So what I have for my first real post is a selection from a children's book (series?) I finished, but as I alluded to in my first post, do not have the cajones to submit to anyone. The full title is Of Banjos and Butterflies: Tales of the Wandering Prince and the Lilac Childe. It's basically broken up into two sections, the first being the stories of the Wandering Prince, the second being the stories of the Lilac Childe, with a (very) short third section that ties them together and closes up the narrative.What I've included below is the beginnings of each of the first two sections.
What I was going for, tone-wise, is kind of intentionally back and forth between old-timey (like hobos around a campfire, expanding the country westward, old-timey) and fairy-tales. I think both styles have a kind of flavor of mythology but also this sense that facts aren't written in stone (and might change from telling to telling, even), that can marry them together quite nicely, if you're careful (which I think I've been, but I'd love your feedback if you spot any places where it needs work or could be ramped up). Some of the subsections live entirely in one feel, while others jump back and forth inside one subsection.
What I was going for, tone-wise, is kind of intentionally back and forth between old-timey (like hobos around a campfire, expanding the country westward, old-timey) and fairy-tales. I think both styles have a kind of flavor of mythology but also this sense that facts aren't written in stone (and might change from telling to telling, even), that can marry them together quite nicely, if you're careful (which I think I've been, but I'd love your feedback if you spot any places where it needs work or could be ramped up). Some of the subsections live entirely in one feel, while others jump back and forth inside one subsection.
The Wandering Prince
Once upon a time, but not that long ago, there lived in the wilderness a wandering prince named John. On his head he wore a dented crown of tarnished copper and he carried a scepter jeweled in an old glass doorknob. In the nearby towns they told tales of the wandering prince and how he once was dressed in the finest gold and diamonds, but that he gave them up for his copper crown and the chance to see the world. He gave up his palace and he gave up his throne. He gave up his advisors and he gave up his clowns. He gave them all up for the open air and the chance to stand where the sun goes down.
The stories say that he saw all the kingdoms and sailed all the seas but he always came back to one patch of woods where he knew a particular bear and a certain fox. The bear knew such stories and the fox danced the jig and the wandering Prince John liked to pick a tune on his banjo, while the sun came down just over the hill.
The Prince and the Bandits
There was a time, or so the stories go, John was the fastest horseman in the west and he rode on the back of a billy goat. He rode into one town that was being robbed by bandits. The lawmen could not stop them and the banks were all cleaned dry, but when those bandits saw the wandering prince, they knew from his copper crown just who he was. They rode as fast as they could to try and escape. They rode as fast as they could into the sunset. They rode and they rode until their horses were tired, but when they reached the sunset, John was already there, because on his billy goat he was fastest and he'd made friends with the sunset long ago, one time while playing his banjo. He took the bandits back to town, where the lawmen put them in jail. He helped all the banks refill their safes, and stayed for an evening festival. The baker made pies, and the butcher made stew, and the mayor gave medals to John and his billy goat for all the good work that they do.
The Lilac Childe
There had been only one Queen of the Courts before the Butterfly Queen that everyone knew throughout the songs of Deep Faerie, but when her rule was done, or so the songs sung, she found herself a child once more. The Lilac Childe, the songs would say, though she liked the name Maria. Her voice was clear and her voice was high, like a child’s should be, but her songs were as old as the sky. She knew lyrics for trees and songs of the seas, but her favorites told of strawberries. None of the songs ever tell why, but she liked just as much a nap on the lawn as much as she liked exploring. As a fairie queen there was not very much that she had not seen, but the songs never told all the tales. She had been to the moon and swam in the deepest of seas. Now that her rule was over, she liked the cool grass on her toes, but adventures still followed her wherever she’d go.
Maria's First Unicorn
One of the songs that everyone sings tells all about the very first unicorn. One day while enjoying a nap at the shore and dreaming of horses, Maria, the Lilac Childe, dreamed just a little bit more. Maybe it was the narwhals she sang with early that morn, or maybe she really just thought ponies should have a horn, but Maria had dreamed of the very first unicorn.
When she woke from her nap to the spray of the sea foam, she found a path through the dunes and decided to roam. At the end of that path, near the stairs to the moon, she found just what her dreams had been looking for. A shining white horse, with a shining white horn, stood there with a saddle on. And so on they rode to the moon and when they came back they had a whole herd, and she decided to call them a dazzle.
