EQMM and AHMM Giveaway

I've got a dozen (or more) EQMM/AHMM magazines from the last year or three sitting around clogging up bookshelf space. Anyone want them? Leave a comment to that effect and I'll check back tomorrow. If there's more than one interested party, I'll pick from a hat. Same contest at my blog so you have two chances to win (that is, I've got two boxes of magazines primed for the post office...)

"Guy Walks Into a Bar..." by Lee Child

Published in The New York Times (June 6, 2009).

Child's contribution to the Times' Summer Thrills fiction series starts with a girl who catches Jack Reacher's eye at a Greenwich Village bar in the wee hours. She's no older than nineteen, Russian, and Reacher's instincts tell him she's about to be kidnapped. Longtime fans balance a trust in Reacher's take on most situations with the knowledge that, sooner or later, Child will upend expectations. When he does it is the surprise.

"Heat" by Toni McGee Causey

Toni McGee Causey just tweeted about this story, calling it a very hot, sexy prequel to her novel series starring Bobbie Faye Sumrall. I've heard good buzz about Toni's series and have her first book on my shelf, but have yet to get to it, which allows me to give a first-time reader's account of "Heat".

No crime or mystery is at the center of this story. Bobbie Faye's best friend Cam, an LSU quarterback-turned-state policeman, has just helped her out of a bad relationship, and the two of them are preparing a crawfish boil. The story starts from Bobbie Faye's viewpoint. She's annoyed with Cam, wishing he'd see her as more than a friend. Causey then switches to Cam's viewpoint, and it turns out the attraction is mutual. The story ends in a connection that isn't very graphic, but serves to release the sexual tension just the same.

Events are alluded to and enough of Bobbie Faye's voice comes through that I want to read and fill in the rest.