Odds and Ends and the 2012 Theme Week

Time is already trying to speed by me in 2012. Goodness. To bad this snow isn't speeding by. I'm over it already.

I wanted to share a few odds and ends with you. The first being a "full disclosure" type of thing. I have been doing some work now for awhile with Maddee James at xuni.com, as you know. And I've also started to do some support work with Erin Mitchell for her business HEW (which handles author PR). Some of the authors I read are clients of Maddee or Erin. Their status as clients doesn't change the stipulations for reviews here. I still have to be interested in a book to read it and I have to like it to post about it. There are no expectations that my blog will be used for anything related to either organization. It is my personal and private endeavor - so my opinions reflect only ME, not xuni.com and not HEW.  That being said, I am also going to label any of those authors with the "xuni" tag or the "HEW" tag, so you know if they have that connection. You may take that into consideration when deciding whether  you're going to heed my advice on a book. It's very important to me that I'm up front about it.

O.k., on to fun stuff, like World Book Night. Have you all heard about this? I've mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook because I put my name into the hat for consideration as a book giver. I hope you'll take a minute or two to check it out. And if you're interested, sign up to be considered as a book giver!

There are a couple of book giveaways that Regal Literary is holding you might be interested in. First they have Josh Bazell's WILD THING and then also Donato Carrisi's THE WHISPERER. You have to enter by February 8th to be considered for those.

Speaking of giveaways! Congratulations to Michael A (CA) and Bobbie R (IL) who won the TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY giveaway here. I have passed on your mailing addresses to the folks at Focus Features (trying saying that three times fast) so you can receive your loot! I loved all of your spy names.

And the last item I have for this post is the blogger sign-up for this year's theme week. The theme is "Heroes & Villains" and will encompass all sub-genres. So no matter what crime fiction you fancy, it will fit in this year's theme week. The dates of the theme week are April 16-20. I hope you'll join in. And I hope you'll encourage others to join in as well. I'd love for some folks who aren't typical readers of the genre to give it a try. Really, what do you have to lose? Bloggers interested in participating, please just complete the quick form below and I'll be sending out an info sheet with all the specifics.



Stay warm and happy reading!