Coming Attractions--2010 enters with fireworks!

by KJ Howe

Happy 2010 everyone!!! To kick off this auspicious year, let’s indulge in fireworks, streamers, horns, champagne, and a chock-full schedule of phenomenal authors. Get your day-timers ready as you don’t want to miss any of our exciting guests:

On January 4, Elizabeth Naughton will be visiting the lair. She will be talking with Trish (and everyone in Bandita-land) about the third in her Stolen series, Stolen Seduction.




On Tuesday, 5th January, brilliant debut author Courtney Milan www.courtneymilan.com is Anna Campbell's guest. She'll be talking about her wonderful romance PROOF BY SEDUCTION!





On January 6, Lair regular Barbara Monajem steps up to the plate for a chat that'll include her Harlequin Undone, Notorious Eliza.

On Thursday, 7th January, Anna Campbell hosts fantastic historical writer Beverley Kendall www.beverleykendall.com who will be discussing her debut book SINFUL SURRENDER.






On Jan. 8, Trish is hosting Helen Scott Taylor, whose second novel, The Phoenix Charm, comes out in January. It's a story filled with fairies, water nymphs, and other magical creatures.

On Jan. 9, Trish is hosting MJ Fredrick, whose latest romantic adventure, Breaking Daylight, will be out from Samhain on Jan. 5. It's a story of a sexy Special Forces hero and a beautiful woman whose been held prisoner by a drug lord, and their life-and-death trek through a South American jungle.





On January 12, RITA winner Catherine Mann joins us with Renegade, the third novel in her action-packed Dark Ops series from Berkley Sensation.

On January 13, Kensington Author Carrie Lofty visits The Lair to discuss her new historical release Scoundrel's Kiss.






On January 19, Misa Ramirez will be guesting with JoMama. She'll be talking about her second book in her Lola Cruz series, Hasta la Vista, Lola!










On January 21, author and writing teacher Mary Buckham joins us to discuss creativity.

On January 26, Blaze author Kathleen O'Reilly joins us with RT Top Pick and great New Year's story Midnight Resolutions.




On January 29, bestselling author NYT Bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson will be hosted by Suz!!!


There we have it…although I’m sure there’ll be a few other surprises thrown in to spice up our intro to 2010. Happy New Years from all the Banditas!!! I have the pleasure of giving away the first prize of 2010, a $10 (to celebrate the year!) gift certificate from Barnes and Noble. All you have to do is tell us what New Years resolution you won’t make because you know you won’t keep it. The most entertaining answer wins!



Now, we also want to celebrate big moments for the Banditas—one of our lovely of our Australian contingent, Anna Campbell, has just received the gorgeous Australian edition of CAPTIVE OF SIN. It's a lovely trade paperback that isn’t available overseas so she thought she'd share the joy. TWO people can choose which of Anna's four books they’d like to receive in the bigger version so the prize is a signed copy of either CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, UNTOUCHED, TEMPT THE DEVIL or CAPTIVE OF SIN. All you have to do is email Anna on anna@annacampbell.info with the title of her June 2010 release. You might find the answer in January’s Latest News. http://www.annacampbell.info/latest.html For more information, please visit Anna's contest page: http://www.annacampbell.info/contest.htmlSource URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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Wreath Cupcakes

Tearing the last leaf of the huge daily calender - if you are asian you will know what calender that is hanging in my kitchen and you should know me by now, that the kitchen would be the first place i will be when i come downstairs every morning,  made me realised that i had better bid you all 'Auld Lnag Syne". This  Scottish poem, thought to be composed by Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns in 1788, starts with this lyric  - Should old acquaintance be forgot,and never brought to mind ?  - Of course not, no good or bad acquintance should be forgotten.  Treasure the good ones and move on with the bad ones.  With this in mind, i wish you all 'Happy New Year".

.


Ingredients and Method:

The cupcakes recipe is Here

The frosting is also There  or the Buttercream which is  Here
Green and red food colorings
Cherry/strawberry/raspberry jam
Glazed Red cherries
Christmas colors sprinkles

A silicone cupcake wreath mould





Serves
Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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Things At Which I Suck

by Susan Sey

Brace yourselves. This could be a long list.

Oh, fine. It's New Year's Eve. You probably have somewhere fabulous to be. I'll give you the abridged version. I need to be snoozing on the couch by 9 p.m. anyway.


Top Three Things At Which I Am Not Very Good:

1. Sales.
2. Synopses
3. Salads

(Sidenote: I never realized all the stuff I'm bad at started with an S. Huh. At least my awfulness is alliterative

I'll take them in reverse order

Salads: Yeah, it's embarassing but I can't made a salad. I think it's because I used to be a vegetarian. (FYI for all those steakhouses out there? You can take a pile of wilted iceberg lettuce, drown it in ranch dressing and call it dinner, but that doesn't make it so.) I suffered through enough of those iceberg disasters to have developed a knee-jerk aversion to the very concept of salad-as-dinner, & sadly cannot to this day make a proper salad. My heart just isn't in it. So if you ever invite me to a potluck, please understand. I'm not bringing salad, & if you force me into it, you'll be disappointed. Sorry.


Synopses: I can't write short to save my life. My hat is off to all you category writers out there because you ladies know how to tell a tight story. It's like poetry, where every word is perfectly chosen & pulls its weight. This is a skill I dearly wish I had but even my emails run into the hundreds of words. My grocery lists span two pages because I editorialize. ("Yellow onions. Sweet if you can find them. Not the white ones. Too strong! Not purple--funny color...") It's just that--okay, I'm cutting myself off because at this point, I'm only demonstrating the problem

Sales: My dad is a sales guy. He can talk to anybody. He can sell anything. He loves this work & he's wonderful at it. Apparently this isn't a hereditary talent because I get hives when I have to call the babysitter. (In case you were wondering, she's a thirteen year old girl, and I want to give her money. How hard could it be? But it's still calling up somebody who might have to tell me no, however kindly. It's torturous and I hate it.)

So here's my problem: I have a book coming out this summer. It's my first one & I'm deliriously happy about it. Or I would be if I didn't have to sell the damn thing.

Self-promotion. Another S word at which I suck.

There' s a lot of pressure on debut authors these days. In addition to writing a great book, you also have to have a great website. It should have fresh content all the time & offer lots of extra ways for readers to connect with you & your characters.

You should blog. A lot. Everywhere. You should be witty and warm and find ways to gently promote your work without coming off as a user who only dropped in to plug her book

You should do book signings and hold launch parties--things that involve walking into book stores, asking to speak (gulp) with the manager (who you don't know from adam,) and convincing him/her that you have enough friends & family to justify ordering a few copies of your book.

You will be required to print up bookmarks, postcards and a slew of adorable, charming, book-inspired tchotchkes (I'm drawing a complete blank on that one, by the way). They'll need to be distributed to any breathing person you might encounter for at least six months prior to your release date.

You'll need to make up a press packet, then call up a bunch of print journalists (gulp), radio announcers (gulp), and TV journalists (GULP) to see if they want to interview you. This is a) calling strangers and b) asking them to participate in your discomfort. The classic double whammy. Ouch.

Oh, & you'll definitely want to purchase some incredibly expensive ad space in each of half a dozen magazines.

And if you don't do even one of these things?

YOUR BOOK WILL FAIL, AND YOU WILL NEVER SELL ANOTHER THING AS LONG AS YOU LIVE. NOT UNDER THAT NAME, ANYWAY.

{pant, pant}

Okay, so maybe it's not that bad. Is it? Oh, lord, I feel a panic attack coming on. Is that a hive? Right there? On my neck? Oh god. I feel faint. Somebody hold me.

Clearly, I need help here. Besides writing a darn good book, what do you like to see an author do? Is it the blogging? The signings? The website? The ads? Is it accessibility? Is it a sparkling personality? And what turns you OFF? Is there anything an author could do (or fail to do) that would make you turn up your nose and toss their book (no matter how good) into the garbage disposal?

p.s. Oh crap. I forgot to mention my title, my release date or my publisher. Sheesh. I told you I was bad at this. Okay, take two. Ready?

Look for Money Honey by Susan Sey in July of 2010 from Berkley Sensation!

Whew. How'd I do?Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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The Shepherds Returned to Their Flocks

by Jo Robertson



I’m not particularly religious, but I've spent a number of years studying various religions and the King James Bible as literature.

Luke records the miracle of the birth of the Baby and includes the account of the shepherds. You know the story – the long trek to Bethlehem to be taxed, the no-room-in-the-inn scenario, the cave and the manger, the angels and the shepherds.


Because angels with wings and holy seraphim seem more metaphoric than literal to me, I always found what those shepherds did after visiting the manger more interesting than their actually getting there.

Ah, those shepherds! How I loved the them.

Since the concept of a shepherd and his or her flock has universal application, I was intrigued by what the shepherds did afterwards.


They returned to their flocks, Luke says.


And although they told the glorious news and sang praises for God’s gift, they returned to their flocks.

Interesting.

They didn’t rush out and build a holy tabernacle. They didn’t write up the story and publish it in the Bethlehem Daily Journal. Nor did they try to sell their sheep and get a higher fee for them because they’d actually witnessed the babe in the manger.

Instead the shepherds returned to their flocks.


They went about the daily business of herding sheep. Sheep are rather dim-witted creatures. They need a shepherd to tend them, guide them, watch over them.


Let me extend the analogy.

If we’re all shepherds like those ancient commoners, what or who represents our “flocks”?

That’s fairly simple.

Teachers teach students.


Parents parent children, and often pets.


Writers write books.


Presidents preside over governments.


Grandparents – ah yes, they simply spoil those same children or pets.


Readers read books.



And so it goes.

I've been to the Grotto at Bethlehem, an unassuming sight, but I’m not particularly concerned whether the shepherds visited a real hillside cave and found a new-born child two thousand years ago, or whether it’s a beautiful metaphor.

What I care about is the message.

The shepherds returned to their flocks.

Thinking about those shepherds gives me new resolve to return to my “flock,” whether it’s my family, my career, my church, my hobbies. Or in my case at this juncture in my life – dedication to my writing.

We’re about to herald a new year – a whole new decade! How cool is that? The thought of an entire decade stretching out before me unblemished by my stupid mistakes is really intriguing. I want to rush out and write something on those pristine years! I want to slough off the old and begin anew!

What about you, readers? What would you like to focus your energies on? What would you like to rededicate yourself to? If you are the shepherd in your life, what’s the “flock” you’re returning to? What commitments will you make, what renewed purpose?
Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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Steamed Fish

Cooking this dish is effortless, the only difficult part is to scale or like me, just remove the skin of the fish.  You can beat Rachael Ray hands down way for preparing your dinner before 30 minutes, if you serving this dish..  The plate of fish is left to steam on top of the rice, in the rice cooker,  as soon as there are no more bubbles on the surface of the rice.  Leave the plate of fish on top, close the lid and forget about it until you are ready to have dinner.  To complete your dinner menu,  a vegetable dish will be good.  Wash and cut up some leafy vegetables, arrange them on a plate and add in a couple of tablespoons of oil, zap in the microwave for 3 - 4 minutes.  Add in a tablespoon of oyster sauce before serving.  Two dishes down, now you need to balance your dinner nutritiously with a meat or tofu dish and a soup like egg drop, miso or hot and sour soup .  This is pretty much the daily action in my kitchen and sometimes when there is no more greens in the fridge, just serve 'kimchi'.






Ingredients:


1 piece of fish steak/fillet
1 stalk spring onions
1 heaped teaspoon of Ginger and garlic sauce
A dash of white pepper(optional)
Shredded spring onions for garnishing

Method:

Scale or remove the skin if you need to.

Put the stalk of spring onion on to a plate/dish that will fit your rice cooker and place fish steak/fillet on top. 

Top the fish steak/fillet with the ginger and garlic sauce and when there are no more bubbles on the rice, place prepared plate/dish on top of rice.  Close the rice cooker lid and forget about it until you are ready for dinner.

Sprinkle a dash of white pepper and garnish with shredded spring onions before serving



Serves

Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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The Timeless Sandy Blair

Suz: MAC DUFF'S SECRET is the third time travel romance you've written. What is it about time travel romances that you like?

Sandy: The possibility-the fantasy--of time travel fascinates me and I often find myself wondering how I'd react if thrown back or forward in time.

Would I-or a particular character--be intimidated by the lack of modern conveniences or become inventive in an effort to reestablish creature comforts? (I.e. try to make toilet paper.) Would I be brave enough to confront injustice or those displaying prejudices we now find appalling? If my hero knew from a modern perspective that something terrible was about to happen would he dare try to change history, knowing there'd be a domino effect, that everything-good and bad--from that point forward would also change? If throw forward in time how would I cope with learning everyone I held dear had died in some horrible fashion? These are the things I find myself thinking about when staring at the ceiling at 3:00AM.

Suz: Are there any unique challenges to time travel romances?

Sandy: Yes. The first challenge is crafting a fresh situation in which the possibility of time-travel is in some way believable. (Standing stones and fairy rings have been done repeatedly.)

The second challenge depends on where the protagonist (s) is heading-whether back in time, forward to the present, or into the future. The author may have to "world build" or do in-depth research into a particular time period (s) and in some cases, do both.

The last hurdle is making a protagonist's reactions to a "new reality" ring true for the reader, which often requires some soul searching on the author's part.


Suz: MAC DUFF'S SECRET is also your second novella. I think you do these very well. What do you like about writing for anthologies? And what do you see as the unique challenges to writing them?

Sandy: Thank you for the compliment. To be truthful I must admit to having an ambivalent relationship with anthologies. I love getting "the call." There's no rejection. The editor has come to me. Yahoo! Better yet, I don't have to come up with a High Concept. The editor has given it to me. Yahoo x 2! Riding high on these thoughts, I always say, "Yes! I'd love to do a novella for this anthology."

The minute I hang up the phone that's when the hate part-the panic--kicks in. My mind starts screeching, "They only want how many pages?!? How can anyone write a story worth reading using so few words? You can't even say hello in under 50, you idiot! And you promised to deliver in 90 days?! What were you thinking? What?!"

A few glasses of wine later I've usually settled down, have a Universal theme and "What if?" scenario in mind, am ready to bounce these off my trusty Cp (Bless you!) and get down to the hard work of making these characters empathetic/believable. And somehow it all comes together on time.

Suz: So, give us a quick peek at MAC DUFF'S SECRET without giving away too much, since it is a novella.

Sandy: Would love to.

"How bad could it be?" That's all Sarah Colbert thought when she agreed to chaperone her private school's sixth grade field trip through Edinburgh. She's about to find out when she and her students find themselves trapped in a Highland glen that time forgot with a battle-scarred warrior they'll never forget.

Suz: Are you working on anything new that we can look forward to reading?

Sandy: I currently working on three novels; two light-hearted Scotland-set historical Romances and my first historical (biographical) fiction, which is generating loads of personal angst and anticipation. After that, who knows? I may start working on the Gothic Romance I've had simmering on the back burner for two years. (He's delicious...in a dark and brooding sort of way. )

Okay...so weigh in readers...Do you like time travels? What is your favorite part of them? And do you like big anthology books like the Mamoth books?

Sandy will be giving away a copy of her anthology MAC DUFF'S SECERET in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TIME TRAVEL ROMANCES to one lucky commentor.Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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Ginger And Garlic Sauce

2009 is ending in three days time and i have made a promise of a good thing and i better keep my promise.  A promise is a promise and whether it is a good thing to others or not, it is a good thing to me, not in the healthy sense(i am not going into this subject about saturated fat - Eat you Die, you do not eat you die, so????) but good in the sense that it aids my cooking when time is the essence.  I love this sauce, a bottle of it is in the fridge, ready for Hainanese Chicken Rice and whatever dishes that have ginger and garlic in the recipe.  A tablespoon is surfficed for 3 cups of rice and 1 teaspoon will do for Steaming a piece of fish - 1/2 lb steak or fillet.

For Rendered Chicken Fat,  the fat on the chicken has to be accumulated and frozen everytime you cut up a whole chicken.  As soon as you have a sandwich bag full of chicken fat, it is time to render.  Put them in large corningware with a lid and microwave on high until the fat has rendered.






Ingredients:














































1 1/2 cups Rendered Chicken Fat
4 ozs/113 g ginger - peeled

5 ozs/150 gm garlic - peeled
6 tsp salt
6 tsp Knorrs Chicken Broth Mix/chicken granules/cubes

Method:

Using the food processor, process the ginger and garlic into a paste.

Pour into a large bowl which is microwave-safe, add in the rendered chicken fat and microwave on high for 3 minutes, one minute at a time and stir.

Add in salt and Knorrs Chicken Broth Mix.

Cool before bottling and keep in the fridge.






Serves
Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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To Be Read

by Beth

My To-Be-Read pile has somehow grown into a To-Be-Read hill. It's gone from three separate piles (one romance, one nonfiction and one for non-romance fiction) to four piles (I went on a buying spree and had to make a pile for my paranormal YAs and urban fantasy books *g*) I know quite a few of you can relate to my multiplying books, or perhaps your own TBR piles are more like mountains. Either way, all I know is that at the beginning of 2009 I had a goal of reading more and keeping my TBR pile manageable.

Well, I did read more than I have in the past few years. I also bought more books. Many, MANY more books. Which is how I discovered a few new-to-me authors who are now on my Auto-Buy list including Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson & The Olympians YA series, and Kristan Higgins who writes fabulous romantic comedies.

One thing I've noticed about my current TBR piles is that there are many more books by authors I haven't read before. To be honest, I'm not sure why that is, all I know is that I'm anxious to get through every story in the hopes of transferring even more books from the TBR pile to my Keeper Shelves *g*

Here are the books by New-To-Me authors I plan on reading next month:

Evermore - Alyson Noel

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Prime Time - Hank Phillippi Ryan

The Blue Zone - Andrew Gross

Highland Scandal - Julia London

She Thinks Her Ex Is Sexy - Joanne Rock

Start Me Up - Victoria Dahl

Outcast - Joan Johnston

Kiss of Midnight - Lara Adrian

Nightwalker - Jocelynn Drake

Soul Magic - Jennifer Lyon

My Favorite Witch - Lisa Plumley

Night's Cold Kiss - Tracey O'Hara

Servant: The Kindred - L.L. Foster

Have you read any of the books listed above? Are there any you'd recommend move to the top of my TBR pile? What does your TBR pile look like? Did you discover any new authors in 2009?


Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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Winter Wonderland

by Nancy

We had a gray Christmas, not a white one, with rain most of the day yesterday. Not quite the ambiance we've been trained to expect. As the dh said, "No one wrote a song dreaming of a wet Christmas." And Charles Dickens didn't write about rain in A Christmas Carol. We would've liked just a bit of the white stuff--a few flurries, perhaps, though the boy believes "snow when [he's] out of school is wasted snow."

I imagine those of you looking at anything from multiple inches to a couple of feet of snow may wonder if I know what I'm saying, especially if the snow canceled your travel plans. And I do understand that snow presents anything from an inconvenience to a confounded nuisance to a danger. Yet snow has always had a mystique here in the central Carolinas, probably because we have it so seldom. I've had snow on the brain lately, in part because of my new fixation with the Times of London website, which featured snow so heavily this past week (including the Dickens article in the link above), and because of the nasty storm crippling the central US this week. However, I actually got the idea for this blog while watching the dh's favorite holiday movie, A Christmas Story, yesterday afternoon.

At the end of the movie, the parents sit in the darkened living room with light coming only from the tree lights and from streetlights shining through falling snow outside. And they comment on the beauty of the scene. It struck me then, obvious though this may have been to others, that it isn't really the snow that's beautiful, at least not for me. It's what light does to snow and vice-versa.

Light shining through or reflecting off snow gives it a fairyland sheen. The snow covers the bumps and rough spots of the ground underneath, diffusing the light so everything glistens as though it had a magical coating. The shadows become more obvious than they would be on grass, and there's an aura of magic about the whole thing. At least for those of us who don't live with in week in and week out. I suspect this is all a matter of perspective, but I did enjoy looking at photos of snowy scenes from around the world.


Ice is dangerous--ask anyone. We've had ice storms here that brought down limbs on power lines and roofs and caused terrible hardships. Black ice caused a horrible bus crash in Cornwall last week. Yet seeing the sun shine through that ice coating a limb gives it a silvery, ethereal beauty made all the stronger because it's fleeting. That very sunlight that creates the beauty will soon destroy it.

Snow used to be a "get out of school free" card. Around here, we know we don't understand how to drive in snow, so most of us try not to. Yet there are always people who have to. For them, I'm sure, the snow is not so much a beauty as a nuisance. When I had to drive to work on snow-over-ice, I didn't love it so much. Still, I fondly remember sledding down a slick street with my friends in high school. No one else was out, and I worked up my courage by starting halfway down the hill and then going progressively higher. Because my companions were lifelong friends, nobody gave me any grief about being afraid of speed.

What about you? Is snow a blessing or a bane to you? Or both?

In the spirit of Boxing Day, I'm boxing up and sending to one commenter a duplicate soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Black Pearl I somehow acquired. It's still in the packaging, but I don't have the receipt, so it's offered unused but "as is." I also have a signed copy of Warrior's Lady donated by Gerri Russell and a copy (not signed) of Don't Bargain with the Devil donated by Sabrina Jeffries.

This is my last blog post of 2009, so Happy Boxing Day and best wishes for a healthy, happy 2010!Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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Merry Christmas from the hackey hudjson!

by Kate


‘Tis Better to Give …

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of waking up on Christmas morning and seeing the acre of presents spread out under the tree. I loved opening Christmas presents, and Santa Claus never disappointed.

But now that I’m all grown up, I find it's much more special and fun to watch others open their gifts. I love to see the looks on my friends and loved ones' faces when they see what it is, when they look up at me with excitement and pure joy at the realization that I've managed to find the absolute perfect gift for them.

Well, that's the dream, anyway. :-)

Over the last few years, my family and I have pared down the gift giving dramatically. It's not just because of the tough economic times. It's because we all have everything we need. So what do you give an adult who has everything?

These days, in my family, we all donate to a few special organizations, then exchange fun, token gifts so that everyone has something to open and enjoy on Christmas morning. I like to give socks. Who doesn’t need socks?


But here in the Lair, we Banditas LOVE to give, give, give. Especially on Christmas Day! So today, one lucky random commenter will win our fabulous Bandita Christmas Basket!! It’s filled with wonderful goodies like these:

* Every Night I'm Yours and Every Time We Kiss from Christie

* $15 Border's gift card from Jo

* Dark and Deadly from Jeanne

* Golden Rooster jewelry and a cuddly hackey hudjson teddy bear from Anna Sugden

* $15 Barnes & Noble gift card from Susan Sey

* If Books Could Kill ARC, plus a bookmark and Ghirardelli chocolates from Kate

* $10 Barnes & Noble gift card from Cassondra

* Wicked Little Game from Christine

* Yummy Godiva chocolate from Joanie

* Captive of Sin from Anna Campbell

* Feels Like the First Time, Coming on Strong and Going Down Hard from Tawny

* The Seduction of a Duke from Donna

* $10 Starbucks gift card from Trish

* Not Without Her Family and A Not-So-Perfect Past from Beth

* Caramel TimTams, chocolate cream TimTams, and spice tea from Nancy

* The Treasures of Venice from Aunty Cindy

* and more!


What’s the best part of the season for you? What is the most wonderful gift you've ever given someone? What's the best gift you've ever received?

To all the Banditas and friends who have been with us throughout the year, Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year to all!
Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/12/
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