Sandra Schwab
@scribblingsandy.bsky.social
Historical romance author with a PhD, a piano, & a very large library. Expert on dragons & PUNCH. Writes stories with happy endings and loves her caravan Miss Hetty. 🌈 She / her.
#Romancelandia #HistoricalRomance
#Romancelandia #HistoricalRomance
Pinned
Bluesky peeps, since I've got a bunch of new followers (hello everybody! lovely to have you on board!), how about I do a little intro thread? 🧵
My Friday lunch-break art: eraser stamps with pens. I'm really happy with how it turned out. 😊
December 20, 2025 at 12:51 AM
My Friday lunch-break art: eraser stamps with pens. I'm really happy with how it turned out. 😊
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
There was a lot of gossip. Not because they were both very old, and famous. Not only because both used the same pronouns. Mostly because they were different species.
How do they do it?
"Like everybody else," the heir to the Elven throne said.
The dragon smiled. "With love, care, and enthusiasm."
How do they do it?
"Like everybody else," the heir to the Elven throne said.
The dragon smiled. "With love, care, and enthusiasm."
November 12, 2025 at 6:21 PM
There was a lot of gossip. Not because they were both very old, and famous. Not only because both used the same pronouns. Mostly because they were different species.
How do they do it?
"Like everybody else," the heir to the Elven throne said.
The dragon smiled. "With love, care, and enthusiasm."
How do they do it?
"Like everybody else," the heir to the Elven throne said.
The dragon smiled. "With love, care, and enthusiasm."
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
They checked each others' rental contracts. Both were valid.
"This isn't supposed to be possible," the wizard said.
"Impossibles are your domain," the princess said, "but here we are."
They looked at the tower.
"Do you want a-" said the wizard.
"Apprentice?"
"-roommate?"
"Yes," both said.
"This isn't supposed to be possible," the wizard said.
"Impossibles are your domain," the princess said, "but here we are."
They looked at the tower.
"Do you want a-" said the wizard.
"Apprentice?"
"-roommate?"
"Yes," both said.
December 17, 2025 at 10:20 PM
They checked each others' rental contracts. Both were valid.
"This isn't supposed to be possible," the wizard said.
"Impossibles are your domain," the princess said, "but here we are."
They looked at the tower.
"Do you want a-" said the wizard.
"Apprentice?"
"-roommate?"
"Yes," both said.
"This isn't supposed to be possible," the wizard said.
"Impossibles are your domain," the princess said, "but here we are."
They looked at the tower.
"Do you want a-" said the wizard.
"Apprentice?"
"-roommate?"
"Yes," both said.
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
The heated rivalry between the two students finally came to a head, and the swordmaster reluctantly agreed to let them duel, to first blood.
It did not end as expected.
"Next time," the swordmaster said at last, "I want you to wipe your swords and sheathe them before you start kissing."
It did not end as expected.
"Next time," the swordmaster said at last, "I want you to wipe your swords and sheathe them before you start kissing."
December 7, 2025 at 1:28 PM
The heated rivalry between the two students finally came to a head, and the swordmaster reluctantly agreed to let them duel, to first blood.
It did not end as expected.
"Next time," the swordmaster said at last, "I want you to wipe your swords and sheathe them before you start kissing."
It did not end as expected.
"Next time," the swordmaster said at last, "I want you to wipe your swords and sheathe them before you start kissing."
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
And just like that, SFWA capitulates. Keep fighting. It works.
December 19, 2025 at 9:45 PM
And just like that, SFWA capitulates. Keep fighting. It works.
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
This 🧵 is absolutely insane documentation of the bibliographic catastrophe that's already started w/ AI. My sympathies to @benpatrickwill.bsky.social, his (real) co-authors, & to the students, librarians, journal editors, & readers who will be tearing their hair out. And this is just one example!
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
December 19, 2025 at 6:56 PM
This 🧵 is absolutely insane documentation of the bibliographic catastrophe that's already started w/ AI. My sympathies to @benpatrickwill.bsky.social, his (real) co-authors, & to the students, librarians, journal editors, & readers who will be tearing their hair out. And this is just one example!
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
Harlequin’s global growth in the 70s was made possible by local translators who not only converted the language but also the idioms and symbols of love into things locals would understand. This is a penny wise, pound foolish move by HC, another in a long line.
Hard no to this: French publisher Harlequin has told translators that their work will now be done by AI. They can ‘revise’ AI translations at much lower rate. It’s a subsidiary of Harper Collins so treat this as a test for rollout elsewhere
"Bradage de la traduction, plan social invisible : Harlequin passe à l’IA"
Faites tourner, parce qu'il va falloir se battre encore plus. :/
#traduction #IA #Harlequin #ATLF
Faites tourner, parce qu'il va falloir se battre encore plus. :/
#traduction #IA #Harlequin #ATLF
December 19, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Harlequin’s global growth in the 70s was made possible by local translators who not only converted the language but also the idioms and symbols of love into things locals would understand. This is a penny wise, pound foolish move by HC, another in a long line.
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
You know what? To hell with being circumspect.
@sfwa.org is saying it’s perfectly fine to use the plagiarism machine *”trained” on work stolen from its dues-paying members* to qualify for a Nebula, and that it in fact encourages doing so.
This is utterly shameful.
@sfwa.org is saying it’s perfectly fine to use the plagiarism machine *”trained” on work stolen from its dues-paying members* to qualify for a Nebula, and that it in fact encourages doing so.
This is utterly shameful.
December 19, 2025 at 8:21 PM
You know what? To hell with being circumspect.
@sfwa.org is saying it’s perfectly fine to use the plagiarism machine *”trained” on work stolen from its dues-paying members* to qualify for a Nebula, and that it in fact encourages doing so.
This is utterly shameful.
@sfwa.org is saying it’s perfectly fine to use the plagiarism machine *”trained” on work stolen from its dues-paying members* to qualify for a Nebula, and that it in fact encourages doing so.
This is utterly shameful.
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
They are trying to ban people with breasts from compressing them. They are trying to dictate the silhouette of your body. Ladies, they ARE coming for your yoga pants.
In addition to this administration trying to kill kids, and they're also coming for our binders? OUR BINDERS.
December 18, 2025 at 10:26 PM
They are trying to ban people with breasts from compressing them. They are trying to dictate the silhouette of your body. Ladies, they ARE coming for your yoga pants.
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
The gender-affirming treatments available to kids aren’t what the hate-mongers are telling you they are. At all.
Gender-affirming healthcare saves lives. You’re not protecting kids if you deny it, you’re harming them. Period.
Gender-affirming healthcare saves lives. You’re not protecting kids if you deny it, you’re harming them. Period.
December 18, 2025 at 5:43 PM
The gender-affirming treatments available to kids aren’t what the hate-mongers are telling you they are. At all.
Gender-affirming healthcare saves lives. You’re not protecting kids if you deny it, you’re harming them. Period.
Gender-affirming healthcare saves lives. You’re not protecting kids if you deny it, you’re harming them. Period.
I need to find a new Mastodon server, and I am completely lost. How do I even being to choose?!?!?! Gah!
December 15, 2025 at 8:35 PM
I need to find a new Mastodon server, and I am completely lost. How do I even being to choose?!?!?! Gah!
I'm not quite sure whether it's because of my age, perimenopause or the stupid Long Covid that I'm grappling with so much anxiety these days.
Or hey, perhaps it's just the general state of the world.
Or hey, perhaps it's just the general state of the world.
December 14, 2025 at 11:40 PM
I'm not quite sure whether it's because of my age, perimenopause or the stupid Long Covid that I'm grappling with so much anxiety these days.
Or hey, perhaps it's just the general state of the world.
Or hey, perhaps it's just the general state of the world.
Why the fuck can't people use ALT text when they post pictures on here?!!?
December 14, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Why the fuck can't people use ALT text when they post pictures on here?!!?
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
#Romancelandia
If you happen to have a mastodon account over at romancelandia.club, please be advised that the server will be shut down in early April; if you want to keep your follows and follower lists, there's a link in the announcement to help you migrate your account to another server.
If you happen to have a mastodon account over at romancelandia.club, please be advised that the server will be shut down in early April; if you want to keep your follows and follower lists, there's a link in the announcement to help you migrate your account to another server.
romancelandia admin (@[email protected])
@willaful announced this earlier, but...
I'm very sorry to say, I don't have the capacity to maintain the Romancelandia mastodon instance any longer. Unless some lovely person takes over, my plan is ...
romancelandia.club
December 14, 2025 at 4:00 AM
#Romancelandia
If you happen to have a mastodon account over at romancelandia.club, please be advised that the server will be shut down in early April; if you want to keep your follows and follower lists, there's a link in the announcement to help you migrate your account to another server.
If you happen to have a mastodon account over at romancelandia.club, please be advised that the server will be shut down in early April; if you want to keep your follows and follower lists, there's a link in the announcement to help you migrate your account to another server.
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
"My Grandfather's Cat" is a cross-Canada organization that helps dying seniors find homes for their beloved animals. They also offer a senior's pet food pantry, to help support low income seniors.
Please consider donating as a gift for the pet lover in your life.
www.mygrandfatherscat.ca
Please consider donating as a gift for the pet lover in your life.
www.mygrandfatherscat.ca
support fill the dishes — My Grandfather's Cat
www.mygrandfatherscat.ca
December 13, 2025 at 4:57 PM
"My Grandfather's Cat" is a cross-Canada organization that helps dying seniors find homes for their beloved animals. They also offer a senior's pet food pantry, to help support low income seniors.
Please consider donating as a gift for the pet lover in your life.
www.mygrandfatherscat.ca
Please consider donating as a gift for the pet lover in your life.
www.mygrandfatherscat.ca
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
Are you aware of the new Kindle feature being rolled out? If not, do a quick search about the "Ask This Book" feature. I suggest the Writer Beware article as it takes into account the legal ramifications and the threat to authors.
December 14, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Are you aware of the new Kindle feature being rolled out? If not, do a quick search about the "Ask This Book" feature. I suggest the Writer Beware article as it takes into account the legal ramifications and the threat to authors.
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
Bumping this due to the horrible things that distracted us: If you would like to be able to have free speech in your own emails, your blog, your social etc., and you vote in RI, maybe look up Section 230 and if you agree getting rid of it is foolhardy, call Sen Whitehouse’s office voice mail today
As the Electronic Frontier Foundation has stated many times, repealing Section 230 harms all of us people who use the Internet.
If you live and vote in RI, this is the weekend you call Sen Whitehouse’s office and tell him to reverse course
(202) 224-2921
If you live and vote in RI, this is the weekend you call Sen Whitehouse’s office and tell him to reverse course
(202) 224-2921
Sen. WHITEHOUSE: We finally are moving to file a bipartisan Section 230 repeal bill. Waiting any longer serves no useful purpose.
December 14, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Bumping this due to the horrible things that distracted us: If you would like to be able to have free speech in your own emails, your blog, your social etc., and you vote in RI, maybe look up Section 230 and if you agree getting rid of it is foolhardy, call Sen Whitehouse’s office voice mail today
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
This quote cropped up in a few of the Stanley Baxter obituaries - and how heartbreaking that someone would live for a century feeling that way; how enraging that there are people who believe it's right that queer/trans/enbies SHOULD feel that way and are trying to ensure that happens
December 14, 2025 at 9:52 AM
This quote cropped up in a few of the Stanley Baxter obituaries - and how heartbreaking that someone would live for a century feeling that way; how enraging that there are people who believe it's right that queer/trans/enbies SHOULD feel that way and are trying to ensure that happens
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
still mad about this. The workers in the original photo were almost invisible as skyscrapers transformed cities; the photo foregrounded them while showing the scale of that change through their experience, so much more direct than standing at the window of a completed one. Meanwhile, *gestures dispa
it's not just appropriating someone's artwork (important as that is!); it's also reframing these incredibly sheltered comemierdas, who shift all the risk and consequences from their decisions onto others while hoarding the profits, into this position of casual, almost heroic precarity.
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
December 13, 2025 at 6:20 PM
still mad about this. The workers in the original photo were almost invisible as skyscrapers transformed cities; the photo foregrounded them while showing the scale of that change through their experience, so much more direct than standing at the window of a completed one. Meanwhile, *gestures dispa
I did another taste-test (just to be sure, you know), and I'm happy to report that the chocolate-coated almond slivers still taste really good. :-)
Operation Christmas Gift for Colleagues successfully completed. Chocolate-coated almond slivers (with a hint of cinnamon) are cooling down in the kitchen. (Of course, I have already worried that they might not taste nice, so of course, I had to taste-test the molten chocolate almond mixture. Yum!)
My whole flat is smelling of toasted almonds.
December 13, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I did another taste-test (just to be sure, you know), and I'm happy to report that the chocolate-coated almond slivers still taste really good. :-)
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
I genuinely don't know if this is a "Minnesotan" thing or an "old guy of a certain age" thing but in case it's Minnesotan and people need an anger translator: this guy is so angry he could just about set something on fire with his mind.
This one isn’t downloadable but if you have TikTok go watch it. Well worth your time www.tiktok.com/t/ZTr4gRL7v/
@Mercado Media video credit #minnesota #illinois #louisiana #america
TikTok video by June Osborne
www.tiktok.com
December 13, 2025 at 5:13 PM
I genuinely don't know if this is a "Minnesotan" thing or an "old guy of a certain age" thing but in case it's Minnesotan and people need an anger translator: this guy is so angry he could just about set something on fire with his mind.
Reposted by Sandra Schwab
The Oxenham Arms pub in South Zeal, Devon, boasts the unusual distinction of having been constructed by 12th Century monks around a prehistoric standing stone.
If you’re lucky and visit at the right time of day, as I did today, you might also see it being recharged with sacred energy by the sun.
If you’re lucky and visit at the right time of day, as I did today, you might also see it being recharged with sacred energy by the sun.
December 13, 2025 at 3:56 PM
The Oxenham Arms pub in South Zeal, Devon, boasts the unusual distinction of having been constructed by 12th Century monks around a prehistoric standing stone.
If you’re lucky and visit at the right time of day, as I did today, you might also see it being recharged with sacred energy by the sun.
If you’re lucky and visit at the right time of day, as I did today, you might also see it being recharged with sacred energy by the sun.
Operation Christmas Gift for Colleagues successfully completed. Chocolate-coated almond slivers (with a hint of cinnamon) are cooling down in the kitchen. (Of course, I have already worried that they might not taste nice, so of course, I had to taste-test the molten chocolate almond mixture. Yum!)
My whole flat is smelling of toasted almonds.
December 13, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Operation Christmas Gift for Colleagues successfully completed. Chocolate-coated almond slivers (with a hint of cinnamon) are cooling down in the kitchen. (Of course, I have already worried that they might not taste nice, so of course, I had to taste-test the molten chocolate almond mixture. Yum!)
FB has reminded me that it's been 10 years since my last contract at university ran out and I left life as a university lecturer behind.
What a strange anniversary.
What a strange anniversary.
December 13, 2025 at 3:16 PM
FB has reminded me that it's been 10 years since my last contract at university ran out and I left life as a university lecturer behind.
What a strange anniversary.
What a strange anniversary.