Another wonderful anthology from Fellowship of Fantasy.
Tales of Ever After
Rescue a princess, meet a mermaid, win your reward.
The authors of the Fellowship of Fantasy tackle fairy tales from once upon a time to happily ever after. Explore twists on old tales and brand new magical stories. Meet feisty mermaids, friendly lampposts, and heroes who just might be monsters themselves.
This fourth anthology from the Fellowship of Fantasy will lead you on a quest for entertainment and storm the castle of your imagination. So make a wish and enter the deep dark woods to find stories that will make you laugh, shiver, and maybe even fall in love.
My story "King or Beggar" is featured in this new collection of fairy tale short stories. It is a retelling of the lesser known romantic Grimm Brothers tale "King Thrushbeard".
The ebook version is FREE at Amazon
There is also a beautiful paperback available.
Excerpt - the opening of "King or Beggar"
“You don’t really expect me to go in there to greet a line of men and just pick one. ‘Hey you! Yes, you! You look good. Marry me!’ Do you really expect me to do that?”
Princess Brianna looked up at her father with skeptical blue eyes. Her thickly painted eyelashes, which normally fluttered with flirtation, held perfectly still. The king fidgeted slightly. She had learned the expression from her mother, and she knew how much it irked him.
“What else can I do?” he said at last. “You’ve refused every man I’ve brought you. You must be married. It is the year for that.”
It was all true. Brianna knew that, and yet she didn’t want to accept it. All women of nobility were married off at eighteen. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to marry—she had been raised to understand marrying was the proper thing to do. She just didn’t like anybody well enough. Each man her father brought around was too stingy or too flamboyant, too harsh or too sweet, too stand-offish or too patronizing. What they had in common was that each one of them only wanted to marry her to be near the king.
The husband she wanted would want to marry her for her sake, not her father’s.
At this point, her father had given up on her. This was her last chance to make a good marriage. In the ballroom was a line of seventy-five men all hoping to have her hand. She was to pass by each of them and pick one to marry. Just like that. And if she refused them all…
Come to think of it, her father hadn’t given an ultimatum. What could he possibly do if she refused them all? Hope filled her, and she smiled broadly.
“Well, Father, what are we waiting for?” Brianna surprised him by taking his arm and stepping toward the door.
This was going to be fun after all.
The usual horns blared. The usual heralds shouted. “The king is here!” Blah, blah, blah. Everyone applauded. Naturally. Sometimes it was all so nerve-racking, but Brianna grinned pleasantly at the hundreds of people who had put on their best clothes despite the midsummer heat and had shown up to see whom she would pick.
The men stood shoulder to shoulder from the door from which she had entered to the thrones where her mother waited and where her father would eventually sit. Nearly every one of them wore white. White capes, white tunics, white leggings, white belts. With gold, of course. Golden embroidery. Gold buttons. Gold sashes. Gold amulets. Golden sabers. It was as if they had all dressed up to be her hero. She yearned to peak outside to see if there was a line of white horses as well.
The few not in white wore shades of royal blue, scarlet red, or deep violet to reveal that they had access to rich dyes. Show-offs.
Only one gentleman, the one at the very end, wore brown. That was just plain insulting of him, and she intended to tell him as much when she got to him.
What happens when Brianna insults all these suitors? Find out when you order your copy of Tales of Ever After.
“You don’t really expect me to go in there to greet a line of men and just pick one. ‘Hey you! Yes, you! You look good. Marry me!’ Do you really expect me to do that?”
Princess Brianna looked up at her father with skeptical blue eyes. Her thickly painted eyelashes, which normally fluttered with flirtation, held perfectly still. The king fidgeted slightly. She had learned the expression from her mother, and she knew how much it irked him.
“What else can I do?” he said at last. “You’ve refused every man I’ve brought you. You must be married. It is the year for that.”
It was all true. Brianna knew that, and yet she didn’t want to accept it. All women of nobility were married off at eighteen. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to marry—she had been raised to understand marrying was the proper thing to do. She just didn’t like anybody well enough. Each man her father brought around was too stingy or too flamboyant, too harsh or too sweet, too stand-offish or too patronizing. What they had in common was that each one of them only wanted to marry her to be near the king.
The husband she wanted would want to marry her for her sake, not her father’s.
At this point, her father had given up on her. This was her last chance to make a good marriage. In the ballroom was a line of seventy-five men all hoping to have her hand. She was to pass by each of them and pick one to marry. Just like that. And if she refused them all…
Come to think of it, her father hadn’t given an ultimatum. What could he possibly do if she refused them all? Hope filled her, and she smiled broadly.
“Well, Father, what are we waiting for?” Brianna surprised him by taking his arm and stepping toward the door.
This was going to be fun after all.
The usual horns blared. The usual heralds shouted. “The king is here!” Blah, blah, blah. Everyone applauded. Naturally. Sometimes it was all so nerve-racking, but Brianna grinned pleasantly at the hundreds of people who had put on their best clothes despite the midsummer heat and had shown up to see whom she would pick.
The men stood shoulder to shoulder from the door from which she had entered to the thrones where her mother waited and where her father would eventually sit. Nearly every one of them wore white. White capes, white tunics, white leggings, white belts. With gold, of course. Golden embroidery. Gold buttons. Gold sashes. Gold amulets. Golden sabers. It was as if they had all dressed up to be her hero. She yearned to peak outside to see if there was a line of white horses as well.
The few not in white wore shades of royal blue, scarlet red, or deep violet to reveal that they had access to rich dyes. Show-offs.
Only one gentleman, the one at the very end, wore brown. That was just plain insulting of him, and she intended to tell him as much when she got to him.
What happens when Brianna insults all these suitors? Find out when you order your copy of Tales of Ever After.
If you can't get enough fairy tales, check out my original fairy tale novelettes The Royal Deal, The Tomato Quest, and The Silent Beauty.
I also have another original fairy tale in the anthology Mythical Doorways.
I also have another original fairy tale in the anthology Mythical Doorways.