As promised yesterday, part two of this week’s bookity linkity. Can you imagine yesterday’s post and today’s post combined into a single post?! You’re welcome.

Dear Author’s giving away 31 different different forthcoming titles from Berkeley/Jove. Leave a comment with your top three choices and your favorite Berkeley/Jove title.

Smexy Books is giving away two copies of Kelly Meding’s new urban fantasy, Three Days To Dead. Contest runs through December 11.

Leave a comment for author Tina Donahue by 12/2 over at Babbling About Books for your chance to win a copy of her steamy romance, Close To Perfect.

Literary Escapism’s giving away a copy of Kelly Gay’s new urban fantasy, The Better Part of Darkness. Leave a comment by midnight on December 15 for your chance to win. Sara at Urban Fantasy Reader is giving away her ARC of the same book and her contest closes at midnight EST, 12/19.

BooksOnBoard and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books are celebrating Hanukkah by giving away a Bookeen Cybook Opus ereader. Break out your creativity and follow the guidelines to write a 200-word pitch for a romance set during Hannukah (or any other Jewish holiday) for your chance to win. Contest closes at noon EST, December 18

Samhain’s having weekly contests throughout December. Prizes include four ebook readers (Kindle or Sony), free ebooks, and more. Head over to the Samhellion blog for details.

Voting’s open at All Things Urban Fantasy for the First Urban Fantasy Cover Art Awards. Participate by December 30 for your chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card, along with some of the winning books.

Check out the free reads and giveaways that Donna (Fantasy Dreamer) and Jackie at Literary Escapism found.

Another great urban fantasy weekend report from SciFiGuy. Plus he lists the new paranormal, urban fantasy, and scifi/fantasy releases for December.

Anastasia found some great book-related links and posted them at her Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

Feeling brave? You can read excerpts from all the contenders in the Bad S3x in Literary Fiction Contest. Jonathan Littell won for his description from The Kindly Ones.

Many thanks to Cecile and Kimber Chin for the copy of Kimber’s ebook, Released, that I won in their contest!

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Gluten-Free Living magazine has (unsurprisingly) gluten-free gift ideas on their blog.

Looking for gift ideas for your book lover? Head over to the Love Romance Passion blog for their list. Smart Bitches has a list, too.

Wired magazine has an ereader gift guide. Or you could just read the ereader holiday shopping comic instead.

I would highly recommend not buying your coworkers the new book Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction. Do you really want that annoying guy in the next cube to build his very own pencil crossbow?

Americans consume 34gb of data a day?! Hmm. Maybe not me, since I don’t watch tv or play computer games (anymore) or have a fancy phone. Of course, my music, book, and ebook consumption might help make that up.

After you absorb that statistic, head off to break your brain again over Gizmodo’s post “How Huge Is the Internet on an Average Day?”

Jenre wonders how people manage their TBR (to be read) piles and files.

Read a lot of ebooks on your iphone? This case/stand might be handy.

Do you have trouble determining when it’s inappropriate to use your iphone? This handy humorous flowchart might help!

This is a really cool (and cheap) laptop desk (although the directions are sparse, at best). In fact, I think I could use this even with cats on my lap…

Does your kitteh yearn for a Canadian cardboard cat chalet?

Black kittehs are looking out for what you read!

Poor little Tweety Bird…

Chaos?!

Free cute burns over at Pitter Pats of Baby Cats…

Reading Update
The Renegade Hunter (Argeneau Vampires 12, Rogue Hunter 3) by Lynsay Sands. Finally! Nicholas’ story can be told! Oh yeah, totally not an m/m series.
Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville. ebook. Holy crap. I kept hearing that this book was good, but I really wasn’t prepared for how good it was. This was very, very intense m/m romantic suspense about a hitman and a guy he’s supposed to kill. I laughed a little, cried a bit more, and am glad I started it early enough that I didn’t have to stay up into the wee hours to finish reading. Highly recommended.
Conventional Education by T. C. Blue. ebook. Well done m/m romance continuing the story of closeted actor Lucas and very out goth computer geek Trent that started in Conventional Wisdom. I was hoping things would be tied up a bit more at the end of this one, but now I’ll have to hope that for the next book.
Go Fish by H. T. Murray. ebook. This m/m romance was great fun! I laughed out loud more than a few times at some of the wonderfully clever bits, such as this: “He had no idea why he was thinking with dramatic pauses now. He just was.” Or this:

He was not pouting.

“Yes, you were.”

He was not doing a very good job of keeping his inner thoughts inner, either.

Teaching Him a Lesson by Brit M. ebook. Nicely done m/m romance about a professor and his teaching assistant, who has a psycho ex. Damn those psycho exes anyway! (And hey, contemplate the cover knowing that both guys had long hair…)
Horizons by Mickie B. Ashling. ebook. Pretty good m/m romance about a deeply closeted college football player with a homophobic family who finds himself falling (despite himself) for the very out ER doctor who cares for his broken arm. (Hmm. Sort of a weird cover, isn’t it?)
Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle. Steven’s a sophomore in a small Minnesota town who’s trying to figure out his sexual orientation. He just knows that he absolutely, positively is not gay. Right?
Near Life Experience by Alix Bekins. ebook. Very well done m/m romance about two friends whose friendship changes in interesting ways after one of them finds out an ex is HIV positive and goes in to be tested.
Beautiful Boys by Anne Cain. ebook. This is a fairly good collection of four interrelated m/m romance stories. (Not sure if I’d call any of the characters in the stories boys, or match them to the cover art, but…)
From the Heavens by Vic Winter. ebook. Enjoyable m/m romance. When a stressed out paramedic needs to get away from it all in the mountains and is rescued by a handsome ranger, how will his life change?
Spare Parts (Romentics) by Scott & Scott. ebook. Ok m/m romance about that tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive…
Two In Two Out by G.A. Hauser. ebook. D’oh. I really, really need to remember not to get more books by this m/m author. The writing is awkward and simplistic and the characters… Well, if they were two preteen girls, their gushing internal monologues might be ok. Might be. Plus I think this book exceeded an allowable use threshold for forms of “adore”.

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“I’m soooo sleepy… why are you bothering me? You must hate me.” -Mayhem

Or at least beer-thirty soon??

I’ve mentioned before that Lakefront Brewery’s New Grist beer is my favorite gluten-free beer. While I was in Toronto, I got Brigitte hooked on it, too, which would’ve been cruel if we hadn’t discovered that you could buy it from some of the larger LCBO stores (although not from The Beer Store).

Why is that? Well, strangely, New Grist isn’t considered a beer in Canada. The pictures below show the differences between the Canadian (left) and US (right) labels. In Canada, New Grist is “A crisp & refreshing alcoholic beverage” instead of “A crisp and refreshing session beer”.

Does anyone know how “beer” is defined in Canada? I spent a little time googling, but never did find the actual definition. (Thanks to Dotty, who discovered the reason!)

“I don’t know, Mom, it sure smells like that stinky stuff you like to drink but won’t share with us because you’re mean.” -Chaos

Brigitte and I spent a lot of time walking through the Beaches, which is a lovely neighborhood in Toronto near Lake Ontario. *scrabbling sound*

There we go – Lake Ontario! The first Toronto yarn shop we visited was the Naked Sheep.

I do love their naked-butt sheep logo. Just down the street, we discovered…

…Wild Earth Cafe, which had some tasty gf treats!

The next yarn store we visited was Romni Wools a few days later, when Lorraine volunteered to show us some sights. We just peeked into Lettuce Knit (we already knew we’d be coming back for Knit Night), then hopped into the car and checked out Romni Wools.

All I can really say about Romni is “Whoa.” I’ve never seen so much yarn in a single store before. Obviously, I was too overwhelmed to take a picture. When Brigitte and I had recovered a bit (from yarn fumes and spelunking in the basement), we headed over to the Purple Purl.

Isn’t this an amazing dress?! I’d never knit it or wear it, but it was pretty cool to see:

Purchases? What purchases? … Look! Over there! A streetcar!

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“I feel very philosophical today. Hmm. I think… I feel really sleepy.” -Chaos

For your chance to win a signed copy of the cookbook Modern Spice: Inspired Indian Flavors for the Modern Kitchen by Monica Bhide, leave Knit Think Amy a comment answering the questions that she poses in her post. Leave your comments through June 11.

Caption Noolie’s cute toddler picture for your chance to win some pretty blue Rowan 4-ply cotton. Contest is open through June 11.

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Has anyone tried the new GF Valencia Orange Cake from Starbucks? What did you think? Sadly, orange anything (other than juice) isn’t a favorite, so I’ll pass. But I’m glad to see our options increasing!

Here’s some more info on the new Betty Crocker GF mixes. (Hey, trek, maybe I’ll actually have some box tops for Neatnik next time!)

I am definitely going to look for these gf frozen flatbread pizzas – don’t they sound tasty?!

Knittymama has a link to a great idea for saving money on groceries and using up some of that food in the back of your cupboards.

If you’re really into making perfect espresso at home, this looks like a must-read.

The Yarn Harlot made Consumerist!

I knew it had to be a conspiracy. Knitting related lolcat! Hmm… Oh, this must be why I can never remember the fourth one. Beware of rampaging napping hordes of bad luck! Hee hee – there’s Chaos on the far right.

lolcat your blog!

Did you hear that certain varieties of Nutro cat food have been recalled due to incorrect mineral levels that can make cats sick?

Some tips on keeping your kitties from scratching up your furniture. I swear by claw trimming!

Want to get better information or advice? Try carrying a notebook.

I haven’t tried this app yet, but it looks like it could be a good tool for speedy photo fixes.

Hmm – turning Altoid tins into mini toolboxes has definite holiday gift potential.

Besides using a laptop stand or cooling pad, cleaning your laptop can help save its life.

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Oh oh… the question every parent fears:

“So, Mom, what do you do with all these pictures you take of me?” -Mayhem

Getting pizza delivered probably isn’t a big deal to most of you who live in any sort of populated area. However, since going gluten-free in 1997, pizza delivery hasn’t been an option for me… until just a few weeks ago, when my neighborhood pizzeria, Galactic Pizza, began offering a gluten-free pizza.

Galactic Pizza’s pretty cool all around. They have some electric cars they use to deliver pizzas, such as this one, captured blurrily last fall:

You might be wondering what the heck the delivery driver is wearing, huh? Well, the Galactic Pizza drivers dress up like superheroes. I tried to take some unobtrusive photos when my pizza was delivered Saturday, but they were so unobtrusive that they pretty much sucked.

Sadly, he wasn’t driving one of the wee electric cars.

The anticipation builds… You can’t see it from this picture, but apparently if I save this box and turn it in the next time I get one of their pizzas, I’ll get $0.50 off. Hopefully they recycle the boxes, because the city of Minneapolis won’t accept pizza boxes for recycling.

And here it is, a gluten-free pepperoni and mushroom pizza with vegan (gf/df) cheese. I know, I know, the cheese doesn’t melt like “real” cheese – but it also won’t leave me in agony.

And it was pretty darn tasty, especially washed down with a gluten-free beer.

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“Your ‘no pizza for cats‘ rule is stupid. Hmph.” -Chaos