Cool things happening in Mind Games Land!

Okay, first, if you HAVEN'T yet read Mind Games, fabu blogger Ali of Simply Ali (she also reviews for Joyfully Reviewed) is giving one away one copy in a quickie contest that ends Thursday! Go say hi and enter!

Online book clubs that are reading Mind Games 
If you have read it, and have some rants, raves, anti-beret tirades or unwholesome thoughts about Simon to share, there are some really fabulous book clubs going.

1. A section by section discussion of Mind Games, on now: Melissa from My World in Words and Pages and Robyn from The Bookaholic Zone are reading section by section - the first section discussion kicked off at Melissa's Thursday, and anybody is welcome to join in! 

 by Amber Scott,  inventor of the pay-it-forward read

2. A discussion at the end of August, with Literary Escapism's book club, on Goodreads: This is a group anybody can join, moderated by fun & savvy UF readers Jackie, Jennifer and Tricia. Check it out here!

Amber Scott's "Project Pay it Forward"
This is one of the coolest ideas I've come across for a while - writer Amber Scott (her latest, Play Fling, is available in print and ebook at the usual stores, as well as Smashwords) started it with Gini Koch's Touched by an Alien, where she was so impressed, she bought three copies for three friends, sending them out with instructions for them to "pay the book forward" to another friend. And in each book, she sticks a note, and the friends record their experiences, and also report back to her blog. At the end, the book travels back to the author.

Anyway, she's starting it again, with two new books - Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison and Mind Games! I think it's an absolutely lovely and wonderful thing for one author to do for another. Gah! So psyched. So, I'll check in and keep tabs on the travels of these copies! (read about the inception of the project here).

Wicked

This is such a wild travel month! Mr. Crane and I are back from a visit to Wisconsin to visit my mom and sisters and their families. It was a super fun weekend, and the group of us (minus Mr. Crane) went to see Wicked, which was wickedly awesome. The first act had me on the edge of tears - oh, I am such a sucker for the hope and despair of the underdog! My only thing with it was that, the places where it intersected with Wizard of Oz seemed to bring it down, and sort of burden the storyline. But overall, I thought it was wonderful.

This coming weekend, we are visiting Mr. Crane's parents in California (the Monterey area). His sister will be there, too, and I understand there will be UFC fights watched. Popcorn will be eaten. Much catching up and visiting. And NO HUMIDITY!