Now I'M a wiener!

Before I tell you what it is I've won, here's a reminder to pop in at Beth Wylde's Yahoo group on Wednesday to visit with Clare London, Chrissy Munder, Patric Michael, Felicitas Ivey, Jaime Samms, and me. (I'll be the one hugging the wall near the punch bowl.)

Now, what did I win? A print copy of a book. PRINT. Words on paper. Bound. No more sitting at my desktop to read, at least temporarily. My eyes and back and butt, they are so very happy! They tell me to enter more contests for print books! (For some reason, it's been difficult for me to get m/m fiction through the interlibrary loan system. I don't know if that's because my local-yokel library is falling down on the job or because not many libraries in the U.S. carry m/m fiction.)

Which book did I win? Click on the post title to find out. I've been eager to read this story, which breaks many genre norms in many good ways. Abundant thanks, especially from my eyes, back, and butt, to Mark Probst at Cheyenne Publishing!

You really must watch this.

This video is exquisitely beautiful. Dare you not to cry or get misty or at least sigh while you watch it. (Someone please tell Kris to get her butt over here!)

So here's to Pride month, and to a time when this type of gentle, affectionate intimacy is accepted everywhere. It's as emblematic of what makes life worthwhile as anything I've ever seen.

Straight Actors Playing Gay Men

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An Award for Making Stuff Up - WINNER

Jessica Freely (click title) sent me this, obviously in recognition of my penchant for "making shit up." :-D

That minx was at Wiscon, and I didn't even know it! (Wiscon is essentially a female fantasy writers convention, GLBT more than welcome.) And she did a reading there! And it's only a two-hour drive south of me! *sigh* Well, there's always next year.

Anyway, y'all have played this game, I think, so I can't tag anybody. Just call me K.Z. "Day Late and Dollar Short" Snow. I'm always behind the times.

As you likely know by now, I've been an animal lover all my life. So, if you're good 'n' bored at the moment, try to guess which ONE of the following statements is FALSE.

1. I once had a labrador named Black Dog.

2. I once had a goldfish named Fluffy.

3. I once had a cat named Calvin.

4. I once had a goat named Annabelle.

5. I once had a cockatiel named Gilbird.

6. I once had a rooster named Boss Tweed.

7. I once had a hamster named Queequeg.

(Okay, it was only supposed to be five, but I've had a lot of freakin' pets.) And what do you get if you win?

A sock puppet -- the kind you don't mind encountering on blogs and loops! You must pick him up, though. This is the kind of package that doesn't ship well. *G*

Well, since it appears most everybody is either on vacation or doesn't like me anymore (fickle lot), I'll just go ahead and congratulate * CHRIS * for guessing that I never named a goldfish Fluffy. I've had fish aplenty, but I've never named them. They don't seem to live too long. :'/

Tube Socks is now hitchhiking his way to Minneapolis. Pray for the man; I don't believe he's wearing any shoes.

Brief Update

The steampunk WIP is picking up momentum. I'm also beginning to realize I'll likely get spanked for a having a manic-depressive hero. (No, not "bipolar," which is a contemporary, real-world term used to describe a real disease that afflicts real people. The story isn't set in the real world, and said hero isn't entirely human. So, natch, I took liberties.)

Electric Melty Tingles, my contemporary coming-out story for Loose Id, will be published in late September.

Fugly for Liquid Silver is going into edits. Still no release date, though. (Isn't it odd how different publishers handle things? One book has a release date but no cover, and the other has a cover but no release date.)

The Most Overlooked & Underappreciated, Part 2

Timbuk3 (formerly Pat MacDonald and the Essentials)

I have a roundabout connection to these Wisconsin musicians, who, I believe, are no longer a couple. Some years ago (everything in my life happened "some years ago"), I lived in a county that's probably the most chichi tourist trap in the upper Midwest. Slaved away there, I did, cleaning rooms at waterfront motels and country inns, preparing and serving food, even tending bar for a brief, doomed while. I've heard it said that this song is about that county, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, the watering hole I visited most often (when I wasn't fooling around with very young men) was owned by this singer's father, a great guy.

I'm proud to own the obscure LP on which the following song made its first appearance, and I've seen Pat MacDonald and Barbara K perform at that once-upon-a-time tavern. So, without further ado . . .

"Assholes on Parade"

The Most Overlooked, Underappreciated...

Since a lot of us seem to take musical breaks from our reading and writing, I figured I'd pick up what's kind of becoming a blog meme, even though I still don't know exactly what a meme is. I decided to pay homage to some of the greatest voices in pop music that you either never heard of or have forgotten about.

Let's start with Terence Trent D'Arby. Remember him? An American ex-pat living in Great Britain, last I heard. But he could be in Bora Bora now for all I know. Gorgeous, talented man. I was blown away when I first saw him perform this song. (Sananda Maitreya must be the name he now goes by. Castanet doesn't care. She still wants to do him.)

Got a kick out of this.

Ha!

What really tickles me is that the book (admittedly used, which makes this a legit sale) has two bids with four days left to go on the auction. Click on the post title to go to the actual eBay page.

I'm always amused when I show up on eBay. :-)

And the WTF? Award goes to ...

Elton "Money Trumps Principles" John

and gay basher/right-wing ranter extraordinaire, Rush Limpbag and his young-enough-to-be-the-daughter new wife.

But hey, who's counting?

'Cause we all know the exclusively hetero institution of marriage is SACRED, even if you're wedding the *cough* fourth gold-digger who's willing to overlook the fact you're a lunatic sack of lard.

WTG, Elton. Hope your husband is proud of you.

A truly fond farewell . . .

To one of the best Internet book-review sites EVER -- highly literate but never pretentious, often full of gentle humor, and always fair.

(Okay, so I forked out a small fortune in bribes over the past couple of years, but I consider it money well spent.)

So here's to "Well Read" and a smart, kind, unassuming lady from Leeds. (Sorry, no spicy cookies this time. A sweet one seems more appropriate.) I'm keeping it on my Favorites list; even inactive, it belongs there.