You might be asking yourself, what is a blog about Easter eggs doing in October. I’m not referring to that kind of Easter egg. An Easter egg is also joke or other hidden message or reference that is intentionally placed in a variety of media including computer programs, television shows, movies, books, or word puzzles. If you know Easter eggs are in something, it adds a whole new dimension to your experience with the show book or game.

The television show “Lost” was full of Easter eggs. There are websites devoted to documenting the “Lost” Easter eggs. Since the creators of “Lost” are the minds behind one of my favorite television shows, “Once Upon a Time,” it should come as no surprise that there are “Lost” Easter eggs in it. However, I still did a double-take the first time I saw an Apollo candy bar (a fictional candy bar that appeared in Lost) in Storybrook.

The concept of Easter eggs, hidden symbols or messages, intrigued me so much that I put a few in Highland Solution. I explained a couple of obvious ones in my blog yesterday. If you are so inclined (and you have already read Highland Solution) look up the Scottish Gaelic word for traitorous and perhaps you will figure out another one. Don’t do it if you haven’t read the book yet, because it could be a spoiler. If you figure it out and want confirmation, just leave the comment “I know” and I will get back to you.

In addition to place names there are a few other Easter eggs. In Chapter 7, Niall gives Katherine a strong brown gelding whose name is Eachan. The name Eachan means “brown horse.” 😉 There is an extremely subtle Star Trek Easter egg that I suspect only very serious fans of Star Trek would recognize and probably only after being told to look for it. There is a less subtle Star Wars Easter egg. Leave a comment if you recognized either of these. They are not spoilers, so if think you have found one that is, don’t post it. If no one identifies them I will direct you to them in a later post.

Funny, while there are little things hidden throughout the book, one of the negative reviewers stated “They adopt orphaned stable boy whose name is obvious plot device.” I have no idea what this means. His name was not intended to have any special meaning. I named him Tomas because in my imagination, he is very like a little boy I knew (who is a grown up doctor now) named Thomas. If you have any clue what this means, please feel free to share.

Happy hunting!

PS Many thanks to those of you who have left great reviews on Amazon and elsewhere. If you haven’t, and you enjoyed the book, please consider doing so. I am told word of mouth is the best marketing tool.