Unsleeping Beauty: The Princess and the Ogre

     Meanwhile, having been surrounded by a sack, Dimity found herself being dragged down stairs which would have been much too high for her to have walked down.  They felt like tree roots as she bounced across them, but the smell alone would have helped her guess she had been taken underground.      “You areContinue reading “Unsleeping Beauty: The Princess and the Ogre”

Hazel and Lavonne

     It’s all about accidents and chance.  Did you ever run across some rediscovered artist online: some songwriter ignored in her own day whose friends preserved her manuscripts and recordings or author whose stories and poems were published in cheap, quickly discarded magazines?  Years later, someone comes along and says “Hey, look at this!” andContinue reading “Hazel and Lavonne”

Unsleeping Beauty: Multiple Threats

     Affretz sat up and rubbed his eyes.  Was something wrong?  He couldn’t hear Deedee talking.      There was nothing much to see but the wagon, the sinister forest, and the horses.  He was about to call out when he heard Archels’s voice.      “How could we let him get away?  I wanted to findContinue reading “Unsleeping Beauty: Multiple Threats”

Unsleeping Beauty: Stranger Meetings

      What they were moving toward was, in fact, another castle.  It was quite as large as the castle Dimity had grown up in, and even the larger one where her uncle had been kind.  It could not be seen above the trees of the grisly grove, however because unlike the majority of castles, whichContinue reading “Unsleeping Beauty: Stranger Meetings”

Obstacle Course Love

     With the onset of spring (inch of snow last Friday) we have been discussing postcard representations of romance.  It is important to remember, however, that the course of true love runs never smooth.  This is, in fact, the basis of a LOT of postcards, not to mention books, poems, plays, movies, soap operas, andContinue reading “Obstacle Course Love”

Beating About The Bushes

     A fantasy artist once submitted an amazing illustration showing a skull-headed demon glaring hungrily at the viewer from in front of a complex and twisted grove of obviously cursed trees.  The editor loved the drawing, but said “You’re not fooling me, you know.  You just wanted to draw those interesting trees and added theContinue reading “Beating About The Bushes”