I spied fresh turkeys while shopping at Costco today, so Thanksgiving must be getting close.  No one really wants to have my help in the kitchen, so I get to kick back with a pre-dinner beer.  I usually make the pies though, and do dishwashing duty after, incase you were thinking that I’m a lazy slug.  Around this time of year, I always get a hankering to buy a six-pack of pumpkin beer, and after I take my first sip I go, oh yeah, I hate this shit.  I don’t know why it looks so good to me sitting on the store’s shelf because I never enjoy drinking it.  Pumpkin beer usually too sweet and spicy for my taste.  Maybe this year I’ll wise up and just buy an Octoberfest.

Amazon named Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl as one of their top ten picks for 2009.  I was intrigued to see a young adult fantasy novel rubbing shoulders with the weightier tomes, so perhaps it’s worth a try.  Here’s part of Amazon’s review: “Beautiful Creatures is a delicious southern Gothic that charms you from the first page, drawing you into a dark world of magic and mystery until you emerge gasping and blinking, wondering what happened to the last few hours (and how many more you're willing to give up). To tell too much of the plot would spoil the thrill of discovery, and believe me, you will want to uncover the secrets of this richly imagined dark fantasy on your own.” Kristi at The Story Siren also gave this one a rave review, and she seems to know her YA fiction, unlike me. 

Now here’s an interesting book list – Five Great Books for Poker Fiends.  What’s interesting is that the books in this list have nothing to do with playing poker, on the surface at least.  Books by Tennessee Williams, David Mamet, and Bill Gates make the list.  Bill Gates?  Yep, apparently that’s how he passed part of his time at Harvard.

If you’re an Anne Rice fan who wants to know more about her latest novel, Angel Time, here’s an audio interview with the author on NPR.  Apparently Ms. Rice doesn’t write about vampires anymore (don’t cry), but she is currently into angels.  With all the cool angel covers floating around, this one seems kind of blah.  Perhaps the art department was going for simplicity, but it just looks lazy to me.

Alright, fess up.  How many of you are going to see New Moon in the theaters?  It’s okay, you can say that you are taking your daughter or niece if it makes you feel better.  Over at New Moon The Movie they’re re-reading the novel in anticipation of the movie release on the 20th. Did you know that Nordstrom has come out with a Twilight-inspired clothing-line for teens?  I’d scoff at the idea, but the t-shirts actually look pretty darn cool.  Also for sale?  A life-size cardboard cutout of Edward.  I hope it’s waterproof, or the dude’s face will dissolve under soggy kisses.  I was a tween once.  I know what they do.

ABC bought a half-hour script for a relationship comedy based on the book Women are Crazy, Men are Stupid.  Call me crazy, but that title bothers me.  It’s equally insulting to both men and women. 

I like the sound of this one.  Debut author Lisa Pasold wrote a book called Rats of Las Vegas, and it features a female poker-playing prodigy back during the 1940s.  She hopes that readers “have fun, reading the book. I hope they get a window into the world that isn’t that common—the gambling world, and how gambling is a lot like anything in life—we all play games as best we can.”  I’m putting Rats on my wish list.  I just hope it has a happy ending.

If you know of a music-playing-loving teen, they might enjoy Struts & Frets by Jon Skovron.  According to Cory Doctorow, “Jon Skovron's debut novel, the YA book Struts & Frets, is a dynamite, nuanced story about fannish love, musical obsession, first romance and true friendship. It follows the adventures of Sammy Bojar, a small-town, midwestern high-school senior who's life revolves around his band, a trainwreck of ego and conflict called "Tragedy of Wisdom."”

Attention all contest hounds!  Here is a really, really, really long list of contests being held by dozens of authors through November.  Writerspace puts this together, and I like to think of it as a one-stop shop for contests featuring my favorite authors.  I entered a few myself since I broke my unlucky streak by winning a book from SciFiGuy last week, I figure my luck may be back.

I think I’ve talked a few of you into trying Adrian Phoenix’s Maker’s Song Series, and so far, I haven’t heard any complaints.  Someday I want to open a discussion thread so we can all hash out why Dante is such a sex god.  The third book in the series, Beneath the Skin comes out on December 29th (that’s a popular release date btw), and it’s one of the few books I’m willing to buy.  While cruising on Ms. Phoenix’s website, I saw little teaser that she’s coming out with a new series this summer, and the first book is called Black Dust Mambo.  Something about a hoodoo student named Kallie Riviere.

Here is a thoughtful column written by an avid book collector who looks at her walls of books and feels guilty about all the trees that had to die.  She makes an argument that we should embrace eReaders to save more trees.  As she says, “it takes a lot of paper to clunk out a Stephen King novel of 1,000 pages in millions of copies.  A lot of trees.”

While most of us were handing out candy on Halloween, a group of real nutballs decided to hold a book burning.  They’re ostensibly Christian, and yet they even ‘burned’ bibles – the non-King James version that is, because they’re “Satan’s Bibles.”  I put ‘burned’ in quotes, because the group was thwarted by rain, protesters, and a state law against burning paper (huh?).  Anyway, it’s safe to say that this is the Worst. Book Burning. Ever.

All of the books I buy are utilitarian beasts that I consume and cast back into the ether, or vary rarely, place on my crowded keeper shelf.  There are people however, who buy rare, old books, and often they’ll face the dilemma of wanting to read the book.  If it’s a vintage paperback, here’s the advice of collector Stephen J. Gertz: “A sixty year old paperback in mint condition is an astonishment; these books were never meant to last, much less be collected. If you discover a mint copy of a desired rare title and buy it, do this: Nothing. Sharp edges, firm corners, no creasing of any kind, tight wrappers, and no, repeat no, evidence of a crease line along the spine indicating that the book had been opened - this is what paperback collectors crave. If you break one of these laws the $200 mint-condition paperback nosedives in value.”  I like that advice – don’t read it.  First time I’ve ever heard that apply to a book.

Speaking of collecting books, a con-artist who goes by the handle, Milliondollarauctions, has posted a book on Ebay for the ludicrous sum of $21 million dollars.  Yes, MILLION.  What’s it really worth?  Here’s how Mr. Gertz breaks it down: “The Influence of Seapower Upon History 1660-1783 was, indeed, an important and influential book but this copy could have been signed and licked by every four-star general and rear admiral 1918-1945 and it still wouldn't be worth more than $20,000 at auction - on a good day full of sunshine and fairie dust when everyone has lost their mind, know it but don't care. It's an ex-library copy, jeez, a pariah to collectors, particularly as it is an ex-library copy of a later edition - the twelfth - not the first edition of 1890.” 

I know I have a few Canadian readers, because I’ve had to ship books up there when you win something from the Monthly Book Giveaway.  I wish you could see my husband’s face when I tell him I have a Canadian winner.  The only thing that’s going to beat it is when I tell him I have an Australian winner someday (yep, at least one in the hat).  Anyway, good news Canada – the Kindle is finally available for your reading pleasure – just in time for Christmas too, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.

Attention aspiring romance and women’s lit writers – Harlequin now has a self-publishing arm called Harlequin Horizons.  From what I can glean, you won’t see your book in a hardcopy format, but it will be made available online in ebook formats just about everywhere.  The cynic in me wants to know if anybody who became successful ever started by self-publishing their novel.  Until I have a name, I’ll remain a doubter.  Oh, and why did the Book Bench bloggers over at The New Yorker have to call these prospective romance writers ‘hacks?’  That seems unnecessarily derogatory to me, but I’m touchy whenever romance authors are snubbed, maligned, or stepped on.

The New Oxford American Dictionary (isn’t that name an oxymoron?) has announced their ‘word of the year.’  Some of the new words coined this year include “hashtag,” “paywall,” and “sexting.”  I can guess what sexting means because I have a naturally dirty mind, but I’m drawing a blank when it comes to hashtag and paywall.  If you happen to know, please enlighten me.  Oh, their number one pick?  “Unfriend,” which happens when someone breaks off a relationship on a social networking site, such as Facebook.

Are prizes the new reviews?  With 400,000 titles published in the U.S. every single year, and with newspapers folding up their book review departments, perhaps winning an award is the best endorsement authors can hope for nowadays.  But, let’s say you self-published your novel on a vanity press… where’s your award?  For a slight fee of $69, you can enter your book in the National Book Award. Everyone who enters ends up as a finalist or winner due to the incredibly long and convoluted list of categories.  Then you can purchase gold medal stickers to slap on your covers, and your friends and relatives will never know the difference between the National Book Award, and say, the Newberry Medal.

Publisher’s Weekly reviewed Jane Ann Krentz’s latest Arcane Society novel, Fired Up: Book One of the Dreamlight Trilogy.  It’s a good review, although they mention that first-time readers will need to read her earlier books to get the plot, but that’s not what grabbed my attention.  Here’s what grabbed me: “In Krentz's paranormal Arcane Society series, she bounces from contemporary romantic thriller (Running Hot) to steampunk historicals (Perfect Poison, as Amanda Quick).”  Wait a minute – The Perfect Poison is a steampunk novel?  Hmmm, I don’t know if I agree with that. 

Jacqueline Frank, one of my favorite paranormal romance authors, is kicking off a new series called The Gatherers, and her intro novel, Hunting Julian, earned a starred review on PW: “Unflinching, kick-ass characters bent on dominating each other, Asia and Julian are in constant combat, though Julian claims they're destined to be mates. The stakes in their explosive conflict threaten disaster for them and both their worlds. Frank's world-building is exceptional, and the fast-paced plot never lets up.”  PW doesn’t hand out stars all that often, so I’m adding Hunting Julian to my buy list (it comes out on December 29th). 

The members of the Dirty Sexy Book Club will want to hang onto this link since our theme for  January is steampunk.  Here is a list of twelve steampunk titles put together by Powell’s.  And once we’ve conquered that genre we can move onto cyberpunk ladies (once I determine what it is).

Now this is BIG news...

A Kindle reader for PCs is now available as a free download!  Install this application onto your computer and you’ll be able to take advantage of the freebie Kindle downloads, and you don’t even need to own a Kindle to use it.  Ironically, I can’t install this myself because the Mac version isn’t ready yet, although they say it’s coming soon.  Also if you do have a Kindle, this PC application lets you access your full Kindle library.  If anyone gives this a try, please let me know how it goes.  I’d especially like to hear from anyone who does NOT own a Kindle, but tries the Kindle PC reader.  Here’s a link to all the free romances available on Kindle right now.

Also, here’s a list of what’s free on Kindle for a limited time:

The Templar Legacy by Steve Barry – free until December 1st

The Demon Awakens by R.A. Salvatore – free until December 1st

Starfist by David Sherman and Dan Cragg – free until December 1st

House of Danger by R. A. Montgomery - free until November 26th

Witch and Wizard “Book One” by James Patterson – free until December 14th