March Preview of Coming Attractions

posted by Jo Robertson

We have some delightful guests lined up for March so be sure to join us for these special appearances by some of your favorite authors. There'll be lots of laughter, giveaways, and a wicked, wily wooster vying to go home with a Bandita Buddy each day.

On March 2 we're heading deep into romantic suspense territory courtesy of debut Aussie author Helene Young (http://www.heleneyoung.com/). Helene is a commercial pilot in gorgeous, tropical and exotic Far North Queensland and she used many of her experiences as the basis for her first novel Border Watch. Anna Campbell will be her copilot for what should be an exciting trip!




March 3 – Suzanne will interview debut author, Addison Fox about her new paranormal series The Sons Of The Zodiac and the series launch book, Warrior Ascended.

March 7 -- Debut author Erica Ridley will be visiting with us as Kirsten's guest! Erica's debut, Too Wicked to Kiss, is a darkly sensual Gothic romance full of suspense, murder, and passion.

On March 8 Anna Campell hosts historical romance author Miranda Neville (http://www.mirandaneville.com/). Miranda worked for Sotheby's before she started writing and last time she told us a thrilling story about discovering an unknown letter from the Duke of Wellington. What amazing tales will she unearth on this visit while she talks about her latest release The Wild Marquis?

March 9 – Kate Walker will be back to talk about her brand new novel The Konstantos Marriage Demand which is published March 16 in Presents EXTRA. She's really thrilled about this one because she's just heard it has won hersecond Romantic Times Top Pick Award. Anna S. hosts.

On March 12, a Lair favorite returns as Anna S's guest Julie Cohen talks about bats, gargoyles, corpse-washing sinks and her newest novel, NINA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF GLOOM.


March 16 – Donna hosts guest Allison Chase who'll join us to talk about her new Victorian series: Her Majesty’s Secret Servants. The first book in the series, MOST EAGERLY YOURS, promises to be a fast paced adventure with lots of twists and turns and one very sexy hero.

March 17 -- St. Paddy's Day -- Wearin' o' the Green!

March 19 – Kate hosts mystery author Karen E. Olson as she visits the Lair for the first time. She'll be discussing Pretty in Pink, book two in her smart and sassy new Tattoo Shop mystery series.

March 20 -- First Day of Spring!

On March 21 author Chloe Harris joins Nancy to discuss her steamy Caribbean-set historical, Secrets of Sin.

March 29 – As Raine Benares's next adventure launches, author Lisa Shearin returns as Nancy's guest with a choice between Raine's two magical guys, Paladian MychaelEiliesor and goblin Tam Nathrach. Join us and vote for your favorite.

March 30 -- NYT Bestseller Dianna Love returns to the Lair as Cassondra's guest. What is a romantic thriller? Dianna Love answers the question. And she'll have lots of goodies to give away as we preview SILENT TRUTH, her April release, the fourth BAD Agency novel written with #1 NYT Bestseller Sherrilyn Kenyon.

CONTEST NEWS!!!

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.ino 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.

Red Box - Session One: Feb 28, 2010

I had the great fortune to play “face-to-face” old-school, 1981 Basic Dungeons and Dragons with Pat (Ode To Black Dougal) and Roger (Stirges Suck) today.

We met in the after-hours room of The Sentry Box just after 11 am, and got the game rolling at 11:30. The session consisted of myself, my 11 year-old son DJ (who, after finding out D&D was in the offing, begged to come) and Roger, with Pat as the DM.

Roger had the misfortune of rolling up a Thief with a 3 Constitution, which he promptly named Sickly McGee. Prior to the game, DJ and I had rolled-up characters: DJ was playing a Fighter named Exeter the Brave, and I was playing Castor Brandlestix, the Wizard.

After poking around the local Inn (The Dancing Dragon) and engaging in a conversation with Frederic the Dwarf for rumors about a Dwarven Delve several days to the East, we decided to take our chances in the Caves Of Chaos, as it is nearer than the Dwarven Delve, and we found the Cave location scratched on a corner-table at the Inn, so we suspected that the Cave inhabitants had already been softened up. Besides, Frederic the Dwarf was vague about what we might find at the Dwarven Delve. Perhaps he will provide more information the next time we cross paths.

Before leaving, the party made a visit to the local Mercenary Guild. There, we chatted up Morgan, and she agreed to refer several local Mercenaries to us, for a small fee of 10 Gold (which we happily paid).

Brother Maynard, a traveling Priest, looking to battle the forces of Chaos, and his two bodyguards, Bors and Ironside, enthusiastically agreed to join us, in exchange for each receiving 10 Gold per week and a half-share of treasure. The extra muscle was welcomed, and off Exeter, Cas and Sickly McGee went, with our hirelings in tow.

During our first day on the road, we encountered several mounted men-at-arms of the Striped Mage, and they suggested we hire-on with their master, located in his tower several days south of the Gloomfens ... an offer we agreed to consider. The men-at-arms moved on, but despite having avoided any unpleasantness with them, we suffered our first casualty: DJ, who had been eating candy, had one of his loose teeth come out!

After a five-minute break, to deal with that tooth emergency, we camped for the night, then continued on for a second day, finally spotting a box canyon, with caves dotting the interior walls. This appeared to be the Caves of Chaos! As nightfall was closing in, we traveled another 30 minutes down the road, and camped overnight. We wanted to be rested and alert for our first foray into the caves.

The next morning, we made out way to the cave entrance, on the north canyon wall, closest to the entrance to the canyon. Approaching from above, Sickly McGee quickly scouted the entrance to that cave, but the interior was too dark to detect anything, although he did notice a well-worn path leading from the cave-mouth to the bottom of the Canyon.

Emboldened by the relative lack of activity within the canyon, we lit our lanterns, set our marching order, and crept into the cave. After being taken by surprise by 4 pig-faced humanoids, we regained our composure, quickly defeated them, took their spears and hid their bodies, extinguished our lanterns, and hunkered down in a dead-end guard-room. Five more pig-faced humanoids briefly appeared at the other end of the hallway, checking out the commotion, but they retreated deeper into the cave-complex without locating us.

We discussed our options, and agreed that we would continue our foray, deeper into the cave complex. A guard-post (which we failed to spot during our first pass) was discovered, disguised as several alcoves with decaying heads: one of the alcoves was a false one, used to spy (from the other side) on anyone entering the complex. Turning past this guard-post, we found a second guard-room, this one, empty (probably the lair of the 5 pig-faced humanoids who had investigated the noise from our first combat).

Further to the West, we could hear conversation, though the language was unfamiliar to us. Discovering what appeared to be a throne-room, Sickly McGee suggested that we create a diversion, by setting the wooden furniture alight. So Exeter and one of the hirelings tossed the furniture into a pile, and lit it up with several flasks of oil. After several minutes of unintelligible shouting by the inhabitants of the cave-complex, 5 well-armed pig-faces appeared at the far end of the throne-room. Four of our party threw spears, killing one and wounding two others. Then the other four pig-faces were upon us. We fought them for several rounds, and then another 8 pig-faces appeared at the far end of the throne-room: at that point, Cas the Wizard invoked his sleep spell, taking out all 8 pig-faces who had just entered, along with one of the original pig-faced combatants.

After dispatching the sleeping pig-faces (Maynard the Priest assured us this was quite honorable, as we were merely hurrying their journey to the afterlife, and the slim possibility of redemption) we grabbed up several more spears.

Crossing the throne-room, we spotted another, larger common-room, occupied by six more pig-faces, who were arguing amongst themselves, quite oblivious to our stealthy approach. Catching them unawares, we made good use of our spears, getting off two volleys before the pig-faces recovered their senses and engaged us. While fighting valiantly, Exeter was cut-down by a lucky stab from one of the humanoids, but Sickly McGee and Brother Maynard avenged Exeter's passing, smashing and stabbing the offender to death.

Having, by this time defeated a total of 23 pig-faces, with but a single casualty, caution got the better of me, and I suggested we retreat and regroup. We retreated back to our original campsite, there encountering a dozen merchants using the cold embers of our campfire as starter for their own. They agreed to share the site with us, happily buying some of our loot at bargain prices.

The next morning, we returned to the cave complex, only to find that the remaining inhabitants had abandoned the caves, taking the bulk of their treasure with them. We did recover some equipment from a storage room, and some of the pig-faces' treasure, hidden in a secret room and forgotten in their hasty retreat, which netted us 80 Gold each. In addition, we gained experience for the 23 pig-faces we eliminated.

We discovered a quiver of 20 arrows, two daggers and two swords that were resting within a chest, however, neither I nor any other the inhabitants of the Keep have the ability to detect magic. We will hold onto those items until we can have them appraised for magic dwoemer.

Overall, it was a great session (other than the loss of Exeter, and my letting whatever treasure the pig-faced creatures had slip through our fingers), but i'm sure that treasure is still waiting for us to we make our next foray into the Caves of Chaos!

Red Box - Session One: Feb 28, 2010

I had the great fortune to play “face-to-face” old-school, 1981 Basic Dungeons and Dragons with Pat (Ode To Black Dougal) and Roger (Stirges Suck) today.

We met in the after-hours room of The Sentry Box just after 11 am, and got the game rolling at 11:30. The session consisted of myself, my 11 year-old son DJ (who, after finding out D&D was in the offing, begged to come) and Roger, with Pat as the DM.

Roger had the misfortune of rolling up a Thief with a 3 Constitution, which he promptly named Sickly McGee. Prior to the game, DJ and I had rolled-up characters: DJ was playing a Fighter named Exeter the Brave, and I was playing Castor Brandlestix, the Wizard.

After poking around the local Inn (The Dancing Dragon) and engaging in a conversation with Frederic the Dwarf for rumors about a Dwarven Delve several days to the East, we decided to take our chances in the Caves Of Chaos, as it is nearer than the Dwarven Delve, and we found the Cave location scratched on a corner-table at the Inn, so we suspected that the Cave inhabitants had already been softened up. Besides, Frederic the Dwarf was vague about what we might find at the Dwarven Delve. Perhaps he will provide more information the next time we cross paths.

Before leaving, the party made a visit to the local Mercenary Guild. There, we chatted up Morgan, and she agreed to refer several local Mercenaries to us, for a small fee of 10 Gold (which we happily paid).

Brother Maynard, a traveling Priest, looking to battle the forces of Chaos, and his two bodyguards, Bors and Ironside, enthusiastically agreed to join us, in exchange for each receiving 10 Gold per week and a half-share of treasure. The extra muscle was welcomed, and off Exeter, Cas and Sickly McGee went, with our hirelings in tow.

During our first day on the road, we encountered several mounted men-at-arms of the Striped Mage, and they suggested we hire-on with their master, located in his tower several days south of the Gloomfens ... an offer we agreed to consider. The men-at-arms moved on, but despite having avoided any unpleasantness with them, we suffered our first casualty: DJ, who had been eating candy, had one of his loose teeth come out!

After a five-minute break, to deal with that tooth emergency, we camped for the night, then continued on for a second day, finally spotting a box canyon, with caves dotting the interior walls. This appeared to be the Caves of Chaos! As nightfall was closing in, we traveled another 30 minutes down the road, and camped overnight. We wanted to be rested and alert for our first foray into the caves.

The next morning, we made out way to the cave entrance, on the north canyon wall, closest to the entrance to the canyon. Approaching from above, Sickly McGee quickly scouted the entrance to that cave, but the interior was too dark to detect anything, although he did notice a well-worn path leading from the cave-mouth to the bottom of the Canyon.

Emboldened by the relative lack of activity within the canyon, we lit our lanterns, set our marching order, and crept into the cave. After being taken by surprise by 4 pig-faced humanoids, we regained our composure, quickly defeated them, took their spears and hid their bodies, extinguished our lanterns, and hunkered down in a dead-end guard-room. Five more pig-faced humanoids briefly appeared at the other end of the hallway, checking out the commotion, but they retreated deeper into the cave-complex without locating us.

We discussed our options, and agreed that we would continue our foray, deeper into the cave complex. A guard-post (which we failed to spot during our first pass) was discovered, disguised as several alcoves with decaying heads: one of the alcoves was a false one, used to spy (from the other side) on anyone entering the complex. Turning past this guard-post, we found a second guard-room, this one, empty (probably the lair of the 5 pig-faced humanoids who had investigated the noise from our first combat).

Further to the West, we could hear conversation, though the language was unfamiliar to us. Discovering what appeared to be a throne-room, Sickly McGee suggested that we create a diversion, by setting the wooden furniture alight. So Exeter and one of the hirelings tossed the furniture into a pile, and lit it up with several flasks of oil. After several minutes of unintelligible shouting by the inhabitants of the cave-complex, 5 well-armed pig-faces appeared at the far end of the throne-room. Four of our party threw spears, killing one and wounding two others. Then the other four pig-faces were upon us. We fought them for several rounds, and then another 8 pig-faces appeared at the far end of the throne-room: at that point, Cas the Wizard invoked his sleep spell, taking out all 8 pig-faces who had just entered, along with one of the original pig-faced combatants.

After dispatching the sleeping pig-faces (Maynard the Priest assured us this was quite honorable, as we were merely hurrying their journey to the afterlife, and the slim possibility of redemption) we grabbed up several more spears.

Crossing the throne-room, we spotted another, larger common-room, occupied by six more pig-faces, who were arguing amongst themselves, quite oblivious to our stealthy approach. Catching them unawares, we made good use of our spears, getting off two volleys before the pig-faces recovered their senses and engaged us. While fighting valiantly, Exeter was cut-down by a lucky stab from one of the humanoids, but Sickly McGee and Brother Maynard avenged Exeter's passing, smashing and stabbing the offender to death.

Having, by this time defeated a total of 23 pig-faces, with but a single casualty, caution got the better of me, and I suggested we retreat and regroup. We retreated back to our original campsite, there encountering a dozen merchants using the cold embers of our campfire as starter for their own. They agreed to share the site with us, happily buying some of our loot at bargain prices.

The next morning, we returned to the cave complex, only to find that the remaining inhabitants had abandoned the caves, taking the bulk of their treasure with them. We did recover some equipment from a storage room, and some of the pig-faces' treasure, hidden in a secret room and forgotten in their hasty retreat, which netted us 80 Gold each. In addition, we gained experience for the 23 pig-faces we eliminated.

We discovered a quiver of 20 arrows, two daggers and two swords that were resting within a chest, however, neither I nor any other the inhabitants of the Keep have the ability to detect magic. We will hold onto those items until we can have them appraised for magic dwoemer.

Overall, it was a great session (other than the loss of Exeter, and my letting whatever treasure the pig-faced creatures had slip through our fingers), but i'm sure that treasure is still waiting for us to we make our next foray into the Caves of Chaos!

3-DEASY SUNDAY!

And all that I have for you today is a video of the 3-Ds for your viewing pleasure.  They're taking it easy -- what I call 3-Deasy!   

Click here to view:  "3-Deasy Sunday"

Enjoy!  And take it easy yourself, why doncha!

When Life Loves Fucking You

I can't make it over tonight, Big K says on my birthday. OBSIDIAN and I are crestfallen. Shit, no fun, no party. Well, those are the breaks. We stay home and sober up more. We don't even smoke dope. We just pine away that there isn't any hooch to hit up. Nothing to send us into orbit. We work on skits and poems and I watch a lot of Hulu.com.

On Wednesday, money falls into my account and the first thing that I run out to buy is a quart of vodka. OBSIDIAN and I put it down in no time, so I go out and get another. We are running headlong into the Brown World, Two days drying out is enough for any man. More than enough. We STAY drunk. On Wednesday night, it's time for OBSIDIAN to leave. At 11:00pm the security guards downstairs buzz the intercom. I'm totally wasted and head down, for some reason. Instead of just sending OBSIDIAN on his way, I confront the security officer and ask for another night not on the pass. "I'll have to report you," he says sternly. No problem. Why did I say that? That IS a problem if he does do something detrimental to my stay here.

I go back upstairs and fall asleep. OBSIDIAN makes himself comfortable on the floor. In the morning we get a final quart of vodka, drink up and by that evening, he heads out. He tries to tell me that he is leaving at 11:00pm when the guards call up, but I'm unconscious on the bed. I awake the next morning not even knowing that he had left. Wow, I LIKE nights like that!

The rest of the week is just a slow motion slide. I dry out once more. I can't eat on Friday. I have no appetite. My stomach just will NOT function. I sleep mostly. I'm not creative. I haven't been really creative for months. I've lost my muse. I've lost my creative source. I can think of nothing, while my brother comes up with idea after idea. It's just not fair. It makes me want to scream sometimes, yell out how unfair everything is. Yet, with all things in life, shit only gets worse and worse, so what's the point of crying?

Saturday rolls around and I get up early and shower for the SHOUT OUT. I am dreading going in and seeing Cyndi Lauper. I made a real ass out of myself last week, misbehaving. Frankly, I told her that I wanted to stick my dick in her. Kinda rude. How do I take that back? You can't. You can only apologize....profusely. Hopefully, I won't get crowned by a bottle of something. I head out with my same poems that I have been reading for some time now and make it to the SHOUT OUT without eating anything for the second day in a row. I sweat profusely, even though the day is cold, with piles of snow lining the sidewalks.

I am there early in front of OTTO's and a small smattering of poets are forming just outside the front door. As I stand there, Cyndi Lauper walks up, looking at me sideways with a smile. "Are you feeling better today, Hobobob?" I smile back. Much better. She unlocks the club and lets everyone in. I set up the stage and have to go to the bar to get the microphones and the cables from Cyndi. As she hands them over, I apologize to her for my behavior last week. She waves at me carelessly: "Don't worry about it, Hobobob. I knew you weren't yourself. You never act like that. Besides, your brother told me what was going on with you." Oh he did, did he? Hmmm. We'll have to look more into this at another time.

Also, what does this make me? The 'good guy'? Am I the normally quiet type that NEVER says things to women that can be taken as sexually provocative? What is that about? I would like to be thought of as having a dirty mind and mouth too. I am a fucking HOBO! Shit. Get a few drinks in me and the real man will come out. Stand back, jack. I'll fight or fuck. Just push me. Just listen to my poetry. I'll tell you something, I can turn on you like a Killer Whale if I'm drunk enough. I'm hungry on all fronts. All fronts. You cannot expect predictability from me right now. Once in the Brown World, all bets are off and the rules change. That's just the way that it is.

We collect little in the donation bucket after the show. It's pretty sad that more and more people are coming to the SHOUT OUT to perform, but fewer and fewer are putting donations in the donation bucket. A group of comedians showed up, signed in early and ran out before the collection bucket could go around. Another group, who didn't perform didn't donate either. I'm having mixed feelings about that. What is the deal with $3.00? I know there is a recession, but will $3.00 really break people? Is it being frugal or stingy? I don't know. It's just depressing when my brother and I can't even raise enough money to get some fried chicken, a beer and train fare home after a show.

But we do a little of everything, scraping our money together to buy a little hooch, and some food. We head upstairs and get online, working into the wee hours of the night, but I do fall asleep around 1:00am. I get up pretty early in the morning and get online. My brother gets up and on later, and around noon, while we are computing happily, the Internet dies out. Kaput. I look at the router. There is still a connection, just no Internet. I check the unopened mail in my room and find one from the cable company. I have to come up with cash by yesterday or they will disconnect my Internet service. Nice. As broke as I am, there will be no coming up with anything anytime soon. Ha ha ha.

My brother and I look at each other. Lets get the fuck out of here and head down to Starbucks. We pack up our gear and head down to the Starbucks on the corner. A message is taped to the door of the establishment. This is the last day that this Starbucks will be open. They are closing their doors for good after today. Nice. Very nice. It's nice to be fucked over and over again. It makes you feel wanted by life when it grows to enjoy giving you the cock in the ass.

We get in and imme- diately find seats next to a power plug. Very good news. We get online...for today. Don't have any clue about tomorrow. Tomorrow. What good can come out of tomorrows? More and more of absolutely nothing. Nothing but problems. To survive on the streets, you have to completely numb yourself to your problems. Make yourself impervious to them. Make it so nothing stops you, and that you don't feel any pain.

Getting drunk is good for that.

Hobobob

Men Of Sports!

by Suzanne

Before I go any further, I'd like to announce that the pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training!! Whoohooo! The boys of summer are almost back!


Can you tell I adore baseball? I'm married to a Cleveland Indians fanatic, so I watch 161 games a year. I kid you not! But luckily for me, the scenery isn't too hard on the eyes.



There's Grady Sizemore out in Centerfield. He's beautiful and beautiful to watch, especially when he's stretched out going for a fly ball. They guy simply loves to play the sport and goes all out. And when he scores a run or steals a base, the grin he gives lights up his whole being!




Then there's Travis Hafner, the DH, who hopefully will live up to his potential. I mean the man is a farm boy raised in South Dakota...built like an oak and when he's on can hit the ball a country mile. Every time Travis comes to the plate there is a potential for a game altering swing of the bat! I love his intensity and focus as he eyes the pitcher and waits for the ball. And watching his body move to take it downtown...poetry!






And to my great pleasure, (and any other woman who's stared at the backside of pitchers on the mound) Jake Westbrook, the best looking behind on a pitcher's mound, is returning to the rotation after nearly 2 years. Jake is one of my favorite reasons for watching baseball. That and I consider baseball a thinking man's, or woman's, game.



Another sport I adore is football. American football. Sigh. Being a Cleveland Browns fan long before meeting my hubby, I've suffered many a disappointing season. There have been highlights over the years. Bernie Kosar's throwing. Clay Matthews (#57) 16 years as a fabulous linebacker who knew how to hit and tackle. And now the explosive kickoff and punt returns of Joshua Cribbs (#16) and the power blocking of Joe Thomas, I think there might be a light at the end of the tunnel for my boys. But because I rarely get to root for my Browns in the post season, I also admit to admiring Petyon Manning and the Colts. Peyton is one of the most beautiful passers ever to play this game. And talk about confidence? Mmmm.


Of course, there's always my Buckeyes. Jim Tressel is on the road to greatness as a coach, IMHO. Being an Ohioan transplanted in Texas, well let's just say I've had more than one occasion to boast about my home team!





Now, these are tried and true sports for most Americans. There are those who love basketball. My coach is die-hard Kansas Jay Hawke fan and my husband is ga-ga over LeBron James and the Cavs this year. However, I am not really much of a fan, although I do sit through my fare share of games. (Usually with my nose in a book, or working on the king-sized afghan for my son's bed...a Christmas present it will take me until next winter to make.)


But the other day I was vegging before getting ready to head to work, when my channel surfing came across something unique to TV in America.





RUGBY.



OMG!! It was like the heavens had opened up, a beam of light from above shone over me and I swear the choir of angels, (all female) hit a high C in perfect harmony!! (By the way, google rugby players and you won't believe the pictures you get...uh, not for publication on the Bandit blog!)





Have y'all seen this? I mean truly watched the game? It's like soccer, football and ultimate fighting all rolled into one glorious expression of male bonding and testosterone!!!


Super buff men in shorts...god they have great legs...no padding, literally beating each other up to get this huge football down the field. And when one of them is passing the ball in from the sidelines 2 guys lift a third way up in the air by his feet to catch it! Bloody noses, bloody lips, bloody eyes, dirt, twisted ankles and knees. (Yes, I'm slightly blood thirsty.) But I think I've found a wonderfully masculine game to watch.

Now, if I could just get the TV people to show more games!!

What does this have to do with books? Hmmm...well, I've read books with sports heroes in them. But I think it's the whole males competing against males that piques my interest and I'd love to see more books with heroes from sports. (And yes I've read all of SEP's books!)

So, what sport do you love to watch or at least don't mind watching the men who play them? (Yes Anna...I know you adore hockey!) Anyone love rugby like me? Which sport would you like to see featured in a series of books?

Go Indians!!

Bandita Booty!!!

Rebecca Lynn wins for her suggestion of "The Writer's Diet"

Rebecca please send your contact information at www.DonnaMacMeans.com and we'll discuss your prize choices.

Cruising Into Spring

by Caren Crane

Regulars here in the Lair know I am a devotee of autumn. I love the crisp air, colorful leaves and "settling in" that happens as the Earth prepares for winter. I also enjoy winter and have made a complete and total fool of myself during the Winter Olympics. (Anyone care to discuss curling? I'm now an expert! I could hardly get this post done for the women's gold medal final. Canada broke my heart!) Okay, gold medalist Apolo Ohno was just here as your daily eye candy. *g*


This year, though, it has been colder and snowier than usual, even here in the (normally) sunny South. I find myself looking forward to the budding trees and warm breezes of spring. I am also getting an itch to travel, much like my friends up north tell me they get when winter drags on too long. My friend Elizabeth says that by March everyone in Chicago is beating a path to the travel agent, begging for tickets to "anywhere the sun is shining" and this year, I can relate.


My husband is at home these days and, despite his curmudgeonly tendencies, has begun to pick up some phone calls he would previously have ignored. I came home a couple of weeks ago to be told by my beloved that we had won a cruise. Huh? Yes, indeed, I had heard correctly. My man said we won a cruise. I have no idea how we (or actually, he) won this cruise, but I took his word for it since he assured me it was real. Then I went to fix dinner or something and promptly forgot about it. Until last week, when the information about our cruise came in the mail. It is real!


We have been on a cruise once before and it was a lovely vacation. We enjoyed many things about cruising during that first trip and also learned some things to avoid - like anything alcoholic, since it costs a fortune to drink onboard! We feel better about this second cruise, armed with knowledge about how to avoid tack-on fees. This cruise is technically free, except for the unavoidable port fees since the trip is to the Bahamas and, apparently, a fuel surcharge of some sort. Hm.


Normally, we would avoid the Bahamas due to the excess of badly-handled tourism there and the likelihood of being hassled and/or pick-pocketed by locals. But did I mention the cruise is free? I have fretted about this "free" trip, knowing it will actually cost us hundreds of dollars to: a) get to the port in Ft. Lauderdale, FL; b) park our car at the port (or take a cab, if we fly or go by train); c) pay the port fees and fuel surcharges; and, d) cover the "incidentals" that always come up. (This picture is me at home, facing the reality of the money we will have spent - so sad!) The money is a real worry for us this year, but vacation - that singular, glorious chance to get away from all our cold, wintry worries for a few days - beckons like a sun-soaked siren.

The prolonged cold weather has made our so-called "free" trip more tempting with every gray, passing day. I know the sun is shining in the Bahamas and, despite the inevitable hassles, surcharges, delays and mix-ups, a patch of warm, welcoming sand is waiting for me. I think it's time to work on trip details. Maybe something around my birthday in May?

Are you longing for spring (or autumn, if you're in the Southern hemisphere)? Have a vacation planned, in mind, or at least in your dreams? If you could get away today, where would you go?

Have a wonderful weekend.

My darlings, what are you up to this weekend? Alex and I are going to Abbey's house to celebrate Febgiving, which is basically Thanksgiving in February! Her friends made it up. Isn't that a great idea? Hope you have a relaxing weekend, and here are a few great posts from around the web...

The top ten mispronounced foodie words.

Wow, holy bedroom makeover!

What a lovely wedding (with orange shoes).

Oh, Nutella snack drink, where have you been all my life?

Good to know when climbing trees.

Grace Kelly would have liked this pencil skirt.

Flower pinata.

Funny shopping moment in the UK.

Loving J. Crew's "real models" series.

Beautiful bookstore cafe.

Loving these old-school toys.

Another adorable Olympics commercial. What a great song.

The cutest cross-country road trip proposal story.

Plus, five Cup of Jo posts you may have missed.
* A well-dressed autumn.
* Wine tip.
* Venice underwater.
* A quote to remember.
* An Ode to the Indie.

(Illustration by Adrian Tomine, whom I spotted in a record store once. I awkwardly trailed him around but was too shy to say hello)

Love in Boom

by Nancy

Anybody else here like a romance with some non-romantic boom in it? Where things blow up apart from the relationship? And somehow all that leads to HEA? Yeah, me, too.

I tried out various titles for this blog, including "boom in love," but Demetrius started snickering at that and other choices, and then Sven joined in. The two of them set aside their sibling-esque rivalry in favor of male bonding, which would've been nice had it not involved mockery of my blog titles. I'm never composing another blog where they can see it in progress. I'll do that from home.

Anyway, I wonder why I like romance with a heavy dose of action-adventure. Maybe it's because all the stuff blowing up and the bullets flying add to the stakes, the jeopardy, the chance that HEA won't happen. When I asked in the Lair for movies or books involving both romance and boom, Christine suggested Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Cassondra came up with True Lies, and Anna Sugden suggested the works of Suz Brockmann. These are all great choices with high stakes. What's at risk is not only true love but life itself.

Plus, I admit, I just like movies where stuff blows up. I prefer that gore not accompany the explosion, as it would in real life, but I do like a movie with some boom. Again, I think it's because of the stakes. In Stargate SG-1, which I so love, the fate of humanity is at stake. In the darker Battlestar Galactica, it's the same thing, but it's humanity versus technology, not just humanity versus evil humanoids, as in the Stargate series.

In Serenity, the stakes usually revolve around the ship's crew, but we care about them, engage on their side, and don't want to see them die.


The fondness for boom also leads to a certain darkness in tone. By the time the hero and heroine find their way to each other, they're scarred and battle-weary. At least times have changed enough that the heroine takes an active part in the battle. Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax and her March have to fight their way to each other time and again, sometimes through foes and sometimes through the scars and pain of other battles, and the struggle gives the relationship depth. These are science fiction novels, not romances, but the romantic thread runs strongly through them.

So what about you? Do you like boom with your romances? Romance with your explosions? Whether you do or don't, why do you think that is?

DOMINO AND DANTE: A MEETING OF THE MINDS (AND OTHER BAWDY PARTS)

Contrary to all appearances, this first photo is not a standoff between Domino and Dante, although with Dante's raised back and Domino's seeming defensive posture, one might think so.

Dante was just stretching, and Domino had just hopped up on the bench.

And seconds later, this is what happened! 

This is Dante's usual greeting.  He does the same to Dylan. 

"Hi, how are you?  Let's see what's going on back here!"

Domino doesn't react hissily at all to Dante, although if Dylan had done the same thing it would sound like World War III had broken out.  "Butt" enough is enough.  Little Miss Domino prefers to be left alone, thank you very much.

And to avoid any further "herASSment" by that big "BUTTinski", Dante, Domino just takes the path of least resistance on her way to the back door.

In any event, the relationship between Domino and Dante is quite peaceful.  There seems to be a common understanding between them (unlike with certain other parties, previously mentioned herein).  Dante is very respectful of Domino, and she allows him a little latitude now and then.  And all is well.