Category Archives: Fantasy

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Trouble Up North

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Hello and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors. I’m going to keep this intro short, because WordPress is behaving badly and I don’t want to end up throwing my computer out the window, which would be cathartic but ultimately unhelpful. Also appears that I can’t upload photos or even the WWW logo. Sigh… (Update: it appeared magically in the night!)

I’m continuing to share from my work in progress, a romantic gay fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White. Last week, Gabriel took his seat in the great hall next to his uncle Aldous and they exchanged pleasantries. In this snippet, Aldous speaks first.

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“Well, we can’t all be called into Astrid’s starry realm like your dear mother, may the gods protect her soul.  Someone has to keep an eye on your brother.  Tell me, how is Lord Craigmoor? Shame he couldn’t join you on your journey.”  Aldous swilled his wine and Gabriel did the same. The sight of the crowded hall played havoc with his nerves.  He could well understand why Lady Baltan had sought refuge in poetry, in his mother’s still and peaceful rooms.  And where was the lady, Gabriel wondered as he scanned the room?

Returning his attention to his wizened uncle, he said, “Lord Craigmoor is quite well but could not leave so suddenly. We’d only just returned from Locklair when the king’s summons reached me.  I set out at once, with Lord Craigmoor’s letter in support of Tristan in my pack.”

“Hmmm, well, that’s good news at least.  I’ve heard there’s been trouble from the forest up north. I heard—”

Whatever rumors Aldous had heard had to wait, because at that moment the king entered the hall.

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Blurb in progress for Snow:

Following the death of his mother the Queen, Prince Gabriel returns home for the first time in three years, hoping for a reconciliation with his estranged brother, the new king, but all is not well at Castle Rosenthal. King Tristan has fallen under the sway of a mysterious noble woman with a dark past, and all along the border of the Black Forest, magical denizens are on the move. 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 power afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient magic at work, if Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover it.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Who Shot The Arrow?

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Greetings and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide range of genres share from their work in snippets of ten sentences or less. I hope your New Year is off to a good start, with lots of good writing and/or reading under your belt. If you’re looking for the next good read, this blog hop is a great place to find it.

I’m continuing to share from my WIP, a romantic gay fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White. In the last snippets I shared, (here and here) Prince Gabriel stunned himself and the rest of the hunting party by stopping an arrow in mid-air. Now he gets to deal with the fall out.

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Gabriel looked over his shoulder to see Falkner extending a hand to help him up. He ignored it.

“Who shot the arrow?” he demanded.

A wary shadow dropped over Falkner’s face.  “I didn’t see.”

Gabriel struggled to his feet.  His arms and legs were leaden and he stood straight with difficulty, as if the magic he’d pulled from the earth wanted to draw him back underground with it, like a receding tide.

Other men emerged from the brush.

“Who shot the arrow?” he demanded again.  All looked stunned, or fearful, as they stared at the arrow on the ground, the empty space where the stag had stood, and at Gabriel.

***

© Ka2shka | Dreamstime.com

Blurb-in-progress for Snow, a reimagined fairy tale:

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 and along the border of the Black Forest, magical denizens are on the move. 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 power afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient magic at work, if Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover it.

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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.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ No Wizard

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Happy New Year, all you Warriors, Writers, Readers and Wanderers! What a great way to start the decade, with shiny new fiction, fresh from our brains to yours. Actually, that sounds a little creepy when I put it like that, but oh well…Welcome to my corner of Weekend Writing Warriors! I persist in sharing from my WIP, the romantic gay fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White. I’m still calling it “Snow” at this point, but I’m pretty sure that will change, as there are about 100,000 other books by that title.

In last week’s snippet, which you can read here, Gabriel magically stopped the arrow that threatened the stag, much to his surprise and everyone else’s.  Now he gets to deal with the fall out.

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Gabriel lowered his arm and the arrow fell harmlessly to the ground.  The power drained out of him and he dropped to one knee, palm on the ground, gutted.

The voices of the men grew louder and a terrible fear washed through him. What would they think of him, using the old magic?  He was no wizard. His mother had been touched with the fae, but that was women’s magic, kitchen magic—it wouldn’t do for a prince to meddle in such things. His brother would be furious.

Anger replaced fear in a flash.  Who had disobeyed his order? Who dared to loose an arrow when he stood so close to the target?

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Happy, Magical New Year! © Algol | Dreamstime.com

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Blurb-in-progress for Snow, a reimagined fairy tale:

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 and along the border of the Black Forest, magical denizens are on the move. 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 power afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient magic at work, if Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover it.

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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.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ A Magical Beast

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Hello and Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in snippets of ten sentences or less. I have to apologize for my rather sporadic posting of late. ‘Tis the silly season, and demands on my time are mounting. But of course you all know that and are surely dealing with similar issues. I just feel Not Right when I’m not participating every Sunday!

So on to the snippet. I’m continuing to share from my reimagined fairy tale, a gay romantic fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White. In my last post, Prince Gabriel made the decision not to kill the magnificent white stag that appeared before him.

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Falkner nodded, for once not bristling at a command from Gabriel.  He melted back into the brush and Gabriel returned his attention to the deer, who remained motionless.  Stepping forward, he expected the animal to flee at last, one or two bounds would take it out of sight, but it didn’t move.  This trust confirmed Gabriel’s decision.

Here stood a magical beast, clearly not from the ordinary woods but emerged from the Black Forest on this day as a sign.  But what was the sign? Was this a confirmation of Tristan’s rise to the throne, or a signal that powers in the Black Forest had awakened from their decades long slumber?

Gabriel looked into the beast’s black eyes, searching for answers.  There was wisdom there, but it was not for him.  This was the king’s hunt, and any divine messages sent from the Forest were for Tristan, not his long absent brother.

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Hope your season is magical. © Mikael Damkier | Dreamstime.com

Blurb-in-progress for Snow, a reimagined fairy tale:

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 and along the border of the Black Forest, magical denizens are on the move. 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 power afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient magic at work, if Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover it.

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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.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Auspicious

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Hello and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in excerpts of ten sentences or less. I’ve been off the grid for a while, doing a lot of traveling, and when not traveling, recovering from traveling. My last jaunt was to Los Angeles for the World Fantasy 2019 convention, which was awesome.  I have a new goal: to have Snow finished in time for Salt Lake City next year! I might submit to one of the mainstream publishers like Tor now that things are loosening up for writers of LGBTQ fantasy, or I might just publish it myself, depending on how much frustration and rejection I’m in the mood for when the time comes.

So on to the snippet. In case you’re new to the story, Snow is a reimagined fairy tale based on the tale of Snow White. I’ve jumped ahead a bit from my last post;  Prince Gabriel and the huntsman Falkner have been separated from the main hunting party, and are tracking a deer on their own.  Gabriel would rather not kill anything, but alas, fate has its own ideas.

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Gabriel rested his hand against a tree trunk and peered intently into the distance, trying once again to see what the huntsman did.  A flicker of motion caught his attention and his breath caught as a large stag lifted its head from where it had been nibbling on grass.

This was no ordinary deer.  Its coat was pure white and Gabriel wondered how he had failed to see the magnificent creature immediately. Then the deer stepped out of the pocket of weak light it stood in and the white coat faded to gray, rippling with streaks of silver. The beast lowered its head again, a great mass of antlers scraping the limbs above and releasing a shower of red leaves. Gabriel counted nine…ten points: a larger rack than any currently mounted in the great feast hall.

Time slowed and stretched as they lurked in the shadows without moving or uttering a sound, until Falkner elbowed him lightly in the arm.  This was a hunt, not a zoological tour, and the arrival of a white deer was surely auspicious.  Gabriel imagined the fanfare and excited soothsaying that would accompany this kill.

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Blurb-in-progress for Snow, a reimagined fairy tale:

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 and along the border of the Black Forest, magical denizens are on the move. 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 power afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient magic at work, if Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover it.

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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.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Dark Places

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Hello and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in excerpts of ten sentences or less. I’m sharing from my current work in progress, a reimagined fairy tale with the working title of Snow. Yup, you guessed it. It’s inspired by the story of Snow White.

In this scene, Prince Gabriel is in the woods with the head huntsman, Gavin Falkner. They’re tracking a stag, which Gabriel hopes they don’t find. You can read the last snippet here.

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“Are we getting any closer, do you think, or has the stag sensibly fled into the Black Forest by now?” Gabriel asked.

“Not likely, the animals don’t like the forest anymore than we do.  It doesn’t appear to be running. We may catch up to it yet if we move quickly and stay silent.”

“Well, let’s stay close together so the birds don’t…cluster.”

Falkner gave him a quizzical look as if trying to decide what sort of man attracted birds, then moved on. This time he paid more attention to Gabriel’s progress and paused occasionally, letting go of low pine branches just in time so they swung into Gabriel’s face. Gabriel didn’t think this was on purpose. The man was simply intent on his job of tracking and he was an irritant, no more.

But as they continued on in this fashion, memories of the time when he was the object of his brother’s scorn—and therefore Falkner’s as well—arose against his will, and all the feelings of self-doubt, inadequacy and isolation came creeping out of the dark places in his heart where he’d banished them.

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I’m just grooving on these vintage fairy tale illustration. This is from 1914, from the book East of the Sun, West of the Moon illustrated by Kay Nielsen.

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Blurb-in-progress for Snow, a reimagined fairy tale:

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 and along the border of the Black Forest, magical denizens are on the move. 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 power afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient magic at work, if Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover it.

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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.