& by Leo Reynolds (via Flickr)

For today is National Punctuation Day, the day to pull out all the stops, to revel in comma karma, to get to the exclamation point. It’s a day for high colonics and high semicolonics. — John Kelly, The Washington Post

In honour of National Punctuation Day, I’m reposting one of my favourite poems for your enjoyment. Now go forth and punctuate!

On Twitter a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to @redrobinreader that one of my favourite poems uses punctuation and literature-speak as metaphors for sex. I couldn’t find the poem online, so I tracked down the poet to see if she’ll allow me to post it here.

Close Reading by Alexis Harley was originally published in Tangent 2000: An anthology of women’s creative work.

Alexis Harley has generously given Book Thingo permission to post the poem in its entirety. Here it is for your reading pleasure. (more)

Source: Bronwyn Parry

What do you do when one of your favourite authors visits your library? You talk about books, of course!

When I arrived—half an hour late and with the Lilliputians in tow—to Books Alive author Bronwyn Parry’s meet and greet at Ultimo Library, it seems I may have interrupted an animated discussion about books. I felt a little awkward, butting into the conversation, but it’s almost impossible to hang out with book lovers and not be caught up in the discussion.

Located near the library entrance, Bron’s table was the first thing I saw as I walked through the doors. Seated at a large, round table were Bronwyn Parry, Louisa Dear (her publicist), Vassiliki (our librarian host), and a couple of us readers.

It was a far cry from Decadence’s recent author signing experience, but it made for a much more intimate experience. For someone long past her teenybopper years, (more)

Bronwyn Parry at Ultimo Library

Books Alive author Bronwyn Parry will be at Ultimo Library tomorrow from 5pm-6pm. Come along for a chat, and bring your books or buy one on the day and have them signed. More details at the City of Sydney’s What’s On website.

Australian release for Night’s Cold Kiss

Night’s Cold Kiss, the debut novel by Australian author Tracey O’Hara, will be published locally by HarperCollins Australia. The website shows Sept 22 as the release date, so it should be in stores soon.

Coming soon from C. L. Wilson

One of my most anticipated books of the year, the Queen of Song and Souls by C. L. Wilson, is scheduled for release on October 27. (You can read an excerpt here.) I’m told that the book became much longer than anticipated and had to be split, so this will be book 3 in the Tairen Soul quartet. The last book will be called Tairen Soul, which gives it a lovely bit of symmetry, given that it was the original name for the first book, which then had to be split into Lord of the Fading Lands and Lady of Light and Shadows. (more)

Cold Front by Ann Somerville (Pindone Files, Book 4)

Because who could resist that cover? Seriously.

When I was offered the chance to read an M/m romance by Australian author Ann Somerville, I scrolled through her website and the book with the shirtless man in tight black pants with his hands cuffed behind his back brought out my inner cover tart.

Then, when I read that it was along the lines of an M/m BDSM paranormal CSI, I was even more interested in the story because just one of those would have been enough to attract my attention. The book contains two prequel novellas, One Brief Encounter and A House is not a Home, followed by the novel Cold Front, which is the focus of this review.

One Brief Encounter

One Brief Encounter is told mostly from Dekan hon Cerimwe den Tsikeni’s point of view. Dek met Rensire hon Parmin den Vizinken in a bar while visiting Ren’s home region for police training and they had an immediate connection. (more)

Marked has an interesting premise, but it’s let down by preachy writing, stilted dialogue and heavy-handed foreshadowing. (But it’s still not as bad as Twilight.)

When 16-year old Zoey Redbird is Marked as a vampyre, she leaves her family and friends to live in the House of Night—referred to by human kids as the Vampyre Finishing School—to spend 4 years learning about her new life and undergoing profound physical changes. Although she’s Marked, there’s no guarantee that she’ll survive the Change from human to vampyre.

On the way to the House of Night, Zoey has a vision of the vampire Goddess, Nyx, who tells Zoey that she’ll be the first of Nyx’s true disciples. But first Zoey has to figure out her new high school. The school’s most powerful student, Aphrodite, has it in for her. And what’s more, Zoey kind of likes Erik, who happens to be Aphrodite’s not-by-choice-ex-boyfriend.

It soon becomes apparent that Zoey has powers beyond that of a newly Marked (more)

Hi, everyone! We’ve just passed the mid-point of our Books Alive Reading Challenge, and I wanted to check in and see how everyone’s going!

My reading progress has been abysmal these past couple of weeks. I managed to finish 3 books:

1. The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke (fantasy) — Unique premise, interesting characters. I’ve added the next book to my to-buy list.

2. Blue Noise by Debra Oswald (young adult fiction) — I’m not the target reader for this book, but I can see it appealing to younger teens or older reluctant readers.

3. The latest Kathleen O’Reilly (Harlequin Blaze) arrived last week, and I didn’t sleep last night because I just had to finish it!

What have you been reading? Anything you’d highly recommend (or not)? If you’ve posted any reviews or lists, leave a link in the comments so we can check them out!

Bronwyn Parry at Ultimo Library (more)

At her second Richelle Mead signing of the day, Decadence goes back to school. In a manner of speaking.

Any questions I had over why the after party of a YA book tour would be held at a university hall were answered when I arrived. St Vladimir’s Academy is traditional on the outside and modern on the inside, while Sydney Uni has a mix of historical stone and modern glass and steel. MacLaurin Hall has some truly inspiring stone towers and large-paned windows surrounding beautifully kept lawns.

As a new friend said, “I feel like I’m in Hogwarts.”

I arrived at this signing with over half an hour to spare, which I spent in line chatting to strangers whom I hoped wouldn’t spoil the series for me (as though the exclusive reading from the as-yet-unpublished fifth book in the series, Spirit Bound wouldn’t do that).

One fan was so hardcore that she had brought at least one book from each of the three series Richelle Mead has going and on the title page of (I think) a Succubus book (more)

Source: Penguin Books Australia

With all the hype surrounding Richelle Mead’s Australian tour, Decadence just had to see what all the fuss is about. (Plus, we love Galaxy events.)

I am actually a very new reader of Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series—I haven’t finished the first book yet! I wanted to go to her book signing because it’s not that often that bestselling American authors come all the way across the ocean to see us.

I missed the damn train that would have got me to the city in plenty of time, so when I finally arrived, I saw Richelle and her entourage (which included a TV camera) walk through the door. The line was even longer than the one for Sherri. I was halfway to the door of the next shop. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at the number of teenagers who got the day off school, but I was. Another surprise was the number of guys in the line, too, who were all taller than me and blocked my view of Richelle, who is every bit as pretty as her publicity photos.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait that long because someone* let me cut through about half of the people waiting there. Even better than that, I got to talk to adults in the line. (more)

Blue Noise by Debra Oswald

Despite its straightforward storytelling style—or maybe because of it—there’s something rather charming about Debra Oswald’s latest young adult novel about a group of high school students who form a blues band.

Blue Noise is the fledgling blues band formed by a group of reluctant year 10 students who find themselves a little bewildered by the whirlwind who is Charlie, a new boy in the neighbourhood.

When Ash meets Charlie, he’s talked into an impromptu jam session, right there in the middle of the music shop. For 16-year old Ash, whose family provides him no sense of optimism for the future, Charlie’s enthusiasm is infectious, even though he doesn’t think the band will last—they never do.

Shy classical pianist Erin tends to overthink things, and by the time her words are ready to say no to Charlie’s request that she join the band, it’s too late—she’s in. And then she can’t quite figure out how to back out. (more)

This week is Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW). Marg, whose blog Reading Adventures was shortlisted in the BBAW Award for Best Romance Blog, posted a lovely write-up on Book Thingo. I thought it only fitting to pay it forward by listing some of the book blogs I most frequent or which continually inspire me.

Monkey Bear Reviews

SarahT’s blog is even younger than Book Thingo, but it’s already on my must-read list. I love reading Sarah’s opinion on various issues around romance blogland—she gets me thinking even if I don’t always agree. Sarah isn’t afraid to tackle controversial issues, but she does so in an articulate, fair and well thought out way.

Literary Minded

Okay, I don’t read every article on Angela Meyer’s blog, but if there’s one blog that has inspired me to be a better, more creative reviewer, it’s this one. Angela plays around with different styles when reviewing books, interviewing authors, or covering Australian literary events. She also convinced me (probably without realising it) to try two books that look set to make it to my list of best reads for the year: Addition by Toni Jordan, and Affection (more)