Return of the Phantom: Variations on a Theme of Leroux

As the Recommender reads her way through the Phantom oeuvre it is always fascinating how different authors tackle the canon of  Gaston Leroux's characters... in particular the triangle of Erik, Christine and Raoul. I just finished H.D. Kingsbury's Variations on a Theme of Leroux which was great fun and an intriguing take on the story.
It begins with Erik wakening to find himself imprisoned in a dungeon and beaten and starved. How did this happen to our anti-hero? His thoughts are of Christine. Would he ever see her again? Would she ever know what became of him?
The story shifts to a time a year earlier. Christine has been receiving voice lessons from Erik. She has visited him in his secret home in the cellars beneath the Paris Opera House and knows the way there, unescorted. They are very companionable... until a childhood friend of hers shows up to get in the way. Yes, it is Raoul! He is charmed by her and invites her to lunch and they spend a pleasant afternoon together. When she returns, Erik is annoyed. But why should he be? Christine is his student. Does he feel more for her than he is willing to admit? Does she? And then there is Anatole Garron, an Opera tenor who is Christine's friend. And Meg Giry... jealous of Raoul's interest in Christine. The plot thickens. Christine invites Erik to a picnic atop the roof of the Opera House. Someone follows. Seething with unrequited passion... it is Raoul! What he sees makes him seethe further. Christine pledging her love for some masked man and embracing him! How could she choose some nobody with half a face when she could have him? A Vicomte! What to do? Can he win her back?
This is a great story of love and passion (and even sex!).  There are dastardly deeds, unexpected friendships and alliances and... well, you'll just have to read it yourself to find out if Erik escapes his prison and finds true love with Christine or if Raoul will win out. That is, as always, the question!

Fifty Shades of...Oh My!

Anastasia  Steele is an English lit major with a passion for Thomas Hardy and a nervous habit of biting her lip. She's a knock-out according to her best friend and room-mate, Kathryn, who is worldly and generally pretty sensible, but Ana doesn't see herself that way. Then, she's called upon to interview 28 year old big time business magnate Christian Grey for the college paper as a favor to  Kathryn, who's down with the flu. Entering his huge stylish office with flair, Ana trips and falls headfirst at the feet of Mr. Grey, possibly the most beautiful man alive.
So begins this story that everyone is talking about. Fifty Shades by E. L. James is the love story of a young, inexperienced woman "falling" for a wealthy, sexy, charismatic and really, Ana, he is SO wrong for you guy.
But what girl could help herself from being swayed by first editions of "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" and designer undies purchased for you by the chauffeur? Then there's that non-disclosure agreement. And some cryptic remarks of the "If you were mine...you wouldn't sit down for a week" nature. "If I were HIS?" Ana thinks, romantically. The second part of that statement doesn't deter her for the moment.
Possible spoilers here for the uninitiated: Christian wants Ana... to be subservient, and available and sign a contract and...wait, you say, what about LOVE? There is sex. LOTS of steamy, bondage-y, spanky sex. Which is all well and good, but Ana wants MORE. Can Christian do more? And what about his past? The past where he was the sub of a much older woman for 7 YEARS from when he was 15! A friend of his adopted mother's! That can't be good. Especially since he still has dinner with her and calls her a "good friend". Hmmmm. Can Ana and Christian make a go of it and do more? You'll have to read this... and the two sequels "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" (I'll be reading the two follow ups and will report on them as I read them) to find out!

Erik, Erik, Erik: 3 Reviews of Phantom Fiction

I know, I know, the Recommender has certain obsessions. We will deal with those other obsessive genres as we get to them. For now, let us return to the world of that mad genius Erik, or the Phantom, in three books I recently read and which I found intriguing and well written.The first title is Phantom : Edge of the Flame by Kristine Goodfellow.

 In this original take, Erik is en route to a destination in the French countryside when he chances upon a carriage stuck by the side of the road. This carriage contains an attractive American woman, Olivia Weston, who has arrived in France for an extended visit to her cousins the de Chagnys. Struck by the sight of her stranded by the roadside, Erik commands his driver to stop and offer her a ride. She accepts... and as they share the ride (until this carriage, too, becomes incapacitated) Erik becomes more and more taken with the charming young widow. As they get to know each other and eventually continue their journey, Erik begins to understand certain complexities regarding Olivia's reason for visiting. Yet, they are drawn to each other, so much so, that Erik risks everything to sneak inside her bedroom at her cousins estate, time after time. Could she be the woman he has always dreamed of, someone to accept him and perhaps even come to love him? You'll have to buy, borrow  or download it to see.

The second title gives us the classic triangle of Christine, Raoul and Erik: My Phantom: the Memoir of Christine Daae by Anstance Tamplin. The story begins with Christine reading Leroux's new sensation "The Phantom of the Opera". Leroux had the story wrong, Christine tells us. Even her late husband, Raoul, never knew "how close the Phantom came to winning my hand. He will always have my heart". Great opening!
We then go back to the beginning of their story. After her father's  death, the lonely young Christine comes to the Opera House as a student of its singing school. Weeping by herself in a corner one day she is startled by a voice asking her why she is crying. Mistaking it for the Angel of Music sent by her father she brightens at the voice... the voice being the Phantom's who, silent for a moment responds "And here I am".

Years later, the mirror to her dressing room opens... and a man enters. "Don't be frightened, Christine. You're not in danger" he tells her... and, at the sound of his voice, she recognizes it as her one true friend and soon to be her teacher, her Angel... her Phantom. They fall into a routine of Christine visiting the Phantom in his home beneath the Opera where he trains her voice and occasionally takes her out at night to see and hear the popular singers of the day from whom she can learn. They have become close though she longs for more intimacy... the intimacy that, back in the outside world, the dashing young naval officer Raoul waits to offer her. The tension between the Phantom and Christine will keep you longing for more with this beguiling love story you won't want to miss! 

  And, now for something completely different, Jamie Martell's Thoughts of Summertime. Christine, after losing her mother, runs to the woods in despair after the funeral.  Lost, and desperate, a voice reaches out to her from the woods, asking why she cries, comforting her, then instructing her how to find her way back. Grateful , she begins to head off, then turns and asks if she might "see" him again. He replies she should return the next evening.  She does.
What interests does she have to take her mind off her troubles the voice inquires. "I love to sing" she replies. He asks if she would sing for him and she does, a Swedish lullaby. He is impressed with her talent and offers to instruct her. She mentions the Angel of Music and that she had wished for his visit. As they part company Christine asks what should she call him? "Call me Angel" he says. It is, of course, Erik.

Scene 2: The estate of the evil Vicomte Raoul de Chagny (yes, it is he, though evil, as mentioned!) and Erik is his business manager! In fact, Raoul says to Erik "You know I can't do a thing without your counsel!" This is a very radical approach to our beloved characters and ... it works. Erik  continues to meet with Christine (or at least his voice does),and before you know it six months have passed. All seems well and both are happy. Too happy, you might ask, for a young woman who is falling for a disembodied voice, and Erik who is falling for Christine in return. Alas, yes. Christine pleads with her Angel to show himself, to tell her he returns her feelings. He agrees at 9:00 that night, to meet in their wooded refuge.  Meanwhile, Christine's father is deep in debt to Raoul. So in debt he is about to lose everything. But, there is one thing Raoul will take in exchange for forgiving that nasty debt. His daughter's hand in marriage. He agrees and that night she will be taken away and held captive at the de Chagny estate as Raoul's unwilling fiancee. That night, Erik will feel rejected and betrayed by the woman he has come to love. Is there hope for our star-crossed lovers? Will wrong things be righted? This is a particularly entertaining story. I loved the depiction of Erik as a man with secrets, intense, charismatic and seductive and Christine as a strong woman doing what she has to do to get by. You will, too!

Interview With "Ashfall" Author Mike Mullin!!!!

The Militant Recommender is thrilled to have as its first Author Interview the amazing Mr. Mike Mullin!

I’m thrilled to be here, thanks for inviting me!

Hi there, Mike! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer a few questions for the Recommender!

It’s my pleasure.

I don't like to give away too much in the reviews I do, as I'm sure most readers love the thrill of a good story evolving without remembering some critic that revealed too much, so these are pretty basic questions.

That’s good; I’ll try to provide basic answers, ha! I’ve had my second cup of coffee already this morning—wait, that’s wrong—it was my third, so we should be okay.

I've read a lot of end of the world themed books, but "Ashfall's" scenario and the suddenness and the realism of the disaster grabbed me right from the start. What gave you the idea of using a supervolcano erupting and its aftermath as the theme of your novel?

The idea for Ashfall started with another book—Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. Dozens of novel ideas lurk within its pages, but the one that stuck with me was the idea of a supervolcano eruption at Yellowstone. A few weeks after I read it, I woke at 3:30 am with a scene occupying my head so completely I was afraid it would start spilling out my nostrils. I typed 5,500 words, finishing just before dawn. Then I put the project away and let it gestate for eight months. When I returned to it after researching volcanoes and volcanic ash, I realized the inspired scene I wrote in the middle of the night wouldn’t work, and ultimately that whole section had to be scrapped. The only word that remains from that draft: Ashfall.

Alex is a regular kid, someone readers can easily identify with. He also has a kind of hidden superpower. He holds a black belt in taekwondo and right at the beginning, when he's trapped by his desk, that first comes into play. What was your inspiration for giving Alex those impressive martial arts abilities?

I knew the disaster in Ashfall would be so terrible that my protagonist would have to be a special teenager to survive. And although I love the current crop of dystopian novels, some of them feel more like fantasy than science fiction to me, so I decided to try to differentiate Ashfall by making it intensely realistic. That ruled out magic, superpowers, and vampirism (thank goodness, right?). So I decided Alex should be a martial artist. The only problem: I didn’t know anything about martial arts. At that time, I was reading every book I could find about volcanoes to try to learn enough geology to write Ashfall—I didn’t want to add a huge stack of martial arts books to my to-be-read pile. So I enrolled in taekwondo classes. I enjoyed the classes and stuck with them, finally earning my black belt just before Ashfall was released last year.

 I love that Alex's survival skills kick in and he's smart about adapting to the new reality he's faced with, like using the skis to get around. How did you conceptualize these adaptations?

Many of my ideas came from my reading. Somewhere I read about a volcanologist who relies on snowshoes to traverse fresh ash more easily. It seemed more plausible that Alex could find a pair of skis than snowshoes, so I made Alex’s dad an ex-cross-country skier.

The parts of the book that relate to outdoor survival and primitive living come from my personal experience. I was intensely interested in survival as a teenager—I even spent three days in the woods with nothing but a knife and the clothes on my back once. Now I prefer to stay in hotels instead of improvised shelters, but I remember what it’s like to skin a rabbit and tan its hide.

 Darla is one of the most impressive female characters to appear in YA literature. She's tough, smart, has amazing mechanical know how and also has a softer, sweet side. She's not just Alex's girlfriend, but a complete and complex character in her own right. Was she based on anyone you knew in real life?

Yes. Darla is largely based on my wife, Margaret.  She’s just as tough, smart, and loyal as Darla. Sadly, she can’t fix our cars. That would save a lot of money on repair bills! When I need Darla to do something mechanical, I call my brother Paul, who is an electrical engineer. He’s the mechanical part of Darla’s brain that my wife and I both lack.

I couldn't put "Ashfall" down and I kept wondering how everything was going to wrap up... and now that I've had the pleasure of  reading a preview of "Ashen Winter" ... I know a lot more of the story. Will this be a trilogy... or are you taking the story further? Fans want to know!

I planned Ashfall as a trilogy from the beginning—roughing out a story arc for three books before I even began writing the first. I’ve sold the final book to Tanglewood Press, and I’m currently working on writing it. I’m also working on a short story about everything that happens to Darla between the supervolcano eruption and when she meets Alex. When both those projects are finished, I plan to move on to one the many other novel ideas clamoring for my attention.

And, finally, this is such a visual world that you've created. Any calls from Hollywood asking you to write a screenplay?

Tanglewood Press is trying to sell movie rights to Ashfall. So far, they haven’t had any takers, but if the books continue to sell as well as they have, I imagine that may change.

Thanks for interviewing me for The Militant Recommender—I deeply appreciate your enthusiasm and support!

More info for fans of  "Ashfall" :

Mike's Bio

Mike Mullin’s first job was scraping the gum off the undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so that didn’t last long either. For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop, sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really hoping this writing thing works out.

Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife and her three cats. ASHFALL is his first novel.

About ASHFALL

Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park don’t realize that the boiling hot springs and spraying geysers are caused by an underlying supervolcano. It has erupted three times in the last 2.1 million years, and it will erupt again, changing the Earth forever.

Fifteen-year-old Alex is home alone when the supervolcano erupts. His town collapses into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence, forcing him to flee. He begins a harrowing trek in search of his parents and sister, who were visiting relatives 140 miles away.

Along the way, Alex struggles through a landscape transformed by more than a foot of ash. The disaster brings out the best and worst in people desperate for food, clean water, and shelter.  When an escaped convict injures Alex, he searches for a sheltered place where he can wait—to heal or to die. Instead, he finds Darla. Together, they fight to achieve a nearly impossible goal: surviving the supervolcano.

Excerpt

The first two chapters are available on my website: www.mikemullinauthor.com. You may reprint the first two chapters in whole or in part on your website so long as you do not charge anyone anything to access them.

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Code Name: Classic!

Sometimes a book comes along that is so transcendent, so destined to become a classic that it gives you the chills just writing about it. I knew nothing about "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein before I read it, and once you pick up a copy, be forewarned, you will not be able to put it down.
 Set in WW ll Great Britain and later, France, this is the story of two young women,  Maddie, a girl from Manchester who learns to be an ace motorcycle mechanic at her grandfather's repair shop and later an ace pilot flying an assortment of beautifully described aircraft for Britain's Air Transport Auxiliary, and the "Verity" of the story, a girl from an aristocratic family brought up in a castle in Scotland and as the book opens, a prisoner in the hands  of a ruthless Gestapo leader. I won't spoil the how and why of this situation with details you, as a reader, should learn for yourself!
You will come to care as deeply for these two courageous women as they come to care for each other. “It's like being in love, discovering your best friend,” one girl
quotes on the delight of their sharing some pretty amazing adventures together. Many under unimaginable war time circumstances, "we make a sensational team" she adds.

UK cover

They become so real you can't believe they AREN'T real and that you aren't reading the true account of a woman pilot and a woman who does things for the military that we won't speak of here, because loose lips sink ships... and give away the joy of unraveling the plot lines of this intricate, beautiful story. You'll feel like you're along for the ride, strapped in a plane with Maddie at the wheel, "Verity" beside her, ready to go on some secret mission, and flying through the night with only the moon to light your way. There are moments of great beauty and also heart-stopping suspense and places where you'll cry your eyes out. You'll want to run out and buy copies for your best friends because you won't want to lend it as it's the kind of book you'll want on hand when you feel the need to re-read it, again!
Cheers to Ms.Wein for giving us the gift of a truly great story!

Ashen Winter: A Book Preview

Life seems about as good as possible on Alex's uncle's farm, considering the volcanic destruction of almost everything. They are growing kale which seems to thrive in the farm's green houses and is also a great trade substance as, besides being nourishing, also has loads of vitamin C which prevents scurvy, a nasty ailment making the rounds.

Then, one day, while his aunt and uncle are away cutting wood, and Alex and Darla are working in the barn, they hear shots and screams. Four men are dragging away Alex's cousin Anna and his sister Rebecca and have beaten up his cousin Max.
Alex leaps into action, OK, maybe not such a great move, but Darla has his back... so
they are able to take out a couple of the bandits and gather some weapons from them, one of which, Uncle Paul says... belonged to Alex's dad!

Alex had put off searching for his parents, but now it looked like they needed his help, if they were still alive, that is. Darla's not so sure this is a good idea, but against her better judgement she decides to accompany him on another journey into the unknown. This time they have "bikezilla", a bicycle snowmobile hybrid Darla created. They have kale seeds for currency. And one creepy wounded bad guy to get information out of.  Will they succeed? What lies on the road ahead for the couple? And will the word "flensing" forever give you the creeps? You'll have to read this terrific book to find out for yourself. The Militant Recommender does not give away the details, so put your order in now, or reserve "Ashen Winter" from your library because you won't want to miss this incredible, terrifying and all too plausible story.
Coming soon: a brief online interview with author Mike Mullin.

Volcanus Eruptus: Ashfall

Getting out of visiting relatives with his parents and annoying sister and having some alone time to play World of Warcraft online seems like the perfect way for 16 year old Alex to spend the weekend. That is... right up until he finds himself trapped in the dark beneath his desk and there's this burning smell coming from somewhere. What can it all mean?
From the opening paragraph, Mike Mullin's "Ashfall" grabs you and takes you on a wild ride through his realistic post-apocalyptic vision of hell on earth.
A supervolcano in Yellowstone has erupted and changed the landscape and civilization almost overnight. Everything is covered in layers of ash.

Rescued by his neighbors, Darren and Joe, the three hunker down to wait out the deafening sounds of explosions and eat what's left in the fridge. Things can't get much worse, or can they? Three men break in and attack Joe. Alex, a taekwondo black belt manages to take one down, then Darren returns with a gun and suddenly their living room is drenched in spilled bad guy blood. Too much for Alex, he hits the road on a journey that he hopes will take him to his uncle's farm and his family.

The journey won't be easy. Who can he trust? Food is in short supply. Yet, there are some people out there who seem to have no trouble finding meat. Along the way, injured and struggling, he meets Darla, who may be one of the coolest possible girlfriends any boy in the new world of ash and snow could hope for. I won't give away anything further. You'll have to join Alex on a road trip that will keep you up reading until the last page and keep you thinking about possible scary futures and what to do to avoid them and maybe brushing up some martial art skills. "Ashfall" is a debut title from Mr. Mullin... and it won't be the last, because "Ashen Winter", the sequel, will be out in the fall and I'll be giving you an advance review next week.

"Ashfall" fan video (above) by Karin Perry

Check out this footage (below) taken when Mt. St. Helens erupted!