Hywela Lyn: Secret Santa Blog Hop

at 12:00 am

I'm so excited to be taking part in another Blog Hop - this time it's the great 'Secret Santa' Blog Hop. hosted at Tabby's Nocturnal Nights!

The blog hop features over 40 authors, all giving away an individual prize, but the grand prize is a 7″ Kindle Fire HD!

To enter for my giveaway, be sure to leave a comment here, including your email address so you can be contacted if you’re a winner.

Comments will also put you in the running for the Grand Prize. To increase the odds of your winning the Grand Prize, you will receive additional entries if you follow this blog, leave a comment here, or answer my simple question at the end of this post

I love Christmas, although I have yet to write a Christmas story. unless you count the short story I wrote for a Newspaper competition when I was still at school, many years ago. (I won first prize and it encouraged me to go on writing.)

I always hope for a white Christmas, although they're fairly rare in the UK. If we get snow it's more likely to be in January or February than at Christmas, but it does happen occasionally. There's something about the crisp snow underfoot, the softly falling flakes, and the branches of the trees clothed in a delicate fringe of white frosting that just makes it feel like Christmas.

I think that's why, when I looked across at the mountains where I used to live, in Wales, and saw the snow sweeping across like a mist, the idea of an icy, snowy planet was formed.

The rays of the setting sun turned the falling snow pink, and so my planet also had pink snow. I named it after the Norse land of mist and cold, 'Niflheim' and it became one of the planets my heroine visited in my debut novel 'Starquest'. The more I thought about it, and the more I worked outthe planet's history and its telepathic inhabitants, the more interested in it I became. So much so, that the follow up to 'Starquest', 'Children Of The Mist' takes place almost entirely on that planet.

I'm sure they celebrate Christmas on Niflheim, so one day I'm going to write a short story about it. In the meantime, here's a short excerpt which takes part after a particularly heavy snowfall:

Excerpt from Children Of The Mist

The snow lay in drifts of pink and white, unmarked by even the footprints of a small bird or mammal, as if a huge, irregularly chequered blanket had been laid over the land. Vidarh studied the sky. Both suns were clearly visible, the golden G-type's rays warm and reassuring. After the snowfall, the land was clear of the mist, which frequently covered even this oasis in the desert of snow and ice that was Niflheim. With luck, they would be able to commence their journey in clear conditions.

He glanced behind, to see the diminutive Melind struggling almost up to her knees as she tried to keep up with him. He shortened his stride and slowed down enough for her to reach his side. Together they covered the short distance to the barn that housed the ponies. When they reached it, a snowdrift piled high against the door barred their way. They looked at each other for a moment, then applied their telekinetic powers to shift away enough of the snow to enable them to open the door.

The ponies, snug in their stalls, turned as they entered, their breath forming clouds in the cold air, which accompanied Melind and Vidarh through the doorway. Vidarh inhaled the familiar smell of hay and horses and straw damp with fresh droppings.

Dunno where Helva and Narvi are, Melind telepathed, walking to the end of the stable area. She opened another door that led into a room with saddles and bridles neatly arranged on racks on the walls. Each set had a small wooden plaque above it, inscribed with the name of the pony it fitted. There are some more ponies in the pasture by the river. They've probably gone to check on them. We could ask them to come back, I suppose...d'you think?

She took down a bridle, and shook out the reins before looping them over her arm, looking up into his eyes as she asked her question.He was struck by how much like her sister she looked, especially now, when her dark eyes wore the same sad expression that had been in Tamarith's the last time he'd seen her. Why did Tamarith keep troubling him so much?

You can find out more about my books and purchase them HERE at my author page at The Wild Rose Press.

My question for this blog hop is - how many suns does Niflheim have? Answer this for one of your three entries into the Blog Hop main prize, and in addition, everyone who leaves a comment on my post will also be entered into a draw to win a download of this book.

Now for the details about the hop and how to enter for one of the great prizes on offer.

The hop runs from midnight Dec. 17th to midnight December 19th.

You get three entries at each blog stop. One for answering a question at each blog stop, one for following each blog and another for commenting.

After you are finished hopping you just send an email to

careydoucet@yahoo.com saying which blogs you went to and what you did at each. You are not required to go to every blog to win but the more blogs you go to the better your chance of winning is. Please send it all in one email.

That's just one email with all the hop info.

Example:

Your name and email at the top. (You only need this once.)

For each blog -

Blog Name

Answer to question

If you followed

If you left a comment

You don't have to do all these but each one gets you an entry.

There will be prizes at each stop and the grand prize is a Kindle Fire HD. which will be given away on the 20th. Feel free to share with your friends.

The contest is open to anyone in the US and Canada. Sorry about that but it is because of shipping and the fact that not everyone can use the Kindle service.

Go HERE for a full list of all the blogs taking part:
http://tabithablake.blogspot.co.uk/p/secret-santa-blog-hop.html

Please make sure to visit my dear friend the late Sharon Donovan's blog, if you can. Her publisher has just released her last story, a great Christmas romantic suspense, and I've put up a little post for her as part of this Blog Hop.

Have fun and good luck! And I hope you have a magical Christmas and everything you wish for in the new Year.