Lots of Awesomeness on Tap for May

April showers bring May flowers...and tons of fantastic fun here in the Bandit Lair. Here's a sneak peek at what's coming up this month.

May 3 -- The wonderful and talented Jo Davis returns to the Lair. Be sure to have your fans handy because she's got a new firefighter book out, Line of Fire. And the guy on the cover is mighty purty.





















May 4 -- It's time for another Bandita Launch Party! This time, we're celebrating the release of Christine Wells' Sweetest Little Sin. Isn't that cover simply divine?






















May 5 -- Tawny hosts fellow Harlequin Blaze author Samantha Hunter. Samantha's new release, Make Your Move, has a posh bakery owner who makes aphrodisiac cookies as a heroine and her naughty professor type business partner who just might be a wolf in geek's clothing. Oh, sounds delicious!




















May 6 -- Nancy hosts Gerri Russell, who'll be discussing the timeless allure of knights. I know the knight on the front of her latest cover is definitely alluring and, um, muscular. :)


















May 7 -- Kate is hosting New York Times best-selling author Susan Mallery. Her Chasing Perfect, the first in the Fool's Gold series, is out this month from HQN.
















May 8 -- Happy Birthday to us! We'll be raising the roof to celebrate the Lair's third birthday. Aunty Cindy has a special post from the Bandita Buddies planned that you won't want to miss.

May 19 -- Kathleen O'Reilly will be visiting the Lair to talk about summer love. Ah, summer love. And I like that tag line at the bottom of the cover...Some nights are made to be naughty.




















May 20 -- Hey, we've already had two parties this month. Let's have another. It's Launch Party time for Beth Andrews' Do You Take This Cop? from Harlequin Superromance.




















May 27 -- We're Launch Party crazy this month! Before May gives way to June, let's have one final bash for Anna Campbell's My Reckless Surrender, her latest historical release from Avon. Lots of giveaways and mayhem featuring cabana boys! Anna is starting the celebrations early -- hic -- after getting a Top Pick and a wonderful review from Romantic Times so who knows what state she'll be in by the end of the month?










To celebrate the release some more, Anna is giving away five copies of My Reckless Surrender (with that gorgeous, sensual, yellow cover) on her website. Just e-mail her at anna@annacampbell.info and tell her where and when My Reckless Surrender is set. Clue -- you might find out in the excerpt on her Books page. The contest closes May 31, and you can get more details on the Contest page of her site.

May 29 -- I turn 40! Wah!!! I will need commiserations and assurances that I don't look 40.

Margo's Winner!

Thanks, everyone, for a great day in the lair on Thursday! Margo has chosen her winner and it's:

EVA FROM FINLAND!

Eva, you've won your choice of either WILD or TAKEN BY THE LAIRD. Congratulations! Please email Margo on margomaguire @ yahoo.com (no spaces) with your snail mail details and she'll get your book off to you!

Have a fun weekend!

My sweet readers, what are you up to this weekend? Alex and I are cooking up spaghetti bolognese and reading baby books. Also, I'm excited to try this goat cheese, which I found today at the farmer's market. (It's made by a husband-and-wife team, who left their big-city jobs to buy forty goats and make cheese. Awesome.) Hope you have a wonderful weekend, and here are a few great posts from around the web...xoxo

Gorgeous DIY filament bulbs.

Nautical style, I will love you forever.

Hilarious royal tea bags.

The seven most beautiful ferry rides in the United States.

The iPhone app for the entire cookbook How to Cook Everything is only $1.99 (for a limited time). Genius.

Love this army jacket.

Pisa was hilariously predictable, but this photo of Florence's Duomo is refreshingly original.

Cheeky recipe website.

This photo makes me want to take a road trip.

High-five note card.

Sweet nursery with a Babar poster!

Dear Weekend is having a sale on her lovely oil paintings.

What fun pendant pillows.

Beautiful pregnant belly dancing on the beach.

Attention, New Yorkers: Milkmade ice cream + The Big Apple Tweed Ride. (Thanks, Brittany!)

And a huge thank you to the amazing Erin Jang from The Indigo Bunting for designing my new header. xo

Plus, five Cup of Jo posts you may have missed:
* Sky play.
* Whoopie pies.
* Summer love.
* Pumpkin marriage proposal.
* Fairy lights.

Big kiss to you! Have a great weekend! xo

(Photo of Paul Newman from Getty Images)

Picnic club

Every summer, I daydream about having a ton of picnics, but end up having fewer than I'd like. So, wouldn't it be fun to start a Summer Picnic Club? I've been thinking of inviting friends to meet at different parks around town every other Saturday. Everyone would bring their own blanket, plus a snack to share, and Alex and I would also bring frisbees and a bubble machine (and the baby!). It would be so much fun to have a recurring outdoorsy event to look forward to.

P.S. Refinery 29 posted a picnic guide today. I think it's a sign. :)

(Photos of our wedding brunch picnic by Max Wanger)

Sammy the Seagull

I loved this seagull bag, and now there's a print! Apparently, the dapper dude is named Sammy.

(Via Design is Mine)

3-D CATS: THE AFTERMATH

On Wednesday, over on Dante's blog, I posted pictures of Dante's encounter with a woofie.  You can go to "All About Lacocoon Dante", here, to see if you want, though I'm posting one of the pictures again today.

In any event, after the woofie, named Rascal, left our yard, the other two 3-Ds had a regular "field" day checking out what remained of him.  This is what I call the "aftermath" -- in this case very much like scented "aftershave", except you just get a whiff instead of a wallop!

Here's Dante greeting the woofie in question.

Several minutes later, after the woofie has departed, Domino and Dylan get down to business.

Domino, in yet another of her famed Tai-Chi positions, gets a whiff of the woofie-scented grass.  (Look how her tail goes one way and her left foot, the other!)

Then Domino hits the bricks!  There's Dylan sniffing things out in the background.

Here the two of them join forces; Domino in yet another Tai-Chi stance.

While Dylan's busy with his nose to ground, Domino is still in slow motion.

Dylan comes up for air, and Domino's still holding.  Tai-Chi requires lots of patience and endurance.

It turns out Domino's move was just a fake out!  She has better things to do.

Meanwhile, Dylan is still immersing himself in "eau de woofie" (didn't I say it was like perfumed aftershave?). 

So, we hope you have enjoyed seeing the after-effects of woofie visitation chez the 3-Ds.  As you can see, Domino turns absolutely everything into an exercise in Tai-Chi.  To her, every occasion is black-Tai! 

Deep Fried and Delicious

by Jo Robertson

Okay, here’s the thing. I just lost ten pounds on Weight Watchers, and I’m feeling a tad smug and a bit self-righteous.

Almost wanna do the Nanna, Nanna Dance.

So I've been thinking of healthy foods even as I crave all kinds of sweets and fried goodies.

Last weekend the city of Stockton, California, held its annual Asparagus Festival. Since I live in the luscious San Joaquin Valley with its rich agricultural bounties, we have a lot of festivals: the Strawberry Festival (a favorite of mine), the Garlic Festival (I kid you not), and the Asparagus Festival among them.

I watched the news about the Asparagus Festival on television, learned it was touted by Sunset Magazine as the best festival ever.

Jeopardy even had a question about it:

"Stockton, California, doesn't have a festival for Britney Spears, but it does for one of these green spears." Would you have guessed correctly?

The TV segment showed thousands of volunteers dipping this beautiful, lovely asparagus into a batter and then deep frying it. Now I love asparagus. Cold or hot, it’s a delicious and healthy vegetable.

But deep-fried? OMG! I admit it’s probably very tasty, but why take a lovely, good-for-you veggie and make it unhealthy?

Now I can see deep-fried Twinkies. They’re unhealthy from the get go, so why not? But veggies deep-fried.

That’s just plain evil.

While surfing the Net I found other deep fried anomalies.

Like Deep Fried Pickles. And Deep Fried Coke.

You can view the coke recipe at http://www.ehow.com/how_5557181_make-deep-fried-coke.html

I was really interested in that one (momentarily forgetting all about Weight Watchers) because I figured I could substitute Pepsi for the Coke, right? There's no sugar in the batter -- they figure the can of coke has enough -- but the final fried ball is rolled in cinnamon and dusted with powdered sugar, then drizzled with -- yep, you guessed it -- Coke syrup!

What about you? Come across any unusual foods (with or without the deep frying)? What’s your favorite unhealthy snack? Okay, and in the name of national health, what’s your fave HEALTHY snack?

What does this have to do with writing, you say? I changed a recent Advanced Placement Language question to fit our romance readers.

"Write about a novel in which a food or banquet scene plays an important role in the book."

The AP folks intended the students to write about the banquet scene in Hamlet or the one in Macbeth where Banquo's ghost appears, but I tweaked the question to fit our romance readers.

Can you think of a food or banquet scene from a romance novel that plays an important part in the book?

Thursday Giveaway!

Today's giveaway is from Moop, a Pittsburgh studio that makes beautiful handmade bags. They're offering one lucky winner the bag of her choice. These soft and wonderful bags are perfect for adventures around town. And check out their two new designs--the Small Messenger and a collection of 100% organic bags.

For a chance to win, please visit Moop and leave a comment below with your favorite bag style. A winner will be chosen at random tomorrow. Good luck. xo

Update: Lauren W. is our lucky winner. Thanks for playing.

Berries

Just a pretty photo for you this morning. Don't these look delicious?

P.S. A guide to berry picking.

(Photo by Tracy Sue)

Margo Maguire Makes Mayhem!

by Anna Campbell

It's my great pleasure to welcome back to the lair a wonderful fellow Avon historical writer Margo Maguire.
Margo's going to be talking about her great new release THE ROGUE PRINCE. Romantic Times called THE ROGUE PRINCE "a love story that reaches the heart with its inherent tenderness and pure romance."

Margo has just revamped her website so check it out for news and excerpts and contests! Sign up for her newsletter and you go in the drawing to win a signed copy of THE ROGUE PRINCE!

Welcome back to the Bandita lair, Margo. Your latest Avon release is THE ROGUE PRINCE which sounds absolutely delicious. Lovely cover, by the way! Can you tell us about this book?

That’s exactly what I’d call it – delicious – a tale you can sink your teeth into! To a large extent, it’s the hero’s conflicts that drive this story. Tom Thorne is a tortured young man who was transported at a young age to a penal colony for a crime he didn’t commit. He lives through the brutal years of his imprisonment by planning his revenge against the two young noblemen who set him up. When he comes into a vast fortune, he’s able to execute those plans. Tom comes home to England as the “Prince of Sabedoria,” with the intention of destroying his two accusers and their families, just as he and his own family were destroyed.


The heroine is Maggie Danvers, Lady Blackmore, an innocent bystander who is intimately connected to the two young scoundrels who falsely accused Tom. She’s the widow of one and step-sister of the other, but when she meets Tom, she doesn’t know him as anyone but the amazingly potent foreign prince. Maggie is a young, naïve mother of two little children, and when she learns how badly her husband and brother have duped her over the years, she decides to embark upon an affair of her own – with the prince who seems so interested in her. Little does she know that she plays a huge part in Tom’s schemes for vengeance.

What were the inspirations behind this story? It seems to me to have a touch of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO about it? Or is that purely coincidental?

Ahhh… funny you should ask! Yes, I’ve always loved THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (the book as well as the movie), and wished there was more romance (of course!)and I always wished it wasn’t quite so dark. And that the imprisonment part wasn’t quite so long, and that Edmond’s father didn’t die before he got out of the Chateau d’If … er, you get the idea, right? So THE ROGUE PRINCE begins a few years after Tom’s imprisonment, within days of his arrival in England. And the heroine has a character arc of her own – her late husband was her step-brother’s flunky who had no real talents of his own, which directly caused the downfall of the Blackmore estate.

It’s up to Maggie to try to salvage the estate for her little son, the heir. She must learn and grow …

I’ve noticed a bit of a trend toward royal heroes lately (Harlequins are awash with princes and kings!). What do you think is the appeal of a royal story?

I think it’s part of the fantasy, or the fairy tale, if you will. The characters are larger than life. I made Thomas so wealthy, his bank statement would make Bill Gates envious. With Tom’s money, any physical thing is within his reach. But there are emotional hurtles to overcome, and as we read about this kind of guy, we want to see him grow and risk it all because of a higher purpose.

What’s coming up next for Margo Maguire?

I’m working on a novel that will be out in March 2011, called SEDUCTION OF THE GOVERNESS. The heroine is a young woman who learns she was adopted by the straitlaced couple she always thought of as her true parents. My hero is a wounded Waterloo officer – a youngest son who never expected to inherit his father’s earldom and the guardianship of his little niece. The two are total misfits who come together in his old, ancestral hall in the Lake District, and find themselves facing a perilous situation.


Can you give us a glimpse into your writing day?

A good day or a bad day?

We’ll go with the good… I used to walk my dogs 2-3 miles every morning to get some exercise while I cleared my head for a day of writing, but when I injured my knee I had to stop. So my current routine is to ride my stationary bike for 40 minutes and then lift weights for another 15. I grab a quick shower after that, and I’m usually at my laptop by 8 am. I go through email and take care of other business for an hour or so, then get down to the creative stuff. I rehash yesterday’s writing – making corrections as I read. Then I get on with it, pushing the story forward (I’m a totally linear writer). After a couple of hours, I get restless, so I have some lunch, then pack up my laptop and head for my home away from home – Starbuck’s. I’m there practically every afternoon, so they know me well – and take great care of me! My Starbuck's “co-workers” are very protective of their resident author.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

I am the worst possible person to answer this question, and I’ll tell you why at the end of my sage counsel, but don’t read my punch line until you check out my three points …


The first thing I think an aspiring writer should do is to read like mad. Read everything, but especially the genre you think you want to write. I believe osmosis has a lot to do with how we learn to write. As you read, you get an unconscious “feel” for the genre and it will come out in your own settings, characters and voice.

Next, decide whether you want to write popular, saleable fiction. If you do, you have to see what kinds of books the current market supports, and not get hung up on a story that will only appeal to a limited audience. (Like certain Indie films – they get produced, and might be really good for what they are, but only 37 people go to see them).

Third, try not to let “experts” tell you how to do it. You have to learn your own process and follow it, and not get bogged down or discouraged because you think you’re doing it “wrong.”

And now for the punch line (and you’ll probably want to punch me!): I sold the first book I ever wrote, in 10 days from the moment I put the manuscript into the mailbox until I got “the call.” I never had to go through the uncertainty that most writers experience, never understood what it was like to receive a bunch of rejection letters. That came later, lol, when I was submitting proposals to my editors for subsequent books. I have a sneaking suspicion that if I hadn’t sold that first book, I’d have said, “Oh, well, I tried. I love my nursing career, and so that’s what I’ll be doing until they pry my white duty shoes from my cold, stiff feet!” Honestly, I was so naïve, I didn’t know how fortunate I was, not until I found out about RWA and all the active online author groups out there.

Wow, I'm guessing you have a few people gunning for you when you share that tidbit! Congratulations! Now, Margo, is there anything you want to ask our Bandits and Buddies?

I wonder what you think is the best writing advice you ever got. Did you hear your best advice at a conference workshop? Read it in a writing craft book? Or was it something one of your writing buddies said that just happened to resonate? Inquiring minds want to know!

Margo is offering one lucky commenter their choice from her backlist books WILD or TAKEN BY THE LAIRD (I'm rather taken by that cover, personally!). So get commenting, people, and good luck!

SEC = KGB?

28 April & 15 May 2010

I wish to comment only briefly on this topic.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is charged with regulatory oversight of the US financial system.

For the entire 1982-2007 bull run in US stocks, the SEC did essentially nothing to safeguard investors, who have been massively exploited throughout the entire period. Among its more notable failings, the SEC failed to blow the whistle on the lax and indulgent practices of the ratings agencies (Moody's, Standard and Poors, etc.). "Tape painting" (buying stocks in your mutual fund or other portfolio at end of month and end of quarter closing to run up performance numbers) was never touched.

The only real action taken by the SEC was to target short sellers, who have a critical role in balancing the financial system. Let's be honest, the US market was far more justifiably sold short than long, particularly during the latter years of the 26-year over-hyped bull market. So the SEC tried to take down the only honest guys on Wall Street while acting as cheerleaders for the so-called bull market.

So long as fraud and mismanagement resulted in stocks going up, the SEC did nothing.

In fact, the SEC is one of the primary culprits - along with the Federal Reserve and US elected representatives - in indulging the 26-year feeding frenzy on Wall Street which was conducted at the expense of hapless and unwary mainstream investors.

As an enforcer of the law, is not the SEC utilizing tactics more familiar to the KGB in its assault on Goldman Sachs?

Others have analyzed the issues better than I, but suffice it to say that Goldman Sachs had far less to do with causing the financial meltdown than did the SEC itself. In essence, by tackling Goldman Sachs as its "fall guy," the SEC has trained its sights on the last man standing, in order to divert attention from its own culpability!

I would be better persuaded as to the sincerity of the SEC's mission if it first of all addressed its own regulatory missteps and outright complicity during one of the greatest and most irresponsible multi-bubble periods in human financial history.

Imagine this... if the tables were turned, and the largely quite competent managers at Goldman were instead grilling the members of the SEC, then far more truth would be told than will ever be revealed through the current diversion.

My call, in brief: SEC = felony, Goldman Sachs = misdemeanour (at worst).

Let's keep the story in perspective as the media circus unfolds... down at the Coliseum!

And, if you want to invest where the sharks won't eat you alive, consider the gold and precious metals sector rather than the still overvalued stock and bond markets. Most everything else is potentially hazardous to your financial health, in large part because of agencies such as the SEC, who did not do their job when action was needed, and are failing to do it now, by targeting their action against the shrewd financial managers at Goldman Sachs - the individuals who were best able to game the system that the SEC itself had helped to rig!

Not only is gold the best investment category in today's world of Alice in Wonderland finance, it is presently in a renewed positive phase, so those who buy now will very likely be rewarded sooner rather than later:

The above chart is available for subscribers to The Aden Forecast. I strongly recommend that you subscribe, and will add that their (annual) rates are quite reasonable!

And from Mark Lundeen - a little more of what is actually going on:

Due to policies promulgated by US elected representatives and the Federal Reserve, and fostered by the SEC, debt and money printing have grown out of hand - like Topsy!

So let's all focus on Goldman while the charts above (of US debt expansion and the correlated US dollar gold price) climb to the sky....

Once again, by the way, David Shvartsman at Finance Trends Matter has covered this topic as thoroughly as can be imagined, with links to comments by such as Peter Schiff and Marc Faber. Suffice it to say that the contrarian community has comments on the topic which coincide well with my own perspective on the matter.

15 May 2010: Here's a nice (brief) critique of the SEC decision from The Business Insider. It is reported that one SEC commissioner stated, "I have serious doubts about the evidence of fraud." Two of five SEC commissioners voted in opposition to the obviously politically-motivated decision to proceed against Goldman. You might want to consider the SEC a "perpetrator protection" agency. This story also links to more detailed coverage in the WSJ (you must be a subscriber to view this story).
_

Wednesday Giveaway!

Today's giveaway is from Babette, a jewelry shop run by a British designer. She's offering a pair of these beautiful zen hoops. The hammered gold hoops display rare vintage silver metal beads from the World War II era. Isn't that amazing? These earrings would look gorgeous while drinking wine in a restaurant's garden this summer...or anytime really. :)

For a chance to win, please visit Babette's shop and leave a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random tomorrow. Good luck!

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

Birthday cupcakes

Tina (aka Swissmiss) has the sweetest tradition of making her daughter birthday cupcakes, decorated with photos of her changing face. How adorable have the past four years been? Aww, happy birthday, Ella Joy! xo