Howdy!

Morgan Huneke, Kendra Ardnek, and Rachel Roden (awesome writer friends of mine) are releasing their Sleeping Beauty novellas together and I’m having them all over for a glorious group interview!

All of the books released on August 7. You can click on the book covers to find out more about them, but we’ve got a fantasy, a fantasy/sci fi mash up, and a western! Makes for a fun mix!

Don’t miss any of the fun with the rest of the blog tour! You can find the rest of the schedule over on Kendra’s blog! There’s also another giveaway for the person who makes the most post comments throughout the tour, so go! 🙂

Make sure you get all the way to the bottom for the giveaways and info about FREE books!

Here we go with the interview! My questions and comments are in green. 🙂

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear Sleeping Beauty?

Morgan Huneke: How the Disney movie doesn’t follow the original at all and it drives me nuts. 😉

Kendra Ardnek: Puss in Boots, apparently, as both of my retellings of the story have featured him, post his fairy tale. He gets a bit larger a role in Poison Kiss than he did in Sew, It’s a Quest, though. Ooh! I do like Puss in Boots!

Rachel Roden: First thing?  Honestly, I’ve never understood that, as my head floods with images.  But the picture that rises to the top … is cradling an infant Kendra and watching her sleep. She was one of those perfect babies who loved going places, meeting new people, rarely cried, and slept blissfully unaware of anything going on around her …. actually, she still does that. Aww! Baby Kendra. 🙂

What’s your favorite part of writing fairy tale re-tellings? The hardest part?

MH: My favorite part…hmmm…probably being able to take an old, familiar story and do something completely new with it. The hardest part would be balancing the cliché aspect of using a fairy tale as a story base with not going so far into an original story that the fairy tale aspect is irrelevant.

KA: My favorite part is getting to revisit my favorite stories but with brand new twists. The hardest part is striking the perfect balance between the old and the new.

RR: Another hard question. I don’t know if I have a favorite part, and I’ve never found it hard. When the teacher would hang a picture or give a few details and say, “Write a story.” I usually had more ideas than I had time to write them down. Favorite part is loosing myself in the telling of the story, especially if I have an audience. The hardest part is picking up where I left off after life has intruded.

Totally agree that the whole “original twist/spin” on an old story is the hardest. Name one thing you love about your Sleeping Beauty character.

MH: Her courage. She’s trapped in a very difficult situation, and though she goes through plenty of doubts, and leans on her fiancé when she can, she still stands up. Ooh, love it! 

KA: I love her optimistic spirit. A very cheerful girl, despite being trapped in a tower and having poor health. Cool! Makes me want to meet her. 🙂 

RR: She screams when she gets kissed. Haha!! This is my favorite answer! 😛

If you were to be catapulted into any fairy tale, which would you choose and why?

MH: Rumpelstiltskin is the first to come to mind. I don’t know why, but that one has always fascinated me. Though I’ve been nicknamed Cinderella since I was about eight, and I have a Cinderella dress, so that one would probably be more suited to me. Rumplestilksen was always a little freaky to me. Maybe it was the book we had with weird illustrations that did that. 🙂 

KA: Hmm. I think maybe Dorani, because she gets to visit the fairy kingdom every night through her youth, and then she marries a prince who actually loves her, and it’s beautiful. Also, because she’s her own worst enemy when it comes to her happily ever after, and I’d like to think that I’d not be such an idiot. Also, she has great hair, but no one tries to climb it, and she isn’t trapped in a tower.

RR: Fairy tales are dark and dismal things, the people are usually poor or in danger of their lives. Many are forced to labor while being denied their inheritance. I’ve never felt compelled to visit any of them. A lot of scary stuff happens in those tales! Choose one? Maybe a simple one where the people learn to be kind, like the Frog Prince. That’s true! The Frog Prince is one of the more straightforward ones. 🙂 

What’s something that inspired your re-telling?

MH: Aside from the obvious Sleeping Beauty, the Doctor Who episode “Amy’s Choice.” The idea of trying to figure out what’s a dream and what’s not is intriguing to me. Though Twisted Dreams is quite different from “Amy’s Choice,” it does employ a similar concept. That is a really cool concept! 

KA: This pin: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/94646029641536176/. This is from the Sleeping Beauty ballet and the reason that Puss and the White Cat made their appearance in Poison Kiss. How fun!

RR: We frequently brainstorm as a family, coming up with stories and retellings was just something we did while the girls were growing up, especially on nights when the Dad person was working late. Now we have 2 more learning to do this (Joel is 12, Rue is 7). On the night Wunstuponia was born, Vannan was goofing off about finding the perfect cowboy to marry, much like Kendra going to marry a nutcracker. And suddenly we had a whole town of stories erupting. I eventually wrote one and half wrote a second. Then a few months ago we went to the track to walk, and Kendra starts bubbling about her Sleeping Beauty book and the next thing we knew, my entire story had been hashed out, by the second lap, most of the supporting details were hammered out as well. That’s so fun! I love having people to brainstorm with. 🙂

Fun question time! You are stuck in a magic elevator with only three buttons. Floor 1 takes you to a circular stone room with a spinning wheel, Floor 2 opens into a world where Up is Down, and Floor 3 opens to an enigmatic dwarf guarding a rickety bridge. Which do you choose?

MH: The spinning wheel. I’ve always been a little obsessed with spinning and weaving. I’d just have to be careful not to prick my finger. 😉 Hehe! 

KA: Floor 3. That was actually a scene in CinderEddy, the first Twist of Adventure, and I’d kinda like to see how I’d fare. I admit, I’m a little curious to see how’d I do with that one as well.

RR: I absolutely LOVE Escher … Floor 2 of course! Yes! And we get all three options chosen! 🙂 

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About the Authors

Morgan Huneke

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 and teaching piano and violin, and politics. She is the author of Across the Stars and The Experiment as well as the Time Captives fantasy trilogy.

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

Kendra Ardnek

Kendra E. Ardnek is a homeschool graduate who picked up a pen at an early age and never put it down. The eldest of four, she makes her home in the Piney Woods of East Texas with her parents, younger siblings, giant herd of giraffes, and honor guard of nutcrackers.

You can connect with Kendra on her website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Rachel Roden

Rachel Roden is a natural story teller, capable of weaving the most hilarious of fairy tales. She fell in love with the Lone Ranger in her teens, but ended up with a basketball referee instead. Together, she and the Ref homeschool their four children in the Piney Woods of East Texas, as well as any other odd kid who ends up in their house. She might also be the sole human who still uses math after college.

You can connect with Rachel on her blog, twitter, and Pinterest.

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Giveaway!

Click HERE to enter!

Prizes include ebook copies off all three books and a paperback of Twisted Dreams!

Also!

The person who comments the most across all the blog posts on the tour will get an early read of The Seven Drawers, Kendra’s retelling of Snow White for the Rooglewood contest, and Cindy Ellen, which is Rosette Thornbriar’s sequel! So go comment!

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Free Things!