Howdy!

I have another portal fantasy series to feature for you! Today, I’m hosting author friend Morgan Huneke and book 3 of The Time Captives, Crannig Castle! 

Before we get down to the author interview, here’s a bit about the book!

God, please look after Adriel. Keep him safe and keep him from acting foolish. And please help him to be able to find me.

Rae knew she could trust God to look after both of them. It was all she had now.

The Time Captives have been reunited. The rightful king has been freed. Now all that remains is to defeat the strytes who still hold a tyrannical rule over the people of Calhortz. But with their lack of soldiers, it’s a task that is easier said than done. They need allies, but are they worth it when it requires facing ghosts from their pasts?

Returning to his home country only brings the loss of Adriel’s family to the forefront of his mind. His determination to find Rae has never ceased, but now that determination could potentially destroy all that he and the Time Captives have been working towards. And his new-found faith may not be able to withstand the challenge.

Will they be able to set aside their personal struggles for the sake of the freedom of all or will they allow their pasts to consume them? Will they manage to win back Crannig Castle from the rule of the strytes? The fate of Calhortz hangs in the balance.

Crannig Castle is the final book of the Time Captives trilogy, a tale of faith, family, fantasy, and a fight for truth and freedom.

Buy Now

 Kindle ~ Paperback ~ Signed Copy

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Read the Series!

Books 1 and 2 are free on Kindle through November 11! Go check it out!

Creighton Hill

The Crossways

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The Interview!

The Time Captives series is portal fantasy. What is your favorite thing about portal fantasy?

Narnia! Honestly, probably just getting to experience other worlds. You get that in non-portal other world fantasy too, but it’s just not the same. With portal, you’re seeing it through the eyes of someone from our own world, so the character is seeing it as you would see it. It makes it easier to imagine yourself in the story.

That’s true. It’s quite fun seeing someone from our world interact with a new one. What was the relative ease/difficulty of writing Crannig Castle compared to the rest of the series?

Oh my goodness, Crannig Castle was SOOOOOO much easier. By the time I got to this book, I’d already figured out and corrected most of my multitude of major errors in the first two books. Not all, but most. So I had a firm grasp on what the story was, and I actually was finally writing what I’d intended to be the climax to the first (and only) book. Another thing that made it easier: I split up the Time Captives. I had a good story reason, but my real reason was that I just couldn’t handle them all together. People, there’s a good reason why so few of Thorin’s company are well developed. It’s just too much, even for a master like Tolkien. Now, it did take longer to write the book than I had hoped, but that was mainly because I got sick (over Christmas!) during the time I’d intended to finish it. And it’s hard to write when you’re sick.

Haha! It is easier to write when you’re not getting overrun by characters. 😛 Can you describe the book in three words? 🙂 

Freedom. Forgiveness. Victory.

You also have several sci-fi books as well. Do you find sci-fi or fantasy to be easier to write?

Surprisingly enough, though in general I prefer to read fantasy, sci-fi is easier for me to write. I think it’s mainly because of theology. When I write fantasy, I have to figure out how our world theology applies to the fantasy world. With sci-fi, it’s in this world so I’m really just taking today’s reality and speculating it into the future. No difficult theology to figure out, and I still get plenty of creativity—especially when I make up an imaginary planet. I love fantasy, and I love writing it, but it just tends to be more stressful for me to write.

Haha! Yeah, there are pros and cons to writing each. What has been the best part of writing and publishing this series?

Hmm. That’s a hard one. One big thing has been the messages I didn’t see coming. I never plan my themes—I find them to be far more effective if I let them come about naturally. And then sometimes I’ll look at it later as I’m editing or something, and I’ll notice a theme I never did before that really means something to me now. Also, I’ve grown up a lot since I started writing this series, and my life looks totally different. This affected both the books themselves and the people who have helped me polish and promote it. While the last four years haven’t always been easy, it’s pretty amazing to look back and see how many new friends I’ve made, how much support I’ve gained, and how many people I have in my life now that I didn’t then, people that I can’t imagine doing without.

I know I’ve enjoyed helping you promote the series! 🙂 If you knew you were going to leave an unfinished manuscript behind, what would you do?

Either get as far on it as I possibly could, or pull an Edwin Drood. I would be fighting between my need to finish everything and thinking about how much fun it would be to drive everyone nuts. I’m not quite sure which side would win out.

Hehe! Now that the Time Captives series has wrapped up with Crannig Castle, what can we expect from you next?

Next summer, I’m planning to release the story I wrote last year for Five Magic Spindles. It’s called Twisted Dreams, and the premise is basically this: What if, when Sleeping Beauty fell asleep, she woke up in another world? I like to call it fairy tales meet Doctor Who meets Merlin meets Star Wars meets Michael Vey meets my imagination. After that, I’ll hopefully start releasing my outer space dystopian trilogy. The main characters grew up in a society that’s sort of like The Giver but in space, and they accidentally travel to the galaxy from Across the Stars where the two worlds collide in a rather catastrophic way. It’s taken a lot of work and will take more—especially since I keep making changes that make future books no longer canon—but if I can pull it off, I think it’ll be really good.

Ooh! Love the sound of the Sleeping Beauty story! Last question for a fellow Whovian. We all have our favorite Doctor and favorite episode. Is there an episode that really resonated with you on any level (personal or otherwise)?

You have to make me choose. Well, despite the fact that Ten and Rose are my favorites, one of my favorite episodes is “Let’s Kill Hitler.” I love that one because it’s so funny and heartbreaking and wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey and has the best dialogue (“Rory, put Hitler in the cupboard.” “You will be fine for thirty one minutes. You will be dead in thirty two minutes.”). Basically, it’s everything I love about Doctor Who crammed into one episode. As far as really resonating with me, though, I don’t know. “School Reunion” had an enormous impact on Time Captives because “You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can’t spend the rest of mine with you.” And “Amy’s Choice” was one of my main inspirations for Twisted Dreams. So I guess specific episodes had specific impact on my writing, but as far as impacting me, it’s the whole show. It really makes me think, and I like that.

Love it! It is a great show. 🙂 Thanks for coming over, Morgan, and congrats on the new release! 

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About the Author

Morgan Elizabeth Huneke is a homeschool graduate who lives in Georgia. She has enjoyed creating characters and writing stories since early childhood. Books have always been a big part of her life, never more so than when working at the local library. Her other interests include reading, playing the piano and violin, and politics.

You can connect with Morgan on her website, blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest.

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Follow the blog tour HERE!

And last but not least…

A Giveaway! 

Join in the excitement of Crannig Castle and enter to win a special prize! The first prize winner will receive signed copies of the entire Time Captives trilogy. The second prize winner will receive a signed copy of Crannig Castle. The third prize winner will receive an eCopy of Crannig Castle in the eBook format of his/her choice. Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.

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Have you read The Time Captives? What’s your favorite portal fantasy story/series?