░M░e░e░t░ ░t░h░e░ ░A░u░t░h░o░r░ 2018

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

Over to you Ben!

[Ben]

Thanks, Grasshopper! I'll get the first question posted later today. For now, here's another excerpt from the book. It's a contemporary fantasy, and I like to focus as much--or more--on friendships and relationships as I do on the fantasy aspects. I personally feel that if I'm not invested in the characters' relationships and personalities, then I have no reason to care about what happens to them. This scene takes place prior to the previous excerpts.




“Hey now, there’s no amusement in gym class!” Doyle’s voice cut through the noise. He was somehow standing right behind them, their heads not even to his shoulders, and none of them had seen or heard him approach.  

How in the hell does he do that?

He nodded to the twins.  “Abby. Olivia.”

Abby pointed at herself. “Coach, I’m Olivia. She’s Abby.” She smiled sweetly. “It happens a lot, so it’s okay. You’ll learn eventually.”

Doyle snorted. “Nice try, short stuff, but you’re not Olivia.”

Abby crossed her arms, clearly skeptical. “Really? You’ve had us for a few days and you can already tell us apart?”

“Pretty much, yeah. Barely took me five seconds to figure it out. I’ve had more difficult challenges opening a childproof aspirin bottle. Go line up for roll, will you?” Doyle looked bored.

“Prove it,” Olivia challenged him. “Close your eyes and spin around.”  

Doyle sighed. “It’ll take more than that to fool me, but if it’ll shut you up, why not?” He started to cover his eyes with his hands, but Abby stopped him.

“Hang on, coach,” she said.  “Gotta make sure you can’t peek.”

“That’s insulting,” Doyle said, but shrugged.  “What do you want me to do?“

Abby started to pull her shirt off, but Doyle stopped her, his eyes wide.  “Whoa! Hey! No stripping in class!”

“Coach!” one of the guys yelled in dismay.  “C’mon, man!”

Abby dropped her hands from her shirt.  “Dream on, guys,” she yelled back. “Out of your league!”  She looked at Doyle, tapping her cheek with her finger. “You’re wearing two shirts, Coach.  Take one off and hand it to me.”

Doyle shrugged and pulled his black shirt off, revealing a skin-tight white shirt beneath.  Ellie’s breath caught in her throat and she fought not to stare. He handed the shirt to Abby.  She crooked a finger, and Doyle leaned way over, his giant frame nearly bent in half.  Abby wrapped her shirt around his eyes and tied it in place. “Perfect,” she said, checking to make sure it was secure.

“Can I start?” he asked.

“Yes,” Olivia said.  “Whenever you’re ready, Coach. We’ll tell you when to stop.”  Doyle began spinning in place, moving quicker and quicker. Ellie stared in awe; it was like watching an ice skater spin in place, except it was on a gymnasium floor. In sneakers.  

Abby and Olivia, meanwhile, quickly switched positions several times, finally ending up standing opposite from each other, on different sides of Doyle. They even removed their different-colored scrunchies from their hair, letting their red locks flow free.
“Ready whenever you are, Coach,” said Olivia. They quietly switched places again as she finished speaking. After about another minute, Doyle stopped spinning. Without removing the shirt, he pointed directly at Olivia.  

“Olivia.” He then pointed at Abby. “Abby.” He leaned down, pulling off the makeshift blindfold and handing it back to a wide-mouthed Abby, and calmly said, “Now get lined up for roll call.  You can keep that as a souvenir, if you like.”

[Ben]

As Grasshopper mentioned, we'll do a giveaway at the end of the month for the most correct answers. The questions will be based on excerpts posted. We'll start off with a super-easy one.

Aside from his massive size, what physical characteristic of Theonus did Ellie's attention focus on?

A. His paws
B. His saber-tooth fangs
C. His horrible breath

[Catherine]

My answer: B- His saber - tooth fangs.

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

Is it A- His Paws?

[Sandra]

B-His saber-tooth fangs

[Graham]

C- Bad breath?

[Shanna]

B- his fangs ;-)

[Shanna]

Or is it a saber? Not saber fangs... hmmm

[Zuzu]

B. His saber-tooth fangs

Some how missed this discussion :( Fun to meet the author's!

[Ben]

Thank you to those who participated in the first round of questions. The answer was B, his fangs.

For our second question, we'll use the excerpt I posted in this thread. (Because my brain stopped working and I put it in the wrong thread. Whoops!)

Another easy one. Doyle reveals to Ellie that Kiamada's queen never took the throne. What happened to her?

A. She was murdered.
B. She was kidnapped.
C. She didn't want the throne.
D. Nobody knows what happened to her.

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

Is it D?

[Catherine]

D- Nobody knows what happened to her

[Graham]

C- She didn't want the throne

[Shanna]

B. She was kidnapped!!!!

[Zuzu]

D- Nobody knows.

[Ben]

And the answer to the second question was D, Nobody know for sure.

One final question about our excerpts to wrap this up.

Abby and Olivia (who still have no last name! Gotta think of one!) are identical twins. Most people still can't tell them apart, but Doyle tells them it took him only this long to figure out the difference:

A. A week

B. A day

C. 10 minutes

D. 5 seconds

[Catherine]

D. 5 seconds

[Zuzu]

D. 5 seconds

[Sandra]

D 5 seconds

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

Oh did I forget to answer this myself?Oops.😅

Is it D- 5 seconds?

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

A big thanks to Author Ben Cass for his innovative quiz.
This month has been very entertaining indeed.
Winners will be announced by Ben shortly.

In December, we feature Author Catherine Habbie. Everyone is welcome to join in the interactive session.

[Catherine]

Thanks Grasshopper. I shall post my excerpt and quiz shortly.

[Ben]

We have a tie between Catherine Habbie and Zuzu Lu!

I have my book in both epub and Kindle format, so just send me a PM with your email address and I'll get it out to you!

Thanks for a fun month! I wish I could have posted more, but work got REALLY busy a few weeks ago.

[Zuzu]

Oh, nice :) Thank you!

[Catherine]

Hurray! I win too. Thanks Ben.

[Catherine]

Now that the baton has been officially handed over, :)
I repost the excerpt from my latest book:

Week 1 (Updates from )The Tryptych III:
--------------------------
A mystic Byzantine monk from Germany, was visiting one day. John asked her to be present at the dinner table. Rebecca acquiesced in fear. She was now sure, he knew of her secret trysts.
The monk was dressed in a charcoal grey vestment, and had a white rope, firmly knotted at his waist. He had a unique fey around him. He was speaking about the Holy crusades, when Rebecca entered the room. ‘In 1095 November’ he said, ‘The Pope asked Christians take up arms to aid the Byzantine and recapture the holy land from Muslim control. Crusades failed to capture Jerusalem. But they increased the authority of the king. Sometimes, nobles died in battle without leaving an heir in which case, kings got their land. Kings passed taxes to pay for the crusades.’ ‘This', he said 'Is a Byzantine relic from a church in Germany. I have brought it especially for the funeral’, holding aloft the Tryptych.

[Catherine]

I shall post the weekly quiz shortly. I really enjoyed Ben's quiz and shall emulate the same. There will be 5 quizzes in all (One to be posted with a new excerpt each week).

Winners and participants both stand to win an audiobook or pdf file at the end of the month from anyone of the titles posted below. Feel free to discuss any or all of them on this platform.

1.The Tryptych
2.The Tryptych II
3.The Tryptych III
4.The Adventures of a Supply: A Supply Teacher's Handbook
5.The Adventures of a Volunteer
6.Fairytales

[Catherine]

QUIZ 1:
---------
1. The Tryptych is a :

a. Wooden Relic
b. Marble relic
c. Byzantine Relic
d. None of the above

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

Good start Catherine.
Is the answer:
c. ?

[Graham]

d.

[Sandra]

a

[Zuzu]

C. Byzantine Relic

[Shanna]

C.

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

Does anyone have questions for the author?

[Shanna]

Grasshopper wrote: "Does anyone have questions for the author?"

Catherine, what inspired you to become a writer?

[Catherine]

Thanks for the question Shanna. Well, I have always loved narrating stories. I started off with writing stories for each child in the family during Christmas and a bit for a travel blog.
Later, my first book came out with my adventures as a teacher in London. And then, there was no looking back. Each incident goes into my little notebook 😅

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

OMG! Are we on it too???😅

[Shanna]

Catherine wrote: "Thanks for the question Shanna. Well, I have always loved narrating stories. I started off with writing stories for each child in the family during Christmas and a bit for a travel blog.
Later, my ..."

That's awesome!!! :-)

[Catherine]

Thanks Shanna. Yes, we are all in it Grasshopper.😇

[Catherine]

The winners for last week's quiz are Grasshopper, Zuzu & Shanna. Congratulations!

This week's quiz to be posted soon.

[Catherine]

Week 2 (Updates from The Tryptych III):
-----------------------------
He took out the relic wrapped in a velvet cloth and held the strange holy ivory object. It had two doors that seemed to open out into a central piece showing Jesus on the cross. The doors were intricately carved and one could see images of Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene weeping at Jesus’ feet when it opened. One side was covered in cherubs that seemed to make this scene less disturbing. The altar inside had two tiny doors too that could be revealed to show the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. It was the Tryptych.
He told everyone, this relic was rumoured to have been carved by the carpenter St. Joseph himself. It was purported to have strange powers that cured one of all sins.

[Catherine]

QUIZ 2:
---------
The Tryptych had the following image carved on it:

a. Mother Mary

b. Mary Magdalene

c. Cherubs

d. All of the above

e. None of the above

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

Definitely d. All of the above

[Graham]

d.

[Sandra]

d. All of the above.

[Zuzu]

d. All of the above

[Grasshopper, Administrator]

One question for the author Catherine.
Q: What time of the day do you prefer to write?

[Catherine]

Oh sorry! I only just saw this. 😱

[Catherine]

Well, I prefer writing in the morning, when there is peace and quiet. But then again, the emphasis is on peace and quiet and actually any such time would do, when inspiration strikes.