Congrats to Sidney, who won Chasing Alex by Em Woods and A Special Christmas by J.P. Bowie! Both books will be released by Total-E-Bound on December 13 as part of the Yule Be Mine collection.

Congrats to Monica, who won Trusted Bond (Change of Heart, Book 2) by Mary Calmes! Trusted Bond is now available from Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to Mellanie, who won Red Lights and Silver Bells (EMS Heat, Book 6) by Stephani Hecht!

Here’s hoping I catch up on Google Reader and commenting soonishly…

Contests

• Morning Glow’s giving away a $40 CSN gift card. Comment by 11:59 pm, December 11, for your chance to win.

• Amora’s giving away an ebook of Brita Addam’s paranormal m/m romance, Love Immortal. Comment by midnight PST, December 11, for your chance to win. (And make sure you answer her question in your comment!)

• Blodeuedd’s giving away two copies of Grace Burrows’s historical romance, The Heir. Leave a comment by December 12 for your chance to win. US & Canada only. Make sure you read what your comment should contain!

• Fiction Vixen’s giving away five copies of Lila DiPasqua’s historical romance collection, The Princess in His Bed (Fiery Tales #2), plus an autographed Cinderella’s slipper ornament. Comment by midnight, December 13. US & Canada only. Katiebabs is running the same contest, so you can increase your chance of winning by answering her question in the comments at her blog.

• Amora’s giving away an ebook of Alexandr Voinov and Raev Gray’s historical m/m, Test of Faith. Contest closes midnight PST, December 17.

Bookity

• New releases and more: Lily (m/m romance), Literary Escapism (UF/PNR forthcoming releases, news/contests/author appearances, December newsletter), and AAR (January romances).

• Elisa posted the results of the Rainbow Awards.

• Don’t miss the Monday Morning Stepback from ReadReactReview.

• What does it mean to be a good editor?

• Paperback Writer presents the holiday edition of ten things that writers say (and what they really mean).

• Go vote in the Bad Sex in Romance poll at Smart Bitches!

Ebookity

• Did you hear that Google Books opened this week?

• The New York Times had an article about romance and ebooks (Thanks, Mary Lou!), which inspired a very thoughtful and thought-provoking reaction piece from Jessica at ReadReactReview.

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released its 2010 buyer’s guide to ebook privacy.

• Dear Author tutorials on adding a plugin to Calibre and reading Adobe encrypted epub and pdf books.

• Gizmodo on what you need to know to buy an ebook reader.

• Lifehacker on when ebooks are more or less cost-effective than physical books.

• Ava March has the story behind the story of Stephani Hecht’s Mad Blood.

• A somewhat humorous look at how to predict what Amazon will announce next.

Do, Learn, Think, Make

• Ten strange facts about dreams. (Thanks, Jase!)

• Farmville’s designer says the game was designed to make you anxious.

• If you buy glass bakeware, make sure you read its handling instructions – Pyrex now it not the Pyrex you remember from years past.

• Neil Gaiman provides some insight into snowbirds. With Sunday’s high predicted to be -1F/-18.3C and the low to be -18F/-27.8C… I definitely understand the urge to head south.

• A scientist came up with a mouse that has two dads and no mom!

• Researchers think they can actually make Dr. Who’s sonic screwdriver.

• Oriental hornets have solar panels built into their bodies, no human intervention involved.

• Wouldn’t your office by more pleasant if your chair folded down into a bed?

Gift Ideas

• LoveRomancePassion has 33 gift ideas for readers.

• Print and sew a cool geeky tie.

• Knitty found some knitting-themed calendars your knitter might enjoy.

• Some more gift ideas for knitter/sewers/crocheters.

• Gluten-free gift ideas.

• Minnesota gifts.

• Top ten DIY tech gift ideas from Lifehackers.

• Crochet a bacon scarf!

• Brightly colored fabric produce bags would be great gifts for those trying to reduce their reliance on plastic bags.

• Does your kitty need a skyscraper scratching post? (Thanks, Stephani!)

• Gizmodo gift guides for the “goofy romantic“, the “elegant imbiber“, and dogs and their people.

Holiday

• If you’re willing to spray paint your action figures, you could make them into a nifty wreath.

• Melted snowmen cookies are pretty cool.

• A Christmas tree made of shopping carts…

• The top ten most counterfeited products this holiday season.

• Make a quick knitting ornament.

Cool

• Rainbow building!

• Linkity from Kristi the Fiber Fool.

• Knit a Dalek with a zippered compartment. Here’s a different knitted Dalek wandering around.

• Crochet a tiger kitty.

Eeek!

• I can’t believe these people let their kitties on that scary balcony. (Thanks, Jeanne!)

Huh

• An MRI taken during birth – no wonder the little guy’s eyes are so wide! O.O

• Dancing cat and dog speakers… (Thanks, Jase!)

• Food dresses.

• Completely and utterly NSFW Christmas present fails. (Thanks, Jase!)

• Watch first-run movies at home for $20,000… This company thinks it’s going to make money?!

• I haven’t tried this, but feel free to listen to all of Billy Joel’s hits played simultaneously.

• Pretty sure I’d kill myself trying to use the exercise office chair.

• Fudge FAIL.

• The answer to this question is YES.

LOL

• Star Wars, Dr. Seuss style. (Thanks, Stephani!)

• The Princess Bride with light sabers!

• Franklin with some thoughts about princesses.

• Cheryl with a conversation between Barbie and CrystalBarbie.

• Dave catches up on a year of missed AWWs (Ass Watch Wednesdays).

• Teddy bear zombies! (Totally not safe for small children.)

• Squirrel!Neo and the Corn Pops War!

• How to accidentally almost kill your husband.

• The United States of Autocomplete.

• Darn that Tetris “L” piece…

• FAIL charts, by age. (Thanks, Jase!)

• Why do you turn on the tv? (Thanks, Jase!)

• Why some emails go unanswered…

• xkcd on weather radar. Make sure you hover your mouse over the comic for additional text.

• I wouldn’t have believed that an ink cartridge description could be funny.

• What do men in various areas of the UK call their penises?! (Thanks, Kim!)

• Baby Cthulhu!

• The Bloggess researches whether eating tinsel is bad for her cat. (YES.)

• Darth Vader easily convinces a cat to give up the location of the rebel base…

• Are you sure you want to replace that fuse in the basement?!

Teh Cute

• Bronwyn Green’s very cute and very naughty kitties playing in her Christmas tree.

• Kitties and babies/toddlers. My sympathies are with the poor kitties! (Thanks, Jase!)

• Kitty hugging a teddy bear. Awwww! (Thanks, Jase!) (Plus bonus kitty hugging teddy bear!)

• A lioness who bonded with her caretaker and lets him play with her cubs. Awwww!!

• Red pandas! Lamb playing soccer! Kitten! Baby hippo! Lamb! Kittens! Purple seahorse! Puma! Bunnies on a kitty! Fennec! Dog nursing abandoned tiger cubs! Another tiger and dog! Baby red panda! Cygnets! Baby fennec! Lots of lions! Black kitty!

Reading Update
Rescue Me by Scarlet Blackwell. ebook. Excellent m/m romance about a rich, angry, nasty homophobic guy who nearly dies in a car crash. When he’s eventually able to go home, he needs home nursing care and finds himself uncomfortably attracted to his male nurse. I’ll warn you that I suspect some people are probably going to hate this as much as I loved it – there’s a lot of angst, a lot of being stuck and not making any progress, a lot of lashing out at others because of how he feels about himself. And it all manages to feel more real to me than a lot of GFY tends to.
Foxe Tail (Skyler Fox Mysteries, Book 1) by Haley Walsh. ebook. Good m/m mystery about a young high school English teacher who stumbles across a dead body in the alley outside of a club. Be aware that this is first book in a trilogy and lots of things are left open at the end.
War Games by Kim Dare. free ebook short. Good kinky free short m/m romance about a geek with a crush on the forceful security guard at work. When they’re out doing a war games team building exercise, things get interesting.
Mistletoe & Submission by Kim Dare. ebook. Very good kinky holiday m/m romance about a guy who joined a bdsm club as a dom, but finds that his feelings for his extremely dominant friend confuse the issue for him. But since his friend seems to think so poorly of all submissives, it’s a moot point, right?
Eight Nights by Keira Andrews. ebook. Very good holiday m/m romance about a college student who ends up spending Hanukkah with his annoying dorm mate’s family after said dorm mate’s mother realized he didn’t have anywhere else to go for the holidays. How is it that his dorm mate’s brother isn’t annoying at all?
Daybreak (Eight Nights, Book 2) by Keira Andrews. ebook. Very good holiday m/m romance about the college student and the dorm mate’s brother, starting seven or eight months after the first book. A lot more angst in this one – I even got a little sniffly.
All I Want for Christmas by Linda Reilly. ebook short. Ok short parnormal m/m holiday romance about a med student, in denial about being gay, who’s visiting friends in New York City for the holidays. The paranormal aspect of the story took my completely by surprise, but I guess it makes the insta-love more acceptable…
Ice Around the Edges by Mary Calmes. ebook short. Good short holiday m/m romance about a guy who’s in the hospital recuperating from being shot and is very surprised when the ex who dumped him out of the blue ten years ago shows up at his bedside.
Better with Sprinkles by Chrissy Munder. ebook short. Advent Calendar. Good short m/m holiday romance about a biochemistry major in study panic whose roommate finagles him into baking 20 dozen cookies for a charity event. Includes family sugar cookie recipe at the end! 🙂
Mariah the Christmas Moose by Andrew Grey. ebook short. Cute short m/m holiday story about a teacher, newly arrived in Alaska, who calls the police about a monster (er, moose) in his back yard and meets a very interesting police officer as a result.
All Snug by B.G. Thomas. ebook short. Good short m/m holiday romance about two guys who both show up at an antique store, trying to buy the same bed for their boyfriends. They come up with a multipart contest to see who should be able to buy the bed. It was, unfortunately, completely predictable.
GI Joe Holiday by Amberly Smith. ebook. Good m/m holiday romance about a guy in Navy SEAL training who gets picked to pose for a statue that will be displayed on a military base. Because of DADT, he can’t let on that he’s gay, but he finds himself very attracted to the sculptor. This had a strange, sort of paranormal twist to it that really took me by surprise.
The Hanukkah Surprise by Rebecca Lynne Fullan. ebook short. Good short m/m holiday romance about a couple, one of whom hates Hanukkah and the other of whom hates surprises, heading off on a Hanukkah surprise.
By the Chimney with Dare by Leigh Ellwood. ebook short. Ok short m/m holiday romance about a limousine driver who chauffeurs a very sexy Santa to a party…
Fun with Dick by G.A. Hauser. free ebook short. Meh short m/m holiday story about an established couple getting busy with the assistance of whipped cream, hot fudge, and more.

“I will never surrender, big kitty!!” -Mayhem