The deadlines are intense, and it’s filled with late nights and endless emails, but I still love every single moment. What was it like to have your first book published, and could you tell me about your journey in getting published?īeing an author is a dream come true. It was fun to pull threads from both stories, as well as Greek mythology, and create a brutal new world for my characters to navigate! And of course, there are mermen – brutal creatures, chosen as both mates and soldiers, who crave war and bloodshed. They’re a lower species whom the siren royalty are constantly at odds with. But mermaids are more grotesque fish-like creatures who yearn for humanity and eat human hearts in hopes of transforming into humans. Sirens are beautiful but deadly, hunting humans for sport and tradition (and, man, do they hate humans). The sea kingdom has its own laws and hierarchies, and various species with their own roles and desires. Of course, the movie played a part too! When I first saw the Disney film, I fell in love with the idea of uncovering an entirely new world – the idea that there were creatures living parallel to us, with their own customs and desires, was such an interesting concept to me and something I mirrored in To Kill a Kingdom. And so she had to make a name for herself because her name is all she is. After all, when she dies, there will be nothing left behind but a memory, or a story, of who she was. So I took that and threaded it through To Kill a Kingdom, which becomes a key motivator for Lira to maintain her murderous legacy. I liked that idea of sirens leaving behind nothing when they die and almost fading into obscurity. The Hans Christian Andersen tale also doesn’t have a traditional happy ending – the mermaid dies and dissolves to sea-foam (though she does get a shot at redemption). What makes a monster? Is evil something she was born with or that was thrust upon her? Does she want to save the world or end it? And it’s only once she’s cursed that she gets to explore those possibilities and think about who she is. Lira might not want to be human, but she does want to be her own person, free from her mother’s tyranny. I think that’s a feeling a lot of us can relate to and is a real humanizing element in To Kill a Kingdom. I wanted to flip that concept of finding love on its head (with Lira literally stealing hearts) and give my female main character some agency in her own story, but I was still so intrigued by that idea of this mystical creature trying to pave her own way, go against the grain of what was expected of her, and literally transform into someone (or something) else. At its core, it was still the story of a girl wanting to forge her own path and find love. When I read Hans Christian Andersen, I was mesmerized by its dark beauty – I loved discovering that the tale I’d grown up thinking I knew was so much more sinister than I originally thought. What was your favorite part of either story, and how did they influence you when writing To Kill a Kingdom? It’s easy to see your love of the classic tale of The Little Mermaid in this book, both the Disney and the original Hans Christian Andersen version. Read on to learn about the inspiration for her first published book, scenes that had to be cut from the book, and even whom she would cast if the book were ever made into a film! This book is available now from Fierce Reads, and MuggleNet jumped at the chance to read a review copy and to also provide a copy to one lucky reader! We also seized the opportunity to interview the author of this darkly beautiful and twisted tale, Alexandra Christo. To Kill a Kingdom presents an alternative telling of The Little Mermaid, one much darker than we’ve ever seen before.
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