Believing in "The Kiss of Death"

Three fairy princesses Illustrated by Caroline Paterson (1856-1911). Published: 1885.

Writers don't usually like to talk about "rejection." What a painful word we have chosen to describe when our work is not exactly to the liking of the publication to which we have submitted it. Or, in the case of "The Kiss of Death," the 34 publications I submitted it to before it found its home at Quibble Lit this month. But I believed in this little flash fiction piece, a fractured fairy tale focused on an aspect of "Snow White" that I'd always found troubling: Why would a prince who stumbled upon a dead girl in the forest think it would be a good idea to kiss her? Of course, there could be several reasons, many of them unsavory, but to give my prince the benefit of the doubt, I imagined him as an artist meditating on the perfection of death. Then a fellow writer pointed out that the prince in my version is also afraid of rejection and has found the one beauty who cannot shun him. We all know that's not exactly how the fairy tale ends. But for now Prince Charming and I are happy in finding acceptance at last.