Today, I'm pleased to be able to interview Alison DeLuca about her Crown Phoenix series. Be sure to check below for a wonderful giveaway from Alison.
In The Night Watchman Express, Miriam Pearson’s guardians,
the Marchpanes, move in and bring their son, Simon. She instantly clashes with
him. What allows this relationship to become friendly enough for them to join
together to uncover a plot by Barbara Cartwell, who intends to use Miriam’s
family’s company for evil means?
In my experience,
adversity brings people together. It also exposes what each person is truly
about – are they brave? How will they function if they are in danger?
To me, the key here
was Simon. Miriam is an orphan, so she already knows tragedy and incredible
hardship. Simon, however, is good looking, rich, and a pampered only child.
When he encounters evil, it will either expose his weaknesses or his strengths-
or perhaps both.
How does Barbara have power/influence over the Marchpanes to
make them fire their governess, Mana?
It didn’t take much!
The Marchpanes couldn’t believe they had been tricked into hiring Mana in the
first place. For one thing, the governess is a woman of color – an unheard of
thing in Edwardian society. She is an excellent teacher and a very lovely,
intelligent person, but of course they always looked for any excuse to get rid
of her.
As well, Barbara is
very beautiful, and she seems to have wealth and power. The Marchpanes, poor
silly idiots, are far to willing to accept what lies on the surface rather than
searching deeper into a person. Many people do, sadly.
When Miriam and Simon follow Mana after she is released from
her duties as a governess, they are captured at the Night Watchman Express. Do
the Marchpanes search for them? How?
Excellent question!
Theodosia Marchpane is very anxious about her son, of course. Barbara takes
Simon to a separate prison – a very luxurious one that is just as deadly as
Miriam’s dreadful jail. Simon suffers terribly, but since Theodosia Marchpane
believes everything that Barbara tells her in written reports, she allows Simon
to stay with Barbara and her brother for the time being. And that, of course,
is a dreadful mistake.
Does Mana know she is the rightful queen of the island?
Yes, she does. Mana
is incredibly intelligent, as I said. She knows that the current ruler, Atol,
is a puppet put on the throne by Barbara and the Marchpanes. She also knows
that she must wait for the right moment to act in order to regain her throne,
and she has the patience to do so.
In Devil’s Kitchen, are Miriam and Simon treated better or
worse than other workers because they are connected to the family business that
Barbara Cartwell is undermining?
Miriam is treated the
same as the other workers, but what makes things so hard for her is that she is
new to the underground factory, and she has a different way of speaking than
everyone else. That earns her a tough time of being bullied by the prisoners
she must live with underground.
Simon is held in a
much more luxurious place, the top floor of a country manse. He is still very
much a prisoner, even though he is given expensive clothes and delicious food.
Towards the end, Simon’s treatment at the hands of Barbara and her brother
approaches torture. It was a difficult section to write, but I felt he had to
go through something that would really test him to the utmost. As I look back,
it’s really one of my favorite parts of the book.
In The Lamplighter’s Special, what is the Crown Phoenix?
The Crown Phoenix is
a quantum typewriter that can bend time and space. Miriam’s father invented the
device before she was born. It ultimately allows him to amass a huge fortune,
because he can ship things much faster than anyone else can.
Briefly describe the magical systems of your world. How do
those who are empowered (Mana, the magical typewriter) gain their abilities?
The magical
typewriter was created by Miriam’s father before he died. He set up a system
known as The Passage from England to Lampala, Mana’s home land, to allow faster
shipping times.
Anyone who goes
through The Passage develops some curious side effects that seem to be an
enhancement of current abilities. Mana, for example, is very good at getting
people to do what she wants them to do (which makes sense, since she is a
princess.) After she goes through The Passage, that ability is strengthened to
the utmost, so she does not even have to speak in order to influence those
around.
I love magic,
especially logical magic. I wanted Mana to have an extra power, but there had
to be a reason for that power. The Crown Phoenix and The Passage are what
create magic in my books.
Readers can watch
that process happen in the third book, Crown Phoenix: Lamplighter’s Special.
Neil’s sister, Lizzie, goes through the Passage and has some very strange
things happen to her as a result.
~~~
Miriam
Pearson’s father has died. Her guardians, The Marchpanes, take over her house
and her father’s company. The strong-willed girl instantly clashes with their
son, Simon. The Marchpanes hire a governess, Mana, to take care of her. Mana is
black, and has magic powers. She and Miriam eventually become friends. With
Simon and Neil, his friend, they uncover a plot by the sinister Barbara
Cantwell to use Miriam’s father’s company for evil means. Barbara is very
beautiful, and at first, Simon is very attracted to her.
Once
Barbara realizes that Miriam and Mana are on to her scheme, she forces the
guardians to fire the governess. Mana is hustled out of the house by the
Marchpanes, but Miriam, Neil and Simon follow her to the Night Watchman
Express. However, Miriam and Simon are captured and put on the Night
Watchman, bound for a sinister destination. Mana is loaded onto a boat headed
to Big Star Island.
Neil
manages to steal a boat and follow Mana’s captors to the island. A native girl,
Riki, rescues him and brings him to her house. She is spoiled and her
mother has no control over her, but Neil manages to become her friend.
Her father forces him to stay with the family so Neil can be Riki’s companion
and manage her wild behavior.
Neil
learns about Atol, the king of the island, who seized power after the last
monarch was killed. Atol is plotting with Barbara Cantwell to force the islands
to produce drugs instead of bolemor wood, and he is also shipping his people
out for use in human experiments. Neil discovers that Mana is the
rightful queen of the island, and is being held by Atol. Neil and Riki manage
to rescue Mana, and they head back to the mainland to look for Simon and
Miriam.
Available at Amazon
Available at Amazon
Description
~ Book Two ~ Devil’s Kitchen
Miriam
and Simon are imprisoned on the Night Watchman Express, heading for the Devil’s
Kitchen. It is a huge, dirty factory where the prisoners process the drug
imported from the island. Simon tries to fight the guards and is hauled
away to a huge, strange house belonging to Barbara Cantwell.
Miriam
is forced to live in a cell and work underground under the fearsome Headmistress
and Headmaster, who run the factory. Meanwhile, Mana and Neil arrive and start
searching for their friends.
Simon
wakes up in Barbara’s house and undergoes torture. He manages to gain her
trust by pretending to be on her side. Eventually he is rescued by Mana.
Miriam is about to be punished by the Headmistress and Headmaster when Mana and
Simon arrive and rescues her. Barbara tries to kill Mana but is foiled by
Simon.
Mana
regains her kindgdom, and Miriam regains her home and future control of her father’s
business.
Available at Amazon
Available at Amazon
Description
~ Book Three ~ The Lamplighter’s Special
Miriam,
Simon, Neil, and Riki reunite on Lampala for the summer holiday. They are happy
to be together but wonder what has happened to Neil’s family.
Neil’s
sisters, short-sighted Lizzie and beautiful Ninna, are forced to work in the
Manor House to help take care of new guests.
The
guest arrives, a lovely lady called Miss Wilkinsl. She and her brother have a
mysterious obsession with the Crown Phoenix.
Lizzie
meets Toby, the oldest son who cannot leave the attic. They become friends.
Lizzie is also forced to work in Miss Cantwell’s rooms, where the dresser,
Siddons, tortures her with violence and overwork. Siddons locks Lizzie in a
room, and Toby finally emerges from his attic to rescue Lizzie.
Toby
fixes The Crown Phoenix.They all board a ship called The Lamplighter’s Special
and sail to the island. On the way, the typewriter works some strange magic and
they arrive in a matter of hours instead of weeks.
Lizzie,
Ninna, Toby and Priam discover there is a person hidden below deck in the boat.
Miss
Cantwell takes the four children to the island and strands them there. They are
rescued by Miriam, Neil, and Mana.
Miss
Cantwell threatens to blow up the islands with the Crown Phoenix. She is
captured. The rest return to the boat and head back to England, but Toby’s
agoraphobia returns.
About the Author:
Alison DeLuca grew up on an organic farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were British, so in the summers she went to stay with her grandparents near Dublin.
There was no stereo or TV there, so Alison, her sister, and
her cousins spent the summer inventing stories and plays for each other. “This gave me the ability to entertain myself
with my own imagination in any situation,” she says. “We used to be taken to
tea with great-aunts, and we were expected to sit on an uncomfortable couch and
not move or say a word. It was possible
to endure it because I was watching my own little stories play out in my mind.”
After graduating from West Chester University, Alison became
a teacher of English and Spanish, teaching students from kindergarten up to
college level. She loved teaching, and it was with reluctance that she left the
classroom to be a fulltime mom when her daughter was born.
While she was teaching and raising her daughter, Alison took
every free minute she had to write. The
Night Watchman Express and The Crown Phoenix Series were the result.
She is currently working on the final book in the series, as well
as several other projects.
Author Links
Facebook
- http://www.facebook.com/alison.deluca.author
Twitter
- http://twitter.com/ - !/AlisonDeLuca
Google
+ http://bit.ly/ADGoogle
The Giveaway
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2 comments:
Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Marsha. I really enjoyed the interview and the opportunity!
It's been fun! Glad to have you spend a day.
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