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Congrats to Raevyn, who won the M/M Week books by Erastes, Kim Knox, Ava March, KC Burn, Dev Bentham, and Larry Benjamin from Carina Press. All six books will be released on March 19.

Congrats to Sarah Madison, who won Diversion by Eden Winters! Diversion will be released on March 18 by Amber Allure.

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Contests

• Babes in Boyland Piper Vaughn and MJ O’Shea are giving away swag, an iTunes gift card, and a copy of their forthcoming ebook, The Luckiest. Contest closes 9 pm CDT, March 17. Make sure you read the rules carefully!

• Joyfully Jay’s giving away an ebook copy of Nobody’s Hero by Katey Hawthorne. Contest closes 11:59 pm EDT, March 20.

• Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of The Three Colonels by Jack Caldwell. Contest closes March 22. US & Canada.

• PD Singer is giving away a paperback copy of The Rare Event on GoodReads. Closes April 7.

• Eden Winters is giving away two paperback copies of Diversions on GoodReads. Closes May 2.

Bookity

• New releases and more: Literary Escapism (UF/PNR) and Book Lovers Inc (a little of everything).

• Is Amazon’s homophobia showing again?

• A new French law allows the French government to seize authors’ rights on books published before 2001 that are no longer in print – and this includes British authors who have been published in France.

• AAR on childhood reading memories.

• Smart Bitches takes a different look at the controversy surrounding 50 Shades of Gray – particularly at the “mommy p0rn” label.

• Smart Bitches also looked at descriptions of nipples in romance and found those descriptions lacking.

• Helpful posts for authors from Carina Press.

• Becky Black on point of view.

• Josephine Myles’ seven rules for a fast first draft.

• Facebook and reading.

• Tolstoy checks GoodReads…

• The 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world. (via TeleRead)

• Kris is curious about who readers believe writes the most romantic stories in m/m romance and would like people to stop by and take the poll to see if she can figure it out.

• Genderswapped Harry Potter characters.

• Geeky free downloadable book covers. (via The Mary Sue)

Ebookity

• Paypal has revised its policies to allow legal fiction.

• Dear Author on the difference between “retail price management” and “Agency pricing.”

• Publishers versus readers.

• The Encyclopaedia Britannica will no longer be available in print.

• One tablet to rule them all…

• Sew a Kindle Fire slip case from fat quarters. (via CRAFT)

• Sunita (Dear Author) about how she’s come to appreciate fan fiction.

• One of the best books I’ve read this year was a free m/m hockey story called Heart in Hand – check out Lauraadriana’s recommendation for it, too.

Do, Learn, Make, Think

• If you had to show the Star Wars saga to someone who’d never seen them before, what order should you choose? (Thanks, orannia!)

• Make an emergency kit out of an empty pill bottle.

• Scientists have discovered a new human species.

• A National Geographic video of a photographer describing his encounter with an endangered Asian lioness. (Thanks, Jeanne!)

• The story behind “Keep Calm and Carry On.” (via Apartment Therapy)

• Words that I wish we as Americans would all live by.

Tuneity

• Check out the poignant song “Sun in an Empty Room” by the Weakerthans.

Cookity

• Gluten-free breakfast tips.

• Gluten-free chocolate animal crackers. (via The Kitchn)

• Brownie roll-ups (like Little Debbie snack cakes). (via The Kitchn)

• Snickers cake. (via The Kitchn)

• Shamrock shakes. (via CRAFT)

• Chickpea-based alternative to the tuna sandwich.

• 5 healthy dips for lunch.

• 5 quick low-calorie lunches.

• 10 dinner recipes that have good leftovers for lunches.

• 10 non-sandwich portable lunches.

• 15 sandwiches, salads, and soups.

• 15 lunchtime salads.

Crafty

• Rainbowy crafts, plus make your own rainbow glitter shoes. (via CRAFT)

• Hunger Games-themed crafts.

• Crocheted LEGO blanket. (via CRAFT)

• Ombre paper star garlands. (via CRAFT)

Cool

• Geeky apple pi recipe for Pi Day, plus 14 other Pi Day pi recipes. (via The Mary Sue)

• Thread drawings.

• TARDIS ring.

• GuiTARDIS.

• R2-KT.

• Why aren’t there ever penguins on the plane when I fly?!

Cool or Wha…?

• Homemade edible crayon snacks. (via The Kitchn)

• LEGO anesthesia machine.

• R2-D2 can coolie.

• Self-standing pens.

Wha…?

• I’d be crying, too. Can’t you just hear David Bowie singing “Fashion”?

• Jeans that can stand on their own and probably leave you bruised from wearing them?!

• Alien-inspired heels that look like torture devices… (via The Mary Sue)

• iPhone mug case.

• iPad sleeping bag case.

• I would inadvertently blind myself in my sleep…

LOL

• “Here is a video of a person in a Darth Vader mask and cape, and a Utilikilt, riding a unicycle, playing Star Wars music on a bagpipe, in Portland, OR” (Thanks, Bron!)

• Things you shouldn’t try to deduct from your taxes.

• 10 AutoTourette’s autocorrects.

• Natalie Dee on crocheted secondary sex characteristics.

• George Takei’s happy dance.

• Pinterest Bingo. (via Gizmodo)

• The Lord of the Rings drinking game.

• Ordinary Batman adventures.

• Yay! I’m a star! 😉

• Why isn’t evil always this cute?

• Kitty can’t unsee!

• Cats being cats.

• Kitties don’t really understand work.

• A day in the life of a kitten. A day in the life of a cat.

• What your cat does when you nap.

• Cat eye chart.

• Chaos?!

• A new Simon’s Cat!

• Alas, this doesn’t work so well if you live alone…

Teh Cute

• Baby tiger! Lioness and baby! Tiger and baby! Baby crow or raven! Baby polar bears! Cat and kitten! Hedgie! Baby clouded leopards! Otter! Buns! Baby penguin! Kitten!

Reading Update
Moving in Rhythm by Dev Bentham. ebook arc. Very good m/m romance about a closeted online math instructor whose crippling shyness and social anxiety have him living a hermetic life. When his brother is deployed to Iraq, he agrees to take care of his pregnant sister-in-law during the deployment, and finds himself being forced, protesting, out of his shell… not always smoothly. This was a wonderful combination of sweet and serious.
Social Skills by S Alva. free online. Good m/m romance about a college freshman who plays the violin and has crippling social anxiety. He’s nearly incapacitated by anxiety when he realizes that the closeted football player he’s tutoring is gay and likes him.
Ghosts & Flames by Kaje Harper. ebook. Good holiday paranormal m/m romance a guy with a ghost problem who runs into a guy with a vampire problem. While the final 2/3 of the story was very involving, the first third simply had too much info-dumping – I kept wondering if this was the second book in a series.
Question Mark (Liaisons #2) by SE Culpepper. ebook. Good but uneven m/m romance about Mark from the previous book, who finally realizes that he needs to get over his ex and decides that a trip to Bora Bora is just what he needs. While I was rooting for Mark and his guy, parts of their interactions just didn’t make sense.
Stroke! by MJ O’Shea. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a guy on his college crew team who’s struggling to keep a freshman from taking his varsity spot. The big mystery was pretty obvious from the beginning.
Maple Leaf Red: Sugaring Off! by Vic Winter. ebook short. Cute short paranormal m/m romance about a guy living alone on a remote Canadian sugar bush who helps an injured wolf…
And Then I Met Him by L Arthur. free online. Pretty good m/m romance about a straight college student who works at a tutoring center and becomes strangely fascinated by a defensive and troubled young man.
Sorry Now? (Paul Turner #1) by Mark Richard Zubro. Good gay mystery about a Chicago police detective trying to figure out who killed the daughter of a homophobic minister and politician.
Political Poison (Paul Turner #2) by Mark Richard Zubro. Pretty good gay mystery in Chicago police detective Paul Turner tries to figure out who killed a professor/alderman. The background stuff that doesn’t change much between books was copied and pasted from the first book. Grrr. Strangely not feeling the urge to check more of this series out from the library… And seriously – why would you try mouth-to-mouth on someone who was poisoned?!
Promise in a Kiss by Piper Vaughn. ebook short. Ok short m/m romance about two guys who made a promise to each other when they were kids, then lost touch. While this was sweet, it felt more like a tease than an actual story.
In the Penalty Box (Seattle Marauders #2) by Riley Shane. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a closeted hockey player and the freelance writer who used to have a crush on him. Alas, this did not stand up well against the fabulous (and free) m/m hockey player romance, Heart in Hand.
In the Name of the Law by Sue Holston. ebook short. Ok short m/m romance about a cop who’s been in love with his straight partner for years.
Schooled in Murder (Tom & Scott #12) by Mark Richard Zubro. Ok mystery in which Tom stumbles a dead body or two at school and is under suspicion for murder, with unsuspected enemies coming out of the woodwork. The whole thing with the blurb for this and the previous book saying that Scott is a former professional baseball player is beyond weird. Quote from the book itself: “Scott plays professional baseball.” That seems pretty clear to me at least!

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“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos