Congrats to Melanie, who won the Summer Lovin’ m/m romance anthology by Clare London, Chrissy Munder, JL Merrow, Josephine Myles, & Lou Harper!
Congrats to Karen R, who won A Heart without Borders by Andrew Grey! A Heart without Borders is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.
Congrats to Avalie, who won Strong Enough (Family #2) by Cardeno C! Strong Enough is also being released today by Dreamspinner Press.
Randonymity
- Minnesota allows citizens to carry guns around, which leads to all sorts of places having “[name] bans guns on these premises” signs. Few are as good as this (click to embiggen):
- I have had “Trouble” by Cat Stevens, as sung by Elliott Smith, stuck in my head for weeks. Argh.
- No Misadventures post on Monday because it’s a holiday in the US! A much-needed holiday for me. 🙂
Contest(s)
- Jenre’s celebrating her 1000th post with a giveaway – prizes include a $10 ARe voucher and chocolate! Read the rules before you comment, because you have to answer a question. Closes 11:59 pm GMT, September 1.
- Joyfully Jay’s giving away an ebook copy of Strong Enough by Cardeno C. Closes 11:59 pm EDT, September 1.
Bookity
- New releases: Fiction Vixen (romance), Elisa Rolle (LGBT), Literary Escapism (UF/PNR), and Tor.com (UF, genre benders, scifi, fantasy).
- Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
- On blogger burnout. (Thanks, Experiment BL26!) I struggle with it sometimes. I’ve been doing this for nearly eight years now…
- On genre snobbery. (Thanks, Experiment BL26!)
- What’s your bookshelf type? (Thanks, Experiment BL26!) I have a couple of IKEA BILLY bookcases and a couple of boring old bookcases that my dad made many, many, many years ago. I’m not sure what type that makes me. 🙂
Ebookity
Think, Do, Learn, Make
- Great post about growing up as a gay sports fan and how important the You Can Play project is. (via Puck Daddy)
- How to configure You Tube so it preloads entire videos instead of just bits. (I did this, and it is completely fabulous.)
Cookity
- Easy chopped salad. (via CRAFT)
- Sriracha guacamole hot dogs. (via The Kitchn) (Actually, I’m more interested in the guac recipe than the hot dog part.)
- Zucchini bread cookies. (via The Kitchn)
Gluten Free
Cool
- Where Hennepin and Lyndale Avenues meet in Minneapolis, then and now. (This is part of my route to and from work!)
Cool or Wha…?
Wha…?
- USB-powered BB sniper rifle. (Somebody’s going to lose an eye!)
LOL
- On google autocomplete. (Hover your cursor for additional text.)
- Blodeuedd should approve, since there’s a head on this model! 🙂
Teh Cute
Reading Update
New Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual by Reader’s Digest. This book isn’t very helpful for those of us who are completely unhandy and unfamiliar with the basics – I think caulking got a couple sentences at most. I’ve had far better luck getting the sort of detailed info I need from googling. (Apparently painters tape is the secret to professional looking caulking – I’m glad I found that tip, or I’d probably be sitting in my disastrously caulked tub in tears right now.)
A Fine and Private Place by Peter S Beagle. Ok story about a man who’s lived in a graveyard in the Bronx for the past 20 years, keeping newly arrived ghosts company and eating food brought to him by a talking raven. It was also a story about the lies we tell ourselves and how hard it can be to face the truth. I felt it suffered from head hopping in the first half (probably due to some sort of omniscient narration, which I never do well with). At times it all seemed rather overwrought – but was that simply a product of being written in 1960? Anyway, since it took me over a month to get through, obviously I didn’t find it a particularly compelling read.
“I like this rug a lot. Jeanne knit it for us! I suppose I shouldn’t have hissed at her the other night because she touched my tail, huh?” -Mayhem