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Charlie

@expyblg.bsky.social

179 followers 378 following 136 posts

PhD Chemist. Occasional Writer. Constant Book Buyer. All views my own.

Posts Replies Media

Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

It’s a zine and beverage today.

A zine with a hand-drawn picture of a rocket launch titled “The Cold War: Simple History Series #10” beside a white and black color changing RPI coffee mug that says “Why not change the world?” in red letters.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

We’re back for another book and beverage

Martyn Rady’s “The Habsburgs” held in a person’s hand beside an RPI coffee much with thermochromic paint that changes from black to white. The mug says “Why not change the world?” and sits atop a blue plastic folding table in a person’s backyard.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

For today’s book and beverage I finally finished The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking work of historically-inspired fantasy. I think it just became one of my favorite novels.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Another book and beverage

A hard cover copy of Martyn Rady’s “The Habsburgs” held next to a mug of coffee. The mug says “Noble Gases” and has cartoons of the elements dressed as fantasy characters.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

This week’s book and beer have an unintentional theme.

A copy of “Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and it’s Legacy” by Heather Ann Thompson held beside a can of Mass Riot IPA from Prison City Brewing in Auburn NY.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

At long last I have fulfilled my ambition of sitting outside with a beer and a book. It is a marvelous day.

A can of Sam Adams Boston Lager sitting on a side table taken from above at an off angle.

A picture of a hard cover copy of “Three Stones Make A Wall: The Store Of Archaeology” by Eric H. Cline taken outside on a porch on a sunny day.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

This was nice to find waiting for me when I got home. My signed copy of @brianmcclellan.bsky.social’s Mr. Styke arrived today!

A copy of Brian McClellan’s novella “Mr.Styke. The cover has a silver ring adorned with a skull skewered on a cavalry lance.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I picked up Rally Cry by William R. Forstchen on a whim and I’m enjoying it so far! It’s written in exactly the style I was hoping for when I saw the cover.

A trade paperback copy of William R. Forstchen’s novel “Rally Cry” held in my hand with a bookmark inside.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

What I would do to be able to pet a ground sloth

The skeleton of an extinct ground sloth arranged so that it looks like it is reaching up a tree trunk for food.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Post-Communist Transitions was actually a course we took abroad in Eastern Europe with my friend @urshanabi.bsky.social exactly ten years ago now. It was an incredible experience I wish I could repeat today.

A view of the Hotel Chisinau in Chisinau Moldova. The hotel is a soviet-era building with a snow-covered parking lot and grey skies behind it.

A picture of the tank in the entrance to the House of Terror Museum in Budapest, Hungary. Black and white photographs of prisoners dominate the wall behind it.

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Blacksmithing is so cool

A pair of half-finished fire pokers warming up in a furnace prior to shaping

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

Bobo takes fetch very seriously

A small black chihuahua with streaks of gray fur carrying a blue squeaky toy

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

An incredible book. I love the memoir format and the narrators voice fits the character perfectly.

The cover of the audio book for Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio

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Charlie @expyblg.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Just finished reading "The Road To Dien Bien Phu." So much media on Vietnam focuses on western experiences it's refreshing to see how the other side managed. This book looks at how the Vietnamese built a state capable of confronting western powers. It's a fascinating book.