Do you know what a “larrikin” is? I had no idea – my vocabulary obviously doesn’t stretch to Australia slang! Kelly Hunter explains what a larrikin is (and isn’t). There’s also an excerpt from her new-ish contemporary romance A BAD BOY FOR CHRISTMAS (I really enjoyed this one – she always manages to pack so much story (and chemistry) into a category-length romance).
You’ve noticed the new Vorkosigan covers, right? The cover artist Ron Miller wrote an interesting post on good cover design. I’m a bit on the fence about the new covers – they’re better than some covers Lois McMaster Bujold has had (understatement of the year, possibly) but I’m not entirely sure they’ll appeal to new readers. Here’s LMB’s post talking about the alternative cover concepts (also interesting!).
And this totally made me smile. Olivia Hunyh is such a great illustrator, and I adored her Google Doodle tribute to LM Montgomery. Check out the Anne of Green Gables scenes she captured in the second two doodles – they are so perfect!
Me and My Books 
Thanks for the tip off with regards to the newest Jackson brothers book and that google doodle lady ^^.
Oh, Kelly Hunter sneaks out her releases, doesn’t she? Very little pre-release publicity, from what I see…
And I love Olivia Hunyh’s work – it’s so distinctive, I can pretty much tell if a Google Doodle is hers immediately!
Interesting to read the thoughts of a cover illustrator!! It’s so true, we often gripe about inaccuracies in a cover but it’s only *after* we’ve already read the book. So, yeah, I admit (grudgingly) that a cover’s gotta do its job! But, I definitely still think that if they are including people in the cover, they should follow what the author has described in the book. I’ve bought alternate covers of books because I hated certain covers so much!
Ha! I’ve definitely bought books on impulse purely because of the cover, so I can understand. Though with ebooks, it’s so much easier to just swap out a cover if it really bothers me.