Congrats to Judianna P, who won Sinnerman (Warder #4) by Mary Calmes! Sinnerman is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.
Congrats to Marie A, who won Just-You Eyes by Clare London!
Congrats to Kerstin, who won Deefur Dog by RJ Scott! Deefur Dog will be released by Silver Publishing on Saturday, June 18.
Contests
- Mandi’s giving away a signed copy of Nalini Singh’s Slave to Sensation (Psy/Changeling #1) at Desert Island Keepers. Answer her question in the comments before June 18 for your chance to win.
- Bronwyn Green, Devon Rhodes, Gwendolyn Cease, Kris Norris, Suzanne Graham, and Jessica Jarman are having a Summer Solstice Contest and are giving away winner’s choice of a Nook WiFi 3G or a Kindle 3G WiFi! To enter, you’ll need to visit and comment on each author’s blog with your top two choices from that author’s backlist. Contest closes noon EDT, June 21.
- Rachel Haimowitz is giving away a Crescendo swag pack to celebrate finishing her first draft of the novel. Answer her question in the comments for your chance to win. Winner will be selected June 24.
- Joder’s giving away Dark Passages by Sara Reinke. Make sure you read the rules for how to enter! Closes 11:59 pm, June 25.
- Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of Love & Freedom by Sue Moorcroft. Answer her question in the comments for your chance to win. Closes July 27.
- Patti’s giving away an ARC of Wish You Were Here by Phillipa Ashley. Answer her question in the comments for your chance to win. Closes July 1. US only.
Bookity
- New releases and more: Literary Escapism (UF/PNR) and Book Lovers Inc (romance, etc).
- Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
Ebookity
- You can read a new free PsyCop short by Jordan Castillo Price over at Jessewave.
Make, Think, Do, Learn
- The same hacker group that took down cia.gov earlier this week posted a list of email addresses and passwords – check to see if your information was on the list. (One of my email addresses was!)
- Nine techy things made possible by IBM (which turned 100 yesterday). My dad (who was a computer design engineer for IBM for 30 years) said there’s a date error in this list, but I’ve forgotten which it was…
- If you’d rather that the music in your music library wasn’t filled with identifying data, this program can remove such data for you. (I ran the program and it worked very well.)
- Vampire stars! O.O
- How did you celebrate Captain Picard Day yesterday?
Cookity
- Yum – eat peas like edamame! (via The Kitchn)
Crafty
- knittyBlog covered International Yarnbombing Day. Kmkat got some great shots of a yarnbombing in Minneapolis.
Cool
- TARDIS tent. (Thanks, Bron!)
- Plush Indiana Jones. (via The Mary Sue)
- Gumball Wars. (via Paperback Writer)
- Milky Way time lapse. (via Gizmodo)
Cool or Wha…?
- Unicorn ring (can be used for self defense?).
Wha…?
- A mother might donate her uterus to her daughter. Erm. I wonder if the universe will end when the uterus that birthed her ends up inside her…
LOL
Teh Cute
- Cat and kitten! Owl! Cat and kittens! Foxes! Kittens! Baby sloth! Kitten! Lions! Kitten! Yawny fox kit! Kitten! Bun! Kitten! Lion and cub! Kittens! Baby cheetah! Kitten! Baby sloth! Crabby kitten! Yawny lion! Yawny baby bat! Baby otter! Baby penguin!
Reading Update
Knight Errant by K.D. Sarge. ebook. Excellent m/m scifi romance about a 16-year old being raised on a spaceship by his sister and her crew. He’s been trying to be who she wants him to be, but is quietly miserable. And then he meets a guy who completely aggravates him…
Life Lessons by Kaje Harper. ebook. Excellent m/m romantic suspense about a high school teacher who finds the murdered body of one of his coworkers, then is questioned by (and keeps running into) a deeply closeted police detective. Plus this was set in Minneapolis! 🙂 I’m looking forward to reading more by Kaje Harper.
Lies and Consequences by Kaje Harper. free ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense about an author pretending to be his lesbian best friend’s fiance so that her career in the Navy isn’t threatened. He’s so used to protective lying… can he even tell the truth anymore? (Stalker alert!)
The Night Porter by Sue Brown. ebook short. D’oh. How did I not notice this was a Bittersweet Dreams title?! Very good, but… *blots eyes*
Moments by R.J. Scott. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a badly behaved actor in a cable series who’s been busted for possession and ends up staying at a neighborhood resource center as part of his community service.
Being Lead by Celia Kyle. ebook short. Very good kinky short m/m romance about a dancer who’s just retired and is at loose ends, needing his Sir to ground him.
Becoming His by Shawn Lane. ebook short. This was a sweet short m/m romance about a stripper and a bisexual television actor getting together. However, it felt incomplete to me. The whole groper subplot sort of stuttered out. And the ending felt somewhat forced and abrupt.
Car Wash by Shawn Lane. ebook. reread. Pretty good m/m romance about Kevin, who’s working at a car wash after getting laid off from his office job. I must admit that I got a bit frustrated at Kevin not standing up for himself.
Kevin’s Stories: Volume 1 (Car Wash #2) by Shawn Lane. free ebook short. Good free m/m romance containing two short stories following up on Kevin and Michael from Car Wash.
Kevin’s Stories: Volume 2 (Car Wash #3) by Shawn Lane. free ebook short. Good free m/m romance containing two short Christmas stories featuring Kevin and Michael from Car Wash.
Realize by Kerry Freeman. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a college senior who has a crush on his freshman roommate, but hasn’t done anything about it other than scare off anyone looking to get closer to his roommate.
Fugitive Color by ZA Maxfield. ebook. Good m/m romantic suspense about a sleep walking artist whose muse has been murdered… and he’s pretty sure he didn’t do it…
Rite of Passage by Bryl R. Tyne. ebook. Ok m/m romance about an anxiety-stricken writer who moves to the Colorado Rockies for solitude and to hopefully get past his writer’s block. This was hard for me to rate, since I had a hard time with the writing style and never connected with the main character.
Emerald: Hey, Jealousy by B.A. Tortuga. ebook short. Ok kinky short m/m romance about two friends who are attracted to each other, but haven’t acted on it in a long time, due to a misunderstanding. And then something changes all that… This seemed to stop mid-scene, which I found annoying. And it read an awful lot like a Sean Michael title….
Possession by Jessica Skye Davies. ebook short. Ok paranormal m/m romance about a guy who brings home a cast iron Punch statue, then begins having odd accidents.
His Gentle Touch by Stormy Glenn. ebook. So-so m/m romance about a guy who meets a gentle (and very sexy) giant in a bar, then wakes up married to him without remembering what happened. Classic Big Misunderstanding plot. Fewer mistakes than usual!
Sexier When Wet by Eden Cole. ebook. Meh m/m romance about a wishy-washy guy who stays with his cruel lover because he’s afraid of being left out on the street with nothing. He’s pursued by a not-quite-as-cruel guy, who wants him to leave the cruel guy. So, as you may have guessed, my main problem with this one was the lack of likable characters… (Hi, Candy Cane Guy!)
Takedown by Stacey Kennedy. ebook short. Poorly written and edited short m/m encounter between a US Marshal and a bartender. Some examples: “Kiss for kiss, dominance filled the air until it was thick with it.” “His G-spot stimulated by Wyatt’s hard cock…”
*sunbeam bliss* – Chaos
LOL! The unicorn one was epic
A recent post from blodeuedd..Review: Love & Freedom – Sue Moorcroft
The octopus hot dog is actually really common in Japan for bento boxes for children. You can certainly make them without a product. It’s like parents using a tool to cut their child’s sandwich into a dinosaur, star or heart.
Also, pink guns? WTF!
A recent post from Seanna Lea..Victory!
Oh a new Simon’s Cat! Yay! Thanks for bringing to to my attention. The silent Star Wars was hilarious and I’ve sent the link to my SW mad friend :).
You’ve persuaded me to get the SF story. It was only 99c – bargain!
A recent post from Jenre..British Flash Out Now!
A rare, non-crotchety moment from Chaos:)
Still here and reading…just treading water in real life.
A recent post from Melanie..I am Interested in Beets.
Once upon a time I read, liked/loved/meh or hated, the books. Shared this with friends and never interacted with authors. time changes but the DA post was a good thing to read. I will never tell and author how to write, when to write or whatever…I like to be treated the same. I’m still in charge of my own CC thank you very much!
Okay, of course the five most pointless female specific products has me confessing to owning bright pink hammer & drill 😉
BTW, I read Takedown as well yeah, it didn’t entail much but I liked both men 😀
Have a good one, Chris!
A recent post from Leontine..Cover Discovery: Girl power can commence – Queen edition!
I tugged on the hem of my shirt.
A recent post from trek..Science project
Wow, “What Went Wrong with the Star Wars Prequels” totally nails why I didn’t like them even though I loved eps 4-6. Whiny. Sure, Luke is a bit whiny in the first, but he got over it. Anakin just stayed whiny throughout; I could never think of him as the evil Darth Vader I grew up with. I could go on…
Another great linkity. Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
A recent post from Alison..Long Time
I love that book bag. 🙂
re: writing blurbs, I’d be thrilled stupid to have someone write a blurb. So hard and most seem to suck. LOL Guess you could blame someone else if you didn’t write it.
I think a better post would be “how to travel with your spouse and not end up in divorce court.” LOL
I think I’m going to share that nifty animal sounds videos with friends, cool to listen with kids.
Star Wars Silent Movie was great.
That Bohemian Rhapsody thing was brilliant. So reposting. Frighteningly, I’ve seen most of the clips before.
Those cellists were amazing. Mel just dreamed he played the cello last night. I sent it to him. 🙂 Twilight zone.
I would LOVE a campfire candle.
We have the rotisserie chicken channel.
That penguin made me laugh out loud.
Wow, the only ones I’ve read there are the Shawn Lane (didn’t know there were follow-ups to Car Wash, I’ll have to pick those up) and the sip. Might check out the Minneapolis one, but the whole closeted thing tends to make me crazy.
A recent post from Tam..Finally Friday
Oooh. Warm kitty tum.
A recent post from Marji..37 and counting
Chris- I decline the poopburger.
There used to be a place I went to, that had deep fried “poo poo’s”- which was deep fried mashed potatoes.
I never tried them.
A recent post from Lorraine..Dude, Where’s My Camera?
LOL Cellos playing Welcome to the Jungle!! ROTF
Chaos, I feel the same way about sunbeams!
A recent post from margene..Does She or Doesn’t She
Looks like you had a few good reads this week. I’m going to have to check them out for some good vacation reading.
Love the pose, Chaos.
WORK IT, BABY, WORK IT!!!
Love the house made of bookshelves! And love Chaos’s photo — he looks so comfy. Plus I’m amazed at all the reading you got done! And that one book: Fewer mistakes than usual! I guess that’s a trend in the right direction. 😉
A recent post from Val Kovalin..Weekly Update Second Week of June
If your power goes out and you don’t have a flashlight, how are you going to make one from your phoneline (which includes soldering) in the dark?
And how did I miss Captain Picard Day?!? He was my fav, well, 2nd fav. Data rocked!
A recent post from Ava March..1 Down & a New Trilogy to Go
The news about Overdrive is very welcome — their interface, at least through our library consortium, sucks big time (not to put too fine a point on it).
But I resent the snarky comment in the “unnecessary items redesigned for women” article that says that women over 60 have trouble shopping for computers online. Humph. I have bought every computer (and most of the electronic gadgets) I have ever owned online, and I am definitely on the shady side of 60. Humph, I say; humph.
A recent post from kmkat..FO Friday.
I go nuts everytime I see one of those pink tool kits. The knee replacement was great. Paint it pink and try again.
A recent post from marylou..Always Label
I always wanted a house full of bookshelves but now that I just read ebooks it just doesn’t have the same appeal. lol 🙂
Thanks for the link to British Flash, looks interesting.
Wha…? 0_0 😀
I’d forgotten just how awesome your linkity Fridays are. Thanks!
A recent post from Lily..W… W… W…
We’ve been so hot we’ve been avoiding those sunbeams!
A recent post from Lynn..Feline Fridays
I don’t know about the house of bookshelves. I think one can probably never have too many books. Not sure if I can say the same about bookshelves…
Ohhh, great books read this week, quite a few of which I want to read 🙂
Chaos – that spot (and you) just looks…blissful!
A recent post from orannia..Under Pressure
I really enjoyed the PsyCop short! Thanks for mentioning it. 🙂
That Yarn Bombing is cool!
Have a great weekend, Chris!
A recent post from Renee..WINNER: Nightfall Giveaway!
Wha..?? Wha..???
The “Wha?”s are really Wha? this week…
A recent post from Cheryl S…2024
After reading the Star Wars link, I found this: http://puns.icanhascheezburger.com/2011/06/10/funny-puns-dark-side-of-the-moon/
A recent post from PD Singer..Guest Blogging with Simone Anderson
If nothing else “zucchini weinies” is fun to say.:)
Oh, a new Simon’s cat I haven’t seen… and too true.
Why is it that they want make everything for women pink?
I’m seriously LOL at the awkward autocorrects.
I love the rainbow quilt. Too bad I hate quilting.
Chaos does look blissful this week.
Thanks for mentioning the e-book reader contest!
I so, so love auto correct. 😀
Those cellists are amazing!
The fox kits are adorable and OMG SQUEEE the little bitty batty!
I heart linkity! 😀
A recent post from Bronwyn Green..Happy Father’s Day
I soooo want a TARdis tent.
I can’t believe I missed Capitan picard day.
Hi cute kitty!
Also: Vampire stars. Too cool.
A recent post from Nicole..Recovery
Thanks for the link, and I love the TARDIS tent! One of my (nerdy) dreams is to have a TARDIS gazebo one day.
A recent post from Jodi..Midsommar rhubarb festival