Once Upon A Spork

Cover Art by Anna Landin

ONCE UPON A TIME

It’s a term so many of us know like the back of our hands, a phrase that promises magic and adventure, strange lands and wondrous creatures. Fairy tales play on our imaginations – we picture elves, wolves, and evil queens and wonder what we would do if confronted with such trials ourselves. Would we be brave like Gretel? Would we fight through thorns and dragons to reach our true loves? Would we be able to see past bewitched exteriors to the people inside?

In this collection, the members of the Spork Room writing community have taken a look at what Once Upon a Time means to them. In this volume, we present both old favorites revisited and new tales of the magical. Step inside and let us take you on a journey of adventure, magic, and mystery.

Anna Landin The Wishing Tree – A night in the wrong place leaves Agnes enchanted and enslaved to an old woman.

Ian M. Dudley The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Cat – Three fish now out in the world face the attentions of a hungry cat. Are their aquariums up to the task?

Kathleen Ordley Salt and Silence – Fee discovers open mic nights are far from harmless when her friend Maury disappears. There’s something in the music.

Katharine Carlyle Humanity – To share in the music, Maeve must become mortal. Can she find the way before it is too late?

Beyond This Iron World – To get Leif back, Elin must walk until she’s outworn three pairs of iron boots.

Kim Moor Tearless Woman – A song of a woman left searching for both her lost husband and her tears.

Sarah A. (bookbug) Jabberwockies are Real – Jonathan sets out to hunt the Jabberwocky.

Margaret Libby The Frog Scientist – Cassie discovers not every talking frog is an enchanted prince. This one’s a brilliant scientist, but he’s still making a mess of her life.

Kit Campbell Of Spun Gold and Funny Little Men – The Rumpelstiltskin stories are all about the villain or the girl. What about the king? Heinrich has something to say about the whole thing as well.

Katheryne Newman Rose – Rose’s life is stuck in neutral as she half-raises her sisters, plugs away at the same customer service job she’s held since college and watching out for her dad. When her dad makes a foolish decision in the middle of a snowstorm, Rose’s world is shattered.

Sarah Wendorf Of Sentinels and Heralds – Five brothers are charged with keeping Old Sea King’s daughter safe from the shadow haunting her dreams and waking hours.

Torn in Three – Raised under the hill, Niamh is enchanted by the world above. In exchange for time in the world of humans, Niamh bargains away her magic and more.

The Otter’s Gift – All the sea creatures bring their gifts to their new queen, all save Otter. What price must he pay?

Print on Demand editions of Once Upon a Spork are available from CreateSpace, Lulu, and Amazon.

Ebooks can be found at Nook, Lulu, and Kindle.

Ebooks also available through Amazon UK and Amazon DE.

You can find Why is the Alligator in the Tree, the Spork Room’s previous anthology, on Lulu. The e-version is available for free download.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Anna Landin for the cover art and to Kit Campbell for her editing, formatting and blurb creation. Thank you also to Margaret and Kim for their help with the original drafts.