You may or may not ever have noticed, but I’m not much for the zombie books. However, that didn’t stop me from writing a zombie haiku when Margene pointed me to this contest. Head on over to Historic Fibers if you’d like to win a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or if you simply like a good haiku challenge. Contest closes midnight PDT, May 15.
Speaking of Margene, stop by and welcome her to the world of gluten-free knitters. She has good friends and family like I have good friends and family, so I know she’ll be fine and do well!
Limedragon pointed out that Handknit Heroes is having a mask design contest, which closes July 15. You could win $150 and have your patten published in the Fall 2009 issue of Handknit Heroes.
And speaking of Handknit Heroes and Limedragon, our very own dragon had a pattern published in the latest issue of Handknit Heroes! To celebrate, she’s giving away some copies of the comic to a few lucky commenters who leave comments before midnight CDT, May 14.
For you fans of young adult books, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is giving away three copies of Tad Williams and Deborah Beale’s The Dragons of Ordinary Farm.
It can be painful, but many of us have had to do it – break up with a formerly beloved series of books. (The bit about why post author Sarah broke up with the Anita Blake series? Too funny – and too true. I also enjoyed reading the comments on this post.)
Have you heard about the controversy surrounding Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s new book, The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide? Do read a bit about the concerns before you buy the book!
I love the idea of invisible floating bookshelves, but I’ll never do it.
Sony might be releasing a larger ebook reader to compete with the Kindle DX by the end of this year.
FiledBy is a new site that allows authors and readers to connect. I haven’t had a chance to look at it, so I can’t say anything else about it!
Reading Update
Burning Alive: The Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher. This was a strong start to a new paranormal romance series about the Sentinels, who are guarding humans from demons. (If that name “Butcher” seems familiar, it should.)
Forbidden Nights with a Vampire (Love at Stake, Book 7) by Kerrelyn Sparks. Yup, I just read book 6 a week or so ago! Again, this continues to be a well done, not too heavy paranormal series.
Over My Dead Body (Broken Heart, Oklahoma) by Michele Bardsley. The latest book in this paranormal series about the unusual residents of Broken Heart, Oklahoma, is a decent read. This is another not too heavy paranormal series.
Edge of Danger (Primal Instinct #2) by Rhyannon Byrd. This was as intense a paranormal as the first book in the series, Edge of Hunger. Although these characters were pretty angsty, too, I didn’t get overwhelmed with annoyance by their intermittent TSTL behavior.
One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 2) by Jeaniene Frost. The second book in the Night Huntress series is as well-written and involving as the first. Crispin (aka “Bones”) may be my new vampire crush.
Smart Mouth by Erin McCarthy. Contemporary romance about an FBI agent and a reporter. Very, very steamy. *fans self*
Crap. No abs. Um… 
Here’s a link to a book I know nothing about, included simply because it has abs on the cover and I suspect (but can’t verify) that said abs belong to NK.
Getting What You Want and 
Wanting What You Get (The Stepp Sisters, Books 1-2) by Kathy Love. Extremely involving and well-done contemporary romance about the Stepp sisters of Milbrook, Maine. Um, I may have cried a bit near the end of the second book.
Promises in Death by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts). Another solid Eve Dallas and Roarke mystery.
Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof (Dixie Hemingway) by Blaize Clement. Hmph. I’m cranky about being left hanging by the ending. You know how that annoys me.
“I will vaporize you if you don’t stop looking at those books and feed me right now.” -Chaos
Thanks for the welcome! I’m very happy to be among the few gluten-free. It’s pretty nice to not be sick on a daily basis. Thanks for all your help, too! Chaos, please don’t vaporize your mom. It would be a mistake as you’d never get fed again.
Thanks for the shout-out! : ) Chaos looks very scary! But also as if he could light up a path ahead of him at nighttime, if you took him for walks!
Dear Sony: Your reader is just fine as is. You don’t need to be a Kopy Kindle. Thank you. Deb
Clearly Chaos has his eye-lasers set on “stun”… you’d better go feed him!
Ooo, I have heard about the book, and I don’t think we need to have our condition trivialised by this mis-information! “Allergy”?? Please – I have a seafood allergy, and I think I know the difference.
Poor Chaos. I get that look from all 3 at exactly one minute after 5pm.
I agree with Brigitte that a medical condition should not be trivialized but to take the position that an allergy isn’t as bad as having a “condition” is trivializing those suffering from allergies. Allergies can range from mild symptoms which are easily controlled and have little to no impact on quality of life all the way up the spectrum to ones with life-threatening results upon minor contact – often seen with peanut and bee sting allergies.
BTW, our pastor’s letter to the parish this week included an appeal for any persons suffering from gluten tolerance issues to step forward. A new recipe for low-gluten hosts is being produced by a group of Benedicting nuns and Fr Piper is more than willing to order them if our parish has a need. Thought of you when I read it. ;o)
Ugh, I can’t stand Elisabeth Hasselbeck; it doesn’t surprise me in the least that she’s written a book that’s allegedly filled with inaccuracies. She is an inaccuracy.
Is Chaos still bearing a grudge over the no pizza rule?
Y’know, I think the invisible floating bookshelves really are best for the kind of wall where they’re shown–too narrow for much of anything else. I’ll have to remember that in case I live someplace with such walls, but I really do prefer real bookcases.
Chris-My arms are sore from all the Ruth Rendell’s that left me hanging-it makes me loony!
Yeah, and just this morning I was thinking, that Chris, she’s so narrow minded, why doesn’t she ever read any zombie books?
there it is again (Dragon Actually), another lost opportunity for a book cover. this time, i wore pasties to the photo shoot and they ruled me out
I’ve been reading the Anita Blake novels for what feels like forever, but I stopped buying them. For me, the line seems to be when do I want to slap the characters around more than read about their lives. There are a couple of series that saved me from reading them endlessly (because it is much harder to stop reading a series than to never quite begin) when I realized I wanted to slap the character around and leave them on a deserted island at about page 20. Saved me a world of trouble.
I like those invisible bookshelves. I’m a bit out of order with the Eve Dallas’ – they are a bit harder to find at the moment.
Holy cow you’ve been reading like mad!
Yeah, I’ve broken up with a series or two, and the comment about “world building” really hit home. That’s definitely the case with fantasy books in particular for me!
I didn’t like Elizabeth when she was on Survivor & my opinion of her has never improved. I also can’t stand celebrity know-it-all books either – so there is no danger of my picking that one up 😀
Thanks for the leads on some new reads..although those Stepp Sisters books might have to be timed to avoid too many kleenex!
The title of this post shows in my Firefox tab as, “Stumbling Over Chaos :: Go f…” Hmmm.
Thanks for the mention, Chris! You give good haiku, too 🙂
It’s a good thing Margene has you to help her out on the gluten free life.
Thanks for the link to the post about breaking up with series. Why is this so hard?! There are a couple of series I want to dump, but I keep buying the books hoping the author will come back around.
Celebrities mean well, but sometimes they should just stick to what they do best, being famous. I hope that GF book doesn’t cause too much trouble.
Fear the vapour.
Thankfully you posted The Abs. I was worried for a minute. Who cares what’s inside the book? It’s what’s outside that counts. 😉
Thanks for the Handknit Heroes linkiness. I’m reading Hell’s Belles right now and I’m not sure what I think.
A zombie haiku contest? How fun! You always find the coolest contests.
My mother, throughout her life of living with cats, has always figured that to these cats she is simply “The Food Lady.” Unfortunately cats don’t seem to realize how important it is to be nice and polite to The Food Lady. Perhaps in their dreams they can work the can opener, and canned tuna is delivered daily through the closed door from the mysterious hallway.
Beware the laser eyes!
I think I broke up with the Anita Blake at about the same time. I am on a Eve and Roarke reading marathon right now.
I like the looks of the invisible floating bookshelves. But I can just see ferrets and cats sitting on them and then the whole wall coming down. 🙂
See I knew you should have given Chaos some pizza.
Ooooh… I can’t wait for that new Eve Dallas book to be available as an audiobook hehehe. I’m about halfway through the series right now (listening to Purity in Death) and loving single second of it 🙂
Cheers Eva – who normally doesn’t like anything even slightly futuristic at all, but is totally in LOVE with the In Death series 🙂
love those electric eyes ;-D