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Congrats to AlbertaGirl, SarahM, and Melora, who won copies of Mourning Heaven by Amy Lane! Mourning Heaven is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to Mammarella, who won Sub Zero by Angel Martinez!

Congrats to Sarah S, who won Body Magic (Triad #2) by Poppy Dennison! Body Magic will be released by Dreamspinner Press on September 10.

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Contests

• Cryselle’s tracked down the current GLBT romance giveaways on Goodreads.

• Armchair Reader Cole’s giving away an ebook copy of The Ballad of the Burning Year by Augusta Li. Closes midnight CDT, September 9.

• Joyfully Jay’s celebrating her one year blogiversary with a contest. Make sure you read the rules! Closes 11:59 pm EDT, September 13.

• Blodeuedd’s giving away three ebook copies of Fighting Fate by Leigh Morgan. Closes September 17.

• Blodeuedd’s also giving away an ebook copy of The Night Beat by Gini Koch. Closes September 27.

Bookity

• New releases and more: Rarely Dusty Books (m/m romance), Pants Off Reviews (m/m romance), Tor.com (PNR), and Book Binge (various sorts of romance).

• Book and publishing news from Dear Author.

• VacuousMinx tries to catch us up on the various frauds in the book world.

• “The true ebook fraud: Self-interest.”

• How has 50 Shades of Grey changed publishing?

• A settlement between the DoJ and three publishers has been approved.

• Dear Author with part one of “Ownership in the Digital Age”.

• Copyright enforcement robots shut down the legitimate broadcast of the Hugo Awards. (via Wil Wheaton’s tumblr) The Hugo Awards will be rebroadcast in full on Sunday, September 9, 7 pm CDT.

• “The perils of paid-for reviews.”

• Jordan Castillo Price with three reasons not to self-publish.

• When to use who and whom.

• Becky Black has writing-related links for authors.

• Dani Alexander interviewed Baddest Santa Guy! 😀

• Eden Winters posted my 2010 post about Charles de Lint and what his books have meant to me.

• A map of where things are in the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. (Thanks, Bron!)

• A new photo of Emily Dickinson might’ve been found. (Thanks, Bron!)

• 17 British euphemisms for sex from the 1800s.

• Infographic of the best-loved children’s books.

• When the Chicago Public Library had a fine amnesty period, they got back a book that was 78 years overdue.

• *blink blink* “Christian church capitalizes on ‘Mommy P0rn’“. (Thanks, Jase!)

• *blink blink* A Twilight/Garrison Keillor spoof called The Twilight of Lake Woebegotten…

• 13 bookish t-shirts. (via The Digital Reader)

• If you’re anywhere near Urbana, Illinois, this weekend, you should check out the estate book sale of Michael Hart, who founded Project Gutenberg.

Ebookity

• All about the new Kindles from Amazon.

• Comparison of the Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire, Nexus 7, Galaxy Tab 2.7.0, Kobo Arc, and iPad.

• Kindle Serials: “…Bezos says it should spawn a new genre of books…” I think Amazon’s a bit behind the curve on this one – serials have been popping up all over the place. I still hate them! 🙂

Think, Make, Do, Learn

• What happens when Kickstarter projects never happen?

• Polish up your google fu.

• Three free photo tools for bloggers.

• How to choose the best VPN provider for your needs.

• Find out where your state stands on LGBT issues. (via Chrissy Munder)

• Turns out the human genome is much more complicated than scientists initially thought.

• The genetics behind Venus the famous tortie. (Thanks, Brenda!)

• While a recent study found that organic produce isn’t more nutritious than conventional, it does contain fewer traces of pesticides.

• What if the world’s land masses had the same distribution, but were rotated 90 degrees?

• How to make your bag of chocolate chips resealable. (Thanks, Jeanne!)

Cookity

• Plum slump. (via The Kitchn)

• Chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream. (via The Kitchn)

• Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter cookie dough “frosting”. (via The Kitchn)

• Eggnog custard pie. (via The Kitchn)

• Turn canned cinnamon rolls into a pie crust.

• 15 recipes with apples.

• 10 make-ahead breakfast recipes using eggs.

• 5 huevos rancheros recipes.

• Breakfast migas. (via The Kitchn)

• Scrambled egg salad.

• Spicy pea, peanut, pickle, and egg salad. (via The Kitchn)

• Bacon deviled eggs with carmelized onions and cheddar cheese. (via The Kitchn)

• Gluten-free turkey meatloaf with sun-dried tomatoes and pecan crust.

• Seafood stew.

• Beet hummus. (via CRAFT)

• Sauteed green beans and cherry tomatoes.

• Scalloped tomatoes.

• Black bean orange peel edamame.

• Roasted poblano pepper salsa.

Drinkity

• The White House beer recipe.

• Bajan rum punch.

Crafty

• Trek shares how to make an origami wreath.

• Make “Polaroid-esque” coasters – what a great gift idea! (via Apartment Therapy)

• Knit chevron dish scrubbing mitts. (via CRAFT)

• Crochet an amigurumi marshmallow. (via CRAFT)

Cool

• Iron Throne cake. (via The Mary Sue)

• All eight Harry Potter movies in 13 minutes.

• Wooden Star Wars action figures.

• Two new episodes of the Symphony of Science.

• The Internet Cat Video Film Festival was a success.

• Cat cameos.

• One way to appease fellow passengers when flying with children.

• Amazing solar eruption photos.

• “What people in 1899 thought the year 2000 would look like.”

• POTUS hug.

Cool or Wha…?

• Mars Curiosity Rover skirt. (via The Mary Sue)

• Doctor Who-themed Yahtzee set. (via The Mary Sue)

• Audio cassette themed Moleskines.

• Triangular notebook.

• Vegetable peeler shaped like a pencil sharpener.

• Middle finger brass knuckle keys.

• Shower stall squid.

• Bluetooth gloves.

Wha…?

• Before Kotex got around to destroying tainted tampons, someone stole them. (They had the things sitting around for eight months and didn’t destroy them?!)

• Some Polish air travelers got a “how to use a condom” video instead of the usual safety instructions during their flight.

• Potty training kids at a restaurant table…

• “Hulk Heimlich” jacket…

• A Chinese company selling iPhone 5 clones says they’ll sue Apple if Apple releases the iPhone 5. (Yes, that makes my brain hurt, too.)

• An aquarium headboard that would actually be over you as you slept…

• O noes! Someone stole the global strategic maple syrup reserve!

• 25 deep-fried foods from the Texas State Fair.

LOL

• I need this sign!

• Isn’t that how it always goes…

• “Bake me a date!”

• Word. (via Bron’s Pinterest)

• Yoda gets the last word.

• It would be refreshingly honest…

• Cleverly placed bus advertisement. (Thanks, Jeanne!)

• Geeky Tropical Storm Kirk humor.

• 15 funniest autocorrects from August.

• Parents suspect their young son may be gay…

• Long cat is long!

• Oh oh…

• Chaos hasn’t tried this… yet.

• Chaos gets around this by simply ripping the roll into confetti – I haven’t been able to hang up a roll of toilet paper for many, many years. (For future reference, it’s in the cupboard under the bathroom sink. I hope you’re good at opening childproof locks one-handed whilst leaning over from the toilet…)

Teh Cute

• Black cat! Black cat! Tiger! Black panther! Black jaguar! Lionesses and baby! Lioness and baby! Baby cheetah! Egret! Bison and baby! Cheetah and babies! Baby tiger! Tigers! Tiger! Fox! Tiger and baby! Swan! Egret! Baby cheetahs!  Baby wolverines! Baby ringtail possums! Kittens! Baby red panda! Prehensile-tailed porcupine and baby! Baby fox! Kittens! Tiger and babies! Red pandas! Baby tiger! Baby buns! Cat and kittens! Cygnets! Baby red panda! Baby fox! Dalmatian and puppies!

Reading Update
The Cat in the Cradle (Loka Legends #1) by Jay Bell. ebook. Very good young adult gay fantasy (with romantic elements) about a young man and his talking cat who head out to experience more of life than what they’ve seen during their sheltered existence. They achieve that in spades.
Finding Fire, Flesh and Blood, and the Loka Legends Sketchbook (Loka Legends #0.5/1.5) by Jay Bell & Andreas Bell. free ebook collection. Finding Fire takes place before The Cat in the Cradle, but you don’t need to read them in that order. Flesh and Blood takes place before, during, and after The Cat in the Cradle; I recommend you read it after. Both (very good) short stories provide additional insight into the events of The Cat in the Cradle.
From Darkness to Darkness (Loka Legends #2) by Jay Bell. ebook. Very good young adult gay fantasy (with romantic elements) about life, death, love, and the responsibilities of power. Hmm. Could I be any more cryptic? 😉
Stained Glass by Jaime Samms. ebook. Very good kinky m/m romance about a guy who’s only recently realized he’s a sub, but who’s been almost destroyed by his dom imploding. He retreats into a bottle, but his friends are not ready to lose him.
Max & Finn (Men of Smithfield #2) by LB Gregg. ebook. reread. Very good m/m romance about a prep school teacher and dorm parent who is discomfited to discover that the security specialist he had an impulsive encounter with will be protecting one of the students in the dorm.
Slow Burn by Dawn Douglas. ebook short. Steamy short m/m romance about a college student whose twin sister blackmails him into doing a dreaded coffee delivery for a financial trust. In the elevator on the way to the delivery, he drools over the handsome older Brit…
Words and Their Digestion by seventhswan. free online short. Very good short m/m romance about a college student who’s probably somewhere on the autism spectrum and whose roommate is one of his few friends. And then his roommate gets a serious boyfriend…
Posted to Death (Simon Kirby-Jones #1) by Dean James. reread. This was a delightful and slightly twisted version of the British village cozy mystery, because Simon is a gay vampire (he can be out in sunlight and doesn’t need to drink blood, as long as he takes his medication) and well-known historian (who secretly writes romances and mysteries under several pseudonyms). Definitely recommended if you enjoy mysteries with a bit of snark and a complicated cast of suspects. (Also, for the wary, I would give this book a no-pepper heat rating – a very safe read.)
Faked to Death (Simon Kirby-Jones #2) by Dean James. Good gay mystery in which vampire and author Simon goes to a retreat for mystery writers, which is livened up a bit too much by murder.
A Road Not Taken by Jennifer Thorne. ebook. Good m/m romance about an eco-house builder who finds a depressed young man along the side of a road in a broken-down car, takes him home, and puts him to work. Things proceeded between them pretty fast – I think it would’ve worked better in a slightly longer format, with more time for their relationship to develop.
Love, Hypoethetically (Theta Alpha Gamma #2) by Anne Tenino. ebook. Good m/m romance about a grad student and tutor who’s never really gotten over his first love from high school, even though things ended in a way that left him horribly bitter.
Out of the Ashes by Olivia Duncan Craig. ebook. Good m/m romance based on Cinderella about a guy who grows up on a remote Texas ranch, basically living the life of an indentured servant. And then one day a handsome young man visits the ranch… This needed a wee bit more proofreading attention.
Murder on Camac (Marco Fontana #1) by Joseph RG DeMarco. ebook. Good gay mystery about a PI who also runs a troupe of male strippers and is hired by a grieving man to find out whether his boyfriend died in a mugging gone wrong, or was murdered because of a book he was writing exposing wrongdoing in the Catholic church.
Crimes on Latimer (Marco Fontana #3) by Joseph RG DeMarco. ebook. Good collection of six short gay mysteries featuring PI Marco Fontana, starting with Marco’s first “case” in high school. I was a little frustrated that a promising thread from “The DaVinci Theft” wasn’t resolved in that or any of the other stories.
Touching Evil by Rob Knight. ebook. Ok paranormal m/m romance about a psychic who can basically read minds when he touches someone or touches an object someone else touched. This makes him very useful to the police… until a serial killer starts working to get his attention. I found this a frustrating read – too many sex scenes, too many food descriptions, and too many sentence fragments (reminding me that “Rob Knight” is just a “Sean Michael” pseudonym).
It Happened in Buenos Aires (Grave Watchers #2) by Missouri Dalton. ebook short. Huh. I’m setting this to today, but I read this soon after it came out and can’t remember the dates. Perhaps my disappointment in the story blocked it all out?

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“You better watch out, big kitty! I am preparing my kitty laser eyes!” -Mayhem

“I’m so scared. Not.” -Chaos