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.  Before I get to the snippet, I just want to say, Happy Year of the Rat! I’m usually too exhausted by December 31 to do much celebrating, so the Chinese New Year is when I get reflective and start making plans for the new year. I haven’t actually looked up what the Rat portends, but surely it will be good for someone who likes to hole up and hoard cheese?

I’m sharing from Snow, my gay romantic fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White.  In this scene, Gabriel is confronting Bryce, the man who shot an arrow at a stag after Gabriel gave the order it was not to be killed. The arrow would have come dangerously close to Gabriel as well, if he hadn’t stopped it with a latent magical ability he didn’t know he possessed.  Gabriel speaks first.

***

“You disobeyed a direct command.”

“I hadn’t heard it yet.”

“That’s true,” said Samuel, one of the few remaining men-at-arms Gabriel recognized from his youth. “He’d only just come up and it did look strange, you standing so close to that stag.”

Gabriel looked at each man’s face. None of them would support him if he demanded that Bryce be punished and it would not do to create rancor on what was supposed to be an occasion of manly bonding and ushering in the new king’s rule. He might be Prince of Rosenthal and second in line to the throne, but right now, he felt more the stag, the odd man out, the prey.

And then there was the business of the magic.  They’d all be wagging their tongues about it at the Three Boars that night, and they didn’t need any further provocation to spread dark rumors.

“Because this is the first hunt of the season and a day of celebration, I forgive your mistake, Sergeant Bryce,” Gabriel said, and hoped it wasn’t interpreted as a sign of weakness.

***

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.

****

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.

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 continuing to share from my WIP, a romantic gay fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White. We’re in the middle of a tense scene here. After issuing the command not to shoot the great white stage, someone took a shot anyway. Gabriel stopped the arrow with a magical ability he didn’t know he had.  Now he is trying to figure out who disobeyed his command.

***

The men mumbled and shook their heads. No one would meet his eye.  “We’re not moving from this spot until the culprit comes forward.”

A large burly man with a thick black beard stepped out of the brush—the same angry man who’d been impertinent toward Gabriel earlier, when he’d gotten in the way of the hunt the first time.

“I did it,” Bryce said, “I thought he was about to charge you.”

Gabriel swallowed his rage, stopping himself from calling the man a liar outright. “So you endangered me by shooting an arrow in my direction instead?”

“I had to make a quick decision.” Bryce’s already red face grew brighter.  Gabriel knew it wasn’t from shame, but from being called out.

***

Alpar Benedek | 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.

****

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.

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 hope you had a wonderful holiday and that the new year, coming up fast, will be fabulous!

I’ve been sharing from my WIP, a gay romance/fantasy inspired by the story of Snow White. It seems appropriate that I’ve finally reached this pivotal moment at the very last WWW of the year. Good inspiration to power through and get this puppy done! To bring you up to date, Prince Gabriel encountered a magnificent white stag while taking part in the king’s annual harvest hunt. He made the decision not to kill it, and passed on the order. Someone, however, has other ideas. You can read last week’s snippet here.

***

“No!” he shouted at the same moment the arrow was released. Impossible, he knew, to snatch the arrow from the air but still his hand jerked upward of its own accord. Like everything else in the woods, the arrow seemed to travel slowly, in a low arc, spiraling.  Gabriel stretched out his arm, calling on an old power he hadn’t felt for a long time, not since his mother died. The power flowed out of the forest floor, through his body, and lanced across the air like a bolt of invisible lightning.

The arrow stopped, suspended in mid-air. Gabriel kept his arm out, fingers extended, not daring to move or breath.  Nothing moved.  Only the stag, who gave Gabriel one last look before bounding into the brush, silvery white dissolving into the deep green.

***

May your days be magical. © Melpomenem | 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.

****

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.

Hello and Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors. I hope you’re taking a little respite from the silly season, perusing a snippet of fiction here and there to whisk you away briefly to another time and place, maybe even another planet.  It’s good for the sanity, in my opinion, and you can find more one minute escapes at the WWW blog hop. Just click the link above.

I’m continuing on with my reimagined fairly tale inspired by the tale of Snow White. Last week, Prince Gabriel made the decision not to kill the white stag that presented itself to him, and he sent the huntsman, Gavin Falkner, off to spread the word. Unfortunately, there are some who might not agree with the pronouncement.

***

Gabriel moved even closer and when their gazes met again, his perceptions sharpened, as if the stag had allowed him use of its senses.  He could hear everything: every drop of rain spat against curled leaves, a crow as it stepped carefully along a branch high overhead, a squirrel chittering far off, the footsteps of the rest of the hunting party as they made their way through the thick undergrowth.

Falkner’s voice, only a murmur, blended with the forest sounds and Gabriel knew his command was being passed along. Time slowed, every twitch and flutter in the woods an act worthy of attention. Clouds thickened over the sun, causing the shadows to meld into one gloomy veil.

“Do you have a message for the king?” Gabriel asked in a near whisper. It wouldn’t do for the men to see him conversing with a beast.  The deer didn’t respond, only tossed its head again, antlers raking the branches above its head.

A twig snapped somewhere behind Gabriel, off to the left and a bow creaked as it was pulled taut.  In that instant, he knew what was about to happen.

***

Thinking of snowy, magical woods. Guess I should change those raindrops to snowflakes.

***

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.

****

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.