JC: Speaking of destiny, several times in the series, the idea comes up of the King bloodline being set aside or destined to be Gatekeepers of Time. What does that mean, exactly?
RL: I think we’re all given a specific gift, something we’re meant to do, something we’re really good at doing. It could be comforting people in need or painting beautiful works of art. For the Kings, it’s being the Gatekeepers of Time. Mistakes happen that can have devastating effects for the rest of time. In the Dreamhouse Kings, God has sort of given us a way of getting a “do over.” He could simply snap his fingers and change things, but we know he likes to work through his creations—us, the way he used Moses to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Sometime in the distant past—maybe thousands of years ago—he selected this family to be the people who correct history’s errors. They’re especially designed to do it. David’s heart for people, for example. He’s wired to want to help people, even people he doesn’t know and may never meet, and even if trying to help them means putting himself in grave danger. But like all of us, they are free to choose to do what they were designed to do . . . or not. Grandpa Hank couldn’t handle it after his wife was kidnapped and he realized that his whole family was in danger. He ran. He chose to turn his back on the house, on being a Gatekeeper. During the time he wasn’t there, when no one was in the house, history’s mistakes weren’t getting fixed, things got worse, and it allowed Taksidian to cause all sorts of trouble throughout history.
JC: So if this calling to be Gatekeepers stretches back thousands of years, how are the portals in California, which hasn’t been populated for very long, relative to the rest of the world?
RL: For some reason—maybe to protect themselves—the currents of Time, which become the portals, move around. Every few hundred years or so, they drift to another part of the world, and the Gatekeepers have to find it, which they can do because they’re drawn to it. Actually reaching it is another thing altogether. One of the backstories that didn’t make the final cut tells how the Kings’ ancestors helped fund the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Pacific coast, and went along to reach the current location of the portals.
JC: In House of Dark Shadows, the real estate agent calls the house “the old Konig place.” Who’s Konig?
RL: It does get a little complicated, which is one reason the details didn’t make it into the story. The father of Grandpa Hank (so he’d be Dad’s dad’s dad) was Jesse’s brother, Aaron. In his late teens, Aaron decided he didn’t want anything to do with the house and left, leaving Jesse as the sole Gatekeeper for decades. Aaron went into hiding and changed his surname to “Konig,” which is German for King. Hoping he could convince Aaron’s son, Grandpa Hank, to take up his role as Gatekeeper, Jesse added “Konig” to the deed of trust that ensured only their family line could occupy the house. Hank Konig did accept this responsibility—for a time. When he left, he changed the family name back to King, as a way of distancing himself from the house and the horrors he’d experienced there.
JC: Wait, Jesse had a brother named Aaron? Where was he in the story?
RL: One time, Young Jesse says that his brother is working on the house. The other times we don’t see him I imagined he had gone through the portals, so he was in other worlds. In movie parlance, you can say he got left on the cutting room floor. His story is one I’d like to explore in future Dreamhouse stories.
JC: More Dreamhouse stories?
RL: That’s the plan. I’m currently writing a non-Dreamhouse young adult trilogy that I’m really excited about. In the back of each book, we’re going to include a Dreamhouse Kings short story. They’ll elaborate on some things readers have asked about, such as what happened to make Jesse leave the house (hint: it coincides with Taksidian’s arrival at the house from Ancient Assyria). After that series, I’d like to revisit the Kings and the dreamhouse in a new series of books. Writing their adventures is just too fun to stop doing it.
JC: That goes for reading them, too. Will we get to tag along while the Kings try to fix the future?
RL: That would be one of the storylines. I have a few in mind. I’d also like to see them visit more worlds more frequently, and interact more with the people they meet in them. I’d like to play around a bit with the complexity and paradoxes of time travel. When you fix one thing, something else goes wrong. It’s like a puzzle and all the pieces have to fit just so.
Listen to part two of this interview at
FictionAddict.com/Frenzy
DOWNLOAD
THE SOUNDTRACK
OF THE
DREAMHOUSE
KINGS— FREE!
Composed and performed by Mark Lavallee, these songs truly capture the triumphs and heartaches the Kings go through. When you listen, think of the story (all the adventures and scares) and the characters, especially Xander and David (their sadness, hope and determination).
A list of the songs:
• The Kingmaker
• Brave David (I Miss Mom)
• King Xander
• The Princess of Victoria
• Taksidious
• Strong and Courageous
Plus this bonus track: “First Victim” by Jonathan Maiocco
GET THE SOUNDTRACK NOW AT
DREAMHOUSEKINGS.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Liparulo has received rave reviews for both his adult novels (Comes a Horseman, Germ, Deadfall, and Deadlock) and the best-selling Dreamhouse Kings series for young adults. He lives in Colorado with his wife and their four children.
Robert Liparulo, Frenzy
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