The Crossways Blog Tour—Character Spotlight

I have another blog tour post for you today! This one is a spotlight for Morgan Elizabeth Huneke’s character, Rae. She sounds absolutely adorable. Make sure you check out my post from Monday for all the information about Morgan’s new book, including a giveaway!

Character Spotlight: Rae

Appearance: Small and delicate, tanned skin, brown eyes, and somewhat scraggly brown hair.

Age: 6

History: Rae is Adriel’s youngest sister and the baby of the family. She, like the others, was born as a slave on Tuvya and Jardeena’s plantation. She’s very sweet, but she has never been very strong, so she is not often able to do all her work, and is therefore not a very valuable slave.

Author’s Notes: Every story needs a super cute little girl, right? Rae definitely is one. She’s cute, and sweet, and little, and exactly what Adriel needs. I created her character at the same time as Adriel, when I wrote his opening scene…where he was whipped for her. She provided the perfect balance for him.

One thing I really love about Rae is the simplicity of her childlike faith. She never doubts God. She’s always encouraging Adriel, praying for him, and doing her best to help him control his temper. She really does believe, and her faith never wavers. Still, she is very timid, and depends on Adriel a lot. I just love their relationship, how they take care of each other, depend on each other, and how they love each other so much. I’ve always loved writing sibling relationships, and theirs is one of my favorites.

 

Tour Schedule

Monday, October 19

• Tour Introduction at Morgan Elizabeth Huneke
• Book Review at Girls Living For God’s Glory
• Author Interview at An Orange Dragonfly
• Character Interview at Knitted by God’s Plan ~ Grant Weathersby
• Guest Post at Jaye L. Knight ~ Pirate Character Arcs

Tuesday, October 20

• Book Review at Flights from the Aerie
• Book Review at The Art of Writing For Him
• Author Interview at Writing Anyone
• Guest Post at Bring Your Own Books ~ Time Captives Writer’s Block
• Character Spotlight at Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections ~ Eleanor
• The Crossways Inspirations at Morgan Elizabeth Huneke

Wednesday, October 21

• Book Review at Knitted By God’s Plan
• Author Interview at Flights from the Aerie
• Author Interview at Leah’s Bookshelf
• Character Interview at Reflections of the Heart ~ Jeremy Herb
• Guest Post at Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections ~ An American/Medieval Fantasy Culture
• Character Spotlight at Jaye L. Knight ~ Rae

Thursday, October 22

• Book Review at Scattered Journal Pages
• Character Interview at Bring Your Own Books ~ Eleanor
• Guest Post at In the Character’s Shadow ~ Putting Yourself in Your Characters
• Character Spotlight at An Orange Dragonfly ~ Adriel
• Surprise Post at Morgan Elizabeth Huneke

Friday, October 23

• Book Review at Bring Your Own Books
• Author Interview at Scattered Journal Pages
• Author Interview at The Art of Writing For Him
• Character Interview at Flights From the Aerie ~ Adriel
• Guest Post The Overactive Imagination ~ Choosing the Right Point of View

Saturday, October 24

• Book Review at Writing Anyone
• Author Interview at Elvish Pens, Fantastical Writings
• Character Interview at In the Character's Shadow ~ Joseph
• Character Spotlight at Knitted by God’s Plan ~ Jaysen

Monday, October 26

• Tour Conclusion at Morgan Elizabeth Huneke

The Crossways Blog Tour—Guest Post + Giveaway!

Today I’m sharing a guest post by my writing friend, Morgan Elizabeth Huneke, celebrating the release of her newest book, The Crossways!

About the Book

“M’lady, it has been fairly well confirmed that the Redona was hidden away by the merfolk at the conclusion of the Great War instead of destroyed as was commanded. My brother has confirmed to me Joseph’s belief that it was concealed at the Crossways.”

Toarna pressed her fingertips together in thought. “It must be recovered and destroyed as was at first intended.”

Emily, Allan, Jill, and Joey have been reunited with their long lost ancestors. But with that reunion comes the true beginning of their quest: free the rightful king of Calhortz so that he may be restored to his throne. The Redona, the only object that can free him from his long imprisonment, is rumored to be concealed in The Crossways, a mountain across the sea which cannot be entered.

A slave since birth, Adriel’s resentment and hatred towards the strytes only grows as his family is continually ripped from him. He longs for the freedom the Time Captives are prophesied to bring, but he doubts their existence, just as he doubts God’s love. Circumstances in Calhortz are so dire. How could they ever improve?
Who can enter The Crossways? Will the king ever be freed? Or will the slaves of Calhortz lose all hope of freedom before it is even offered to them?

The Crossways is the second 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

Guest Post

Pirate Character Arcs

One of my biggest literary pet peeves, aside from poorly developed characters and badly written stories, is when negative character arcs are portrayed as positive ones. It happens far too often. My primary example, however, is from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Will Turner starts out as a blacksmith, a good, upstanding citizen. And I really liked him. As the series progressed, he…became a pirate. Instead of upholding the law, he broke it, and that was considered a good thing.

That really disappointed me. I thought the Pirates movies were exciting and interesting, but I couldn’t love them because the “good guys” were really no better than the bad ones, and we were supposed to be okay with that. Even in Christian fiction, authors still try to have “good” pirates, and that bothers me. So I decided I wanted to write a pirate story where the pirates were actually bad guys. Ironically, a few weeks later, I discovered that Molly Evangeline had done just that in her Pirates & Faith series.

Finally reading a pirate story that met with my standards, and which I loved very much, only served to make me want to write my own even more. I was in the middle of Time Captives, though. It would have to wait. But as I continued to read Pirates & Faith, I determined I wasn’t willing to wait. I put my pirate character into Time Captives and Jeremy Herb kidnapped Emily, Allan, Jill, Joey, and Peetur. I couldn’t stop there, however.

Jeremy came from somewhere. No one starts out as a pirate. I wanted to know where he came from, why he turned to piracy. I was also determined not so show it as a good thing. Piracy sounds grand, but what are pirates essentially? They are the thieves and murderers of the sea. There aren’t “good” pirates. And so, despite Jeremy starting out as just any little boy, he is not a “good” pirate. Turning to piracy destroyed his life.

I did love exploring his history, but it was sad. He made bad choices and it sent him on a downward spiral. He has a negative character arc, and I portray it as negative. Movies like Pirates of the Caribbean make piracy seem like such a grand adventure, but it’s not. It’s just as destructive as any other life of crime, and I hope that’s what Jeremy shows.

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. Her other interests include reading, playing the piano and violin, and politics. She is the author of Across the Stars and The Experiment.
You can connect with Morgan on her website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest.
 
Giveaway
Join in the excitement of Time Captives and enter to win a special prize! The first prize winner will receive a signed copy of The Crossways. The second prize winner will receive an eCopy of The Crossways in the eBook format of his/her choice. Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Tour Schedule

Monday, October 19

• Tour Introduction at Morgan Elizabeth Huneke
• Book Review at Girls Living For God’s Glory
• Author Interview at An Orange Dragonfly
• Character Interview at Knitted by God’s Plan ~ Grant Weathersby
• Guest Post at Jaye L. Knight ~ Pirate Character Arcs

Tuesday, October 20

• Book Review at Flights from the Aerie
• Book Review at The Art of Writing For Him
• Author Interview at Writing Anyone
• Guest Post at Bring Your Own Books ~ Time Captives Writer’s Block
• Character Spotlight at Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections ~ Eleanor
• The Crossways Inspirations at Morgan Elizabeth Huneke

Wednesday, October 21

• Book Review at Knitted By God’s Plan
• Author Interview at Flights from the Aerie
• Author Interview at Leah’s Bookshelf
• Character Interview at Reflections of the Heart ~ Jeremy Herb
• Guest Post at Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections ~ An American/Medieval Fantasy Culture
• Character Spotlight at Jaye L. Knight ~ Rae

Thursday, October 22

• Book Review at Scattered Journal Pages
• Character Interview at Bring Your Own Books ~ Eleanor
• Guest Post at In the Character’s Shadow ~ Putting Yourself in Your Characters
• Character Spotlight at An Orange Dragonfly ~ Adriel
• Surprise Post at Morgan Elizabeth Huneke

Friday, October 23

• Book Review at Bring Your Own Books
• Author Interview at Scattered Journal Pages
• Author Interview at The Art of Writing For Him
• Character Interview at Flights From the Aerie ~ Adriel
• Guest Post The Overactive Imagination ~ Choosing the Right Point of View

Saturday, October 24

• Book Review at Writing Anyone
• Author Interview at Elvish Pens, Fantastical Writings
• Character Interview at In the Character's Shadow ~ Joseph
• Character Spotlight at Knitted by God’s Plan ~ Jaysen

Monday, October 26

• Tour Conclusion at Morgan Elizabeth Huneke
  

Lily of the Valley Cover Reveal Correction

Due to an error in the original blog posts about Faith's cover reveal, the entry for the giveaway has been extended more than one full day! You have until noon Central time on Friday, October 16th to enter the giveaway. If you tried to email the cover before, please do so again, this time with the following, CORRECT email address: faith.blum.author[at]gmail.com. Thank you! :)

Cover Reveal—Lily of the Valley

Happy Tuesday! Today we have a blog post with a cover reveal. But, there’s a catch. The author, Faith Blum, has split her cover into 15 different pieces! In order to enter her giveaway, you need to put it together and email her your cover. Or, if you don’t want to enter the giveaway, but you’d still like to see the cover, stop by her blog on Thursday. 

The Prize

The winner will have to be patient, but the prize for this cover reveal is a signed paperback copy of Lily of the Valley. Unfortunately, due to the high cost of shipping internationally, Faith won’t be sending a paperback outside of the U.S. If you are international and would like to participate and win, you will receive an ebook copy of any TWO of my published books including Lily of the Valley. To help you a little with putting together the cover, here is the description:

Howdy, Teacher! You don’t know me, but my kids talk bout you a lot. I been lookin fer a wife and mother fer a few years and was wonderin iffen we cood meet and get to no each other a bit. I’ll come after school to git yer answer. Grover Miller

Unruly schoolchildren, three suitors, and too many things to do. When Ruth Brookings rejects one of the suitors, he refuses to accept no for an answer. To make matters worse, when she prays for guidance, she’s answered with a challenge instead: To encourage her friend to find a wife—whether he wants one or not. Will she lose her friend just when she needs a friend the most? Will she be able to weather the storms she’s about to face?

Details

• Stop by each blog listed below to get their piece of the cover.
• Use a program like this website to put the cover together: https://www.befunky.com/features/collage-maker/. If you get a little extra space between each piece, your cover will still count toward the prize. It doesn’t have to be perfect as long is each piece is in the correct place.
• Email your completed cover to Faith at faith[dot]blum[dot]@gmail[dot]com NO LATER THAN October 14^th at 9:00 PM Central time. (If you have problems with time zones, shoot Faith an email and she’ll help you out).
• Stop by Faith’s blog to see the cover and who won.

 

Piece of the Cover #9

 

About the Author

Faith Blum is a 24 year old home school graduate who enjoys doing many right-brained activities such as reading, crafting, writing, and playing piano. Her favorite genre to read and write is Historical Fiction, more specifically, Westerns. In the Hymns of the West series, she has endeavored to create clean, fun, and challenging Western stories for the whole family. She currently has three novels and three novellas published. You can find her in various places online: Website | Blog | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter | New Releases Newsletter | Amazon  

 

Bloggers

Find the other pieces of the cover on these blogs. If you are coming in late and would like direct links to each of the blog posts about the cover reveal, please go to Faith’s website link here. She will update each link to go directly to the blog post about the cover reveal. October 12 The Overactive Imagination Rebekah Lyn Books—with Author Interview Morgan Elizabeth Huneke All Things Literary and Political Hello Precious Bliss October 13 With a Joyful Noise Ruth’s Real Life Flights from Aerie Jaye L. Knight Rachel Rossano’s Words—with Author Interview October 14 Zerina Blossom’s Books God's Peculiar Treasure Rae Wildflower Acres A Brighter Destiny Writing Dreams October 15 Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections—with full cover and winner announcement