I think this is cozy paranormal (Haven’t read anything other than the sample) It’s Free today:

Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She’s Dead

Reader Northern Lin says it’s a decent read! Hat tip to her for letting us know!

I also came across this classic that I just loved when I was young: Anne of Green Gables (formatted for the Kindle.) I think it is out of copyright (in public domain) so you can probably find sites where it’s free, but here it is formatted from Amazon for a dollar!

Regan O’Reilly, Private Investigator by Margaret Lake

May, 1942 – Regan O’Reilly comes from a long line of police officers. She would have followed her father and brother into the Force but women officers are rare and usually relegated to the status of social workers.

Now she’s a private investigator with her own agency and the freedom to live her life the way she wants. That is until she meets widower Mark Harris and his delightful son, Patrick, who have plans of their own for Regan.

Bit of a historical, sounds like. I haven’t read it, but free is a decent price. I’ve read a couple of shorts by Lake and I’d guess this falls into the cozy mystery genre.

So a long time ago, in a different city, I was walking into the grocery store, hand on my purse strap like they tell you to do, when some guy walked past and ripped my purse off my arm. Poor bugger. I didn’t have even a dime in it. I mean, not even a penny. My car keys were in my pocket or other hand, I don’t remember which. I wished him well as he ran off using a screech that might have rattled some nearby windows. It’s possible I wasn’t wishing him well.

Anyway, since that fateful day, I’ve never used a purse. I usually have my trusty fanny pack. Yeah, it’s still possible it could be stolen, but hopefully it’s less likely. It leaves my hands free, and I still keep my car keys in my pocket.

Yesterday I visited the library. Had a nice visit chatting with my old co-workers. On my way out the first set of double doors, some guy from behind me called out, “Is that your money belt?”

I half turned to see a man who was probably sixty-five behind me. He had on boots and blue jeans. “No, it’s my gun holster,” I replied. He stopped walking. I didn’t. How are you supposed to answer a question like that? “Yes, and I have 400 dollars in it?” Whatever.

He called out again, a little less loudly. “I guess I better not mess with you then.”

“Probably not.”

He followed me out the second set of double doors a healthy distance behind me. “We sure need rain,” he said.

“Yup.”

“God Bless you,” were his last words.

“You too,” I said with a smile.

Not sure how one goes from “Is that your money belt” to “God Bless you.” My social skills aren’t that sophisticated. Hmph.

A really good list of things learned by a used-book store owner about books, people and business.

Some of them will put a smile on your face. They did mine!

I’ve always wanted one. I need one to go with my parasol. And now, it turns out that author Frank Tuttle has gotten his greedy little hands on one. That is what happens when you work with mages. I don’t know all the details. He swears the wand has been fully discharged, but we know how magic is. Since he’s offering it up as part of a contest I’m just hoping there’s no protective curse following it.

The wand is part of the collection found in All the Paths of Shadows.

Not only do I want the wand, I’d really like for Tuttle to give away a baby plant from Mug, the familiar. I’m a gardener; I’d take very good care of it!!!

At any rate, to enter the contest for the wand, check out Frank Tuttle’s Blog. Entry is pretty easy, but I was so focused on the wand and my own entry, I’ve forgotten all the details.

Here’s the blurb for the book. I don’t think it does the book justice myself. The real story is the tower, Mug the familiar and how Meralda handles the visitors to the kingdom. Some of them do not have her best interests at heart. She’s going to have to dig through the library of spells and use some that haven’t been used in years to get herself out of this mess. There’s a little bit of steampunk, a number of mysteries to be solved and magic. Best of all there are some great characters in this story.

The king’s orders were clear enough. “Move the tower’s shadow,” he bellowed. “I refuse to deliver my commencement speech from the dark.”

As the newly appointed mage to the Crown of Tirlin, Meralda Ovis has no choice but to undertake King Yvin’s ill-conceived task. Tirlin’s first female mage, and the youngest person to ever don the robes of office, Meralda is determined to prove once and for all that she deserves the title. The Tower, though, holds ancient secrets all its own. Secrets that will soon spell destruction for all of Tirlin—unless Meralda can unravel a monstrous curse laid by a legendary villain seven centuries before she was born.

An ancient curse. A haunted tower. A clamorous gathering of nobles, mages, and kings from the Five Realms come together in Tirlin for the fifth-year Accords. Meralda finds herself facing far darker foes than any mere shadow of the tower.

A little bit of chaos.

Y’all may recall my search for the perfect shorts. Y’all may recall that I ordered some. Well, I’ve now been informed my credit card “may” have been compromised. AEEEEEIIIIII. So I spent the morning changing out the credit card (which mainly involves all the things on autopay that had to be updated.) Anyway, as I was going through files to figure out all the credit card stuff, I came across…wait for it…rejection letters!!! No, not from credit card companies. Just publisher ones. Ones I thought I had purged long ago. So in addition to killing off a file with old credit card info, I was able to empty another folder. There’s *almost* room in my drawer! Almost. Don’t get too excited. It’s still pretty crammed in there.

Since I’m taking a break from writing, I’ve been trying to clean up a few things–like the desk. I’d like room to be able to work at the desk or at least SEE it now and then. But that would involve filing and I have NO space in the drawers. None.

And just so you know, the shorts don’t fit well. Unless my butt moved, getting into the pockets involves reaching all the way to the far side of my person to reach what are supposed to be front pockets. Define FRONT. And no, the shorts are not all stretched out; they button and zip just fine. Although if you’ve ever worn pantyhose, you know how they sometimes used to sag at the crotch and drive you utterly batty all day???? Yeah. That’s these shorts. If I pull them all the way up, the waistband provides great support for my boobs. What kind of monkey is supposed to wear these things???

AEIII!!!!

And I can’t return the shorts. Because they can’t credit the credit card and who wants store merchandise credit at a store for monkeys???

I just thought you’d like to know that most of the tomatoes are up (except for the ones I planted a week late. Those three are still lolligagging.) It’s not likely to be the year of the snap pea either. Dang it. They’ve been very slow to come up and I’ve replanted some twice. Today is turning nice so I’m hoping with some sunshine and warmth I get a few more participants.

I’m trying some new tomatoes this year, along with the tried and true. I’m going for lots of romas so I can can them because I’m already out of last year’s canning. I simply didn’t get enough tomatoes. I’m going with Opalka (which has done well here in the past), Marzano (almost did well here this fall, but froze too early), Amish paste and an heirloom striped roma. We’ll see which does best. And yeah. My garden plot is too small so if all these seedlings make it, it’s going to either be crowded or require yet another expansion. I never learn.

Magical Mayhem (print only) is live at Amazon. This only took about two months longer than I expected. Me and my little projects. Magical Mayhem is a compilation of my two anthologies, three of my Kindle short stories and a new children’s story.

This particular print book is eligible for Amazon’s four for three program (I don’t know how or why, but I’m very happy to see it in that bargain bin!) If you received the updated Kindle download for Tracking Magic you will have seen the illustrations that are also in the print version. The updated/illustrated version of Sage will be sent out in the next two weeks. It includes illustrations and I also added the children’s story to the back of Sage. That way fans can have all the stories without having to go buy a different piece.

Catch an Honest Thief (in print) is also currently available for Amazon’s four for three program. Thief is a stand alone romantic suspense. It’s available in both print and for Kindle.

DailyCheapReads has started their segments on Top Five Reads for 2011. Today it’s favs from AmberDrake. She must be one smart lady because she picked Wistril Compleat as one of her favorites.

Okay, I don’t do it often. But there comes a time when the bookshelves have to be…gutted. Because sometimes, on rare occasions, I’d like to be able to use my dining room. But it’s hard to do when the bookshelf has (yet again) exploded with books. I don’t know how these things reproduce, but it seems like the shelves start nice and neat and then a row on top of a row appears. Then the books get stacked double, paperbacks in front of paperbacks. Stacks appear all along the top like mismatched socks on top of the dresser that you can’t throw away because you know the mate is somewhere and will appear as soon as you toss the one on the dresser.

But one day, you decide that you actually bought the dining room table to eat on and when you can’t see your husband around the stacks of books…did you know that books make great trivets for setting hot pans on? Yup. Very resilient to heat. But I digress.

I’ve heard there are houses where books are not stacked alongside the bookcase. What do these neat and clean people do with their books? I do wonder. You’d think with my Kindle, I’d now have less stacks of books. And I do, I suppose. Last year when the shelves attacked me, I had three stacks alongside the bookcase waiting for the cats to knock them over (and you know how that ended.)

So here I am again. I am actually getting to it this year with only one stack…well, okay, there’s really two and a half stacks sitting on the dining room table. But they’re in a bag now that the stacks won’t stand on their own, so that’s more like one stack.

I’ll donate a bunch to the library. I have a couple of fully illustrated Black Gate magazines that I guess will go to goodwill. I know that the library won’t take magazines even if they are story magazines. I love the magazine, but a girl has GOT to eat on the dining room table once a year or so.

This project may take me a day or two. Or possibly longer. If you’re looking for me, I’m behind that stack of books.

Seriously? Okay, anyone who knows me knows I’m …let’s just say not a fan of porn erotica whatever you call it. Seriously. Here’s a book description from today’s Books on the Knob bargain bin. Now, keep in mind that women get all up in arms when women are forced into prostitution to survive. It’s LOW and HORRID that a guy EVER considers hiring an escort service. It’s OBVIOUSLY all about sex and the guy is TOTAL scum.

Book Description

It isn’t Jade Talmage’s idea to accept her daughter’s offer to hire an escort for the hospital gala. But the absence of her brother Paul—her usual companion—leaves her with no choice. No, couldn’t possibly just GO ALONE. Couldn’t possibly find a friend. No choice at all.

Enter Zachary Cooper, one-third owner of Coopers’ Companions, a professional escort company. Despite his good looks and sex appeal that make her hormones scream, Jade has no intention of being the next in a long line of the rent-a-stud’s conquests. Well, duh. He’s an escort. It’s his job to be sexy and you hired an escort. Conquest? Don’t tell me you didn’t intend to sleep with him. That’s why men hire escorts. Don’t try to pretend you’re different. If you were different, I’m guessing you might have made a few friends by this time in your life and one of them might be male and might agree to go with you to a gala.

A weekend of mind-blowing sex has Jade’s heart crumbling. Zach is exactly the type of man she wants in her life. Yet she’s sure a relationship with a man ten years her junior would lead to nothing but heartache. Mind-blowing sex? That’s it? That is exactly and all you want from a man in your life? PUH-LEASE. Maybe you could try for a guy with a legitimate self-respecting job. This guy is a prostitute. Does he take out the trash on frigid mornings in December? Fix the car when it dies? Can he hold an intelligent conversation on anything? And if you and only you get him, how is he going to make a living???

Zach doesn’t care that Jade is older than he. He wants a lifetime with the woman he’s fallen for so desperately. All he has to do is convince Jade that he’s much more than a rent-a-stud…he’s the man who loves her. Well of course he says that. That’s what all prostitutes claim. Only you, baby. You’re the only one I really like. So if you’re so much more than a rent-a-sex scam, stud, explain to me your regular job? How much do you make? And if you make such a great living, why are you a prostitute escort? Imagine having to tell the kids that dad is a very successful prostitute escort. After you marry him, introducing him at future galas is bound to be interesting.

SERIOUSLY?

Yanno, if I have to go to a gala and happen to show up alone and someone doesn’t like it, they can just stuff peanuts up their nose.

Okay, I saw a similar poll over on Goodreads and I just love the question so I’m stealing the idea for my blog:

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And here I thought I did in-depth reporting on cover art! Well, author Jim Hines has gone out in the field (possibly left field) to uncover the secret behind cover poses. He’s dedicated. Very dedicated. Check out Jim Hines version of being a cover model.

Jim Hines is the author of the very excellent Goblin series, starting with Goblin Quest. I reviewed it here, back when I was just starting to do reviews. In short, it’s a very good fantasy series and worth a look for both YA and adults.

Jim has also written the alternate fairy tale series Princess Series series. I’ve read the first book, which is a wild adventure of what happened to Cinderella AFTER the happily ever after. She’ll get some help from some other fairy tale characters you may recognize. For a frugal and fun way to check out Jim’s writing, he has an anthology on sale right now for 99 cents: Goblin Tales

Jim Chambers is an author pining for the good old days in American, when lemonade was made from fresh lemons, when there wasn’t a TV in every household and believe it or not, Mr. Potato-head was made with a real potato! He has an aversion to eggs, but we don’t know why. Could it have to do with grade school and a horrible prank that scarred him for life?

Jim isn’t against the here and now and when it comes to gadgets, he is in the know–and on the cutting edge:

I’m Selling My Apple iPad and Keeping the Amazon Kindle Fire!

by Jim Chambers (Author of Recollections: A Baby Boomer’s Memories of the Fabulous Fifties)

Yes, you read the title correctly. I’ve put my beloved iPad up for sale, and I’m keeping my Kindle Fire. So it’s safe to assume that I like my Kindle Fire more than the iPad, right?

Well, it’s not quite that simple. My wonderful wife bought the iPad for me after my umpteenth spinal surgery a couple of years ago—a failed surgery that left me completely bedridden for several weeks, until a follow-up surgery got me back on my feet.

But during those long weeks when I couldn’t sit up at the desktop PC to check my email and surf the web, the iPad was a lifesaver, or at least a huge morale booster. By the time I could sit up and even walk a bit, I had fallen in love with the iPad. I could sit and watch TV (all day if I wanted to, since I’m retired), and check emails during commercials without going over to my work desk). We don’t travel much now, but we’ve been out-of-state twice since I got the iPad, and it was in my travel bag on both trips, connecting to the hotel’s wi-fi as soon as we arrived. I don’t play too many games now, but at one time, I was the top player on the planet for one version of Angry Birds, and I have the screenshot to prove it. I was never one of Apple’s devoted minions, but I have to admit they hit a home run with the iPad.

But then, in November 2011, a mysterious interloper came into my life, an exotic seductress who ignited flaming passions from head to toe, especially on dark and stormy nights. (Do you understand now why I don’t write fiction?) It was Amazon’s new Kindle Fire, and it was love at first sight. Only $199, with thousands of free streaming movies and TV shows from Amazon, and—may Steve Jobs rest in peace—it played Adobe Flash. Even better, Amazon put a USB port in the Kindle Fire, making it a snap to get files in or out of the Fire, a far cry from the iPad’s arcane dependence on iTunes for transferring any kind of files (although that changed slightly with the arrival of the Cloud and transfer apps like Dropbox and PhotoSync).

I won’t go over all the differences between the iPad and the Kindle Fire, but here’s my brief take and why I’m going with the Kindle Fire and selling my iPad. In my review of the Fire on Amazon, I said that if the Kindle Fire wasn’t an iPad-killer, it was at least a game changer in the tablet market. After using my Fire for almost two months, I feel even more confident about that statement. The Fire isn’t going to kill the iPad, but it’s certainly going to contribute to the demise of many other tablets. With a killer price and with Amazon’s massive commitment to the success of the Fire, the Fire is already a ginormous success.

Amazon intends for the Fire to be a platform for Amazon media content, and no one, even Apple, can come close to matching Amazon’s huge catalog of media content, including books, movies and TV, magazines, music, and apps (in all fairness, the Apple app store has far more content than Amazon’s Android app store, but Amazon is catching up fast). The Fire also has a nice built-in email app that connected very easily to my Gmail account, and an excellent web browser.

In comparing the iPad and the Kindle Fire, to me the single biggest advantage of the iPad is the larger screen size. But that comes with a substantial increase in size and weight compared to the Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire lacks the built-in microphone that the iPad has, and I miss that, since there are some really cool apps that require a microphone, not to mention that Skype won’t work without one. On the positive side, the Fire has very nice rubberized sides and back that give excellent gripping surfaces, compared to the iPad’s smooth, curved metal back that almost forces you to buy an expensive rubber protective grip to keep the iPad from slipping out of your hands (and your local Apple store will be most happy to sell you one!).

Ironically, the one activity that I don’t do on my Kindle Fire is reading books. Don’t get me wrong, the Fire is a superb ebook reader. But I learned with my iPad that my reading slowed down dramatically when I yielded to the temptation to stop reading every few minutes and check emails or web surf or… well, play Angry Birds. So I went back to my old e-ink Kindle for reading. For some reason, the Fire doesn’t do text-to-speech, as the e-ink Kindles do, but it has plenty of options for fonts and font sizes to improve readability. My guess is that if there is enough demand for text-to-speech, Amazon will add it with a firmware upgrade.

When the first customers started to talk about their Kindle Fires, there were a lot of gripes about certain features. I voiced several gripes myself. Well, Amazon must have been listening, because there have been two major firmware updates already, and as a result, the Fire is a much better device than it was when it was released. I still have a few complaints (mostly minor), but it looks like Amazon is working the problem.

Of course, if you buy a Kindle Fire, you’ll want to accessorize it. The first accessory that I bought was a padded sleeve to carry my Kindle Fire in when I leave home with it. It’s simple but durable, and it gives a fair amount of protection when I’m carrying the Fire.

I wasn’t planning to buy a case for the Fire, but I received an offer of a free case in exchange for a review. The case was being sold for $14.95 (with free Prime shipping), so I wasn’t expecting much, since similar cases were much more expensive. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see how nice the case was. It appeared to be well made of real leather, it looked good (although it lacked the fancy designs of the more expensive cases), and it functioned well as an easel for the Fire in the landscape position. It has a built-in hand strap for one-handed use in the portrait position. I also like the carrying strap, which many other cases don’t have.

But don’t just take my word for it, you should shop around, since there are dozens of accessories for the Fire, with more being added to the mix every week.

The bottom line: I love my Kindle Fire. I’ll miss the iPad, but not that much. And, by the way, Angry Birds looks great on the Fire!

I have money in hand and I am ready to buy. It’s off-season, I know, but I’ve actually been looking for all-cotton shorts with at least an 8 inch inseam WITH pockets for a few months now. Well, yesterday I decided I’d up my price range in the hopes that it yielded some actual shorts. It did not. Any possible shorts in that category were sold out (I don’t believe that. They never existed. Retailers put that sort of thing online and then put “soldout” across the front to create false hope and get search engine response. No one actually MAKES the shorts I want to buy.)

I even tried finding a skort type thing (also known as gaunchos or a split skirt). Nope, not in all cotton. When it is in cotton (rare), there are no pockets. Where does everyone else keep their keys?? Or the snap peas or tomatoes here and there that you didn’t expect to find so you didn’t bring your basket outside? I cannot imagine.

I finally found a denim skort that is really more a pair of baggy shorts, but beggars, even ones with a bit of cash in hand, apparently cannot be choosers. Hmph.

Since I did not find magical shorts with pockets I have begun sewing some. Yes, yes, someone warn the president that the cursing coming from Texas is just me at the sewing machine. Yes, I have tried this route before and failed. If you recall the previous pair I made had some issues. Namely, the legs were not the same length. So I cut one side to match the other. Then I had to cut the other side. Before you knew it, I had a useless pair of shorts so short they were more like flapping undies. So if anyone needs a pair of…breezy undies with no elastic on the bottom, have I got a deal for you. Oh, and they do have pockets.

Failure cannot stop me. Let’s just hope I do not sew myself to the shorts like that time…oh never mind. I have work to do.