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Guest Review: Ex Meridian (Nothing Special #7) by A.E. Via
Police Lieutenants, God and Day are under intense pressure from the chief to take back control of Atlanta's streets. The last thing their task force needs is a pair of trained killers in town with a personal score to settle.
Take a man and strip him of his ability to feel compassion, empathy, remorse, or any of the emotions that make him human, but leave the ones that ignite rage and aggression and you have the perfect killing machine—now imagine two of them.
Code names Ex and Meridian are synonymous for 'guaranteed death' to international terrorists. Two broken men from the same crooked streets, recruited into an unsanctioned government program that few know about. Trained to operate most efficiently—lethally—together.
When Ex returns from an op in Bolivia to learn his little brother has been accidentally killed in a feud between drug gangs, he's stateside before he can consider the rules he'll be breaking, and of course Meridian is right beside him. There's mayhem on the streets of Atlanta and the police are losing control. If Godfrey and his elite team of detectives can't get the job done then they'd be happy to lighten their caseloads for them. And Ex nor Meridian care about doing it quietly.
"I know who you are." The man grunted when Ex turned to leave. "You're the fucking devil."
Meridian walked past, glaring one final time. "Say that loud enough… maybe God will save you."
But after their first run-in with the big lieutenant and his protective husband, Day, Ex and Meridian start to reevaluate their own relationship. Wondering if they could be even deadlier if they let loose the feelings for each other that they've been forced to suppress for years.
Meridian's dark eyes stayed locked on his, "A man who can fight beside the one he loves doesn't make him weaker, Ex—it makes him more dangerous."
No multiple pairings. No cliffhangers. Ends with a HEA.
Reviewer: Shee Reader
This is a super delicious return to the drug gangs and elite police officers of Atlanta with two brand new characters. Ex and Meridian are both so detached from real life even their own families believe them to be dead. They are back in Ex's home city to find and exact revenge on whoever killed Ex's only brother and leaving his momma with no family left.
The characters felt difficult to relate to at first, as they are so far removed from societal norms, but I did really like their connection, and it was an easy step to rooting for them to move their relationship forward in a more personal way. Seeing our old friends God and Day be the catalyst for these two trained killers to embrace each other was sweet as could be! It was a shame to only get the most fleeting visits with Atlanta's finest, but these two new men were a lovely addition to the super hot law enforcement alpha fest that AE's books are.
The book was a lovely, often emotional read, and the sexy times are, of course, scorching, but it threw up a lot of questions for me that I really do not want the answers for! Does the CIA really have operatives like Ex and Meridian that have been 'reprogrammed' to remove any trace of humanity? These are dark times we are living in, so a little less thought might have been better for me.
I really did enjoy the cameo appearance from God and Days' squad and it did prompt me to re-read all the Nothing Special Novels, so that was a rather lovely side effect of reading this super absorbing book.
I was given a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Posted by Boy Meets Boy Reviews on Saturday, April 11, 2020 No comments:
Labels: A.E. Via, Assassins, CIA & Spies, Contemporary, Damaged Hero, Guest Review, Law Enforcement, Series, Sexy as Fuck, Shee Reader
Blog Tour: Four Letter Word (Love Logic #2) by K.M. Neuhold
K.M. Neuhold and Vibrant Promotions visit on the Four Letter Word (Love Logic #2) blog tour! Discover more about the MMMM romance today!
Four Letter Word
Love Logic Series, Book 2
KM Neuhold
M/M/M/M Romance, Menage
Release Date: 03.20.20
Relationships are hard enough between two people...can the four of us make it work? Or is love nothing more than a four letter word?
Polyamory...the first time Riot says the word, it feels like everything slots into place. Maybe I'm not greedy for loving both of my best friends at once…
For most of my life, I didn't think I could ever have the kind of love I've been dreaming of, but somehow a sexy bartender with a major sweet tooth is making it all seem possible.
Maybe Riot is right: our capacity for love is bigger than most people let themselves feel. But will Leo and Hudson feel the same? Will they be willing to try to build this beautiful, complicated life with me?
If I can keep them from ripping each other's heads off that is...
*** This is book two in the Love Logic series and can be read as a stand-alone. This is a MMMM story full of love and heat.
Universal Buy Link: http://mybook.to/fourletterword
"Bish, hold up," Hudson says, wrapping his thick fingers around my bicep to pull me to a stop. My heart beats harder at his touch, everything in me insisting I melt into him and give him anything he wants. After all, it's what I want too.
I swallow hard and turn to face him. "What's up?" I ask as casually as I can manage.
He steps closer, crowding into my space until all I can feel is the warmth of his body and all I can smell is his spicy whiskey body soap and a hint of the alcohol on his breath. He cups my face, and the move is so familiar at this point I don't think I could keep myself from leaning into it if I tried.
"Come home with me?" he asks, his voice a low murmur that vibrates through me and strokes my cock awake without any effort.
"I…" My brain is foggy from the booze, but more than that, my body is quickly getting drunk on Hudson's closeness. If I say yes, I know we'll have a fun night together. He knows exactly how to touch me, exactly how to make me come so hard I'll see stars for hours. I sway into him, my cock fully hard just thinking about how Hudson's bare skin feels against mine. "Have to go home...alone."
Hudson's shoulders sag. He strokes his thumb across my cheek without saying a word and I wonder if he's hoping to change my mind. His hot breath ghosts over my lips a fraction of a second before his mouth is on mine. I brace for a hungry onslaught, steeling myself to refuse him again no matter how good the kiss is. But, to my surprise, his lips move slowly against mine, which is strangely harder to resist than if he shoved his tongue down my throat and started grinding his erection against me. I put my hands on his chest, curling my fingers around the fabric of his shirt and parting my lips to deepen the kiss.
It's entirely too easy to get lost in the sweet rhythm of his mouth, the familiar taste of his tongue, the comforting feeling of his body against mine.
He breaks the kiss without warning and I drag in a breath in an attempt to get my thoughts back in the right order.
Author K.M.Neuhold is a complete romance junkie, a total sap in every way. She started her journey as an author in new adult, MF romance, but after a chance reading of an MM book she was completely hooked on everything about lovely- and sometimes damaged- men finding their Happily Ever After together. She has a strong passion for writing characters with a lot of heart and soul, and a bit of humor as well. And she fully admits that her OCD tendencies of making sure every side character has a full backstory will likely always lead to every book having a spin-off or series. When she's not writing she's a lion tamer, an astronaut, and a superhero...just kidding, she's likely watching Netflix and snuggling with her husky while her amazing husband brings her coffee.
linktr.ee/KMNeuhold
Labels: Bartender, Blog Tour, Contemporary, Excerpt, K.M. Neuhold, MMMM, part of series but can be a standalone, polyamory, Second in a Series, Vibrant Promotions
Guest Review: Handsome Death by Sara Dobie Bauer
I'm not hunting him; I'm protecting him.
At least, that's what I tell myself.
In New York City, a beautiful creature like Tristan Clement should not be walking the streets alone, and I'm the perfect vampire to watch his back.
But what if keeping him safe isn't enough anymore? What if I want to touch? And taste?
I need him. But I've never needed anyone.
In a world where paranormal creatures live amongst us and must follow certain laws, living life as a dangerous loner works for vampire Ethan. Inhabiting his gleaming apartment, wearing his designer suits, jetting around the world as a fanged killer-for-hire, Ethan does it all alone.
That is, until he literally runs into Tristan. Tristan, who is clearly trouble wrapped in skinny jeans and an oversized sweater. Tristan, with his shock of angelic blond curls. Tristan, who plays piano more beautifully than the old masters-- and Ethan would know; he saw Beethoven.
Tristan is gorgeous, a little sassy, and irresistible. Also, Ethan is horrified to note, Tristan has no idea how incredibly tempting he is to things that go bump in the night.
Overcome by the urge to keep Tristan safe, Ethan begins to... well, stalk is such a strong word. What starts as an obsession quickly becomes something more, something that Ethan needs. And to his surprise, Tristan seems to need him, too...
This darkly romantic tale delivers steamy passion and a happily ever after. Be advised that Handsome Death includes explicit m/m content, stalking, mentions of past abuse, and graphic violence.
Reviewer: Annery
What a difference a day makes. If I'd read this earlier this month I would've ended up between a meh and sort of disappointed.* This month? It was a sweet and innocuous distraction that filled up a couple of hours. No small feat.
Sara Dobie Bauer sets us in a present day alternate world, specifically NYC, where vampires and other paranormal creatures are acknowledged and live openly in society with rules governing their kind. Very little of the vampire trappings, mythology, back story etc. is developed, rather the story counts on the reader knowing vampire canon and the author tweaks a few, convenient, bits. It doesn't really matter and I'm not sure that the vampire aspect contributed anything to the story but the romantic idea of truly eternal love.
Ethan a.k.a. Etienne a.k.a. the Marquis de Marteau a.k.a. The Butcher has been among the undead for over two hundred years and has yet to quench his lust for death, which he currently slakes by being a mercenary. Just for fun and giggles. During that time he's also been dead to any kind of kinship or affection but all of that changes one October day when he wanders into a coffee shop and meets his destiny, Tristan "Tris" Clement. Tris is the wet dream du jour: a tall, all limbs, blonde, musical prodigy (aren't they all?) who's the doe-eyed proverbial babe in the woods, good to the last fibre of his being, and in need of protection. Ethan will be that for him and so much more.
You could get stumped by some things like how Ethan, despite being an 18th Century Parisian speaks like your average Twitter bro, but I digress. I chose to squint through most of the niggles, ignore the vampire angle, and enjoy the tale of a man who was emotionally numb, a young man who's been knocked down a bit, and how they fill each other's empty corners. Sexually, they're like a match and strike, they scorch the sheets, and dabble in some kink. Tris loves Ethan's domineering brand of love, Ethan can't get enough of how Tris clings to him like a barnacle, and wants to swaddle him in gauze. They're both deliriously happy. And if you want an uncomplicated and angst free read to escape the doldrums this will do nicely.
*My whole disappointed thing has to do with my previous SDB read "We Still Live". It was such a vital read for me, and the tone from that one to this one was so different that I guess it just jarred me. But I appreciate that not everything has to be heavy and I like a writer who has range.
Don't miss today's release blitz for Handsome Death HERE
Posted by Boy Meets Boy Reviews on Friday, April 10, 2020 No comments:
Labels: Age Difference, Annery, Guest Review, Paranormal, Past Abuse, Sara Dobie Bauer, Stalker, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, violence
Release Blitz: Handsome Death by Sara Dobie Bauer
Author Sara Dobie Bauer and Gay Book Promotions share the author's paranormal release blitz for Handsome Death. Find out more about the vampire romance today!
See our review HERE
Book Title: Handsome Death
Author: Sara Dobie Bauer
Publisher: Carnation Books
Genre/s: Paranormal M/M romance, contemporary M/M romance
Trope/s: Vampires, bondage, hurt/comfort, age gap
Themes: explicit sex, past abuse, dark, immortal, graphic violence, stalking
Heat Rating: 5 flames
Length: 72 000 words
It is a standalone story.
Buy Links - Available on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon US | Amazon UK
I'm not hunting him; I'm protecting him.
At least, that's what I tell myself.
In New York City, a beautiful creature like Tristan Clement should not be walking the streets alone, and I'm the perfect vampire to watch his back.
But what if keeping him safe isn't enough anymore? What if I want to touch? And taste?
I need him. But I've never needed anyone.
*This darkly romantic tale delivers steamy passion and a happily ever after. Be advised that Handsome Death includes explicit m/m content, stalking, mentions of past abuse, and graphic violence.*
I feel an itch on the back of my neck so glance behind me, and indeed, there he is, the blond kid from yesterday. I must have caught him staring, because as soon as I turn to look, he ducks his head and goes back to reading.
I shouldn't approach him. Granted, he's stunning. Most vampires would love to get their hands on his bare skin, but I'm not one for picking up humans outside of blood clubs. I'm cautious. Vampires can get in a lot of trouble for biting a human without consent. Like sentenced-to-death trouble. The humans at blood clubs know what they're getting into. This guy? He looks like a puppy in need of a cuddle. He has no idea what a vampire could do to him.
Maybe some reconnaissance is in order. Just to, you know, make sure he's all right after yesterday's altercation.
Or something.
I'm lying to myself. This isn't a protective detail in Serbia, this is me away from combat too long and bored in New York.
He sits at one of the heavy wooden tables with the lid off his cup. His hair hangs halfway over his forehead, tilted down over a paperback, but I can still see his mouth, the way he chews his bottom lip, making it pinker, fuller.
I walk right up to his table. I don't wait for him to look up. I don't wait for an invitation. I just sit.
He startles at my arrival. His eyes widen and stare at me.
"Who are you?" I ask. I've always been really good at openings.
"Uhh." His forehead wrinkles.
I drum my fingertips on the table. "I've never seen you in here before."
"You saw me yesterday." He folds the top corner of a page in his paperback: Dracula by Bram Stoker. "You saved my ass yesterday."
"Before yesterday," I reply.
He sighs. "A Starbuck's bought out my favorite coffee shop, so I guess this is now my favorite coffee shop. Buy local." He scoops his messenger bag off the floor and shoves the book inside.
The kid has one of those runway model faces—gaunt if not so beautiful, sharp and yet soft. Freckles? Zero. Wait, no, he's got just a smattering that you would only notice close-up … or with well-trained vampiric eyes. He has no shadow of recently shaved facial hair, and that's no surprise based on the white-blond of his hair. He must moisturize those lips because nobody's mouth just naturally looks like the perfect mixture of velvet and silk.
He sighs again, louder. "You're staring at me."
No, I'm studying him—checking out his vulnerable areas, which are pretty much everywhere considering he's so thin and fragile-looking.
As for everyone else in the coffee shop, they're looking at the kid like they want to take him to bed. I catch a girl at the next table over gawking. A big dude with a beard stands in line to our right, his mouth hanging half open as he admires.
"Everyone is staring at you," I respond.
His pale cheeks burn bright red as he swoops his bag onto his shoulder and stands. "No, that's …" He shakes his head. "Ha, no." He doesn't say goodbye. He even leaves his coffee, half-consumed on the table. He up and abandons me without a word, but I do watch him go—as does half of Inky Grounds.
Once he disappears out into the early October morning, I turn back around and stare at his deserted coffee. Granted, I'm not smooth—I get it—but he didn't have to run out like that. I just wanted to see that he was safe. Shit, I don't even know his name.
Sara Dobie Bauer is a bestselling author, model, mental health speaker, and LGBTQ advocate with a creative writing degree from Ohio University. She lives with her hottie husband and two precious pups in Northeast Ohio, although she'd really like to live in a Tim Burton film. Her current obsession with Timothee Chalamet runs deep, and don't even get her started on Call Me By Your Name.
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Hosted by Gay Book Promotions
Follow the tour and check out the other blog posts and reviews here
Labels: Age Difference, Contemporary, Dark, Excerpt, Gay Book Promotions, Hurt/Comfort, Paranormal, Past Abuse, Release Blitz, Sara Dobie Bauer, Stalker, Vampires, violence
Release Blitz + Giveaway: Absolving Ash by Chantal Mer
Author Chantal Mer and Signal Boost Promotions celebrate the release of Absolving Ash from the multi-authored hockey romance, Bachelor Bid series. Learn more today and enter in the Absolving Ash eBook giveaway!
Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
Length: 48,050 words approx.
Cover Design: Meredith Russell
For the last decade, successful restaurant owner and chef, Ash Ariti, has worked to make amends for the career-ending mistake he made when he was young and allowed anger to consume him. Driven to be worthy of the second chance he's been afforded, Ash built a life centered around giving back to his community, all while maintaining a low profile. When he finds himself thrust into the spotlight of a bachelor auction to help one of his favorite causes, he never expects to come face-to-face with the sexy man who's career he destroyed.
Isaiah Blake has spent a lifetime proving he's deserving of what he has. After a hit on the ice prematurely ended his NHL career, he committed to becoming a better version of himself. Now, he's living an open and honest life. So, when he has an opportunity to interview bachelors participating in the Hockey Allies auction for the Hockey Network, the only thing he's hoping to gain is exposure for his non-profit. That is, until his former rival Ash, steps onto the auction block. Isaiah sees an opportunity to make amends for the suffering he caused ten years ago. Unfortunately, Ash is wary of Isaiah's motives, and soon Isaiah realizes there is more to Ash's cautiousness than the history that binds them.
Attraction takes hold as Ash and Isaiah begin to build a new professional alliance and friendship. They must learn to forgive each other, and most importantly, themselves. With outside forces and public opinion hawking, will their relationship be over before it begins? Or will they discover joy and redemption in each other, and find their happily ever after?
Chantal Mer is an author and optimist. Her stories explore relationships and what it means to be family. When she's not writing about strong women, strong men, and strong love, she can be found walking her adorable dog, volunteering at her kids' school (in the library, of course), teaching at the local university, and reading.
Chantal lives outside of Philadelphia (home of the Super Bowl LII champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, woot, woot!) with her husband, kids, Toffee the Wonder Dog, and vicious cat, Gracie.
Hot hockey players on the auction block…
Win a date with a professional hockey player during All Star weekend in Chicago. From leading scorers to fan favorites to guys you love to hate, watch the players strut their stuff in support of the Hockey Allies charity.
Place a bid. You just might find someone to keep you warm.
Guarding Garrett - RJ Scott
Keeping Kyle - Jeff Adams
Loving Layne - V.L. Locey
Scoring Slater - Susan Scott Shelley
Posted by Boy Meets Boy Reviews on Thursday, April 09, 2020 No comments:
Labels: Chantal Mer, Charity Auction, chef, Contemporary, Giveaway, hockey players, Release Blitz, Restaurateur, Series, Signal Boost Promotions
Giveaway + Blog Tour: The Parable of the Mustard Seed by Lisa Henry
Age gap fans will want to check out The Parable of the Mustard Seed by author Lisa Henry. Find out more about this hurt/comfort romance from the author's visit where she talks about the lovable pooch from her book, read an excerpt hosted by IndiGo Marketing & enter the giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card too! Good luck!
Title: The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Author: Lisa Henry
Publisher:Self Published
Release Date: 3 April 2020
Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
The past never stays buried forever.
John Faimu is an Australian-Samoan police officer who deals with hurt kids every day. He loves what he does, but he's tired of the grind of shift work, and of trying to find a balance between his job, his family, and the young man who straddles the increasingly blurry line between both.
Caleb Fletcher was the teenager John saved from a cult eight long years ago, and he's now the young man John wants in ways that neither of them should risk.
Eight years after his rescue, Caleb is still struggling with PTSD and self-harm. John has always been his rock, but now Caleb wants more. Can he convince John to cross a line and love him the way they both crave? And when the monsters from Caleb's past come back seeking to silence him for good, will John's love be enough to save him?
The Parable of the Mustard Seed is an mm gay romance featuring hurt/comfort, first times, found family, and angst with a happy ending.
Author Visit
Hi, everyone. I'm Lisa! Thank you so much for having me here today, and letting me talk a little about my newest release, The Parable of the Mustard Seed.
Whenever I'm writing a book, supporting characters have a way of wandering in and stealing scenes. I have a lot of love for the supporting characters in The Parable of the Mustard Seeds, from Caleb's dad Darren, to John's entire family and his says-what-she-thinks colleague Liz. But I think that maybe my favourite supporting character in this book is Cricket the dog.
Cricket is the shelter dog Caleb gets as an early birthday present from his dad, and he and John go and pick up on one of John's days off. Anyone who follows my social media knows of my love of dogs and cats, and some of Cricket's mannerisms (and her favourite way to play) were definitely borrowed from Daisy, my lab. Except (sorry, Daisy!) Cricket is a lot smarter.
Cricket is a seven-month old red kelpie, an Australian breed of dog that some of my readers might not be familiar with. Kelpies are smart, and fast, and they're working dogs, which means that if you are going to have one as a pet, you need to keep them active and engaged. They're also incredibly loyal and protective, and they love socialising. If you walk towards Caleb's back fence, you'll get a face like this one looking back at you:
I don't know what it is about the dogs I put in books. For some reason, the darker the book and the more damaged the character, the more likely they are to have a dog. Maybe it's an unconscious consolation prize, or an apology: "Sorry I did such horrible things to you. Here, this puppy will make it better."
For all that I've given characters dogs before, I think this is the first time I've acknowledged in the actual book what they're there for. Cricket is unashamedly a dog who can help Caleb to heal, and to give him the motivation to get through each day—sometimes being responsible for a pet is the push it takes to get out of bed—but Cricket also brings Caleb pure joy:
Fifteen minutes later, with an armful of dog food, treats, toys, and Cricket's favourite blanket, John pushed the door open with difficulty. Caleb and Cricket followed him, Cricket tangling herself on her leash.
"Hope she doesn't pee in my car," John said.
"Can I sit in the back with her?" Caleb asked him, wearing a smile bigger than any John had seen on him in months. Maybe longer.
They drove to the beach, and John laughed while Caleb paddled in the shallows with a very dubious Cricket. Dainty little girl didn't like to get her paws wet. Not at first, anyway, but it didn't take her long to change her mind.
John sat on the beach and watched as Caleb and Cricket splashed around. It was good to see Caleb happy. Carefree. His hair shone in the sunlight. The water glittered.
Afterward, they found a tap up on the grass, and Caleb washed his feet then cupped his hands so Cricket could drink. He was still smiling.
"Thanks, John," he said. "Thanks for doing this."
In this story, Cricket might be the rescue dog, but she's rescuing Caleb at the same time.
Fucking hospitals.
John scrubbed his knuckles over his scalp. He felt more tired now than he had for a long time, and it wasn't just the shift work. It was Caleb, and this place, and the knowledge that they'd been here before and they would be here again. Different hospitals, different beds, different scratchy blankets and too-cold air conditioning, but all of them stuck in the same old cycle.
Eight years of this.
It wasn't always this dramatic. Most of the time it didn't end in a hospital. Most of the time it was increasingly erratic behaviour. It was risk-taking. It was subtle and pervasive, but John knew how to read the signs. He'd talked Caleb down from plenty of metaphorical high places before. Enough to wonder every time if he was only delaying the inevitable. If Darren was, and the psychiatrists and psychologists were, and the pharmacists.
John sighed.
Of course it felt hopeless. It was almost three in the morning and he was sitting in a fucking hospital. Shit always felt dire in the middle of the night.
John reached out and brushed his fingertips against the back of Caleb's right hand. His skin was cold to the touch, his fingers white and bloodless. Several of his knuckles were grazed. The wounds weren't fresh.
Darren had said last week that Caleb had punched a wall. Out of nowhere. No warnings signs, no meltdown, just a sudden, furious burst of anger that had broken over him. And afterward, Darren said, when Caleb was sitting on the floor nursing an icepack, he'd refused to talk about it.
Sometimes even Caleb didn't know what the fuck was happening in his head.
John's fingertips brushed the wrinkled edge of the tape that held the canula in the back of Caleb's hand. The plastic tape was dry and rough.
"I bleed and you're here."
John straightened and turned his face toward Caleb's. His face was pale, his lips colourless. Dark circles carved out hollows under his eyes.
"Your dad called me," John said. "He's on his way."
Caleb's gaze dropped away.
John leaned closer and frowned. "What the fuck are you doing, mate?"
"Bad night." Caleb pressed his lips into a thin white line.
"Were you clubbing?" John gestured at his clothes: dark jeans, a tight shirt, and—what were the kids calling them these days?—expensive kicks.
Caleb inspected the bandages on his arm. "Yeah."
"Don't bullshit me, Caleb." John was always there to pick up the pieces, but he didn't coddle Caleb. He never had, not even at the start. "You think I drove all the way here to listen to you lie to me?"
"I was with a guy." Caleb flinched as he said it.
"Were you safe?"
Caleb's gaze faltered. "I was with a guy."
"So you said." John wondered what reaction Caleb had been expecting. "Were you safe?"
Caleb nodded, turning his face away.
John studied him for a moment, unsure how to react. A part of him was afraid to react at all in case any reaction was an overreaction. Caleb wasn't coming out as gay—he'd done that at nineteen—but by admitting to a sexual encounter he was coming out in another way: Caleb was coming out as human being who wanted to be touched. A human being with sexual needs. This was a big step. The biggest in a long time. Nobody had expected him to remain celibate forever; nobody thought that was remotely healthy. But fuck, this big step had turned into a hell of a stumble, hadn't it? Caleb was in freefall.
John reached out and squeezed Caleb's shoulder. "Did this guy try something? Something you didn't want to do?"
"No." Caleb shifted. His worried gaze found John again. "No, it was me, not him."
John nodded.
"We went to a hotel." Caleb's gaze slipped away again. "He said I was a slut." His voice hitched. "Said I was bad."
John moved his hand from Caleb's shoulder to his cheek. Caleb was still so cold. "If you tell me he was being a prick, I'll track the fucker down."
"The way he said it, I was supposed to like it. Wasn't his fault." Caleb closed his eyes. "I didn't even mind, not much, not when he was there."
John sighed. "What happened when he left?"
Caleb shuddered. "When he left, all I could hear in my head was Ethan."
John tensed, and tried not to let Caleb feel it.
"So loud," Caleb sighed.
John withdrew his hand. "Look at me."
Caleb opened his eyes.
"Next time you hear Ethan Gray in your head, you don't listen to him." John shook his head. "You call you dad, or your doctor, or you call me, doesn't matter what time, you call me and I will be there. You understand me?"
Caleb jerked his chin in a nod.
"You don't cut yourself, Caleb." John frowned. "You understand me?"
"Okay," Caleb murmured.
The worst part, John knew, was that Caleb meant it, and would go on meaning it right up until the next time he was holding a blade against his wrists.
You'll break my heart one day, Caleb Fletcher, I know you will.
John forced a smile. "Okay."
Caleb sighed and closed his eyes.
John watched him until he fell asleep, then got up and hunted down a blanket.
Purchase at Amazon
Lisa likes to tell stories, mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters.
Lisa lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn't know why, because she hates the heat, but she suspects she's too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.
She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.
She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.
Lisa has been published since 2012, and was a LAMBDA finalist for her quirky, awkward coming-of-age romance Adulting 101, and a Rainbow Awards finalist for 2019's Anhaga.
You can connect with her here:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | eMail | Instagram
4/6 Books, Tattoos and Tea
4/7 My Fiction Nook
4/8 Joyfully Jay
4/9 Boy Meets Boy Reviews
4/10 Love Bytes
Labels: Age Difference, Angst, Australia, Author Visit, Blog Tour, Contemporary, Excerpt, Giveaway, Hurt/Comfort, IndiGo Promotions, Law Enforcement, Lisa Henry, men with dogs, Mental Health
Exclusive Tour + Giveaway: A Vigil in the Mourning (Soulbound #4) by Hailey Turner
Welcome author Hailey Turner and A Novel Take PR as they share an exclusive on today's tour stop for A Vigil in the Mourning (Soulbound #4)! Don't miss out the latest from the popular urban fantasy series nor the giveaway: two winners will receive any e-copy of a Hailey Turner book!
A Vigil in the Mourning by Hailey Turner
Series: Soulbound IV
Release Date (Print & Ebook): April 6, 2020
Length (Print & Ebook): 102,951
Subgenre: LGBTQ Urban Fantasy
All buy links or pre-order links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0852P8F13/
Author Site: https://haileyturner.com/book/a-vigil-in-the-mourning
About A Vigil in the Mourning:
The devil you know is never the one you should trust.
Special Agent Patrick Collins is dispatched to Chicago, chasing a lead on the Morrígan's staff for the joint task force. Needing a cover for his presence in the Windy City, Patrick is ordered to investigate a politician running for mayor. In the lead up to election day, not everything is what it seems in a city where playing to win means appeasing the gods first and the electorate second.
But Chicago brings its own set of problems outside the case: a stand-offish local god pack, a missing immortal, and Patrick's twin sister. Fighting Hannah and the Dominion Sect provides Patrick with a sinister reminder that some blood ties can never be cut.
Left behind in New York City, Jonothon de Vere finds himself targeted by hunters who will go through anyone to kill him—including the packs under his protection. With a bounty on his head, Jono is forced to make a choice that Patrick would never approve of. Doing so risks breaking the trust he's built with the man he loves, but not acting will give the rival New York City god pack leverage Jono can't afford to give up.
When Patrick and Jono reunite in Chicago, Patrick must confront the fraying of a relationship he's come to rely on for his own sanity. But fixing their personal problems will have to wait—because Niflheim is clawing at the shores of Lake Michigan and the dead are hungry.
A Vigil in the Mourning is a 102k word m/m urban fantasy with a gay romantic subplot and a HFN ending. It is a direct sequel to A Crown of Iron & Silver. Reading the first book in the series would be helpful in enjoying this one.
Praise for A Vigil in the Mourning (Soulbound #4):
Patrick and Jono fight for their lives, tangling with Norse gods and monsters, while their relationship is strained by secrets and separation, in another exciting, deliciously angsty ride from Turner's Soulbound series. — Layla Reyne, author of the Fog City Trilogy
VIGIL IN MOURNING takes the Soulbound series a step further into stellar story crafting. A change in scenery for Patrick and a separation from his soulmate raises the stakes, and cliches are deftly avoided and expectations shattered as the central love story becomes fraught with tension. Each plot twist leaves the reader gasping and clinging to the pages, and I was not expecting that ending. Jono and Patrick lead an ensemble cast of characters that includes a snack obsessed dragon, a seer with a sarcasm problem, and gods that can't help but meddle. Patrick's snarktastic attitude leaves me laughing and terrified at the trouble he calls down. — SJ Himes, bestselling author
Exclusive Excerpt
Jono didn't feel comfortable until he was outside the heavily warded building that housed the PCB in Lower Manhattan, breathing in cold winter air. He pulled his mobile out of his pocket and was about to ring his ride when a familiar Escalade pulled to the curb. The window rolled down halfway, and Emma stared at him from behind the steering wheel. The accusation in her gaze hadn't faded since Ginnungagap.
"Get in," she said flatly.
Jono bit back a wince. "Where did Leon go?"
"We swapped babysitting duties." Someone honked in the street behind her and she scowled. "Get in, Jono."
Jono climbed into the SUV and buckled up. Emma took her foot off the brake and stepped on the gas. She didn't look at him.
"Leon and I were supposed to go to Queens," Jono said.
"We swapped that duty, too."
Jono stretched out his legs and stared straight ahead. He knew why Emma was angry, that the row he could feel building was inevitable, but he figured the place to start was "I'm sorry."
Emma gripped the steering wheel so tight her knuckles went white. She clenched her jaw, muscles standing out in her slim throat. "I hate how your secrets keep getting doled out when we least expect it."
"They aren't just my secrets, Em."
"This one is." Emma flicked the turn signal before the next light, waiting to turn left. "Sage said she found out in December when you were all past the veil in Tír na nÓg and you told her not to tell us."
"You can't be mad at her for keeping my secret."
"You've had an animal-god patron guiding you since you were infected. Do you know how fucking rare that is? More than half the packs in the United States have stopped believing in them. The power they bring is just myths these days."
"Did it look like I was carrying a myth?" Jono asked quietly.
Emma snorted. "I'm assuming Patrick knows?"
"He's known since last summer." Jono leaned his head back against the headrest and grimaced. "Ethan knows because he saw what was in my soul in preparation for his sacrifice. Lucien and Carmen found out when I left to get Patrick after he'd stayed at the Crimson Diamond to save Kennedy in August. Gerard and Keith know because they were there with us in the Spring Queen's Court when I reinforced our bargain with the fae. Now you and Leon know."
"Ethan knows?" Emma asked after half a minute of silence.
Jono closed his eyes and tried not to think about that time spent in Ethan's hands. "He knew, somehow, about Fenrir, or that the gods were going to give me to Patrick. Either way, it made me a target at the time."
Emma didn't speak again until they were driving north on the FDR, heading for Queensboro Bridge. "It kind of feels like you don't want us to know anything."
"I…" Jono's voice trailed off, and he opened his eyes, staring blankly at the red taillights stretched out before them. Evening rush-hour traffic was fucking terrible no matter the city. "Fenrir didn't speak to me until after I got infected with the werevirus. I was making a right mess of things in London at the time. Then I woke up one day with his voice in my head and his claws in my soul and he wouldn't leave."
"Did Marek know? When he went to London to bring you here?"
Jono turned his head, staring at Emma's profile limned in the faint shine of headlights and taillights. "No. He never mentioned Fenrir when he made his offer."
"Maybe he knew and just never said anything. Like you."
"Em." Jono rubbed tiredly at his face. "Is this going to be a problem?"
"You lying?"
"Me obeying the gods because I had no bloody choice."
About Hailey Turner:
Hailey Turner is big city girl who spoils her cats rotten and has a demanding day job that she loves, but not as much as she loves writing. She's been writing since she was a young child and enjoys reading almost as much as creating a new story.
Connect with Hailey:
Newsletter: You can keep up with Hailey's future projects by joining her newsletter, where you can instantly download several free short stories: http://bit.ly/HaileyTurnerNews
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/haileyshellions/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haileyturnerwrites/
Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014824811406
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/hailey-turner
Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorHaileyTurner/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/haileyturnerwriter/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16473068.Hailey_Turner
Website: www.haileyturner.com
Celebrate this exciting new installment in the SOULBOUND series with a giveaway! Two winners will receive any e-copy of a Hailey Turner book. Must be 18 to enter and win. Open Internationally.
Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/88d45f0388/
Posted by Boy Meets Boy Reviews on Wednesday, April 08, 2020 No comments:
Labels: A Novel Take PR, Blog Tour, Exclusive Excerpt, Giveaway, Hailey Turner, HFN, Law Enforcement, Series, Urban Fantasy
Blog Tour: Rules to Ignore (Davey's Rule #7) by Susan Hawke
Vibrant Promotions and author Susan Hawke visit on the Rules to Ignore (Davey's Rule #7) blog tour! Learn more about the series finale today!
Rules to Ignore
Davey's Rules Series Book 7
Susan Hawke
M/M Romance, Daddy/boy
Davey's Revised Rule #1: A good Daddy will love his boy with all his heart.
Davey Hendrickson doesn't mind being forever single when he's got his bestie at his side. It's not that he wants to be single. He's spent most of his adult life searching for his own perfect Daddy. Even if he's not naturally submissive, someone that fabulous is obviously meant to be a boy… right? Over the years, he's dated every type of Daddy imaginable but not one of them could come close to meeting the requirements from his ridiculous list of rules.
After losing his husband, Sammy Robustelli has learned to be strong while raising two children on his own. No matter what life has thrown his way, nothing seems too hard with his best friend and roomie Davey at his side. When the two friends learn that people believe they're a couple, they can't help but laugh. The very idea is a big joke... until it isn't.
It only takes a few wake-up calls before Davey wonders what happens if a guy might be in love with the best friend he can never have. It could never work for a pair of boys in need of a bossy top, right? Except… maybe Davey doesn't know himself—or Sammy—as well as he thinks.
This is the final book in a series about not-so-perfect Daddies, adorable "boys," and one sassy brat with an insane list of rules. Grab your fan and tissues because this series comes with both a high heat advisory and all the squishy feels you'd want from a Susan Hawke book.
Universal Buy Link: http://mybook.to/RulesToIgnore
Preston finally held my card out, but didn't release it when I reached for it. "Not so fast, boo. I know you're going to disappear the second I let this go—and you'll be too distracted to pay attention when I read the announcements—so I want to run over a few things. We have the tables set up in a row against the far wall, as we discussed. You'll begin your date by handing this card to the moderator."
"Moderator? And who will that be?" Preston looked irritated when I interrupted, but I wasn't sure I needed my interactions to be judged.
Preston rolled his eyes. "We discussed it, remember? Pay attention, sweetie. Our regulars have volunteered to act as moderators. They aren't there to interact, so just ignore them. They will take each of your cards and rate your three-minute date. At the end of the event, we'll look through everyone's cards and match couples according to those ratings. You'll have the same moderator, because you won't change tables. So I'd suggest picking someone you like before you choose their table. When the bell rings, the boy will move on to his next date while a new one will take the seat in front of you."
When he finally let go of the card, I frowned at it for a second. "No wonder I didn't know what was going on, that sounds complicated. I probably zoned out during our planning sessions."
"Right? You did seem to get distracted easily, now that I think about it." Preston paused and smiled kindly. "Relax, Davey. The only thing different about tonight is the length of the date and the side of the table you're sitting on. Remember to keep an open mind and have fun. Besides, didn't I see Sammy walk in with you? If he's doing the mixer, at least you know you'll have a three-minute break to bitch at your bestie about what I'm putting you through." He paused to waggle his eyebrows. "Unless maybe you'd prefer to make better use of those three minutes and explore the chemistry everybody sees between the two of you."
As an avid reader and big romance fan myself, I love sharing the stories of the different people who live in my imagination. My stories are filled with humor, a few tears, and the underlying message to not give up hope, even in the darkest of times, because life can change on a dime when you least expect it. This theme comes from a lifetime of lessons learned on my own hard journey through the pains of poverty, the loss of more loved ones than I'd care to count, and the struggles of living through chronic illnesses. Life can be hard, but it can also be good! Through it all I've found that love, laughter, and family can make all the difference, and that's what I try to bring to every tale I tell.
I'm a happily married mom with one snarky teenage boy, and three grown "kids of my heart." I'm more widely known for my mpreg writings as Susi Hawke; this new name is a departure from that. Whether written by Susan or Susi, the books are filled with that all-important love, laughter, and family I mentioned; the only difference is that this name has no male pregnancy. I look forward to sharing my stories with you, and to bringing more romance and laughter into this world that needs it so very badly.
Amazon Author: https://amzn.to/2Hdgwvl
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSusanHawke/
Labels: Blog Tour, Contemporary, Daddy Dom, Daddy Kink, DD/lb, Excerpt, friends to lovers, men with kids, Series, series finale, Susan Hawke, Vibrant Promotions, Widower
Release Blitz + Giveaway: Guarding Garrett by RJ Scott
Join author RJ Scott & Signal Boost Promotions in celebrating the release of another hockey romance in the Hockey Allies series, Guarding Garrett. Find out more & enter in the giveaway for a $10 Amazon gift card too! Good luck!
A hardworking, competitive, and skilled hockey player, Garrett is the cornerstone of the Burlington Dragons hockey team and one of the league's most popular playmakers. Blessed with a face that delivers millions in endorsements, he has a legion of fans, and a future so bright that he is the envy of many.
When his internet fame puts him in danger, and a stalker threatens his life, the team hires Jason, a quiet but deadly former marine, to protect him. Danger is always close, but forced proximity means sparks fly, attraction burns, and somehow, resentment turns to love.
When Garrett's stalker ups their game at a charity bachelor auction, there is a real chance it could mean the end for Garrett, but Jason refuses to leave his side whatever the risk.
These two stubborn men will have to fight to walk away from this alive, but their newfound love is worth every sacrifice.
USA Today bestselling author RJ Scott writes stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, a happily ever after.
RJ Scott is the author of over one hundred romance books, writing emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn't with family either reading or writing.
The last time she had a week's break from writing she didn't like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn't defeat.
She's always thrilled to hear from readers, bloggers and other writers. Please contact via the links below:
Email RJ rj@rjscott.co.uk | Facebook | Twitter | BookBub | Instagram | Pinterest
Absolving Ash - Chantal Mer
Posted by Boy Meets Boy Reviews on Tuesday, April 07, 2020 No comments:
Labels: Bodyguard, Charity Auction, Contemporary, Giveaway, hockey players, Release Blitz, RJ Scott, Series, Signal Boost Promotions, Sports, Stalker
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Henry Birch, the newly-appointed CEO at Shop Direct is making his first ever speaking appearance at InternetRetailing Conference. The finance and gaming veteran has recently taken over the operator of Very.co.uk, Littlewoods.com, VeryExclusive.co.uk and LittlewoodsIreland.ie. How will his digital, finance and mobile background shape the fashion retailer, digital retail and the retail industry as a whole?
Henry is a known staple of the gaming industry: after spending four years at William Hill, Birch was CEO of gaming giant Rank Group, where he led a strategic overhaul of the business and carried out its digital transformation. Shop Direct is already a role model in the digital retail space, with 69% of sales completed on mobile and its 49 million products delivered to 7,000 stores across the country – how will Birch's unique experience steer the Group into an exciting new chapter?
Fostering a culture of innovation: with retail disruptors shaking up the industry, how can all players catch up? It all starts with sowing the seeds of entrepreneurship and innovation in every company.
Peak Trading Operations: What does an operational excellence strategy for busy periods look like?
There is no eCommerce without delivery: be a winner in both at the UK's only event that brings together the retail and fulfilment boardrooms in an innovative format that fosters board-level collaboration, inspiration and interaction.
This unforgettable "unConference"-Conference rejects stale PowerPoint presentations and one-sided pitches: IRC is all about bringing together the sharpest retail and digital brains and devise the solutions the industry needs to Re:Skill, Re:Boot and Re:Generate Retail.
Secure your place today – save £200 on your early bird pass.


text:
The pandemic took my job, but it also restored my sanity
Post author By Adam Reiner
1 Comment on Is There Life After Restaurants?
I've worked in restaurants longer than Tom Brady's played professional football. I've certainly contemplated retirement over the years more seriously than Brady, but now we're both retired (Update: Tom already un-retired). I can remember countless conversations with coworkers exchanging fantasies about getting out of the industry. Restaurant work is quicksand for some of us, and a resume with only restaurant experience can make it challenging to liberate yourself.
For the greater part of two decades, I've tried desperately to nurture my creative self while soldiering through the grind of putting food and drinks on strangers' tables. Working full-time in a restaurant, even when it was lucrative, has often deflated these ambitions.
I could never have predicted my restaurant career would end in forced retirement. The pandemic cost me my job, but I was already feeling disenfranchised from the industry. Like many others, my time away from restaurant work over the past two years—however impoverishing—has restored my sanity. As a newly sane person, I could never return to working in restaurants if it means accepting the old onerous terms.
While it's hard to blame every owner for mass lay-offs, the relationships that many service industry professionals had with their former employers were already tenuous before we were let go. It was almost comical that we were expected to return to our jobs no questions asked after being disposed of so unceremoniously. The "nobody wants to work anymore" narrative trumpeted on financial news and political media was a fabrication promulgated by greedy owners. Most of us would've returned to our jobs if there'd been sufficient outreach by our former employers. The longer the pandemic lingered, the harder it became to plan our lives around an uncertain return.
I do miss parts of the job. The adrenaline rush of a busy restaurant is invigorating. Early on in the pandemic, I experienced debilitating fatigue everyday around 4-5 pm, the time an average dinner shift would've started. My internal clock was conditioned to slam an espresso and gird my loins for a hectic night. Now my engine is kaput, and I feel like taking naps every evening. As someone who once thrived on the chaos, my featureless life now is both pathetic and wonderful.
Kitchen staff often describe the rapture of being in the weeds. Most cooks prefer busy over slow; they'd rather work harder and faster than languish behind the line. Battling through the elements and weathering the storm is how cooks earn their stripes. It can become addicting. Restaurant people need constant stimulation to stay fueled. We thrive off the kinetic energy.
I miss the camaraderie of a staff, the sense of common purpose. The way it forces you to never be lonely. Restaurant work teaches you to coexist and be productive with people even when you have nothing in common. You forge deep bonds through shared endurance. Even when team members despise each other, they still have each other's backs when the first table is seated. We put our vendettas aside in service of a smooth and lucrative shift.
What I don't miss? Having to overcompensate for the gracelessness of guests. A party that's impossible to please—whether they're sending food back, complaining about the music, or demanding a different table—always makes it harder to keep the deserving people happy. I've so often struggled to adequately care for a full section of tables because one group among them is behaving boorishly. The apprehensiveness toward enforcing common decency makes staff unduly timid, especially in fine dining settings where entitled guests think that spending exorbitant sums excuses lack of social graces.
Restaurants focus on miscues because they strive for perfection. But if failures are scrutinized, successes must also be celebrated. Sadly, praise is scant. A restaurant staff is too often judged by its least satisfied customers, when the least satisfied people in your restaurant are often the most miserable people to begin with. It's ridiculous to expect a staff of trained hospitality professionals to shoulder the burden of other people's misery. Under constant duress and unable to rebuke ornery guests, a restaurant staff often takes out its frustration on each other.
Two years into a once-in-a-generation public health crisis, the job has never been more difficult. Even before the masks and vaccine checks, making people happy was already more challenging than ever. Great hospitality is to welcome people and show them a good time, not to counteract their proclivity for disliking things, including masks and vaccines. I've taken care of so many tables in my career where I'm certain that nothing I or my teammates could've done would've made them happy. Nothing. Many of us learn to predict the meritless complaints before they happen, but that doesn't always mean we can forgive ourselves when guests leave disappointed. The industry needs to change this mindset.
Leaving restaurants has made me have second thoughts about its existential purpose. Especially the fine dining sector which has become an oligarchy, contributing virtually nothing to society other than to make affluent people feel more important than they are. The pandemic has put a chokehold on independent restaurant businesses, and the public seems ambivalent to the casualties piling up, including treasured fixtures of their communities. It speaks to how desensitized we've become to the decay in the dining landscape and to how much our appreciation for great restaurants has eroded over the years. The idea of a "ghost kitchen" alone should be Freddy Kruger-style horrifying, but it isn't because we've spent years becoming further and further removed from the people that cook our our food.
We've become more selfish patrons, approaching restaurant visits as pure hedonism. But restaurants don't exist purely to please us. They stand as pillars of the community—no different than churches, schools, and park districts. But so little is expected of restaurant customers besides their money. Our relationship with restaurants has become increasingly platonic, leaving businesses feeling unsupported and struggling for survival. As a restaurant owner, if you pivot your business enough times, you end up going around in a circle. Meanwhile, restaurant food has become just another convenience like dropping off the dry cleaning or hiring a dog-walker.
This is why I can't participate anymore. If the pandemic has shown us anything, it's how much the social fabric of our communities is torn when we lose access restaurants. Absence should make the heart grow fonder. But it hasn't. Independent restaurants are closing at alarming rates, Congress is still dragging its feet on desperately needed aid, and the market caps of multinational restaurant companies like the parents of Applebee's and Olive Garden are trading at all time highs. Is this the dystopian future people want? I honestly have no idea who these people are, but I definitely know I don't want to serve them anymore.
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Forbes PERKINS
This appreciation is in regard to a very beautiful tribute that you wrote to honor Gina dePalma and her unpublished (lost? Really?) book. I only came to know of her this morning over an olive oil cake that I attempted, bleary eyed on too little sleep. When I tasted it's delicious warm crumb, I went back to read the intro to the recipe and was smitten by Gina and her writing. Alas, I soon found out that she has left us. Sadly, I read more about her until I stumbled upon your online article. Your respect and admiration for Gina… Read more »

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


All Highland Dancing events at the Cowal Gathering are run under the rules of the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing. All competitors must be registered with the SOBHD prior to submitting their entry to Cowal. The SOBHD address is 32 Grange Loan, Edinburgh, EH9 2NR.
Cowal Highland Gathering reserves the right to refuse any entry and fees cannot be refunded once entries have been received.
Closing date for entries to all events is 1st July 2019. No entries will be accepted after the closing date for any reason.
Please note: Dancing numbers are no longer allocated on a 'first to enter last to dance' basis. The dancing numbers will be allocated by a completely random, automated draw which will take place after the closing date and under the supervision of the SOBHD.
Also Note that the timings below are when we expect the different competitions to take place. However the exact timings will depend on the number of competitors that enter each event. The final timings will be confirmed on the website in late July.
The Scottish National Championship is open to Premier dancers, who are resident in Scotland and have been for six months prior to the date of the competition.
PLEASE NOTE - The Scottish National Cahmpionships will be held on FRIDAY 30th August. Which is a change from previous years.
Please be aware it is likely that the start time for the Scottish National CHampionships will be 9am this year. This will be confirmed shortly after the draw is completed.
Competitors must be registered as a premier dancer prior to entering for the Cowal Championships events except for events A & B where a pre premier number will be accepted for entry. However a valid premier number must be provided by the 31st July. All registration cards will be checked prior to competing.
Entries will not be processed without a valid SOBHD Premier number (except events A & B).
Competitor numbers and passes will be posted in July.
Those entering the Scottish Championship on Thursday will be issued with a separate competitor number.
Please note the change in the event numbers and ensure you enter the correct event.
Event 55: World Junior Championship Qualifying event.
This event is open to all premier class dancers of 16 years and under 18yrs.
Event 56: World Adult Championship Qualifying Event.
Open to all Premier class dancers aged 18 years and over.
Competitors must be registered as a premier dancer prior to entering for the Cowal Championships events except for events 8 & 9 where a pre premier number will be accepted for entry. However a valid premier number must be provided by the 31st July. All registration cards will be checked prior to competing.
Entries will not be processed without a valid SOBHD Premier number (except events 8 & 9).
In the Scottish Championships the event number corresponds to the age of the competitor. e.g. Event 9 is for competitors aged 9 on the day of the competition and event 12 is for competitors aged 12 on the day of the competition.
Anticipated order of dance on THURSDAY.
The Pre-Premier competition is confined to residents in Argyll and Bute District, of at least six months standing prior to the date of the competition and will take place on the West platforms on the Saturday.
This year the Pre-Premier competitions will take place on the East Platforms and parents will be able to book seats in the East Stand (whilst available) to watch the Pre-Premier competition.
For Beginner category dancers aged under 8yrs.
For Beginner category dancers aged 8yrs.


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text:
Little reason to worry
By David Felton | david.felton@langnews.com |
PUBLISHED: April 17, 2011 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 29, 2017 at 10:42 a.m.
LONG BEACH – Joey Hand simply couldn't watch.
The veteran sports car racer had to find something to distract himself during the final hour of Saturday's American Le Mans Series race. After co-driver Dirk Mueller took over for Hand about halfway through the two-hour race, the Sacramento native turned off his radio and paced around the pit area. He was too nervous to watch and listen as Mueller drove their BMW M3 around the 1.968-mile temporary street course, toward what Hand prayed would be his first victory in Long Beach after several near-misses.
"Normally I'm pretty strong when it comes to nerves," Hand said. "But I couldn't even put down a sandwich (after Mueller took over). I knew better than that."
As it turned out, Hand had little to worry about. Mueller built a sizable lead over Jan Magnussen in the GT class, then eased the car around the circuit as time ticked away at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Magnussen cut the lead to about six seconds late in the race, but a crash with nine minutes left ended the race under the yellow flag and gave the victory to Hand-Mueller.
"The problem I had was that I didn't know so much what everyone else was doing and I didn't want to push too hard," Mueller said. "Jan pushed really hard toward the end, and I was really happy to see the yellow at the end."
Other class winners were Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr in LMP1, Gunnar Jeannette and Ricardo Gonzalez in LMPC, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Tim Pappas in GTC and Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut in LMP2.
To begin the race, Hand, Patrick Long and Oliver Gavin took control in GT.
At the 48-minute mark, Long made a nice pass on Hand at turn 8 to take the lead. But as they neared turn 9, Long caught up to slower traffic, including fellow GT driver Scott Sharp, who was on cold tires, and had to lock up his brakes.
That sent him careening into the wall, causing extensive suspension damage and ending his team's race before co-driver Jorg Bergmeister ever got behind the wheel.
The victory was the second in a row for Hand and Mueller – they also won the season opener at Sebring, Fla. – and they've taken early control of the GT points race.
"We've been coming out of the trailer really, really good this year," Hand said. "The BMW has been so strong."
In LMP1, Luhr took first place from pole-sitter Chris Dyson on the first lap with a nice inside pass at turn 5 before running away from the field. By the time co-driver Graf took the checkered flag, his Aston Martin Lola Coupe led Dyson teammate Guy Smith by over 24 seconds.
"Lucas laid the groundwork today," Graf said. "… After the pitstop, I was able to just drive and bring it to the end."
david.felton@presstelegram.com
David Felton


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Suburban minority restaurant owners look to funding to keep doors open
Marc Lefkowitz | Thursday, December 17, 2020
Eric Bo, owner of LBM Bar in the Birdtown area of Lakewood Courtesy of LBM Bar
LBM Bar in Lakewood Courtesy of LBM Bar
Luis Roman, owner of Campus Grille Latin in downtown Berea Courtesy of Campus Grille Latin
The Campus Grille Latin Courtesy of The Campus Grille Latin
Goodfellas BBQ Courtesy of Goodfellas
This is the latest story in FreshWater Cleveland's series First Suburbs: A Closer Look, focusing on the suburbs surrounding Cleveland. Built mostly before the 1960s, these "first" suburbs face challenges ranging from urban sprawl to disinvestment. But shrinking news coverage reports mostly on crime. This series instead will look at the unheralded people and innovative programs that are making a difference, through a solutions-based journalism lens.
With the pandemic continuing to wreak havoc on the local economy, the $21 million federal CARES Act grant that Cuyahoga County brought in—$7.5 million of which was set aside for small businesses—has barely made a dent in helping restaurant owners, whose industry has been hit particularly hard.
The small, suburban independent restaurant owners, many of them minorities, are equally feeling the pain.
These minority owners ae fighting to keep their restaurants open and their staffs employed, especially where so many smaller establishments are the rooted in their communities.
They are looking not only to federal and state assistance, they are also relying on the suburban governments for help. Some have taken advantage of grants specifically targeted to minority owners, others have had luck with more mainstream relief funding. All of them are fighting to survive.
"Many of our first-ring suburbs have a significant service and hospitality industry," says Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish. "They are often low-paid employees who are dish washing or cleaning. By supporting restaurants, it means also supporting employees, not just the owners."
LBM Bar in LakewoodEric Bo, owner of LBM Bar in Lakewood's Birdtown neighborhood, shared his concerns about the future. He has seen sales slip to half of their regular pace as coronavirus has ravaged his business and threatened the livelihood of his customers.
If not for carryout and grant assistance from the Cuyahoga County Small Business Stabilization Grant Fund, Bo is not sure how long he'd stay afloat.
It's the same story across town for Darryl Rugley who owns Goodfellas BBQ on Noble Road in Cleveland Heights. Like Bo, he secured a $2,500 grant as soon as Cuyahoga County made funding available to help small businesses. Bo and Rugley both used the money to cover utilities and purchase some supplies.
This week Cuyahoga County launched an extension of funding specifically for restaurants under the Small Business Stabilization Fund. An additional $1.2 million has been identified and designated from Cuyahoga County's CARES Act money. There was a flood of applicants that numbered more than 700.
"If I have $10,000 to draw from, it will put my mind at ease that I'm going to make it," Rugley says of this round's higher ceiling, adding that restaurant owners live with uncertainty all the time.
"Small business, we know how to grind and keep it going no matter what," he says. "We're going to make it regardless [of the relief]. If you've been in this business for two years or more, you know how to survive. But any help we can get will make it easier down the line."
Luis Roman, owner of Campus Grille Latin in downtown BereaLuis Roman, owner of Campus Grille Latin in downtown Berea, shares this sentiment.
"It's day-to-day," says Roman, who was out shopping in person this week as he prepared to reopen his restaurant. After a two-week layoff, he discovered his purveyor of specialty pork closed shop because so many restaurants have shuttered their doors.
Roman also received a $2,500 county grant. He will pay his electric bill, which costs him $1,400, and some other bills, but he has downsized his staff and plans to "take his foot off the gas" as the winter months approach.
"[The restaurant industry] is just going to get weaker," he says. "But I'm an optimist. I'm buckling down and I'm putting sandbags up. I'm making sure all my credit cards are paid and employees paid and collecting unemployment. I see their struggle."
The outlook for independent restaurants is dire. They say the sting is greater when the federal bailout of large companies numbered in the billions while small business relief is orders of magnitude smaller.
"I feel like the federal government has left our industry out to dry," said Bo, calling the county relief a Band-Aid.
Bo blames the federal government for not acting sooner. He points to a bill in Congress, the Restaurants Act, a $120 billion relief package that the Independent Restaurant Association lobbied for over the summer only to see it die before it could reach a vote in the Senate.
Independent restaurants do have the support of Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish.
"The need far outweighs the resources," Budish says. "It doesn't mean we don't try."
Complicating matters is the ranks of the service and hospitality industry are filled with minority populations that were already struggling financially and experiencing higher exposure to COVID-19 because of their jobs.
Goodfellas BBQ"I think minorities get hit a little longer," adds Campus Grill's Roman. "It's a double-edge sword being black and brown because you are the one being affected by COVID the most, and, with no college education, if you don't work, you don't get paid. They're on the front lines."
Asked if he remains optimistic that the relief funds will be enough to keep the industry going, Budish responds, "I believe it will help a number of them, and if we get more funds next year, we'll put it toward the effort to save as many restaurants as we can. They have been hit hard."
The situation threatens to do tissue damage to an industry that has come to define Northeast Ohio as a "foodie" place, Budish adds.
"We also have restaurants that are nationally known that have closed," he says. "That is tragic. We draw people to Cuyahoga County, in part because of the restaurants that are here."
The relief efforts, while relatively small, have been sustained since the beginning of the pandemic, Bo admits. The State of Ohio has provided Workers Compensation dividend checks, and will send another, higher dividend check in two weeks. The state also has $38.7 million of federal CARES Act money that it used to establish the Bar and Restaurant Assistance Fund, providing $2,500 payments to bars and restaurants.
Cuyahoga County received $215 million in CARES Act funding. Of that, the county made $250,000 available in its first round of small business grants—providing $2,500 to 200 businesses, including restaurants. A second round of grants totaling $2.1 million went to 751 small businesses in Cuyahoga County, followed by a third round totaling $4 million.
Last week, the county made $1.2 million available solely to restaurants. Fifty percent of recipients for round one and round two of the Small Business Stabilization Fund were minority-owned businesses, according to county records.
Some inner-ring suburbs established relief programs aimed at minority-owned businesses, including the City of Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights Development Corporation (SHDC). Shaker recently offered a Small Business Recovery Assistance Grant Program specifically for minority-owned businesses in Shaker Heights that saw 25 businesses line up. Cleveland Heights small business COVID-19 assistance applications quickly reached their limit.
The Campus Grille LatinThe City of Berea offered two rounds of Emergency Relief Fund grants for retail, food service, and personal service businesses that were negatively impacted by the Ohio's stay-at-home order. Each round we funded 55 grants of $2,000, for a total of $220,000 in both rounds. Grant recipients could use these funds for rent, PPE, payroll, and other business expenses.
The City of Lakewood back in April launched a Small Business Assistance Program providing up to $7,000 for rent and/or job retention. The program is still up and running. Lakewood is going out of its way to help small business, particularly restaurants that want outdoor dining, by making legal express parking and temporary outdoor dining and parklets. Restaurants also qualified to receive a federal Payroll Protection Program loan to cover employee pay.
Still, those in the industry say it feels like a drop in the bucket.
"The government should have enacted better relief," observes Bo. "There are European countries that are covering the loss of sales for restaurants and small businesses."
Campaigns to encourage customers to save their favorite restaurants will only go so far, he adds.
"There's definitely a lot of people who are diehard and loyal to the Cleveland food and drink scene," Bo says. "But I don't think they alone can shoulder the burden of keeping them open. It's not up to Joe consumer. It's a pandemic, and no one knew what was going to happen."
Bo mourns the inevitable loss of ethnic and minority owned restaurants in what will be missing from the area's cultural diversity.
For Roman, it feels personal. "I always talk to my daughters about the pursuit of happiness, and food is a major component in that," he says. "When you find something that does make you feel that, you want to hold on to it."
The series is made possible through the support of Citizens Bank, the First Suburbs Consortium, and the First Ring Schools Collaborative.
Read more articles by Marc Lefkowitz.
Marc Lefkowitz is a sustainability consultant with more than 15 years of experience writing, speaking and advocating for a more sustainable Northeast Ohio. He served as Director of the GreenCityBlueLake Institute and editor of its well-known blog at gcbl.org. He has a B.A. in English from Ohio State University and an M.A. in urban planning from Cleveland State University. He is a regular bike commuter and transit rider. Photo: Liz Cooper.
First Suburbs: A Closer Look, Local Food Economy


On 4-5  June as part of the 21st Caspian Oil and Gas  Exhibition Caspian Oil and Gas Conference was held at the JW Mariott Absheron Hotel.  BP speakers made presentation  during the  Conference.
Caspian Oil and Gas Conference is one of the most significant international oil and gas events where the very topical issues of bi-lateral and multi-lateral energy relations and global energy security are discussed.
On the  first day of the Conference Pat Draughon, BP's  Vice President for Production made a presentation summing up BP's and its co-venturers contribution to Azerbaijan  within 20 years.
The Conference participants had a chance to watch a video dedicated to 20 years of Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli.
Azerbaijan&BP celebrating 20 years of the remarkable production machine.
The 21st Caspian International Oil and Gas Exhibition opened today at the Baku Expo Centre.
The President of the Republic of  Azerbaijan, HE Iham Aliyev has made an opening speech. Talking about projects in the Caspian operated by BP the Country President highlighted the successful cooperation and partnership with BP throughout last 20 years.
In his speech BP's Chief Executive Officer Mr Robert Dudley who also attended the opening ceremony stressed on the importance of this event started at the same time as  revival of oil & gas industry followed by country's independence in 1991.
He also noted that thanks to the vision of the late President Heydar Aliyev, BP and its co-venturers signed what was known as the Contract of the Century with the Government of Azerbaijan in 1994. That  put the country firmly back on track to once again become one of the world's premier oil and gas producing nations.
Since then contributions made by the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, by the government, by SOCAR, by our partners and of course by the people of Azerbaijan stimulated strong economy, created new commercial links that the country is building with the rest of the world, driven a revitalised offshore hydrocarbon production sector.
Mr Dudley also spoke about Stage 2 development of the Shah Deniz field stressing on the largest foreign direct investment made in Azerbaijan, complexity and significance of the project, benefits it will bring to Azerbaijan and countries along the Southern Corridor.
After official opening ceremony the President Aliyev  has taken a tour around the exhibition pavilion visiting exhibiting companies' stands.
At BP stand the country President was welcomed by  Gordon Birrell, President of BP Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey who made a presentation about ACG's future, technology and building of local capability.
Caspian International Oil and Gas Exhibition is the largest annual and best-attended oil and gas event in Azerbaijan and the Caspian region. The event is held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of  Azerbaijan, HE Ilham Aliyev and is officially supported by the Ministry of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan and SOCAR.
The exhibition will last until Friday, 6 June. BP's stand is located at the central pavilion. Main highlight of BP's stand is the leading edge and scale of all our operations in the region, highlighting technology, partnership and 20 years achievements in Azerbaijan.
As part of  the  exhibition, BP on behalf of its co-ventures in ACG, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), Shah Deniz (SD), and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) is hosting a unique share fair "Meet the Buyer" event. The event is specifically designed to provide an opportunity for local companies to present their products and services to potential buyers, create opportunities for those SMEs that normally find it difficult to make their way through big companies. On the other hand, this event presents a chance to buyers as well - here they can check the pulse of the local market and find out what is available.
"Meet the Buyer" event is expected to attract a larger number of international clients to meet the local oil and gas supplier market representatives helping them reach international markets.
The venue of this year's event will be open to public during the Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition  at the dedicated pavilion no.3 In addition, BP facilitators will be available to support the exhibitors and visitors during the event.


How to cope with a sedentary job.
Bicep curls a common natural movement?
Does physical activity account for only a small portion of daily energy expenditure?
Anybody interested in starting a grassroots paleo movement?


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Q: Access to MediaShield RAID utility I'm using RAID-1 configuration on a PC which will be accessible by many people who are not very experienced with computers. So I want to restrict access to MediaShield RAID configuration utility which pops-up on every boot proposing to press F10 button.
Is there a way to hide that boot message or protect the utility with a password?

A: The MediaShield (RAID) BIOS is after all a firmware component which belongs more to the NVIDIA Chipset as to the actual Mainboard BIOS.  The firmware module is provided by NVIDIA and usually integrated into the BIOS Code as is. Modifications regarding password protection of the RAID Firmware would more or less fall into the responsability of NVIDIA.
I am not sure what happens if you set a BIOS Password in BIOS Setup, but I suppose that it will not restrict access to the MediaShield Firmware (because it is not really a functional part of the system BIOS, but of the RAID Controller integrated in the NVIDIA Chipset).
Quote

Is there a way to disable that message
  or set a password for the tool?

As far as I understand the functionality of the MediaShield BIOS, this would only be possible by modifying the NVIDIA RAID Firmware Module, which is something MSI is most probably not going to do.

A: The only way I found is to modify the string in the RAID portion of BIOS. It works okay.

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Re: Mathematica for Macintosh Plus i.e. 68000 processors?
Subject: [mg20501] Re: [mg20436] Mathematica for Macintosh Plus i.e. 68000 processors?
I have used a version 2.0 and a version 2.2 on a Mac Plus with 4MByte RAM.
Keep your MacPlus for Steve Jobs signature inside !
If you want to suffer, you can also buy and wear one size too short shoes.
> would like to run Mathematica on it. Is there a version that will work.
> version 1-point-something will work.
Mathematica for Macintosh Plus i.e. 68000 processors?
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text:
Chatteris Town Football Club is a football club based in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, England. They are currently members of the  and play at West Street.
Dear Chatteris Town FC,
Sadly yesterday Thursday 16th March 2023 one of your star footballers Kenny Stocker passed away age 78 years old.
He was part of the successful team in the 60's including Johnny Bailey, Roger Pearl, Maurice Smith,
Keith Fayers, Alan Cox, etc etc.
Yesterday I had the privilege to look through all his cuttings he'd kept for over 50 years.
Kenny Smith

History
The club was founded in 1920 as Chatteris Town Juniors, before adopting their current name in 1921. They joined the Isle of Ely League, and after a fast rise through the divisions, they won the league title in 1922–23. In 1924 they joined Division Two of the Cambridgeshire League, and were promoted to Division One at the end of the season as the division was enlarged. In 1928–29 they won Division 1B, but lost a play-off against the Division 1A champions. In 1931–32 they won the Cambridgeshire League and transferred to the Peterborough & District League. In December 1935 financial problems caused them to withdraw from the league. In 1936 they reformed as a junior team, and joined Division 1B of the Cambridgeshire League, winning it at the first attempt.

They also rejoined the Peterborough & District league. They won the league in 1963–64, winning 30 of their 32 matches. The following season they won the title again, this time winning 29 of their 30 matches. A hat-trick of titles was completed in 1965–66, in which they won 27 out of 30 matches. At the end of the season they joined the Eastern Counties League in 1966, and won the League Cup in 1968. The club set its record attendance of 2,000 in a match against local rivals March Town United at the end of the 1988-89 season, a game which March Town United needed to win to clinch the ECL title (and did following a 5–0 win).

When the league added a second tier in 1988, Chatteris were placed in the Premier Division following a 7th-place finish the previous season. The club struggled in the new division, finishing bottom in 1989–90 (a season in which they failed to win a league game) and 1990–91, but were reprieved from relegation as the league lost members who were promoted to the Southern League and Division One clubs failed to meet ground grading criteria. However, the club were eventually relegated in 1995 after finishing bottom and winning just two league games all season.

They continued to play in Division One until 2001, when, despite finishing fifth, they resigned from the league for financial reasons and dropped back into the Peterborough & District League. In 2008 they transferred to Senior Division B the Cambridgeshire League, finishing third in their first season and earning promotion. The following season saw them win the Senior A Division to earn promotion to the Premier Division. They were relegated back to the Senior A Division at the end of the 2012–13 season. In 2015–16 season Chatteris finished second in the division, earning promotion back to the Premier Division; they also won three cups, beating Great Shelford 2–1 to win the Cliff Bullen Challenge Cup, Outwell Swifts 1–0 in the William Coad Intermediate Cup and Milton 3–0 to win the William Cockell Memorial Cup.

Ground
The club played at several grounds following its establishment, including New Road, Blackhorse Lane, St Martins Road, Chatteris Park and Chatteris Recreation Ground. In 1932 they moved to West Street, which was used by West Ham United as their base whilst away from London during World War II.

Honours
Eastern Counties League
League Cup winners 1967–68
Cambridgeshire League
Champions 1931–32
Senior A Division champions 2009–10
Division 1B champions 1928–29, 1936–37
William Coad Intermediate Cup winners 2015–16
William Cockell Memorial Cup winners 2015–16
Peterborough & District League
Champions 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66
Isle of Ely League
Champions 1922–23
Cambridgeshire Challenge Cup
Winners 1951–52, 1954–55, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 2015–16

Records
Record attendance: 2,000 vs March Town United, Eastern Counties League, 12 May 1988

References

External links
Club website

Football clubs in England
Football clubs in Cambridgeshire
Association football clubs established in 1920
1920 establishments in England
Peterborough and District Football League
Eastern Counties Football League
Cambridgeshire County Football League
Chatteris

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home » News » Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Trends Impacting Infrastructure and Operations for 2019
Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Trends Impacting Infrastructure and Operations for 2019
Posted in News By Chawm Ganguly On December 5, 2018
Analysts Explore Top Industry Trends at Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations and Cloud Strategies Conference 2018, December 3-6 in Las Vegas
Mumbai, India, December 5, 2018 — Gartner, Inc. highlighted the key technologies and trends that infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders must start preparing for to support digital infrastructure in 2019.
"More than ever, I&O is becoming increasingly involved in unprecedented areas of the modern day enterprise. The focus of I&O leaders is no longer to solely deliver engineering and operations, but instead deliver products and services that support and enable an organization's business strategy," said Ross Winser, senior research director at Gartner. "The question is already becoming 'How can we use capabilities like artificial intelligence (AI), network automation or edge computing to support rapidly growing infrastructures and accomplish business needs?"
Mr. Winser encouraged I&O leaders to prepare for the impacts of 10 key technologies and trends to support digital infrastructure in 2019. They are:
Serverless computing is an emerging software architecture pattern that promises to eliminate the need for infrastructure provisioning and management. I&O leaders need to adopt an application-centric approach to serverless computing, managing APIs and SLAs, rather than physical infrastructures. "The phrase 'serverless' is somewhat of a misnomer," noted Mr. Winser. "The truth is that servers still exist, but the service provider is responsible for all the underlying resources involved in provisioning and scaling a runtime environment, resulting in appealing agility."
Serverless does not replace containers or virtual machines, so it's critical to learn how best and where to use the technology. "Developing support and management capabilities within I&O teams must be a focus as more than 20 percent of global enterprises will have deployed serverless computing technologies by 2020, which is an increase from less than 5 percent today," added Mr. Winser.
AI Impacts
AI is climbing up the ranks in terms of the value it will serve I&O leaders who need to manage growing infrastructures without being able to grow their staff. AI has the potential to be organizationally transformational and is at the core of digital business, the impacts of which are already being felt within organizations. According to Gartner, global AI-derived business value will reach nearly $3.9 trillion by 2022.
Network Agility (or Lack of?)
The network underpins everything IT does — cloud services, Internet of Things (IoT), edge services — and will continue to do so moving forward.
"Teams have been under pressure to ensure network availability is high and as such the team culture is often to limit change, yet all around the network team the demands for agility have increased," said Mr. Winser. The focus for 2019 and beyond must move to how I&O leaders can help their teams increase the pace of network operations to meet demand. "Part of the answer is building network agility that relies on automation and analytics, and addressing the real skills shift needed to succeed," said Mr. Winser.
The demands on the network are set to grow with the advent of 5G, increasing cloud maturity, and the explosion in numbers of IoT devices. "These are just a few of the pressures leaders should anticipate — so the critical time frame to deal with this challenge is now," said Mr. Winser.
Death of the Data Center
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80 percent of enterprises will migrate entirely away from on-premises data centers with the current trend of moving workloads to colocation, hosting and the cloud leading them to shut down their traditional data center.
"I&O leaders must prepare to place workloads based on business needs, not constrained by physical location. From colocation through to public cloud — plenty of alternatives to on-premises data centers exist. Leaders must identify whether there are truly strategic reasons to persist with on-premises needs, especially when they consider the significant amount of investment involved is often amortized over many years," said Mr. Winser. Preparations must begin now, as the critical time frame for this is 2021 to 2025.
IoT and immersive technologies will drive more information processing to the edge, redefining and reshaping what I&O leaders will need to deploy and manage. The edge is the physical location where things and people connect with the networked digital world, and infrastructure will increasingly reach out to the edge. Edge computing is a part of a distributed computing topology where information processing is located close to the edge, which is where things and people produce or consume that information. It touches on the laws of physics, economy and land, all of which are contributing factors to how and when to use edge.
"This is another trend that does not replace the cloud, but augments it," said Mr. Winser. "The critical time frame for organizations to adopt this trend is between 2020 and 2023."
Digital Diversity Management
Digital diversity management is not about people, but rather about the discovery and maintenance of assets that are "out there" in any given modern digital enterprise. "There has been huge growth in the range and quantity of "things" that I&O is expected to know about, be supporting and be managing," said Mr. Winser. "Traditional asset management is still important, but we're moving into the realms of involvement with new assets that might have direct effects on the finances, health and welfare of the organization's customers." Preparing I&O is vital now before the critical time frame of 2020 to 2025.
New Roles Within I&O
I&O leaders find that staffing justifications require resolving complex relationships between costs, activities and customer quality expectations. Explaining I&O staffing requirements to IT and business leaders in terms of business value by connecting staffing levels to business performance and strategic objectives is a must in today's modern digital enterprise.
"For instance, IT is increasingly taking on the role of supporting cloud services in terms of aggregation, customization, integration and governance. A big challenge with cloud services is keeping costs under control, and the business expects I&O to be doing just that. Rather than focusing solely on engineering and operations, I&O must develop the capabilities needed to broker services; these will require different roles to the I&O of old," said Mr. Winser. The critical time frame for this trend starts immediately in 2019.
Software as a Service (SaaS) Denial
SaaS is software that is owned, delivered and managed remotely by one or more providers. The provider delivers software based on one set of common code and data definitions that is consumed in a one-to-many model by all contracted customers at any time on a pay-for-use basis or as a subscription based on use metrics.
In 2019 and beyond, SaaS will have a big impact on how organizations look at infrastructure delivery strategies moving forward. However, most I&O leaders are still focused on infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) solutions. "SaaS itself is becoming a level of complexity that IT shops aren't yet coping with as they should. The shift to SaaS must be accompanied with I&O support, all the way from ensuring visibility is maintained of what is in use, through to supporting compliance requirements and enterprise integration needs. Leaders must start this now as the pressure will be on through 2021 and beyond," said Mr. Winser.
Talent Management Becomes Critical
Historically, IT staff have been vertically organized based around the technology stack they managed. As infrastructures go digital, there becomes a need for people to work horizontally across stacks in order to identify and remediate technology work stoppages in their business. Expanding I&O skill sets, practices and procedures to accommodate hybrid operations is of the utmost importance in 2019 and beyond. "In short, talent is the critical ingredient for a modern, high-performing technology organization, and great talent is in high demand. People that show versatility and adaptability are quickly becoming must-haves, particularly in hybrid environments," said Mr. Winser.
Global Infrastructure Enablement
Despite few infrastructures being truly "global" in nature, organizations must still prepare for the notion of "infrastructure everywhere." While doing so, I&O leaders must work within the constraints of tight budgets and cost pressures.
One way to tackle this challenge this is to wisely choose the network of partners needed for global success. "I&O leaders must look hard at their existing partners and raise the bar of expectation. Can they clearly identify the value the partner will bring to them in the context of global infrastructure? Are they unlocking all the value from recent investments their partners have been making?" said Mr. Winser. "There will be no time for 'B-team' partners in 2019 and beyond — I&O leaders must be on top of this trend between 2020 and 2023."
About Gartner
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities and build the successful organizations of tomorrow.
Our unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the issues that matter most. We are a trusted advisor and objective resource for more than 15,000 organizations in more than 100 countries — across all major functions, in every industry and organization size.
To learn more about how we help decision makers fuel the future of business, visit www.gartner.com.
Tags:2019, Gartner, Identifies, impacting, Infrastructure and Operations, Top 10 Trends