Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #20

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 the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 3 grand prizes!

• The hunt BEGINS on 23rd October at noon Mountain Time with Stop # 1 at Lisa T. Bergren's website.

• 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, 26th October at midnight Mountain Time)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.

• 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 the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

Hi! My name’s Jasmine (J. J. Fischer) and I’m a writer of fantasy stories for young adults and adults—with romantic, historical, and comedic aspects.

All of my books (ten published to date) contain echoes of my Christian faith. I’m originally a clinically-trained psychologist who decided to take a significant career detour, and I now work full-time between my freelance editing business and my writing. I make my home in Aussie Land with my husband, Dave, and my ginger overlord (ahem, cat), Simba. You can learn more about me here and more about my books here, or follow me on Facebook or Instagram. You can also sign up to my newsletter for a free book.

Here's a bit about my latest release, The Heart of the King, which released in August with WhiteCrown Publishing.

The worst monsters live within us.

The warring island kingdoms of Calidore and Jardia are thrown into chaos when Calidore’s once prized, but now quite possibly half-mad, seer announces that young gravedigger Rigan North will one day capture the heart of the crown prince of Jardia—and lead Jardia to victory against Calidore.

Together, Rigan and the prince will rid the Twin Kingdoms of the Shro Khan: deadly, mind-controlling monsters that terrorize the people on sand and at sea. Desperate to maintain his stranglehold on power and prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled, the king of Calidore sends a troop of soldiers led by the legendary Aureus Corcoran to kidnap Rigan. Corcoran, who is rumored to be able to communicate with the Khan, wonders how this unremarkable, frustrating girl could ever ensnare the attentions of a would-be king even as he admires her clever attempts to escape him.

But when her fiery ways and unexpected kindnesses begin to claim Corcoran’s heart, prompting him to second-guess his orders, he wonders how the prophecy could ever come true—until he learns that not only is he far more than he believed himself to be, but she may be too.

Pocahontas meets The Last of the Mohicans meets Snow White and the Huntsman meets The Princess Bride in this comedic romantasy adventure about a young gravedigger, the false (or is it?) prophecy which upends her life, an exotic Pocahontas-style landscape, and mind-controlling, siren-like, shapeshifting monsters that have come to control the hearts and minds of two rival kings.

Aphantasia and "Seeing" a Scene

Fantasy worlds like the one in The Heart of the King are pretty vivid, but I wonder…how much do you personally imagine while you read?

When you read a description, do you see a clear image, almost like a picture or painting? Is it more hazy, like a bunch of gray blobs? Or do you see absolutely nothing at all?

If you’re the latter cases, you, like me, might have a condition known as aphantasia…which some of us experience as completely normal. Aphantasia is not a disorder as such, but a normal, natural neurological variation like being left-handed or right-handed. Aphantasics such as myself have a blind or nearly blind mind’s eye, so we struggle to imagine the scenes we read in books and the people, places, or objects depicted. Aphantasia is also a spectrum, so while some people see complete blackness when they try to visualize something, others might catch a hint of an image or movement.

If this sounds like you, you might be surprised to learn that some people can read a scene and visualize it perfectly! I know I was shocked at that discovery (I thought my aphantasia was how everyone viewed the world.) Some people can picture an elephant or a tiger in amazing detail. I’m always amazed when readers can do this with my books, because I personally can’t see it—even when writing, I have to rely on different tricks to “see” a scene. For instance, when my characters are continually in motion or moving around a room, I can “see” them better. I can visualize a scene better if I can smell, taste, touch, or hear it (all strong senses for me, particularly smell and taste). Conflict and dialogue are much easier for me to write about than static characters who just lounge about the place saying not much.

My aphantasia is part of the reason why I commission character art for each book/series I’ve published. For example, here is the art I commissioned from author-illustrator Lyndsey Lewellen for The Heart of the King…meet Rigan North and Captain Aureus Corcoran! If you’re interested in learning more about them, you can read an interview with them here (Rigan is a pretty feisty young woman—you have been warned!).

Here’s the Stop # 20 Basics:

If you’re interested, you can order The Heart of the King via this universal link, directly from the publisher, or at your local bookstore!

Clue to Write Down: TBR

Link to Stop # 21, the Next Stop on the Loop: Joanna Davidson Politano’s site!