Various and Sundry are staying cool this morning....

Despite the fact that we're about to hit another patch of 95+ degree days. My editors would understand if I bugged out of the office for the shore, right?
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For those who've signed up for Daily Science Fiction, my story "The Cost" should be in your mailboxes. The rest of you will have to wait a few weeks until it's up on the DSF website)

I'm quite curious about the reaction to this one....


Meanwhile, some new(ish) blogger-reviews for DRAGON JUSTICE (plus the chance to win a copy!)

4 of 5 stars and a stalking notice from The Nocturnal Library

Gizmo would have given DJ 5 out of 5 stars, but a point was deleted for bad formatting on the eArc.  I am disappointed, obviously - I had nothing to do with the eARC production - but still, the review is a positive one.

and you can enter-to-win at Fangs, Wands, & Fairy Dust!

And another blogger (not a reviewer) utterly put me to the blush, earlier this week. And I do not blush easily. Thank you, Unnamed Blogger, especially for the "bullshit-intolerant" line. It's not always my most socially acceptable feature, but I'm kinda proud of it.

Oh, and I have handed in a short story for an upcoming blog feature. Yes, this is the ghost story I was talking about this weekend. Yes, you'll be able to read it...but not until August 10th. Which also happens to be my dad's birthday. Happy birthday, dad. :-D


...and yes, there will be another Book Giveaway coming later today, along with naming last week's winner...stay tuned!

One Book A Week, Week Three

Last week's winner: cgbookcat1


The Fine Print, in normal-sized print:

Summer, everyone knows, is for reading. Well, so are Winter, Autumn and Spring, but especially Summer.

So every week, from here through the end of August, I'm going to be giving away a book*. Some of them may be mine, some of them may be by other people. They may be just-out, or entry-points to an on-going series. It will be a totally random and whimsical choice, to keep things interesting.

How do you get in on this? Simple: you comment here on why you need something new to read. Vacation? Stuck in bed with a bad cold? Totally out of book-buying funds? Captured by aliens who insist on a new story every night or they'll eat you?

Tell me.

(you can enter every week, but only once every week. And you MUST identify yourself in your post, either via log-in or a name and contact point. I'm not going to choose anyone who doesn't identify**.)

Ready? Go.

Third Book: NIGHTSHIFTED by Cassie Alexander

Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine—from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond...

Edie’s just trying to get through her latest shift unscathed.  But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her watch, all hell breaks loose. Now she’s haunted by the man’s dying words—Save Anna—and before she knows it, she’s on a mission to rescue some poor girl from the undead. Which involves crashing a vampire den, falling for a zombie, and fighting for her soul. Grey’s Anatomy was never like this

I'm currently reading this, and enjoying it.  A solid debut, and great summer reading.


*yes, a real, actual, PAPER book.
**the post will 'open' on Monday, and 'close' on Friday. Winners will be chosen over the weekend, and informed the following Monday