Midsummer
novella, fantasy (synopsis only)
Pitch
Imagine everyone in the Mario games suddenly lost their memories—except for Luigi. Player 2 is now suddenly the hero, and there's only one life left. But Princess Peach is still somewhere in Bowser's Castle, and there's no one else to rescue her. What will Luigi do?
Blurb
Halfway through a quest to save the beautiful Princess Aliya from the evil wizard Mordeval, Prince Charles and the rest of the questing party abruptly lose their memories. Sir Logan of Everwind, the only one who still remembers, must find a way to become the hero and save the day. But soon it becomes clear that heroism is less about heroics and more about sheer dumb luck. At least, that's what it seems like when everything instantly goes horribly wrong.
Stats
- Version history
- Idea conceived 2019
- First draft completed 2019
- Second draft completed 2019
- Word count
- ~25,000
- Auxiliary word count (notes, outline, etc.)
- ~200
Table of contents
- He misses
- He wakes
- She drinks
- He remembers
- He heals
- She throws
- It asks
- She intrudes
- He leads
- She loves
- She leaves
- He dies
- She retries
- She remembers
Preview: Chapter 3 exerpt
"Why are we doing this again?"It's the fifth time Bard has asked this, and I can tell from the look on his face that he knows this and is just trying to be difficult. I answer him anyway, which is probably a mistake.
"For the eighth time, Bard, it's for the princess. We are on a quest."
"Is she pretty?" one of the knights asks. "Can I marry her?"
"No, fool, only His Highness gets to marry her, weren't you listening?"
"How come only he gets to marry her?"
"What's my name again? I forget because everyone calls me My Highness."
"Shut up, Your Highness. Nobody remembers your name either."
"For the love of— BE QUIET!" I finally yell. This is about the seventeenth time that everyone has started talking all over each other.
"We. Are. On. A. Quest," I explain yet again. "Princess Aliya needs rescuing from the evil wizard Mordeval. She is to marry Prince Charles."
"Is she pretty?"
This time it's His Highness asking, and I can't ignore his question.
"She's beautiful," I tell him. "And she's smart and kind, too, not like that trollop who— nevermind. The point is, she deserves rescue. She deserves her happy ending. And right now, you're the only person who can give it to her."
His Highness thinks about this a bit, then puffs up with his own importance. "We need to rescue the princess!" he declares.
This feels like progress, even though it puts a sour taste in my mouth. I'm beginning to realize that Princess Aliya may not want an empty-headed prince. Still, at least the others are talking about the right things now. Sort of.
"So how do we get to— what was it, Modeville?"
"I think it was Mortidell."
"Wait, is that a person or a place?"
"Both, I thought he named the castle after himself."
"Now I'm confused."
"Are there dragons? We fought dragons before, didn't we?"
I look for the person who mentioned dragons. It's one of the knights, either Clovis or Clemis. I remember one of them getting scorched by the dragon we fought last week—maybe he's remembering, too.
"Yes," I interrupt hastily, "there was a dragon! We fought and defeated it in valiant battle. Your Highness, you killed it in one fell swoop with your magical sword! Where did you put it?"
The prince looks down at where his scabbard usually is and frowns. He took the sword off at some point, and I don't see it nearby.
"Nevermind, we'll find it later—"
"I need my magic sword!" His Highness declares. He has apparently grown fond of declarations.
Before I can stop them, everyone descends into chaos, flipping through packs and turning out tents. The camp quickly becomes buried in leather armor, travel food, and underclothes.
Someone—I think it's Bard—yells, "I found it!" but at the same time someone else yells, "LOOK WHAT I FOUND!"
Everyone immediately abandons their search, His Highness included, to gravitate to the second speaker, who is holding up a skin of liquor.