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As it goes, there are too many things going on the net to catch everyone's eyes & ears, here are a few thing which we felt our readers would like to know more about.

One of Cindy's favorite writers, David B. Coe has come up with a nice, lucid post about the 10 things an ideal writer should & shouldn't do.

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Plus there are quite a few additions by some well read names to this exquisite list in the comments section and a couple of horrendous tales as well, check it out.

There's also the very fabulous Shimmer magazine with its latest issue being Clockwork Jungle Book: The collection of twenty fabulous steampunk animal tales. There are various tales from authors such as Jay Lake, James Maxey, Lou Anders and many more

Check out the entire table of contents over here and here's the best part the e-version is being offered for only $4, that's a steal with the book being nearly over 160-odd pages and with some pretty cool illustrations as well.

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And for those of you who like to try their luck, the incredibly talented James Maxey is also running a giveaway for the same Magazine to everyone globally so all you folks can hop over to over here and enter to win.

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Continuing with the free books, Tim Marquitz, author of the tremendous debut Armageddon Bound is also giving away free e-copies, of his book over here; the only sad part is that today's the last day of this free giveaway so hurry up folks and to further help you onto whetting your appetite for the book, read its FBC review.

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Lastly we also have author Gary A. Ballard who's also in the holiday mood has decided to spread the joy amongst readers by giving out various discounts on his book in all formats, for the uninitiated Gary has been interviewed at FBC here and in a different take here.

For the book review you can check it out here and the FBC review as well. You can see what Gary has in store for all new readers.

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And for all Andy Remic fans here's a publicity pic from the forthcoming War Machine the third book in the Combat K series:

It's spunky and brazen as are Andy's characters in the Combat K novels as seen in this previous FBC Combat K review.

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For those who were inspired by that bold piece of photo-art above & are artistically inclined, can rejoice! Peter V. Brett of The Painted Man/The Warded Man fame is having a Desert Spear ARC contest and here are the rules to enter yourself into getting a copy of a book which is sure to be a bestseller and is eagerly awaited by both Liviu & me.

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Lastly Pat Rothfuss has his annual Worldbuilders auction going on however this year he's got some truly special things and IMHO the best thing is this. He's come up with this awesome idea of having a professional critique auction for the fundraiser. You can bid on Matt Bialer or Pat Rothfuss or Lindsay Ribar or Anton Strout. All 4 auctions end on Sunday night (December 20th) that's tomorrow so make a generous bid if you want to help yourself[book future] and someone[Heifer].

Have a good weekend everyone!