Magical Realism and the Privilege of Retelling

January 2, 2014

Not only is Christmas racing up on me at top speed, but so is my next release date.

Actually, not just one release date, but six of them.

Ack!

You see, this next one is a new thing for me: a serial novel. Though it's one book - about 90,000 words total, which is pretty standard for novels, which typically run 80-120K - it's divided in to six episodes.

January 16, 2014

In this case, because this story is a modern retelling of the Phantom of the Opera, it follows a theater structure that hearkens to the opera setting itself. So each episode is called an act.

February 6, 2014

My editor at Kensington Press, Peter Senftleben, came up with the act titles, after conferring with a friend heavily involved in opera and other musical theater.

I think they're brilliant. Each one conveys both the general theme of that act and gives a feel for the overall tone of the story. They are:

Act 1: Passionate Overture
Act 2: Ghost Aria
Act 3: Phantom Serenade
Act 4: Dark Interlude
Act 5: A Haunting Duet
Act 6: Crescendo

February 20, 2014

Each of these is a musical theater term, though some are obscure, and they reference the creepy ghost story quality of Phantom or Theater Ghost's haunting of the opera house, the seductive and forbidden romance, along with a hint of the erotic shadings I brought to this retelling.

I felt strongly, you see, that the original story left out the juciest parts. Are we really meant to believe that, when the Phantom takes Christine to his lair that he does nothing more than sing to her? Even if, as we're given to believe by both Gaston Laroux's novel and Andrew Lloyd Webber's lyrics, that the man is so scarred that he cannot perform sexually, surely the love he feels for the beautiful young ingenue would inspire him to at least attempt to seduce her.

March 6, 2014

I mean, he can touch her, right? There's a whole lot of latitude in "enjoying her beauty" beyond sitting back and admiring her from afar. After all, he can do that from Box 5 while she performs.

No, no, no - my Phantom, at least, has much more in mind for Christine once he has her away from the others and under the spell of his enchanting charm.

March 20, 2014

That's the part that always got lost for me, in both men's retellings. (I'm calling Laroux's version a retelling also, because he gathered the tales told by the theater folk who'd long passed around the stories of the Theater Ghost who haunted the Paris Opera House.) Perhaps neither man could stomach the idea of Christine preferring the Phantom over a man.

But every woman I've talked to feels certain that, in Webber's production, Christine ends up with the wrong guy.

It's a privilege that I got to tell it my way.

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Lord Regret's Price, the second Lady Doctor Wyre book in A Jane Austen Space Opera series.  Available from Samhain Publishing.  A sultry blend of steamy romance, science fiction and steampunk!

A devilish alliance, sparked by imperial blood…

After weeks of travel, Lord Sigmund Regret’s nerves are frayed. He’s gone too long without a mark, but that’s not the only thing making him edgy. Once the reality of his profession sinks in, he wonders how his Lady Charlotte Wyre will feel when he comes to her bed with fresh blood on his hands.
Of course, the other man in her life adds more stress to an already complicated relationship. Gilead Masters’s needs are so…normal…compared to Sig’s, which leaves Charlotte turning to him to explore her darkening fantasies. Bondage is one thing. But pain? That’s too close to his bloodline’s violent weakness for Sig’s comfort.

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The Passion Without the Paper

I have turned a corner that I didn’t know existed. I’m not sure when this happened, whether it was gradual or all of a sudden, but I am now more likely to pick up my e-reader rather than a paper book when I’m in the mood to read. In part, it has to do with the selection available on my kindle – new authors, old favorites and samples in a neat list that doesn’t require much thought. A simple click, and I’m submerged.

This is a milestone for me. I’ve always been a reader. Entire walls in my parents’ home are paved in books. They fill the room under the stairs, stand sentinel on beside tables and, when those get full, are lowered to a post beneath the beds (guarding from monsters and whatnot). I’ve moved over a dozen times since I left my parents’ home. Each time I moved, whether it was across town or across the country, my first concern was how I would transport my books. The weight of books, the solidity of them, is a comfort. But that’s separate from the story.

It felt like a betrayal at first, when I pride myself on loyalty. I can identify individual books by color scheme, by the sound of each spine as it’s opened. But I primarily read from electronics. Some books, of course, have to be had in paper. The covers are too beautiful, the stories too complex, to ever be turned off and set aside. But adventure and love, pain and triumph, are bigger than a handful of plastic and wire.

Some people need the paper, the tactile association being a part of the reading experience for them. For me it’s the depth of character, the joy of discovery, the turn of a phrase that clicks with my brain that matters. Some stories could be written in smoke in the sky and I’d stop my life for a week to read every last word.

What do you require in your reading experience? Can you have the passion without the paper?

***

About the Author

Regan Summers lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband and alien-monkey hybrid of a child. She loves reading, traveling, small plate dining and terrible action movies.

Her Night Runner series from Carina Press is available wherever e-books are sold.

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Story Is the Only Language

My son is two.

Yeah, you know where this post is going.

Trying to communicate with a two-year-old is like trying to thread a needle from across the room using a pair of extra-long chopsticks. While wearing mittens. (“It’s okay to be angry, but we don’t throw blocks when we’re angry, we say ‘I’m angry’ and we use calm voice and we don’t shriek because that hurts Mama’s ears…”)

I get it. He’s learning what it means to be frustrated and sad, and that’s important -- a big part of being human is learning that life doesn’t always give you cake when you want it. Unfortunately, he doesn’t always have the vocabulary to tell me how he feels, and when he can’t find the words, he does things like chuck blocks across the room and shriek.

We printed out one of those feeling wheels with the angry face and the happy face and the sad face. It did a pretty good job of teaching him the words, but it didn’t do much about the block-chucking/shrieking/flailing. Then, a few weeks ago, we read Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day for the first time.

Y’all remember this book, right?  Basically, nothing good happens. It consists of more misfortune, disappointment, spilled ink and mud than any child should have to endure in a week, much less a single day. It ends with Alexander eating lima beans and wearing uncomfortable pajamas while his cat runs off to hang out with one of his brothers. It would make the worst romance novel ever, but for a frustrated two-year-old, it is perfection.

Alexander shows its title character crying and screaming in pretty much every situation a typical toddler gets into: breakfast, the bath, the store. Now, when my Small One doesn’t want to take a bath, he still can’t articulate that he’s upset, but he can say, “Alexander crying in the bath!”

On the surface this seems simple. He likes the story, and he’s repeating the phrases and scenes he remembers. But the crazy thing is, once he delivers this statement, he gets on with it. He gets in the bath and lets me wash his hair. It’s like a miracle.

According to The Emotional Life of the Toddler, which I have been reading in a desperate attempt to figure out what goes on in the Small One’s busy brain, articulating their emotions is one of the toughest challenges toddlers face. I’ve told the Small One what angry means and pointed at the (now very wrinkled) feeling wheel a thousand times, but it was only barely making an impact. Four readings of Alexander, and he got it.

The words mean nothing. The angry faces on the feeling wheel mean only a little bit more. But the story—that means everything.

It’s not news that we’re hard-wired for stories. I’ve always thought they’re our most potent and articulate language. Now, I’m starting to think they’re our only language. My son’s interaction with Alexander has made me appreciate all over again how important it is to have stories of all types in the world, because if we’re going to talk to each other, we ought not to limit what we have the words to say.

A Tale of Two Movies

The Desolation of Smaug, (the second installment of Peter Jackson's three-part interpretation of The Hobbit)  opened in theaters yesterday. Despite my love of all things Tolkien, I was not among those who lined up to see it. Oh, I’m sure I’ll see it at some point over the next few weeks, and I’ll probably end up complaining bitterly about the interminable action sequences, the scenes that have been cut out or the extra characters that have been thrown in (all for no good reason, IMO) just as I did after viewing the previous film. But I’m not rushing out the door to see it—no matter how many Orlando Blooms are in it. To be honest, I’m much more excited about a movie that’s releasing next Friday: Saving Mr. Banks.

For those who don’t know, Saving Mr. Banks tells the story of PL Travers, Walt Disney and the making of Mary Poppins. As a writer, I can sympathize with PL Travers and her reluctance to allow her books to be made into a movie and I’m curious to see what it took to convince her and, even more importantly, what she thought of the finished product.

I find Mary Poppins to be a very curious film. The characters and events on the screen bear little resemblance to the characters and events in the books. That, in itself isn’t strange, of course. Most movies stray pretty far from the books they’re based on. But what makes it so special (at least to me) is that the two Mary Poppinses while clearly not the same, still manage to coexist quite happily in my head.  They’re two completely different interpretations that somehow complement each other. Together they are, in fact, practically perfect in every way. 

The thing is, however, I don’t know why that’s the case. It bugs me. I can’t really think of any other movie/book combination that I can say that about. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that the movie stayed true to the spirit of the books—kind of the reverse of the travesty that is Disney’s 1996 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  

In any case, I’m hoping Saving Mr. Banks will shed some light on the reasons. And, who knows, maybe I’ll take away some new insights that will allow me to better appreciate The Desolation of Smaug.

What movies do you find to be successful interpretations of the books you’ve loved? 

*****

PG Forte inhabits a world only slightly less strange than the ones she creates. Filled with serendipity, coincidence, love at first sight and dreams come true…it also bears an uncanny resemblance to Berkeley, California. Learn more at www.PGForte.com

Wonder Woman: It’s about time…or is it?

So many things happening in the world right now…the holidays…social issues…but…

Can we talk about Wonder Woman, and why I am at once both ecstatic and ticked off about the fact she’s finally coming to the big screen? In case you missed it (and where have you been hiding?), it was officially announced last week that actress Gal Gadot will play Wonder Woman/Diana in the upcoming Man of Steel 2/Batman vs. Superman/Who Knows What It Will Be Called Next Week movie.

When I heard the news, I was knee-deep in a book deadline and fighting off a stomach bug and quite a bit stressed, but holy cow! This was amazing news! Fantastic! Anyone who knows me knows I have ranted for years about how my favorite superheroine deserves her own shot at a movie. She was kicking tail and taking names before there was ever a Buffy, Katniss, or Lara Croft. In fact, she paved the way and made it possible for every awesome heroine who has followed in her footsteps, including the ones in all of the great books we write.

I should probably state up front that while I love all my superheroes, Marvel and DC alike, I am and have always been a DC Comics gal at heart. When I was younger I, er, might have had this crazy thought that since I was tall and brunette (I’m 6’2 now, by the way) that I could totally be Wonder Woman someday. Plus, I had three brothers, so I was all about Wonder Woman fighting alongside Supes and Batman and sometimes, yes, sometimes she was the one who saved them when they got in trouble. Gail Simone, who wrote Wonder Woman about a decade ago, is kind of a personal hero of mine because of what she did with Diana. And did you know best-selling author Jodi Picoult is a former WW scribe too? What I wouldn’t give…

So yeah. Wonder Woman is a character near and dear to my heart. There's nothing I can say that probably hasn't already been said by someone in the comic book world, but still. Please humor me while I try to put my feelings into words.

I mean, we’ve waited 75 years for a Wonder Woman movie, and all we get is seeing her as a secondary character to Superman and/or Batman? How is that fair? Why no "Wonder Woman" movie first? Excuse me Warner Brothers executives, but are you oblivious that the biggest movies in the world the past two weeks have boasted female leads?! Ca-ching! Just sayin.

I also delved deeper into this casting choice. In all honesty, I try not to make comments on casting until I actually see the person in the role. I suppose I'm different from the rest of the internet, which predictably exploded with venomous, self-righteous nerd rage. Okay, so I peeked at a clip of Ms. Gadot from one of the Fast and the Furious movies. I want to be fair, so I will only say that I understand the concerns many have that she’s been miscast and I will add a facepalm to that for good measure. But let's give her a chance before we crucify her, okay?

Speaking of nerd rage, I am still bitter Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman film got axed a dozen years ago. I bet the executives at Warner Brothers saw the box office numbers for The Avengers start to roll in and did a lot of facepalming themselves. (picture me glaring at those Warner Brothers executives now)

The short of it is, the upcoming Man of Steel 2/Batman vs. Superman/Who Knows What It Will Be Called Next Week movie is bound to be a blockbuster. Fanboys and girls will be standing in line for the first opportunity to see these three on the big screen together. I don’t care how many people groused when Batfleck was cast. They WILL go see this movie and it will make loads of money for Warner Brothers.

So I’m guessing unless the movie is a real stinker, Diana will finally get her own film. All I can say is it’s about darn time, they had better do her justice, and I will be supportive of my-least-favorite-director-ever Zach Snyder and cross my fingers he gets her right. I will not flashback to that godawful movie Sucker Puck and go cry in the corner remembering Watchmen, but rather, I will remind myself that Snyder did give us Sarah Polley's refreshingly smart female lead in his Dawn of the Dead remake. I will be super supportive of Ms. Gadot and this movie until I see it and have reason not to be supportive.

Wonder Woman deserves nothing less from me.

What about you? What are your thoughts on the Wonder Woman news? Love it? Hate it? Could care less?

**

Angela Campbell writes romantic suspense with a paranormal twist. Learn more about her books at www.AngelaCampbellOnline.com.