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Congrats to Chris B, who won Where He Belongs (Belonging) by Rachel Haimowitz (courtesy of Storm Moon Press)!

Congrats to Seanna Lea, who won Shattered Secrets (Shadow of the Wolf #1) by RJ Scott and Diane Adams! Shattered Secrets will be released by Silver Publishing on August 27.

Congrats to wildflower3d, who won For the Attention Of (Pushing the Envelope #1) by Kim Dare! For the Attention Of will be released by Amber Allure on August 28.

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Contests

• Janna is giving away winner’s choice of Kele Moon’s Finding Eden (m/m) or Beyond Eden (m/m/f). Comment with your choice by August 27 for your chance to win.

• Carolyn Crane needs your help picking the title for her third Disillusionist book (and you could win a $10 online gift certificate)! Comment and vote by earlyish CDT on August 29.

• Amara’s giving away an ebook copy of Moonlight Becomes You by Piper Vaughn and MJ O’Shea. Contest closes 9 pm PDT, August 29.

Bookity

• New releases and more: Literary Escapism (UF/PNR) and Book Lovers Inc (a little of everything).

• Publishing and book news from Dear Author.

• Connie Willis won her eleventh Hugo Award for Blackout/All Clear. (Here’s the complete list of the 2011 Hugo winners.)

• Superlibrarian Wendy declares Stephanie Plum a “ho bag” after reading Smokin’ Seventeen.

• One Canadian library is including a human with your book checkout…

• The Mary Sue deconstructs a recent NYT article that claimed YA publishing excluded books of interest to boys.

• Jenre discusses why she reads “dark, edgy m/m romance.”

• Turn a vintage book into a Grid-It style organizer.

• Make a cheap book weight.

• Pride and Prejudice necklace.

• This lolcat (about cross stitching memes instead of photoshopping them) led me off on a tangent thinking about cross stitched book covers… and led Bron to comment that it’d take an awful lot of “nude” colored floss to cross stitch most romance covers!

Ebookity

• I really do not want a soundtrack with my ebook, thanks.

• Paul Carr wonders if ebook piracy is really an issue, because it’s nothing compared to the amount of paper book lending (via libraries and friends) and used book sales, neither of which provide author income.

• Free ebooks might boost print sales.

• One reader’s thoughts on ebooks and publishing.

• Dear Author wonders how good an ebook needs to be for $0.99.

• Romances and thrillers dominate the Kindle bestseller list. (via TeleRead)

• Author Paul Dunbar will send you Bang! The Universe in Verse #1 (free science comic ebook about the origin of the universe) or It’s Alive! The Universe in Verse #2, his free science comic ebook about how life started on earth. You can read them online, too. (via Gizmodo)

Think, Make, Do, Learn

• Goodbye, bell curve… (Thanks, CursingMama!)

• Pinkwashing. (via The Mary Sue)

• How did the animals in the Smithsonian’s National Zoo react to this week’s earthquake? Both the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral were damaged in the earthquake. Why did tweets about the earthquake reach people before the earthquake itself? Gizmodo has an interesting sort of stream-of-consciousness post about the earthquake and its effects.

• You have until the end of August to cancel your AT&T long distance plan without a fee – after that, you’ll be paying $2/month, even if you don’t make any long distance calls, and it will be $9 to cancel.

• Lifehacker’s complete guide to knowing your network.

• You can audit some of Stanford’s computer science classes for free online.

• The importance of apostrophes (and attention to detail in general).

• Watch the rise and fall of music on compact disc from 1980-2010.

• How to use acupressure to relieve nausea. (I should probably pick up some SeaBands to help me out in the numerous situations that make me motion sick.)

• Lifehacker’s list of ten products you don’t really need to buy because you already have the ingredients.

Cookity

• Make gluten-free corn dogs. (via The Kitchn)

• Make Ding Dongs. (via The Kitchn)

• Twenty recipes to liven up lunchboxes.

Crafty

• Knit plant pockets.

• Knit potted trees (not just for Christmas!).

• Knit some cabled pillow cases.

• Make crystal egg geodes or galaxy playdough.

• Knitting-themed tattoo. (Thanks, Bron!)

Cool

• To boldly go where no kitteh has gone before… (Thanks, Bron!)

• The science fiction timeline.

• Available soonishly: TARDIS journal. (via The Mary Sue)

• Or maybe a “My other car is a TARDIS” license plate frame? (Thanks, Kris!)

• You might need this Doctor Who t-shirt. (via The Mary Sue)

• If you haven’t seen the zombie engagement photos yet, you really need to.

• You can stay in a hobbit house next time you’re in Montana!

• LEGO samurai house.

• Spiderman vs Sandman, in LEGO.

• The LEGO version of the flying restaurant from The Fifth Element.

• Riverside, Iowa, definitely has a sense of humor.

• Pivotal moments in US history, now with 100% more monsters.

• OK GO and Muppets… (via Gizmodo)

• I love the colors on this wine stain cork heart.

• Animal sculptures made from torn paper.

Cool or Wha…?

• Airigami… (select some of the projects from the drop-down menu) (Thanks, Donna F!)

• Vulcan toques. (via The Mary Sue)

• Crocheted skeleton and organs… (Thanks, Kris!)

• Porcelain skulls. (via CRAFT)

• Pink tongue spoon.

Wha…??

• Troll: The Rise of Harry Potter…

• Chair made from 10,000 drinking straws.

• Next time you take your pet to the groomer, see if you can get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cut…

• A Greyhound bus spilled some of its cargo (bull semen) on a highway…

• Beef jerky-potato chip hybrid.

• SPAM lip glaze…

LOL

• Fifty reasons why Minnesota’s a great state. (via A Closer Look at Flyover Land)

• A breakdown of your time spent using tupperware.

• Brent Spiner impersonating Patrick Stewart.

• Han Sulu! (via The Mary Sue)

• Even stormtroopers and Darth Vader have to go to the bathroom… (via The Mary Sue)

• An amusing vintage ad about cat pictures! (Thanks, Limedragon!)

• New meaning of cat scan… (Thanks, CursingMama!)

• The Doctors Who… as cats. (via The Mary Sue)

• Cat sizes.

• Leaf overload…

• Did you know Basement Cat had a brother?

Teh Cute

• Kittens! Baby tigers! Kitten! Meerkat family! Kittens! Baby ocelot! Kitten! Giant anteater and baby! Kittens! Baby clouded leopards! Kitten! Baby wombats! Baby ferret! Ocelot! Red pandas! Baby panda! Baby ocelot! Elephant and baby! Aardwolf! Lion cubs! Red panda! Mountain goat tots!

Reading Update
Not One Word (Stand Alone Shorts #1) by Kim Dare. ebook short. I’m definitely biased, because a photo I took at Twin Cities Pride 2011 was the inspiration for this story. 🙂 But this was an enjoyably steamy, kinky short m/m story about a jogger who stops to make sure a mime in the park is ok… I hope the real life mime had as enjoyable an evening as did the mime in this story!
Landfall by Lori Toland. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about a hospice nurse who rides with some firefighters (including the one he’s been crushing on) during a hurricane so he can reach an at-home patient.
Finding Eden (Eden #2) by Kele Moon. ebook. Good kinky m/m romance that left me feeling conflicted. I really liked the evolution of Paul and Danny’s friendship as it developed into something infinitely darker and more complex. However, I was frustrated by the story seeming to end in midstream. I see that Beyond Eden takes place a number of years later, and perhaps it addresses what happens after this story ends… but I don’t want to read an mmf story. I want Paul and Danny to sort things out themselves!
Heartsong (Fae #2) by SW Vaughn. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about a prostitute who accepts a month-long contract, but has no idea that the man he’ll be staying with is a Fae prince (unsurprising, since he hadn’t realized the Fae existed). If only he found the Fae prince as compelling as the prince’s much abused bodyguard…
Unforgiven (Fae #3) by SW Vaughn. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about the Fae prince from the previous book, who’s returned to the human realm on his own and very out of his element… dangerously so.
Swapped by Christopher West. ebook short. Fun short paranormal m/m romance about a gay guy whose straight wizard buddy needs to switch bodies with him for 24 hours. How odd to be inside the body he’s been crushing on for years…
On the List (Changing Plans #3) by LA Witt. ebook short. Good short m/m romance that starts with Derek and Elliott just days away from their wedding… and then Derek’s family manages to shake Derek to the core.
Sometimes It’s Fate by Angela S. Stone. ebook. Good m/m romance about two members of the RCMP (Mounties) whose friendship slowly develops into something else. I think this book had the potential to be much, much better than it was – better editing would have helped tighten it up and would have resolved problems with punctuation and the like.
Wanna Do Bad Things With You by Shelley Munro. ebook. Good m/m romance about two rugby players on the Auckland team (one gay and out, one closeted) who get secretly involved with each other. I enjoy Shelley Munro’s stories, but always end up feeling as if a deeper edit could’ve smoothed out the roughness.
Cafe de l’Amour by JM Snyder. ebook short. Sweet short m/m romance about a barista and a guy who comes into the coffee shop and flirts with him every day.
Love’s Evolution by Ally Blue. ebook. Ok m/m romance about two guys who meet and feel a deep connection with each other. The book is a series of short stories about their relationship over the course of several years. I wasn’t a fan of the book’s structure, and I found one character’s constant use of “my darling” and “my love” to be cloying and annoying.
Hard Candy (Love’s Evolution #1.1) by Ally Blue. free ebook short. Steamy short m/m romance that’s basically just a sex scene involving chocolate.
Life, Love and Lemon Cookies (Love’s Evolution #2) by Ally Blue. ebook short. Good short m/m romance in which Chris is suddenly out of work after 15 years and not doing very well at all with the situation.
Protect and Serve by Eden Cole. ebook short. Ok short m/m romance about a cop and a district attorney, whose adversarial relationship conceals their mutual attraction.
Fighting Chance (Chances #2) by Viki Lyn. ebook. Ok paranormal m/m romance that picks up where Last Chance left off, with vampire Johan having the chance to live if he stays in the custody of slayer Corbin and takes a newly developed serum that might turn him human again. Corbin chafes at the responsibility, which prevents him from taking his revenge on the vampire who killed his father. While I liked the storyline, the writing often seemed rough and overdone, which I found very frustrating.
Artie, the Good Witch by Scarlet Hyacinth. ebook. Ok paranormal m/m romance about an innocent young witch who narrowly escapes an evil wizard with his virtue intact… and then further drama ensues. And ensues. And ensues. *sigh*

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*sigh* “You’d think I’d be able to get away from the picture taking up on top of the cabinets.” -Mayhem