Many thanks to Clare London for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming m/m romance, Switch (True Colors #4), for a lucky commenter to win! Plus, if the winner hasn’t read the first book, True Colors, it will be included in the prize! Switch will be released on May 23 by Dreamspinner Press.

Miles Winter and Zeke Roswell have excited and enthralled each other since the day they met. Zeke’s uninhibited lovemaking has allowed Miles to grow in confidence and their relationship to deepen. Back from a business trip, Miles knows he should take care of his backlog of work, but the delight of being reunited with Zeke makes him realize he has other, more important needs – including the one sexual step he hasn’t yet taken. Business can wait in favor of a commitment far more primal and more permanent.

Excerpt (scroll down and expand)

From the very first, Zeke Roswell and Miles Winter are like oil and water. After a tragic fire claimed his brother’s life, Zeke’s personal and professional life spiraled out of control, and now he has no choice but to sell his gallery to cover his debts. Enter successful entrepreneur Miles, who buys it and plans to make a commercial success out of Zeke’s failure.

Their initial hostility stands no chance against the strong passion that ambushes them. Zeke’s talent and lust for life intoxicate Miles, and Zeke finds Miles’s self-assurance and determination equally fascinating. But it’s not until an unsolved mystery of violence and stolen sketches threatens to sabotage any chance at happiness that Miles and Zeke realize they have a chance at all

Excerpt (scroll down and expand)

Other Books by Clare

About Clare

Clare took the pen name London from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home, she juggles her writing with the weekly wash, waiting for the far distant day when she can afford to give up her day job as an accountant. She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic and sexy characters.

Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter 3 stage and plenty of other projects in mind… she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home.

All the details and free fiction are available at her website. Visit her today and say hello!

You can also visit Clare at her blog, on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, GoodReads, and the GLBT Wiki.

Contest Rules

• To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Tuesday, May 22.
• By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
• If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only ritual dust bunny sacrifice will salvage your entry…
• If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
• Winners will be selected by random number.
• You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
• Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
• I am not able to reliably contact people with aol.com and netscape.com email addresses – please use a different email address if at all possible!
• If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
• If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
• This contest is open worldwide!

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“I love you, stripey socks!” -Mayhem

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Definitely enter the contest for Ervin’s Dilemma (Wayne County Wolves #1) by Stephani Hecht or The Helpful Swan (The Cob Brothers #3) by Stephani Hecht & Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 17.

Stop by and enter the contest for More Than Pride (Supernatural Mates #6) or Switching Payne by Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Don’t forget to enter the contest for King Perry by Edmond Manning! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Make sure you enter the contest for Still Life (Sanctuary #4) by RJ Scott! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Go enter the contest for A Series of Ordinary Adventures by Stevie Carroll! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 21.

Many thanks to Stevie Carroll for donating a print copy of her forthcoming paperback collection of mostly LGBT-centric fantasy stories (ranging from lightly supernatural through contemporary fantasy to horror), A Series of Ordinary Adventures, along with a signed bookplate for a lucky commenter to win! This is a US-only contest.

A Series of Ordinary Adventures will be released by Candlemark and Gleam on May 22. Also, if you preorder the collection from Kickstarter through the end of today, May 15, you will get not only the paperback but also bonus materials!

A wander down a country pathway, a cruise vacation in the Mediterranean, a school reunion, a sandwich eaten in the park – in the stories of Stevie Carroll, the mundane becomes tantalizingly magical. A footballer’s mistress gets more than just an apartment when her lover tries to keep her in style; a rock-and-roll bass player finds out that second chances aren’t all they’re cracked up to be; something sinister lurks beneath the trappings of a traveling carnival.

Richly peopled with characters you might meet in the shop around the corner, yet haunted by glimpses of something entirely otherworldly, A Series of Ordinary Adventures will transport you from the streets and lanes of England to a place where imagination is only the beginning.

Magical realism mixes with subtle horror and heartfelt romance in a collection of stories that will captivate and transform you long after the final page.

• Listen to Stevie read an excerpt from one of the Kickstarter bonus stories. (Link goes directly to an mp3.)
• Read the first story from the collection.
• Read an interview with Stevie.

About Stevie

Born in Sheffield, England’s Steel City, and raised in a village on the boundary of the White and Dark Peaks, Stevie Carroll was nourished by a diet of drama and science fiction from the BBC and ITV, and a diverse range of books, most notably Diane Wynne-Jones and The Women’s Press, from the only library in the valley. After this came a university education in Scotland, while writing mostly non-fiction for underground bisexual publications under various aliases, before creativity was stifled by a decade of day jobs.

Now based in Hampshire, Stevie has rediscovered the joys of writing fiction, managing to combine thoughts of science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries with a day job writing for the pharmaceuticals industry and far too many voluntary posts working with young people, with animals and in local politics. Stevie’s short story, ‘The Monitors,’ in Noble Romance’s Echoes of Possibilities, was longlisted by the 2010 Tiptree Awards jury. Other short stories have appeared in the anthologies British Flash and Tea and Crumpet. A Series of Ordinary Adventures is Stevie’s first solo collection.

Stevie has a livejournal for writing updates, and really needs to get a website. You can also find out more about Stevie on her GoodReads author page.

Contest Rules

• To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Monday, May 21.
• By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
• If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only ritual dust bunny sacrifice will salvage your entry…
• If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
• Winners will be selected by random number.
• You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
• Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
• I am not able to reliably contact people with aol.com and netscape.com email addresses – please use a different email address if at all possible!
• If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
• This contest is US-only…

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*sniff sniff sniff* “Mmmm… woolly…” -Mayhem

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Definitely enter the contest for Ervin’s Dilemma (Wayne County Wolves #1) by Stephani Hecht or The Helpful Swan (The Cob Brothers #3) by Stephani Hecht & Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 17.

Stop by and enter the contest for More Than Pride (Supernatural Mates #6) or Switching Payne by Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Don’t forget to enter the contest for King Perry by Edmond Manning! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Make sure you enter the contest for Still Life (Sanctuary #4) by RJ Scott! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

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Definitely enter the contest for Ervin’s Dilemma (Wayne County Wolves #1) by Stephani Hecht or The Helpful Swan (The Cob Brothers #3) by Stephani Hecht & Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 17.

Stop by and enter the contest for More Than Pride (Supernatural Mates #6) or Switching Payne by Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Don’t forget to enter the contest for King Perry by Edmond Manning! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Make sure you enter the contest for Still Life (Sanctuary #4) by RJ Scott! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

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Welcome to another edition of the Misadventures in Stock Photography! Today we’ll be catching up with Too Smooth Guy. Cover artists love to photoshop his pants… with alarming results that make his photoshopped hair look great in comparison!

from

would require

, along with some

provided by

(a

who got his power by

during the

). Poor Valor was captured under

during his

from

- he’d merely stopped for a cheap

beer, but somehow got caught in the

from that whole

kerfuffle and ended up

,

,

, and forced to search for

.

Hey, it rhymes!

*hoping no one will notice the train wreck before the rhyming bit*

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*sigh* -Mayhem

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Definitely enter the contest for Ervin’s Dilemma (Wayne County Wolves #1) by Stephani Hecht or The Helpful Swan (The Cob Brothers #3) by Stephani Hecht & Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 17.

Stop by and enter the contest for More Than Pride (Supernatural Mates #6) or Switching Payne by Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Don’t forget to enter the contest for King Perry by Edmond Manning! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Make sure you enter the contest for Still Life (Sanctuary #4) by RJ Scott! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

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Congrats to wusswoo, who won Cleave (Cutting Cords #3) by Mickie B. Ashling! Cleave is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to Logan, who won the signed paperback copy of The Talker Collection by Amy Lane! The Talker Collection is being released by Dreamspinner Press today.

Congrats to Jane O, who won Bennie’s Wish by Xara X. Xanakas (plus swag)!

Congrats to Wendy, who won Absolutely Eric (Boston Boys #2) by Erica Pike! Absolutely Eric is being released today by MLR Press.

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Contests

• Piper, MJ, and Xara are giving away several prize packages related to One Small Thing by Piper Vaughn & MJ O’Shea and Bennie’s Wish by Xara X. Xanakas. Hurry over – you have to comment by 9 pm CDT today, May 11, for your chance to win!

• Joyfully Jay’s giving away an ebook copy of Out in the Field by Kate McMurray. Contest closes 11:59 pm EDT, May 11 (aka today).

• Bronwyn Green’s giving away a $25 gift certificate to the Mindful Mushroom etsy store (essential oil perfumes). Contest closes 7 pm EDT, May 15.

• Tracy’s Place is one of the stops on Anne Brooke’s book tour – stop by and find out how you can be entered to win three ebooks from Anne’s backlist. Tour ends May 18.

• Joder’s giving away an ebook copy of A Hero Rising by Aubrie Dionne. Contest closes 11:59 pm CDT, May 18.

• To celebrate the release of Yours To Take, Joely Sue Burkhart is giving away a $100 gift certificate to the online bookseller of the winner’s choice. Contest closes midnight CDT, May 21.

Bookity

• New releases and more: Literary Escapism (UF/PNR), AAR (romances), and Book Lovers Inc (various types of romance).

• Book and publishing news from Dear Author.

• The evolution of paper books in the ebook age. (via TeleRead)

• Neil Gaiman on the late Maurice Sendak.

• Kassa considers the difference between realism and believability in fiction.

• Josephine Myles shares her editing process.

• Ava March shows us a glimpse of her desk.

• Becky Black with her monthly bookity, writing, and more linkity.

• PD Singer offers up the Rejection Generator to help writers improve their rejection tolerance.

• Jill Shalvis with a bizarre moment of small-town life.

• Melanie Marshall on vocabulary fail in erotic romance.

• Which Charles Dickens novel is the most Dickensian? (Thanks, Bron!)

• Ten famous authors and their favorite cocktails.

• Jane Eyre book bracelet.

• Clamp book shelf.

• Better book titles for The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett and Animal Farm by George Orwell.

• Kitten and books. Another kitten and a book.

Ebookity

• Tips for designing a good ebook cover.

• Some thoughts from Dear Author on how publishers could experiment with ebooks.

• The Harry Potter ebooks will be available through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

• Looking for more pulp fiction in your life? You can download free pulp fiction ebooks (in many formats) from Munseys. (via TeleRead)

• Zero Dollar Books shows you the most popular free Kindle books. (via Lifehacker)

• One ebook reader explains why she’s reading more on her tablet than her Kindle.

• Ebook nation infographic.

• Results of a survey that one of the Book Smugglers conducted for her thesis research.

• Consider the implications of sunscreen for your electronics…

• How to obtain a free ebook copy Crepuscule Monstrum by Carole Cummings & PD Singer.

Do, Think, Learn, Make

• Turns out the Mayans didn’t predict the world would end in December 2012. Bygones!

• A lovely reminder about teaching and learning. Make sure you hover your cursor over the comic for additional text.

• Why tv meteorologists don’t wear green.

• Did dinosaurs trigger the climate change that wiped them out by… farting?

• Fake a clean house.

• Turn your beloved old mix tapes into mp3s.

• If you’ve ever been frustrated by US-only YouTube videos…

• How to get more details on a shortened link before clicking on it.

• Vacuous Minx on North Carolina and the Bradley effect.

• Apparently the Church used to perform same-sex marriages, back in the 10th and 11th century! (Thanks, Bron!)

• “People in 49 states saw significant decline in health care access during the last decade“.

• Nine dangerous things you were taught in school.

• I’d be wary of Domino’s gluten-free pizza crusts, personally.

• Dwarf mammoths?!

• A 13-year old has invented a lollipop that cures hiccups.

Cookity

• Gluten-free orange polenta cake.

• Gin and tonic cake.

• Nutella-filled baked donut muffins. (via The Kitchn)

• Breakfast coffee pudding.

• Homemade Cracker Jacks.

• 5 desserts made with roasted strawberries.

• Make better guacamole.

Drinkity

• Rhubarb collins.

• Rangpur lime margarita.

• 6 frozen cocktail party pops.

• 15 fresh and simple spring cocktails.

• 15 non-alcoholic drinks.

Crafty

• Make a lamp from vintage cameras. (via CRAFT)

• A round-up of Star Wars crafts.

Cool

• New York’s hidden subway station. (Thanks, Bron!)

• Extremely geeky wedding.

• Geeky pancake art. (via The Kitchn)

• Comic book dress.

• Batman musical parody.

• Portal and My Little Pony mashup.

Cool or Wha…?

• Edible survival manual.

• Girl Scout cookie-flavored Nestle Crunch bars.

• Nevada has issued drivers’ licenses to driverless cars…

• Action figures in space.

Wha…?

• Unbelievable anti-sexual harassment stock photos. (via The Mary Sue)

• Double-ended shark coffee table.

• Princess Leia hoodie.

• I can’t blame him for looking so crabby.

• Giant fist can koozie.

• LEGO wig.

• Buffalo wing soda.

• Portable bidet attachment for a water bottle…

• Too icky to even give it a description. You have been warned.

• “The word ‘used’ should never describe sanitary products for sale“.

• Lightning struck a man in the scrotum.

• 7 more things that should never be on cake.

LOL

• If Planet of the Apes had been made in Minnesota…

• The legacy of English teachers.

• What if Pinterest was in real life?

• If the noble houses from Game of Thrones were beers…

• A cat’s guide to feline superiority.

• Using your cat to tell temperature.

• How cats see home.

• Bacon cat toy – it looks like Chaos in that picture, but it’s not!

• Also not Chaos, but it could be… if I had that shower curtain or a screen door.

• Can you find the cat who destroyed that chair?

• Kittehs of the corn! (with apologies to Stephen King)

Teh Cute

• A Yorkie with her adopted litter of kittens. (Thanks, Bron!)

• Kitten! Baby black jaguars! Tiger and baby! Baby clouded leopard! Baby tigers! Black kitten! Tiger and baby! Baby ocelot! Tigers! Baby lion! Penguin! Baby jaguars! Kittens! Baby reindeer! Baby animals with their mommies! Black cat!

Reading Update
The Persistence of Memory (Mnevermind #1) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook. Excellent alternate reality m/m romance about a mneomographer who’s lost his confidence after accidentally changing his dad’s reality… permanently. And then he runs into something inexplicable during an mneming session… Totally sucked into this, and impatiently waiting for the next segment. *taps fingers*
Hard Tail by JL Merrow. ebook. Very good m/m romance about an accountant, freshly laid off and from his job and newly left by his wife, who ends up running his brother’s bike shop while his brother is in the hospital. Since he’s not gay, why does he spend so much time staring at the bike mechanic’s arse?
My True Love Gave to Me (Brook Street #0.5) by Ava March. ebook. reread. Very good historical holiday m/m romance about young love, fear, and trying for a second chance, even if you’re not sure you deserve one.
Thief (Brook Street #1) by Ava March. ebook. Very good historical m/m romance about a peer who heads to a gambling hall of a certain repute to find out whether, as he suspects, he’d be wasting his time looking for a bride. The man he meets that night proves that, but is ever so mysterious…
Fortune Hunter (Brook Street #2) by Ava March. ebook. Very good historical m/m romance about a man who returns to England planning to marry an heiress so he won’t have to work; he’s not going to let anything, even friendship, stand in his way. This one really got to me. *blots eyes*
Rogues (Brook Street #3) by Ava March. ebook. Very good historical m/m romance about two men who’ve been friends since childhood and occasional lovers since their teens. Both are notorious rakehells, although one prefers men and the other women. But the whole balance of their friendship is about to change… I got sniffly reading this one, too.
Acrobat by Mary Calmes. ebook. Very good m/m romance about an English professor who spends a lot of time taking care of the teen living next door and who’s become comfortable with the teen’s uncle over the years, but never really noticed just how attractive said uncle was… until recently.
Frog by Mary Calmes. ebook. Sweet m/m romance about a cowboy who’s always traveling between rodeos and short-term jobs, only visiting his not-quite-a-boyfriend in San Francisco a few times a year. Because… how could he be a cowboy if he stayed?
Smoking Is Bad for You by Sasha L. Miller. ebook short. Very good short m/m story about two guys meeting under interesting circumstances and proceeding from there. This would get a PG-13 rating, so be aware.
Tumble Turn by Charlie Cochrane. ebook. Good m/m romance about a Paralympic swimmer who’s always planned to avoid romantic entanglements until after the 2012 Paralympics, but life has other plans… As others have noted, the British voice in this is very, very strong.
Dirty Little Secret (Dear Lake, Michigan #2) by Anah Crow & Dianne Fox. ebook short. Ok short m/m story about a guy who reaches a gay-friendly resort town in Michigan just as his married boyfriend sort of dumps him over the phone. This was way too short to be satisfying for the amount of story. Be aware this has an HFN ending.

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Finally finished my sister-in-law’s Christmas (2011) socks!

“I love me some stripey socks!!” -Mayhem

Many thanks to RJ Scott for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming m/m romantic suspense, Still Waters (Sanctuary #4), for a lucky commenter to win! Still Waters will be released by Silver Publishing on May 19.

Adam is given an assignment – to work with a man he hates. The same man who didn’t trust him two years before and destroyed their relationship in a single day.

Lee is adamant that he needs to understand why Adam betrayed the Bureau and the Bullen case is the perfect cover to get back in his ex-lover’s life.

Against the backdrop of Sanctuary and the Bullen case, can they both realise not everything they saw was real?

Other Books by RJ

• Complete list
• In the Shadow of the Wolf (with Diane Adams): Shattered Secrets and Broken Memories
• The Art of Words (with Meredith Russell)
• Texas: The Heart of Texas and Texas Winter
• Sanctuary: Guarding Morgan, The Only Easy Day, Face Value
• The Gallows Tree
• The Decisions We Make

About RJ

RJ Scott lives in the Chiltern hills just outside London, England. She loves reading anything from thrillers to sci-fi to horror; however, her first real love will always be the world of romance. Her goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and more than a hint of happily ever after.

She is published with Silver Publishing an-d Dreamspinner Press and was nominated in the Love Romance Cafe Awards of 2010 as Best GLBTQ Author, for Best Gay Paranormal / Horror (Oracle) and as Best Paranormal Author. Oracle was also nominated for Best Gay Paranormal / Horror 2010 in Elisa Rolle’s Rainbow Awards and was awarded an Honorable Mention (5th). RJ’s contemporary romance, The Christmas Throwaway, remained at number one on Amazon and at All Romance over Christmas and into the New Year. She cannot believe how lucky 2010 was for her and her foray into the world of MM writing.

RJ writes across all the genres, but if pushed she says she enjoys writing contemporary romance over the rest. Her newest release, Back Home, has already received favourable reviews on the Silver site and on Goodreads.

You can find out more about RJ and her books at her website, on Facebook, and via Twitter.

Contest Rules

• To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Friday, May 18.
• By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
• If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only ritual dust bunny sacrifice will salvage your entry…
• If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
• Winners will be selected by random number.
• You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
• Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
• I am not able to reliably contact people with aol.com and netscape.com email addresses – please use a different email address if at all possible!
• If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
• If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
• This contest is open worldwide!

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“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

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Definitely enter the contest for Ervin’s Dilemma (Wayne County Wolves #1) by Stephani Hecht or The Helpful Swan (The Cob Brothers #3) by Stephani Hecht & Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 17.

Stop by and enter the contest for More Than Pride (Supernatural Mates #6) or Switching Payne by Amber Kell! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.

Don’t forget to enter the contest for King Perry by Edmond Manning! Contest closes 7 pm CDT, May 18.