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Introducing The Caver's Kiss

So, last week, I was suddenly inspired with a new story. I was so excited about it that I used it in Sky and Cait's Beautiful People link-up. And, to my surprise, you guys spoke up and demanded to know more about it. Hurrah! I thought you'd never ask!


I'm not terribly good at the short version of anything...so here's the long version.



Rooglewood Press has been hosting annual fairy tale retellings and will do so for 3 more years. They won't give hints about which 3 fairy tales are left; so I was trying to guess the possibilities and then set my mind to whichever seemed the hardest.
And the hardest, for me (especially since my rewrites contain no magic), was Sleeping Beauty.
I'm sorry, but a girl who sleeps for an extended period of time (how does she eat? Have her muscles atrophied? Does she know how to read or speak?) and then gets kissed by a perfect stranger sounds terribly confusing to me.  
I was almost to the point of deciding that, if Rooglewood ever picked Sleeping Beauty, I would have to skip entering that year...when THIS story popped in my head.
And I loved it.
I don't even care if it is too different to count as a proper Sleeping Beauty story. I like it.


My story is set in modern times. Amos Prince is a cave explorer - a "caver" as he calls himself. He doesn't tour your highly popular cave destinations - he prefers to go where no man has gone before. So when he hears of a secluded cave near Wheston, he packs his bags for the trip.
Caves have always held a huge attraction for Amos. The unearthly colors and deep earth sounds, the unusual rock formations and the unique creatures... It's like stepping into another world. And to think that people walk over ground every day with no idea of the beauty beneath them!
This cave, however, is wrapped in a secret local legend. The townspeople won't venture a foot into its depths for fear of fire-breathing dragons, and some believe that Sleeping Beauty herself is trapped inside.
Not that this deters Amos. Oh, no. He just grins and mentally adds it to the list of stories he'll have to tell someday about all the crazy legends he's encountered while caving.


The funny thing about legends, though, is that some of them have some small element of truth...

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  1. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2015 at 12:22 PM

    I've been trying to guess what the next fairytale is, too. Anne Elisabeth Stengl said that it's going to be a lesser known fairytale in a post, so I've been trying to think of some lesser known ones. My main guesses so far are The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin, but I have no idea if any of those are even close. The Caver's Kiss sounds like an awesome story!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Esther Brooksmith (wisdomcreates)February 9, 2015 at 5:20 PM

    Oooh, I hadn't heard that (about the next one being lesser known). Those are good guesses that you have.

    ReplyDelete

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