Hello and welcome to my corner of Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where a bunch of writers from a wide variety of genres share excerpts of their work in snippets of ten sentences or less. Kind of like channel surfing for the bookishly inclined.

Speaking of bookishly inclined, am I glad to be back here at our happy little little hop. I missed last week because I was at a family reunion. Nice to see everyone and all, but after four hours in a crowded community center with a hundred relatives I see once a decade, this introvert was ready to run and hide!

So I’m continuing to share from my current work-in-progress, a reimagined fairy tale titled Snow.  Our hero, Prince Gabriel, is on his way home after an absence of several years. He’s run into an old nemesis from childhood, Gavin Falkner, and is not inclined to be overly friendly.  You can read the last snippet here.

***

Gabriel pretended to search his memory.

“Are you one of the Falkners related to Lord Valkry?”

“A cousin, here to make a respectable living serving the king.”

Gabriel sincerely doubted if anything respectable was going on, now that the tempering influence of the Queen had been removed. His memories of Falkner were vivid, tumbling over him like rocks in a landslide. One of his brother’s many boyhood companions, Falkner along with the others had conspired to make Gabriel’s life miserable; teasing, taunting, tormenting, and worst of all—when they’d all grown too old for such things—shunning. How oddly appropriate that most of the teasing was due to Gabriel’s refusal to hunt.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember you,” Gabriel said. He watched with satisfaction as the lone dog that had bolted into the forest came panting back in search of his companions. The stag would be long gone by now.

***

This stag has the right idea.

Blurb-in-progress:

Following the death of his mother the Queen, Prince Gabriel is called home by his brother, now King. Gabriel hopes for a reconciliation with his estranged brother, but all is not well at Castle Rosenthal. King Tristan has fallen under the sway of a scheming alchemist, the magical denizens of the bordering Black Forest are on the move, and Gabriel begins to fear for his life. Is the handsome huntsman in on a plot to assassinate him, or is there an even darker, more evil force afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient powers at work, if only Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover them.

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Weekend Writing Warriors is a blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in excerpts of ten sentences or less.  Click the link to check out the other writers participating today.  It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book!