Susan Crandall Is In The Lair!

by Cassondra Murray




Granny Tula insisted with all of her Jesus-loving heart that God’s hand was in everything. She held the deep conviction that, although it might not be readily seen, there was a divine reason for all that transpired in His earthly kingdom; even the terrible derailment of Glory’s life. But Glory Harrison didn’t possess her grandmother’s unwavering faith. Glory had spent the past eighteen months on the run and had never once seen a glimmer of God’s hand in any of it.



That’s the opening paragraph of On Blue Falls Pond, Susan Crandall’s 2006 release. The book was nominated for a Rita and a Holt Medallion, and it won the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. But it won THE MOST IMPORTANT CONTEST OF ALL in my rather prejudiced opinion.

It won me as a hard-core Susan Crandall fan girl.

I’m so pleased to have this incredibly talented writer as my guest today in the lair. Welcome Susan!



Oh my, I’m blushing! Thank you so much for inviting me to your fabulous blog. I’m particularly intrigued by your Golden Rooster.



Well the Golden Rooster is an impressive and much sought-after fellow. That said, I've managed to slip him a copy or two of your books, and he does LOVE the rural settings, so I suspect he'll be making a spot on his dance card for you while you're our guest in the lair. Step up to the Bandita bar, have a glass of your favorite wine, and watch out. The rooster tries to cuddle up beside you and sneak a sip of your beverage when you're not looking.....


We’re here, of course, to celebrate the release of Susan’s most recent romantic suspense, and seventh published novel, Pitch Black. But we’ll talk more about that later.

Susan, we love call stories here in the lair. Will you tell us how you started writing, how long it took for THE CALL to come, and how that came about?

I was sucked into writing after my sister admitted she’d been writing a book in secret. She knew I was an avid reader, so she asked me to read it. I edited that book for her (unsold), then we wrote five novels together (also unsold – although we came close with one). Then my sister moved away and stopped writing – she really didn’t have the patience to mess with the details.

She was the idea woman – and I wrote my first solo book, BACK ROADS. Which sold in October 2001. Fortunately, my sister isn’t vindictive and bitter, she’s my biggest promoter.
It took nine years for THE CALL to come. But truthfully, I didn’t know anything about the craft of novel construction when I began, so I consider those years my education. I did have an agent for BACK ROADS.


I can’t stress enough how important it is to have an agent who is absolutely over the moon about your work – don’t settle for someone who’s lukewarm or “on the fence” to represent you!

Okay. Gotcha. No agents who are 'meh' about my work. I'm hard enough on myself. Don't need a mean agent!

It’s odd, really, it wasn’t the thunderbolt out of the blue that I’d always thought it would be.

THE CALL actually came in baby steps. Warner Books wanted revisions before they offered a contract. We had some interest from another publisher too. I really wanted to work with Warner, so I did those revisions to the last half of the book in two weeks and resubmitted.
I was touring a college campus with my daughter when the real CALL came. I didn’t have a cell phone at that time and was using hers. It rang (I was carrying it). Being unused to answering a cell, I ignored it until she stopped talking to the head of a department, turned to me and said, “Are you going to answer that?”

It was my agent with an offer from Warner. We did a little negotiation (believe me when I say it was hard not to just grab that first offer – I’d waited soooo long!) and in a few hours it was settled. Originally BACK ROADS was slated for release in October 2002, but Warner started the Forever line, which focused on women’s fiction and romance and they moved it to June 2003 to put it in that line.


I’m sitting at Panera Bread as I write this, with my computer on my lap and a pile of Susan’s books on the table around me. (People are tending to stare a little as they walk by, trying to catch clandestine glimpses of EXACTLY what all those books are.) And as I look at the stack, I’m trying to wrap my mind around precisely what makes Susan’s books so….well…transcendent... might be the word.

The Boudreau family—the people of Glens Crossing, Redbud Mill, Dawson and nearby Cold Spring Hollow ( where Granny Tula lives)—are REAL. Y’all can call the men in the white coats and they can take me away but even THEY will not convince me otherwise.


They are real.

I could drive to those towns, and I could visit them. They would
be there. We'd sit down and have a glass of iced tea. I'd get to watch Luke look at Analise the way ALL of us women want to be looked at. (fans self even though I'm NOT in the Mississippi heat, and I read Magnolia Sky quite some time ago.)



In the author notes for A Kiss In Winter (2007) Susan says,
"Initially the story was steeped in gritty urban suspense, but that was too easy for me to construct. (I’ve never in my life chosen the easy path). And that’s not a true Susan Crandall novel: a book about people and emotions and learning to live with what life dishes out.”


Susan, will you talk a little about that—about where these REAL people come from, and about why you choose to set your stories in these small towns? What do you mean “that’s not a true Susan Crandall novel..”?

I do love working with characterization. I spend a great deal of time with these people mentally before I begin writing, so I really know who they are and how they’ll react to situations, and how they’ll interact with each other. (That’s the case with the main characters; the secondary characters always pop up as I’m writing.)



Maybe that’s why they feel real to the reader, because they’re real to me. I also use the setting as a character itself; it’s integral to the story. That’s why I choose small towns.


The comment about a “true Susan Crandall novel” is linked to this aspect. My books, no matter how much mystery or suspense, are about real people dealing with problems that could fall into almost anyone’s lap. Therefore, I don’t normally feature FBI agents and serial killers. I like to make my crimes more “personal” to the characters. (Not that serial killers can’t be personal. I mean if you’re in their sights, it’s very personal!) I want my threat to be understandable and relatable to “average Joe and Joann”. Does that make sense?

It does make sense. And although you live in Indiana, the people and towns you set in Kentucky, Tennessee, and even Mississippi are just as real—just as aggravating--as wise and as nosey-- as the small town where I grew up. How have you become so intimate with the ways of places that tend to be a bit ecclectic-- that outside folks--WRITERS-- often get SO wrong? You get it right.

I write about small towns because I understand them. I grew up in a small town and have spent most of my life in a small town (although I’m seeing changes around here that say we’re rapidly losing our small town status). I lived in Chicago too, so I can see the differences in lifestyle, etc. I guess it goes back to that “write what you know” thing. There isn’t enough research in the world to take the place of actually living something.

I’d met Susan a couple of years before the release of On Blue Falls Pond. She’d been at the RWA National Conference when I wandered by her table and picked up Back Roads, her first release, which earned her a Rita for Best First Book (WOOT!!!! CHEERS ALL AROUND!), a Rita nomination for Best Single Title and two National Reader’s Choice Awards in 2004. I caught up with her again a summer later at the Southern Kentucky Festival of Books, where to my surprise, she remembered me. That always catches me off guard—an author who meets gazillions of people remembering any individual reader.

But that’s just how Susan is. I think it’s part of what makes her shimmer as a person and as a writer. She's not loud. She's not splashy in that way that screams "I WANT ATTENTION." She goes about her work--writing incredible stories. And when she releases a book, that book is near cataclysmic in its power to capture and hold the reader.

At that Southern KY signing I got The Road Home and Magnolia Sky.

Then came On Blue Falls Pond, and since then, I’ve circled like a buzzard around the bookstore, waiting for the next Crandall release. (Sorry about the buzzard reference--but seriously, have y'all ever tried to run off a buzzard? It ain't happenin.)

Susan, I notice on the spine of your books that some say “Romance,” some say “Fiction” and some say “Romantic Suspense.” You’ve recently gone through a transition—one a lot of writers fear--along with Warner Books, as they’ve become Grand Central Publishing. Will you talk a little about that transition? Did it affect what you’re writing or your release schedule in any way?
The labeling on the spine for Back Roads (fiction) and the rest of my women’s fiction novels (contemporary romance) has to do with what Warner decided to do with the line as a whole. All Forever titles are now shelved in romance.


Pitch Black is a true transition to a new sub-genre (romantic suspense). Although it holds many similarities to my other novels, the pacing is clearly romantic suspense.

The transition from Warner to Grand Central Publishing was fairly smooth. I still have my same fabulous editor. I did have a long lapse between A Kiss in Winter and Pitch Black, but that had to do with issues entirely separate from the transfer of ownership of the company. Hopefully, the releases will be more regular from now on .



I noticed that the suspense elements in both A Kiss In Winter and Pitch Black were a bit more intense than in the previous novels, but EACH your books has contained a certain degree of suspense. There's always been that ticking clock--which made me think "she's always been a suspense writer at heart." In your author notes, you said A Kiss In Winter had been brewing for a long while. Is this heavier suspense a direction you find yourself moving naturally?

I’ve always loved romantic suspense. And you’re right, I’ve been inching my way there for a long time. Yes, it’s a natural progression for me – and (this is key) my publisher agrees.

One of the things I find most surprising is the intense level of suspense you maintain in the last two books, but they’re still essentially small town stories. That’s a little unusual and one of the things I love about your books. It seems to me that it might be more difficult to write gritty suspense in a small town than say….taking it the direction of terrorism or threats to national security. And yet I can’t go to sleep until I’ve finished the book.

I can’t tell you how much I like hearing that I’ve kept someone up past their bedtime! Thanks for the compliment.


I write stories I love. And I love dealing with everyday people in extraordinary situations that bring them to realize that they are stronger than they’d ever thought possible. Although I love the suspense aspect, I like to pair it with a strong sense of character growth. Which is why the small town setting works well. I like to pair the danger with something that strikes at the heart of who these people are.

In several of your author bios you state that you live with “A rock band in the basement.” Will you tell us about your process—about writing in the midst of family and its chaos, how you maintained through what sounds like “teenage years” and what your typical work day is like?

Right now, I’m able to write on my own schedule (kids are out of the house – at least for now. The married one and his wife are moving in soon while they build a house.) Back in the day, as they say, I had to sneak in my writing around everyone else’s schedules (most of you out there understand this perfectly), a hour before time to drive to soccer practice, twenty minutes before it’s time for the rock band (in the basement) to come and rattle the walls for two hours). These days my routine depends on where I am in the writing process, at what stage my current work in progress is in.


I don’t draft. I don’t go through the entire story and get it sketched out, then go back. I write in what I call layers.
Each day I go back over the previous few days’ work and add more layers, polish, dig a little deeper, before I go on to new material. So when I reach the end of the story, I’m pretty much finished.

In the early stages of a book, I work mostly during the day, a couple of hours at a time. I tend to get totally muddle-headed if I stick with it longer than that without a significant break. Of course, these two hours sometimes result in ten pages, other times, ten sentences. (The first three chapters can take me a couple of months. Because these chapter are SO important.) As I begin the last third or so of the book, I start working at night too, after my husband goes to bed.



There’s something about the nighttime that fuels my creativity. During the last chapters, I start thinking about it all of the time, can rarely hold a coherent conversation – you get the idea. People have just learned to leave me alone.

Here's the thing that sets the hook for me. Susan’s secondary characters are SO real you can reach out and touch them. So powerful that I long for their stories in upcoming books. And there are often alien beings in each of her books—a teenager or three. Susan, I assume it’s not accidental that your books include the teenage angst and parental angst—all the grittiness that goes along with that rocky shift into adulthood. It brings a particular poignancy to the main characters’ lives, ambitions, and motivations. Is any of this “teenage angst” autobiographical for you—as a parent or a teen yourself?

We’ve all been teenagers. When I was a teen, I was, as I am now, a rule follower. And yet, I had plenty of emotions churning inside. I try to take myself back and get in touch with exactly how I felt at certain times (of course, logic and reality have to go out the window here). And yes, I’ve been a parent of teens. I’ve seen the emotional roller-coaster from both sides. Sometimes I think the key to writing good teen angst, is to embrace that lack of world-view, to let yourself go with emotion over logic.

Will you tell us about Granny Tula? I gather from your website that I’m not the only reader enamored of her character?

Ah, Granny. You see, I come from a long line of pragmatic, yet fiery women (I got my acquiescent side from my dad). Although both of my grandmothers died long before I was born, I had some great fodder for stories in my great-grandmothers. Not to mention the tales of my mother’s mother. Granny Tula is an amalgam of my mom and those who came before, in temperament and outlook, at least.

Okay all of you regular readers here in the Bandita lair have reacted with varying degrees of shock and horror when I revealed that each of my books have a certain “meal” that goes with them. Something I eat all the time when I’m writing that book.
Well, HA! I am VINDICATED! I recently learned that Susan also indulges in a particular “deadline snack” for each of her books—and it’s different for every book.
Susan, will you tell us about “the snack” and how it came about?

LOL! I can’t imagine writing without the proper accompanying food! Seriously, who doesn’t?
The snack, as with my secondary characters, comes of its own accord and varies from book to book. During the last stages of the writing process, I get hooked on something that I munch on continually. I was actually into my third book deadline before I even realized I was doing it. Now it’s a regular topic of conversation around here. I hope they keep making new snacks, so I don’t have to start repeating!



"It could have been the thunder. Or perhaps the gust of wind that shook the house as if it was a misbehaving child. Something had jerked Madison Wade awake with her breath locked her in her chest and her heart racing. Perhaps it had been Mrs. Quigley's Tom cat romancing the Persian that spent her mornings on the sun porch next door. But it didn't feel like any of those things. It felt, heavy ... dark, and stifling. She hadn't suffered from this kind of anxious awakening for months, not since she'd moved to Tennessee."

That's the opening to Chapter One of Pitch Black. I stayed up all night to finish it as soon as I got it last week(yes, with work looming the following day).

As usual, I laughed and cried and went on the roller coaster I expect with a Susan Crandall novel. It’s unusual for me to have an author’s entire catalog on my keeper shelf. But my least favorite (if there is such a thing) Crandall novel is better than 95 percent of the other books I’ve read. Pitch Black is fighting hard to take over my “favorite” slot. Y'all know I'm not good at short summaries. Susan says she's not either.

So we give you the back cover:

YOU NEVER SEE IT COMING.

A journalist who adopted a troubled teen, Madison Wade has tackled many challenges--but never one like this. Leaving Philadelphia for a small Southern town to give her son a better life, she's now in a tightly knit community that won't accept her big-city ways and Ethan's less-than-perfect past. When he's finally invited on a camping trip, it turns into a nightmare--and Ethan is suspected of murder.

YOU'LL NEVER HAVE A CHANCE.

Sheriff Gabe Wyatt doesn't want to believe this kid is guilty. He's falling in love with Ethan's beautiful, sophisticated, and generous mother, the first woman who has ever awakened the tender side of this tough lawman. But he can't ignore evidence, even if it keeps him from getting close to the woman he longs to protect, even if it drives this fierce mother to track down the murderer herself--and on one terrible night, come face-to-face with her darkest fears.

Susan, what’s on the horizon for you? (Yes, I need to schedule the start of my vulture-like circling around the Barnes & Noble) Can you give us a taste of what you’re working on now? Will we get to revisit the small towns we’ve come to love, or are you taking us someplace new?

LOL! I do so love those book vultures! You may schedule your circling for this coming February.

My next release, Seeing Red, is the story of a woman, Ellis Greene, who as a teenager was the only witness to her cousin’s abduction. Her testimony was key in convicting her cousin’s attacker. Her cousin subsequently died without ever regaining consciousness. Now the man who threatened Ellis with vengeance is out on parole.
Nate Vance, a childhood friend and one time suspect in the cousin’s attack, left town right after the trial and never returned. Now he’s back to protect Ellis from a brutal rapist seeking retribution. But his years away are steeped in suspicious activities and mystery. Can Ellis trust him?

You can check out excerpts from all the books and keep up with the latest at her website here.

So, Bandita sisters and friends, is YOUR favorite book set in a small town, or a big city?

Where did you grow up? Suburb, farm, or concrete jungle? And do you notice when an author gets it right?

Have you a favorite character that is so real to you that you refuse to accept him/her as the creation of a mere mortal author?

What makes you grab on to a character like Granny Tula--somebody you want to know--to sit down and eat supper with--to sit in the shade and have a glass of tea with--to find out exactly what makes that person tick?

Have you met people like that in the books you've read? Have they changed you? And are you the better--or the worse--for it?

I've got an extra copy of Pitch Black for one lucky commenter. I bet I could get Susan to sign it if I asked real nice and y'all help me keep the Golden Rooster away from her glass of wine......

Piles

by Cassondra Murray

No, I'm not talking about the disease. I'm talking about the mountains of books which surround me.


I've been reading, you see. I had a job change, and finally, after four years of having almost no time to do what I wanted, I have more time to write and...ahhhhh...to read. The reading marathon is actually what I'm doing to fill the well as I start down and dirty to work on a neglected manuscript.

My keeper shelf is sagging from the weight of having more books crammed in than should fit. The list of just-read, reading-now, and to-be-read has sprawled off of my "by the bed" bedroom shelf and is now piled up against the wall and my nightstand.


You know, the books that you just read but want to keep close because they made you feel so darn good? And then they get all mixed in with the ones waiting to be read, then when you're looking through the stack you see an old favorite, so you have to re-read it? Yeah.

It's sad really. All those books and nary a shelf to be had. Something must go. You know--I have to vacuum before the dust bunnies animate and eat the cats. I have to be able to get to the bed. I have to make room for MORE! Oh....uh...ahem...

Before the entire pile goes the way of all things, divided among "Keeper Shelf", "Pass On To Friends," and "Library Donations," I thought I'd share a few of the titles in my progressive pile. I've never done a What I'm Reading Now blog, so bear with me, as the choosing is nearly impossible. I'm bound to list way too many. I may break the blog with cover pictures. If there's only text at midnight, you'll know what happened. These are most of the books from the last three weeks. I'm hoping at the end of it you'll tell me if you've read the ones I'm reading, the ones I'm avoiding (yes there IS a category for books I'm avoiding, though not for the reason you think), about-to-read, and what you thought of them.


In order--sort of--here's the first couple of stacks in my pile.


What I've just read:


Y'all already know Kate's book is wonderful. She's the first Bandita to hit the NYT list, and she absolutely deserves that honor.

Homicide In Hardcover was a fantastic read. I've already read it twice. I loved the heroine, and I WANT MORE of the hero. Ahem (raises voice) AHEM, KATE! WE ARE GONNA GET MORE OF THE HERO IN FUTURE BOOKS AREN'T WE? Ahem. Okay....now to recover my sense of decorum.


Kate is to blame, you see, for a disturbing trend in my TBR pile. A complete deviation from my purpose--trimming the darn thing down--and she's corrupted me with a whole forgotten genre. It's romantic mysteries. I liked Kate's book so much that I went back to the shelf the following day (yes, I stayed up all night to read it) looking for more to feed the new habit. I bought two more books. And that, my friends, was the beginning of the end.


Right there on the shelf near Kate's book, in front of God and everybody, I found Madelyn Alt, and her Bewitching Mysteries.


Y'all have to read these books in order, starting with The Trouble with Magic. (No, of COURSE it's not required, but it's better that way. Trust me.) I didn't. I started with A Charmed Death, then I went back to the store and bought the entire series, and started over from the beginning . Yes, they're that good. So far my favorite is Hex Marks the Spot, but I've just picked up book four, and book five is due out in July. Circling like a buzzard I am. I immediately began stalking Madelyn and, mostly to get rid of me I'm certain, she's agreed to be our guest here in the lair when the next book comes out. Yay!

She has one of the hottest heroes in these books that I've read, ever. Subtle. Sexy. Nice in that way that could lure you in big time and make you not notice the wicked under the charm. Okay, somebody fan me now. But there are actually two guys....okay I'll shut up and move on. Y'all will like this series. I promise.

Another great read from the romantic mystery shelf is A Veiled Deception by Annette Blair.

I haven't read this whole series yet, but I'm starting on them next. Seriously Kate, you are SO on my list to smack next time I see you. You did this to me. Okay maybe I won't smack you. Maybe I'll buy you a drink instead.

All three of these authors weave a really good mystery plot, along with enough romance to keep me circling like a buzzard forever, waiting for the next installment.

Last but not least on the I-Just-Read-It pile is The Magic Knot by Helen Scott Taylor. I found
this book because Trish interviewed Helen weeks ago here in the lair. Remember, Helen was the American Title IV winner this last time. She was in the running with Trish and they were the last two. I just got around to reading this book last month.
I am so impressed with this story! This is a really good read, and Helen did a great job of creating a world and mythology--plus a hero that you can't help but love and a heroine who comes into her own in such a fulfilling way. If you haven't read this one yet, I recommend it.


Okay, ignoring all the other good reads piled up over there, I'm moving on.

Now for the TO-BE-READ stack:

Alas,I can include only a few.

Y'all know I love Susan Crandall. If you don't know her work, check out this link to the blog from last summer: http://romancebandits.blogspot.com/search?q=Susan+Crandall

Her latest, Seeing Red, was released in February. I've read the first two pages
and I can tell you it looks like her best one yet. Nobody does small town suspense better than Susan. I got interrupted (only two pages in, thank goodness, or I'd have been homicidal) and this book is sitting next to my lamp, making faces at me, taunting me that I haven't read it yet. Grrrrrr.

If I died having written a set of books even half as good as Susan's backlist, I'd die happy and fulfilled. Anyhow, Seeing Red is at the top of the pile.



Next up is Christie's new book, Every Time We Kiss. I loved Every Night I'm Yours, so I'm excited to get to this one.

Sorry about the cover picture from Amazon. It's the only one I could find that was large enough to include.

Christie sets up such interesting, different plots. That's hard to do with the number of historical romances on the shelves. It hasn't been out long. Have y'all read it yet?

There are four in the pile that I know nothing about. Three of them came from the RWA National conference last year and are still in line to be read.

They are as follows:

Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole, This one won't leave me alone because the guy on the cover looks strikingly like Erith from Anna Campbell's Tempt The Devil. Okay, fan me again.

The other two are by Victoria Alexander. I have What A Lady Wants and A Little Bit Wicked. Have y'all read any of these?

Now for my two other categories.

Books I've been avoiding

Tempt The Devil by Anna Campbell. Yes. It's a dark truth. I'm avoiding Anna's latest. But there's a reason.

You just don't trifle with an Anna Campbell book.

It will live with me for weeks. I'll read it two or three times immediately. I won't be able to focus for a while afterward. I know this. So I've been saving it. This week, however, I'm out of class for Spring Break (I've been taking a Spanish class). I have four glorious days with no work and no class. Then I have a long weekend of long hours ahead of me next weekend, but I'm thinking this week might be the time.


What do y'all think? Should I do it? I'm serious. Do you think I can recover for the weekend? I won't be worth a darn while I'm reading, or for a good while afterward. I'll have to be certain there are groceries in the house. Such is the power of a Keeper-Shelf author, and Anna is one.



The other one is a book Anna recommended to me. It's The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss. (Picture me, ducking flying fruit.) Yes, yes, I KNOW. EVERYBODY who loves romance has read this book. It's on more keeper shelves than any classic out there. But somehow I managed to get through years of reading and writing without finding this book. Anna made me get it.


Now I have it. I read the first few pages--into the first two or three scenes on the boat, and I admit that I had to stop. I didn't have the mental stuff to keep reading right then. Even Anna's Kylemore in Claiming the Courtesan didn't have this kind of effect on me. He was dark and haunted and even mean, but the situation was a little different, ya know? And Anna gave us, always, that glimmer of guilt to make us believe Kylemore was not what he appeared. With this hero, I've seen no glimmer as yet.

I have to pick it up again, but the hero is such a jerk, and he's treating her so horribly, that I just can't do it yet. I know, I KNOW...the worse they are, the harder they fall when they're redeemed, and the better we like it when they get their comeupance. I have to do this. I know it. I'll just have to be in a good frame of mind. We're heading out of winter when it's not so gray and depressing. Perhaps.....


Last, but far from least are the re-reads.

The first is what someone in the lair recently called a comfort read. I have a keeper shelf full of them. But a couple of weeks ago I pulled out an old faithful. One I didn't have to work so hard for because I've read it before . But it's still powerful enough to give me a solid fix.


That comfort read, recently has been Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This is a forever keeper book for me. I'm not crazy about most of Susan's sports heroes, but this book, I love. I love everything about it.



The other re-read in recent weeks has been Tawny Weber's Risque Business .

I love this heroine. I love her all-too-real human-ness. I love what she learns about herself, outside and mostly, inside. I LOVE that Tawny could do this in a short book like a Blaze. Oh, and I love the steamy parts too.

Tell me, Bandita Sisters and friends, what are you reading right now?

Have you read any of the ones I've been reading?

Are there others you think I should be reading right now? Somthing I should drop everything, go out, buy, and read?

Have you ever avoided a book because you knew it would be too powerful and you weren't ready?

How do you decide whether a book is a keeper or is just passing through. I mean, we can't keep all of them. Can we? If you do keep them all, where do you put them?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Approved for all Audiences...Preview of Coming Attractions...

by Jeanne Adams

It's JUNE!! We have SUCH a month for you!

On June 4 our own Bandita, Donna MacMeans is throwing HER launch party for her newest fantastic read, The Trouble with Moonlight. It's bound to be another rowdy day in the Lair! Shield sliding, anyone? If you loved Mrs. Brimley, you'll adore Donna's next offering as well.

In addition to our other wonderful Banditas nd their scintillating posts, we have a number of really interesting, amazingly prolific guests.

Jane Graves is here on June 3, to talk about her latest book, Tall Tales and Wedding Veils. Jane writes both series and single titles, so bring your questions about writing in multiple areas!

Debut Avon Regency Historical Author Olivia Parker is with us on June 5. Her first book The Bride Hunt Ball received a 4 Star Review from Romantic Times! She will be giving away a signed copy of her book to one lucky commenter.

On June 9, be sure to come visit with beloved NY Times Bestselling author Loretta Chase. Library Journal has called her the "Long-awaited successor to Georgette Heyer." What else needs to be said?

Award winning author Susan Crandall will be with us on June 12, sharing her unique wit and wisdom.

NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Historical author Lorraine Heath is visiting on June 17.

And hot, hot, hot erotic, historical and romantic suspense author Karin Tabke is with us on June 19. Karen writes for three - count them, THREE - different publishers and is going to talk to us about her latest release, Master Of Surrender, the first book in her Blood Sword Legacy series.

Another debut author, Anna Louise Lucia will be in the Lair on June 22nd to celebrate the launch of her book Run Among Thorns; out this month from Medallion Press. Romantic Times gave her 4-1/2 stars!

Last, but certainly not least, check out author Karen Kendall and web guru Liz Bemis of Bemis Promotions on June 26th. These two fine women both create the book trailers which are becoming more and more popular on websites today. They'll discuss the creation of the trailer for Take Me If You Can and answer questions about book trailers.

It's going to be a FAB-U-LOUS month! So check back every day for amazing stories, rowdy parties, and the usual level of Romance Bandit fun!

So, what's your favorite among these awesome authors? Who are you looking forward to "meeting" the most? And if you could be a fan-girl-or-guy and meet an author, living or dead, who would it be?