Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt hosted by Lisa Tawn Bergren
17th of May – 19th of May, 2013
{annual event! 2012 was the début!}
Hosted by: Lisa Tawn Bergren
A curious little blog hop whereupon you can visit or meet authors who pen the inspirational fiction stories that captivate us as they endear our hearts to their characters and stories. I cannot remember exactly which blog I regularly read that alerted me to this Hunt, which is why I gave credit to “The Cross and Cutlass”, MaryLu Tyndall’s blog as I do remember visiting her blog this week, and seeing the reminder of the Hunt posted! Although, it could have readily been read on “Writes of Passage” which is an author group blog that features Robin Lee Hatcher, who is also taking part of the Hunt!
The Grand Prize: 31 books by 31 authors! Ooh, my how I would find it incredible to win such a smashing piece of scavenger hunt treasure! I’d have to opt for the ‘printed’ copies, as anyone whose read *My Bookish Life* knows which types of books I read! I’d not hesitate to pass the ‘win’ on to someone else if perchance my name is drawn to receive these in e-book format on an iPad mini! Afterall, it’s a game, err, hunt of chance! Estimated value is: $300! for the 31 books in printed format!
The 31 books are as follows:
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Grave Consequences by Lisa T. Bergren
- Trouble in Store by Carol Cox
- Rosemary Cottage by Colleen Coble
- The Face of the Earth by Deborah Raney
- Captives by Jill Williamson
- Fall State Legends by John W. Otte
- Adoring Addie by Leslie Gould
- Love At Any Cost by Julie Lessman
- When Love Calls by Lorna Steilstad
- A Lady of Quality by Louise M. Gouge
- When A Secret Kills by Lynette Eason
- All in Good Time by Maureen Lang
- Forsaken Dreams by MaryLu Tyndall
- Scorned Justice by Margaret Daley
- Once Upon A Prince by Rachel Hauck
- King by R.J. Larson
- Georgia Sweethearts by Missy Tippens
- A Bride for All Seasons by Robin Lee Hatcher
- Mountain Homecoming by Sandra Robbins
- Stress Test by Richard L. Mabry, M.D.
- Talon by Ronie Kendig
- The Message on the Quilt by Stephanie Grace Whitson
- Moonlight Masquerade by Ruth Axtell
- So Shines the Night by Tracy L. Higley
- No Way Out by Susan Sleeman
- Truth Stained Lies by Terri Blackstock
- Tiny Dancer by Patricia Hickman
- Whispers on the Prairie by Vickie McDonough
- The Bride Next Door by Winnie Griggs
- Lydia’s Hope by Marta Perry
- Dragonwitch by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
The Hunt Hop Route: {32 stops to complete the loop of the hop!}
Each blog along the Hunt , features the next author to be found as you make your way around the stops! Therefore, each blog you visit is hosted by a different author than the one being featured, yet the one being featured is a bit of a clue of what you will find on the next stop you will click-through too! It’s a bit like an unsuspecting rail ticket to chart through sleepy hamlets and rambling scenery as you shift through the countryside in the comfort of your seat by the window!
{NOTE: I began this hunt on Friday, the 17th of May 2013 and completed it forty minutes shy of midnight, Sunday, the 19th of May 2013, being inches of minutes still on the Saturday, the 18th of May side of things! Whilst I made my rounds to each blog, I must confess, that initially I could only gloss over and make my extra entries as I jotted down the words in order to have built the winning phrase in time before the deadline! There simply wasn’t enough time for me to drink in the content as I normally would prefer whilst visiting blogs, which is why I went back as I formulated this listing!}
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Lisa Tawn Bergren* – Where the hunt is happily underfoot! The Hunt begins with an introduction to Rachel Hauck
- Rachel Hauck* – One of the authors who has residency on Southern Belle View Daily, and of whom, I enjoy conversing with through their weekly topics of conversation! Similar to the other Belles, I have not yet had the pleasure of reading her novels. She is featuring the author: Stephanie Grace Whitson, of whom I haven’t realised pens books on quilting in a similar vein as Jennifer Chiaverini, as she writes my beloved Elm Creek series!! I was so engrossed into the interview today, that I promptly started to write a lengthy email to accompany the request to receive the poem, “The Patchwork Quilt” which she offered to give to those who personally email her! I was quite enthused with everything that I learnt, that I promptly subscribed to her NL as well!
- Stephanie Grace Whitson – As you may have noticed the next author on the blog hop is the one that is featured on the previous stop! Ms. McDonough shared a scene from her July 2013 release Whispers on the Prairie. She was attempting to sort out how to give a character a severe asthma attack given that they didn’t have the same treatments in 1873 as they do today to make the attacks easier to manage!
- Vickie McDonough – One of the authors I was enjoying getting to know through the Society+ {February, March, and part of April 2013}, until of course, due to needing to make a reduction in spam, the Name/URL option was removed. I could not start to use my blog through OpenID, until I was ready to ‘launch’, so I’ve been reading from the sidelines! Oh, how I miss making comments!
- Colleen Coble – {unfortunately I took too long to compose my thoughts and the posting was already down!}
- Julie Lessman – Ms. Lessman hosted Ms. Raney, who spoke about her book “The Face of the Earth”. Ms. Raney shared a link for her Pin(terest) board of inspiration for the novel. I can understand where she is coming from by creating fiction settings anchored in reality, as I tend to do that myself!
- Deborah Raney – {unfortunately I took too long to compose my thoughts and the posting was already down!} I can say, that I loved the look of her blog/website, and the fact she’s a fan of Tom Selleck’s Jesse Stone was alright by me!
- Maureen Lang* – Ms. Daley spoke highly of the Texas Rangers which she focuses on in her series: The Men of the Texas Rangers. Ms. Lang offered an additional prize but I think it was one that I couldn’t enter. I have appreciated the Texas Rangers ever since they came alive in the series: Walker, Texas Ranger as well as The Lone Ranger.
- Margaret Daley – Ms. Tyndall is one author I’ve been following for most of the year, as in late Winter 2012 and early Spring of 2013, she was on blog tours for her latest release “Forsaken Dreams”. I sort of garnished a proper sense about the novel due to all the conversations that sparked out of the tours! Including, how would it feel to leave everything that you had ever known behind to embark of an incredible change of lifestyle as you emigrated to a new country!
- MaryLu Tyndall* – Ms. Axtell spoke about the difficulty in writing about spies and deciphering codes. She even provided a code sampler which would reveal the names of her characters in “Moonlight Masquerade”.
- Ruth Axtell* – Ms. Sleeman spoke about how characters are conceived and written into stories. Focusing on her Love Inspired Suspense “No Way Out”. I haven’t picked up a lot of Love Inspired stories in the past, although I have a few on my shelf that I found at a used book shoppe!
- Susan Sleeman – Ms. Blackstock shared her process for building a new series, focusing on her Moonlighter series. She talked the process of attaching which character to which book in the series and how using pictures helps her paint the characters features in her mind’s eye.
- Terri Blackstock – Mr. Mabry spoke about his hero from Stress Test, who suffers from a similar condition as writers where he never feels as though he’s worthy or succesful in life. About how our inner voices can play havoc on our overall well being and that we need to learn to silence them in order to realise our full potential. Having doubt is one thing, but to allow ourselves to be talked out of doing something OR out of believing in our abilities is quite another!
- Richard Mabry – Ms. Larson delved into the complexities of creating an entire world out of a writer’s imagination borrowing on cartography that is available of ancient worlds. She had an artist render her world on parchment set in ink to give it a more realistic touch. Adding in fantastical creatures and beasts set the stage for the characters that would populate the newly created world. Everything she spoke about is how she pulled together the setting behind “King” her Biblical-fantasy release.
- RJ Larson – Ms. Higley spoke of a first-hand account of travelling to conduct research to bring a pulsing realism to your story. She travelled to Ephesus for her book “So Shines the Night”. She provided written commentary as well as a video!
- Tracy Higley* – Ms. Eason talks about how you can go from short sentences to a full-on novel! This is something I can directly appreciate because one of my last manuscripts was based on five short plot directing points of interest! You’d be surprised how far you can go with only a little bit of inspiration to carry you forward! She was asking for people to email her directly after they had the chance to read “When a Secret Kills”. The title to me should be a forewarning not to hold secrets!
- Lynette Eason – Ms. Cox spoke about how you can unexpectedly dip into a well of creative musings that lead you down a writing path you might not have thought you’d take OR at the very least, have the ability to uncover a piece of your travels that might have eluded you!
- Carol Cox* – Ms. Seilstad posted an article about the operator girls in the 1900s, including facts about the industry. Her novel “When Love Calls” is one of the ones I am looking forward to reading one day!
- Lorna Seilstad* – Ms. Perry shared a scene from her new book “Lydia’s Hope”. She’s on my 70 Authors Challenge due to the fact that I am attempting to branch out into more Amish & Mennonite fiction!
- Marta Perry* – Ms. Gould cross referenced Shakespeare with the Amish., where she proposed the question if you thought your favourite Shakespearian play could be turned into an Amish story?! She gave examples of how “Courting Cate” is based on “The Taming of the Shrew” and how “Adoring Addie” is based on “Romeo & Juliet”!! I am a Shakespearian scholar, so I must say, this perked my interest!
- Leslie Gould* – Ms. Hatcher bespoke of what she would have carried with her whilst travelling as a mail-order-bride! I must confess, that mail-order bride stories are some of my most favourite to read! There is something about the freedom of attempting to direct your stars and better the life you’ve been given.
- Robin Lee Hatcher – Ms. Kendig writes military fiction stories that not only involve soldiers who are deployed but the MWDs as well! {ie: Military Working Dogs} Being a volunteer with Soldiers’ Angels, giving back to deployed servicemen and women each year by sending uplifting mail, I can attest to the need for inspiring and positive stories about our dedicated men and women who serve! I think the best thing that I learnt by her post was that you can *adopt!* MWDs!!
- Ronie Kendig* – Ms. Stengl wrote about how you can take a seemingly normal and unextraordinary plot and turn it into something rather fantastic!
- Anne Elisabeth Stengl – Mr. Otte’s post I must admit did not captivate me as much, because I do not read comics. Although I do appreciate comics and the readers who enjoy them! One thing I can say, is that I appreciate the art that is set between the words to bring the worlds alive!
- John Otte – Ms. Williamson spoke about the intricacies of creating a ‘future’ setting whilst building the world by which your writing. Complete with cartography, and the realistic issues of making it a fully lived world realised for the reader who finds your stories.
- Jill Williamson – Ms. Hickman introduced us to “Tiny Dancer” which was releasing in mid-June.
- Patricia Hickman – {unfortunately I took too long to compose my thoughts and the posting was already down!}
- Sandra Robbins – Ms. Tippens shared an essay entitled: Meaningful Gifts.
- Missy Tippens – Ms. Griggs shared a sneak peek of “A Family for Christmas”.
- Winnie Griggs – Ms. Gouge wrote an essay about Regency romances and why they have such a hearty following. Considering that I duck into the Regency quite often myself, I can attest that there is something that pulls a reader into that era!
- Louise M. Gouge – Ms. Bergren wrote about what to do whilst in Venice, complete with a video! Her “Grave Consequences” novel has me most interested!
- Lisa Tawn Bergren – The Hunt ended where it began!
{*KEY: * denotes the authors who are listed in my *70 Authors Challenge 2013-14. It was quite exciting in the end after I had participated to realise how many of the authors I had chosen were taking part in the Hunt! + denotes my endearing name for the Christian Fiction Historical Society; ie: the Society! NL refers to ‘newsletter’ that an author promotes to keep readers in touch about their latest releases and bookish news. Unless I said the post was taken down, you can still read and view the stops along the Hop!}
Whilst your visiting each blog, you were meant to ‘pick’ up a clue to reveal the *secret phrase* by which you give to Ms. Bergren if perchance your name is drawn at the conclusion of the Hunt! Being that my blog will not go ‘live’ until well after the winner’s circle is announced, I am safe to relay to you that this is the phrase that was collected by each entrant:
* to be added*
