Contests

• Cecile’s giving away an ebook copy of Strange Familiar by Cassidy Hunter. Contest closes January 29.

• Tracy’s giving away a copy of books 10 and 11 in the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr. Contest closes 11:49 PST, January 31.

• Larissa’s giving away a signed copy of Catch Me If You Can (Romano & Albright, Book 1) by L.B. Gregg. Contest closes February 4.

• Blodeudd’s giving away two copies of Yours for the Taking by Robyn Kaye. Contest closes Feb 3. Patti’s also giving away two copies of Yours for the Taking and her contest closes February 4. (US & Canada)

• Juniper Moon Farm is holding a fundraiser to help a Vermont organic vegetable farmer who basically lost his entire business to a barn fire. There are many, many fibery prizes to help encourage people to donate! Donations will be accepted until February 6. (Thanks, Seanna!)

Bookity

• New releases and more: Tor.com (YA paranormal; UF/PNR; fantasy; scifi), Katiebabs (books she’s looking forward to), and Literary Escapism (UF/PNR).

• Via Dear Author, a post from Ursula LeGuin mocking the new morality clause HarperCollins has added to its author contracts. Definitely read the comments on the post!

• Neil Gaiman on seeing words he wrote in an unexpected place.

• Eric Arvin shares some writing wisdom.

• Ten websites Paperback Writer would love to see on the internet.

• Paperback Writer would also like a checklist for returning ideas to her muse.

Ebookity

• Trying to get pdfs to fit on your ereader’s screen better? Briss might help.

• Ebooks are now outselling paper books at Amazon.

• Tired of your Kindle? Microcosm Publishing will trade you paper books and magazines for it.

• Publishers need to decide whether they’re selling ebooks (providing full ownership rights for the purchase price) or providing a rental (at rental prices). Another, longer opinion piece on the same topic. Dear Author weighs in, too.

• The first all-indie ebookstore in Australia is called SPUNC. *ahem*

Make, Think, Do, Learn

• Writing helps you learn better than typing does.

• If you need help visualizing how big the internet is…

• How to modify your google searches to give you better results.

• Do you need a mouse that works on your couch?

• Eighty percent of US divorce lawyers say that social media is now mentioned by their clients as one of the reasons the marriage failed.

• Use an old gift card as a headphone cable wrapper.

• ModernCat’s odor elimination survival guide could come in handy.

• How to determine the cost of clutter.

• Check out The Kitchn’s tips for removing baked-on food from pots and pans.

• Make some spicy dark hot chocolate to drink!

• McGyver would be proud of you for modifying a hand-crank flashlight with a usb port so you can manually charge your tech gear.

• Try a 15-minute no-equipment workout developed in 1904! Or you could use Craigslist to put together a home gym.

Cool

• Jase and Juni started a blog called Happiness Is Shy! (NSFW)

• Last week, The Kitchn blog focused on gluten-free foods and concerns. Recommended! (Thanks, Jodi!)

• Tape art – way better than you expect.

• ThinkGeek has a Molecular Cuisine Starter Kit.

• A 1:35200 scale toy train set is very, very small.

• Maybe a child you know needs a homemade TARDIS.

• Geek jewelry links from EPBOT.

• Extemely geeky tote bag.

• Turn a soda can into an embossed box.

• These yarn words are pretty nifty.

• I have a very similar fabric keychain that I love.

• Kristi’s got crafty, photography, and food linkity.

• Print free US Patent Valentine’s cards.

• Amazingly, this fun short action film (Lazy Teenage Superheroes) was made for $300.

• Gorgeous animated short film about a little girl on a carousel.

Huh

• You can’t even take a three-inch toy gun through airport security…

• Using bombs for snow removal instead of shoveling – not recommended.

• I hope that this isn’t really what Lady Gaga’s forthcoming fragrance will smell like.

• Now you can buy frozen pizza and frozen cookies in a single handy package.

• The L cup bra size just debuted.

• T-shirt fail.

• Air pollution monitoring t-shirt…

• MeatWater. Just say no.

LOL

• I’m a fast listener, too. (Thanks, CursingMama!)

• Bronwyn Green on dropping off her son at a birthday party with an apology… and more.

• Fun video mashup of the Minnesota-Wisconsin December 2010 blizzard, including a cute song.

• Toni Andrews on how to excavate a buried car “using only a small hand shovel and your own wits”.

• Guillotine by Gillette.

• Infographic humor.

• The Oatmeal’s State of the Web, Winter 2010 edition.

• Bottled water addicts should skip this link.

• Not kitty treats!

• Kitty law #1?

• I’ll pass on the skwerls, but the rest sounds good to me.

• I’m sure many kitty boys have this same question.

• Yeah, I can picture Chaos saying that.

Teh Cute

• Kitten pile! Baby flying squirrel! Kitten! Baby polar bear! Red panda! Wee hedgehog! Bunny! Panda! Fennec fox! Baby skunk! Kitten and bunnies! Red panda! Lynx kittens!

Reading Update
The Tourist by Clare London. ebook. Excellent paranormal m/m romance told from the perspective of a tourist, a spirit who can head hop, albeit with limited control. Usually he just stays for the sex and then moves on… but something’s different for him this time. This totally sucked me in and I couldn’t go to bed until I finished it. To be released 2/28.
Another Enchanted April by Eric Arvin. ebook. Excellent and cleverly written m/m romance about three friends on vacation in a seaside town, staying at an Italianate villa with intoxicatingly lovely gardens. Each of them will be profoundly changed… but not necessarily in the ways they expected. (And I may have gotten sniffly whilst reading this. I can neither confirm nor deny.)
A Strong Hand by Catt Ford. ebook. Very good kinky m/m romance about a famous photographer of erotica who’s shooting a catalog of high-end sex toys when he begins to realize he’s attracted to his assistant after his assistant models for the shoot.
Ruby Slippers by Alexi Silversmith. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a police detective who thinks that men shouldn’t wear makeup or do anything feminine, so when he finds out what his boyfriend does for a living, things get ugly. I enjoyed the chance to see James and Ethan from What They Say About Love as secondary characters.
Boystown: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries by Marshall Thornton. ebook. Very good collection of three m/m mysteries featuring Chicago PI Nick Nowak. Set in 1980 before AIDS devastated the gay community, these gritty stories reminded me of Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski mysteries, only with a lot more sex. 🙂
Boystown 2: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries by Marshall Thornton. ebook. Another very good collection of three mysteries featuring Chicago PI Nick Nowak. I really, really hope that the author is busily working on Boystown 3, because the final story ended on a surprising (but sadly realistic) dark note.
Out on the Net by Rick R. Reed. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about a guy who finally accepts that he’s gay 20 minutes before he’s supposed to get married to a woman. The story is told via his blog as he tries to figure out being gay and meeting guys in his small town.
Bloodlines by Jessica Lee. ebook. Very good (and smokin’ hot) paranormal m/m romance about a wolf shapeshifter, supposed to be the next alpha of his pack, who’s kicked out of his pack when his father discovers he’s gay.
Red Hot by Kate Roman. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about a straight guy who breaks up with his girlfriend because he can’t stop thinking about his male roommate.
Brush with Desire by Chrissy Munder. ebook short. Very good steamy m/m short that starts with an exhausted IT guy drooling over a hot man in a suit he sees in the grocery store and ends with a smoking hot (and humorous!) encounter between them.
Hearts and Flowers by Chrissy Munder. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about an accountant, a found puppy, classified ads, and quite a bit more. While I enjoyed the story, I felt there was just too much going on for the story’s length.
Driven to Distraction by Anah Crow & Dianne Fox. ebook. Good m/m romance about a professor who inherited his grandfather’s collection of classic cars. When he damages one of the cars, he has the chance to get to know his mechanic much, much better…
Possession (Devlin Island, Book 1) by S.W. Vaughn. ebook. Good paranormal m/m romance about an unfortunate vacationer who runs aground on Devlin Island with the worst possible timing, then meets a crabby male witch trying to figure out if there’s a demon loose on the island.
Where He Belongs by D.C. Juris. ebook short. Good kinky short m/m/m romance about a sub who left his two masters and now has to try to convince them to take him back.
Sandpipers’ Secrets (Sandpipers, Book 1) by Jade Archer. ebook. Good m/m/m romance about a guy who desperately needs a job to keep he and his brother off the streets and so is happy to get a kitchen job at Sandpipers, despite the attraction he feels to the couple who own the restaurant.
Xavier’s Way by Diana DeRicci. ebook. Good m/m romance about a guy who realizes that his now ex-fiance was siphoning money out of his business. But what are these strange feelings he has for the handsome auditor he’s hired to gather evidence of his ex’s wrongdoing?
A Measure of Discipline by Diane Adams. ebook short. Ok m/m short about a guy who’s leaving his university number crunching job and needs to train two student workers to take his place. I haven’t read the two previous stories and, alas, this was just confusing as a standalone.
Best Man by Shelley Munro. ebook short. Ok short m/m romance about two closeted rugby players and teammates, neither of whom knows the other is gay, who’ve been lusting after each other.
Work of Art by Rob Knight. ebook short. Ok short m/m romance about a neurotic artist and a guy who manages musicians. This was basically just a little slice of their life together and I couldn’t really see a point to it.
Tryst by Stone Richards. ebook. Meh m/m romance about a PI who gets sent to London to investigate a prominent businessman for a company considering a deal with the man. The whole thing was so implausible…

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“Ok, you’re right, your phone doesn’t have a flash…” -Chaos

“…But the big kitty and I think you need to stop taking pictures of us anyway, flash or not.” -Mayhem