One for the Morning Glory

"''"This is not how these tales end," Calliope said firmly. "This is not the way that things end when they get to be tales," Amatus said, "but since ours is not told yet, we cannot count on it. There were a hundred dead princes on the thorns outside Sleeping Beauty's castle, and I'm sure many of them were splendid fellows."''"

One for the Morning Glory is a Troperrific fantasy novel by John Barnes. The characters are all aware that they feature in Fairy Tales, but they are quite aware that they do not know which roles they play in the stories.

The toddler Prince Amatus gets his hands on the Wine of the Gods and demonstrates that the truth of the saying, "A child who tastes the Wine of the Gods too early is only half a person afterwards." It's literal. The right half.

Four mysterious Companions arrive at the castle, and the novel follows Prince Amatus through his adventures in the underground goblin kingdom, the attack of a mysterious illness, and the invasion by the usurper of the neighboring kingdom.

And word play. Lots and lots of word play. The book is full of malapropisms used seriously and consistently throughout the work.

This novel includes examples of:

 * All Myths Are True
 * Anachronism Stew: Used freely, and Lampshaded; when Sir John drinks tea, he thinks it's an anachronism, but the Duke points out that such problem exists only the lands that are merely actual.
 * Deadly Decadent Court
 * Damsel in Distress
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Invoked
 * Dying Alone
 * Evil Overlord
 * The Evil Prince
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Fisher King
 * The Hedge of Thorns
 * In Its Hour of Need
 * Insubstantial Ingredients
 * The Magnificent
 * Manly Tears
 * Medium Awareness
 * Mordor
 * Off with His Head
 * Powder Keg Crowd
 * The Quest
 * Rags to Royalty
 * Riddle of the Sphinx
 * Rightful King Returns
 * Royal Blood
 * Secret Legacy
 * Shout-Out
 * Soul Jar
 * Sour Supporter
 * Standard Royal Court
 * Sweet Polly Oliver
 * Think Nothing of It
 * Tome of Eldritch Lore
 * Troperrific
 * Virgin Power
 * Wicked Witch: The witches are as capable of niceness as everyone else, but except in the rarest cases, fit the physical description perfectly.
 * You Shall Not Pass