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    Fables and Fantasies: A 5 Story Collection: Fables and Fantasies, #1
    Fables and Fantasies: A 5 Story Collection: Fables and Fantasies, #1
    Fables and Fantasies: A 5 Story Collection: Fables and Fantasies, #1
    Ebook73 pages1 hour

    Fables and Fantasies: A 5 Story Collection: Fables and Fantasies, #1

    By Dale T. Phillips

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    About this ebook

    This collection of five different tales gives some new takes on old stories. They are a mix of fear, fun, and fantastic elements. Some of these stories are humorous, some are scary, some end well, some badly, and some have mixed blessings for those involved. Kind of like life. Fable and fantasy blend to make a journey into other lands and times and magics. It's like following a familiar road, only to discover a new, unusual side path that takes you to an alternate destination. Here are new worlds to explore, with magic, swords, vampires, princesses in peril, and choices to be made. Heroes and villains and something in between. Monsters, both internal and external. Encounters with the unusual to make you think, laugh, and shiver with fright.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGenretarium Publishing
    Release dateAug 25, 2012
    ISBN9781386003342
    Fables and Fantasies: A 5 Story Collection: Fables and Fantasies, #1
    Author

    Dale T. Phillips

    A lifelong student of mysteries, Maine, and the martial arts, Dale T. Phillips has combined all of these into the Zack Taylor series. His travels and background allow him to paint a compelling picture of a man with a mission, but one at odds with himself and his new environment. A longtime follower of mystery fiction, the author has crafted a hero in the mold of Travis McGee, Doc Ford, and John Cain, a moral man at heart who finds himself faced with difficult choices in a dangerous world. But Maine is different from the mean, big-city streets of New York, Boston, or L.A., and Zack must learn quickly if he is to survive. Dale studied writing with Stephen King, and has published over 70 short stories, non-fiction, and more. He has appeared on stage, television (including Jeopardy), and in an independent feature film. He co-wrote and acted in a short political satire film. He has traveled to all 50 states, Mexico, Canada, and through Europe. He can be found at www.daletphillips.com

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      Book preview

      Fables and Fantasies - Dale T. Phillips

      Copyright © 2012 Dale T. Phillips

      Cover Design copyright 2012 Melinda Phillips

      http://www.snapichic.com

      All rights reserved.

      Blades and Butchery was first published in

      Aofie’s Kiss, March 2009

      The Little Guy was first published in Sorcerous Signals, Feb 2010

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      Jumble Sale (Different Genres)

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      Non-fiction Career Help

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      With Other Authors

      ROGUE WAVE: BEST NEW England Crime Stories 2015

      Red Dawn: Best New England Crime Stories 2016

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      Insanity Tales

      Insanity Tales II: The Sense of Fear

      Sign up for my newsletter to get special offers

      http://www.daletphillips.com

      DEDICATION

      To the Pioneers Who Lead the Way

      CONTENTS

      Foreword

      For the longest time , I could never figure out why adults would tell fairy tales (especially those of the Brothers Grimm, which were rather grim) to young children, presenting kids a world of oddly cruel behaviors and child-menacing monsters. Sounded like pretty gruesome stuff for such tender sensibilities. Were they supposed to be precautionary tales? Don’t pick flowers off the path? Be suspicious if someone leads you deep into the woods? Mom thinks it’s a bad idea to trade our cow for magic beans, but we really know better?

      And what’s up with those leaps in the narrative, and fantastic elements of magic and mayhem? What were we supposed to learn from those?

      I preferred the stories as shown in the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon show’s Fractured Fairy Tales, where they would take a well-known old chestnut and twist it into something funny, with a different moral, a shaggy-dog pun at the end. Laughing at these tales seemed far better than being creeped out by hearing how grownups were abandoning you to the wolves.

      Then I read Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment, and I understood. Childhood is a terrifying existence at the whim of irrational giants, where disaster is a step away, even if one has done nothing to deserve it. The monsters can come at any time—and they might well be your own family. Fairy tales are a way of telling children, via story (the most powerful teaching method of all) that they can fight back and sometimes win: Hansel and Gretel pushing the witch into the oven, Jack defeating the giant, the evil queen being bested. I finally got why fairy tales are so important from such a young age. Fantasy allows us to expand our world, try out roles. It allows us to see the world in a different way.

      But my reading tastes changed as I got older, and the fairy tales didn’t always have a happy ending—sometimes the monsters won. We don’t all live happily ever after. Life is a mixture of good and bad outcomes, and the modern fantasy story can go either way.

      So here are a handful of tales for your enjoyment. Some are funny, some scary, some end well, and some have mixed blessings to those in the story. Kind of like life.

      Our New Queen

      If you read this missive , know that we here are in grim peril. I implore you to come to our aid with all dispatch, for a dark blight has come upon our land. Though it means my death if my deed is discovered, I must tell you what has befallen us.

      A short time ago, strange tales came to us of a beautiful, ageless, maiden who lay in an eternal, enchanted sleep, guarded by mysterious followers in some dark forest shrine. My adventurous lord, the Prince, being of marrying age and full of the vigor of youth, vowed he would make a pilgrimage and discover the truth of these tales. His father, the recently widowed King, allowed his desire in this.

      Our merry group rode out under a bright morning sun. The minstrel sang lively tunes, and our lord’s spirits were high. It took several hot, tiring hours in the saddle to dampen our ardor.

      As we delved further into hitherto unknown areas of the forest, we were struck by its endless, quiet density. We could barely catch the light through the thick branches overhead. The air was thick with the dank smell of decay. Our fancy seemed to play us tricks, giving us glimpses of odd scuttling things in the long shadows. We grew ever more uneasy in the gathering gloom.

      Our minstrel had long since fallen silent, when we suddenly emerged into a magnificent clearing. It spread before us as a verdant sward, before coming to

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