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Morgan lives between Apex and Holly Springs with his wife and four daughters.
Local author J. Lloyd Morgan’s first novel, The Hidden Sun, just published by Walnut Springs Press, offers it all. Classified as medieval young adult fiction, the novel’s princess is supposed to marry the victor of a competition, but she is in love with her personal guardian. Though normally she could renounce her title, the character favored to win the competition could jeopardize the peace of the kingdom.
“She has to make this decision, and the decision that she makes has this rippling consequence for the kingdom,” Morgan said. “She’s kind of torn between having to choose love or choose duty.”
Morgan said the idea for the novel developed from a vivid dream. He told his wife about the dream, and she encouraged him to write it down. The inspiration for the novel became Chapter 11, Morgan said, and the rest of the book developed from events he imagined occurring around his initial idea. While the novel is classified as young adult, Morgan said adult readers would be engaged and interested in it, also.
Morgan’s characters must use their own skills to solve their problems – without magic or technology.
“There are no dream sequences, no magic - not that there’s anything wrong with that,” Moran said, adding that the problem-solving in the book without magical aid makes the novel more real and relatable.
Morgan said he wrote the book, off and on, during five years. After receiving rejections in an attempt to find a publisher, he self-published the book about a year ago. Then, when he shopped out his second book, the sequel to The Hidden Sun, Walnut Springs Press was interested in publishing both books. The publisher reedited The Hidden Sun and is to release Morgan’s sequel in 2012.
Morgan said a third book is planned for the series but is not yet written, and it’s possible the series may continue. He also has written another novel and currently is editing it.
Morgan said his favorite authors or the same genre or influences included Kevin J. Anderson, Orson Scott Card, Greg Keyes and Michael Stackpole.
He said he finds time to write at night, “when I should go to sleep after all is said and done for the day.” Morgan regularly attends Apex Writers Guild meetings.
“That’s been a great place to network,” he said.
Morgan lives between Holly Springs and Apex with his wife and four daughters. He jokes that, if authors refer to their books as their babies, that his book is a “special little guy.”
An ambassador for the Holly Springs Chamber of Commerce, Morgan helps run chamber events, such as ribbon cuttings, and acts on behalf of the chamber, welcoming newcomers to town.
Morgan graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in communications and a minor in English and has won awards as a television director.
The Hidden Sun is available from amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com, as well as at local bookstores including All Booked Up in Apex. More information about Morgan is available on his website and blog: www.thehiddensun.com and www.jlloydmorgan.com.
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