YASH Scavenger Hunt 2016!!!
Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This awesome bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors... and a chance to win some amazing prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! THAT'S 20 BOOKS!!! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!
*read to the end of the blog for a special giveaway from me!*
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are eight contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the ORANGE (the best) TEAM--but there is also a red team, a blue team, a gold team, a green team, a teal team, a red team, a purple team, a silver team, and a pink team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!
If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've hidden my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the orange team, and then add them up!
Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by 3rd April 2016, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST
Kathy MacMillan
Today, I am hosting Kathy MacMillan on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! Kathy is the author of Sword and Verse, a YA fantasy about a rebel slave with knowledge that could be her undoing. Read move about Sword and Verse over on the Goodreads page. Kathy is also a sign language interpreter and avowed Hufflepuff (we won't hold that against her, will we, Slytherines?) Be sure to check out her book, and buy it here!
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan
In a sweeping fantasy that award-winning author Franny Billingsley called "fascinating and unique," debut author Kathy MacMillan weaves palace intrigue and epic world building to craft a tale for fans of Rae Carson and Megan Whalen Turner. Raisa was just a child when she was sold into slavery in the kingdom of Qilara. Before she was taken away, her father had been adamant that she learn to read and write. But where she now lives, literacy is a capital offense for all but the nobility. The written language is closely protected, and only the King, Prince, Tutor, and Tutor-in-training are allowed to learn its very highest form. So when she is plucked from her menial labor and selected to replace the last Tutor-in-training, who was executed, Raisa knows that betraying any hint of her past could mean death. Keeping her secret guarded is hard enough, but the romance that's been blossoming between her and Prince Mati isn't helping matters. Then Raisa is approached by the Resistance-an underground rebel army-to help liberate the city's slaves. She wants to free her people, but that would mean aiding a war against Mati. As Raisa struggles with what to do, she discovers a secret that the Qilarites have been hiding for centuries-one that, if uncovered, could bring the kingdom to its knees.
Today, Kathy is sharing a deleted scene with us! Read on!
Raisa dreams of learning to write the language of the gods so that she can finally understand her heart-verse, given to her by her father long ago. But if anyone finds her heart-verse, she could be immediately executed. When the Tutor-in-training is executed for treason and a new girl must be chosen to take her place, Raisa’s greatest desire and her greatest fear lead her down the same path.
This is the story of Raisa’s Selection and first day in the Adytum, the sacred courtyard where the language of the gods is taught.
Alterations: A Story from the World of Sword and Verse
by Kathy MacMillan
As soon as we returned from Tyasha ke Demit’s execution, the head servant locked me and the other children in the palace slave quarters. I immediately fell onto the narrow pallet I shared with Linti, exhausted and sweaty; we’d been standing out in the sun for hours, and the only thing I’d eaten in two days was the bit of cheese Linti had sneaked to me the night before. After the incident in the Library yesterday, Emilana had denied me supper and made me spend the night in the Stander, and had conveniently forgotten to release me from it until after breakfast. She’d put me right next to her at the execution, too, so she could pinch me each time I swayed on my feet or my stomach growled.
My skin was clammy; I pushed myself sideways to lay my cheek on the cool stone floor. Kiti brought me a dipper of water; most of it dribbled down my chin but it felt good wherever it contacted my overheated skin.
I protested when he brought a second. “Let the others have some,” I mumbled. “Linti first.”
“After this,” he said firmly, and held the dipper to my lips.
It was easier to drink than to argue with him. I’d been awake too long, as I hadn’t been able to do more than nod against the wall for a few minutes in the Stander before I had to move my feet again, to ward off the crawly things in the dark. But I resolved to have a talk with Kiti when I could think straight; he’d been too quiet ever since that business with the guards in the Library yesterday. He’d always taken it hard when one of us was punished, and once I had even had to stomp on his foot to keep him from protesting when Emilana had slapped Naka. But he was going to be oldest soon; even the prince had commented on the fact that I was too old to be here. I had to prepare Kiti to keep the others in line, for their own safety, before I was sent away to a temple.
There were other preparations I had to make too, but I would think about them when I woke up.
I made myself assume that I was going to a temple. I didn’t allow myself to consider the other possibility, even though the prince had implied it yesterday. But it had been winding through my thoughts all night in the darkness, even in the hazy day as I watched Tyasha ke Demit dying with the symbols of the language of the gods branded all over her. That sight should have made me long for the temples, should have made me dread the guard’s voice addressing Emilana Kret on the other side of the door.
But as soon as I heard it, my clouded mind cleared with the force of a gale. I sat up, making Kiti spill the water down his front. “Move,” I hissed. I pushed both him and Linti, who’d been hovering behind him, out of the way and lunged at the crumbling stone in the corner.
I vaguely heard them asking what I was doing, but all my attention was focused on my fingers digging through powdery stone. I found the edge of the rag wrapped around my heart-verse, and yanked it without regard for the dust that showered the corner.
Linti tugged at my arm. “They’re talking about you,” she said.
“I know!” I snapped. I couldn’t have said whether it was dread or hope that put the edge in my tone.
Read the rest of the story at https://kathymacmillan.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/alterations-by-kathy-macmillan.pdf
And don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books by me, Kathy MacMillan, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is (hidden in bold somewhere above this!). Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue team and you'll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you should remember that my favourite number is THREE, and you need to check out the next author! (C.J. Redwine!)
GO, GO, TEAM ORANGE!!!
In the meantime, enter my contest below to win an ARC of my next book, And The Trees Crept In, coming in September from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers!
Dawn, out! xoxo