Tag Archives: twisted fairy tale

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.

***

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?

***

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 ~ An Old Power

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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 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.

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“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.

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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 Message for the King

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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.

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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.

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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.

***

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 ~ The Right Decision

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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 continuing to share from my WIP, a romantic gay fantasy/reimagined fairy tale, inspired by the tale of Snow White. Prince Gabriel has been pressed to join in the annual hunt by his brother, who recently became king.  Snow has no desire to hunt, but as luck would have it, he and the huntsman Gavin Falkner are the ones to come upon a magnificent white stag deep in the woods.  In last week’s snippet, Gabriel prepared to shoot it with his bow and arrow.

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Easing off on the bow, Gabriel lowered his arms slightly.

“Snow?” Falkner whispered.  Gabriel was not so entirely enthralled by the beast that somewhere in his mind he didn’t note the use of his accursed nickname, but for some reason, this time it didn’t rankle him.

“It shall not be killed,” Gabriel said softly.  As soon as the words were out he knew it was the right decision and he pointed the arrow at the ground.  “This is a magical creature and is a sign of good fortune.”  He glanced at Falkner, expecting anger or mockery, but instead glimpsed a wave of relief flash across the huntsman’s face.

“Spread the word,” Gabriel continued.  “The White Stag shall not be hunted, but left in peace. I’m sure my brother will agree.”

***

Er, I’m not so sure, Gabriel, but we’ll have to wait a couple more snippets to see Tristan’s reaction.

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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 ~ Foolish Lad

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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. Everyone is invited to join in, whether you’re a reader, writer, or alien scientist examining Earth’s internet transmissions from space.

I’ve been sharing from my never-ending WIP, a reimagined fairy tale in which Snow White is a put-upon young prince and the huntsman may be a romantic hero, or a dastardly villain.  In this scene, Gabriel (the prince) and Gavin Falkner (the huntsman) have a tracked a noble, snow white (quite the coincidence) stag into a meadow in the forest. Gabriel reluctantly prepares to kill it.  (PS I know having two G-named main characters is stupid, but I haven’t decided how to change that yet. Working on it!)

***

Gabriel removed bow and arrow from the quiver at his side as quietly as he could. Once in hand, he inspected the lethal head of the arrow and experienced a sharp vision of red blood staining the white fur.

He blinked away the stupid, unreasonable moment of queasiness, and lifted his gaze along with the shaft of the nocked arrow.  The stag seemed unalarmed, grazing without much heed of the dangers around it.  At such a distance, and presenting such a broad target, Gabriel couldn’t miss.  He did enjoy target practice, and had won many a competition at it, besting even Falkner on occasion.

As he took aim, the stag lifted its mighty head and gazed calmly in their direction, clearly seeing the two men lurking in the bushes. Why won’t the damn thing run? Gabriel stared straight into the deer’s large black eyes and saw intelligence there.  Foolish lad, he heard his stepfather’s voice scolding him, animals don’t have hearts and minds like we do.

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Alpar Benedek | 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.