Coming Up This Week – September 27

This week is going to be a humdinger (do you like that word? I do.*g*)

 First things first. Today Tam posted on what she wants to be when she grows up. I can hear you all saying – why should I care? Well you should, because she doesn’t want to be a police officer or firewoman, 🙂 she wants to be a shifter. You can read all about it here.

On another subject, because of the  number of books that we are being asked to review, I invited Leslie to join this crazy group as a reviewer. Here’s her bio

Our newest reviewer, Leslie, hails from the great state of Maine where this fall she is on a mission to Protect Maine Equality and ensure that same-sex marriage–which is presently legal in the state–stays that way. In between phone banks and raising money, she pursues her favorite hobby, reading, and is delighted to have the chance to share her opinions, whether good, bad, or ugly, about the books that litter her electronic bookshelf.

Leslie got her first e-reader, a Kindle, in April 2008 which is a true double-edged sword: it has her back to reading voraciously like she did before children and family life interfered, as well as discovering new authors and new genres that she never would have considered before. On the other hand, all that reading cuts into family time, much to her husband’s dismay.

Leslie has been posting reviews on Speak Its Name for about a year. Although she loves historicals, she enjoys contemporary stories and mysteries, as well as non-fiction, so she is thrilled to have another venue for posting some of the other books she reads.

You’ll be able to roast Leslie when she posts her first review this week.:)

Yesterday Val posted her review of A Roof for the Rain by Katrina Strauss.  If you haven’t read it you may want to check it out because she absolutely loves the book!

Tomorrow I will be posting my opus – Readers’ Favourite Gay Books which incorporates my original list of just over 100 and your recommendations of about 150.  This was a monumental task and I would like to thank all of you for giving me so much work.*g* Next time I come up with such a harebrained scheme please kick me where it hurts (if I were a guy it would be where it twitches):-D. When the new list is posted the comments will be open but please don’t  immediately start adding new titles that you forgot – I won’t be updating the list for at least another 3 – 6 months.  About 2% of your recs. didn’t make it for various reasons, the main one being that this is a list of gay favourite books not het, bi or lesbian. Since this site is 100% M/M I couldn’t include recs. on books that weren’t gay, but I know you’ll be able to find other lists on the web which contain favourite books of other genres. 

Also on Monday, the Amber Allure “free” book will be Bitter Creek’s Redemption by T.A. Chase and Lynn will post her review of Beyond the Norm by Shawn Lane.

On Tuesday, September 29, Erastes has a very important post. She and many other authors who write gay themed books have been very frustrated about the new rules at Lambda Literary Foundation that have changed the eligibility criteria and appear to exclude anyone who is not GBLTQ from entering its award competitions. She is going to give us her perspective and I assume that of other authors who are not going to be allowed to compete for any of the Lambda awards, effective immediately.   However, before I make assumptions – were these rules always in effect i.e. they are not new but are only now being clarified? Were these awards set up only for GBLT authors initially? If so, how did straight authors qualify for them in the past? I hope that Erastes will address these questions in her post.

Continuing our regular giveaways, Ethan Day is donating a copy of his new e-book  As You Are to a lucky winner and I know you can’t wait to comment on this post.

Leslie is posting her first review and it’s on a delightful book – Dan Stone’s debut novel The Rest of Our Lives, which is getting rave reviews! I can’t wait to read her review to see if she likes the book. Also, Val is posting her review of Practical Purposes by Yeva Wiest; I have never read any books by this author so I’m looking forward to reading what she has to say.

 On Tuesday I’ll post on another poll which I’ll tell you about later. It could be on any number of things but you’ll have to keep guessing for another day. Good things come to those who wait!

On Wednesday, September 30,  instead of another interview,  one of my favourite authors, M.L. Rhodes, is guest blogging. She hasn’t told me what she’ll talk about but I think she might give us a few hints in her post about Fires of Ballian, the sequel to The Draegan Lords.

Also on Wednesday the Amber Allure “free” book is An Imitation of Life by Karma Eastwick

Kassa will be posting her review of Breaking the Devil by Bailey Bradfofrd on Wednesday and I’m looking forward to hearing how she liked this book.

On Thursday I’m posting on a serious question posed by Stuart, my email correspondent. The poll last Friday about twitching and thumping penises was all Stuart’s handiwork and it was really fun; obviously you agree because you’re still commenting two days later!! This post is quite different and I hope that the authors will return and give us their take on Stuart’s newest question.

Also on Thursday Jen has 4 reviews for you: Putting Out Fires by Sienna Black., Here and Always Have Been an anthology of gay historical fiction by Kenneth Craigside, Immortality is the Suck by A.M. Riley and Nick of Time by T.A. Chase. she’s been very busy.:) However I think she will probably be splitting them between Thursday and the weekend because she’s just returned from vacation and didn’t get as much reading done as she expected.

On Friday the guys are visiting and will touch down at about 6.00 A.M. just before the readers in North America have their first coffee. For the rest of you, except those living in Oz, it’s almost lunchtime so you could hook up for a nooner. *g*
Lyn is posting her review of Wranglers Voir Dire by Vivien Dean

On Friday Sean Kennedy and his new writing partner Catt Ford are guest blogging. I know what they’re going to talk about but it’s a sekkrit so you’ll have to wait to find out. Please log on and welcome Sean and Catt or they may not return.:)

I’ll post my review of Dash and Dingo, Sean’s & Catt’s new adventure on Friday! If I hate the book I’ll post the review on Saturday.*g*

On Saturday, I’m not sure what will be posted but there will be something or empty space!!!

I’m waiting to hear from Kassa about which of her favourite books she’ll be reviewing.

You have not been sending me as many ugly covers as I expected so please get cracking or I’ll have to delay the competition.

That’s it for this week