by Roseanna White | Jul 17, 2013 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
Welcome to Day 17! Yesterday’s winner is:
Rebekah Gyger!
And here’s what you’re entering for this week. Winners of the book are selected every day, and the Tea Light Garden’s winner will be drawn Friday night. Keep entering all week! Every entry is good all week long.
And EXCITING!!! I think I might have missed an email from my publisher alerting me to this–but the book trailer for Whispers from the Shadows is live!!!
You’ll notice that there’s a new way to earn an entry. 😉
And now for today’s normal post.
Remember When . . . Espionage Needed Tools?
I’ve blogged about my different discoveries in historical espionage before, but I’ve never put them all together before. And since this fall I’m teaching a home school class to my local group about the different historical methods of spying, I figure it’ll be fun to get a head start here. 😉
By the time of the Revolution, spying in Europe had reached some rather hilarious levels. It was so common in the different courts that they all knew other countries’ men were intercepting their messages and copying them. The “Black Chambers” of these master spies were located nearby the courts. The spies would steal incoming correspondence, make a copy, and slip the original back into the post. Codes had become common too, but these dudes got their jobs by being able to break them, quickly and efficiently. So it was just all one big puzzle that they were playing, knowing well their opponents were evenly matched.
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| A page from the real Culper Ring’s code book |
One story I read and loved was of a spy who mistakenly sent along his copy instead of the original message. The recipient knew right away what had happened and sent it back to him, demanding his original in its place–proving that they all knew exactly who was doing what and took very little issue with it after so long.
But in America, espionage was like so many other things–new and experimental. And when the Revolution was in full swing and General Washington found himself in need of reliable intelligence, he had no Black Chamber to rely on. He had only a few trusted men with no background in spying and no training in the covert.
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| My personal experiments with heat-developed inks |
Today we look at the cyphers and codes that the Culper Ring developed and shake our heads at how amateur they were. But they did the job, and because of the ingenuity of the brothers Jay and their “sympathetic stain” (invisible ink), the British never even
saw the code to crack it. Until then, they had to use heat-developed inks for messages, which anyone with a flame could develop. But this stain required a particular counter agent. This level of security is what kept their secrets throughout the war. And what made
Ring of Secrets a lot of fun to write. 😉
By the War of 1812, another intelligence tool had made its way to America–the mask, or grille. This was a piece of paper with a shape cut out of it. The writer of a message
would put this mask down upon a blank piece of paper, write his true
message within the hole, and then remove the mask and fill in the lines around the message so that the real words would be innocuously hidden within innocent sentences. In order to know what the message was, the recipient would have to also have the mask, which would be sent in a separate batch of correspondence.
In the Civil War, codes were the feature of the day, and there were a lot of them. Members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, for instance, would come up with codes for each occasion. Simple phrases to let each other know if a particular outcome had happened as expected or not. Other codes used a key–a book, usually a dictionary, that both sender and receiver had. They would use numbers to indicate words. So you might see something like this: 192.15.26
These numbers stood for page, line, word on line. If they were encoding something like a name that wouldn’t be in a dictionary, they would spell it out using a forth number to indicate a letter within the word.
See why this series is so much fun? And you’ll have a chance to put some of your own skills to use this Friday, when I’m taking part in a blog tour for a kids’ series about a K9 spy. 😉
Now my question to you today:
Do you think you could have been a spy in early America?
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by Roseanna White | Jul 16, 2013 | Uncategorized
Here we are at Day 16–with fewer days to go than have gone before in this crazy month of giveaways! Hard to believe, isn’t it? Yesterday’s winner is:
Heather Louise Navarro!
Just as a reminder for any newcomers, you can enter multiple times each day, and each week’s entries remain good for the whole week, both for the daily drawing of Ring of Secrets, and for Friday’s drawing of the Tea Light Garden.
And a special one-day giveaway, I’ll be doing a drawing tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. EST for a DIGITAL copy of Glass Girl. Please leave a comment below if you’d like to be entered, with an email address!
Today being Tuesday, I’m talking books again. So:
Story Time Tuesday – Glass Girl by Laura Anderson Kurk
I admit it–I picked up this young adult novel solely because it was inexpensive and recommended by my best friend, who kept gushing at how beautifully Laura writes. I knew it would be good, because said best friend has excellent taste. 😉 But I didn’t know it would stay with me so long after I turned the last page (or rather, as I read this one on my kindle, pressed the page button the last time).
Here’s the back cover copy:
When Meg Kavanagh finds herself in the unthinkable role of grieving
sister, she discovers some harsh truths–parents aren’t perfect, life’s
not always sweet, and the dead don’t write back. Her famous artist mom
grieves by slowly disappearing, and her dad copes by moving them to a
small town in Wyoming.
What she finds in Wyoming blindsides her.
His
name is Henry, and he’s a rancher’s son who pulls Meg into his
larger-than-life world and shows her that being sensitive is not an
excuse to sit this one out. Meg learns that the best things in
life–like falling in love and finding mercy–require uncommon courage.
With the help of a strange set of friends, a locker room disaster, and a
trip she’ll never forget, she finds that the things she thought would
break her–school violence, loneliness, and separation–can be overcome.
From
YA author Laura Anderson Kurk comes a heartfelt story of first love and
family ties. Fans of Deb Caletti and Sara Zarr will appreciate Kurk’s
authentically imperfect characters and emotional storytelling.
Emotional storytelling is right–what I absolutely love about Glass Girl is how quickly it sucked me into Meg’s life, and how tightly it held me there. Readers can’t help but fall for sensitive, compassionate Meg who loves so wholly…and thinks herself so weak. “Glass Girl” was a nickname her brother had given her, and now after his violent death in a school shooting, she fears she’ll break. But Henry–a hero to make you clap a hand over your heart–helps her see that glass isn’t as fragile as it appears.
The writing was indeed superb. The characters were breathtakingly beautiful in their utter realness. The story was set in the everyday world, with such everyday events proving to be what they always are–critical, life-changing, and haunting. And at the end, I was left praying that I could see people the way Meg does…and raise my son to be like Henry.
This is a book I’ll never forget. One that changed how I look at the world. And whether you’re a teen or an adult, it’ll change you too–you can find it on Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.
The sequel, Perfect Glass, is out now, and I’m snatching it up too!
Now for the question of the day:
Who in your life has helped you see how strong you are?
(And do you want to be entered for an e-copy of this book?)
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by Roseanna White | Jul 15, 2013 | Giveaways and Contests, Word of the Week
Wow, halfway through our month of giveaways already!! How did that happen? LOL. We’ve had lots of winners already (most recently Kelsey Shade Perkins and bn100!), and just as many still to come! Remember, every day I’m doing a drawing for Ring of Secrets, book 1 in the Culper Ring Series, to celebrate the release on August 1 of book 2, Whispers from the Shadows.
And if you’re new to my books, you can get a free taste! Fairchild’s Lady is a free novella that comes chronologically between books 1 and 2, but which is a stand-alone. So download it today to see if you like my style!
Available from:
Amazon, CBD, B&N, iTunes, and GooglePlay
And our bonus prize this week is this beautiful Tea Light Garden by Elements. The drawing for that will be on Friday.
And now for your regularly scheduled program. 😉
Word of the Week – Roughshod
Ever wonder where the phrase “to run roughshod over” something came from? Apparently it’s a pretty literal expression.
Back in the 17th century, “roughshod” was what they called a horse’s (ahem) snow tires. LOL. When weather was bad, they would leave nail heads protruding from a horseshoe to it could dig into and break up the snow and ice. So a horse was literally shod with a rough shoe. Makes all the sense in the world, doesn’t it?
And yet, I don’t think I’d ever really paused to wonder where it came from…
So in honor of our equestrian friends, your question of the day is:
Have you ever ridden a horse? Did you like it?
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by Roseanna White | Jul 14, 2013 | Uncategorized
I hope everyone’s having a great weekend! I’m currently at a yard sale hosted by my church and filled with a lot of my kids’ toys. 😉 So out with the old…and for one of you, in with the new!
This tea light garden candle set is this week’s bonus prize! That drawing will be on Friday, and every day, remember, I’m doing a drawing for Ring of Secrets. If you’re new to the 30 Days of Giveaways, that would be because book 2’s coming out August 1, so I’m maniacally planning on getting y’all hooked on the series. 😉
So today’s question of the day, purely for fun:
Coffee or tea? Any particular flavor?
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by Roseanna White | Jul 13, 2013 | Uncategorized
Winners from yesterday are [drum roll, please!]:
Ring of Secrets – Angela Holland
Choice of necklace – Jenna C.
Digital of The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet – Tiffanie
Paperback of The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet – Jori
Congrats, all!!
And today being Saturday, it’s time to reveal this week’s bonus prize!
An Elements brand Tea Light Garden! All entries from now until next Friday are eligible for this fun candle set as well as the daily drawings for Ring of Secrets.
Now for today’s fun question:
How many candles are in the room you’re in right now?
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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.