Congrats to Jenre, who won her choice from LA Witt’s backlist!
Congrats to cturtlechick, who won Why Jay Ran Away (Contact, Book 3) by Jade Archer! Why Jay Ran Away will be available from Total-E-Bound on October 18.
Congrats to Mary F, who won Blood and Alchemy (Drone Vampires, Book 11) and a bonus copy of The Third Floor by Stephani Hecht. How did Mary get so lucky? Well, after I kicked off the contest for Blood and Alchemy, the publication date got changed from October 15 to October 31; The Third Floor is being released today instead. Stephani’s giving Mary a copy of The Third Floor to help tide her over until the 31st – and you can still enter to win a copy of The Third Floor. 🙂
Contests
- Katiebabs is giving away her f/f romance, Lovestruck, and her f/f pirate romance, The Princess’s Bride, in honor of National Coming Out Day. Comment by October 16 for your chance to win.
- Blodeuedd’s giving away two copies of Mr. Darcy’s Obsession by Abigail Reynolds. Comment by October 18 to enter. (US and Canada)
- Devon Rhodes is giving away an ebook copy of her latest menage romance, Falling for the Other Brother. Comment by October 20 for your chance to win.
- Tracy’s giving away a copy of Wanda E. Brunstetter’s latest Amish romance, Lydia’s Charm. To enter, leave a comment by 11:59 pm PDT, October 22.
Bookity
- New releases and more: Lily (m/m romance), Literary Escapism (UF/PNR news, contests, new releases), Donna Fantasy Dreamer (UF/PNR/YA, etc), SciFiGuy (UF news, contests, etc), and All About Romance (romances available in November).
- Bookity linkity from ReadReactReview’s Monday Morning Stepback.
- KMont on why negative book reviews have value, too.
- Smexy Mandi has a great post on what author websites should and shouldn’t have.
- Can’t bear to get rid of your old books? Here are 10 DIY projects for repurposing your old books.
Ebookity
- Jordan Castillo Price muses on whether having sales and giving books away devalues books. Jordan’s going to be a featured author at Rainbow eBooks this weekend and her excellent paranormal m/m romance, Among the Living (PsyCop, Book 1), will be free 10/16-10/17.
- Apparently there’s an ebook gap between the US and the rest of the world.
- A recent study found that the Kindle has 76% of the ebook market.
- Dear Author shares some thoughts on Android tablets for reading ebooks.
- If you read ebooks on your iPad/iPhone/etc, a new app called Bluefire Reader will let you read encrypted epub and pdf books.
- TeleRead has an interesting post about how having an ebook reader changes the way we shop for books.
Think, Learn, Make, Do
- Be careful if you take up molecular gastronomy!
- Ever wondered why you look so different between photos and the mirror?
- Apparently we have a limited amount of willpower.
- Careful what you name the files on your computer – if you have to take your computer in for repairs and the repair people find your filenames alarming, they can call the police to investigate your files. At the very least, a big hassle even if you don’t have anything you shouldn’t on your computer.
- Five myths about federal taxes. (Thanks, CursingMama!)
- Opt out of getting the Yellow Pages delivered to your address. Or build a house from the Yellow Pages if you’ve waited too long to opt out.
- I had no idea that there were 1.5 million mobile phone users in 1964!
- Ok Cupid analyzed its 3.2 million users (gay and straight) and discovered *gasp* that “gay people are basically the same as everyone else.“
- Crochet an angel duckie or a devil duckie… or both and have duckie smackdown! (Thanks, Kim!)
Linkity Peeps
- Kristi has craft, photography, and food links.
- Sidney has links that caught her eye.
Halloweeny
Cool
- An instrumental video featuring cats. (Thanks, Stephani!)
- This one hovers between cool and huh: knitted tiger pelts.
Huh
- I think the Portable Armrest makes people look like escaped asylum patients…
- Surely you need spaghetti and meatball high heels?
- If you’ve always wanted to get married in McDonald’s, Hong Kong McDonald’s will soon be offering $400 wedding packages!
LOL
- All hail (and fear!) the God of Cake!
- Basement Cat has many important decisions to make each day.
- Have you tried purrigami, the art of kitten folding?
Teh Cute
- Kitties playing in a yarn ball storm – but remember that it is very dangerous to let kitties play with string or yarn! It can kill kitties.
- Wee piglet! Kitten! Kittens! Coati! Kittens! Fossa! Kittens! Dog licking kitten! Hatching duckling! Kittens! Kitten! Kitten! Sleepy jaguar(?) cub! Baby sloth! Heart-shaped kittens! Leapin’ Lambert! Kittens! Zombie bunny! Cougar cubs!
Reading Update
Like Pizza and Beer (Dino & Seth, Book 2) by Elle Parker. ebook. Excellent m/m romantic suspense that you should not even pick up until you’ve read the first book, Like Coffee and Doughnuts. That won’t be a hardship. 🙂 Dino takes on two new cases: one for Seth, trying to find dirt on Seth’s sister’s scumbag boyfriend, the other for his own ex-girlfriend, which makes Seth very jealous. Add to that Dino’s own discomfort with anyone knowing that he’s dating Seth…
Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Clare London. ebook. Very good short m/m romance about a guy waiting at the airport for a very good friend who’s been overseas for a final job interview. Since his friend’s flight turns out to be delayed 12 hours, he has plenty of time to think about how much he’ll miss his friend and how much he screwed up the last time they saw each other. Some very unusual people sit near him and help distract him from his thoughts… or do they?
Picture Postcards by J.M. Snyder. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about a guy, in love with his best friend, who drifts out of touch after his friend marries a woman… and then a postcard arrives in the mail.
Bittersweet Seasons by Fabian Black. ebook. Very good collection of short, poignant m/m romances, most of which touch on seasons or time passing.
Maxxed Out by Treva Harte. ebook. Good m/m romance about Max, a college student who hasn’t come out to his parents, who shows up at the door of his (deceased) brother’s best friend with an agenda… The one detractor was the alternating first person, which, while done pretty well, was confusing at times.
Sub for Hire by Claire Thompson. ebook. So-so kinky m/m romance about an author who works as a sub-for-hire at a professional dungeon until he can support himself with his writing. He can handle the job, as long as he’s able to keep his emotions detached, because he actually longs for a loving D/s relationship. Again, I just can’t engage with Claire Thompson’s older books the way I can with her newer books. This was particularly challenging, because I wasn’t overly fond of the dominant characters.
Burning Up by Z.A. Maxfield. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a fire dancer, entertaining on the street, who gets heckled by a drunken idiot with a quieter, nicer friend.
Lockdown by Augusta Li & Eon De Beaumont. ebook short. Ok short m/m story about a superhero and a supervillain who are locked in a nuclear power plant after their fight damages the core…
In Knots by Celia Kyle. ebook short. Meh kinky short paranormal m/m romance about a human sub who goes to a werewolf bdsm club. At least there were some amusing editing fails.
Call Me Sir, Too (Sir, Book 2) by Stormy Glenn. ebook. Meh kinky m/m romance about a Dom and sub who met in the first book. Since then the Dom’s been gone on mysterious business and the sub’s been seriously traumatized and injured by an evil Dom. Will the good Dom be able to get the sub to trust again? My favorite line in the whole book (and I’m reproducing it exactly!): “That strange twinkled shinned in Dante’s eyes again.”
The Magic in Your Touch (Reed, Book 1) by Sara Bell. ebook. Meh m/m romance from an author whose more recent work I really love. Chicks with dicks, insta-love, stalker(s)… *sigh*
You Don’t Need a Doctor by Julia Talbot. ebook short. Doctors Without Borders Charity Sip Blitz. Good short paranormal m/m romance about an ER doctor who notices that the shooting victim he’s treating is awfully hairy and has very pointy teeth and is healing very fast… This would’ve been better as a longer story, because so much was crammed in.
El Cedral by Kiernan Kelly. ebook short. Doctors Without Borders Charity Sip Blitz. Very good short m/m romance about a doctor from NYC, taking a sabbatical from his cushy hospital job, who agrees to help out an old friend at his clinic on an impoverished Mexican island.
“None of you better be thinking of trying to steal my stripey socks! I’m keeping an eye on you!” -Mayhem
Yay, my dream has come true, I can finally get married at McDonalds
A recent post from blodeuedd..Review- Highland Hellcat – Mary Wine
Of course I had to stop over at Lily’s and get my booty re-directed over to Dreamspinner Press to go buy me Last Snow Of Winter…I’m in the need for a M/M story again! Have a great friday Chris 😉
PS: I don’t want to get in to a fight with Mayhem but those sock sure look warm and comfy!
A recent post from Leontine..My 1st YA love -> Review- JP Barnaby – Enlightened
I believe the thing about the willpower. I was doing a training challenge with my gym this spring and so I was super good for four months with hours of working out (the only way I could have worked out more was to be teaching gym classes), dog walking, and restricting my access to sweets. Once I was done I was like a kid in a candy shop eating more sweets than I normally would on a near daily basis. It didn’t stop until about a month ago when I no longer felt impelled to get something sweet all the time.
A recent post from Seanna Lea..another trip back in time
I keep looking at that Treva Harte book and thinking I would possibly like it, but I haven’t taken the plunge in buying it yet.
What??! Gay people are the same as straight people?!! NO WAY!!! (LOL…)
OK, that piece on 1964 cell phones is really interesting. Who knew? And why?
A recent post from Brigitte..Hi Everybody!
So that explains the fit of my jeans these days…
A recent post from trek..Good question
Chris- Life cycle of a hairball- that could be the story of my life….
Have a great weekend!
A recent post from Lorraine..Cool World
“we have a limited amount of willpower” No duh. LOL
Ugh. We have our municipal elections coming soon. I have no real preference of who’s running but since the kid is studying civics this term I guess I better set a good example. I will vote for James Dean because he has the coolest name. I tried to explain Christine O’Donnell to the kid last night. The look on her face was priceless. LOL If a 15 year old gets it, why don’t adults?
That was a mobile phone? BWAHAHAHHA
OMG. I love that brain hat. I don’t crochet. 🙁
Those brain cupcakes were GROSS.
I shared that Star Wars video with my friend who does paper art. Maybe he needs to make a movie.
A slanket chair? Just go to bed for gods sake.
Every little girl dreams of getting married under the golden arches. She just never thought there’d be the pervasive smell of old grease when it happens.
Purrigami. Totally laughed out loud in my office.
OMG! If I show the kid that piglet I’m going to hear “I want”.
Books: Must get the first one SOON. And Clare’s. No poignant, I think I’m off poignant for a while. I read Burning Up a looong time ago. It was cute. I agree the Talbot book could have been longer, I liked the humour in it though, with the chicken and the dry biscuit. Kiernan’s was very good too.
As for Stormy, I believe in that book the sub went to the bus station to run away, but he was mysteriously found waiting at the train station. No wonder he couldn’t run away, he was at the wrong damn station. LOL
Have a great weekend.
A recent post from Tam..Happy yaoi-day!
Great linkity! The bloody brains cupcakes were so disgusting – perfect for Halloween, LOL! The gluten free candy list was education as well.
A recent post from Kristi aka FiberFool..ECF- Fit To Be Tied
It took me FOREVER to go through the links, but you had some good ones. The escaped asylum patienta portable armrest? Totally scary.
Mayhem, keep a good eye. Someone is bound to come along and steal such great looking socks!
A recent post from margene..Today is the Day
The ebookDRM links are added to Evernote for a (Dutch) article I have to write about ereaders/ebooks. Very helpfull! 🙂
Yeah, that Bluefire Reader app doesn’t work yet. I’m probably doing something wrong but I don’t know what. 🙁
The first two books I bought a few days ago so I’m glad with your ‘excellent’ and ‘very good’ verdict. Maxxed Out looks familiar as well, maybe I have it too…
I didn’t think Sub For Hire was that bad, if I remember correctly… or am I mixing it up with another book? My brain seems to be still sleeping *sigh*
A recent post from Janna ErotRomReader..Guest review of The Lion of Kent by Aleksandr Voinov & Kate Cotoner
Thanks for the link! And for the librarian video — sent it to all my librarian friends.
A recent post from kmkat..Knitting books looking for a new home
Ok, between the slanket chair and the portable armrest, I’m thinking we all need to get up and do something. Like knit.
but isn’t yarn bad for kitties???
Cursingmama: YES. Hence my warning with the link.
For everyone squicking over the brain cupcakes, you would need to serve them with a bloody brain shot: strawberry schnapps with Bailey’s dripped into it. The Bailey’s coagulates and looks like a brain. Then you add a drop of grenadine “blood.” Very…clotty/clumpy when you take the shot.
Great links today. I saw Mandi’s post – someone else posted something similar this week…must be going around – book bloggers surfing author sites and getting annoyed by the bells and whistles.
I love the yarn ball commercial.. but as a knitter, didn’t you for a second wonder what they did with all of that yarn after the commercial was over??
Loved the leggo letterpress. My dad spent his life in a printery. I sent him the link.
Stripey socks make the world go round.
A recent post from Rebekah..10 Knitterly Things About Me
There is no way I would drink a bloody brain shot. You would have to pay me SO MUCH MONEY it woudl never happen. (So, I guess that’s not “no way,” but still. I very much doubt anyone would offer to pay me sufficient money to do it, so it’s nearly the same thing.)
And now I must crochet the angel & devil duckies. You are an enabler, you know that?
Still waiting on a sock post…
A recent post from Nicole..Friday FO- Cubist
Love the typeface map of Chicago! How cool is that?
Another lovely day looking up the fun links!
They do seem to set off your fur in a most lovely way, Mayhem.
Nice linketies!! Even if the repurposed book link is DESECRATION. 🙂
As today is the final due date for individual returns (also known as my last day of work for a week or two) I really like the Monkey Cage’s link!
A recent post from Carrie K..Monday Musings- Tuesday Twitterings- Wednesday Witticisms- Thurs- oh never mind
Thanks for the shout out. 🙂
Some great linkity this week. I especially liked the photo/mirror differences & the OKCupid article.
Good books – must evernote. 🙂
A recent post from Tracy..Book Giveaway- Lydias Charm by Wanda E Brunstetter
Ok you’ve got some crazy links today!! If I saw somebody wearing the portable armrest, I’d move over a few rows!!!! Those shoes are nuts! LOL abt the leaning tower of pisa. I LOVED that purina commercial with the yarn. SOO cute! and as far as a wedding at McyD’s, it’s better than Waffle House!!!!
A recent post from Lynn..Done!!
It sort of looks like Mayhem is WEARING those stripey socks… (on extra-long BUNNY FEET, of course).
The article on why we look different in camera/mirrors was interesting. LOL at the spaghetti shoes and portable armrest. I’ll pass on both!
Kid porn watchers deserve to be caught anyways even without putting obvious file names. I wonder if I should change my Hotties and Hotties-explicit file names?
Sadly I’ve only read Claire and Stormy’s books.
Thanks for the mention! 🙂
A recent post from Lily..New Books Available – Week 41
Thanks for the mention!
Oh a new reason to make pancakes – dinosaurs!
Ok the portable armrest is just weird.
I might just have to make some fuzzy-headed pumpkins.
Wait, you mean gay people are just, uh, people? Who knew! 😉
A recent post from Sydney..And Then They Were Gone
Awesome linkety Chris! I didn’t have any idea that there were that many cell phone users in the 60’s! And, I think I’d best start writing more, my cognition could certainly use a boost! o_O
May, I do want those socks but I couldn’t take them from you cutie.. 😉
Hey Chris, I hear you are headed to San Fran in another week – have an awesome time. Have you told May and Chaos yet?
A recent post from Lea..His Darkest Embrace- by Juliana Stone – ARC Review
Fabulous links! Your blog is so educational! 😉
McDonald’s wedding packages . . . sounds like something you might find in my neck of the woods. *sighs*
A recent post from Eyre..Recent Reads
Okay… did you see a white rabbit running around screaming he was late… Damn little freaker is making me late for everything…. Okay okay… Friday… did we have that damn day… Can you tell I am ready for another one… And this Friday is baby girl’s 17th bday…. Oh yeah… what fun!!! Okay… And I promise not to touch the stripey socks… but when you look away I can not make promises cuz I love stripey socks… and all kinda of other crazy socks…. So… just make sure you keep your eyes on it!
Hugs to you Chris!! Hope you had a great weekend!!!!!!
A recent post from Cecile..The Winner of Daughter of Darkness
Apologies for the late reply and thank you for the links! I so need to read 10 DIY projects for repurposing your old books!
May – I wouldn’t dream of pinching your lovely, gorgeous, warm, stripey socks…
A recent post from orannia..What Ya Watching
quiet a lovely linkity and lovely stripy socks.
A recent post from ikisti..Aunti M
Love that instrumental video with cats!
A recent post from mrspao..Kittens needed