Happy Wednesday! I’m currently on vacation in Austin and I’ve pretty much eaten myself into a coma. Most of today’s links are housekeeping things and content announcements, though there is a cat article!
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In case you aren’t aware, we have an Events section of the website. There, you can see what we have coming up and who is going to be where. We’re going to do more event announcements in the future, usually in these link posts and on Twitter, to keep everyone informed!
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Speaking of events, THIS WEEKEND is the Baltimore Book Festival, and the Maryland Romance Writers have their own stage full of events all weekend. Sarah will be moderating two events – Contemporary Romance: Fun, Flirty & Fabulous and Behold the Trends in Romancelandia. For those in the area, we hope you can make it out!
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In super awesome publishing news, Kensington has announce a digital speculative fiction imprint:
The imprint will debut with a new book from Barb Hendee (author of the Noble Death series) called Through a Dark Glass. Kensington holds world English and audio rights to the book, which is the first in a two-book contract.
The imprint will focus on e-originals in scifi and fantasy, and that is all up in Carrie’s wheelhouse.
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We’re also announcing an upcoming feature, tentatively called Squee from the Keeper Shelf. Reader Mary had a great idea:
Thanks to you and the Bitchery for continuing to provide us with such great content and entertainment! In looking at the guest reviews, I wondered if it could be possible to have a semi-regular feature where readers submit reviews of their fave/keeper shelf romances? Sort of a best of the best Squeeathon 🙂
Sarah: I love this idea! So we’re going to do a monthly “Squee from the Keeper Shelf” feature where we share the reasons we love a book that resides permanently on the keeper shelf. There’s no requirement that the book be recent; some of my keepers are sentimental reads from 1987 (Hey Blaze Wyndham, how YOU doin?). The only guidelines are that it be a romance, and that, if possible, you give a heads up as to any content in the book that might really upset someone. Want to join the fun? Just email your Keeper Squee to Sarah!
It’s more than just ‘I love this book;’ we want to know why you keep that particular book, possibly through moves and downsizing and thinning the collection of books (such a difficult task). Why do you love it, and why do you keep it? We want to know!
We want to know which romances (or books with strong romantic elements) mean the most to you, and we’ll be running this feature once a month. So please share with us what you love about the books you keep close to you, and why!
Specifications: Google docs are the easiest in terms of submissions, and if you want to include photos or gifs, be sure to provide links! While Google Drive is wonderful, it hasn’t yet enabled us to save images from a Google document.
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And last, but not least. Cats! Tube advertisements were replaced with cat photos and it’s everything you hoped and dreamed it would be.:
For the next two weeks, a Tube station in South London will create a rip in the space time continuum. The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service has replaced 68 adverts in Clapham Common with pictures of cats. This isn’t a clever marketing stunt for a pet food brand, or a guerrilla campaign for a new TV series. The people behind it are volunteers who raised the money on Kickstarter. We want to inspire people to think differently about the world and realise they have the power to change it.
It’s kind of a neat concept with trying to promote more positive images when it comes to advertising, and I’m all for more cat photos in general.
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Laptop Cord Winders
I have one of these from Above the Fray, and it's great for keeping my MacBook cord contained and safe from being pulled or frayed. There are earbud winders, too! -SW
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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
SO sad to be missing the Baltimore Book Festival this weekend. The National Book Festival in DC is this weekend as well. One of my daughter’s favorite authors/artists, Raina Telgemeier, is going to be there, so she’s also a little bummed to be missing it. We’re going to Western MD with my mother-in-law. That’ll be…about how you’d figure. Kids should get a kick out of it though. But even though I won’t be there I’m so happy to see romance so well-represented at the BBF, and hope the events are great!
I hope everyone has seen this from Cathy Yardley – “LEVEL UP will no longer be permanently free. So if there’s anybody you can think of that might enjoy it, please share it with them! I have always meant for this story to be the intro to the series, to help people get hooked on the world. This could be down and off to the new publisher in the next few weeks, so if you could spread the word, I’d be very grateful!”
Cats in the Tube! World domination scheme proceeds apace.
Welcome to Austin Amanda!
@Julia: Thank you! We checked out the bats today and tomorrow, we’re going to try our luck at getting some Franklin’s BBQ.
So excited to see Sarah in Baltimore! I will have a book or two for you to sign 🙂
@Stephanie: Oh, yay! That’s so awesome!