Mayhem’s Lap Ennui, plus links! And books! And exclamation points!!

Donna (Fantasy Dreamer) is giving away a copy of Diane Pharaoh Francis’ new urban fantasy, Bitter Night. Leave a comment by 8 pm CST, November 8, for your chance to win.

Lisa at Knitnzu won a copy of Show No Fear in my contest last month, but received two copies from the publisher. Of course she’s having a contest to pass on that second copy. 🙂 Leave a comment by the evening of November 6 for your chance to win.

Beth Kery’s giving away a copy of Erin McCarthy’s first NASCAR romance, Flat-Out Sexy. Leave a comment at Beth’s blog by November 6 and make sure you check back on the the 6th to see if you won!

Author blog Fangs, Fur and Fey is having a three-year anniversary contest and the grand prize is a Kindle. Contest closes 11:59 pm EST, November 13.

Wow – check out all the paranormal and urban fantasy releases over at Donna’s! )Don’t miss her weekly book news and more.) SciFiGuy lists the paranormal, urban fantasy, and scifi book releases for November. He also has his usual excellent weekend round-up of interviews and contests.

Looking for more reasonably priced ebooks for your reader? Amber Quill Press is offering three ebooks each day (one from each of their lines – fiction, er0tica, GLBT) at 75% off.

Thoughts on ebook piracy from Dear Author and from author Carolyn Jewel. And something else to think about – music pirates actually buy more music. I wonder if this holds true for ebook pirates?

This sounds cool – a four-part series about reading on Canadian television.

TeleRead reviews the new 5″ Astak EZReader. (I have the 6″ EZReader.) Here’s a quote from the review: “This may be the first e-book reader I’ve run across that is actually worth the purchase price.”

Oh oh – did B&N misappropriate intellectual property with the Nook?

Has anyone tried this ebook price comparison site yet?

Largehearted Boy has a nice list of the best books of 2009 lists that are already available.

There’s an iPhone app that claims it can double your reading speed in five days.

I would’ve needed stitches if I’d tried this.

Not surprisingly, last week was a good week for basement kittehs over at lolcats.

So Chaos. Switch the glass of milk for a soy mocha and this could be my place.

Lucky me – I won a $25 gift certificate to Fictionwise.com during Romance Reviews Today’s blogiversary contest. Thanks, RRT!! And many thanks to Cecile – I won Supernatural dvds in one of her many October contests!

Reading Update
A Stroke of Magic (Gypsy Magic, Book 2) by Tracy Madison. I was lucky enough to win a signed copy from a contest at Anna’s Book Blog a few months ago. This is the sequel to Madison’s delightful paranormal romance, A Taste of Magic. If you’re looking for some sweet paranormal romances without a vampire or demon or shapeshifter in sight, I highly recommend this series. The only thing I didn’t like about this was the cover – it’s very striking, but on first impression? I would’ve guessed the main character was a makeup artist, not an artist/painter. Or maybe that’s just me?!
Second Time Around by Bobby Michaels. ebook. Pretty sappy m/m paranormal romance that “drove me nuts” with “excessive quotation mark use.”
Snow Angel and Angel Heart by Sharon Maria Bidwell. ebooks. Nicely done m/m romances that spend more time in the characters’ headspace than most do.
Sursein Judgement by Jet Mykles. ebook. Hmm. This m/m romance isn’t that easy to classify. Possibly as steampunk with paranormal and manga elements?! It was good, whatever it was exactly. 🙂
Personal Demons by James Buchanan. ebook. Good m/m romantic suspense about an FBI agent and an LAPD officer who team up to track down a voudon killer.
The Good Thief by James Buchanan. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense about an LAPD officer (are you sensing a theme here yet for the James Buchanan books?) and a burglar who get involved, despite their best intentions. James Buchanan is definitely on my must-buy list.
One Shot by Rowan McBride. ebook. Decent m/m romance about people affected by the side-effects of a new universal flu shot, some of which include gaining or losing several inches in height!
Finding Home by Cameron Dane. ebook. Solid m/m romance about a security expert who’s in love with his straight best friend/roommate. This is told in snippets over a ten-year period, which actually worked better than I expected.
I Spy Something Wicked by Josh Lanyon. ebook. This m/m romance is a respectable sequel to I Spy Something Bloody. Apparently it’s hard getting out and staying out of the espionage business.
Deeper Blue by A.J. Llewellyn. ebook. So-so m/m romance that was choppy, uneven, and had too many wtf moments for me, such as characters behaving oddly, but the behavior wasn’t ever explained, etc.
Bridge Over Trouble Water by Vivien Dean. ebook. Ok m/m paranormal romance about a homicide detective who hates and fears vampires, but needs the help of a very special vampire to solve a case.


“I guess this lap business is ok, but it’s pretty boring compared to having the windows open! Why won’t you open the windows for me, Mom?!” -Mayhem

Um, maybe because the high today is only supposed to reach 45F?!

29 thoughts on “Mayhem’s Lap Ennui, plus links! And books! And exclamation points!!”

  1. I love that cover with the brush but yes make-up more than painter.

    Oh noes, could not enter the kindle one, now that would just been to awesome, well mostly cos of those giftcards, a girl has to love those.

  2. I see makeup artist too-I think its the pink on the brush and the pink makeup she’s wearing. Maybe if they would have put a different color paint on the brush we wouldn’t associate the two?

  3. “One Shot” is particularly fitting right now, considering all the hype about the H1N1 vaccine!

    That series on TVO looks really interesting. TVO is a great channel – I’ll definitely check that out.

  4. I thought of Chaos when I saw that evil-plans lolcat.

    I’ve never been interested in the mass illegal downloading, but the occasional free track (as in concert promos and such, and music blogs) has absolutely gotten me to buy concert tickets and CDs.

    We’re edging back toward closed-windows-and-heat time here (after a week of it last month). Mel is not going to be pleased. He wants the one still-open window to be open wider.

  5. Oh yeah, you need to double your reading speed. I remember taking reading for speed and comprehension as requirement freshman year of high school. I already read faster than the target we were supposed to reach. The TVO show looks great.

  6. I hear you Mayhem! The furnace came on more then once last night. Shivers…

    Thanks for all the links Chris! I’d need stiches if I tried that too, still recovering from combing my cat.

    Have a great day Chris!

  7. Cricket is allowed to go outside sometimes during the day… but once the weather gets colder, she whines to get out the front door, says “Dang, it’s cold!” and runs to the back door, where she whines again only to discover that it’s ALSO COLD IN THE BACKYARD. It’s very traumatic, and she usually has to go curl up on a blanket to recover.

  8. Hey Chris!!!! =) Hope you day is a whole lot brighter!!!
    Girl, your covers never cease to amaze or astound me!!!! And those links!! Thanks for all the heads up!!!
    Hope you have a GREAT day!!!! High 45*… burrrr… **while sipping my coffee**

  9. Chris- I guess FC won’t be getting an E-reader this year. No one ships to Canada, and if they did, there is no access to the software.

  10. Poor May, no open windows. That is just cruel and unusual punishment. Just think if you opened your windows, you could save energy by not having to run your refrigerator. May is just encouraging you to be “green”.

  11. So 45F is actually considered cold? Good to know.

    OMG, I would love to have seen Chaos in that costume! Well, I would have loved to have seen the attempt. 😉

  12. I would think that book piracy would result in less books bought. Most of the people I know don’t reread their books that frequently. I reread my favorites every 6 months or so (which is why I don’t read nearly as much as you. Most of the music piracy I think of isn’t full albums but single songs, which encourages you to buy more from the artist, because you liked the little bit you heard.

  13. I hope you don’t let Chaos read lolcats. Too many ideas…

    May, fall and winter are for lap sitting; spring and summer are for bird watching. You must become in tune with the seasons.

  14. I think it’s the whole color coordinated thing plus the brush in her mouth that makes it look like a makeup artist. Plus the brush isn’t nearly messy enough or full of paint for a painter.

    But May, laps are so nice and warm this time of year.

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