The Boy Who Would Not Sleep

By DeAnna Knippling

In the woods, Nickolas’s father tells him stories to pass the time as they cut down trees...but one story, he won’t tell. Not until Nickolas grows old enough to hear it. Finally, the time comes: the men in Nickolas’s family were always good at cutting things, but in older times, they were too good, and did monstrous things, eventually angering a local dragon.

The dragon cursed the men of their family to fall into a deep sleep that lasts from fall to spring, like a bear’s. And in their dreams, they must serve the dragon.

More than that, Nickolas’s father will not say.

Now, Nickolas is eating enough for many men...and getting sleepier with every step. The townswomen think it’s funny, but Nickolas has made up his mind: he will not sleep.

No matter what the cost.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wonderland Press
• Release date: Feb 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781501496479

DeAnna Knippling

DeAnna Knippling is a freelance writer, editor, and book designer living in Colorado.  She started out as a farm girl in the middle of South Dakota, went to school in Vermillion, SD, then gravitated through Iowa to Colorado, where she lives with her husband and daughter. She now writes science fiction, fantasy, horror, crime, and mystery for adults under her own name; adventurous and weird fiction for middle-grade (8-12 year old) kids under the pseudonym De Kenyon; and various thriller and suspense fiction for her ghostwriting clients under various and non-disclosable names. Her latest book, Alice’s Adventures in Underland:  The Queen of Stilled Hearts, combines two of her favorite topics–zombies and Lewis Carroll. Her short fiction has appeared in Black Static, Penumbra, Crossed Genres, Three-Lobed Burning Eye, and more. Her website and blog are at www.WonderlandPress.com.  You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Copyright Information

Copyright © 2012 by De Kenyon

Cover art © by Lynetteyencho | Dreamstime.com

Cover design © DeAnna Knippling

Published by Wonderland Press at Smashwords

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The Boy Who Would Not Sleep

When Nickolas was a young boy following his father into the woods in order to carry his water while his father cut trees, his father would tell all kinds of stories of dragons and knights and fighting, and Nickolas enjoyed those stories very much. However, there was one story that his father would not tell him.

Nickolas would beg for a new story, and his father would say that he only had one story that he hadn’t told him yet. But Nickolas, I am saving this story for you, and when it is time I will tell you.

Nickolas grew older and older, and his father showed him how to use the ax to strip off branches, to cut away bark.

But he would not let him cut down a tree, not by himself. There will be time, his father said. After you hear the story.

Soon? Nickolas asked.

At first, his father had laughed and said, Not so soon, and told him the old stories again.

But then it changed to soon, and then very soon now, until finally his father said, Now it is time to hear the last story, Nickolas, during the noon meal.

They worked all morning, until finally it was time to eat. Every mouthful felt like it was going