Still Life 4 by nessguide (via Flickr)

Yes, it’s on again! For a chance to win some books, come and enter our Melbourne Cup sweep! Fancy hats optional.

Update: Numbers are up! We only got 14 entries this year, so I’ve doubled everyone up. Anyone who got a number over 24 won’t get a second horse, but they’ll automatically get a free book from our giveaway pile—lucky you! :-D Good luck, everyone!

Tomorrow we’re celebrating the Race That Stops The Nation and as has become our annual tradition at Book Thingo, we’re running a readers’ sweep.

Here’s how it works:

1. The first 24 people to comment here or tweet using the hashtag #btsweep are in. If you’re commenter #25, that’s okay—we’ll keep the comments open, and if we get another 24 people, we’ll run a second sweep.

2. Participants signing up via comments must do so before noon tomorrow (1/11/2011) AEDT to give me time to allocate your horses.

3. Participants signing up via Twitter must do so before midnight tonight (30/10/2011) AEDT to give me time to allocate your horses.

4. Only Australian participants are eligible, but overseas readers can wear fancy hats and join in spirit. (If you live overseas but can supply an Australian mailing address, that’s good enough.)

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Anonymums by Anonymous

A stocking filler for any mum struggling to remember who she was before she had kids or who one day realises she has a brand preference for cleaning sponges. Anonymums reveals some of our unspoken insecurities and fears with charm, wit and honesty.

The premise of this non-fiction book is simple. In an attempt to rediscover who they are outside of their roles as mother, wife and housekeeper, three mums agree to complete a dare and reveal a truth of the others’ choosing each month for two months. On the third month, they assign themselves a Big Dare. All the while, they reflect on their experiences and share it with the other two…and now with us.

Anonymums doesn’t try to be more than it is, and that’s its charm.  Mums A, B and C—they remain anonymous to us—do things that any woman with kids, a husband and a mortgage may be prepared to do. As mid-life crises go, theirs are fairly inexpensive, harmless and non-fattening.

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Affection: a memoir of love, sex and intimacy by Krissy Kneen

Sometimes you find a book impossible to put down, not because of what it says about the world, but because of what it knows about you. Affection is that kind of book.

In Affection, Krissy Kneen intersperses past and present in brief but intense vignettes that readers of her blog, Furious Vaginas, may recognise. And yet the story flows—and does so lyrically, beautifully and at times enigmatically.

It begins with a playful tease—Kneen is bound, at her own request, in the middle of an otherwise perfectly domestic Sunday morning. ‘And that was just the sex part,’ she breaks off cheekily.

Kneen describes her childhood in Blacktown (NSW) and her teen years in Gladstone (Qld) almost always framed against the discovery of sexual pleasure—lying on the carpet, in a crawl space under the house, under her grandfather’s desk, on the beach—and her memories burst with texture.

When she leaves home to study in Brisbane, Kneen’s sexual exploration becomes more uninhibited and more complicated.

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Photo: svilen001 (via Flickr)

Australian Australian genre fiction readers’ calendar

In an effort to keep track of events that may be of interest to me or to readers who visit Book Thingo, I’ve created a Google calendar of Australian events celebrating readers who love genre fiction.

This calendar will include author appearances, book signings, award ceremonies and festivals. I’ve also included general book-related celebrations, such as #spbkchat, the NYOR book club and general literary events where genre fiction features in the program.

You can see a list of upcoming events in the right sidebar on the blog (under the picture of the dying fairy). If you’re reading this blog via a mobile device, click here to view the calendar. It’s a public, so anyone can see it.

If you’d like me to include your event, please send an email to calendar@bookthingo.com.au and include the following information:

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Shadow Kin by M. J. Scott (Half-Light City, Book 1)

Shadow Kin straddles urban fantasy and paranormal romance. If you’re not fussed about first person narrative and POV shifts, this book introduces a fresh voice in the genre that won’t have any trouble finding an audience.

When Shadow’s attempt to assassinate a sunmage fails, she knows she’s in big trouble. First, there’s her boss, the Blood Lord Lucius, for whom failure is punishable by death…or worse. Then there’s Simon, the sunmage, who persuades Shadow to betray Lucius.

Shadow is a wraith, and all her life Lucius’s protection—such as it is—has been her only sanctuary. It’s also a dark prison she’s desperate to escape, and Simon’s offer of protection is the first real chance she’s had since her Fae family abandoned her to the Blood Lord.

The story gets off to a fantastic start—fast-paced and intriguing, with a kick-arse but vulnerable heroine. Perfect urban fantasy fodder, and I couldn’t put it down.

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On The Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

This is a book to be sped through, then read again and savoured and, when it’s tattered and the pages are curling, passed on to your kids.

This is the Melina Marchetta I thought I wouldn’t finish.

The story begins with a shocking scene of children trapped in a car wreck on the Jellicoe Road. But this isn’t the main story.

Twenty-two years later, Taylor Markham is elected to lead Jellicoe School in the annual territory wars against the Townies from the local public school, and the Cadets, who camp out in town for the summer holidays.

But Taylor has other things to worry about. Her dreams are filled by a boy in a tree who whispers in her ear. Hannah, the closest person she has to a mother, has mysteriously disappeared, and Taylor’s teetering on the brink of a breakdown—or worse.

What happened to the kids in the car accident and the boy on the bike who came along to save them? And what do they have to do with Taylor?

I was so confused, I killed a fairy before I even reached page 50.

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Tasmanian romance readers

ARRA has put out a call for Tasmanian romance readers to please contact the organisation. It might lead to a romance-related Tassie event. Please let them know you’re interested!

The Boomerang Bride in print

The Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe, featuring a fruit cake-toting Aussie bride-to-be, will be published in print through the Harlequin Reader Service in February 2012. (Unfortunately, this service isn’t available in Australia.) (Source: @FionaLowe)

Google ebook store coming to Australia

According to this article in The Bookseller, Google is planning to launch its ebook store in Australia ‘soon’. Not only will this provide competition, which is good for consumers, it may also help booksellers looking to get into the ebook market:

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Photo: Kat

In which ChatRoulette, sex toys and a seductive octopus feature in a book launch.

Look, I won’t lie. Krissy Kneen has been one of my author crushes ever since I read her memoir, Affection (review pending—yes, I know, it’s been two years! I have a draft, I promise). So when I heard that she was doing a couple of readings in Sydney of her new book, Triptych, I was, you know…mildly interested. Ahem.

Honey Birdette (NSFW) is tucked away at the the Pitt St level of Westfield Sydney, around the corner from Nine West and before you get to David Jones. It’s a beautiful and elegant shop that sells undies, oils, books and sex toys. Yes, they have a wall of toys.

This may give you an idea of what Kneen writes about.

With champagne flutes in hand, we settled down, ready to be seduced by her words.

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Swept: Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche

A book for anyone with a sense of adventure, whether you’re an armchair traveller or someone who wants to see more of the world.

While working overseas in San Francisco for a year, Australian girl Torre DeRoche meets a hot Argentinian in a bar. Their romance is meant to be just a temporary thing, but somehow she ends up sailing around the South Pacific with him, despite a complete fear of sailing. Will their love survive the open water?

I first heard of the fearful adventurer by following a series of links and connections via Twitter. DeRoche’s book had not yet been published, but her story seemed so interesting. I immediately tried to get the ending out of her via Twitter but no, I was not allowed to kill a fairy and had to wait for the book to come out. When it did, I promptly downloaded the book, loaded it on the Kindle on my iPhone and, mid-book, left my phone on a bus…but not before skipping to the ending and killing a fairy!

What I love most about this book is that it combines two of my passions—travel and romance.

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Photo: Envyious

An awesome book launch.

Here is a very short and perhaps (I apologise) even incomplete recap since I, being an employee of the venue, was still working at the time and missed the speeches made at the beginning! Though I did hear the excitement and a few snippets here and there.

I did approach M. J. Scott and told her I would quote that the launch was ‘awesome’. That should be enough, right?

It was hilarious that Keri Arthur was in the queue of people I would normally serve at the registers buying books (yes, they were Scott’s but come on—it was Keri Arthur! Who does appear in a few of my sneaky photos from last night). If memory serves, along with Pam, who was there with a few of the ARRA ladies, I was also chatting with Anne Gracie. (I am so bad with putting author faces to their names! But their names and reputations do precede them so technically it’s not my fault…)

Anyway, there were drinks (I, sadly, didn’t have any), delicious food (I had two meatballs, one of which didn’t make it to my mouth as it fell apart on the toothpick and met an untimely end on the floor) and lively, engaging romance book loving company.

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