The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-6-13

Sunday Post

A lovely Fall day in Seattle, although I expect the rainy season to return with a vengeance any day now. I think I’ll go read outside while that’s still a reasonable thing to do!

Something Wicked Returns BlueCurrent Giveaways:

Something Wicked Returns: my prize is a $10 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble; visit the other stops on the hop to see their fabulous prizes.
Heavy Metal Heart by Nico Rosso (ebook, international)
Treacherous Temptations by Victoria Vane (ebook, international)

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift card from the Sunset on Summer Sun Blog Hop was Laurie G.
Declan’s Cross by Carla Neggers (hardcover): Tallulah A.
Marry Me Cowboy by Lillian Darcy and Tempt Me, Cowboy by Megan Crane (ebooks) Shelley S. gets first choice, second winner still TBD

Spider Women's Daughter by Anne HillermanBlog Recap:

B Review: Heavy Metal Heart by Nico Rosso
Guest Post by Author Nico Rosso on Rock and Roll + Giveaway
Something Wicked Returns Blog Hop
B+ Review: The Sheik Retold by Victoria Vane
Guest Post by Victoria Vane on Reinventing a Classic Bodice-Ripper + Giveaway
A+ Review: Spider Woman’s Daughter by Anne Hillerman
B+ Review: Treecat Wars by David Weber and Jane Lindskold
Stacking the Shelves (61)

Libriomancer by Jim C. HinesComing Next Week:

The Case of the Displaced Detective by Stephanie Osborn (blog tour review + guest post)
Corroded by Karina Cooper (review)
Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines (review)
Hell’s Belle by Karen Greco (blog tour review + guest post + giveaway)
Cut & Run by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 9-29-13

Sunday Post

Tomorrow the sun will set on the Sunset on Summer Sun Blog Hop. If you’re interested in the $10 gift card to either Amazon or B&N that I’m giving away, or the grand prize of a Kindle Fire or Nook HD that the organizers are giving away, or just perusing all the other great prizes, you have 24 hours to enter everything. Give or take.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun.

Seattle is absolutely sopping wet this weekend, and on track to make this September the wettest September EVER. Drip, drip, splish, splash. Waiting for the bus tomorrow is going to be such a joy! NOT.

Rainy season is here with a vengeance!

Sunset on Summer Fun Blog HopCurrent Giveaways:

Sunset on Summer Sun Blog Hop: my prize is a $10 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble; the blog hop’s grand prize is a Kindle Fire or Nook HD.
Declan’s Cross by Carla Neggers: Hardcover (US/CAN only)
Tourwide Giveaway: 5 signed paperback copies of Forged in Dreams and Magick by Kat Bastion, 5 ebook copies, Pandora sterling silver charm bracelet
Marry Me, Cowboy by Lillian Darcy and Tempt Me, Cowboy by Megan Crane; both ebook only, but INT giveaway

Gilded by Karina CooperBlog Recap:

B Review: Declan’s Cross by Carla Neggers
Q&A from Author Carla Neggars + Giveaway
B+ Review: The Rare Event by P.D. Singer
B+ Review: Gilded by Karina Cooper
B- Review: Forged in Dreams and Magick by Kat Bastion + Giveaway
B Review: Marry Me, Cowboy by Lillian Darcy + Giveaway
Stacking the Shelves (60)

Something Wicked Returns BlueComing Next Week:

Heavy Metal Heart by Nico Rosso (review + guest post + giveaway)
The Sheik Retold by Victoria Vane (review + guest post + giveaway)
Spider Woman’s Daughter by Anne Hillerman (review)
Treecat Wars by David Weber and Jane Lindskold (review)
Something Wicked Returns Blog Hop

Sunset on Summer Fun Blog Hop

Sunset on Summer Fun Blog Hop

Welcome to the Sunset on Summer Fun Blog Hop, sponsored by BTS Book Reviews, Decadent Publishing, Everpress Media, and a ton of authors!

The grand prize for the hop is the winner’s choice of either a Kindle Fire 7″ HD or NOOK HD (US only), or Paypal Cash (International). The reader will be filled with books by lots of co-sponsor authors — see the list at BTS Book Reviews!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I’m also giving away a $10 gift card to Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice). Curling up with a good book is a terrific way to while away the end of summer, especially if it’s suddenly gotten all nasty and stormy where you are! (It’s raining and thundering here in Seattle) So what are your plans for marking the last rays of summer (if you haven’t already)? a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more giveaways, visit the other stops on this hop!


The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 9-15-13

Sunday Post

Yesterday turned out to be pretty splendiferous, once the butterflies in my stomach settled down.

Gay Romance Northwest Meet-up LogoI was the Keynote Speaker at the Gay Romance Northwest Meetup yesterday. The conference, and it was very much a writers and readers conference, was held at the Seattle Public Library’s Central Library. The last I heard, the paid attendance was 120, but they were definitely taking at-the-door registration, so there were more people there.

My topic was getting what you want into your local library, or working with your local library to get what you wrote onto the physical or virtual shelves. The Q&A session ran over!!! There’s a very nice summary here, even if I feel funny about being the unnamed librarian.

I stayed for the whole thing. Besides the fact that I got questions and comments at every break and at the happy hour afterwards, this was an awesome event. Also, and one of the interesting things, as far as the writing and breaking into publishing, and questions about diversity and the lack thereof, many of the questions and answers were not dissimilar to things I’d heard at WorldCon a couple of weeks ago.

Becoming a writer and getting published is damn difficult. Period, exclamation point. Diversity is a journey and not a destination. Respectability is something that no genre fiction seems to have achieved, although mystery seems to be closer (for relative definitions of close) than anything else, and LGBTQ romance gets hit with a double-whammy of being both LGBTQ and romance.

One thing struck me, one of the authors (Daisy Harris) said that she wrote m/m romance because it allowed her to write couples who did not follow the alpha male/submissive female paradigm that she had been forced to follow when she wrote traditional m/f romance. Last night I was reading something that I wasn’t planning to review, but it was a couple where the dominant male/submissive female roles should not have occurred, and damn but they did anyway. I’m having a major re-think here.

I hope I get invited back next year.

But back to what else happened this week…

Current Giveaway:

Tourwide Giveaway: $15 Amazon Gift Card + 2 ebook copies of Medium Well by Meg Benjamin

Hellfire by Jean JohnsonBlog Recap:

B+ Review: The Bones of Paris by Laurie R. King
A- Review: Hellfire by Jean Johnson
B Review: Tempt Me, Cowboy by Megan Crane
B Review: Medium Rare by Meg Benjamin + Giveaway
B Review: The Arrangement by Mary Balogh
Stacking the Shelves (58)

Sunset on Summer Fun Blog HopComing Next Week:

A Question of Honor by Charles Todd (review)
The Bridge by Rebecca Rogers Maher (review)
Knight in Black Leather by Gail Dayton (review)
Dangerous Curves Ahead by Sugar Jamison (review)
Sunset on Summer Fun Blog Hop