Going to National

I'm heading off for the RWA National Conference in Orlando.....so, I'll be taking a break from my blog for the next couple of weeks...sorry, no recipes or guest authors.  When I return, we'll start up again.

If you're going to Orlando, too, please look me up!

Anna Kathryn

Salvation Bride - 64% Off at Barnes and Noble

Wow, you can get my story, Salvation Bride, an ebook for $1.25, that's a 64% saving!

Blurb:

The hot dusty town of Salvation, Texas has more than its share of secrets in 1873 when Laura Ashton's stage rolls into town. Sheriff David Slade has no idea what baggage his mail-order bride is bringing into his life. Throw in the nightmares from his Civil War days and he's got more than courting to contend with. Laura's a woman ahead of her time, a woman trained in medicine. And she's got a will that could move mountains. Unfortunately, the only mountains in Salvation are in Sheriff Slade's memory. Can the determined doctor heal his pain, or will the dark secret in her past turn up to steal his Salvation Bride?

Salvation Bride -- Winner of the Preditors and Editors Best Short Romance Story of 2009 Readers Poll

SALVATION BRIDE - Buy it now!

Wedensday's Chow - Tuna Casserole

This is a family favorite.  The recipe was given to me as a young bride when I married my first husband. But there's more to the story.  My oldest daughter learned to walk at 8 months because of this recipe.  She'd move from me to my ex-husband as we ate in the living room, getting bites from each of us.

Tuna Casserole


Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can tuna fish
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven 350° Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain. Meanwhile heat soup with milk, stir in cheddar cheese and melt. Mix tuna fish and mayonnaise. Add macaroni and soup mixture. Pour into a casserole dish. Heat in oven for 20 minutes.

Blogging at Seduced by History

Join me today at Seduced by History, where I'm blogging on Artemisia Gentileschi, a medieval Italian painting and the first woman admitted to the Accademia dell’Arte del Disegno in Florence.  Leave a comment and you could win a great biographical book on dozens of women throughout history, LADIES FIRST by Lynn Santa Lucia.

Wednesday's Chow - Broccoli-Apple Salad with Bacon

Broccoli-Apple Salad with Bacon
From tasteofhome Bacon Recipe Cards

Ingredients:

2 cups coarsely chopped fresh broccoli florets
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cauliflower
2 medium carrots, chopped
½ cup dried cranberries
1 medium red apple, chopped
1 medium Granny Smith apple, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 pound sliced maple-flavored bacon, cooked and crumbled
½ cup sunflower kernels

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and cranberries. Toss apples with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, then add to vegetable mixture and toss.

In a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, syrup and remaining lemon juice. Stir into broccoli mixture. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Just before serving, stir in bacon and sunflower kernels.

Serves 10.

Brief RomCon 2010 Recap & Contest!

Hello everyone! My name is Meagan Hatfield and I will be hijacking Anna's blog today. Muah-ah-ah! :) I'll also be giving away one copy of my NEW dark paranormal romance, SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, so stayed tuned below for how to win.

So, this past weekend, I visited Denver, Colorado (well, sort of. We weren't exactly downtown, but close enough I guess) for the first ever Romance Readers Convention - RomCon. I had such a great time, I thought instead of rambling on and on about nothing like I usually do when I guest blog, I'd ramble on and on about my three days in Denver!

My Friday started at 3am...earlier if you count the hours my cat kept me awake. He saw the packed bags and just about lost it. I swear by Midnight, I sounded like Cartman from South Park - "Dammit, kitty I'm trying to sleep! Bad kitty! No kitty, this is my pot pie!" lol! Alas, I did manage a couple hours sleep and still made my 6am flight.

I had a layover in Milwaukee for almost two hours...just long enough to enjoy the breakfast of traveling champions - the Bloody Mary - at the airport bar. Mmmm. I also talked up my books to a few patrons, and even sold one to a fellow Bloody Mary enthusiast who downloaded it to her kindle. :)

After boarding a disturbingly small plane and a two + hour jaunt to Denver, we land in DIA...probably the worst airport on the planet. This opinion would only be reinforced later on my trip home.

Having been told that the hotel did not have a shuttle service, I hopped on a Super Shuttle.....headed downtown, an hour out of my way! Ack! Thank God I spotted my hotel's shuttle on the way, and that the driver was nice enough to go completely off her route and drop me off at the correct hotel. Which reminds me, I need to call someone about a refund...oh, anyway...

With an hour to spare, I check in and book it down to my first panel, "Anti-Heroes You Hate to Love." A fun panel with loads of great authors like Cindy Gerard, Jeaniene Frost, Jo Beverley, Lori Wilde and more! We paired off in groups and visited up close and personal with the attendees. Jessa Slade and I migrated from table to table of readers, chit-chatting about what makes a great anti-hero, the hottie Raylan Givens from 'Justified' and numerous other topics that came to mind.

At 2pm I sat the "Question and Answer chat with FF&P Authors" panel along with the amazingly talented and sweet, Christine Feehan, Nalini Singh, Jessa Slade and CL Wilson. I think I managed to say one coherent sentence during that hour. However, I can't vouch for the other ones that babbled out of my mouth. ;) How I ended up on that panel, I'll never know. But it was an absolute honor to chat with those ladies.

Christine, being the doll she is, was nice enough to tolerate me going "fan girl" over her and posing for a picture with me. She even bought a copy of SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE and asked me to sign it for her!! I about died.

At 3pm, the next panel I sat on was probably the most fun I've had at a conference workshop..."Build a Hero" again with Jessa Slade, who at this point no doubt thought I was stalking her. *smiles* Our table, the paranormal/urban fantasy table, came up with the uber scrummy dark fae hero, Shikar. We were robbed by the historical hero for the grand prize of best hero, but we definitely built the better book! Just look at those copious notes we took! Pretty impressive, huh? :)

Here I am with some of our "Team Awesome" gals at our table. And here is another one of me waiting to give our hero, Shikar, his moment in the spotlight in front of the room.

After this, I had a few moments to change before heading down to the bar for cocktail hour and dinner and the awards ceremony. A costume ball followed, you can see some of us below in our attire - I'm in the long black dress.

I was a Victorian Vampire (minus the fangs because they annoyed me) with a Zombie baby. He is one of my favorite Halloween accessories and was quite the hit - you can see a pic of him below.

creepy baby alert!

Saturday, I had breakfast with the lovely Jen (who is pictured above in the blue-ish corset) and then headed on down to the book signing. It was set up a little odd, what with the books not being on the tables beside the authors. But even with the snafus, I counted signing almost 20 books. Yay! :)

2:30pm I sat the Were-Squares panel, with Nalini Singh, Cathy Clamp, Carrie Vaughn & CL Wilson. It was a fun question and answer game and everybody walked away with books.

I did memory lane at 3:30pm - a table area set up where readers could come over and chat with authors. Unfortunately, the signage wasn't the best. Fortunately, I got to chat with one of my favorite authors ever, Terri Brisbin for almost an hour! :)

Thirty minutes later and it's cocktail hour and dinner again. I sat next to the lovely and funny, Carly Phillips, Monica McCarty, Veronica Wolff and Jami Alden. This time dinner was followed by a Black & White Masquerade. Here's a dorky pic Carly took of me in my costume:

haha, seeing that picture never fails to crack me up! But in my defense, my leg is in flamingo posture so she can see my platform boots - honest!

After another night of partying, Sunday rolled around. I sat with some more wonderfully, awe-inspiring authors for the "Speed Date a New Author" event, had a great catch up chat with Wendi Darlin' at Author Avenue and then it was off for the horrible DIA airport again. The lines were unGodly long and the flight overbooked, but I made it back to my corner of the world relatively unscathed. My cat was so excited to see me, my Sunday night ended much like my Friday one - with me doing my best Cartman impression as I begged my cat to be quiet so I could sleep. ;)

All in all, I had a fabulous time at the RomCon conference, saw some old friends and met SO many great new ones. I can't wait to do it again next year!

*CONTEST*

To be entered to win a copy of my July release, SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, leave me a comment telling me either your favorite or least favorite trip and why! That's it!

Can't wait to hear your stories and good luck!

Meagan~

Book Signing - July 17th

~Book Signing~

4 Local Romance Authors

Anna Kathryn Lanier

Skye Moncrief

Anne Marie Novark

Elizabeth Pina

Saturday, July 17

10-1pm

Deer Park Coffee House

(Formerly Brewed Awakenings)
118 Dixie Dr

Deer Park, TX

Books, Freebies,

Refreshments!!!

Join the Fun!!!

Wednesday's Chow - Veggie Dips

I know when I go to meetings, I like to take along food to share.  Here are some quick dips to serve with fruit, vegetables or crackers.

Note: you can gather the dry ingredeints for any of these recipes, put them in a baggie and give them away as a gift, with a note mentioning the 'wet' ingredients and the directions.

Herb Veggie Dip


Ingredients:

1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp thyme
1 ½ tsp dried tarragon
1 ½ tsp dried minced onion
¾ tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups sour cream
1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients and mix with sour cream and lemon juice. Stir until well blended. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. Serve with veggies.

Ranch Dip


Ingredients:

¾ Tbsp dried parsley
1 ½ tsp salt
¾ tsp dried chives
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried tarragon
¾ tsp garlic powder
¾ tsp lemon pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients. Blend mayonnaise and sour cream, then add herb mix. Blend well. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Serve with crackers or fresh vegetables.

Fruit Dip Mix


Ingredients:

1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp chopped crystallized ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
2 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened

Directions:

Combine all ingredients until well blended. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Serve with fresh fruit.

Mexican Fiesta Dip


Ingredients:

1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp plus 1/8 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp plus 1/8 tsp onion powder
½ tsp plus 1/8 tsp dried cilantro
1/8 heaping tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 heaping tsp pepper
1/8 heaping tsp salt
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and stir until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours before serving. Serve with tortilla chips or vegetables.

When you're finished with these dips, you can take a dip:

Time Travel & Kilts! Contests too...

He's arrived to help her create the perfect bride.

He’s stuck in present-day Scotland with a bent time-travel key only she can repair. Duty requires he return to his time. His ticket home relies on a lonely woman haunted by more than apparitions. Her track record with men keeps her at a distance. And ghostly events keep pushing them closer together. Earning her trust will require the kind of patience only a valiant time guardian learns during his twenty years of apprenticeship. If time-travel duty, romance, and a bit of magic don’t help them realize their destiny resonates in mysterious fairy SWORDSONG, all known history could change.

Hello, everyone! Thanks to Anna Kathryn for having me over. I'm going to leave you with some quotes on life that hit me as fitting for Independence Day. But first, I'd like to post an excerpt for my latest release SWORDSONG.

Excerpt

Wide Druid-blue eyes gazed up at Murdo. He lost his breath, then, found the unruly molecules. Fluctuating temperatures indicated shifts in electromagnetic radiation. Fairy movement. Most likely fey working with Seers. And the blonde rubbed her arms. Obviously chilled. Something was wrong.

“’Tis freezing where you stand.” He studied the doorway. “Don’t go out there alone.” His words sounded foolish.

Twentieth-century humans simply didn’t understand the powers of Seers.

She rubbed her arms frantically. “Aren’t you cold, Murdo?” Her sweet maiden lips trembled beside his chest where she frowned.

She spun to the door, arms whipping out, hands poised ready to react, legs firmly planted beneath her. “What do you want?”

Elemental or Seer. Naught was there but the post and lintel, stone masonry and a dark void. The spirit had come for Katie.

“What’s the matter, Katie?” Pam barked from behind him.

“No,” Katie yelled, springing into motion, lunging for the doorway.

Shit. The lass pushed something over her head.

Something invisible.

She flew back toward him and fell at his boots, arms scrabbling behind her for a handhold like a crab.

Guinevere pealed like a banshee.

He grabbed beneath Katie’s arms and hoisted her upward as the blaring female cacophony ricocheted off the stone walls. “What is it?” He searched Katie’s disturbed gaze.

She stared at the door, regaining her footing. “Stop laughing, you bastard.”

There had to be an intruder. Or spirit. But he only saw an empty doorway.

A quiet moment passed.

“No,” Katie screamed, reached out, seemingly blocking a blow with her forearm.

What did she see?

“What is it, Katie?” Pam shouted.

Katie had to stop reacting and fool the Seer. If she didn’t look, she wouldn’t react to the spirit. He grabbed the blonde maiden, crushing her gaze into his chest. “There’s naught there, Lass.”

Katie squirmed, fighting his grip. “He’s got a knife.”

He scanned the doorway for a person. Why would he expect to see the apparition? The Seer had only come for Katie.

She stilled in his arms.

Yet, her thundering heart hammered.

She wasn’t ready to believe his Post-Modern alchemical notions. Not with Truth hounding her in an astral projection.

The air warmed about them.

Probably more the heat from the fear in the chamber than an actual rise in temperature, but a rise in temperature would note the visitation had ended.

“Is he gone?” Murdo studied the doorway.

“I can’t see,” she droned.

Of course she couldn’t. He loosened his hold enough to permit her to look over her shoulder. Better to hang onto her with a spirit afoot.

Katie scanned the whole room. “He’s gone.”

The other females descended upon him. The three crowns bobbed beneath his chin as the other maidens’ arms grabbed Katie.

“What was it?” Guinevere simpered.

“Yes, tell us what you saw,” Pam commanded.

Out of the three, Murdo liked the masculine maiden most. She was all business. Very much a Brother in behavior.

“A large man in big black boots,” Katie gasped. “He laughed at us, shaking a knife over his shoulder. He was going to kill us.”

“I didn’t see him,” Guinevere managed to speak plainly.

“None of us did.” Murdo kept his hold on the maiden.

Katie shot him a bitter scowl.

Her pinched glare of betrayal wasn’t what the prize he wanted. “I’m not saying you didn’t, Lass.”

Read the 1st Chapter

Read about the hero today and enter to win a pdf of SWORDSONG & a gift certificate!

Enter to win a Time Guardian Fan Kit and learn how to enter to win a HIGHLAND HEATHER GHOST-CONJURING KIT at my yahoo newsletter group!

Now for my quotes... It's true. I'm a thinker. So, expect a bit of thinking from all of my characters. Just a wee bit though! ;)

Straight from the mind of Charlotte Bronte...
"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will."

"If you are cast in a different mould to the majority, it is no merit of yours: Nature did it."

"It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility; they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."

My reviews:

"Arthur is a masterpiece..." HE OF THE FIERY SWORD's King Arthur ~Diane Mason; The Romance Studio

"FORBIDDEN ETERNITY... spine-tingling suspense. The story is dynamite; it explodes off the page and leaves you breathless for more." ~Tulip, LASR

“THE SPELL OF THE KILLING MOON offers the best of spine-tingling suspense. The setting is perfect... Moncrief’s ability to wield magic and emotion are without compare. Her words twist together emotions and visuals until you experience this tale as if the trap were set for you. Some lines blend a kind of poetic magic: “Moonlight wove a special kind of magic, a spell so vacillating that a person never knew if reality were anything other than a dream.” Darkness and premonitions and deadly intent fill these pages... a unique blend of mystic Medieval Gothic and romance…and a true blood-curdling thriller." ~Snapdragon, LASR

"Intense, original, suspenseful, and dramatic... an unpredictable topsy-turvy romance... the suspense builds with every page in SACRIFICIAL HEARTS. In a world where symbols mean everything, magic is the way..." ~Snapdragon; LASR

Stories available at www.thewildrosepress.com
Kindle
Nook (most 64% off)
In Paperback

My website

"Be the change you want to see in the world." ~Ghandi