Some Things...

I am slightly surprised that it is now the 16th February and I am still only on Book Two of the month. This has to be a "worst-ever" record and, although I am enjoying Matter, I am hankering after something that's not set in space.

To attempt to disguise the total lack of book reviews this month, here's a few things that have caught my eye in the last weekish:

An email dropped into my inbox a couple of days ago from Sade Adeniran to tell me (and everyone else on her mailing list, I am quite sure) the fabulous news that her self-published book, Imagine This, has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize in the Best First Book for Africa category (link). She writes "Thanks to all those who are continuing to spread the word. Now my next dream has to be selling more than 1000 copies. :-) I have to admit, I feel like I’ve been nominated for an Oscar. I wish her lots of luck as it's a great book and don't just take my word for it - Sade has been strongly championed by Me and My Big Mouth. If you buy a copy from her website instead of amazon she'll even autograph it for you.

If you've not already seen it, stop by "Spread the Word" and vote for a book to talk about. I've had Candy Miller's Salt and Honey on my to read pile for a while now and I am quite sure that I could find a space for several of the other books on the shortlist. I'm not so sure when I'll get the time to read them though!

I've read a few posts about Georgette Heyer recently and I hold Emma from Vulpes Libris responsible for a certain eBay bid I have at the moment... I know I used to have a secret stash of Heyer's but I can only assume that they are in the attic as I can't find them. At least it looks as if I can come clean about liking her now!

Speaking of guilty pleasures - Firefly! My Own Kind of Freedom by Steve Brust has been released under a creative commons license. That means that you can download it here for free! To quote io9 "Squee!"