Long before the days of television and the Internet, adults passed their time by telling dark, fantastical stories. Women sat at their spinning wheels discussing the princess who fell into a magical slumber until she was awakened by the suckling sensation of the twins she bore after being raped by a prince. Aristocrats spoke of the hard-working girl with the glass slipper who witnessed venegeance personified when the birds that sat at her shoulders pecked out the eyes of her horrible stepsisters. Even without social media platforms, adults around the world knew these stories -- these marchen -- that became known as fairy tales.
Some fairy tale details differed from time to time, from place to place, but the basic premises were kept intact. Whether Snow White's mother wanted her daughter's heart or a bottle of her blood with her toe used as a bottle stopper, the main points were the same. But it was in those minute details that every fairy tale took on its own meaning; its own horrors that resonated within each listener. Through a combination of cultural traditions, personal beliefs, and moral codes of conduct, fairy tales were tailored to gauge different reactions out of different listeners. And even though these stories have now been recorded, dulled down, and made socially acceptable for all audiences, I see no reason why fairy tales should not continue to be tailored for particular groups of adults as they were in the past.
It was under that mindset that I first came up with the world of Grimmora -- a dark, fantastical place where famous stories are nothing more than a set of ancient guidelines. I compared the fairy tales I heard as a child with the tales I read as an adult, letting every story whirl through my mind until it found its proper place. The result is a vast kingdom that transcends dimensions and time. With a selective breeding of folklore, history, mythology, and literature, Grimmora is the product of truth tinged imagination.
Over time I will give you glimpses into the world of Grimmora and invite you into the wildest recesses of my imagination. I will fill your mind with the questions that have plagued me since I began this series and the haunting images I have come to find as the only logical answers. I hope you will enjoy the journey as much as the destination, and remember that what comes between "Once upon a time" and "happily ever after" is what makes the journey so worthwhile.
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