Sunrise is the final book of Mike Mullin’s captivating Ashfall trilogy. While definitely being one of the most dreariest and terrifying reads, Mullin infuses so much hope in its pages that it keeps you reading, and most importantly, believing. Sunrise begins as Alex is starting to create a sustainable future. Hoping that Mother Nature clears up is now just a pointless fantasy. This new ice age they’re living in is here to stay for awhile, and Alex and company need to find a way to keep surviving and rebuild a broken society. It isn’t easy, and some of the most dreadful things happen to them in this book, just when you think it couldn’t get worse. But like I mentioned earlier, there’s still hope there, and I cared so much for these characters that I had to keep going to the end with them. I was worth it.
I was happy to get the chance to ask Mike Mullin a few questions about the Ashfall trilogy. Read our interview below.
Everyone talks about disease epidemics, alien and zombie invasions, political/societal unrest, but no one ever really thinks about supervolcanos. How did the idea of Ashfall come to mind?
The idea for Ashfall started with another book—Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. I found it on a display at Central Library in downtown Indianapolis. 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 and ears. 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.
Was this always meant to be a YA novel? What encouraged you to have young main character go on this journey?
Yes. The outer story of ASHFALL is a horrific disaster that sometimes seems it might be better suited to an adult novel. But the inner story is a teen struggling to understand and master his rage, struggling to learn when violence is okay in a world that demands it, struggling, in short, to become a man. And that is the quintessential young adult story.
This series gets very dark. You are definitely unafraid to explore ALL kinds of things that could happen to society when a disaster of this magnitude strikes. Was any kind of sociological research needed to develop this world?
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I thought about the science and sociology behind ASHFALL a lot as I was writing. While I love the current crop of dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels, I often find myself wondering: Could this really happen? Little details knock me out of the story—toilets that still function after a brutally cold winter without power, for example.
I decided I’d attempt to differentiate ASHFALL by making it unflinchingly realistic. So, for example, I asked myself whether ASHFALL should include any mention of cannibalism. The obvious answer is that no, it shouldn’t, because it will gross out the teachers, parents, and librarians who are so influential in putting books in the hands of teens.
Instead of accepting the obvious answer, I researched the question. And sadly, the truth is that collapsing societies with widespread starvation virtually always turn to cannibalism. Check out Jared Diamond’s excellent Collapse, or follow this link to an interesting study of the Donner Party for more info on that topic.
I attempted to portray the full range of human behavior in an apocalypse, from the most brutally savage to the most sublimely selfless. Rebecca Solnit’s A Paradise Built in Hell was useful for stimulating my thinking—it chronicles responses to real natural disasters ranging from the San Francisco earthquake to Hurricane Katrina.
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Which was the hardest book of the series to write? And what was the hardest scene for you to write?
SUNRISE was by far the hardest book to write. It’s a far more complex narrative than the other two, which are relatively simple quest novels.
The hardest scene to write was chapters 37 and 38 of ASHFALL. I made them difficult on purpose, by naming the dying little girl who appears in those chapters after my niece, Katie.
Seeing how Alex has grown as a character throughout this journey, looking back at him, what are you most proud of him about?
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That he kept his empathy and fundamental humanness even while losing his naiveté and getting tough enough to survive and keep those he loves alive.
Thank you for making such a kickass character in Darla! How important was it for you to have a strong female lead to partner up with Alex? Did you ever consider writing a piece of the Ashfall trilogy from her perspective?
I love novels with strong female protagonists. Darla is in part my homage to D.J. of the Dairy Queen series, Ree from Winter’s Bone, Katsa from Graceling, and Katniss from I don’t really need to tell you this, do I?
I did write a piece of the story from Darla’s perspective—a whole novelette! Here’s the cover:
You can get it on any ereader platform for $0.99. More info here: http://mikemullinauthor.com/books/darlas-story/.
Do you see yourself ever returning to the Ashfall world?
I have no plans to return to the ASHFALL world, but I’d never completely rule it out. I like where I left Alex and Darla, and I’m happy for readers to compose their own epilogues, either in their imaginations or in fanfic.
If anything, I now feel prepared (or semi-prepared) if a supervolcano decided to erupt. How prepared are you for volcano eruption? Do you think you would have survived?
No. And I live in Indiana, where things would initially be much better than in Iowa, where Alex starts.
The super volcano I depict in ASHFALL would directly kill hundreds of thousands, maybe millions. But the bigger death toll would be from global starvation and disease in its wake. Twenty percent of the world’s grain supply is produced in the United States, primarily in areas that would be buried in ash. Globally, we have less than a 60-day supply of stored grain. Starvation would reach epidemic levels very quickly following a supervolcano eruption.
In thinking about who would survive and how, I found this research on the Donner party very useful. I have two strikes against me: I’m too old, and I’m male. Being female roughly doubles your odds of survival in a starvation situation. Women start out with an average of a third less muscle mass and higher body fat than men. So they both need fewer calories to survive and have a greater reserve.
Being between the ages of 6 and 35 more than doubles your odds, and I’m past that. (Only by a day or two . . . maybe. Ha!) The other thing that roughly doubles your odds is having family close. While my wife and I are lucky enough to have both sets of parents in town, they’re obviously even older than we are.
So my odds aren’t good. If the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts tomorrow, my goal will be to try to live the short remainder of my life in a way that helps the younger generation survive and rebuild.
Your next book deals with another heavy subject: terrorism. In terms of tone, how different will it be from Ashfall, and what should fans of Ashfall expect?
I’m striving to give it some of the same features that fans enjoy about ASHFALL—a strong backbone of realism, a fast pace, and relatable protagonists. I’ll leave it to readers to judge whether I’ve succeeded or not.
Here at The Young Folks, we embrace all types of entertainment, so we like to end interviews asking you to name some of your favorites. Favorite Movie? TV Show? Book? Video Games? Music Album and/or Song?
Movie: Unforgiven
TV Show: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Book: A River Between Us by Richard Peck
Video game: Ancient Domains of Mystery
Song: Someone Like You by Adele
Thanks, Mike, for answering our questions! You can read more about Mike Mullin, Sunrise and the Ashfall trilogy below.
Mike Mullin’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 glad this writing thing seems to be working out.
Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and her three cats. Sunrise is his third novel. Ashfall, the first novel of the trilogy, was named one of the top five young adult novels of 2011 by National Public Radio, a Best Teen Book of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews, and a New Voices selection by the American Booksellers Association.
The Yellowstone supervolcano nearly wiped out the human race. Now, almost a year after the eruption, the survivors seem determined to finish the job. Communities wage war on each other, gangs of cannibals roam the countryside, and what little government survived the eruption has collapsed completely. The ham radio has gone silent. Sickness, cold, and starvation are the survivors’ constant companions.
When it becomes apparent that their home is no longer safe and adults are not facing the stark realities, Alex and Darla must create a community that can survive the ongoing disaster, an almost impossible task requiring even more guts and more smarts than ever—and unthinkable sacrifice. If they fail . . . they, their loved ones, and the few remaining survivors will perish.
This epic finale has the heart of Ashfall, the action of Ashen Winter, and a depth all its own, examining questions of responsibility and bravery, civilization and society, illuminated by the story of an unshakable love that transcends a post-apocalyptic world and even life itself.
Excerpt
The first two chapters are available on my website at: http://mikemullinauthor.com/books/sunrise/. 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. Warning: the sample does contain ASHFALL and ASHEN WINTER spoilers.
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Purchase Links
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Sunrise by Mike Mullin – Now Available
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