The Hippo Turns Two!

Two years ago Tuesday, I posted my first short ebook recommendation, and Tungsten Hippo was born. This website started as a "learner project" to give me the excuse to learn Drupal, and because I was itching to build something. It has grown into a part of my little business. I continue to post recommendations for short ebooks and collections that I love, but now I also publish them, too, via my publishing company Annorlunda Books. Last year, I published a book I wrote with concise advice for job searching. Earlier this year, I published Unspotted, a book by South African travel writer Justin Fox about his journey to attempt to see the rare Cape Mountain Leopard. Okay, So Look, a novella length retelling of the Book of Genesis by comedian Micah Edwards comes out October 14.

So, I'm in the mood to celebrate Tungsten Hippo's birthday. Last year, I made a t-shirt for its birthday, but this year I wanted to give something to my readers. After much thought, I figured out what it should be: a book, of course! My next Annorlunda Books project will be a collection of short stories about near misses in romance- the love stories that didn't happen. The working title is Almost Love. The stories are all in the public domain, and are great, but somewhat obscure. I've been reading lots and lots of old short stories looking for the perfect ones to include. I have four of the five I want to include selected now, and am closing in on a selection for the fifth. Since these are public domain stories, I can give away as many copies of this book as I want without harming any author (or needing to pay author royalties on the gifts), so the more I give away, the happier I'll be. Perfect for a birthday celebration!

To collect your gift, you just need to sign up for the Tungsten Hippo Weekly Digest, which I think is a pretty neat little newsletter. It arrives in your inbox every Sunday morning, with a summary of everything posted here in the last week, plus any news and announcements I have and a randomly selected bonus book recommendation from the archives. Here is this week's newsletter if you want to see what they look like. Sign up here:

I plan to publish Almost Love on November 4, so I’ll send a copy to everyone who is on the Tungsten Hippo mailing list by 8 a.m. November 1. That’s an entire month and a bit to celebrate turning two! Fair enough, two is a big birthday. Not as big as six, which in my house gets you a trip to Disneyland, but pretty big.

I will never, ever share your email with anyone else, or use it myself for anything except Tungsten Hippo weekly digests. You can of course unsubscribe at any time. So join me in celebrating the second birthday of my little hippo, and tell all your friends!