And the new leader of the geeks is...

Well today's the day, my little geeklets!  The guesses have been tallied and only one person was able to identify all of the items and name all four areas of geekdom ... and that winner is Pickleope!  Congratulations Pickleope, and here's hoping you pick something fun with your gift voucher!

A lot of people said that they saw something Lord Of The Rings themed in the picture, but to my knowledge I don't have anything from that fandom.  Do I have random geeky things sneaking their way onto my desk now?  Anyone want to fill me in on what it is that's convinced everyone I'm a Hobbit lover?

For those of you who are interested, the four categories of geekdom that you were looking for are as below.

1. Doctor Who:  Nothing makes hot chocolate taste better than drinking it from a TARDIS mug!  And yes, for those of you wondering, it IS bigger on the inside!  There's also a wee little picture of the TARDIS in the silver frame, which was what I got out of my cracker two years ago at the work Christmas party.  Well, what else was I supposed to do with a one and a half inch frame!
2. Nerdfighters:  The quote that's printed on that poster is by John Green, one of the founding brothers of Nerdfighteria.  It's one that pretty much epitomises what it means to be a geek, and why that's an awesome thing.  If you want to read it in it's entirety, you can here.
3. Harry Potter:  Yep, I have a wand.  I like to pull it out when someone asks me to do something impossible and tell that that I'll get right on it as soon as I remember the spell to perform miracles.  Also, it's very handy for pointing to things on the computer screen.
4. Star Trek:  That mouse mat was a gift from a friend years ago.  Although you can only sort of see it, I'm photoshopped into the picture standing next to Tuvok.  There's also a very small group shot of them in the purple frame, but I thought that was probably too small for anyone to make out.

Yeah, I know.  That's an awful lot of pure geek for one desk, but what can I say.  I'm hard core.

Many geeks enter, only one leaves...

Most of you, my darling readers, have cottoned on by now to the fact that I'm a geek.  But I'm a bit curious to see which of you out there are also geeks.  Closeted perhaps?  Hiding your love for all things nerdy from your significant others out of fear of them finding out that you know all the words to The Element Song?

Well hide your geeky light under a bushel no longer!

The other day when I was look at some photos in one of my folders, I noticed something that I hadn't realised before.  Apparently my geekiness is much more apparent than I'd realised.  Huh, how did I miss that?  I mean I try to be all professional at work (SmashGirl, stop laughing), keep it all above board and accountanty, but somehow a few teeny little clues to my geeky nature have snuck their way onto my desk.

Here, take a look for yourselves.

But while I was shocked to realise how many geeky things had found their way to work with me over the years, it did give me an awesome idea for a giveaway!

There are, by my count, four distinct geek categories hidden in the stuff on my desk.  And by geek categories, I mean that there are large numbers of people who consider themselves fans of that particular TV show, movie, book or concept, and each of those groups of people have special names for themselves. 

Some of them are easier to see than others, but that's the point, isn't it.  To see who out there knows their geeky shit!  

Every person who gets them all (or every person who gets the highest number guessed if no one gets all four) will go into a draw to win a $20 gift voucher to ThinkGeek.  I'll draw a winner on Thursday 14th February at 11pm AEST, which is 8am New York time.

Good luck to you all, and may the best geek win!

Oh the fun you can have with a mannequin hand...

I'm not one of those people who ever win anything.  Seriously, I could buy 99 tickets out of a 100 ticket lottery, and as sure as eggs, the bastard who bought the other ticket would win the pot.  Over the years I've bought lotto tickets, scratch-it tickets, raffle tickets, and keno tickets, but the most I've ever walked away with was the odd twenty bucks.  Simply put, I'm not lucky.

So you can imagine my delighted surprise when I found out a little while back that I'd won a giveaway that Valerie was running over at her blog Valerie Nunez and the Flying Platypi.  Like I said, I never win anything, so the fact that I was chosen for this one was amazing, cause I really really wanted what she was giving away.

Want to know what it is?  Well, take a look at this baby!

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you all to Pinky Tuscadero, so named because she has a pinky (obviously), and because I firmly believe she'd make out with The Fonz if given half a chance.  She's a bit of a strumpet.

Valerie sent her with a along with a Congratulations On Your New Baby Hand card, and a Sad Keanu, who will from this point on be taking up residence on the corner of my computer monitor.

Gypsy the Feline Dictator was a little reticent at first, she doesn't like having her power base threatened, but after Pinky showed that she was well versed in the chin scratching arts Her Royal Catness thawed a little.

But of course, there's no room for layabouts at Casa del Kellie ... well no more room, Gypsy has that one sewn up ... so the day after she arrived I took her into the library with me and put her to work.

It turns out she's not such a hot typist.  When I complained, she kept saying that her fingers don't move, so it's unreasonable of me to expect her to do 100 words per minute.  Excuses, excuses.

So then I decided to try her with some paperwork, but I have to say, her handwriting was rubbish.

She did a bit better when I asked her to get me a cuppa.  Looks like we've found a niche for her!  Welcome to the company, Pinky the Tea Lady!

Thank you so much, Valerie!  I'm sure Pinky is going to make an excellent addition to my workplace. I've been telling people I needed a hand with my job for ages!

Christmas Giveaway: And the winners are...

The Hat Of Fate has spoken, and the winners of the two e-copies of "Ricochet" by Xanthe Walter are Sarah at Misfits Vintage and Kianwi at Simply She Goes!

Congrats, guys!  You're going to love it!

I'll email you the link to go download your book, have fun over the Christmas break with your naughty, saucy, rumpty pumpty adult type novel!

Wow, I'm really talking up the erotica factor, aren't I ... and for some reason sounding more than a little like Benny Hill while doing it.

Don't worry, it's a real book with real storylines and everything, not just a bunch of highly unlikely sexual encounters strung together by even more unlikely plot contrivances.  If you're anything like me you'll be half in love with at least four of the characters by the time you're finished it.

And for anyone else who's curious, and over the age of 18, you can go read the first 14 chapters of "Ricochet" here!

Ah, just call me smutty Santa.  Santa Smut?  Smutty Claus?

Wow, this alter ego thing is hard.  I don't know how Clark Kent does it.

Christmas Giveaway: I'll jingle your bells ...

Disclaimer:  Today's post is going to be about adult books.  Yep, that's right, it's going to include a giveaway of naughty, saucy, completely inappropriate novels for those under the age of 18 or those of a modest nature ... okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a tad, but I just thought I'd err on the side of caution.  Proceed at your own peril.  Here be dragons ... or at least erotic literature.  Just don't say I didn't warn you!

I'm just going to come out and say it.  We're all friends here, we can support each other in these trying times.  So, here goes ... I didn't like Fifty Shades Of Grey.

Yeah, I know. 

It's incredibly frustrating, because I really, really wanted to like it!  I remember back when I still used to work with the books at the library, we'd play a game during shelving.  If one of us were lucky enough to come across a Black Lace novel on our trolley, we had to open it randomly at three different pages and read something out.  It was almost guaranteed that at least two of the three would be something salacious.

Trust me, nothing makes shelving time go faster than talk of heaving breasts and throbbing manhoods.

But no matter how hard I tried to like Fifty Shades, I just couldn't overlook the first person present tense, the blatant irresponsibility shown by the characters, or the overuse of certain exclamations.

So disappointing!  It's no Story of O, that's for sure.

I much preferred Xanthe Walter's "Ricochet" which I just finished the other day.  

I actually feel kind of bad comparing it to Fifty Shades at all, they really are like chalk and cheese.  Xanthe's book gives the reader a healthy, much more realistic picture of a power exchange relationship, something which is definitely lacking in even some of the well written novels of the genre.

I love the way she writes her characters.  They have more than two dimensions, and they aren't defined by their sexual "dynamic".  And perhaps even more importantly, the story is a damned good one!  She doesn't rely on the titillation factor to keep her audience interested.

Here Xanthe sums up her book in her own words, to give you guys an idea of what it's about.

Ricochet is my first original character novel set in the BDSM universe I created in my fanfiction writing. This is a universe where everyone is bisexual, everyone identifies as dom, sub or switch, and BDSM relationships are the norm. 

Matt is an actor on a hit TV show, who struggles when he hears about an upcoming plot line for his character involving the kind of sexual experimentation that he is scared of trying for himself.  Matt has never experienced his own subspace, and longs to be able to let go of his anxiety and OCD behaviour for long enough to enjoy his sexuality. 

Rick is his co-star, a larger-than-life character who is scared of his dom side – for good reason – and skates the surface of his sexual identity, mistaking quantity of sexual experience for quality, and never allowing a sub to get too close, in case he hurts them.  This is a dom who doesn't trust himself – so how can he ask a sub to trust him? 

They are a traditional 'odd couple', who bicker, tease and play-fight without realizing they are crazy in love with each other – something that is obvious to all around them! 

During the course of the novel they go on a journey, and they both have to confront parts of themselves that make them uncomfortable, and overcome various personal challenges.   

There is a colourful cast of supporting characters too – plus a couple of bad guys who make sure that the course of true love doesn't run too smoothly! 

You can find out more about Ricochet (and read the first fourteen chapters!) on my website at www.xanthewalter.com.

So, in honour of the Silly Season, I've decided to give away two electronic copies of Ricochet.  The lucky winners will get a code that they can enter over at Smashwords to claim their copy.  It's available in just about every format you can imagine, including ePub, PDF and word documents, so no matter how you want to read it you'll be able to.

If you'd like to go into the Hat of Fate for the chance to win one of these copies, just leave a comment on this post!  I'll be drawing the winners on Saturday 22nd December at 10AM AEST, which I believe is Friday 21st December 7pm in New York.  This one is only for those over 18 though, I'm afraid, so no no entering if you're under that age.

Good lucky, guys!  Happy Kinkmas ... I mean Christmas!

Blogiversary Giveaway: and the winner is...

...  Stephen Hayes over at The Chubby Chatterbox!  Congratulations!  If you haven't read his blog before, I highly recommend going over there and having a browse.  He's charming and hilarious and well worth a visit!

If you send your postal address to delightfullyludicrous@gmail.com, I'll pop them in the mail for you ASAP.  I'm sure you're going to have oodles of fun reading about those kooky Edwardians and their hilarious gender stereotypes.

Thank you everyone who took the time to comment and congratulate me on reaching the six month mark.  I am, quite frankly, blown away by what a wonderful community we have going on here.  Yay us!!!

I had a couple of enquiries about where you can get copies of these books.  Personally, I got them from here, but that's only useful if you live where I do.  However you can also get them online at amazon.com.

So thank you once again for coming and playing with me every other day!  I love each and every one of you the most!

Blogiversary: where the presents go to you...

Happy six month blogiversary to me!

Happy six month blogiversary to me!

Happy six month blogiversary dear Delightfully Ludicrous!!!!

Happy six month blogiversary to meeeeee!!!!!!

Yep, that's right, Delightfully Ludicrous is now six months old!  

*pops party streamers*

And in celebration of this very important event, I've decided to have another giveaway!  Those of you who've been visiting me for a while will remember a couple of reviews I did a few months back on two vintage books very descriptively entitled "Don'ts for Wives" and "Don'ts for Husbands".  They gave some ... shall we say interesting ... advice to the matrimonially blessed, such as making sure not to hire good looking servants in case your husband decides to get a little handsy, and to not let the little lady spend too much on her own lest she waste a month's housekeeping on some silly frippery.

Well if you ever wondered what other absolute gems of advice were contained therein, today's your lucky day!

One lucky reader is going to get a copy of each of "Don'ts for Wives" and "Don'ts for Husbands", as well as "Don'ts for Mothers" and "Don'ts for Weddings"!  That's right, four whole books of outdated, misogynistic advice.

How could you resist!  

So if you'd like to be the lucky winner, just leave a note below and I'll randomly draw a winner from the hat of fate!  You have until 10am AEST on Thursday 8th November to enter, which I believe is 8pm Wednesday 7th November New York time.  

Thanks again for all your support over the past six months, guys.  It's made writing here a joy and a delight.  Here's to the next six months!

And the winner is...

Well the entries are in, the hat of fate has fulfilled it's random-entry-selecting obligations, and a winner has been chosen.  Huzzah!  And just to show how generous and giving my readers are, the winning entry was from Vapid Vixen, who has opted to give her entry to someone else!  Isn't she a sweetheart?  It's people like her that make this crazy blogging thing worthwhile.

Here is what her comment said.

"... Also, if we're allowed to vote for who gets the puppet?  I'm voting Pickleope.  He'd make it into an entire, maniacally convoluted post about ... rape-y dolphins?  Dunno.  You'd have to ask him..."

So there you go, courtesy of Vapid Vixen, our winner of the Little Thinker William Shakespeare doll (or Ol' Billy Shakes, as I believe he will be known from now on) is Pickleope!  Congratulations Pickleope, you lucky devil you!  If you send me your postal address Ol' Billy Shakes will be winging his way to you very soon!

Oh Billy, how I'm going to miss your little embroidered face.  I do love a man who can carry off one of those funny pointed beards and a curly up moustache.  But you're going to a good home, Pickleope will take good care of you.  I'm sure he'll keep you out of sunlight, never get you wet, and never ever feed you after midnight.

What's that Billy?  You're not a gremlin?  I know, you don't have the ears and you're nowhere near as cute.  But even so, it doesn't hurt to be cautious.

Shall I compare thee to a Sesame Street character...

Hello, you gorgeous, gorgeous people you!

Today is a momentous day, my friends.  Today, I post my 100th entry!  Who knew, back in May when I decided to start blogging again that I'd actually have the self control and determination to keep going, let alone to reach 100 entries!  Go me!

So, to thank you all for keeping me company while I ramble about whatever happens to cross my easily distracted mind I've decided that a givaway is in order.  I'd like to introduce you all to William Blogspeare, and one of you lucky, lucky little people are going to get to call him your own!

Like all literary minded people, I'm a sucker for writing related giftwares, and when I saw this guy I just couldn't resist. I mean seriously, who WOULDN'T want a William Shakespeare doll that looks like a Sesame Street character!  He could be a muse, a mascot, or just a provider of sympathetic hugs for those days when the writer's block is extra nasty.

They make these Little Thinker dolls in the shape of all sorts of famous writers, poets, philosophers and speakers.  You can get Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolfe, Sigmund Freud, Emily Dickinson, and heaps more.  I got Will from here.

The giveaway is open to everyone regardless of where you live, and I'll contact the lucky winner to get their postal address once they've been selected.  So if you'd like the chance to give old Will a home, just leave a comment and I'll randomly draw someone from the hat of fate!  All comments up to 10am on Friday 14th AEST will be included (that's 8pm Thursday 13th in New York, I believe).

And thank you, guys.  Without you all I'd just be a crazy woman talking to herself ... not that I'm NOT a crazy woman, of course, I just get to share my insanity with all of you.