APRIL's Bandit Agenda is NO JOKE!

by April blog mommy: Suz

It's April 1st.

The special day for all those people who are practical jokers to stand up and do their thing. Over the years I've been the recipient of a lot of those kinds of jokes from enthusiastic, but definitely demented coworkers.

Sigh.

I am not a big fan of practical jokes. Actually, I loathe them!! So, luckily for y'all, you can believe me when I tell you you're in for a great month of good-natured fun, laughter and debut books with the Banditas in the Bandit Lair! Trust me! Really, trust me!




Friday, April 2: Up first, Kay Thomas www.kaythomas.net returns to the Lair in an interview with Suz about the third book in her Bulletproof series: BULLETPROOF BODYGUARD, which is also a Harlequin Intrigue Bodyguard of the Month release.








Monday, April 5: IT'S PARTY TIME in the Lair as Bandita, Christy Kelley celebrates the release of her newest book, SOMETHING SCANDALOUS. Be sure to join the Banditas, Sven, the gladiators, cabana boys and hockey hunks as we show how to have a good time!!







Wednesday, April 7: Lair favorite Barbara Monajem chats with Bandita, Nancy about her debut paranormal, Sunrise in a Garden of Love and Evil.







Thursday, April 8: RITA nominee Jessica Andersen returns to the Lair with Demonkeepers, the newest installment in her dynamite Nightkeepers series. We'll chat about the transformation of its hero, Lucius, from a quiet scholar working in the background to a man of action on the front lines.







On Saturday, April 10: Anna Campbell www.annacampbell.info is giving away an ARC of her June release MY RECKLESS SURRENDER. Come and play some reckless games and hey, you might win a book!






Monday, April 12: women's fiction author Kim Wright makes her first appearance in the lair with her debut women's fiction novel Love in Mid Air. A chance encounter on an airplane leads her heroine, Elyse, to question her marriage and her life. Kim will chat with Nancy about that.








On Friday, April 16: one of our favorites in the lair, Annie West www.annie-west.com is back! She’s talking about her new release FORGOTTEN MISTRESS, SECRET LOVE-CHILD and giving away some books! Come and join in the fun!





Monday, April 19: Laura Anne Gilman returns to the world of the Cosa Nostradamus with Hard Magic from Luna. She'll visit us on April 19 to talk about this latest book set in the world of her Retrievers series.






Wednesday, April 21: One of my favorite authors, romantic suspense author, Dee Davis returns with Dark Deception, the action-packed first book in her new series.








On Thursday, April 29: historical author Margo Maguire www.margomaguire is back to talk about her new release THE ROGUE PRINCE. Giveaways!






APRIL CONTESTS:

Anna Campbell's latest contest offers one lucky reader the chance to win an ARC of MY RECKLESS SURRENDER, her June 2010 release. All you have to do is email Anna on anna@annacampbell.info and answer a simple question. In the excerpt on the Books Page (http://www.annacampbell.info/recklesssurrender.html )for MY RECKLESS SURRENDER, Diana the heroine quotes an old proverb to the hero Lord Ashcroft. What is that proverb? Here's a hint -- it's for the birds! Good luck! The contest closes April 30, 2010.

Nancy Northcott's website has a new look, complete with excerpts and updated graphics. Stop by www.nancynorthcott.com, take a look, and enter the contest she's holding to celebrate. Details on the site.

March -- Coming Attractions & Contests

Before we proceed to our coming attractions round-up, the Romance Bandits are THRILLED to make a very special announcement.

The Romance Bandits are sponsoring an RWA National Scholarship to cover the cost of the conference early registration fee (value = $425, the RWA member price) for one winner to attend the 2009 conference in Washington, D.C. The scholarship is for the registration fee only. The fee will be paid to RWA directly.

To apply, please provide the following information: your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, if youʼre published or unpublished, if you have ever attended an RWA National Conference before, and a short explanation (no more than 150 words) about why you want/need the scholarship. Applications will be accepted until April 15. The winner will be contacted by the end of April.Please e-mail all the required information in the body of your e-mail to Joan Kayse at JoanieT13ATgmailDOTcom.

Now, on to what's up this month!

Tomorrow (March 2) our very own Christie Kelley will celebrate the launch of EVERY TIME WE KISS, which Romantic Times gave a 4 star review, saying Christie's "well on her way to capturing readers' hearts". Come and join in the fun with Romans, cabana boys, Sven the Swedish Masseur and plenty of those colourful drinks with umbrellas in them!

March 3 - Multi-talented, multi-genre author and wannabe witch, Jennifer Lyon, will be here to talk about BLOOD MAGIC, the first in her new dark paranormal series about witches and the extremely hot and hunky Wing-Slayer Hunters who love them.

RITA winning author Linnea Sinclair will join us to talk about her February release, another exciting sci-fi romance, HOPE'S FOLLY on March 4. Romantic Times awarded Hope's Folly a 4.5 TOP PICK calling it "a roller-coaster ride in the extreme."

On March 5, creator of the fabulous Gardella series, Colleen Gleason will be here to chat about her new release AS SHADOWS FADE.

RITA-winning historical romance author Sophia Nash is great fun and her visit to the lair on 6th March promises to turn into a party. She'll be talking about her new release LOVE WITH THE PERFECT SCOUNDREL and giving away a signed copy to one lucky commenter!

Debut Avon author Miranda Neville joins us on 10th March to talk about her new historical romance NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION. Originally from England and now a U.S. resident, Miranda has led a really fascinating life which will keep our visitors to the lair intrigued.

On March 16, best selling author and 2008 RITA finalist, Kay Stockham, will be here to talk about her new Harlequin Superromance, HER BEST FRIEND'S BROTHER, another in the Tulanes of Tennessee series. Romantic Times gave her latest a 4.5 TOP PICK calling this "a heartwarming and delightful tale of love."

We're excited to welcome Joanna D'Angelo to Romance Bandits on March 21. Joanna is a writer/filmmaker who co-produced and directed WHO'S AFRAID OF HAPPY ENDINGS? - a witty and revealing documentary about romance writers and the world of romance fiction.

On March 27, Jaye Wells takes us into her world of Urban Fantasy with the series debut book: RED-HEADED STEPCHILD.

And to round off the month in spectacular style, NYT bestseller and RWA Hall of Fame member JODI THOMAS is here on March 31. Woohoo, give us a cowboy any day, Jodi!

CONTESTS!!!!!!

Anna Campbell's I Heart Historical Romance contest is giving away four signed historical romances by Amanda McCabe, Anna Campbell, Nicola Cornick and Donna MacMeans. Just email Anna on anna@annacampbell.info and tell her what your favorite historical romance is and why. The contest closes on 30th April. For more details, please visit her contest page.

FRIEND US ON FACEBOOK!

The Romance Bandits facebook group has more than 400 members and we're still building. Join us! Invite all your friends! Sven will roll out the welcome massage table to greet you at the door.

Judging the Great American Pastime

by Donna MacMeans

Can you feel the anticipation?

Next week the Romance Writers of America's annual convention will end with the announcement of the Grand Poobah of romance writing contests - The Golden Heart and RITA awards ceremony. Now we banditas have representatives in both divisions - Anna Campbell - a double RITA finalist - and Susan Seyforth and KJ Howe, along with Bandita Buddy Louisa Cornell, in the Golden Heart division. So let me offer a toast to their success. We'll be cheering loudly in the audience in our spandex and spangles.

As you tell from the sidebar, we banditas are familiar with writing contests. As I've been talking this week on another loop about contests, I thought I'd share a few thoughts about contest judges.

1. I basically believe contest judges are trying to do a good job. However, even if they are accomplished writing fiction, basic conversational skills can remain a challenge.

2. Beginning writers are often recruited to be judges because judges, especially good ones, are sometimes hard to find. They are given the challenge of identifying problems and offering suggestions to fix on work that may be better than they are capable of writing themselves.

3. Different people like different things. This is a good thing. Otherwise there would be very few writers in the world and we'd have few opportunities to join their ranks.

4. All contests are a crapshoot. Sometimes you get the judges who "get you." Sometimes you don't.

5. Most judges really try to say something positive about the entries they judge - but it often gets overlooked as we obsess on the negative. I suppose that's human nature.

As is complaining about rotten judges.

So in the spirit of "human nature" I'd like you to share a bad experience with a contest, just to get it off your chest. For me - I had a judge chastise my hero because "a business executive would never say those things." Not sure what planet she was on, but as I was a business executive at the time - I'm pretty sure my dialogue was realistic.

So how about you? I'll give a copy of my Golden Heart winner - The Education of Mrs. Brimley to someone who doesn't already have it (I've given away so many!) So if you'd like to be considered for an autographed copy, just mention it in your comment.

Guilty Pleasures

by Susan Seyfarth

So something really extraordinary happened to me yesterday. I got fan mail. Sort of.

I'm what we call an AYU in this business: an As Yet Unpublished. This makes it tough to get fan mail. (It also makes it tough to get hate mail, so there's the silver lining, I guess.) Anyway, one of the women who judged my manuscript Money, Honey for this year's Golden Heart contest emailed to say she'd been pulling for it to final because she'd loved reading the partial so much. This just blew me away. First because, wow, what a nice thing to say. But second because nobody was ever supposed to love Money, Honey but me.

Without going into a lot of excruciating detail, let's just say that I wrote MH during a particularly difficult phase of my life & as a result, the book is a little...um...dark. It's not full of serial killers or child molesters or dog kickers or anything like that. Heaven forfend. It's just got a really broody, pessimistic, emotionally closed off hero with a well-deserved criminal record. He's hot as hell, yes, but good boyfriend material? Warm & fuzzy? Fully reformed & legitimately employed? Not so much. He's difficult. Prickly. Dangerous. And maybe not in a good way.

And the heroine? Well. I gave her a backstory so viciously complicated & emotionally scarring that even my amazingly supportive critique partner said, "She can't have lived through that & turned out even remotely normal."

Did I listen? Did I fix things? I did not. I wrote the damn book my own damn way & sent it off to the contest circuit where it got duly slaughtered. I shoved it under the bed where it belonged & figured I'd written the fabled Book of My Heart. You know the one that nobody will ever love but you, but you're somehow compelled to write anyway? The story you're longing to tell that has absolutely no commercial viability?

When Money, Honey hit the finals, I was stunned. It was like the universe had suddenly decided to reward me for indulging my quirks instead of sending the Rejection Express steaming through my mailbox every day. This was unprecedented. I ought to go nuts while the window of opportunity was open, right? So I started thinking about things I secretly enjoy that I don't widely publicize. I polled my friends about their guilty pleasures. I quizzed my family. Here (in no particular order & without attribution to protect the innocent) is what I discovered we love but won't necessarily admit to:

1) Smokin' hot anti-heros with a razor-sharp edge. Doesn't hurt if they're really, really rich & just the tiniest bit cruel. Remember James Spader from Pretty in Pink? Yummers. (Okay, I'll admit it. That one's mine.)

2) Wine Coolers. Hello, high school. And yet, on a really hot summer's evening? Admit it--a Bartles & Jaymes can go down pretty smooth.

3) Cheap Trick/Journey. This was a two way tie . I mean, come on. We all love these bands but nobody will own up to it. Sure, we all crank up the volume when we stumble across their songs on the radio, but who'll admit to having the CD in the car? (Okay, I will. I love me some Cheap Trick.)

4) Trash TV. A show called "Plastic Surgery: Before & After" seemed to come up in conversation a lot. Wife Swap came up pretty often, too. I haven't seen these ones, but I have a well publicized addiction to People magazine & Perez Hilton's celebrity gossip site, so I have no room to act superior. People also admitted to loving Las Vegas, various soap operas, 90210 & Dawson's Creek. (That last one was mine. I'm not ashamed. I loved Pacey.)

5) Insulting good food with cheap condiments. Tartar sauce on a $50 fish filet at a fancy restaurant. Mayo on fries. Ketchup on steak. I'll admit to a predilection for cheap ice cream. You can keep your Ben & Jerry's. Hang on to your Haagen Daaz. Scoop me up a big fat bowl of plain ol' vanilla from a $3 family sized tub. Squirt on the Hershey's & I'm there.

So how about you? If the universe really IS rewarding us this week for indulging our private quirks, now isn't the time to hold back! What do you love that you hide? And reading romance doesn't count. Not in the Lair. :-)

The Great Peep Easter Hunt

posted by Donna MacMeans



HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!



Hope the Easter Bunny found your house and left lots of jelly beans and chocolate.



But if he didn't, have no fear. The Romance Bandits are here to help you celebrate the holiday! To this end we've collected a number of those marshmallow delicacies known as "peeps" and have hidden them in a virtual easter hunt.



Before I tell you the rules, please note the Bandit News scroll to the right and the words "Click here to email us!" When you want to send us your answers, please email them via this link and include your contact information. Do NOT post them in the comment section or it will ruin it for the other players. Okay?




The Rules - The clues below represent either 1) a book authored by a bandita or bandita guest or 2) something that has been mentioned in one of our blogs. To make things a little easier, I've included a list - in alphabetical order - of the authors participating in the hunt & the prize they are offering.



The first person to properly match the clues with the appropriate author can choose the prize of their choice. After that, we'll award prizes as the correct answers roll in. When the prizes are gone - they're gone (sorry).


Peep Clues:



1. The peep hides with he
Who is obsessed with large bugs

He just might be 'Lost'


2. You'll find this peep on the dark side.



3. The Romance genre she forsook
When Mystery presented its hook.
Peep's now in the cave
Trying hard to behave
And write the great Bibliophile book

4. This peep shies away from those that would call her "horsewitch," though bewitching she may be.

5. My peep is blonde, female, and wearing combat fatigues for butt-kicking purposes.

6. My peep turned as pink as her corset
Her curves to bare for his lordship,
But the tables were turned
His lessons well learned
Now she's the object of courtship.

7. This little peep had a "hot" time

Hanging with the guys of fire station #1
My, they had big hoses!!






8. What happens when you finally find the peep...and it's two?

9. Why is my peep wearing jammies?

10. Oh, who wrote this peep mad and cranky
So handsome but mother so skanky?
He dashed off to Scotland
That home of kilt plot land
I speak verity - hanky and panky

11. If you look carefully among the antiques
In the Pumpkin Patch store in Boston,
You might find this peep wearing his plaid.

12. This peep rode to Rachel's house
Snug in the saddlebags of a Texas Ranger

13. This peep travels far
and explains it all to you
on another blog

14. There once was a two-year-old girl,
The luckiest in all of the world,
She has a mommy named May-May,
And a Maw-Maw for most days,
But Grammy just loves her blond curls.

15. Ultramarine blue
And Alizarin crimson
Winter sunset sky
Hides my yellow peep
amid Ochre echoes on
barren evening ground

16. This peep is strumming a banjo on her knee.

Wow! Those are some tough clues to crack!! Don't forget - EMAIL your answers with your contact information (otherwise we won't know where to send the prize!). To help you out - here's a list of the participating authors and the prizes they offer:

Jeanne Adams ($10 Starbucks gift card, a Godiva snack and a cover)

Sandy Blair (signed copy of A Highlander For Christmas and a small silver bracelet)

Anna Campbell (signed copy of Claiming the Courtesan)

Kate Carlisle (a $15 Amazon gift certificate)

Caren Crane (a $10 Amazon gift certificate)

Kathynn Dennis (signed copy of Dark Rider, a cover flat and a blue jumping horse keychain)

Tracy Garrett (signed copy of A Touch of Texas)

Joan Kayse (Godiva chocolates)

Donna MacMeans (signed copy of The Education of Mrs. Brimley)

Loucinda McGary (Ghirardelli chocolate)

Cassondra Murray ($5 Barnes & Noble gift card)

Nancy Northcott (a $10 Borders card)

Jo Robertson (a $15 Target card)

Kay Stockham (signed copy of Another Man's Baby)

Tawny Weber (signed copy of Does She Dare?)

Suzanne Welsh (a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card)

Good Luck! and remember EMAIL the answers (but feel free to comment on the blog if you like the game)

Fabulous Five!

By Anna Campbell

After many years of writing from the corner of my Sydney bedroom, with a gorgeous view of the back of the next-door block of flats, it's been wonderful settling into my current office. A whole room! Whoopee! Big storage cupboards! Yeehaw! Filing cabinets, thanks to a thoughtful present from my brother for my birthday! Yippeeeee! Not to mention, two desks, a big bookcase and a view. I'm as happy as that infamous pig in mud!

In celebration of my beloved new environment, I thought I'd pick five things that accompany me every day as I work, and share them with you. Little things but with a big impact for me - they never fail to make me smile.

Firstly, I have my Newfoundland puffin which my good friend and fellow travel nut Lindsay gave me after she did an amazing trip to Alaska and Canada. I've only ever seen puffins once, when I did a wildlife tour from the Isle of Mull in Scotland. They're amazing birds, full of vivid personality. It was a magical day visiting the Treshnish Isles and seeing them nesting and squabbling over each other and setting up for the breeding season. And my toy puffin is graced with a Beatles badge which my critique partner's daughter gave me. Somehow Puffin and Badge belong together (and I've always been a Beatles fan so that brings some lovely associations too).

Then there's a fairly new addition to my menagerie. A lucky bamboo plant, a gift from our own Bandita Buddy Amy Andrews. So far, it's still thriving in spite of my usual toxic touch with green things inside. Long may he reign and spread his good fortune!

I have a couple of cat figurines that I've collected. I love the wonderful, elegant lines of our feline friends. Two in particular are favorites (I count these as one choice - so sue me!). The upright one is a copy of an Ancient Egyptian cat from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. He always reminds me how magical I found that city during that first visit - in spite of the fact that I was as sick as a dog (not a cat!) and jetlagged beyond reason. The curled up cat is carved from Welsh slate and comes from a gift shop in Cheddar Gorge in Somerset where I set Untouched. He's so smooth and cool and he sits perfectly in the palm of my hand. And he's so realistic, you can almost hear him purr.

Next on this tour of my favorite things is a gorgeous card that Amanda, one of my oldest friends, gave me to inspire me. She's not a romance reader but she's obviously gathered that sometimes the Frog Prince is the base fairytale for my stories and the heroes need to go through a major character arc to transform into the princes that they really are. The bug-eyed frog always gives me such a giggle! And with that tongue hanging out, you know he's more than ready to fall in love with the wonderful heroine I'm going to give him!

The last of my fabulous five is a little souvenir I've had since 1986 and he's gone everywhere with me. Jonathan, a friend of mine when I lived in London, gave it to me after he went to the Domesday Book Exhibition in Winchester. This cute little guy's name is Rufus and he's the poor monk who did all the writing for the Domesday Book. For those who don't know, the Domesday Book was basically a catalogue of everything William the Conqueror owned in his new kingdom. After his hard day's writing, Rufus used to down a horn of good French wine and drop off to sleep. Know just how he feels (although my wine is generally a local product!).

So do you have anything that shares your days with you and makes you smile? Is it the object itself or the associations it brings to mind? I don't think it's accidental that most of my objects are presents from people I care about or souvenirs of places I love. Come on! Let us into your working world! Spill the beans!

And don't miss the contest fellow Bandita Christine Wells and I are currently running. Just tell us which historical romance heroine you would be and you're in the running for some great prizes including a signed hardcover copy of Untouched and an ARC of Christine's next release, The Dangerous Duke, a signed copy of Scandal's Daughter, a beautiful diary and a stack of signed coverflats. Just visit the contest page of my website for details! Good luck!