Waking Rose: A Fairy Tale Retold (59 page)

BOOK: Waking Rose: A Fairy Tale Retold

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A Little Bit About This Book

To date, this book has made me receive more email than any other book that I’ve ever written. I had no idea that my blithe promise some ten years ago on the back flap of
Snow White and Rose Red
to finish the story of Blanche, Bear, Rose and Fish would generate such enthusiasm. And since the enthusiasm hadn’t abated since the publication of the second book,
Black as Night, I can only conclude that the characters that readers REALLY wanted to read about were Rose and Fish. I hope the book satisfies that desire!

Although the basic draft of the story had been completed shortly after I finished
Black as Night
, this book almost didn’t get published—several times. First, the original publishers of the series, Bethlehem Books, decided to close their new fiction imprint, due to a lack of manpower. Then, it seemed impossible to find another publisher. One year of waiting stretched into two. And then last summer, our family suffered the loss of our son, Joshua Michael, and I had to put writing on hold for a while.

Throughout this, loyal readers of the first two books wrote to express their encouragement (and impatience!) to read the next book. I am not exaggerating when I record here that it is because of these dedicated fans that my husband and I decided around Christmas 2006 to push
Waking Rose
into print ourselves this summer.

But it has been a long haul, and I have so many people to thank who helped during this time.

For help with the themes of this story, I owe much to my friend Joan, the original “Blanche,” who encouraged me to take the story in the direction of its final form. Also to Connie Marshner, who taught me invaluable lessons concerning writing about delicate matters for young teens. And to my friend David Morrison for sharing his own struggle towards wholeness in his book
Beyond Gay.

For the ample medical research that this book required, I am indebted to Dr. Michael Greger, as well as my invaluable friend Dr. Frank, who read over the final manuscript and helped me solve several problems. And to my own wonderful brother, Dr. David Doman, whose critique threw a wrench into the process but ultimately made the book stronger and more believable.

For aid with legal questions, I once again turned to my friend Stephen Jerome, whose help was timely and useful.

Daria Sockey and my friend Helen Babineau provided some valuable feedback and a listening ear when I was along the final stretch. So did Anna Hatke, my sister Maria, and other friends and relatives too numerous to list. And lest I forget, it was my “emergency Jamies,” Jamie Spiering and Jaime Berger, who, several years ago, brainstormed with me late into the night until I arrived at the main plot of the book. They are the ones who are responsible for what became almost all the barn scenes in the book. And Janet Batchler helped me refine one key scene at the climax at the last minute, and got a character named after her in thanks.

Again, I owe much to my violence experts, Andrew O’Neill, Ben Hatke, and Nick Marmalejo, whose knowledge of the minutiae of weapons and martial arts continues to amaze me.

While acknowledging the contributions of all the above, I want to claim any errors contained in the book as my own, since many times I extrapolated from data that was provided for me to fulfill the purposes of the plot. I won’t tell you what I fudged.

Grateful thanks to: Beth Fettes, who consented to pose as the model for the cover (several times!); to Craig Spiering, who took many, many photos of me in order to take one perfect one; to Joan Drennen, who once again provided lovely frames for the chapter titles. Also special thanks to Julie McDowell of the Hal Leonard Corporation who quickly processed my application to reprint the words of the Supreme’s song “You Can’t Hurry Love” in this book so that we could make our summer deadline.

I want to acknowledge some of those artists whose love for the tale “Sleeping Beauty” helped me in my retelling, particularly Peter Tchaikovsky’s ballet, Arthur Rackham’s iconic illustrations (some of his motifs I cribbed for the cover and interior design), the paintings of Henry Waynell Rheams, Edward Burne-Jones, Edward Brewtnall, and others, and of course, Walt Disney’s film.

A special debt of gratitude goes to the men and women of CWOD, whose male members lived in the late maverick men’s dormitory at Christendom College, some of whom found themselves cameoed in the book (with or without their consent). And I should also acknowledge my creative debt to the men’s household, In His Image, at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Though they never bore swords (but did have to fight to defend their flag), I was honored to be one of their “ladies,” however brief and loose the title was applied, during the time I was at school.

Some will surmise that the fictitious Mercy College is actually an amalgamation of my Alma Mater, Steubenville, and my “adopted” college, Christendom. And of course they would be correct. Mercy College’s location is fixed at the approximate halfway point between the two schools, in the fictional Pennsylvanian town of Meyerstown (not to be confused with the real Myerstown, PA). I will always be grateful for my time at Franciscan University, and I am also appreciative for my friends at Christendom who enabled me to participate, sometimes vicariously, in their own college adventures.

More than ever, I must thank my children Caleb, Rose, Marygrace, Thomas, and Joan for their help and their patience during the writing process. And I know my son Joshua has been helping me as well from heaven. And again, I thank my biggest fan and harshest critic, my husband Andrew, who tolerates being called Mr. Doman (though that is not his name) and who honors me every time he tears up when he reads the ending of
Waking Rose. And I must credit him with writing both Fish’s and Rose’s final words of the book. Personally, I think he did a great job.

Regina Doman

Shirefeld, Strasburg, Virginia

2007

About the Author

Regina Doman lives near Front Royal, Virginia with her husband and their six children.

More information about her Fairy Tale Novel series can be found at www.fairytalenovels.com. Regina always welcomes email, feedback, and questions from readers.

www.FairyTaleNovels.com