Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #14

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 27 stops, in order, so you
can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

• The hunt BEGINS on 3/14 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
• 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, 3/17 at midnight MST)! 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 Stop #27. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

I am super excited to host Travis Thrasher on my blog today! His novel American Omens is a futuristic telling of government, Christianity, and suspense. 

The year is 2038 and Cheyenne Burne is a brilliant young programmer working for Acatour, the world's top technology firm. Her father converts to Christianity, and he suddenly disappears without a trace. When a stranger hands Cheyenne a coded message that sends her on a collision course with a clandestine group of believers, she must put her life in the hands of those following a man known only as the Reckoner. He claims he wants to bring back true faith in Christ to America and also reveal the forces behind the disappearances of the many renowned people who publicly declared their Christian faith.

Operating in the shadows and living off the grid, this mysterious prophet assembles a ragtag team--including a former bookseller whose store was shut down for selling prohibited books--to help him take the battle for transparency to the top. With a ruthless FBI agent closing in, can Cheyenne and the others expose the truth and lead a return to God in America before it's too late?

Welcome to the blog, Travis!!

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Those Alarming Algorithms
By, Travis Thrasher

  

They’re everywhere. From the first images we see on Facebook to the first pages that pop up on any Google search. Our lives are influenced more and more by algorithms every day; our reliance on them should be a subject we regard with a growing sense of caution.  

In the process of writing my futuristic novel, American Omens, I concentrated on the subject of algorithms when talking about dangerous technologies 20 years from now. The simplistic definition of an algorithm is a rule that is applied to automate any piece of data. If you type this, then this will happen. If not, this will happen. But with the complexity of our computers and with the variety of ways we use them, algorithms have become more complex. In fact, their complexities are the very things that alarm some people.

An article in MIT Technology Reviews states that “computers that run those services have programmed themselves, and they have done it in ways we cannot understand.” The algorithms that have been designed by people go on to become large and complex software systems that make decisions out of our control, all based on a set of criteria.

This is scary from a standpoint of technology, but it’s also scary when thinking about the spiritual ramifications. What if those decisions are based on particular worldviews, ones that don’t favor Christianity? Sanjay Arora, CEO and Founder of Million Short, said this about the biases algorithms can have:

“It’s tempting to regard algorithms as objective, unbiased constructs that are free from the corruptive influence of human prejudices and biases. Unfortunately, this is seldom the case. Because algorithms are designed by humans – and increasingly learn by observing human behavior – they tend to adopt the biases of their developers and of society as a whole.”

In imagining a future where true, authentic Christian faith is virtually outlawed, I also imagine algorithms doing their part to help with the bias against it. When you start to really look at just all the ways algorithms impact our lives, it’s easy to imagine things could start going really bad in a hurry. Let’s pray that sort of scenarios I’m writing about will always remain fiction. 

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Travis Thrasher has written more than fifty books and worked in the publishing industry for more than twenty years. He has penned fiction in a variety of genres, and his inspirational stories include collaborations with filmmakers, musicians, athletes, and pastors. Travis lives with his wife and three daughters in Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.travisthrasher.com

Here's the STOP #14 Skinny:

You can order Travis's book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Christian Book Distributors.

Clue to write down: their

Link to Stop #15, the Next Stop on the Loop: Travis Thrasher's own site!

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!! -- Leave a comment below and let me know if Travis is a new-to-you author or one you're familiar with! I'll draw a winner on the 18th to get a signed copy of my latest release The Curse of Misty Wayfair!