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Congrats to Monica and Alex W, who won copies of Sidecar by Amy Lane! Sidecar is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.

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Contests

• Joyfully Jay’s giving away an ebook copy of Last Stop by Lou Harper. Contest closes 11:59 pm EDT, June 29.

• Hearts on Fire Reviews is giving away an ebook copy of Acrobat by Mary Calmes. Comment by June 30.

• Melanie’s giving away an eclectic mix of paperbacks as part of her TBR reduction (really there’s something for everyone) – go check out her list and comment by June 30.

• Joder’s giving away an ebook copy of I’ll Be Mated for Christmas by Rebecca Royce. Contest closes 11:59 pm CDT, June 30.

• Leontine’s giving away an ebook set of the Little Boy Lost series by JP Barnaby. Contest closes on July 2.

• Tracy’s giving away the following: Fulfilled by Lynda Bailey (closes 7 pm PDT, July 1); five people will win one of Carolyn Cade’s ebooks (closes 7 pm PDT, July 2); winner’s choice of ebook from Leslie Dicken’s backlist (closes 7 pm PDT, July 3).

• Ava March is giving away an ebook copy of her holiday m/m romance, My True Love Gave To Me (Brook Street #0.5). Closes midnight EDT, July 6.

• Brief Encounters Reviews is giving away m/m romances by Canadian authors in celebration of Canada Day. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, July 7.

• Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of The Most Improper Sophie Valentine by Jayne Fresina. Closes July 15.

Bookity

• New releases and more: Elisa Rolle (LGBT), Tor.com (UF, genre-benders, scifi, fantasy), and Book Lovers Inc (romance etc).

• Book and publishing news from Dear Author and, of a more humorous bent, from Smart Bitches.

• Lots of links on self-publishing from The Book Designer.

• VacuousMinx on genre fiction and guilty pleasure reads.

• VacuousMinx’s take on the recent John Simpson fiasco at Goodreads.

• Penguin Girl on why you should support your local public library.

• LA Witt on how to write out of sequence.

• Tam tries to figure out how many publishers of m/m romance there are.

• Interesting discussion about m/m romance at Lamda Literary – make sure you read the comments, too. (via Eden Winters)

• Retro library posters. (via CRAFT)

• Terrifying book cover.

• R-rated films as children’s books.

Ebookity

• The Digital Reader compares Penguin’s history as an upstart publisher of paperbacks to their stance on ebooks today.

Think, Learn, Make, Do

• Why cheetahs are so darn speedy. (Thanks, Donna!)

• That fat-free salad dressing may be negating any nutritional benefits from your salad.

• If you’ve ever wondered why maple syrup bottles have those tiny, useless handles…

• Scientists have developed a way for people to type with their brains, no hands or voice commands required.

• How to fix the stupid things you do with your smart phone.

• If you’ve ever wondered how a microwave oven works…

• Use binder clips (or as one commenter suggests, clawed hair clips) to manage cables.

• Kraft’s getting backlash for the very cool Pride Day image it posted. Go buy some Oreos in support!

• How are you going to use your Leap Second on Saturday?

Cookity

• Nutella milkshakes. (via The Kitchn)

• Layered pumpkin cheesecake.

• Pie’n’ice cream sandwiches. (via The Kitchn)

• Sriracha lollipops. (via The Kitchn)

• Gluten-free coconut blueberry pound cupcakes.

• Pickled blueberries. (via The Kitchn)

• Roasted rhubarb and strawberries.

• Southwest chicken chop salad. (via The Kitchn) (Do you have any idea how hungry I get doing these posts?!)

• Southeast Asian spicy, tangy, and sweet rojack salad.

• Pad see ew. (via The Kitchn)

• Southern-styled pickled shrimp.

• Steak fajita bowls. (via Bron’s Pinterest)

• Non-processed mac’n’cheese for one in the microwave.

• 6 zucchini recipes.

• 10 foods to take hiking with you.

• 10 ways to eat peanut butter for breakfast. (I’m sticking with gf peanut butter toast, thanks.)

• 20 ways to enjoy summer veggies.

Drinkity

• Sparkling strawberry lemonade (with or without vodka). (via The Kitchn)

• Cantaloupe margaritas. (via The Kitchn)

Crafty

• Personalized Sharpie mugs have great gift potential. (via CRAFT)

• Crochet an angler fish.

• Crochet a cat cave (English directions at bottom). (via CRAFT)

• Sew a geek chic iPad case. (via CRAFT)

• Turn rocks into garden markers. (via CRAFT)

Cool

• Van Gogh’s Starry Night made from 7000 dominoes.

• LEGO Turing machine.

• R2-D2 yarnbomb.

• Storm trooper chair. (via The Mary Sue)

• The second episode of Doctor Whooves.

• Superhero tutus.

• Bamboo globe light.

• Blow bubble snakes instead of merely blowing bubbles. (via Apartment Therapy)

• A vintage tv turned into a cat bed (make sure you read the warning in comment #2).

• “10 badass LGBTQ characters from television.”

• If you use Chrome, you can pick a plot in Australia or New Zealand and build a little virtual LEGO something on it.

Cool or Wha…?

• Gotye/Star Wars parody video…

• “10 horror movie VHS boxes that scarred me for life.”

• Google’s artificial brain likes to watch cat videos.

Wha…?

• Let out your inner white trash self.

• Osaka, government workers, and tattoos.

• People planning to move to Canada because the US is getting universal healthcare… (Thanks, Brigitte! Are you sure you don’t them in Canada? I don’t think we’ll miss them…)

• Maybe they should’ve refunded her entire airfare…

• Leather chainsaw bag – nope, not a bag for a chainsaw.

• Zipper fashion fail.

• Jeans with a see-through pocket for your smartphone.

• Beer for dogs. (I saw a booth for this stuff at TCPride!)

• Possibly you will have nightmares.

• Eeeek! And eeeek!

LOL

• That’s my kinda grocery shopping.

• Indeed. (hover your cursor over the comic for additional text)

• Oh, snap!

• Hawk fight!

• New Simon’s Cat!

• But… Chaos hates everyone who isn’t me!

• Well, pooey.

• Hey, she should just be happy they’re using one of the cat beds.

Teh Cute

• Baby tiger! Lion and baby! Tiger and baby! Baby tiger! Tiger and baby! Kitten! Pride pup! Bunny! Jaguar and baby! Baby tigers! Leopard! Lions! Leopard and baby! Baby fennecs! Kitten! Skunk! Kitten! Baby penguins! Skunks! Bunny! Baby onager! Black kittens! Baby otter! Cat and kitten!

Reading Update
Into the Bermuda Triangle (Turbulence #1) by Jordan Castillo Price. free ebook short. serial. 5/13/2012: Very good short m/m paranormal setting the stage for future episodes of this serial about pilots who fly into the Bermuda Triangle. You are definitely left wanting more! 🙂
6/23/2012: I reread this before reading the second installment and am glad I did – not only did I get more out of it than I did the first time, it helped make things in the second installment clearer.
Autopilot Engaged (Turbulence #2) by Jordan Castillo Price. free ebook short. serial. The second installment of this paranormal m/m serial gives us more background on Dallas, how he ended up on this Bermuda Triangle flight, and what he thinks might be going on.
Boystown 4: A Time for Secrets by Marshall Thornton. ebook. Very good gay mystery in which Nick obtains information about a 25-year old murder that has dangerous current implications.
Fire on the Mountain (2nd ed) (The Mountains #1) by PD Singer. ebook. reread. Smokin’ hot m/m romance about two guys fighting forest fires together in the Rockies. I enjoyed the added flashback short story in this edition.
Fourth and Long by Chris Scully. ebook short. Sweet short timetravel romance about a guy whose life started going terribly wrong on the night of his high school prom. He doesn’t expect that to change on the night of his 20th high school reunion.
A Bar Tender’s Tale by Melanie Tushmore. ebook. Good m/m romance about a couple days in the life of a punk bartender as he progresses from a jerk boyfriend to a better boyfriend, even if said better boyfriend moves at a glacial pace.
Second Time Lucky (Middleton #2) by Ethan Day. ebook. Good m/m romance about two guys who run into each other years after things didn’t work out for them for no good reason in college. Can they keep that from happening again?
Bennie’s Wish by Xara X. Xanakas. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a wealthy but wishy washy guy whose friends take shameless advantage of him and constantly put him down, so when a cute guy hits on him, he can’t believe it’s for real.
Half-Baked Promises (Castor Springs #1) by Erica Pike. free ebook short. Pretty good short m/m story about an auditor who has to spend a few days working in the small Texas town where he grew up, although he might never manage to finish the job if that hunky construction worker doesn’t stop making so much noise. This didn’t feel like a complete story – more like the first few chapters of a longer work.
Losing and Gaining by Heidi Champa. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a guy who’s always been obese until finally, at age 25 (two years before the story starts), he decides to reinvent himself by eating better, working out, getting a new job, and changing his name. Too bad you can’t escape the past quite that easily… I thought this had a lot of potential, but I got frustrated with the main character’s doormat nature. People using each other’s names too much in conversation was an additional frustration.

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“Why, yes, I am as mysterious as I appear to be.” -Mayhem