I’m going to experiment with this post and I’d like your opinions – is it easier to read linkity posts with or without bullets? Discuss. (And thank you for your input!)

• Congrats to Johanna, who won the ebook of Wren Boudreau’s Ice Cream on the Side! Many thanks to Wren for donating a copy of her book – hopefully she’ll be back with her next release.

• The Book Binge is giving away three copies of Moira Rogers’ newest paranormal romance, The Crux (Southern Arcana, Book 1). Contest closes 11:59 pm, January 7.

• Romance Reviews Today is giving away a copy of Untamed by Crystal Jordan. Contest runs until the evening of January 7.

• Seductive Musings is giving away a signed copy Stephanie Tyler’s new Navy SEALS romance, Hot To Hold. Contest closes 11:59 PM EST, January 9. You also have up to three chances to win an ARC of Hold on Tight at Desert Island Keepers while Stephanie Tyler’s visiting the island. A winner will be selected January 11.

• Smexy Books is giving away a copy of Nancy Holzner’s new urban fantasy, Deadtown. Winner will be announced January 9. Literary Escapism’s giving away a copy, too. This contest runs until January 12.

• Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is giving away five copies of Kitty’s House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn, plus one winner will receive an entire set of the Kitty Norville novels. Not sure when this one ends, but it was just posted yesterday.

• MrsPao’s having a caption contest to celebrate her 1000th post! Contest runs until 9 am GMT, January 23, and the prize will depend on whether you’re a knitter or muggle (non-knitter). You can enter as many times as you can come up with clever captions.

• J, Kaye’s giving away a $25 US Amazon gift certificate or up to $25 at the Book Depository in three separate contests: Canada, US, and outside the US/Canada. Read the rules carefully! Winners will be announced January 30 and are responsible for checking the blog to see if they’ve won.

• Moderncat’s giving away another nifty cat bed this month.

• If you sign up for the 2010 M/M Romance Challenge by January 31, you’ll be entered for a chance to win $15 ebook bucks from All Romance eBooks!

• I really have no idea how the SciFiGuy puts out his amazing Urban Fantasy Weekend Report every week! Chock full of news, contest info, and more.

• Jackie at Literary Escapism has some fun interview and contest links, plus a link to the Top 100 Quotes Every Geek Should Know. (Um, will there be a test?!) She has more book news and contests in her monthly Escapist Newsletter.

• Donna discovered lots of urban fantasy and paranormal releases this week!

• Anastasia always comes up with some intriguing book and reading related links at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog and this week is no exception.

• Some good publishing industry info (and a link to the periodic table of fonts) in Dear Author’s Wednesday news post.

• You can read Neil Gaiman’s free short story I, Cthulhu over at Tor’s website.

• Author Marta Acosta has all sorts of fun blog sidebar badges, such as for the Naked David Boreanz Club, the Association for the Admiration of Edward Cullen, the Gerard Butler Is Hawt Society, and the Jacob Black Society for Werewolf Acceptance.

• Author Lynn Viehl has links to some nifty free tools for writers and readers, such as a program to help increase your reading speed.

• Do not click this link if you are easily offended by graphic ice sculpture. Please. I implore you. Yes, I took the featured photo, but you’ll notice I haven’t featured it on my blog. Consider the various book covers I have featured before you click, ok? (It is not a cat picture, if that helps.)

• Check out Limecello’s thoughts on social media, books, and authors over at The Good, the Bad, and the Unread. Wave (of m/m romance review site Reviews by Jessewave) talks about how authors have requested that their books not be reviewed (because they weren’t happy with previous reviews) and how that’s a disservice to readers. Katiebabs also posts about about when authors don’t want you to review their books. And m/m author Amy Lane writes about censorship.

• Curious about how to convert ebooks to different formats? TeleRead’s ABCs article looks like a good place to start.

• A reader calculates the total cost of ebooks.

• Although the experience of reading a physical book is different than that of reading an ebook, does it really matter to readers? (I gotta say that I’m liking reading ebooks more than physical books these days.)

• Remember when we weren’t sure whether B&N’s Nook would make it to market because of an infringement lawsuit? Well, the company that started that lawsuit, Spring Design, has unveiled their Android-based ebook reader, the Alex, and it looks a lot cooler than the Nook – plus it won’t be locked into a single store.

• Gizmodo wonders how authors will autograph ebooks.

• TeleRead reports on the most pirated books of 2009 – The Kamasutra and Adobe Photoshop Secrets held the top spots. The only best-selling authors to make it into the top 25 were Dan Brown, Stephen King, Stephenie Meyer, and J. K. Rowling. None of Rowling’s books have even been released as ebooks, which instead of protecting them seems to be a lost revenue opportunity.

• TeleRead also has a thoughtful post about not ignoring readers when developing those ebook pricing models.

• Even though I told Trek that I suck at guessing contests, I won not only her guessing contest of some months ago (dollar value of an unknown number of quarters that fit into a particular tea tin), but also Nicole’s recent contest (how many books she’d read by the end of the year). Hmm. Perhaps I don’t suck at guessing contests after all? (Thanks to Nicole and Trek!)

• This DIY magnetized coffee cozy is very cool and very clever! Heck, I can see the potential for sticking my coffee to my car when I’m rummaging for my keys. (And, wait, I already have a coffee cozy from Caribou Coffee with a mysterious zipper pocket on it – this might actually make the pocket useful!)

• I can see potential for the cellphone bean bag chair to be a decent book stand for ebook readers. (Since my no-longer-available ReadUpon is basically a bean bag with some plexiglass on it.)

• I don’t think you can help but feel hopeful after watching this amazing video of “All You Need Is Love” being sung in 156 different countries simultaneously.

• The year in adorable photos from itty bitty kitty committee – awww!

• No cute burn yet? This’ll take care of that.

• Cold? Throw on another cat!

• Oh oh…

• Many thanks to Jeanne for this one – wifi for passive-aggressives.

Reading Update
Chicken Soup for the Soul, and All That Crap: A Tigers & Devils Short by Sean Kennedy. free ebook short. Very sweet short that takes place while Declan’s recuperating from his surgery.
Warrior’s Cross by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense about about a waiter and the mysterious guy who sits in his section every Tuesday evening. I cried more than once while reading this. My only complaint is that I wanted just a little more substance (or maybe detail or maybe time) at the ending.
The One That Got Away (Second Edition) by Rhianne Aile and Madeleine Urban. ebook. Excellent m/m romance – I’d read the original version, but who could resist the new version with added scenes? (Although, sad to say, the second edition still has inconsistencies about David’s age – he fusses about how awful his 45th birthday was, but then is referred to as 42 for the rest of the book.) One of the differences I noticed was that Trace’s cat was now named Mabel instead of Gail and and she had an entire enjoyable subplot devoted to her. (Plus she’s a black kitty. Really, what’s not to like?)
Rules of Engagement by L. A. Witt. ebook. Very good m/m romance (that I had a hard time putting down) about a recently divorced guy who finds himself powerfully drawn to a guy he meets playing pool in a bar. Yes, I got sniffly, so you know there was some angst. I think my only complaint was the abruptness of the ending. I really liked this quote from one of the other characters: “If I knew how a lot of my relationships would have turned out, I never would have gotten involved in them…. And I would have missed out on some of the best times in my life.” (Of course, for me, I would also have missed out on some of the worst times in my life – you?)
Uncorked by Andrew Grey. ebook. This m/m romance is set several years after Bottled Up; Sam and Sean of Bottled Up play more of a peripheral role in this one. I’ll confess that while the beginning of this story didn’t really grab me, the middle did, but then I just wanted to smack heads together at the end. Make of that what you will. 🙂
Just Like Scrooge by Clare London. ebook short. Imagine The Christmas Carol redone (and redone well) as an m/m romance set in modern times.
In the Closet by Clare London. ebook short. Cute m/m romance about two feuding guys whose coworkers lock them in the cleaning closet to work out their differences… although maybe the coworkers didn’t expect the form that process would take…
Special Delivery by Cassandra Gold. ebook short. Sweet m/m romance short about a secretary and a delivery guy.
Fantasies: Independence Day by Cassandra Gold. ebook. Good m/m romance about a guy who’s finally had enough of his father running every aspect of his life, so he escapes to work as a waiter at a Hawaiian resort. (Total points for style on that one.)
Reunion by Vic Winter. ebook short. In this enjoyable m/m romance, the ostracized high school nerd returns for his ten-year reunion as a fit, handsome millionaire ready to shove his success in his former classmates’ faces.
Christmas for Gary by Vic Winter. ebook short. Gary’s spending some time with his very active grandmother and her friends, who are determined to find a boyfriend for him, no matter how much they embarrass him in the process.
A-Viking by Kiernan Kelly. ebook short. Ok time travel m/m romance about a Viking who mysteriously washes up on a contemporary Florida beach after his longboat capsizes.
Re-Ignition by A.R. Moler. ebook short. Good m/m romance about a former FBI agent who’s not doing so well after a career-ending injury, until he wakes up hungover, in bed with someone he doesn’t recognize.
When Work Is a Pleasure by Alix Blevins. ebook. While this m/m romance was well done, I had a problem (my very own problem and not necessarily that of the book) with how relatively easily a reporter dealt with his new boyfriend’s career as a pr0n star.
InDescent by K.Z. Snow. ebook. Another very good m/m romance that I had trouble with – this time, it was because of one of the main character being emotionally and physically involved with two other people. Not a menage (which I hate), but still – I kept getting stuck there. However! This was still a very cool story about a wizard/woodworker living in Milwaukee who notices that there’s suddenly an awful lot of paranormal activity in the city… (And really, what’s not to like about a story that has Baba Yaga’s hut in a Milwaukee city park?)

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“My life sucks.” -Chaos