Congrats to arzu, who won Twice in a Lifetime by Shawn Lane! Twice in a Lifetime will be released on September 5 by Amber Allure.

Congrats to Tara, who won What To Do With Lore by Jade Archer! What To Do With Lore will be released by Total-E-Bound on September 6.

Congrats to kasjo_peja, who won Gay Day! Gay Day! (G-A-Y, Book 11) by Kim Dare! Gay Day! Gay Day! will be released on September 6 by Total-E-Bound.

Contests

• Liquid Silver Books is having a Labor Day Weekend Author’s Blog Hop, which starts today.

• Lea’s giving away any one of Jaci Burton’s Wild Riders romances! Leave a comment before midnight EDT, September 3 (aka today) – check back on the 4th to see if you won.

• Mandi’s giving away five copies of Larissa Ione’s latest Demonica novel, Sin Undone. Contest is open (US/Canada only) through September 4.

• Everyone who leaves a comment on Kim Dare’s newsletter post will have the chance to win an ebook from her backlist, or an IOU for a future release.

• Blodeudd’s giving away two copies of Carolyn Brown’s new western romance, Hell, Yeah! – leave a comment by September 6 for your chance to win. (US and Canada only)

• Devon Rhodes is giving away an ebook copy of her latest m/m romance, The Swap, to someone who leaves a comment about their least favorite job. Contest closes midnight PDT, September 6, and the winner will be announced on the 7th.

• Go read Heidi Cullinan’s newsletter and find out how you can win a signed paperback (your choice) of one of her books. Winner will be selected September 11.

• Torquere Press is celebrating seven years in business with a somewhat complicated contest… but you could win a Nook.

• EH is running a contest open only to addresses outside the US and Canada, with three different book prize packs available. For your chance to win, leave a comment by midnight, September 30.

• Patti has issued a football challenge – do you think your team can be the New Orleans Saints?

Bookity

• New releases: Lily (m/m romance), Elisa (GLBT releases for August), All About Romance (romance audiobooks), Sidhe Vicious Reviews (UF/PNR), SciFiGuy (adult UF/PNR and young adult UF/SFF/PNR), Smokin’ Hot Books (UF/PNR they’re anticipating), and Katiebabs (things she’s looking forward to).

• Excellent post on m/m romance, which does a superb job rebutting one of the crazy-making posts from a week or so ago.

• A cute kid’s video called “It’s a Book.” I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but…

• Jewelry made from books.

• Turn an old book into a weaving loom.

• The bookcase coffin?!

• Dick and Jane and…. vampires?!

• Interesting post about cat people in science fiction from Tor.com.

• Patti reviewed the Hide-A-Cover book cover, for when you’re tired of people judging your books by their covers.

• Bookity linkity posts from Dear Author and ReadReactReview.

• Katiebabs is curious about your kryptonite books – the books that you mean to read, but that you keep putting off or putting down.

Ebookity

• The GLBT Bookshelf is having a digital rummage sale during September, during which you can purchase all sorts of ebooks at great prices to help support the Bookshelf.

• The University of Chicago Press is offering the 1906 edition of the Chicago Manual of Style as a free download this month. Make sure you use the link in the “Update” section of this post to get the DRM-free version! (Thanks, KZ!)

• TeleRead has a nice list of where you can find free textbooks online.

• The next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary might be online only, no print.

• Gizmodo reports on the new Sony ereaders. So does Teleread.

• TeleRead highlights some recent Kindle 3 reviews.

• Although this is a humorous bit about how much thought people put into buying $0.99 apps for their phones, I wonder if it could be applied to, say, ebooks?

Make, Do, Learn, Think

• If you have or are considering student loans, make sure you read this. Then go look at college tuition compared to the US home prices and the Consumer Price Index and wonder when that bubble’s going to burst.

• August was the weakest month of car sales since 1983. Maybe people are realizing that they don’t need to replace their cars as often as the automobile industry keeps pushing us to? *sends happy longevity thoughts out to beloved 1997 car*

• Curious what cities are “recession-proof”? More than one of them is in Iowa.

• Patti wrote a powerful post about how she feels five years after Hurricane Katrina.

• New York City’s water is full of invisible shrimp – how does that work out for people with shellfish allergies?!

• Have an earworm? Unhearit will help you get rid of it… by possibly giving you a new one. 🙂

• How to delete yourself from the internetz.

• Batman – there should be only one!

• The ultimate no-tangle headphone solution?

• The Subway Map of Science is very cool.

• Dry water exists.

• If you’re a student looking for credible sources on the internetz, give SweetSearch a try.

• Make a cheap laptop stand using some spare IKEA parts.

• I wonder if I could make a gluten-free variation of these homemade Pop Tarts on a stick?

Linkity Peeps

• Random stuff from Sidney, including a very funny spider video that you have to watch.

• Kristi has craft, photography, food, and humor linkity.

• NSFW WTFery from Katiebabs.

Cool

• The Human Calendar. (Thanks, Jeanne!)

• The Japanese Monster Kit.

• The Star Wars cross-stitch baby blanket and pillow set is adorable!

• Love the Caffeination Status Coffee Cozy!

• Educational chemistry crayons.

• Might there be a math geek in your life who’d love a necklace that has pi to the first 100 places?

• Movie posters for the best movies you’ll never see…

• Dr. Who fans can probably guess what that blue box on top of the Small Dome at MIT is…

• The next time I’m in Chicago, I must go to the coffee shop that has a Delorean parked inside it.

Huh

• Maybe shirtless jumping should be an Olympic sport…

• How to traumatize a kid for life: a heat-seeking automated Nerf sentry gun that keeps firing once it “gets a lock.”

• Deep-fried beer.

• Buy a six-pack of beer, complete with tuned beer bottles.

• Faux fur whiteboard.

• A photo exhibit of hideous Las Vegas casino carpet.

• An artist took pictures of the same McDonald’s hamburger and fries every day for four months… and they were remarkably unchanged.

• Critters that smugglers tried to sneak onto planes in their luggage this week: a sedated tiger cub and 97 snakes.

LOL

• Hyperbole & a Half on social entrapment. Love this quote: “One of the most difficult aspects of interacting with other people is figuring out how to extricate yourself from a conversation without appearing rude or mentally unstable.”

• Check out this great Dancing in the Movies video – guaranteed to make you smile.

• How to fight ignorance with humorous gay protest signs.

• Hearing a random song – then and now.

• Business cards for fictional companies.

• Sex scene or murder scene… the game (I think there are five total games).

• One of felinekind’s deep dark secrets revealed!

• Seriously, he really is “the most inefficient drinker in the cat kingdom.”

• I hope this kitty doesn’t hold a grudge…(Thanks, MamaTulip!)

• This seems a bit ominous if you’re superstitious.

• Hmm. Might not be wise to prop your ereader or iPad on your cat…

• What happens when you try to put your cat in the carrier or give it a bath…

• Zombie kitteh!

Teh Cute

• Completely adorable mini fake DSLR cameras (1/6 scale), complete with interchangeable lenses.

• Kitties in boxes! (Thanks, MamaTulip!)

• Did you hear about the cat that got on a train and was eventually reunited with its owner via Twitter?

• A macaque monkey adopts a kitten in the wild.

• Melly belly floof! A Whatsit! Baby otter with attitude! Baby fox in a box (but no socks)! Red panda sticking out its tongue! Kitties on books! Dormouse! Tiger cubs nursing from a dog! Floofy kitten! Black fawn! Baby opossum! Kittens! Stoats! Very young kittens! Kittens! Kittens! Baby panda! Kittens! Hungry kittens!

Reading Update
Unconventional (Conventions, Book 3) by T.C. Blue. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a computer game programmer, not able to work due to a lawsuit, who moves to California to live with his deeply closeted actor boyfriend.
Duet by Eden Winters. ebook. Excellent m/m romance that’s a bit challenging for me to categorize. The first half takes place in the Scottish Highlands 200 years ago and the second half takes place in the present day. This is a story about an English tutor/violinist and about the Scottish heir who despises the English. It’s the story of a love that transcends the ages. Oh, whatever – it’s just a darn good love story. 🙂
Double or Nothing by Cassandra Gold. ebook short. Decent m/m romance about a casino owner whose con artist ex shows up, asking for a chance to prove that he’s changed.
Collared Hearts and Frosted Hearts by Angelia Sparrow & Naomi Brooks. ebook shorts. Very good kinky short m/m romances about an artist with a prissy boyfriend who not only owns the gallery at which the artist shows, but also gives him money for his rent and bills and leaves him feeling like a whore.
Submission Times Two by Claire Thompson. Good kinky m/m romance about a couple, deeply in love with each other, who are both submissive. Will they manage to keep their need to submit from destroying their relationship?
Masked Submission by Claire Thompson. ebook. So-so kinky m/m romance about a submissive PhD student who goes to a club and becomes fascinated by a cruel and mysterious masked dominant. I definitely like Claire Thompson’s more recent books better, because I found this one to be melodramatic and overwrought.
Dark Submission by Shayne Carmichael. ebook short. Ok short paranormal m/m romance about a young man, hired as a live-in secretary, who discovers several unusual and intriguing things about his employer.
Call Me Sir by Stormy Glenn. ebook. Um. Stormy Glenn does D/s. What else is there to say, really?! Well, ok, fine. So-so kinky m/m romance about a club owner who decides, after one look at a young man in his club, that the young man would be his forevermore.
Topping Timothy by Erin O’Niall. ebook short. So-so steamy m/m tale about a young man who’s fascinated by a dominant older man he keeps seeing at the bar he frequents, but who’s also sickened by the thought of bdsm. (And this is one of the ugliest stock photo covers I’ve ever seen.)
Catching a Second Wind by Sean Michael. ebook. This m/m romance about a vet who visits an appealing young psychologist as part of trying to get over the unexpected death of his long-term lover was so sweet and angst free that I confess to being bored… Ok, yeah, there was a titch of near-angst – but seriously, nothing that wasn’t resolved within a page or two.

“I want to sleep now, not be entertained. Go away.” -Mayhem