Quen Nim by Steve Shilstone

Quen Nim

by Steve Shilstone

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BLURB:

Nimble Missst, shapeshifting Cloud Castle City Princess, rages against her betrothal to the ridiculous Blossom Prince, Zootch. Reluctantly bound to duty, she agrees to go through with the marriage, but always in her snapjaw mind she devises plans of escape. On the day the vows are to be exchanged, her startling violet eyes flash in disbelief when she learns that Zootch has fled Blossom in terror, saying he’s always been afraid of Nimble Missst. Newly enraged, she sets off in hot pursuit of the Prince. It becomes a game of hide and seek, pitting the snapjaw mind of Nimble Missst against the surprising cleverness of Zootch.

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Excerpt

Pofftikkle! thought Nimble Missst. Ridiculous. I suppose they’ll all be gathered around Gramma’s throne. They’ll gape at me when I fly through the skylight opening. I should seep in the back way and creep up the stairs. They’ll be expecting me through the skylight. Why should I do what they expect? Aren’t I doing enough as it is? Queen of the Boad, All Fidd and Leee Combined. Ridiculous. And wed to Zootch, Prince of Blossom! Utterly ridiculous! Fabulously! Pofftikkle! Why is Kinng Forr retiring? I’ll tell ye why, Nim. One word. Zilp. She’s the one who’s sick of it. Sick of being Queeeeeeeeeeeeeeen. Ridiculous. Queen with fifteen ‘e’s. Seven or eight weren’t enough for her. No, her Blossom snobbery demanded fifteen. And I must wed her nephew Zootch! What a name! Ridiculous! It sounds like slipping on ice. And what a timid lackwit he is. He’s not completely ugly, but I don’t believe I’ve ever heard him speak a word. Well, hard to blame him, stuck as he always is in the company of his arrogant haughty clutch of a mother, the Quing. Always spouting about rudeness, she is. She INVENTED rudeness! The Quang’s not so bad when you get him away from the Quing, but he folds up timid just like his son when she appears. They say she never allows Zootch to be pried from her side. Hmmmmm. Well, I have a snapjaw mind. When he’s wed to me, he’ll be pried from her side and from mine, too! I have my little plan. Ho, what there, my favorite tricklestream!

The sparkling green cloud of Nimble Missst sank low to a mountainside meadow divided by a tumbling tricklestream. She settled on the stream and rode it down the grassy hillside to where it joined a slow-moving brook. In wisps she fluttered back to the top of the meadow and rode the stream again. Dozens of times she did so such. Finally, seemingly exhausted, she jelled to red vest, red pantaloon, silver cape Nimble Missst and sat resting in the long cool grass.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Steve Shilstone is a benign elderly hippie lite loon living in Northern California. He fancies himself to be a prosemaker and a dadaist with a small d who enjoys hanging out at the intersection of Humor and Nonsense. In times ago, he was a youth baseball coach for 25 years, a distributor of mail for the United States Postal Service, a stock associate employed by a no longer with us department store, a cartoonist of little note, a painter of littler note, and an anthropology student at UCLA.

His author website

His fantasy site 

His dada site, Anvil in a Lace Bootie 

Publisher of his fantasy series 

Publisher of his print child of hippies novel, Vineyard’s Children, due out in December 2013

Buy Link:

Wild Child  Publishing

Steve will be awarding a $10 Wild Child Publishing GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So comment often for a better chance at winning. You can follow the tour here.