Warning: Many spoilers ahead for Kingdom Come!
One of my goals in writing Kingdom Come was to mix in traditional characters with my own characters to create a fairy tale world where everyone lives together. Has this been done before? Yes. Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”, Chris Colfer’s “Land of Stories” series, and many more. I found Colfer’s books after I had finished my first draft and enjoyed it, but was relieved I had done something different. My world is religious, political, and true to the origin stories. I read a lot of fairy tales researching the book, and one of my objectives was to sprinkle in the more obscure tales into the main narrative.
First, spoilers about the cover (above). The front cover is an acrylic painting Daniel Johnson made for me and it hangs, framed, in my room. He and I put a few Easter eggs in the painting. From left to right, we have Snow White, Cinderella, Penta, Valencia – the Little Match Girl, and Helga. All are fairytale princesses from various authors. My Snow White and Cinderella are Grimm’s version which differed from the more popular versions (e.g. Cinderella’s slippers are golden not glass like Perrault’s. See https://tinyurl.com/y8mm929p). Naturally, the large version of the painting has more detail. The rose in Snow White’s hair was placed there to evoke the thought of the character “Rose” Red without drawing her. I chose white instead of red because of the rose in Snow White’s hair when Hero first meets her. Cinderella’s banner is purposely folded because the slipper is a dead giveaway. Cinderella is the happy princess and somehow I wanted to express this, but I didn’t want her to smile at such a serious scene. If you look at the bottom of her coat, you’ll see two buttons and hem that curves upward. Smiley faces? You bet. The hem of Valencia’s shirt reflects her poor condition of course. But if you flip her upside down, you may spot sharp blue flames with black smoke (her skirt) . Originally I was going to ask Daniel to depict her with colors like a match, red at the fringe with a yellow band above, but I chickened out. Helga has her trustworthy flail by her side and knives in her belt. If you look close enough you’ll spot she’s wearing a cross. Appropriate for her nature. Let me say that a lot of creativity in this illustration is thanks to Daniel and his research. I came to him with a vague idea and he crystalized it. My wife and I chose many of the colors of the women’s clothes.
Regarding the novel itself, the queens are all fairy tale characters although you may not recognize them all. Penta is a combination of the Italian story “Penta” but her origin story more resembles “The Girl Without Hands.” ( In Kingdom Come, she refers to it on pages 256 – 257). Cinderella/Radiance is, of course, Cinderella herself (P. 279 – 280), but she’s also the ballerina in the “The Steadfast Soldier.” Snow White is the famous “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (P. 66, entire “The Lady under Glass”) but also Snow White of “Snow White and Rose Red.” (P. 57, 71). Valencia is of course, The Little Match Girl (P. 204 – 205, et. al.). Helga is the Marsh King’s Daughter (P. 160 – 161). There is another Icelandic fairy tale entitled “Helga.” She based on that one too, but I removed most of the chapter dealing with that origin story.
The other characters are from famous fairy tales too. Rose Red is from “Snow White and Rose Red” and “Little Red Riding Hood.” (P. 45). Jorinda and Joringel are from the fairy tale of the same name as is Honest John. Roger, particularly his leg, is from “Ten Brave Soldiers” as well as the “Steadfast Tin Soldier.” (P. 303). He’s actually also the prince in Cinderella too as they marry after the novel. I liked the idea he becomes royalty because of her and not the other way around. Bettle’s children are “Hansel and Gretal.” (P. 216). Goldilocks appears on page 196-197. The donkey, dog, cat, and rooster are “The Bremen Town Musicians.” And Turducken fulfills the “The Elves and the Shoemaker.” In all, there are eighteen fairy tale references in the novel.
More spoilers.
Planet speaks in contractions only when talking to Harold. When Harold wakes and overhears her talking in her sleep, she is clearly having an amorous conversation with someone. You can tell it’s Harold because she uses a contraction.
These lines, in a conversation between Harold and Penta back at the Inn of Five near the end of the book, have a funny backstory.
Harold: “Do you think Daemon will return?”
Penta: “As sure as the Lions will lose the Superbowl.”
Originally, Penta was supposed to go to Chicago and her original response was “As sure as the Cubs would lose the pennant.” I thought her ending up in Chicago a lot more of an overwhelming experience than in Detroit — larger buildings, more activity. As they say, “man plans and God laughs.” Well, God laughed at me because a few months before I went to publish, the Cubs won the pennant! This left me scrambling. I wanted a pop reference and a sport reference, and it had to be a failing team. I like the Lions and hated writing that line, but if it had to be, it had to be. On the plus side, knowing Detroit better than Chicago, I was able to pinpoint exactly where Penta appeared in the city and where she went instead of the vague nameless alley I had in mind in Chicago. I hope to share Penta’s backstory with you one day — there’s a lot of interesting tidbits that define her character.
This blog has gone on way too long, but I’m happy to pull back the curtain a bit in the hopes you enjoy the story even more. If you haven’t read it, shame on you for reading this blog, but I hope it piques your interest enough to give it a try.