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Congrats to wusswoo, who won Cleave (Cutting Cords #3) by Mickie B. Ashling! Cleave is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to Logan, who won the signed paperback copy of The Talker Collection by Amy Lane! The Talker Collection is being released by Dreamspinner Press today.

Congrats to Jane O, who won Bennie’s Wish by Xara X. Xanakas (plus swag)!

Congrats to Wendy, who won Absolutely Eric (Boston Boys #2) by Erica Pike! Absolutely Eric is being released today by MLR Press.

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Contests

• Piper, MJ, and Xara are giving away several prize packages related to One Small Thing by Piper Vaughn & MJ O’Shea and Bennie’s Wish by Xara X. Xanakas. Hurry over – you have to comment by 9 pm CDT today, May 11, for your chance to win!

• Joyfully Jay’s giving away an ebook copy of Out in the Field by Kate McMurray. Contest closes 11:59 pm EDT, May 11 (aka today).

• Bronwyn Green’s giving away a $25 gift certificate to the Mindful Mushroom etsy store (essential oil perfumes). Contest closes 7 pm EDT, May 15.

• Tracy’s Place is one of the stops on Anne Brooke’s book tour – stop by and find out how you can be entered to win three ebooks from Anne’s backlist. Tour ends May 18.

• Joder’s giving away an ebook copy of A Hero Rising by Aubrie Dionne. Contest closes 11:59 pm CDT, May 18.

• To celebrate the release of Yours To Take, Joely Sue Burkhart is giving away a $100 gift certificate to the online bookseller of the winner’s choice. Contest closes midnight CDT, May 21.

Bookity

• New releases and more: Literary Escapism (UF/PNR), AAR (romances), and Book Lovers Inc (various types of romance).

• Book and publishing news from Dear Author.

• The evolution of paper books in the ebook age. (via TeleRead)

• Neil Gaiman on the late Maurice Sendak.

• Kassa considers the difference between realism and believability in fiction.

• Josephine Myles shares her editing process.

• Ava March shows us a glimpse of her desk.

• Becky Black with her monthly bookity, writing, and more linkity.

• PD Singer offers up the Rejection Generator to help writers improve their rejection tolerance.

• Jill Shalvis with a bizarre moment of small-town life.

• Melanie Marshall on vocabulary fail in erotic romance.

• Which Charles Dickens novel is the most Dickensian? (Thanks, Bron!)

• Ten famous authors and their favorite cocktails.

• Jane Eyre book bracelet.

• Clamp book shelf.

• Better book titles for The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett and Animal Farm by George Orwell.

• Kitten and books. Another kitten and a book.

Ebookity

• Tips for designing a good ebook cover.

• Some thoughts from Dear Author on how publishers could experiment with ebooks.

• The Harry Potter ebooks will be available through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

• Looking for more pulp fiction in your life? You can download free pulp fiction ebooks (in many formats) from Munseys. (via TeleRead)

• Zero Dollar Books shows you the most popular free Kindle books. (via Lifehacker)

• One ebook reader explains why she’s reading more on her tablet than her Kindle.

• Ebook nation infographic.

• Results of a survey that one of the Book Smugglers conducted for her thesis research.

• Consider the implications of sunscreen for your electronics…

• How to obtain a free ebook copy Crepuscule Monstrum by Carole Cummings & PD Singer.

Do, Think, Learn, Make

• Turns out the Mayans didn’t predict the world would end in December 2012. Bygones!

• A lovely reminder about teaching and learning. Make sure you hover your cursor over the comic for additional text.

• Why tv meteorologists don’t wear green.

• Did dinosaurs trigger the climate change that wiped them out by… farting?

• Fake a clean house.

• Turn your beloved old mix tapes into mp3s.

• If you’ve ever been frustrated by US-only YouTube videos…

• How to get more details on a shortened link before clicking on it.

• Vacuous Minx on North Carolina and the Bradley effect.

• Apparently the Church used to perform same-sex marriages, back in the 10th and 11th century! (Thanks, Bron!)

• “People in 49 states saw significant decline in health care access during the last decade“.

• Nine dangerous things you were taught in school.

• I’d be wary of Domino’s gluten-free pizza crusts, personally.

• Dwarf mammoths?!

• A 13-year old has invented a lollipop that cures hiccups.

Cookity

• Gluten-free orange polenta cake.

• Gin and tonic cake.

• Nutella-filled baked donut muffins. (via The Kitchn)

• Breakfast coffee pudding.

• Homemade Cracker Jacks.

• 5 desserts made with roasted strawberries.

• Make better guacamole.

Drinkity

• Rhubarb collins.

• Rangpur lime margarita.

• 6 frozen cocktail party pops.

• 15 fresh and simple spring cocktails.

• 15 non-alcoholic drinks.

Crafty

• Make a lamp from vintage cameras. (via CRAFT)

• A round-up of Star Wars crafts.

Cool

• New York’s hidden subway station. (Thanks, Bron!)

• Extremely geeky wedding.

• Geeky pancake art. (via The Kitchn)

• Comic book dress.

• Batman musical parody.

• Portal and My Little Pony mashup.

Cool or Wha…?

• Edible survival manual.

• Girl Scout cookie-flavored Nestle Crunch bars.

• Nevada has issued drivers’ licenses to driverless cars…

• Action figures in space.

Wha…?

• Unbelievable anti-sexual harassment stock photos. (via The Mary Sue)

• Double-ended shark coffee table.

• Princess Leia hoodie.

• I can’t blame him for looking so crabby.

• Giant fist can koozie.

• LEGO wig.

• Buffalo wing soda.

• Portable bidet attachment for a water bottle…

• Too icky to even give it a description. You have been warned.

• “The word ‘used’ should never describe sanitary products for sale“.

• Lightning struck a man in the scrotum.

• 7 more things that should never be on cake.

LOL

• If Planet of the Apes had been made in Minnesota…

• The legacy of English teachers.

• What if Pinterest was in real life?

• If the noble houses from Game of Thrones were beers…

• A cat’s guide to feline superiority.

• Using your cat to tell temperature.

• How cats see home.

• Bacon cat toy – it looks like Chaos in that picture, but it’s not!

• Also not Chaos, but it could be… if I had that shower curtain or a screen door.

• Can you find the cat who destroyed that chair?

• Kittehs of the corn! (with apologies to Stephen King)

Teh Cute

• A Yorkie with her adopted litter of kittens. (Thanks, Bron!)

• Kitten! Baby black jaguars! Tiger and baby! Baby clouded leopard! Baby tigers! Black kitten! Tiger and baby! Baby ocelot! Tigers! Baby lion! Penguin! Baby jaguars! Kittens! Baby reindeer! Baby animals with their mommies! Black cat!

Reading Update
The Persistence of Memory (Mnevermind #1) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook. Excellent alternate reality m/m romance about a mneomographer who’s lost his confidence after accidentally changing his dad’s reality… permanently. And then he runs into something inexplicable during an mneming session… Totally sucked into this, and impatiently waiting for the next segment. *taps fingers*
Hard Tail by JL Merrow. ebook. Very good m/m romance about an accountant, freshly laid off and from his job and newly left by his wife, who ends up running his brother’s bike shop while his brother is in the hospital. Since he’s not gay, why does he spend so much time staring at the bike mechanic’s arse?
My True Love Gave to Me (Brook Street #0.5) by Ava March. ebook. reread. Very good historical holiday m/m romance about young love, fear, and trying for a second chance, even if you’re not sure you deserve one.
Thief (Brook Street #1) by Ava March. ebook. Very good historical m/m romance about a peer who heads to a gambling hall of a certain repute to find out whether, as he suspects, he’d be wasting his time looking for a bride. The man he meets that night proves that, but is ever so mysterious…
Fortune Hunter (Brook Street #2) by Ava March. ebook. Very good historical m/m romance about a man who returns to England planning to marry an heiress so he won’t have to work; he’s not going to let anything, even friendship, stand in his way. This one really got to me. *blots eyes*
Rogues (Brook Street #3) by Ava March. ebook. Very good historical m/m romance about two men who’ve been friends since childhood and occasional lovers since their teens. Both are notorious rakehells, although one prefers men and the other women. But the whole balance of their friendship is about to change… I got sniffly reading this one, too.
Acrobat by Mary Calmes. ebook. Very good m/m romance about an English professor who spends a lot of time taking care of the teen living next door and who’s become comfortable with the teen’s uncle over the years, but never really noticed just how attractive said uncle was… until recently.
Frog by Mary Calmes. ebook. Sweet m/m romance about a cowboy who’s always traveling between rodeos and short-term jobs, only visiting his not-quite-a-boyfriend in San Francisco a few times a year. Because… how could he be a cowboy if he stayed?
Smoking Is Bad for You by Sasha L. Miller. ebook short. Very good short m/m story about two guys meeting under interesting circumstances and proceeding from there. This would get a PG-13 rating, so be aware.
Tumble Turn by Charlie Cochrane. ebook. Good m/m romance about a Paralympic swimmer who’s always planned to avoid romantic entanglements until after the 2012 Paralympics, but life has other plans… As others have noted, the British voice in this is very, very strong.
Dirty Little Secret (Dear Lake, Michigan #2) by Anah Crow & Dianne Fox. ebook short. Ok short m/m story about a guy who reaches a gay-friendly resort town in Michigan just as his married boyfriend sort of dumps him over the phone. This was way too short to be satisfying for the amount of story. Be aware this has an HFN ending.

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Finally finished my sister-in-law’s Christmas (2011) socks! 🙂

“I love me some stripey socks!!” -Mayhem