Reading Update
You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes – Photographs from the International Space Station by Chris Hadfield. Amazing, perspective altering photos of the Earth from the International Space Station, as taken by Commander Chris Hadfield during his nearly 3000 orbits of the planet. Apparently he took nearly 45,000 photos turning his time aboard the ISS – I can’t imagine how much work it was to sort them and identify the locations…
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield. Colonel Chris Hadfield’s engrossing autobiography provides a fascinating look at not only his life and the path he chose to becoming an astronaut, but also incredible glimpses of what it was like to fly on the Shuttle, ride a Soyuz to and from the International Space Station (ISS), and live in the ISS for five months. Throughout the book, Hadfield’s sense of humor and joy, as well as his levelheadedness, shine through and provide insight into living a more fulfilling life here on Earth.
Widdershins (Whyborne & Griffin #1) by Jordan L Hawke. Good paranormal m/m romance about repressed scholar Whyborne who gets involved in private detective Griffin’s investigation of a mysterious death. The especially mysterious and paranormally bits were straight out of HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Truly, having studied at Miskatonic University in Arkham, the town of Widdershins would have to be Very Odd Indeed for Whyborne to notice anything amiss. And Whyborne’s colleague at the museum, Christine, reminded me a bit of Amelia Peabody.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

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Linkity leeway lacks

October 17, 2014 Chris 6 Comments

Donâ€™t forget to enter the contest for Cutting Out (Cutting Cords #4) by Mickie B Ashling! Closes 7 pm CDT, Tuesday, October 28.

Congrats to Lee T, who won Danny and Mike (2nd ed) by Valentina Heart!

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and Literary Escapism (UF/PNR)
Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
Dear Author on the isolated romance heroine.
VacuousMinx on detoxifying her online life. (I’m still ok with not being on Twitter or Facebook.)
The Economist on the future of the book. (via An American Editor)
“The History of English” (video). (via Smart Bitches)
“The secret sermon in every romance novel“. (via Emma Sea)
Infographic on how reading is good for your body from the CBC and Canada’s National Reading Campaign.
“How to kill your slash fandom in 5 steps“. (via Loederkoningin)
Finalists for the National Book Award. (via blue–spruce)
15 gifts for “punctuation nerds”.
Honest trailer for the Harry Potter films.

Learn, Do, Make, Think

Cookity

Gluten Free

Crafty

Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

A fake documentary on the Great Martian War of 1913.
Fan remake of The Empire Strikes Back (video). (via mental_floss)
LEGO ships in bottles.
LEGO water mill.
LEGOpolis.
Layer-lapse of Boston.
Some fine cabling on this skull sweater.
Hmm. I think this hand-powered espresso machine might need to be part of my disaster survival kit.
Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Commas are very, VERY important. (Thanks, Jase!)
For the sake of argument… (Hover your cursor/long-press for additional text.)
Lightsaber. (Hover your cursor/long-press for additional text.)
“TL;DW 2.5 minuter summary of The Matrix trilogy” (video). (via Gizmodo)
Pairing wine with your Halloween candy. (via The Kitchn)
Best wifi network name ever?
Cat principles.
Black cat camouflage.
A tiger and his pumpkin. Baby lynx and pumpkins.

Teh Cute

Baby malamute howling (might startle your coworkers if you’re at work)! Cheetah and babies! Red panda and baby! Baby tiger! Kittens! Ocelot and baby!

Reading Update
Cited to Death (Jamie Brodie #1) by Meg Perry. Good mystery about an academic librarian who receives a puzzling letter from a recently deceased ex-boyfriend (a medical librarian) and encounters no end of problems as he tries to figure out the puzzle.
Hoarded to Death (Jamie Brodie #2) by Meg Perry. Pretty good mystery in which Jamie agrees to go on a hoarding show to help his ex-sister-in-law. While I really appreciated that Jamie and his boyfriend deal with issues in a realistic way, I got annoyed by how contrived the plotlines were.
Burdened to Death (Jamie Brodie #3) by Meg Perry. Ok continuation of the series as Jamie and Pete continue working on their relationship issues and it didn’t really feel as if the “mystery” had enough substance for the book.
Researched to Death (Jamie Brody #4) by Meg Perry. Good series continuation as both Jamie and Pete’s ex-boyfriends turn up, Jamie gets involved in a murderous search for an old book, and, of course, Jamie and Pete continue to work on their relationship issues. Fortunately, the mystery in this one was more substantial than in the previous book, although I think both mystery and relationship issues could’ve been edited down to decrease how repetitive and contrived things felt by the end.
Hidden (Alex Verus #5) by Benedict Jacka. Good continuation of this urban fantasy series about a London mage specializing in divination, although you’d think his specialty was finding trouble!
Hockey Abstract 2014 by Rob Vollman, Tom Awad, & Ian Fyffe. Very good explanation, using NHL examples, of the basics of hockey analytics. This edition builds on what was covered in the 2013 edition, including discussing where and why their predictions for the 2013-2014 season went wrong. I’ll definitely be rereading this to help all the concepts sink in.

“squirrelsquirrelsquirrelsquirrelsquirrelsquirrelsquirrelsquirrel!* -Mayhem

The squirrel is hard to see – it’s between May’s body and the curtain (but outside, fortunately!).

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity is forced to admit that it’s fall

October 10, 2014 Chris 11 Comments

Contest(s)

Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of To Love a King by Shona Husk. Closes October 12. US & Canada.

Bookity

Think, Make, Learn, Do

Cookity

Gluten Free

Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Bleeding skull candles. (via wilwheaton)
Batmobile slippers. (via The Mary Sue)
20 Queen songs mashed up in under a minute.

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Baby snow leopard! Kitten on a potato! Baby black jaguar! Baby penguin! Egret! Red panda and baby! Baby fennec! Baby lions! Lion and babies! Baby clouded leopard!

Reading Update
The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook: Revolutionary Techniques, Groundbreaking Recipes by America’s Test Kitchen. What I liked the most about this cookbook is its approach to gluten-free cooking. Instead of just providing recipes, America’s Test Kitchen explains what they tried that didn’t work as they developed each recipe. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but gluten-free cooking (especially baking) requires a completely different sort of cooking chemistry than what most people are familiar with. Because they explained what the challenges of each recipes were, what they tried, why they tried it, and how successful the results were, I learned more about gluten-free cooking from this cookbook than I’d learned in my previous 18 years of being gluten-free. While the baking recipes use a flour blend developed by America’s Test Kitchen (which can be made in bulk for less than buying flour blends), each recipe also includes adaptations for using two different commercially available flour blends.
Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World by Anne Jamison. I’ve officially given up on this one – I just haven’t been in the mood to read academic writing. Might never be in the mood to do that, actually. 🙂
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint. Illustrated by Charles Vess. A young girl who lives in the Ozarks wanders deep into the woods and ends up on a very unexpected path. Charming illustrations follow her journey, as she learns about friendship. consequences, and standing up for herself.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Mayhem

I have no idea where May’s head is in this picture. That’s her front paw to the right of Chaos’ nose, but other than that… o.O

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Linkity loves rainbows

October 3, 2014 Chris 7 Comments

Randonymity

And lo! a complete rainbow was seen through my living room window this evening:

It is surprisingly hard to take a decent picture of a rainbow with a cell phone camera through a window… or maybe not so surprising.

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and Tor.com (UF, genre benders, fantasy, scifi)
Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
Ellora’s Cave is suing Dear Author. Update from Dear Author about the Ellora’s Cave suit.
AAR writes about the Ellora’s Save suit against Dear Author. So does VacuousMinx. So does Smart Bitches. So does Kaetrin. Plus a signal boost post from Kaetrin.
Dear Author on anonymity.
“In defense of romance novels or Imma read what I want“.
Doesn’t sound like ebooks are hurting print sales in the US. (via Emma Sea)
Visualization of bestselling books since 2000.
Le Petit Jedi. (via The Mary Sue)
Shakespearean… lip balm?
We’ve all read these fanfics… (via solarcat)

Do, Think, Make, Learn

Cookity

Gluten Free

Crafty

Crochet a cube blanket. (via pfodge)
Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

The top 10 opening montages from the CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada. (Some of these gave me chills.)
Beware your stick figure drawings!
The Duet, an animated video.
NASA’s mission posters are delightful. (via Tor.com)
The One Ring fire pit. (via The Mary Sue)
LEGO Doom.
Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

Whoops!

“A few Londoners accidentally signed away their first-born children for free wifi“.

LOL

25 best drunk texting autocorrects.
September’s 25 best autocorrects.
The iOS keyboard completes movie quotes. (Hover your cursor/long-press for additional text.)

Teh Cute

Western pygmy possum! Otters and babies!

Reading Update
Street Magic (Black London #1) by Caitlin Kittredge. Pretty good London-based urban fantasy about a detective inspector who discovers the informant she’s meeting is the mage she thought died over a decade ago – a death that left her traumatized. We’ll see how far I make it into this series…

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

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Linkity wishes the Chaos Kitty a happy 11th birthday on Sunday

September 26, 2014 Chris 20 Comments

Randonymity

‘Tis true – Chaos is going to be 11 on Sunday. You can scroll to the bottom of the post to see what he thinks about that. 😉 Here are a few posts with kitten pictures.

Contest(s)

Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of Forged by Desire by Bec McMaster. Closes September 27. US & Canada.

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and AAR (romance)
Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
It’s Banned Books Week. Read about ten 21st century bestsellers that have faced being banned. Great quote from Judy Blume about censorship.
“Romance and the ‘Meaning of Life’“.
Some thoughts from Dear Author on the possibility of malicious book links.
Becky Black on why authors shouldn’t fall in love with their characters.
A Christian blogger has rewritten Harry Potter…
“How to tell if you’re in a MFA workshop story“. (via ninjaboots)
Intensity at the library.

Think, Do, Learn, Make

Cookity

Pumpkin pie spice.
Kale and potato gratin.
15 vegan comfort food recipes.
Pumpkin buttermilk biscuits. (via blue–spruce)
Honey apple mini bundt cakes.
S’mores nachos. (via The Kitchn)
Baked apple chip dessert nachos. (via The Kitchn)
Chai sweet potato cupcakes.
10 cakes for anytime.

Gluten Free

Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

Poots.
Metal blood bag flask.
Craft beer jelly.
Caramel apple coated with Caramel Apple Oreos.
Orange-flavored Halloween milk.
Pumpkin spice hummus.
Scented duct tape. (Fragrances = asthma and migraines for me, so this is a horrible development from my perspective.)
Kansas is declaring October to be Zombie Preparedness Month.
Setting up your Christmas patio.

LOL

Teh Cute

Snow leopard and baby! Lioness and baby! Baby leopard! Hummingbirds! Baby cheetahs! Red panda! Black kitten!

Reading Update
London Falling (Shadow Police #1) by Paul Cornell. Very good urban fantasy about three police officers and an analyst who find themselves able to see the unseen as they pursue something murderous throughout London. It took me a couple of chapters to get drawn into this, in part because it starts so mundanely and with a lot of names to suddenly remember. After that, I was immersed – so immersed that I didn’t even realize it was written in third-person omniscient until well past halfway.
The Severed Streets (Shadow Police #2) by Paul Cornell. Pretty good urban fantasy, but not nearly as good as the first book – this was definitely a sophomore effort, suffering some times from self-consciousness and at others from trying too hard. While I enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s initial brief appearance in the book as a clever cameo, I found his reappearing and having a significant part to play in the narrative much less enjoyable. It felt as if a line was crossed, if that makes any sense.
Thicker than Water (Felix Castor #4) by Mike Carey. Good installment of the series in which Felix finds out altogether more about demons than he really bargained for. Very intense read, this. Definitely reading the fifth and presumably last book (since it was written five years ago) immediately.
The Naming of the Beasts (Felix Castor #5) by Mike Carey. I believe this is the final Felix Castor book, unless the author decides to begin a new story arc in the future. Felix ends up roughly where the series began, trying to fix what he broke three years ago. Many of the faces will be familiar from the previous books, as everything swirls down to a final confrontation.
Hard Spell (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation #1) by Justin Gustainis. Ok urban fantasy from the point of view of a cop in the Scranton, New Jersey, Police Department’s paranormal division.
Evil Dark (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation #2) by Justin Gustainis. Ok addition to this series about a cop who investigates paranormal crime in New Jersey. These are an enjoyable enough distraction, but not exactly involving or compelling reads.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

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Linkity regrets to inform you that it’s Talk Like a Pirate Day

September 19, 2014 Chris 9 Comments

Congrats to Yvette, who won Love Comes Around (Senses #4) by Andrew Grey!Â Love Comes Around is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to Loren, who wonÂ With Wings (The Dark Angels #1) (2nd ed) by Z Allora!

Randonymity

If you’re going to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day…

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance)
Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
Becky Black with pointers for authors to safely navigate Goodreads.
“The curious case of Ellora’s Cave“.
Things you might not know about Slaughterhouse-Five.
Harry Potter compacted into a single (large) comic strip.
Filthy Shakespearian insults.

Do, Make, Think, Learn

35 jobs that aren’t around anymore.
Oh, poor Texas, they’re getting grief over their climate change denialist textbooks. (USA, you’re scaring me again. And I live here.)
Hopefully you’ve all configured your phones so your photos won’t give away your location.
If you want to remove that U2 album from your iPhone…
The setup for this What If? is pretty complicated, so I’ll go with “Balloon Car”, too.

Cookity

Gluten Free

Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

Thieves in Lichtenstein stole 1.4 tons of listeria-contaminated cheese.
Mitten flask – three whole ounces!
Bacon caramel bourbon milkshake.
iPad Mini as facehugger. (Or how not to do virtual reality.)
Drive-thru funeral home viewing.

LOL

Teh Cute

Tiger! Kitten! Kitten! Baby red pandas! Kitten! Tiger and baby! Red panda and baby! Koalas and babies!

Reading Update
The Grendel Affair (SPI Files #1) by Lisa Shearin. Ok paranormal romance about a seer who works for a secret non-government agency devoted to keeping the existence of the magical world secret. Since I never got invested in the POV character, I don’t believe I’ll be reading more of this series.
Stray Souls (Magicals Anonymous #1) by Kate Griffin. Good urban fantasy about a London barista who discovers she’s a shaman and somehow has to rescue the missing spirit of the city. I enjoyed the unusual premise, but struggled a bit with the style – although that got better as I became more used to it. Plus I think this could’ve been trimmed down a bit, as bits of the middle seemed to drag.
The Devil You Know (Felix Castor #1) by Mike Carey. Good London-based urban fantasy about an exorcist who’s been on hiatus but takes an innocuous sounding job because he desperately needs money. I tried reading this 18 months ago and quit at 1/3 because I couldn’t get into it – no such problem this time!
Vicious Circle (Felix Castor #2) by Mike Carey. Good continuation of this urban fantasy series as Felix tries to do right, but things get terribly screwed up in the process.
Dead Men’s Boots (Felix Castor #3) by Mike Carey. Good continuation of this series in which Felix finds himself helping the widow of another exorcist, who killed himself. Of course, nothing’s as it seems and everything gets much more complicated. I did catch a couple of continuity errors, which I always find distracting.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos & Mayhem

This picture requires a bit of explanation. 🙂 Mayhem’s side is in the foreground – you can kind of see one of her ears to the left of Chaos’ head, between his head and his tail. She’s sleeping with the top of her head smooshed up against Chaos. He started to hiss at her (I think she was making happy paws on his throat), but fell asleep mid-hiss.

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Legitimate linkity is legitimate

September 12, 2014 Chris 11 Comments

Donâ€™t forget to enter the contest for With Wings (The Dark Angels #1) (2nd ed) by Z Allora! ClosesÂ 7 pm CDT, Friday, September 19.

Congrats to Neene, who won A Matter of When by Eden Winters!Â A Matter of When will be released September 15 by Dreamspinner Press.

Randonymity

Probably you should brace yourselves for today’s reading update… I took a reading vacation (ie, a vacation to hang out and read) and added some things to my usual hockey fic reading diet.
Alas, the latest version of WordPress made putting nice blank lines between each Linkity bullet point something that requires a lot of time-consuming manual coding. It ain’t happening. Sorry.

Contest(s)

Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of Desperate Hearts by Rosanne Bittner. Closes September 20. US & Canada.

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and Literary Escapism (UF/PNR)
Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
Book and writerly linkity from Becky Black.
“The ahistorical historical: We’re all id reading now“.
A new “lost” Dr Seuss book is being released.
You have until October 1 to vote in the 2014 Hockeyfact Fic Awards. (via torigates)
Book shelfies. (via solarcat)
This comic is a really good argument for ebooks.
Alas, this happens to all fanfic readers. (OTP = One True Pairing)
What to read after 50 Shades…

Think, Do, Make, Learn

One of the ships from the Franklin Expedition has been found. (I used that particular link because of the Stan Rogers lyrics.)
Tonight (September 12) might be a really good night to see the Aurora Borealis, all the way down to Nebraska. (via staygold-kanerboy)
A rant about Tumblr Mobile for Android by me.
Finland’s new stamps honor homoerotic art by Tom of Finland (via puckling).
Bottled water that comes from drought areas, including California. (via sophia-helix)

Cookity

Gluten Free

Crafty

Cool

The best NHL ice bucket challenges.
Explore the Egyptian pyramids with Google Street View. (via Gizmodo)
Another cool photo of Spoonbridge and Cherry.
Gift idea (for Minnesotans): Understated Minnesota coffee cups from Spyhouse Coffee, which is only a few blocks away from me.
Indeed, Colonel Hatfield, indeed.
Cute short animated film.
Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

Minnesota Wild corn maze.

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Lioness and babies! Baby fennec! Hummingbird and babies! Hummingbirds! Baby otters! Black cat! Baby red panda!

Reading Update
Life & Spectrum: A Revealing Look at High Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome by CG Meloy. So-so collection of first-person vignettes about how one man experiences his life with high-functioning autism.While I could definitely relate to some parts of the book, a lot of his experiences didn’t particularly relate to me. At the end, I was thinking mostly about skimming through Aspergirls: Empowering Females with Asperger Syndrome again, because Life & Spectrum reminded me how different the male and female experiences of autism can be.
I Am Special: A Workbook to Help Children, Teens and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders to Understand Their Diagnosis, Gain Confidence and Thrive by Peter Vermeulen. I read the first several chapters, then skimmed the rest of the book. The workbook format didn’t really work for me – the whole thing (probably unsurprisingly) felt rather distant and academic.
Midnight Riot (Rivers of London #1) by Ben Aaronovitch. Very good urban fantasy mystery set in London about a young police constable who becomes the apprentice of the one-man magical department and is caught up in a swirl of ghosts, theater, murder, and revenge. It took me a bit to get immersed in the first-person Britishness, but once I did I was hooked.
Moon Over Soho (Rivers of London #2) by Ben Aaronovitch. Very good second installment in the Rivers of London series as Peter continues his magical training and things go awry, as per usual.
Whispers Under Ground (Rivers of London #3) by Ben Aaronovitch. Very good continuation of the Rivers of London series as Peter is joined by a second apprentice. I really can’t put these darn books down – they’re very compelling and immersive.
Broken Homes (Rivers of London #4) by Ben Aaronovitch. Very good urban fantasy thriller continuing the story of Peter Grant, apprentice wizard and London constable. I couldn’t put this down and was completely unprepared for the plot twist. I need the next book NOW. At least there’s no chance of me forgetting what happened in this book before the next book is released…
Crimes Against Magic (The Hellequin Chronicles #1) by Steve McHugh. Immersive dark urban fantasy about a thief who woke up tabula rasa ten years ago. As he takes jobs that are not at all what they seem, his memory begins to return… but it might not return fast enough to save him and those he must protect.
Fated (Alex Verus #1) by Benedict Jacka. Good urban fantasy about a London mage whose power is divination. He’d be perfectly content to be left to quietly run his magic shop, but things never work out that way.
Cursed (Alex Verus #2) by Benedict Jacka. Good continuation of the series in which things get complicated as Alex tries to handle an enchantress, a monkey’s paw, and mages who are never up front about what they actually want. I’m enjoying these, but they’re pretty standard UF fare.
Taken (Alex Verus #3) by Benedict Jacka. Good addition to the series in which Alex tries to figure out why apprentices are disappearing. The series is growing on me, bit by bit – I mostly kept reading the first one just to be reading something, but each new book is drawing me in more.
Chosen (Alex Verus #4) by Benedict Jacka. Another good addition to the series. This time Alex has to face parts of his past he’d rather not remember as he’s hunted by someone who wants vengeance. Bit of a niggle at the very end – not a cliffie, really, but it was a deliberate tease for the next book. I’m not fond of those.
Where Countries Come to Play: Celebrating the World of Olympic Hockey and the Triple Gold Club by Andrew Podnieks. Ok nonfiction book that first summarizes the careers of the 26 Triple Gold Club winners (meaning hockey players or coaches who’ve won the Stanley Cup, plus gold in the World Championships and Olympics), then summarizes each of the Winter Olympics through 2010. Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned is that Great Britain has won a gold and a bronze Olympic medal for ice hockey.
Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies: On Myths, Morons, Free Speech, Football, and Other Absurdities by Chris Kluwe. Kluwe is a smart guy. Unfortunately, this book feels as if he spends most of his writing time flexing his vocabulary so we don’t forget that he’s a smart guy. DNF at 14%.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Mayhem

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Linkity lollipops with limitless centers

September 5, 2014 Chris 8 Comments

Congrats to Gina G, who won The Luckiest (Lucky Moon #2) (2nd ed) by Piper Vaughn and M.J. Oâ€™Shea!Â The Luckiest will be released by Dreamspinner Press on September 8.

Contest(s)

Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of Dark Aemilia by Sally O’Reilly. Closes September 8.

Blodeuedd’s also giving away a copy of A Winter Wedding by Amanda Forester. Make sure you read how to enter! Contest closes September 14. US & Canada.

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and Tor.com (PNR)

Book and publishing news from Dear Author.

Becky Black wonders if it’s time to change the advice on plagiarism.

Words that came from the Simpsons.

A previously unpublished chapter from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Bookcase assembly animation.

Bookshelf pocket watch.

16 things romance readers are tired of hearing.

Too true.

Do, Think, Make, Learn

Chuck Wendig on nude photo theft. (via dduane)

How to lock down Facebook privacy.

US map linked to 170,000 photos from the Depression.

Interactive map of the world linked to photos tweeted by astronauts in space.

16 unusual September holidays.

What if you had all the physical money in the world?

Good to remember.

15 quotes about coffee.

Watch crayons being made.

Cookity

S’mores ice cream cake.

Caramel-pear upside down cake.

Peanut butter caramel baked apples. (via blue–spruce)

15 peanut butter recipes.

Potato and green chile stew.

Two-pea pesto chicken salad.

Fried cauliflower rice.

Gluten Free

Cornmeal almond berry sheet cake.

Frozen strawberry lemonade pie.

Peanut butter and jelly cookies.

Butterscotch pudding.

Glazed lemon zucchini bread.

Pizza pot pies.

Quinoa and corn salad with honey-lime dressing. (via The Kitchn)

Crafty

New and upcoming knitting books.

Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

Black cat and black panther.

Tilt-shift photo of Spoonbridge and Cherry.

Starfield projector light. (Reasonably priced, some assembly required.)

Amazing space sheet sets and duvets. (via The Mary Sue)

Geeky jewelry.

Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

Make a mini-grappling gun from junk in your office.

Wha…?

Remote control cooler.

Hockey stick rake.

“130 mph leaf blower“.

“Pumpkin spice watch” from Consumerist, to keep you up-to-date on all the new pumpkin spice products.

Thanksgiving cards.

Apparently where all the missing socks go.

“London water officials battle massive fatberg the length of a 747 blocking the sewer“.

The Golden Arches fell and squished some cars going through the drive-thru…

LOL

August’s 21 best autocorrects.

The pumpkin spice must flow!

Twitter reactions to Sidney Crosby not being arrested in Ottawa earlier in the week.

Spider-man. (Hover cursor for additional text.)

Something wrong with that mirror… (Thanks, JessC!)

Hiding FAIL.

Graceful FAIL.

So true.

Teh Cute

Kittens! Tiger! Tiger and baby! Kittens! Kitten! Cat and kittens! Kitten! Koala!

Reading Update (brace yourselves for actual non-hockey related reviewettes!)
Welcome to Bordertown (Borderland #5), edited by Holly Black, Ellen Kushner, and Terri Windling. ebook. For me, urban fantasy is fantasy set in, duh, urban areas, in cities. Frequently the location is as much a character as it a setting. The stories are infused with hints of faerie and myth, both European and Native American, and when you finish reading, you can almost glimpse the fantastical out of the corner of your eye. The Borderland anthologies were among the earliest urban fantasy, about the mythical Bordertown that existed on the cusp of this world and the Faerie Realm. Revisiting Bordertown in this anthology after so much time (the most recent anthology was published in 1998) was a delightful trip, the chance to check in on old friends and make new ones. The list of contributors is impressive and includes Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Patricia A. McKillip, Emma Bull, and Cory Doctorow. (You can see the full list of contributors and read a few of the stories here.) Highly recommended.
Weezie Bat (Weezie Bat #1) by Francesca Lia Block. ebook. I don’t even know how to review this odd YA novel about Weezie Bat and her guy, and her best friend Dirk and his guy, living together in a cottage in LA. It had elements of urban fantasy and magical realism and the repetitively simple sentence structure drove me crazy, yet I read the whole thing.
Seven Wild Sisters: A Modern Fairy Tale by Charles de Lint, illustrated by Charles Vess. ebook. Very good ya illustrated contemporary fantasy about seven red-haired sisters living with their mother in the hills, most likely somewhere in the Ozarks. Things get a little messy when the middle sister manages to run afoul of the fairy folk. I originally read this in Tapping the Dream Tree many years ago.