Monthly Archives: November 2013

What the heck is “Saturday Love”?

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Saturday Love Cover

It’s been asked. What the heck do I mean by “Saturday Love”? Is it a once a week thing? A one-night stand? If so, why did I choose that for the title of the sequel to Ducks in a Row? This is, after all, the book that follows the further adventures of Will Hubbard, the man many people was done totally wrong by Cady Summers in Ducks. We want him to have a happy ending, don’t we? So why not call his book “24/7 Love”?

Well, in addition to not sounding like a 24-hour gas station, Saturday love is a feeling that refers to more than a time period. It’s forever love. The kind of love that lets you rest, safe in the knowledge that you’ve reached the prize you were aspiring to. It’s the kind of love that lasts fifty, seventy-five, even a hundred years if it’s called on to do so. And even if there are hard times and difficult passages, Saturday love is still there.

Saturday Love, the sequel to Ducks in a Row, will be published January 1. As you can tell by the cover above, it’s in the final editing stages right now. I’m cleaning up the final typos in my last thorough read-through. So you’ve still got time to get up to speed if you haven’t read Ducks. Plus, Ducks in a Row, the novel that has been called “thought-provoking”, “unsettling”, “wonderfully beautiful” and “painful”, is currently only 99 cents for your Kindle on Amazon!

In the meantime, here’s a bit of Will’s introduction to “Saturday Love”:

“Being in love with Stephanie is awesome.” Patrick looked out at the vineyard for a second, thinking. “It’s kind of like Saturday morning when you’re a kid. Remember those?”

“I’m not sure I get what you mean.” Will shook his head.

“Remember how it felt to wake up on a Saturday morning and know there wasn’t anything you had to do? You’d slept late, and maybe you had a few chores around here, but other than that, most of the day was yours. It’s kind of like that with Stephanie. It’s like I spent my whole life working and waiting and looking for her, and now it’s Saturday and I don’t have to do that anymore.”

Will felt a slight hitch in his chest at his brother’s words. He wanted that and he suspected he could find it with Accalia. He’d seen that kind of Saturday love: between his mother and father, now with Patrick and Stephanie. And even, if he admitted it, between Cady and Neil. He reached over and grasped his brother’s shoulder. “Thanks. I’m really happy for you, man.”

“Yeah, me too.” Patrick stood and stretched. He looked down at Will. “I’m happy for you, too, you know. You know why?”

Will shook his head.

“Because even if you haven’t found it yet with Accalia, you’re getting there. You haven’t asked me even once about Cady.”

Patrick went back inside, but Will remained where he was. His chest felt strangely hollow. Strange, because it wasn’t a totally unpleasant feeling. It felt clean, not empty, and he knew why. Whether Accalia was his Saturday love or not, he’d finally faced the fact that Cady wasn’t.

Like a visit from an old friend: A new review for Where the Heart Lies

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Anybody remember Where the Heart Lies? Way back before the time of magic—well, before I conceived of the idea for my Sleight of Hand series, anyway—I wrote a little book about a war widow starting over. It was published by Carina Press (the closest I’ve gotten to Harlequin, which is my dream publisher), and it was an overall positive experience. It got mixed reviews. Some people loved it, some hated it, and some were sort of…meh. It also sold WAY more copies than anything else I’ve written before or since, even though it’s only available in e-book form.

Well, anyway, this morning I got a surprise notice that there’s a new review of Where the Heart Lies. Well, cool, I thought after successfully figuring out which of my books Where the Heart Lies is. That’s nice. I wasn’t at this point certain of how nice it actually was (remember the aforementioned mixed reviews?), but when I pulled up the review on Blackraven’s Reviews, I found I’d received 4.5 ravens (that’s gotta be good), and one of the most well-written reviews I’ve received on any of my books (not to cast aspersions on any of my other reviewers, who also write very nicely). Here’s a quote from the review:

Where The Heart Lies by Michelle Garren Flye is a compelling story about love, loss, secrets, betrayal, and ultimately forgiveness. — Blackraven’s Reviews

And here’s another one:

The dialogue is rich, the setting is quaint, and the sexual tension between Alicia and Liam sizzles. — Blackraven’s Reviews

And one more:

If you’re looking for a complex, heartfelt story that will put a smile on your face from the small town antics, heat up the pages from the unbridled passion between Alicia and Liam, and bring a tear to your eye as our hero and heroine learn to forgive and be forgiven, then Where The Heart Lies by Michelle Garren Flye is definitely the book to read. — Blackraven’s Reviews

My sincere thanks to the reviewer for the reminder of a book I’d forgotten I loved writing. If you’d like to read the whole review, click here: Blackraven’s Reviews. Or you could go buy Where the Heart Lies (Amazon or Barnes & Noble) and decide for yourself if Blackraven’s Reviews is right…or, God forbid, was Romance Around the Corner more on target?

Time to let go, move on…and give out some prizes!

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So my Magic Fun Week Celebration is drawing to a close, and I’m waxing a little nostalgic. It seems like just the other day I gave you a list of some surprising Houdini facts. And remember the time I listed the five female escape magicians who were a little like Lady Lydia? Sigh. How does time fly so fast? Why it might have just been yesterday that we were talking about the greatest escape magic tricks!

But it is time to let go, move on to the next project. It’s waiting on my laptop right now. The edits for Saturday Love, the highly anticipated sequel to Ducks in a Row. But before I do, I want to leave you with this one rather startling statement (and the winners of my magical prizes–I haven’t forgotten):

You are within a mile of an aspiring writer right now.

No joke. There are a lot of us. And by aspiring, I mean a writer who hopes to one day have a bestseller on the shelves. Maybe they’re in the process of writing their first one, maybe they’ve got seven books already floating around out there in the ether. Maybe they have yet to put pen to paper (sounds better than fingertips to keyboard), but they do plan to one day write a book.

My point is, there are a lot of people out there writing books, and some of us are even publishing them. Readers have a lot to choose from, and they’re going to choose a book with twenty to a hundred favorable reviews over a book that has just one. So how do these aspiring writers obtain those reviews?

No clue. But I’m not too proud to beg.

Please, please, please if you’ve read and enjoyed one of my books, leave me a review on Amazon! It might just help the next reader decide if she wants to take a chance on me or go back to her favorite best-selling author.

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

I don’t actually have a chicken dinner to award anyone, but I do have some pretty cool stuff. Without further ado, here are our winners and what they won.

Winners! Richard, Scotch & Soda; Cheryl Rhodes, Linking Rings; C.J. May, Love Me deck; John Hinson, Archangel deck; Sherry Thompson, Escape Magic; Sal, Escape Magic.

Winners! Richard, Scotch & Soda; Cheryl Rhodes, Linking Rings; C.J. May, Love Me deck; John Hinson, Archangel deck; Sherry Thompson, Escape Magic; Sal, Escape Magic.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and also everyone who has given Escape Magic a warm welcome into the world. Escape Magic will remain a cool 99 cents for Kindle, but the special 99 cent price for Close Up Magic for Kindle will expire on Monday. So if you haven’t gotten your copy of Book 1 of my Sleight of Hand series, do it now!

Greatest Escape Magic Tricks and Your Last Chance to Win!

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Today I wind up my week-long magic celebration and I figured what better way to do it than by counting down a few of my favorite escape magic tricks. Actually, it’s not really a countdown because they’re just in the order I happened to think of them in, but these are the ones that stuck with me. Maybe you have one of your own that you’d like to add to the list.

1. Houdini’s crate escape. I’ve seen pictures of this one. Houdini shackled in a packing crate that is padlocked, nailed shut and bound with rope before being dropped into a river. Of course, he escaped!

2. David Copperfield’s escape from Alcatraz. It’s like a mini-movie and really just fun to watch. Copperfield uses what’s available (surely not props left there for him) to escape Alcatraz in (spoiler!) the police helicopter!

3. Criss Angel’s “Buried Alive”. Give him his due, it takes a lot of guts to allow yourself to be padlocked in a glass coffin and buried in cement.

4. Dorothy Dietrich straitjacket escape while suspended from a burning rope. Enough said.

5. Kristen Johnson’s Full View Water Torture Cell Escape. Houdini was suspended upside down, but his audience could only see him from the front. Johnson’s audience can see all around, witness her efforts, hold their breath along with her.

Don’t forget to leave me a comment below! Today is the last chance to win one of my fabulous magical prizes. 🙂

My Favorite of Houdini’s Magic Tricks

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I’ve always said that half the reason I write about magic is so I can spend hours on Youtube watching magic. And it’s true. I do love watching magic, and if it’s part of my research, then I have a viable excuse, right?

Escape Magic was particularly fun to research because I’ve always been fascinated by Harry Houdini. He’s a legend and you can actually see him perform on Youtube. It’s sort of like he really did find a way to reach out from beyond the grave. Houdini was known for his water escapes, but I think my favorite will always be the suspended straitjacket escape. He would perform this trick outside, sometimes in front of the local newspaper office of whatever town he was performing in. Of course he made headlines, thus generating free publicity for his shows, which then sold out. The pure genius of the marketing strategy is what really gets me, but the ease with which he slipped out of the straitjacket is also pretty impressive. Check it out here: straitjacket escape.

How about you? Do you have a favorite escape magic trick (by Houdini or someone else)? Leave me a comment below for a chance to win a magic trick, special deck of cards, a magic wand or one of my Sleight of Hand books!

And the magic for today…an excerpt!

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Yeah, I’ll be back with some more fun magic facts tomorrow, but it’s Wednesday and my brain is starting to feel a little fried. If you missed them, I counted down 10 Intriguing Things I’ve Learned About Houdini and Five Female Escapologists Who MIGHT Have Inspired Lady Lydia. Today, I’m going to let myself off easy and give you three reasons I like to write about magic:

1. Magic is fun. If there’s a good magic show in the area, I’m right there.
2. Magic can be romantic. Handsome magician producing a red rose out of thin air, anyone?
3. Everyone needs to believe. Really, you’ve got to believe in something or life is like an arid plain with nothing growing on it. Whether it’s God or love or aliens or magic, human beings want to believe. Stage magic is just an extension of that.

In the meantime, remember both Close Up Magic and Escape Magic are currently on sale for 99 cents for the Kindle! And if you want to spring for a paperback, those are available, too. And just to get you in the mood, here’s an excerpt from the beginning of Escape Magic:

Chapter 1

It looked real. The bride and groom posed in front of the waterfall, palm trees and beautiful tropical flowers framing them. Her smile was radiant, and her groom couldn’t take his eyes off her. The wedding photographer—the only photographer allowed past the yellow tape barrier that held back the paparazzi—directed them to face each other, and when she tilted her head to look at her husband, it was obvious to anyone within sight that these two were for real. What they had would last.

Of course, not all of it was real. Bride and groom, paparazzi determined to capture something of their happiness in their cameras…those were real. The waterfall and palm trees and lavish surroundings were part of a garden in a climate-controlled, high-end mall outside a Las Vegas casino. But in that moment, it was an oasis of perfection. Maybe it was the solid reality of the love between the two that made it easier to accept the practiced falsity of Vegas.

Tony looked on at the happy couple, and his heart swelled with satisfaction for his brother. Three years and lots of trust-building and soul-searching had passed since Andre met Stacey. If they didn’t have a solid foundation to base a relationship on, Tony felt certain no one did.

“Say, man, you know who’s getting married?”

Tony glanced to his side. A heavyset man in a gold suit with pompadour-style hair and dark gold-rimmed sunglasses stood next to him. He must have ducked under the barrier. Tony shrugged. Didn’t really matter. Andre and Stacey were so happy they wouldn’t mind sharing a little of it… even with an Elvis impersonator. That actually was why they’d chosen Vegas for the wedding. They both loved its unpredictability and unique aura.

Not to mention the fact that they’d met there.

At least something good came out of my failure. Shaking off the feeling of uneasy guilt those memories always brought with them, Tony smiled and gave the beautiful couple by the waterfall a last look. Then he took Elvis by the arm and led him back behind the barrier. “My brother. Andre Hawke. If you don’t mind, though, we’d prefer you watch from back here.”

“Sure, man. No problem.” Elvis watched in silence for a few minutes. “Hawke? Isn’t he that magician fellow? Saw his show once. The one where he pulled her on the stage, I think. Did an amazing card trick with her. And everybody was in tears by the time he was done. Really cute. So he’s marrying her? Finally?” At Tony’s nod, Elvis shook his head, dark hair flopping over his eye, rhinestones catching the glimmer of the mall lights and reflecting back rainbows. “Vegas, man. You never know what’ll happen.”

Tony couldn’t help but grin as the other man melted into the crowd. As he turned back to his brother and sister-in-law, his eyes were caught by a flame-haired, leather-clad figure standing on the upper level of the mall. He paused, frowned, and the truth of Elvis’s words hit him. “Nope. You just never know.”

What do you believe in? Leave me a comment below to enter to win one of the fabulous prizes (all magic-related) I’m giving away this week!

Five Female Escapologists Who Might Have Inspired Lady Lydia

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I say “might” because Lady Lydia sprang fully formed from my own head, but in the process of researching escapology, I discovered the field of escapology is mostly dominated by men. However, a few beautiful, brave women have gone before Lydia. Here’s my tribute to them:

1. Dorothy Dietrich. In addition to successfully escaping from a straitjacket while suspended from a burning rope fifteen stories up and no net beneath her, Dietrich is one of the few magicians to successfully perform the bullet catch.

2. Kristen Johnson. Part of the husband and wife team of Ridgeway and Johnson Entertainment Inc., Kristen has mastered the “Full View Water Torture Cell” in addition to many other feats of escapology.

3. Alexanderia the Great. Specializing in water escapes, Alexanderia has been dubbed a “Modern Day Houdini.”

4. Minerva. A contemporary of Houdini’s, Minerva performed throughout the world and was known as the “American Queen of Mystery.”

5. Morgan the Escapist. Known for her 55 Gallon Underwater Challenge in which she escapes from a barrel of icy cold water after being chained, handcuffed and padlocked, Morgan has won awards for her magic.

Do you know of another female escape artist, past or present? Leave me a comment for a chance to win one of the fabulous prizes I’m awarding during Magic Week!

Magic Fun Week Celebration Kick Off! Win a prize!

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Today I kick off a week-long celebration of magic, in particular escape magic, in honor of the launch of my novella Escape Magic. Escape Magic is Book 2 of my Sleight of Hand series, in which either the hero or the heroine is a magician, so I’m not going to limit myself to celebrating just escapology. However, I did want to kick off the week with a list of the ten most intriguing things I’ve discovered about Houdini during my research on escapology:

1. Houdini was not an instant success and after years of trying various magic bits and tricks, he actually ran an ad offering to sell all his tricks and equipment for $20. Fortunately, no one took him up on it.

2. Houdini began his career as the greatest escape magician very humbly. He started out by challenging the crowd to present him with a pair of handcuffs he couldn’t get out of. Houdini’s “Challenge Act” quickly became a success and launched his career as an escapologist.

3. Houdini was fascinated with the occult but also dedicated to debunking every “spiritualist” he encountered. Being a magician and a former “spiritualist” himself, he knew all the tricks, would attend seances in disguise, then expose the illusions in his own shows.

4. Magic tricks could not be copyrighted, so Houdini introduced his “Chinese Water Torture Cell” in a one-act play, which he copyrighted, thus preventing other magicians from using the effect.

5. Houdini was one of the first movie stars, having starred in an experimental film in 1901. He later went on to produce, act and in many films through his Houdini Pictures Corporation.

6. Houdini’s interest in water escapes led to his development of a diving suit that a diver could take off quickly in case of emergency.

7. Although a great deal of controversy surrounds the events leading up to Harry Houdini’s death on October 31, 1926, the actual cause of death was peritonitis, brought on by untreated appendicitis.

8. Several days before his death, Houdini is rumored to have been punched in the stomach several times by a university student, who had heard that Houdini could withstand any punch to the abdomen.

9. Houdini and his wife, Bess, had made a pact to try to contact each other from the afterlife. Bess remained true to her husband, holding seances for ten years after his death. Finally, however, she gave up. Seances continue to be held by Houdini afficionados and fans every year on the anniversary of his death.

10. Houdini was buried in a bronze coffin he planned to use in a new underwater effect he was never able to add to his act.

Sources:
Wild About Harry
Harry Houdini Biography
10 Facts About Houdini

Now it’s your turn. What do you know about Harry Houdini? This week I’m awarding prizes to my commenters! These prizes include a pack of Archangels Bicycle playing cards, a pack of Love Me playing cards by artist Curtis Kulig, the famous Magic Rings trick and one of the best coin tricks I actually know the secret to, Scotch & Soda, which I actually purchased at the Houdini Magic Shop in Las Vegas. I also have magic wands and several paperback copies of both Close Up Magic and Escape Magic, although you get either one of those for only 99 cents for the Kindle!

Crud and Halloween and Book Launch…oh my.

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Okay, so I decided to release Escape Magic on October 31, the anniversary of Houdini’s death, right? Pretty good idea. Great idea, in fact, except for the fact that I am the mother of three, two of whom are still young enough to trick-or-treat on Halloween. Which means costumes and candy and, well, you know. And that would not be enough to keep me from launching Escape Magic properly, so I went ahead with it, and came nose-to-nose with something that did keep me from doing it up right.

The crud.

Whether it’s the flu or a bad cold or what, I don’t know, but it has totally sapped my energy. I haven’t tweeted about Escape Magic properly, and I promised some neat Houdini facts on here that I haven’t organized in my brain well enough to write. Whatever it is, the crud sucks.

The fact is, there are some things I have to keep doing in spite of everything. And Escape Magic would be right up there if this hadn’t been such a busy week. But it has and I have no energy left for Twitter or Facebook or even my blog. In fact, I’m going back to bed as soon as I finish this post.

But before I do, I wanted to announce that beginning Monday I’m going to do a week-long celebration of Magic right here on my blog. There’ll be giveaways and balloons and champagne—all right, the balloons and champagne will be imaginary, but the giveaways won’t. I’ve collected a number of cool magic tricks over the past year or so and some very pretty decks of cards. And by next week I should have hard copies of Escape Magic to giveaway (I already have some copies of Close Up Magic). And if all that doesn’t appeal, I’m also going to give away some $5 Amazon gift cards, good to buy anything you want on Amazon (including any of my books–you could probably get more than one of my ebooks!).

So that said, remember Escape Magic is for sale NOW at only 99 cents for the Kindle ($6 or so for the paperback version). If you buy it and love it, leave me a review! I could use a pick-me-up.