Wednesday, April 2, 2008

April Preview

posted by Aunty Cindy

NO FOOLIN'! We are gonna have TONS OF FUN in the Lair this month! Not to mention some of us are gonna be OUT of the Lair. That's right, conference season is starting and some Banditas may be coming to your area LIVE & IN PERSON!

If you are a writer and live in the Dallas area, on April 4th & 5th our very own Bandita Suzanne Welsh (who is president of the local chapter) will be at the Dreamin' in Dallas conference. Don't worry about finding Suz. She will find you, as she pimps... er, um promotes her friends' books at the Book Fair.

April 11--13th, our very own Bandita weapons and detail expert, Cassondra Murray will be at the Silken Sands conference in lovely Pensacola, Florida.

Both readers and writers can prepare for a Bandita skirmish (as opposed to a full blown raid) at the Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention in Pittsburgh April 16--20th. Look for and cheer on our very own American Title IV finalist, Trish Milburn! Plus your eyes do NOT deceive you, our 08 Golden Heart finalist KJ Howe will be there, along with our HOT historical authors Christie Kelley and Donna MacMeans.

Meanwhile, the rest of us will be holding forth in the Lair and bringing you some fantastic guests whom you absolutely MUST NOT MISS including:
  • April 4th, historical author Amanda McCabe who has a Renaissance Trilogy from Harlequin will visit.
  • April 21st, Jennie Lucas who writes for both Mills & Boon and Harlequin Presents will hang out with us in the Lair.
  • April 28th, NAL Executive Editor, Tracy Bernstein will be in the Lair, giving us her take on the romance market and new releases from NAL's authors!
  • April 29th, the Banditas will welcome current Rita nominee, best-selling and multi-award winning author Jane Porter.
  • May 1st, we are all TOTALLY STOKED to host NY Times best-selling, multi-award winning and "are-there-really-enough-adjectives-in-the- universe-to-describe-her?" Eloisa James!
Plus there will be the usual array of contests, surprises, and general rowdiness!

DO NOT MISS ANY OF IT!


44 comments:

Amy Andrews said...

Here chook, chook.

Amy Andrews said...

Hah! He's mine - all mine!!!

Great April line up Aunty Cindy. Looking forward to some great Bandita action.

Jane said...

Happy April Fool's Day. Are hijinks allowed in the lair?

Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy said...

SHEESH! My gosh Amy and Jane, you must have been hovering just off-stage to reply so quickly!

Congrats, Amy on luring the GR back downunder.

Hijinks in the Lair, Jane?!?! US???

AC

Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy said...

A couple of things I didn't mention in the post: treasure chests/baskets of Bandita goodies will be given away at all 3 of the conferences mentioned; and we hope to have a "live report" from RT in Pittsburgh.

Play nicely now, girlies, Aunty is off to watch Leno.

jo robertson said...

Ah, Amy, I had no real hope of nabbing the guy again, so congrats!

Aunty Cindy, you always give such exciting previews of our coming attractions. What a month we'll have in the Lair! Whoopeee!

Anna Campbell said...

Oh, good on you, my Aussie buddy! About time he came back to the the land of the tall, lean Aussie! He's been heading south lately but not quite SOUTH enough!

Jane, hijinks are positively de rigeur in the lair, as they say in the best Regencies. Oh, hold on, that was yesterday's blog.

Hey, it's April Fools' Day! Happy
AFD, everyone!

And practice your squealing for the great guests we've got coming up!

Helen said...

Congrats Amy

What a month ahead it is sure to be fun
April is such a great month.

Have Fun
Helen

Buffie said...

OMG, ladies, it sounds like April is going to be fabulous month here at the lair. I can't wait! You ladies really are the best!

doglady said...

Another month long party in the Lair!! What's not to love??? Congrats on the GR, Amy!!

Trish Milburn said...

Another fantastic month on tap!

Christine Wells said...

Can't help a huge woohoo about next month. And ELOISA!! Be still my heart.

Thanks for doing such a great round-up, Aunty Cindy.

Dina said...

Sounds like a fab time you have planned for us here, will make sure I join in. :)

No April fool's joke played today, that's good I think. :)

p226 said...

General Rowdiness.... I think I served under him with 5th MEB, '91....

Anna Campbell said...

Hey, there was a recount and the GH ENDED BACK WITH YOU!!! Whoo-hoo! We were only doing an April Fools joke when we took him away, weren't we, Helen?

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Woo-hoo! AC, as always, you've cropped us up a wonderful slate of superb guests and amazing venues. :> Wish I were among the travelers...a con would be nice about now!

Amy, be nice to the weee rooooster. Chook, chook, indeed.

Hijinks??? HIJINKS, Jane? But ov COEURS there are hijinks. It's April. Spring has sprung, it's time for some rolling in the...

Bwah-ha-ha! I'll leave that to your fertile imaginations.

P226, I thought the good General Hijinx was over in the 4th Infantry? Or was it the Light Horse? Hmmmmm. Such a delegater, that General...I consider his orders to generally (har, har) misbehave sheer gospel.

Snork.

Donna MacMeans said...

Roving reporter here -

Yes, I'm planning on sharing all the excitement of RT with lots of photos on my April 23rd blog. I've never been to RT before so this should be fun.

AC - Thanks again for the marvelous preview of the upcoming month. You're a gem!

Fedora said...

Hooray, Amy!

And AC, thanks for the preview of exciting times to come in the Lair! Whee!

Suzanne Ferrell said...

With Bandits attending three conferences this month, would this be the official start of the Party "Season"? Hmm Regency fans?

If any of you are going to be at Dreamin In Dallas, give a shout out to me on Friday!! I'll be the one wearing a Bandita pin and trying to get people to buy lots of books!!!

Thanks for teasing us with this month's activities, Aunty Cindy...Exciting as always!

Helen said...

Have fun with the GR Amy he has had lots of cake and fun at our house.

I love April so I am very excited about the party happening here at the Lair all month

Have Fun
Helen

KJ Howe said...

AC,

Thanks for the fantastic previews! You're like our Ryan Seacrest warming up Banditaland with coming attractions. Great job!

Can't wait to see everyone at RT. I believe our own Beth Andrews will also be there!!!!

Terri Osburn said...

Oh, what a lineup. I'm still considering driving up to Pittsburgh to drop in on RT and this may have clinched it for me. My family lives there so I could drop the kiddo with the grands and party it up.

And thanks to all the Banditas who dropped in yesterday for our Launch Party for the new ship. Y'all are the BESTEST!

Anonymous said...

Wow -- I live in the Lair and am still impressed by our line up! ;-) Thanks for the great post AC! And I am still faint at the thought of Eloisa being here. Maybe I will take the day off of work just so I can pepper her with adoration all day long. LOL.

Terrio, I missed the launch -- what's your new blog addy?

Dina, I just love your avatar! I mean, Buffie's hunks are pretty nice (YUM), but a moving butterfly. I'm in awe. :-)

Congratulations on the GR, Amy!

limecello said...

Woohoo - sounds great!

doglady said...

I just saw my name on Bandita News!I am on Bandita News!! Can you tell I am excited?? You are all such dolls! Party Dolls, but Dolls nonetheless!

It is going to be a fabulous month. I may join you on the adoration, Kirsten. I LOVE the Desperate Duchesses!

p226 said...

Ah yes, General Hijinx... and his aid General Disarray....

Yep. Both Army generals. General Rowdiness was a Marine, though.

jo robertson said...

P226, you crack me up. What's the 5th MEB? Marine battalion? Something or other?

Inquiring minds want to know.

jo robertson said...

BTW, did anyone get rooked really good yesterday for April Fool's?

My middle daughter told her husband she was pregnant. Now, that's just MEAN. They already have three children. Poor guy, I think he almost had a stroke!

Joan said...

I agree, our AC does a fabulous job keeping us in line (a never ending and sometimes thankless job) but we don't know what we'd do without our Aunty.

I only got fooled...for a moment, mind you...by a local radio DJ. He made this very convincing annoucement that Ellen DeGeneres was pregnant! I was like Whoa....

April Fool.

Christie Kelley said...

I'll be giving a quick RT update on the 17th. I only arrive on the 16th in Pittsburgh so don't expect too much. Don't know if I'll have pictures, but I'll do my best.

Trish Milburn said...

I'm going to be a newbie at RT as well and will report back on the goings-on. I'm looking forward to seeing some fellow Banditas!

terrio, hope you can make it up to Pittsburgh for some Bandita fun.

Jo, OMG on the joke your daughter pulled on her husband. Yikes. April Fool's came and went with no hijinx here. At least when I looked, my new laundry room that was finished yesterday was still there this morning. :)

Christie Kelley said...

Oh, and in May you all might just get the house update. I'm hoping my office will be at least partially done and I can take a picture or two.

Anna Sugden said...

Thanks AC for another of your fab previews! It's such fun to see what will be going on in the Lair ... and you do it with such panache! What a great month!

Yes, the lovely Eloisa will be joining us on May 1st. We, in NJ, are very lucky to have her in our chapter and to benefit from her experience, expertise and fun! So, it's a thrill to be able to share her with our Bandita pals.

And you'll get your chance to come up with questions for her to answer. Check back on April 7th, when I'll be getting you to think about what you want to know from Eloisa.

In the meantime, off to get Squadron Leader Codeine and his chums to do their Dambusters routine on my bronchitis!

Terri Osburn said...

Kirsten - you can find us at www.romancewritersrevenge.com but it's acting up today. Don't you just lurve technology? LOL!

Trish - I think I'm going to shoot for the Saturday morning booksigning. Do you know if everyone can go to the Mr. Romance thingy-majiggy that afternoon or only attendees? I'm all about that!

And I'm lucky enough to be one of Eloisa's Bon Bon Girls. She's just the sweetest person and what talent! Can't wait to *see* her in the Lair.

Darcy Burke said...

You guys are on fire! I can see I need to move in...

Susan Sey said...

Hey, AC, thanks for the preview of coming attractions! We have a pretty awesome line up this next month! I'm excited!

I'm always so impressed that I know people who know such interesting people! It's like the Kevin Bacon game--how many steps removed from the NYT bestseller list are we?? Heck of a lot closer since I fell into the lair, tell you what.

As far as April Fool's go, I don't believe I was gotten yesterday. But it was the tenth anniversary of my first date with my husband. I'll admit, when I realized I'd been asked out on April Fool's day I did wonder if it were a joke. So glad it wasn't. :-)

Beth Andrews said...

What at an excellent line-up! Thanks for gearing us up for April, AC *g*

I won't be attending RT but I am going to drive down for a day. There's no way I could have fellow Banditas so close by and not try and at least visit with them :-) I can't wait!!

Fedora said...

Jo, I have to applaud your daughter's inventiveness, and I just might have to steal it for next year... ;)

Dina said...

Thanks Kirsten. :)

Kim Castillo said...

Wow! What a line up Banditas!

Okay, so I had to cancel my RT plans due to some family stuff. Its just breaking my heart that Adrian Paul will be there. So, I'm issuing a challenge. The first person to send me a picture of Adrian Paul holding a sign that says I heart Kim will get a box of chocolates OR a signed book from my stash. Your pick and I've got some doozies! There you have it! Spread the word:D

BTW, is anyone going to be at the Chicago Spring Fling? Eloisa and I are going to be there. We've got a grand party planned for Saturday right before the book signing.

And y'all are so sweet. Eloisa's so excited about her visit AND there will be prizes! *g*

Nancy said...

Amy, congratulations!

Jane, hijinks are not only allowed in the lair but encouraged. Some would say, even, "constant." *g*

AC, thanks for the great preview!

I hope everyone going to RT has a fabulous time!

p226 said...

What's the 5th MEB?

Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

A MEB is what happens when the Pentagon calls up the commandant of the Marine Corps and says "We have a job for you, and it's a pretty big one."

Then a whole bunch of Marines gather up a bunch of gear, ammo, and ordinance, and go somewhere to either provide the threat of an imminent butt whuppin' by sitting offshore or staged just across someone's border, or actually go in and do the butt whuppin.

pjpuppymom said...

Looks like another terrific month in the lair! :)

Gillian Layne said...

Ok, if a person can't go to all these conferences herself, then having friends go and dish on all the good stuff happening is the next best thing!

And pictures, ladies! Love me some pictures, pretty please....:)