried again. They are mysteries set at the same time the books were written 1950s - 1970s. 

Peters is probably best known for her Brother Cadfael mysteries, which are great reads! Once I started them, I read them all in about 2 years. Pictured here is the first Cadfael book, A Morbid Taste for Bones. 

Finally, this author wrote historical fiction under her real name of Edith Pargeter. Pictured here is A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury. Love her historical fiction too! They are usually set in the 11th - 14th centuries. Shrewsbury is set during 1399 - 1413, and is about Henry of Bolingbroke overthrowing his cousin King Richard II, to take the throne as King Henry IV. Highly recommended Pargeter’s Welsh Princes quartet, the first one is called Sunrise in the West. 

I am a Peters/Pargeter completist. Working on reading them all 😀
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Maeve, after pursuing the red dot #caturday
White and black cat sleeps on patterned rug.
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Rachel Aaron @rachel-aaron.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Today's the day! Mana Runners book 2, DEATH HAS GONE ROGUE is out in ebook and KU! amzn.to/4yjw3Po
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Riding With Robots @ridingrobots.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
From NASA: How do you get a probe ready for the heat of Venus? Put it in a furnace.🔥 From Aug. 28 to Sept. 10, a model of our DAVINCI probe went through six cycles to 869°F (465°C), each matched to its planned hour-long descent. It came out unscathed: go.nasa.gov/3VYwVKR
Close-up of the DAVINCI probe engineering model, a rounded metallic vessel about the size of a yoga ball, before heat testing.
Credit: NASA/Mike Guinto
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Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.com · 30/09/2026
The AI bubble is even more precarious than you knew.
nytimes.com
How Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes (Gift Article)
Meta is exploiting a lucrative tax break intended to support research and experimentation. Its own accountants say the gambit is risky.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
At the very least, it's "obvious intelligence."
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Melissa Caruso @melissacaruso.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Discoverability for new SFF books seems way down these days, especially outside of bestsellers and certain subgenres. I'm noticing this as both a reader and a writer. Great stuff is in danger of sinking without a trace. Please post about new/recent books you love or are excited for!!! I'll start:
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
At the risk of being pithy, I'd answer this question with, "Yes." "Is a novel's primary purpose to entertain or to deepen our experience of being alive—to offer escape or epistemic enrichment?" — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 8 July 2026 #booksky #writingcommunity
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus was near the zenith yesterday evening. I set my Seestar S30 Pro to imaging that huge emission nebula, for 85 minutes worth of 30 second exposures, despite a 97% illuminated Moon flooding the sky with moonlight #astronomy #astrophotography
The copper-gold emission nebula NGC 7000, which appears in the shape of the North American continent, with whorls of denser molecular hydrogen at various points.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yikes.
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Rachel Aaron @rachel-aaron.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Book 3 goooo!! Also, book 2 is out in 3 days!! I hope you're ready for some awesome! amzn.to/4rBABxV
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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
KING OF THE DEAD (1977) Gouache on illustration board - 24” x 14” I had the good fortune of working on Elric early in my career. The books by Michael Moorcock have proven to be enduring classics in fantasy. #art #booksky 🪐📚
Elric holds the slender black blade of Stormbringer as he turns in surprise toward a menacing skeletal figure. His gold cloak billows as he pivots, and the gold chain gripped in his other hand slackens as the ruby amulet bobs weightless with sudden motion. Arms flexed wide, the threatening figure grips a black trident. Beneath a horned helm, its skull is set in a deathly howl that exposes its fangs. With eyes flashing, a mass of figures skulk among smooth pillars in the background. Several of the ape-like humanoids flank Elric in the lower foreground.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus was near the zenith yesterday evening. I set my Seestar S30 Pro to imaging that huge emission nebula, for 85 minutes worth of 30 second exposures, despite a 97% illuminated Moon flooding the sky with moonlight #astronomy #astrophotography
The copper-gold emission nebula NGC 7000, which appears in the shape of the North American continent, with whorls of denser molecular hydrogen at various points.
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Tim Gaedke @timgaedke.com · 24/09/2026
in the age of AI, making art is a radical act
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 28/09/2026
AI has lost the Mandate of Heaven I’m afraid. WSJ saying it’s a “when” the ai bubble bursts. SNL dabbing on their biggest names for being weird. FT says 50% of chips sold in 2026 and 2027 have nowhere to go. Hundreds of billions short on revenue for even 10% ROIC. A disaster.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Absolutely the clown that makes the dark side fun.
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Drop some MAGIC 🪄 🔮🖤
static.klipy.com
Joel Robinson Do Something
ALT: Joel Robinson Do Something
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Even the clouds couldn’t stop the full Moon fever here last night. My little Sightron D50 F10.8 refractor using a pair of plossl eyepieces #astronomy #astrophysics #moon
The Harvest Moon, showing bright ray craters, dark basalt “seas” and mountains, illuminated by the sun.The Harvest Moon, showing bright ray craters, dark basalt “seas” and mountains, illuminated by the sun.
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Daryl Gregory @darylwriterguy.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Damn it, Curtis Chen got my books again. He's taking boxes of THE PORCELAIN SISTERS to #PNBA this weekend, which means I'll have to go there, yank them back, and hand them out to the people who deserve them -- the PNW's finest booksellers. See y'all Sunday night!
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
LOL! Perfection! This also tangentially reminds me of Damon Knight, many years ago, telling the story of a writer who decided to get stoned and write down the brilliant idea he got while high. He did so. When he woke up the next morning, he looked at what he had written down: “Feet go into shoes.”
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Susan Kaye Quinn is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱 @susankayequinn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
OPEN MINDS is also available on audiobook, in print, on Bookshop.org, and in German and French. susankayequinn.com/series/mindj...
Open Minds audiobook
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Dr. Katy Croff Bell @katycroffbell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
@novysan.bsky.social !
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NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 23/09/2026
In the sky above NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory shines the Pleiades (M45): an open star cluster with at least 1000 stars!✨ Its bright stars are too bright for Rubin's sensitive camera to capture for study, but Rubin will observe many other clusters & help scientists study how stars evolve. 🔭🧪
Large observatory with angular silver dome under a clear night sky filled with stars. A bright, blue star cluster sits above the observatory dome.
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Erik Grove @erikgrove.com · 22/09/2026
Make an author’s whole day and request their book be ordered by the library. THIS is why I do the hard stuff. THIS is the whole ballgame. My book hanging out at the library with its future book friends. 😭
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Terrific post by @bookofdeacon.com on his approach to writing short stories #writingcommunity #writing #shortstories
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Dale Ivan Smith @daleivan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Spectacular sunrise this morning. The first image is from our backyard, looking east. The second is looking west, showing the Belt of Venus, AKA Venus’s Girdle, an “anti-twilight arch: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_of... #sunrise #twilight
Red-orange altocumulus clouds above the tree tops at sunrise.Pinkish altocumulus clouds in the opposite direction from the sunrise, above tree tops and roof tops.
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