The Search for the Red Dragon - James A. Owen [120]
Author’s Note
After Here, There Be Dragons was published, and the real identities of John, Jack, and Charles became common knowledge, I realized that the challenge I faced with The Search for the Red Dragon was to be able to continue their story and still keep characters (who were based on well-known and much-beloved authors) fresh and interesting. And the best way I could do that was to broaden the mythology I’d created for the Imaginarium Geographica and focus on John’s predecessor, Sir James Barrie.
I had alluded to Barrie’s role as a Caretaker in Dragons, but I knew that bringing him to the fore would give me the opportunity to fold Peter Pan into the story. I had already stated that the Red Dragon had been made from the rebuilt Argo, and so making the mythological Jason and Medea’s sons into the original “Lost Boys” gave me a direct line back to Peter Pan.
Orpheus, as the inheritor of the Greek god Pan’s pipes, gave me a connection to Peter (Pan) and opened up the opportunity to tie in the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Adding the stories of Daedalus and Echo simply strengthened the connections I wanted to establish with the classical Greek mythology.
The Piper’s story, and luring away the children, was something that could be woven into the tales of the Children’s Crusades, which are, tragically, historically accurate. This was also the source for Hugh the Iron, William the Pig, and the child who led them (in one version of the Crusade stories), Stephen.
It was a passion of J. R. R. Tolkien’s to try to find the oldest versions of the world’s stories. So using that conceit as a template, I was able to write early versions of “Hansel and Gretel” and even wink at “Snow White” with Medea’s mirror.
Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle were friends in real life and had, quite famously, attempted to prove the existence of fairies and other magical creatures. Houdini in particular is a perfect example of a Caretaker who was not also a writer—even if his tenure was short. And again, that he was a great illusionist who would have loved the concept of the transporting wardrobes segued nicely into an inspiration for Lewis’s most famous work, as well as echoing the recent “revelations” about Houdini’s secret life as a spy.
Richard Burton was an infamous explorer, who seemed to be exactly the sort of person who might stumble across a lost expedition like the Roanoke colonists—and the temptation to explain what “Croatoan” meant while in the same stroke establishing a basis for the Indians in Peter Pan was too hard to resist.
The names of ships forming the great wall in the Underneath will be familiar to anyone who may have read stories about the Bermuda Triangle. I threw in Amelia Earhart just for good measure.
It should be noted that while many of the stories and characters are based on real people and historical facts, I have taken liberties where it best suited the story to do so. Nothing here should be taken as definitive truth—but then again, all of us change and grow, and alter how we relate to the world as we do. I have tried to instill this quality in my characters as well.
And finally, as all the best villains do, the Winter King/Mordred returns to the stage, though not in the form readers might have expected, nor is he presented in an entirely negative light. And a careful reader might note that his whole story has not yet been told….
James A. Owen
Silvertown, USA
Table of Contents
Cover
Copyright
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part One Nine Years in the Summer Country
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Part Two A History Undone
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Part Three The Search for the Red Dragon
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Part Four Into the Underneath
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Part Five The King of Tears and the Queen of Sorrows
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen