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.

Wednesday Giveaway!

Today's giveaway is from Portland artist Lisa Golightly of Kiki and Polly. She's offering a large print of the Girl in the Yellow Suit. How sweet is that? The print would add a pop of cheery color to any room, from a foyer to a living room to a nursery. (I'd love to hang it above my desk.)

For a chance to win, please visit Kiki and Polly's etsy shop and leave a comment below. Good luck! xo

Update: Parker is our lucky winner. Thanks for playing.

Why OSR At All?

Someone asked the above question at theRPGSite.

I don't usually visit the the various gaming forums (as examples, the above, along with the Knights & Knaves Alehouse and Dragonsfoot) as i'm not really looking to debate the merits of various game systems: I started my blog to write about what interests me, and i'm thrilled (and consider it a bonus) when visitors share their comments. My visit to theRPGSite was prompted by a post on RPG Blog II, responding to criticisms of old-school gaming, old-school bloggers, and the explosion of old-school blog-sites in general. I have certain theories about the real motivation behind those criticisms, which I may end up sharing if it seems worthwhile.

In answering the above question, one of the commenters, Kyle Aaron, provided the following response, which I thought sufficiently succinct to warrant repeating here.

I dunno about being a member of any [Old School] movement, that's a bit pretentious.

All I know is, what I like and dislike. I like simple systems, short cheap books with black and white art, rules and setting descriptions, and useful example characters. And charts.

I like simple systems because most players are too lazy to learn complex systems, and it gets tedious when I as GM have to explain it to them during a game session. I like simple systems because when there aren't rules for everything you get to use your imagination, I hate it when you're in a game session and you say, "I do X," and the GM says, "ah, there's a rule for that... your skill... that's -3, and..." and half an hour later you roll and fail.

I like short cheap books with black and white art, I don't like big expensive chunky glossy magazine-style books.

I like rules and setting descriptions, I don't like flavour fic.

I like example characters the players could have in their first session, not example characters that can't be built within the rules and are just Mary Sues for one of the game writers.

I like charts which give us things to inspire character creation or setting events, so the dice can help our creativity.

And I like snacks. Snacks are important. Some call this Old School. I call it "what I like."

Why OSR At All?

Someone asked the above question at theRPGSite.

I don't usually visit the the various gaming forums (as examples, the above, along with the Knights & Knaves Alehouse and Dragonsfoot) as i'm not really looking to debate the merits of various game systems: I started my blog to write about what interests me, and i'm thrilled (and consider it a bonus) when visitors share their comments. My visit to theRPGSite was prompted by a post on RPG Blog II, responding to criticisms of old-school gaming, old-school bloggers, and the explosion of old-school blog-sites in general. I have certain theories about the real motivation behind those criticisms, which I may end up sharing if it seems worthwhile.

In answering the above question, one of the commenters, Kyle Aaron, provided the following response, which I thought sufficiently succinct to warrant repeating here.

I dunno about being a member of any [Old School] movement, that's a bit pretentious.

All I know is, what I like and dislike. I like simple systems, short cheap books with black and white art, rules and setting descriptions, and useful example characters. And charts.

I like simple systems because most players are too lazy to learn complex systems, and it gets tedious when I as GM have to explain it to them during a game session. I like simple systems because when there aren't rules for everything you get to use your imagination, I hate it when you're in a game session and you say, "I do X," and the GM says, "ah, there's a rule for that... your skill... that's -3, and..." and half an hour later you roll and fail.

I like short cheap books with black and white art, I don't like big expensive chunky glossy magazine-style books.

I like rules and setting descriptions, I don't like flavour fic.

I like example characters the players could have in their first session, not example characters that can't be built within the rules and are just Mary Sues for one of the game writers.

I like charts which give us things to inspire character creation or setting events, so the dice can help our creativity.

And I like snacks. Snacks are important. Some call this Old School. I call it "what I like."

Espresso maker print

Sandra Juto's new coffeemaker print would look nice in a kitchen.

Baby profiles

German photographer Bettina von Zwehl took this photo series of one-year-old babies at an instant of total (rare) concentration. Aren't they gorgeous? Von Zwehl used toys, dvds and eye contact to get the little guys to stay still. "They sat on a table, looking at me, and I took the picture with a long cable release," she says. Since many of the babes were still too wriggly to photograph, it took more than a year to get six final portraits. And the goal of the project? "I was hoping to present each baby as an intelligent human being," she says.

P.S. Baby mouths are so adorable.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: DOMINO HAS THE MUNCHIES!

(Biggify for full effect)

I'm Somebody!

by Susan Sey

Remember that scene in The Jerk when Steve Martin finds his name in the phone book for the first time? He's overjoyed. That's him, right there in print. It's official! He's somebody! Yahoo!

I had a moment like that this morning.

You see, I've been working on it for ages but I finally launched my very first website. And now, when you type in http://www.susansey.com I turn up. Officially. That's my name, my face and my book cover right there!

I'm somebody!

Now before anybody asks, I didn't do it myself. I considered it, then realized how very attached I am to my sanity and made the excellent decision to outsource this job to professionals. I'm a big fan of all things locally grown, though, so I didn't go very far when seeking out talented people to put together something that would represent me and my writing in cyberspace.

First, I tapped my friend Noah from church. Like me, he stays home with his daughter (whom my daughters happen to adore.) Also like me, he's doing a little something with all that 'spare time' stay at homes have in such abundance. (Careful, that's a lot of sarcasm there.)

He doesn't write romance novels (though I've recommended it as loads of fun) but instead has chosen to build a little company called AugmentJ that designs and hosts websites. But he doesn't just design websites. No, either his child is better behaved than mine are or he's just smarter than I am because he's also developed his own Content Management System called Fruitful.

Now, like many of you, when I thought about building my own website, I toyed with the idea of doing something in Wordpress. I decided to go with Fruitful instead for a couple of reasons.

First, Fruitful allows me to get into the nuts and bolts of my webpages and update things whenever I feel like it. I don't have to wait for my web designer to do a monthly update for me, but (very big but here) I don't have to be a programmer to figure it all out, either.

I hear that Wordpress is user friendly after a fashion but after a bunch of comparison shopping, Fruitful won out. It struck me as far more intuitive, & that's important to me. I can't horse around figuring out a website because I'm a terribly slow writer. I need to devote all the time I can get to my WIP.

Second advantage of Fruitful? Noah taught me how to use it in person. I came to his house after school one day and our kids had a wild rumpus in his living room while he gave me the run down on updating my site. A software lesson AND entertainment for the kiddoes? I defy you to find a web guy who'll do that for you.

And whenever I have a question about why something works or doesn't work, I know I'm going to get an answer ASAP. Because if Noah doesn't get back to me, I'll see him at church on Sunday. On the other hand, if I fail to send him a check promptly, he'll see me on Sunday, too. It works both ways & I like it that way. I know exactly who I'm paying to do this for me--somebody just like me. A person with a passion for what he does, splitting the difference between pursuing that passion and being at home with the little ones.

It works for me, and I'm thrilled with the results.

The other awesome thing Noah did for me? Pointed me toward the designer who put together my banner, my colors, created my logo, etc. I sat down with this poor woman (the very talented Sarah Hellestrom Hoehn, also right here in Minneapolis) over coffee & said, "I'm rotten at colors, so I'm just going to tell you how I feel about my writing & what I want people to feel when they're reading my books. Can you translate that into color and design?"

She said she could, and she did. Did she ever. I was thrilled and amazed at what she was able to pull out of my unfocused and largely incoherent thoughts on my work. If you're looking for a designer, I'd recommend her without reservation. I'll be happy to share her info privately if anybody wants it.

But there are drawbacks. I'm Noah's first writer client, so we're learning together how Fruitful lends itself to a writer's unique needs. There are a few things that need tweaking. For example, I don't have the capacity to allow comments on my blog right now. That communication will be a one-way street for a while but I'm okay with that. Readers will hopefully want to interact with me at some point in the future, and when the time comes I'll work with Noah to develop something that'll fit the bill.

Until then, I'll make do with Fruitful's awesome ability to create gorgeous e-newsletters, run contests and collect user info in a little database that'll come in right handy when I decide to mail out postcards for my first book signing. :-)

Having a website designed was a big decision. Besides being the biggest writing related expense I've encountered aside from attending RWA's annual conference, a website is probably also the most important link between a new author and her potential audience. I really wanted to get it right, and have been so glad that keeping things close to home worked out.

How about you? Do you have a website? A DIY job, or outsourced? Any lessons learned you'd be willing to share?

Fig wedding cake

I'm one of the few people out there who don't like regular cake (are you, too?), so I'm always secretly psyched when people serve alternative desserts at their weddings. Brooklyn couple Rae and Noah served a carrot cake with fresh figs! What a cool (and beautiful) idea, don't you think?

See more of their wedding here.

Nursery inspiration photos

These days, nurseries are looking so amazing! I've been flagging inspirational images, such as the nursery of J. Crew creative director Jenna Lyon's baby, above. Aren't the yellow stripes amazing, and who would think to paint a nursery wall black? (Classic crib from Oeuf; and orange Junior Panton chair from DWR.)
A polaroid heart from a grown-up bedroom in Paris...
And sweet details, like the knit blocks in the fireplace, love pillow and teeny yellow boots!
The giant giraffe is amazing, but my eye was immediately drawn to those red frames. What a great way to showcase artwork.
Decorating with maps = inexpensive and inspiring.
This photo is from Moomah's playspace. The white frames mimic a gallery wall, and that friendly bear print is totally amazing. (Does anyone know where to find it? Update: The Moomah bear print is by Jacqueline Schmidt of Screech Owl Design. Thank you, Sarah!)
The shades of blue in this room are lovely and calming, and the Tord Boontje hanging lamp looks magical. What nursery colors or special touches do you like? I'd love to hear... xoxo

(Photos from Domino Magazine, Cookie Magazine, Living Etc., Moomah, and others)

Dianna Love's Romantic Thrillers

by Cassondra Murray

Dianna Love stops by the lair regularly to comment and say hello, but it’s been two years since she made an official visit. In that time she’s added New York Times Bestselling Author to her resume.


If you spend any time with Dianna, you can’t miss that she stretches every boundary to be her absolute best.

That determination and a whole bunch of talent earned her a coveted Rita award for her first published novel, Worth Every Risk. I was lucky enough to be there that night to see her receive that award. Scroll down a little and you can see Dianna with her Rita statue on the night she won her category.

Like any award-winning novelist, she pulls out all the stops to give readers a fast-paced, page-turning story, combined with powerful characters and unexpected story twists.

But she and Sherrilyn Kenyon are stretching the boundaries of the romantic suspense genre with the down and dirty agents of the BAD Agency—Bureau of American Defense—and their cutting edge stories. In fact, Dianna now refers to the books not as romantic suspense, but as romantic thrillers.


First of all, welcome back Dianna!



Thanks! It’s great to be here again.


I’d like to focus on that shift to what you call romantic thriller. What is that, how is it different from a romantic suspense, and how did you end up going this direction?



I came to writing romantic thrillers because of my love of romantic suspense and thrillers. But there was a time the term “thriller” wasn’t being used even in mainstream.


I think of romantic suspense as an action story where the central plot is a romance and the secondary plot is the suspense about something the hero and heroine are trying to recapture or protect, but the two plot lines are wrapped so tightly together one will not stand without the other.





In a romantic thriller the main plot is also a romance, but the secondary plot has several layers that encompass a larger scope of what is at risk – generally very high stakes and it could affect a larger group of people (a city, an international organization, a world threat, etc).

I'd have to agree that these books are bigger than the ordinary suspense. In fact, there's an edge-of-your-seat quality to these stories that I have not seen elsewhere in romance fiction.

You and Sherrilyn were good friends before you started writing together, right? Will you tell us how the collaboration happened?


Sherri and I met while on the road at conferences. It was the beginning of 2005 when my first book was out. I had a busy travel schedule. Sherri on the other hand was being asked to speak everywhere – and still is, especially with hitting #1 on the New York Times list nine times in just over a year.



Okay that's definitly worth a pause to give a very loud and rowdy WOOHOOO to Sherri for that amazing accomplishment.....ahem...now back to Dianna's story....


We’d both arrive at a conference a day early to spend a quiet day writing and would run into each other at lunch. By the third conference in three weeks, we were watching for each other.

Over the next few years we toured together when she had a hardback out, went to Germany for a reader convention, hid in the mountains at a cabin to write and became very close friends. We approach marketing with very similar views and we did a lot of brainstorming on how to promote books.


One night late – early, actually, since it was 2:00 am – we were just back to some hotel room from a signing and talking about books she had coming up. We hit on the BAD (Bureau of American Defense) agency series and started talking about her next one. I love to brainstorm so I started throwing out ideas and an hour later she said, “Why don’t we do this together?”


We decided to do it and had absolutely no plan other than we had two months to turn it in.



So the BAD agency was already created when you came on board, right? How did the writing partnership change the direction for this series and bring it into the realm of romantic thriller?


When I agreed to collaborate on the BAD Agency series, the first full novel was a fun romantic suspense. I suggested we kick it up to a romantic thriller, which Sherri and our editor went for.

The difference is that in the new books in this series there is a major threat to our national security and this threat could affect the entire world. The villains are the Fratelli de il Sovrano (Italian for Sovereign Brotherhood) with international resources and a new world plan that is unfolding as the series develops.

These are multi-layer plots woven tightly with the romance and they have threads that continue to finger into future stories.



Readers are obviously loving this direction for the series. But what is it that has drawn you to this shift? Is this something that’s happened as an organic part of your growth as a writer?


I think for me it has been both part of my growth and what I’m happiest doing. My nature is to complicate whatever I work on. When I was learning to sew in school I wasn’t happy to sew a simple pattern. I sewed a man’s sport coat. When I painted large murals for companies like Coca-Cola I was happiest when it was a complex piece of artwork with many different parts.


When it comes to writing I always want to create different dimensions within the story to give the characters a large playing field with multiple possibilities. One of my favorite movies is the Italian Job – a “who’s zooming who” story. I like the twists and turns of complex stories.

The BAD Agency series has a lot of those twists and turns. I’ve heard you say that you like puzzles, and your story worlds would absolutely qualify as puzzles in my view—and yet you manage to pull the twisted threads together and have it make perfect sense at the end. It’s a wild ride, but such a satisfying ending. How do you make that happen?

I’m a plotter and Sherri is a pantser (seat-of-the-pants writer). After we brainstorm the story, I start the first chapter because it’s normally a black ops type opening and I really like to write openings. Then I start working through the plot threads and seeing where they will go or how they would be stopped or if there’s another way to go from X to Y.

I do love puzzles and think that’s the base for my thinking in writing. I want to hide a surprise or set up a twist that is not going to turn out like the character expects and hopefully the reader will be surprised. I love to read a story that surprises me. Nothing makes me happier than watching a movie or reading a book and thinking, “Had no idea that was going to happen.”


As to how I manage to keep those threads straight and pulled together, I’ve taught the Break Into Fiction® program that Mary Buckham and I created so many times I have a short check list of what I need to keep an eye out for to stay on track. The problem that happens sometimes in suspense is not so much that the threads don’t tie up as it is that some just get dropped or the character’s motivation falls apart so the reader stops following the thread.


You’ve written three BAD agency novels and a novella with Sherrilyn. By now you’ve probably seen a pattern to the men and women who save the world in this series. Tell us a little about what it takes to be a BAD agent. And among those you’ve been a part of writing, who is your favorite hero, and why?

BAD agents are operatives the other alphabet agencies wouldn’t consider taking on, but those other agencies aren’t expected to send their people into no-win situations with orders to succeed or don’t come home.

Choosing one agent as a favorite would be like picking your favorite child when you have ten. I love different things about each one, but above all I love that the men are honorable no matter how dark their past, and the women have a core of steel beneath their flaws and fears.



Nathan Drake (PHANTOM IN THE NIGHT) had no reason to ever care for another person after what he lost, but he's a wounded soul who cares too deeply.



Carlos Delgado (WHISPERED LIES) may look sexy and whisper sweet nothings with a wicked accent, but he’s as deadly as they come and his loyalty knows no limits. When he was a teen in South America, he held the young woman he loved as she died in his arms then walked away from everything he’d ever known to protect others he cared for.


Hunter (SILENT TRUTH)appears to have it all. But looks are deceiving when you dig beneath the façade and find deep scars. He does everything to the extreme, including love, which means he won’t risk someone being close to his life as a BAD agent or around when he faces off with an assassin.


Speaking of SILENT TRUTH—it’ll be out in just a few weeks—April 23rd. Will you tell us more about Hunter and Abbie and their story?


Hunter Wesley Thornton-Payne…the third. Doesn’t that just sound like a roaring pain-in-the-butt type of guy who’s a legend in his own mind?


Sherri named him a long time ago. I kept watching him as we worked on the series and thought – who would sympathize with a man whose family is one of the wealthiest in the world, who is very attractive and brilliant and knows it, who does not bond with other teammates?




Remember the part about “I like complex puzzles?” We laid his soul bare in the opening chapter and didn’t let up on him until the last page. His depth of character surprised me once we pushed him into some unholy situations.



Abbie was the one woman for him. I love that she comes from a simple background, but one full of secrets that multiply at the worst times. She’s a fighter, loyal, and refuses to let anything stop her from trying to save someone she loves from dying.



Oh, and the central villain in SILENT TRUTH is part of the Fratelli organization, but he’s an unusual assassin who enjoys puzzles as much as I do.



Okay I'm gonna admit it. I've read SILENT TRUTH, and it's the most nail-biting, emotionally poignant story I've seen in years. Having the "OMG what happens next?" factor and that level of powerful romance in one read is unusual. And yes, I have to say that Hunter...well...he's a really, really hot guy.

You can read an excerpt of Hunter and Abbie’s story by clicking on this link: http//www.authordiannalove.com/books/silenttruth.html



Thanks so much, Dianna, for being our guest here in the Bandit lair!

Thanks for having me here, but you’re not getting away that easily. I’ve got some questions for the Bandits and Buddies. I’ll answer anything else you ask, but I want to know something.

What is it that you enjoy most about a romantic suspense series?



Do you return book after book for the characters alone or is it the setting, the team cohesion or the situations they get into?



Do you like exotic locations? Are there areas you’ve not seen in books that you’d like to read about?



What type of hero is your favorite?

How long have you been reading romantic suspense?



And THANK YOU for being a reader – you allow me and other authors to do what we love most.

Dianna is giving away an awesome prize package. Autographed copies of all three BAD Agency novels, an “I’m In A BAD Mood” t-shirt, and other goodies all tucked inside a monogrammed “I’m In A BAD Mood” tote bag.


Leave an answer to Dianna’s questions to be entered in the drawing. We’ll draw a name on Wednesday.

A little love note.

Have you told bedtime stories lately? Pregnancy has made me super sleepy, and I've been conking out really early. So a little tradition has started, where Alex will put me to bed. After I brush my teeth, he'll say, “Ready for bed, baby?” and then come into the bedroom, lie down next to me (and my maternity pillow) and tell me funny stories about his childhood, early days in New York or old friends. I don't know how he comes up with them all (every single night!), but it's so cozy falling asleep listening to his deep voice and trying to stay awake to hear the ending. I love you, Alex.

(Photo by Max Wanger)

Tandem tee

This tandem T-shirt is cute (and true). I'm too pale and British to wear red, but someone should get this. :)

Novice Magic Realm Session, April 3, 2010

I enjoyed playing Magic Realm at Cal-Con 2010. It was a nice change of pace from the usual dungeon-delving and story-heavy adventures of your typical D&D game.

I was sufficiently inspired by that experience to considering running an introductory (novice level) Magic Realm session this weekend, on Saturday, April 3, 2010 at The Sentry Box. This saturday is the D&D Meet-up, so I will have to check with the organizers, to make sure there is an extra table available. But before I bother doing that, I want to gauge whether there is any interest.

Magic Realm is an Avalon Hill boardgame from 1978. It uses 20 randomly placed, large hex-tiles, to build a "Magic Realm" game-map, also randomly populated with Monsters, inhabitants, and treasures. Each player selects one of 16 characters, for example, the Swordsman, the Amazon, the Wizard, the White Knight, the Witch, the Berserker, the Dwarf, the Elf, the Woodsgirl, or the Sorcerer. Then the players move around the board, and co-operate (and often compete) trying to achieve their pre-chosen, secret objectives. There is no referee -- the players negotiate between themselves regarding their intentions and actions, using the dictums of the rules where applicable.

Magic Realm could be described as an end-game for Dungeons and Dragons, or a more sophisticated version of the old classic boardgame, Dungeon!, in that the players move around a map-board (in MR's case, Magic Realm is mostly an outdoor adventure, with a few cave-complexes scattered about), encountering each other, monsters, friendly and un-friendly inhabitants, and discovering treasure hoards. Magic Realm is a more sophisticated game than Dungeon!, in that there is a 100-page rule-book, and each character has her own unique strengths and weaknesses, as do the monsters and inhabitants.

The first session I would run is intended to be an introductory one, and no knowledge of the rules is required, though I will bring some simplified rule-booklets to distribute. Most of the game-mechanics are straight-forward (other than combat and spell-casting), and unless the players want to try the combat rules, the monsters will not be set on attack mode ... they will simply stop any unhidden players from entering and looting their lairs. The combat rules are very different from anything you have experienced before, and they take some getting used to. Combat is essentially diceless: there is a great deal of strategy involved, some in the initial decision to fight or run-away, some in the decision of what weapon and equipment to use, and some in your tactical choices (each player has 12 actions to choose from). In addition, there are monsters that particular characters are unable to defeat (without magic items or extra equipment).

If there is any interest in trying out Magic Realm, I will check with the D&D Meet-up organizers, to arrange for a table. Incidentally, here's the write-up for Magic Realm, that appears on the Boardgamegeek site, via the MR 2nd Edition rules:

MAGIC REALM is a game of fantasy adventuring, set in a land filled with monsters, fabulous treasures, great warriors and magicians. The scene is set in the ruins of a mighty kingdom, now inhabited by sparse groups of natives and swarms of monsters. Beneath it all are the rich remnants of a magicalcivilization , scattered and lost across the map.

To this scene come the adventurers, seekers of riches and fame, to make a name for themselves in this promising field. Swordsman and Dwarf, Magician and Sorceror, the humans and the half-humans come seeking to loot the legendary riches of a lost civilization. Now you can play the part of one of these adventurers, stepping into an unknown Realm of magic and monsters, battles and treasures.

As a player, you will take on the role of one of the sixteen major characters who are represented in detail in the game. You will control where he goes, what he tries to do, how he handles himself in combat and much more. In the course of the game you will run into deadly monsters, tribes of humans ranging from old friends to sworn enemies, and treasures that will enhance your abilities in many ways.

MAGIC REALM is a complex game designed to recapture the suspense and desperate struggles of fantasy literature. The game creates a small but complete fantasy world, where each game is a new adventure with a new map where everything lies hidden at new locations. The game includes many more playing pieces than are actually used in a single playing. The additional pieces are set up and can appear, depending on the directions in which the characters explore, but many of the treasure troves, treasures and spells will still be set up, unfound, when the game ends, and many of the monsters and natives might never be met. The result is an extremely unpredictable game full of surprises, a game that plays very differently each time it is played.

The complete game system includes hiking, hiding and searching, fatigue, wounds, rest, trade, hiring natives and combat between characters, monsters and natives using a variety of weapons on horseback and afoot, as well as many magical effects.

Between exploring a new land where the mountains, caves, valleys and woods change every game, and not knowing what you will find in each place, you will find each game a new and unpredictable adventure, filled with surprises. You will find this like no other board game you have ever played.

Novice Magic Realm Session, April 3, 2010

I enjoyed playing Magic Realm at Cal-Con 2010. It was a nice change of pace from the usual dungeon-delving and story-heavy adventures of your typical D&D game.

I was sufficiently inspired by that experience to considering running an introductory (novice level) Magic Realm session this weekend, on Saturday, April 3, 2010 at The Sentry Box. This saturday is the D&D Meet-up, so I will have to check with the organizers, to make sure there is an extra table available. But before I bother doing that, I want to gauge whether there is any interest.

Magic Realm is an Avalon Hill boardgame from 1978. It uses 20 randomly placed, large hex-tiles, to build a "Magic Realm" game-map, also randomly populated with Monsters, inhabitants, and treasures. Each player selects one of 16 characters, for example, the Swordsman, the Amazon, the Wizard, the White Knight, the Witch, the Berserker, the Dwarf, the Elf, the Woodsgirl, or the Sorcerer. Then the players move around the board, and co-operate (and often compete) trying to achieve their pre-chosen, secret objectives. There is no referee -- the players negotiate between themselves regarding their intentions and actions, using the dictums of the rules where applicable.

Magic Realm could be described as an end-game for Dungeons and Dragons, or a more sophisticated version of the old classic boardgame, Dungeon!, in that the players move around a map-board (in MR's case, Magic Realm is mostly an outdoor adventure, with a few cave-complexes scattered about), encountering each other, monsters, friendly and un-friendly inhabitants, and discovering treasure hoards. Magic Realm is a more sophisticated game than Dungeon!, in that there is a 100-page rule-book, and each character has her own unique strengths and weaknesses, as do the monsters and inhabitants.

The first session I would run is intended to be an introductory one, and no knowledge of the rules is required, though I will bring some simplified rule-booklets to distribute. Most of the game-mechanics are straight-forward (other than combat and spell-casting), and unless the players want to try the combat rules, the monsters will not be set on attack mode ... they will simply stop any unhidden players from entering and looting their lairs. The combat rules are very different from anything you have experienced before, and they take some getting used to. Combat is essentially diceless: there is a great deal of strategy involved, some in the initial decision to fight or run-away, some in the decision of what weapon and equipment to use, and some in your tactical choices (each player has 12 actions to choose from). In addition, there are monsters that particular characters are unable to defeat (without magic items or extra equipment).

If there is any interest in trying out Magic Realm, I will check with the D&D Meet-up organizers, to arrange for a table. Incidentally, here's the write-up for Magic Realm, that appears on the Boardgamegeek site, via the MR 2nd Edition rules:

MAGIC REALM is a game of fantasy adventuring, set in a land filled with monsters, fabulous treasures, great warriors and magicians. The scene is set in the ruins of a mighty kingdom, now inhabited by sparse groups of natives and swarms of monsters. Beneath it all are the rich remnants of a magicalcivilization , scattered and lost across the map.

To this scene come the adventurers, seekers of riches and fame, to make a name for themselves in this promising field. Swordsman and Dwarf, Magician and Sorceror, the humans and the half-humans come seeking to loot the legendary riches of a lost civilization. Now you can play the part of one of these adventurers, stepping into an unknown Realm of magic and monsters, battles and treasures.

As a player, you will take on the role of one of the sixteen major characters who are represented in detail in the game. You will control where he goes, what he tries to do, how he handles himself in combat and much more. In the course of the game you will run into deadly monsters, tribes of humans ranging from old friends to sworn enemies, and treasures that will enhance your abilities in many ways.

MAGIC REALM is a complex game designed to recapture the suspense and desperate struggles of fantasy literature. The game creates a small but complete fantasy world, where each game is a new adventure with a new map where everything lies hidden at new locations. The game includes many more playing pieces than are actually used in a single playing. The additional pieces are set up and can appear, depending on the directions in which the characters explore, but many of the treasure troves, treasures and spells will still be set up, unfound, when the game ends, and many of the monsters and natives might never be met. The result is an extremely unpredictable game full of surprises, a game that plays very differently each time it is played.

The complete game system includes hiking, hiding and searching, fatigue, wounds, rest, trade, hiring natives and combat between characters, monsters and natives using a variety of weapons on horseback and afoot, as well as many magical effects.

Between exploring a new land where the mountains, caves, valleys and woods change every game, and not knowing what you will find in each place, you will find each game a new and unpredictable adventure, filled with surprises. You will find this like no other board game you have ever played.

A Delicious Dilemma

posted by Nancy

Lisa Shearin returns to the Lair to share her heroine's current dilemma with us. Those of you who've read Raine Benares' adventures know Raine is involved with two hunky guys, goblin duke Tam and paladin mage Mychael. Those of you who haven't yet made their acquaintance are in for a new treat.

We're going to do something a little different today, but I'll let Lisa explain. Welcome, Lisa! Tell us what you have planned.

My fourth Raine Benares adventure--Bewitched & Betrayed--will hit bookstore shelves on Tuesday, April 27. Here’s a teaser from the book’s back cover: “My name is Raine Benares. I’m a seeker. I find lost things and missing people – usually alive. Finding the specters of six evil sorcerers who escaped the Saghred, a soul-stealing stone of unlimited power, was easy. Stopping them before they unleash Hell of earth just may be the death of me.”

Once again, Raine is up to her pointy elven ears in trouble of the worst kind. But our girl also finds her way into trouble of the steamy kind with Mychael Eiliesor, the elven paladin and commander of the Conclave Guardians, as well as Tamnais Nathrach, goblin duke and former chief mage to the goblin queen.

To give you a taste of Raine’s romantic quandary, I’ve brought along two snippets from Bewitched & Betrayed with Raine and the two the men in her life.
And naturally, I wouldn’t come to visit the Banditas without prizes.

Read the snippets below and make your choice.Who should Raine choose and why (or heck, which guy would you choose and why)? Post the answer in a comment on today’s post and you’ll be entered to win. Two commenters will be selected at random to each receive a Raine Benares Prize Pack: a copy of Bewitched & Betrayed with additional book goodies (postcards and bookmarks from all four of my books, plus a fridge magnet from Bewitched & Betrayed) – all signed and personalized.

So read the snippets and make your choice!


Bewitched & Betrayed snippet featuring Raine and Tam

A Fencing Lesson


Tam was waiting for me. He was wearing sleek, dark fencing clothes with his black hair pulled back in a long goblin battle braid. His strong hands were bare, and a pair of steel-mesh dueling goggles dangled from his long fingers.

Like most goblins, Tam was tall and leanly muscled, and as I’d experienced on more than one occasion, Tam was also lightning quick. His pale gray skin set off what was a goblin’s most distinctive feature—a pair of fangs that weren’t for decorative use only. A goblin wouldn’t hesitate to use them if a fight turned dirty. Tam wouldn’t hesitate to use them if I got within nibbling range.

Tam’s black eyes gleamed in the club’s dim lighting, lighting he wasn’t going to turn up for our lesson. Sarad Nukpana’s goblin eyes were at their best in this kind of light. Either I learned to adapt or I learned to be dead.

Goblin swords were both stabbing and slashing weapons. Goblins used two blades as naturally as breathing, like extensions of their arms. They were taught from an early age. Elf children played with building blocks; goblins learned to spin blades.
Tam stood facing me, his hands by his side, his blades angled toward the floor. He looked relaxed. I knew better. When Tam had swords in his hands, relaxed meant ready.

In our lessons, Tam always made the first move.

Change is good. Dirty is better.

I sauntered toward him like I was just getting into position to go on guard. Then I lunged, my blades dropped to block his, and my heel came down hard on his instep. Tam hissed and I pivoted sharply to the right, intending to pommel strike his ribs and dart the hell out of range.

Darting didn’t happen. Neither did the pommel strike.

Tam’s leather-clad arms pinned my arms—and swords—to my sides. His blades were up and crossed entirely too close to my face for any kind of comfort.

So much for darting and striking.

“Well, shit,” I said mildly. “That could have worked better.”

“My foot thinks it worked quite well.” I heard the pained grimace in his voice. “Nicely done.” Leather creaked as his arms tightened around me, and his voice lowered to a teasing purr. “The rest of me agrees. This is more than pleasant. Now how do you propose to get away from me?”

“What?”

Vegard was here, so I knew Tam wouldn’t actually try anything, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t play with me like a mouse.

Sarad Nukpana would do the same thing.

Tam was right. He couldn’t let me go.

“You chose the game, darling. I didn’t.” His lips were near the tip of my ear. “Escape from me, and feel free to do whatever you have to.”

Whew! Okay, that's Raine and Tam. Next . . .


Bewitched & Betrayed snippet featuring Raine and Mychael

Plotting & Planning

“What about the guards?” I asked. “If everyone’s supposed to believe we’re in the citadel and then Markus’s men see us, guess what? Cover blown.”

“We won’t be seeing the guards and they won’t see us,” Mychael replied.

“Then what—”

“If you can’t control a situation, you have to know every detail, don’t you?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

Mychael’s eyes twinkled from under the brim of his hat. “I’ll bet you don’t like surprises for your birthday, either.”

“No, I don’t. And what the hell does that have to do with anything?”

He leaned in close with a conspiratorial whisper. “Not all surprises are bad.”

Mychael took my face in his hands and those blue eyes gazed down into mine. There was no question reflected there, no uncertainty, and he sure as hell wasn’t asking my permission. Those eyes told me what he wanted.

He kissed me.

His lips didn’t demand, they simply took. With delicious slowness. His fingers of one hand ran lightly up the curve of my ear, lingering for a breath-catching caress at the tip before sliding down to my throat, leaving a trail of tingle-inducing heat in their wake. By the time his hand slipped around the back of my neck and pressed me to him, my hands were on him, sliding up to his chest and around his neck. My hands didn’t ask my permission, either. Traitorous hands.
Mychael’s kiss turned into a tantalizing nibble, gently pulling my bottom lip between his teeth, sucking, nibbling, teasing.

I opened my eyes and was met with twin pools of deep ocean blue, gleaming with mischief as he released my lips and planted light kisses on my nose and forehead. His lips lingered there, the warmth of his breath and body doing a fine job of banishing the night cold—or at least giving me something better to think about. His lips had released mine, but his arms were wrapped firmly around my waist and didn’t seem to be in a rush to let me go.

“What was that for?” I found myself short of breath.

“Hopefully, a pleasant surprise.”

I looked up at him, a slow smile spreading across my face. “Eh, I’ve had worse.”

Mychael grinned and his fingers found that ticklish place on my ribs and I squealed before I could stop myself. His lips instantly covered my mouth, muffling the sound. He took his sweet time muffling.

“See, not all surprises are bad,” his lips murmured against mine. “And some are more enjoyable than you’ll admit.”

“Was that a distraction to keep me from stabbing Markus?”

“That depends. Did it work?”

“As a distraction, it was first-rate.”

“My lips humbly thank you.”

“As a deterrent . . . sorry, no dice.”

Mychael pressed his lips together. I actually think he was trying not to laugh—at me. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

“That sounds like a challenge to me,” he said. “I’ll have to make every effort to do better next time.”

Again, whew!


Okay, everyone, hit the comment link and let us know which of these two smokin' guys you'd choose if you were Raine or which one you'd choose for you--and why. Remember, Lisa is giving away the Raine Benares prize packs described above.

For more about Lisa and her books, visit her website.

For those who want to catch up with Raine from the beginning, I've inserted at right the cover (with link) of her first adventure, Magic Lost, Trouble Found.

Why Canada Works Better Than the United States

29 March 2010

This is a topic that needs to be addressed.

While Canada lags the US in many metrics, including the wealth of its citizens, Canada obviously leaves the US far behind in the sphere of what we might wish to refer to as social capital.

Given the recent health care debate in the US, it seems worth mentioning, "Hey, we have a health care system here in Canada that has worked well now for several generations! What are you arguing about down there?"

Why can relatively poor Canada outperform the relatively wealthy United States in providing health care and social services generally to its citizens?

I've been thinking about this lately, and I think the answer is fairly simple.

Canada has a broad centrist political consensus, whereas the United States is polarized, with ugly and accusatory disputes characterizing the extreme positions on the right and the left (with the right arguing more or less for corporate welfare if you will, while the left argues for benefits for the disenfranchised and for special interest groups).

While the Americans have been arguing, the Canadians have forged a system that more or less works.

Lesson?

If you cooperate, it doesn't matter that much HOW you do it - what matters is that you get it done.

My message to the US?

"Hey America, stop arguing and start cooperating! Begin with health care for everybody. And don't forget responsibility and accountability for everybody too. Cooperation works. Get off your soapbox. Do more listening and less shouting. Help each other. Work together!"

There, I've said it. Enough for now....

Canada works. Think about it.
_

"AND WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?"

by Suzanne

Remember when you were a kid and your parents would say things to you like, "If your friends jumped off a cliff would you do it too?" (That depends on why my friends are jumping off cliffs), or "Eat all your vegetables, because kids in China are starving." (Would me eating my vegetables actually stop them from starving?) or "Close the door, were you born in a barn? (I don't know, you were the adult in the room, not me--yes I was a sarcastic child and paid dearly for it). Those are the phrases we heard over and over, that made us swear we'd never say those things to our kids when we got around to having them.

Thankfully, I tried not to quote these to my kids. I did however, come up with a few of my own, some of which they say they can't wait to use on my poor grandbabies.

1. "Mom, can you make me a sandwich?"
Me: "Poof, you're a PB&J sandwich."
Them: "Awww, Mom, that's not what I meant."

2. Them, whining: "I'm hungry"
Me: "Hi, Hungry, my name's Mom, glad to meet you."
Them: "Awww, Mom, that's not what I meant."

3. Them, "You make me do chores just cause you're mean."
Me: "My job is to teach you how to be a functional human being when you leave my home. Being mean is a side benefit."
Them: "Awww, Mom."

(Aren't you glad I wasn't YOUR mother?)

Yes, my poor grandbabies will have to deal with all these questions and comments.

When my son was in middle school he did something stupid. Have no idea what it was, just typical teenage stuff to get into trouble, but not too dangerous. When I sat him down the next day to give him a lecture about it, he said, "Yeah, I know" in that slightly insolent way young teens have when they know they've done wrong, but don't really want to admit it. I thought a moment about how to get the point across so that he'd really listen. (That's him with his niece below.)

Me: "Yes, I know you know how stupid this was and I'd rather be cleaning the oven than dealing with your behavior, but see, I'm required to give you this lecture."
Him: "Required? By who?"
Me: "It's listed in the mother's handbook, page 35."
Him: "Mother's handbook? I've never seen it."
Me: "It's an invisible book of LIFE LESSONS, given to new mother's on the day they have their kids. Each stupid thing you do or are thinking of doing is required a certain lecture. Today's lecture is on page 35."
(I think we're up to page 260 by now and in the chapter on finances.)

And then there's my favorite parental comment. "And what have we learned?"

This is for those times when I want to see what they think of their behavior. If it was something good or bad. Did their actions give them the results they were looking for or end in some sort of disaster? Uhm, coming from me, I expect them to realize the decision they'd made probably wasn't a good one and not worth repeating. Their answer is usually prefaced with a deep sigh and a great deal of eye-rolling. (They are my kids after all.)

Unfortunately for my coworkers, the occasional doctor or patient, this comment gets repeated at work, too! Mostly getting laughter as the response.

So what does this have to do with writing?

In a good book, the main characters have to grow and change throughout their journey. They shouldn't be the same at the end of the book as they were at the beginning. In mysteries, they should've increased their deductive and observation skills to solve the mystery. In an adventure tale, the hero should have discovered he has more abilities than he'd ever thought in order to make the journey and save the day. In a romance, the hero AND heroine must change and grow in order to allow love into their world and gain their HEA.

So dear friends, what have we learned? What hero or heroine have you read recently that has learned a great life lesson and achieved their goal? Have you ever had to take a step back and evaluate your own behavior or decision making ability and learn from a certain situation? Got any good parenting lines you'd like to share?