First, a Happy Guy Fawkes Day to everyone!  And an acknowledgment to Edith Nesbit and her book, The House of Arden, which taught me the November 5th rhyme before V for Vendetta made it trendy.  I’ll review Nesbit another day…

…but today is Friday, and on Fridays I plan to share my own writing.  For my first “Fiction Friday,” I thought I’d start with my biggest current project.  As you know if you’ve glanced at my “About the Author” page or my user profile, I’m an aspiring novelist, and right now I’m mostly aspiring with The People the Fairies Forget.

I love novels that retell fairy tales, so I wrote one myself.  It follows the adventures of Tarragon (or Tarry, for friends), who is an unusual fairy–no sparkles, no little wings, and did I mention he’s male?  Also unlike his sparkly fairy colleagues, he’s much more interested in ordinary people than in royalty (for one thing, commoner girls are more willing to dance at a party).

Tarry tells us his tale as he tries to help the ordinary people who end up as the unintended victims of familiar fairy tales–the kitchen maid who falls asleep with the rest of the castle when Sleeping Beauty pricks her finger…the girl who gets stuck engaged to the prince when Cinderella’s slipper fits her, even though she’d rather marry someone else…Beauty’s brother, who’d rather not be whisked off to live at the Beast-turned-Prince’s castle.  The stories are familiar, but the focus is different, as new stories lurking in the corners of the fairy tale emerge into the spotlight.

The People the Fairies Forget is a completed novel, so if you know an agent or a publisher who might be interested, I’d love to hear from you!  My email address is cherylmahoney42@gmail.com.  Here’s the first five pages–which are also available at the link above.

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            If I’d had the sense to stay away from the royal christening, it might have saved a great heap of trouble.  But I never could resist a good party, or the excellent food people invariably serve at good parties.

            I made my way through the crowd at the christening, brushing past silks and satins and trusting that my hair was shaggy enough to hide my pointed ears.  That always makes it easier for me to mingle among humans.  I was trusting to the size of the crowd to keep anyone from noticing that I hadn’t been invited.  A lack of an invitation never bothers me.  Unlike some fairies I could name if I cared to, I don’t launch curses just because someone forgets to add me onto the guest list for their festivities.  Besides, there’s nothing like a curse to kill a mood and spoil everyone’s appetite, which wouldn’t help me enjoy the party at all. Continue reading “The People the Fairies Forget” →