Liebster Award

Last week Jenna, over at Literally YA, chose five blogs to award with the Liebster Blog Award. For those of you, like me, have absolutely no idea what that means, here is the point of the Liebster:

"The goal of the award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers. The rules of the award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
5. And most of all - have fun!"

Anyhow, I am very honored that one of Jenna's picks was Scribbles, and in keeping with the rules, I am going to pick out five of my own favorite, under-appreciated blogs to award. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

1. The Penslayer - Jenny, the author of The Shadow Things, scribbles about writing, about reading, and about her faith, and her posts are wonderfully airy and lighthearted. Even the ones about how to write fight scenes. Two bonuses are that she always finds lovely pictures for her blog posts and that she has great tongue-in-cheek, geeky humor. What's not to love?
2. Whisperings of the Pen - (No, Katie, I'm not just giving you this because you love my book.) This little nook-of-a-blog has the feel of a quiet corner of a library beside an open window, filled with stacks of books and a musty ink smell and washes of sunlight. I love the cheerfulness of Katie's writing, not to mention that the subjects are always a delight to the literary.
3. Insanity Comes Naturally - If you want to die laughing, this is the spot for you. If you want to think on deep and weighty subjects, this is also the spot for you. You may protest that those things can't possibly go together, but I merely reply that that just goes to show that you haven't seen this blog - or met its authoress.
4. The Lamb and the Lion - This blog is darling. The topics range from writing to faith to Hornblower to BBC Merlin, but still the best adjective to describe it is "darling." Just scoot over and see if you don't agree.
5. The Poetry of Lost Things - This dreamy blog is almost entirely writing-focused, full of story-snippets (this gal can really write), character introductions, and book-love. Because no blog is complete without some book love.
   

There is at least one other that battled for a place in the list, but I think I'll leave that one to Jenny for her to award. If you want to take a peek at a new blog, I suggest a stroll around the block to one of these lovely places for tea and a bit of reading.

Note: The giveaway is still going on, so if you haven't joined yet, don't miss the opportunity!

Giveaway - The Soldier's Cross

Recently Scribbles and Ink Stains passed fifty followers. Fifty is a nice number, perfectly situated between zero and a hundred, and in honor of the event I have decided to host a giveaway of my historical novel The Soldier's Cross. Note that this does apply only to readers living in the United States, since shipping out of the country is just a wee bit expensive.

Historical Setting:
The Soldier's Cross is set in the early 1400s, a full century before Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the doors of Wittenberg, but in a time where the first rumblings of the Reformation can be heard through the preaching of Jan Huss and the underground movement of the Lollards in England. It stands on the threshold of the Protestant break from the Roman Catholic Church, a time when the ignorance of the Dark Ages was just beginning to give way to curiosity and knowledge.

This was also a time of renewed conflict between England and France. Henry V, the new king of England, invaded northern France in mid-1415 in order to recapture the lands that he believed were rightfully his. He took the fortress of Harfleur in September and then moved on toward Calais, but on October 15 his tired army was met by the French for the most famous battle of the Hundred Years War: the Battle of Agincourt.

Plot:

A.D. 1415 - Fiona's world is a carefully built castle in the air, made up of the fancies, wishes, and memories of her childhood. It begins to crumble as she watches her brother march away to join in the English invasion of France. It falls to pieces when he is brought home dead. Robbed of the one dearest to her and alone in the world, Fiona turns to her brother's silver cross in search of the peace he said it would bring. But when she finds it missing, she swears she will have it and sets out on a journey across the Channel and war-ravaged France to regain it and find the peace it carries.

Characters:
To meet the characters of The Soldier's Cross, check out my Dramatis Personae post.

Want to win a copy of The Soldier's Cross? Here's how to enter:

Mandatory Entry
Follow Scribbles and comment to let me know (1 entry)

Additional Entries
Comment and tell me why you want to win The Soldier's Cross (1 entry)
Shout-out this giveaway on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook account (2 entries)
Buy Jennifer Freitag's The Shadow Things from her blog* (3 entries)

Post one comment for every thing you do: if you shout-out the giveaway, comment twice; if you buy Jenny's book, comment three times. Be sure to leave your email address so that I can contact you. Giveaway ends August 15. I will then choose two (2) winners using a random number generator, each to receive one free copy of The Soldier's Cross.


*NOTE: Copies of Jenny's The Shadow Things MUST be bought from her blog in order to be eligible for this giveaway.