Volume 1, Issue 3 - March 2006
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Welcome to my bi-monthly newsletter, Lyndi's Love Notes.
Contents of this issue:
Lyndi's News
Monthly Column:
Why I Love All Things Irish
Exclusive Excerpt from Painting Penelope
Irish Trivia
Quotes for the Month: Irish Quotes
This Month's Contest
Lyndi's Books
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News
Welcome to the third issue of Lyndi's Love Notes. This month's theme is all things Irish.
Lots of news this month. I have a new email address: lyndilamont@yahoo.com. I'll be phasing out the old address at sbcglobal.net in the next few months.
I'm attending two conferences in the next few weeks. I'll be in San Antonio for
EPICon 2006 from March 15-20, including the first ever e-Fiesta on Alamo Plaza to spread the word about e-publishing and build public awareness.
At the end of the month I'm attending my first ever Celebrate Romance conference. This year it's in Long Beach, California, so it's fairly local for me. I'll be joining Harlequin author Jina Bacarr in leading a discussion on Erotic Romance and why it's not porn.
Valentine's Day brought a really nice surprise this year. My western novella, Lily And The Gambler received a CAPA (Cupid and Psyche Award) nomination from The Romance Studio in the Erotic Historical Romance category. The winners will be announced on St. Patrick's Day. You can view the entire list at their website.
My next release, Seducing The Enemy, part of the Prying Eyes AmberPax(TM) is due to be released in late April. It's the story of Sally Young, an American spy, who falls in love, and into bed, with the British officer quartered in her home. I'm thrilled with the beautiful cover art by Trace Edward Zaber.
Amber Quill Press is having an E-Spring Sale, with all erotica novels and novellas (including Lily And The Gambler) discounted by 25%. Some of the AmberPaxes are even discounted 25%, which is a big savings! The sale will continue through the end of May.
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Why I Love All Things Irish
by Lyndi Lamont
Since St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching, I thought I'd share a bit about myself and my background. As you can tell by my real last name, McLaughlin, some of my ancestors came from Ireland. In fact, more than half of them did. All of them came from Northern Ireland, and were of Scots-Irish (also known as Ulster Scots) descent.
The earliest McLaughlins arrived in Western Pennsylvania shortly after the Revolutionary War. They lived in a log cabin until the "new" farmhouse was built in the second half of the nineteenth century. I remember driving out to the farm with my parents to visit our cousins and the log cabin. My last trip home was in June, 1987 when I dragged my poor father through the oldest part of the local churchyard in search of family tombstones. He was a good sport, despite the heat and humidity.
My mother's mother was born in England, but both of her parents were from Northern Ireland. Mamie, as I called her, had an earthy sense of humor, and enjoyed talking about her mother who was known for her colorful vocabulary. Her favorite swear word started with the letters "sh". Her husband, who never cursed, used to say to her, "Ah, Sarah, you take in your mouth what I wouldn't take in me hand."
For several centuries, Ireland's biggest export was its people, who enriched the cultures of the United States, Canada, and Australia. They brought their music with them, particularly the fiddle tradition. Much American music, Bluegrass, in particular, owes much to the Irish.
One of the things I love best about Ireland is the music. Not the Riverdance type of music, but the pub music, especially the drinking songs and the rebel songs. I've long been a fan of the Irish Rovers, and The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Before I could legally imbibe, I enjoyed songs like "The Moonshiner" and "Whiskey, You're The Devil". Irish folk songs are, by turn, lyrical, raucous, comical, tragic or irreverent.
No one with my romantic tendencies could resist songs about a glorious lost cause like the United Irish uprising of 1798 that attempted to unite Catholic and Protestant Irishmen to throw off the yoke of England. I'm happy so many of the recordings have been transferred to CD so I can still listen to them, whenever I feel the urge.
On St. Paddy's Day,
My wish for you
Is a large bowl
Of Irish stew,
And a pint or two
Of your favorite brew.
Lyndi
© 2006 by Lyndi Lamont
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED<
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Exclusive Excerpt from Painting Penelope
(Note: Logan Wilding, the hero of PAINTING PENELOPE, is a handsome fellow with classic Black Irish looks - dark hair and blue eyes.)
"What does he want?" she asked softly.
Her father cleared his throat. "Er, apparently the man's an amateur artist. Spends most of his time drawing and painting when the Army is in winter quarters."
Penny folded her arms across her chest. "And precisely what does that have to do with this matter?"
Her father refused to meet her gaze. "Captain Wilding is in need of a model. He wants you to pose for him."
"Is that all?" she asked, still suspicious.
"I swear it, Penny."
* * * *
It wasn't until the next day that Penny found out there was indeed more to Logan Wilding's unholy bargain.
"In the nude? You must be mad." She stared at the man who was attempting to ruin her life, not to mention her reputation. Logan Wilding had all the good looks and charm his countrymen were renowned for, but he was no gentleman. He hadn't even had the courtesy to don his jacket and cravat to speak with her. No, he stood there in trousers and a white shirt, open at the neck, revealing a strong bronzed neck and a glimpse of manly wisps of chest hair as black as his heart.
He raised one eyebrow. "Any artist would be pleased to paint you, Miss Porter."
She swallowed a snort of disbelief. "Has no one told you that red hair is quite out of fashion?"
He smiled, displaying a row of perfect white teeth, drat him.
"Many of the great beauties painted by the Renaissance artists were redheads. Botticelli's Venus and Titian's many models, for example. And being Irish, I'm somewhat partial to red hair."
She glared at him.
"Seriously, Miss Porter, I've admired you for some time now."
She sank down onto a ratty-looking settee. Bad enough that she had come to the quarters of a single man, but he was barking mad to boot. She took a quick glance around the large, airy but somewhat shabby room, badly in need of new whitewashing on the walls. Was it any wonder Army officers were such a rackety lot? No real home, just temporary rooms during the winter and tents while on campaign. And Logan Wilding appeared to be crazier than most.
Penny had no illusions about her own charms. Besides the red hair, she was a tall girl of ample proportions, more suited to riding a horse than maneuvering around a ballroom floor. And the slim, high-waisted fashions of the day did nothing to flatter her figure. That was why she hadn't remonstrated when her father decided not to send her to London for her debut. She had known she wouldn't take in London society. And now this reprobate was pretending to admire her. It was the outside of enough.
"Spare me," she said briskly. "Captain Wilding, I refuse to do as you ask. Is there nothing else that will satisfy you?"
He studied her, an assessing stare in his bold blue eyes. "Nothing that will involve keeping your clothes on."
© 2004 by Lyndi Lamont
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Irish Trivia:
St. Patrick's Day marks the Roman Catholic feast day for Ireland's patron saint, who died in the 5th century. St. Patrick (Patricius in Latin) was not born in Ireland, but in Britain.
Irish brigands kidnapped St. Patrick at the age of 16 and brought him to Ireland. He was sold as a slave in the county of Antrim and served in bondage for six years until he escaped to Gaul, in present-day France. He later returned to his parents' home in Britain, where he had a vision that he would preach to the Irish. After 14 years of study, Patrick returned to Ireland, where he built churches and spread the Christian faith for some 30 years.
Many myths surround St. Patrick. One of the best known - and most inaccurate - is that Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland into the Irish Sea, where the serpents drowned. (Some still say that is why the sea is so rough.) But snakes have never been native to the Emerald Isle. The serpents were likely a metaphor for druidic religions, which steadily disappeared from Ireland in the centuries after St. Patrick planted the seeds of Christianity on the island.
In the United States, it's customary to wear green on St. Patrick's Day, but in Ireland the color was long considered to be unlucky, says Bridget Haggerty, author of The Traditional Irish Wedding and the Irish Culture and Customs Website. As Haggerty explains, Irish folklore holds that green is the favorite color of the Good People (the proper name for faeries). They are likely to steal people, especially children, who wear too much of the color.
Colonial New York City hosted the first official St. Patrick's Day parade in 1762, when Irish immigrants in the British colonial army marched down city streets. In subsequent years Irish fraternal organizations also held processions to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The various groups merged sometime around 1850 to form a single, grand parade.
Today New York's St. Patrick's Day parade is the longest running civilian parade in the world. This year nearly three million spectators are expected to watch the spectacle and some 150,000 participants plan to march.
Dublin's St. Patrick's Day parade is little more than 75 years old. This year festival organizers will launch 15,000 pounds (7 metric tons) of fireworks to cap their celebration, which is expected to draw 400,000 spectators.
By law, pubs in Ireland were closed on St. Patrick's Day, a national religious holiday, as recently as the 1970s.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 34 million United States residents claim Irish ancestry, or nearly ten times the entire population of Ireland today, which stands at 3.9 million. Among U.S. ethnic groups, the number of Irish-Americans in the U.S. is second only to the number of German-Americans.
Since 1820, 4.8 million Irish have legally immigrated to the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The agency reports that only four countries - Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the United Kingdom - have sent more native-born residents to become naturalized U.S. citizens.
Chicago is famous for dyeing the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day. The tradition began in 1962, when a pipe fitters union - with the permission of the mayor - poured a hundred pounds (45 kilograms) of green vegetable dye into the river. (On the job, the workers often use colored dyes to track illegal sewage dumping.) Today only 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of dye are used, enough to turn the river green for several hours. According to the Friends of the Chicago River, a local environmental group, more people are likely to view the Chicago River on St. Patrick's Day than
on any other day.
Guinness stout, first brewed by Arthur Guinness in Dublin, Ireland, in 1759, has become synonymous with Ireland and Irish bars. According to the company's Web site, 1,883,200,000 (that's 1.9 billion) pints of Guinness are consumed around the world every year.
Robert Louis Stevenson, the 19th-century Scottish author of Kidnapped, Treasure Island, and other novels, brought a store of Guinness with him during a trip to Samoa in the South Pacific, according to the Guinness Web site.
Ireland is about 300 miles (480 kilometers) long and 200 miles (320 kilometers) wide. Those facts, along with other features, led Swedish geographer Ulf Erlingsson to recently conclude that the Atlantic Ocean island is the same one identified by ancient Greek philosopher Plato as Atlantis in his famous dialogues Timaeus and Critias.
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Irish Quotes and Blessings
"Ireland, sir, for good or evil, is like no other place under heaven, and no man can touch its sod or breathe its air without becoming better or worse." - George Bernard Shaw
"This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." - Sigmund Freud (speaking about the Irish)
"For the good are always the merry,
Save for an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance"
- W.B. Yeats, "The Fiddler of Dooney"
Irish Blessings:
Here's to lying, stealing, and cheating!
May you lie to save a friend;
May you steal the heart of the one you love;
And may you cheat death.
May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you wherever you go.
May the sun shine all day long,
Everything go right and nothing go wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you
And may all the wishes you wish come true!
A world of wishes at your command,
God and his angels close at hand,
Friends and family, their love impart,
And Irish blessings in your heart!
May you work like you don't need the money,
Love like you've never been hurt, and
Dance like no one is watching.
May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
May the enemies of Ireland never meet a friend.
And my personal favorite:
May you be an hour in heaven before the devil knows you're gone.
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This month's Giveaway:
This month's giveaway is any Amber Heat erotic novel or novella of the winner's choice. (See the AQP E-Spring sale at http://www.amberquill.com/sale_eroticanovels.html.)
A winner will be drawn from among all active members of my Lyndi Lamont Yahoo Group. Click here to join, or contact me at lyndilamont@yahoo.com to request an email invitation. A winner will be chosen before the next newsletter comes out in May.
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Lyndi’s Books:
DARE ALL FOR LOVE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF EROTIC ROMANCE
Historical Erotica Anthology
Join Lyndi Lamont for a journey into the past, where the men are roguish and the women daring.
A gambler disrupts the plans of a mail-order bride looking for one last fling...
A rakish officer wants to paint a respectable lady—in the nude...
A bold wench and a dashing pirate heat up the tropics...
A schoolmarm gives herself to the outlaw waiting in her bedroom...
Contents: Lily and the Gambler, Painting Penelope, Prepare To Be Boarded, Desperado
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DESPERADO
Short Historical/Western Erotica
Rating: Graphic Sexual Content/Graphic Language
Schoolmarm Esther McFarland comes home to find an outlaw waiting in her bedroom. Why does she find this desperado so irresistible? All she wants from life is a home and family of her own, but all he has to offer is danger and delight.
Bart Braddock is a wanted man. Though he knows Esther is the only woman for him, he can’t promise her the home she wants. But that doesn’t stop him from taking her body and stealing her heart...
Click here to read an excerpt.
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PREPARE TO BE BOARDED
Short Historical Erotica
Rating: Graphic Sexual Content/Graphic Language
When the ship on which Eliza Honeyfield is traveling is stopped by pirates, she meets the man of her dreams. But dare she give her heart, and body, to a pirate?
Morgan Price is delighted with the bold and saucy English wench. But is she enough to make him give up his wild pirate ways?
Click here to read an excerpt.
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LILY AND THE GAMBLER
Historical/Western Erotica Novella
Rating: Moderate Sexual Content/Graphic Language
On the way to meet her groom-to-be, mail order bride Lily Albright can't resist one last fling with a sexy gambler. After one night with Lily, Creighton "King" Callaway knows he has found his Queen of Hearts. But can he convince her to pass up a sober businessman for a foot-loose card sharp? Only Lady Luck knows for sure...
Click here to read an excerpt.
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PAINTING PENELOPE
Short Historical Erotica
Rating: Moderate Sexual Content/Language
Respectable Penelope Porter is appalled when she learns she is expected to pay her father's gaming debts by posing for rakish Captain Logan Wilding—in the nude!
As Logan feared, painting Penelope turns out to be pure torture—until she decides to let him touch as well as look...
Click here to read an excerpt.
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I hope you enjoyed this issue of Lyndi's Love Notes. Watch for the next issue in May.
Farewell for now - or as they say in Ireland - Slán go fóill (pronounced: slawn guh foyle).
Lyndi
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