Monday, October 23, 2017

Scavenger Hunt Winners!

I hope you all enjoyed participating in the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! I just drew a winner for my extra prize, which was a paperback copy of A Viscount's Proposal, one of my Regency Spies of London stories. 

And the winner is . . .

. . .

Laurie Thames!

Congratulations! 

I will also announce the grand prize winners a little later. Stay tuned . . .

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #18

Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #18


Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all 25 stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 3 grand prizes!
·         The hunt BEGINS with Stop #1 at Lisa Bergren’s site.
·         Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
·         There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 10/19 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books.
·         Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the clue on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at Stop #25. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

My guest is the talented Angela Hunt. 

Angie is the author of more than 140 books for children and adults, including novels about the Biblical women Esther, Bathesheba, and Magdalene. Her newest is a fascinating story called Egypt's Sister

Here's a short summary of the book: Five decades before the birth of Christ, Chava, daughter of the royal tutor, grows up with Urbi, a princess in Alexandria's royal palace. When Urbi becomes Queen Cleopatra, Chava vows to be a faithful friend no matter what--but after she and Cleopatra have an argument, she finds herself imprisoned and sold into slavery. 

Torn from her family, her community, and her elevated place in Alexandrian society, Chava finds herself cast off and alone in Rome. Forced to learn difficult lessons, she struggles to trust a promise HaShem has given her. After experiencing the best and worst of Roman society, Chava must choose between love and honor, between her own desires and God's will for her life.
 


Angie has a treat for us, a fun quiz to test your Cleopatra IQ. So, without further ado, here is my lovely guest, Angela Hunt: 

Why, hello there!  I am very happy to be a guest on Melanie’s blog today. I’m featuring my new release Egypt’s Sister,  which features Cleopatra as a principal character. 

We all think we know Cleopatra—after all, didn’t we see Elizabeth Taylor play her in the movie? But while the old movie Cleopatra was pretty accurate historically (and if you haven’t seen it, you really should!), we have still picked up some false ideas about Egypt’s most famous queen.

So here’s a quick and easy quiz for you to test your knowledge about Cleopatra. Ready?  Go!  



The Cleopatra Quiz
True or False?

1.  Cleopatra was descended from a long line of Egyptian kings and queens.
2.  Cleopatra was reported to be one of the most beautiful women in the world.
3.  Cleopatra had one son by Julius Caesar and none by Mark Antony.
4.  Cleopatra was married to both of her brothers.
5.  After Alexander the Great’s death, Cleopatra was the only Egyptian queen who spoke Egyptian.
6.  Cleopatra ruled her kingdom from Memphis, a great city on the Nile.
7.  Cleopatra lived for a time in Rome, where she was celebrated and adored.
8.  Cleopatra was an outcast when Caesar first arrived in Rome, and she had to be smuggled into the royal palace in a carpet.
9.  Cleopatra died after being bitten by a poisonous snake.
10.  Many Egyptian queens have been named Cleopatra.   

Bonus question: Is Cleopatra mentioned in the Bible?

And here are the answers! 

Answers:
1.       False!  Cleopatra was descended from a long line of GREEK kings and queens. When Alexander the Great died, his generals divvied up his kingdom. Ptolemy took Egypt, and his descendants ruled Egypt until Cleopatra, the last queen before Rome made Egypt a province.
2.      False! Cleopatra was known for her intelligence and her charm, not her beauty. She spoke many languages, she read and wrote, and she could speak to anyone about practically anything. She knew how to charm men . . . but her beauty was not her strongest asset. 
3.      False! Cleopatra did have a son by Caesar, and was reportedly pregnant with another child at the time of his murder. That pregnancy probably ended in miscarriage. Later she would have three children, including a set of twins, by Mark Antony.
4.      True! In order to avoid “contaminating” royal blood, royal heirs frequently married their siblings and/or cousins. Cleopatra was married to both her younger brothers at different times.
5.      True! None of the others ever bothered to learn the Egyptian language. The language of the capital was Greek. 
6.      False! All the Ptolemies ruled from Alexandria, a thoroughly Greek city.
7.      True and false. Cleopatra did follow Caesar to Rome after the birth of Caesarion—but the Romans did not like her or trust her, fearing that she and Caesar planned to set themselves up as rulers. When Caesar was murdered, she hurried back to Egypt, where she and her son would be safer.
8.     True. Cleopatra the movie got this right.
9.     Probably false. That’s the story commonly told, but it’s far more likely she took poison. Her handmaids were also found dead or dying with her, but no snake.
10.    True. Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, was the seventh of that name—unless there were others we don’t know about. It was a common name for Ptolemy queens.

Bonus question answer: Cleopatra is mentioned inadvertently.  One Cleopatra (not Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt) was the mother of tetrarchs Herod and Philip (Luke 3:1). And yet another Cleopatra is mentioned in the Apocrypha, 1 Maccabees 10:57-58.

Thank you, Melanie, for allowing me to write for your blog today!  On to your next scavenger hunt stop! 

~~Angie Hunt

 Dr. Angela Hunt is the author of more than 140 books for children and adults, in fiction and nonfiction. For more information, please visit her website, www.angelahuntbooks.com.


Here’s the Stop #18 Skinny:
You can order Angela’s book on AmazonBarnes & NobleCBD 
or at your local bookstore!
Clue to Write Down: friend
Link to Stop #19, the Next Stop on the Loop: Angela Hunt’s own site! 

***

But wait! Before you go, I’m offering a paperback copy of A VISCOUNT'S PROPOSAL. To get your name in the drawing, all you have to do is ONE of the following things: Follow my author page on Amazon by clicking the Follow button under my picture, OR follow me on Instagram, MelanieDickerson123, OR "Like" me on Facebook, OR follow me on BookBub, OR subscribe to my mailing list to get my newsletter, sign up form located on the left side of my website home page Then, please tell me in the comments that you did so, and include your email address so I can contact you if you win.
Happy Scavenger Hunting!!! And reading!!!