Author Archives: Michelle Garren-Flye

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About Michelle Garren-Flye

I am an author of romance, poetry, children's books and graphic novels. I also own a bookstore. My love of the written word runs deep.

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.

Lady Lydia Fires Back: Her Interview with Me!

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So today I celebrate the release of ESCAPE MAGIC, Book 2 in the Sleight of Hand series. Just for your reference, you can BUY IT NOW HERE. To sweeten the deal (and hopefully get you hooked), I decided to make CLOSE UP MAGIC free today only (GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT). And of course, I’ll be awarding prizes to commenters here and over on my Sleight of Hand Facebook page. But then I had to figure a good way to REALLY celebrate, and I figured, why not invite Lady Lydia, the heroine of ESCAPE MAGIC, into my office to interview ME?

I’ve never done it before, but if you’ll take a moment and step into my imagination, I’ll do it now.

She’s sitting here now, behind my desk, of course. I’m in the easy chair because Lady Lydia’s always in control. Well, almost always. Except where Tony Hawkins is concerned, of course.

LADY LYDIA: I thought I was conducting this interview.

MGF: Of course you are. You’re my guest.

LADY LYDIA: Good. Because I want to know who you are and why you think you’re qualified to tell my story. How long have you been writing?

MGF: I started writing stories when I was in the first or second grade. I still remember my mother telling me that someday I might be an author, and I decided right then that I wanted nothing more. Of course, I got sidetracked into the whole journalism thing, which wasn’t really for me, and then I got my library science degree, and that was a little more my style…

LADY LYDIA: That’s not what I meant. How long have you been writing romance?

MGF: Oh. Well, if you want to be specific about it—

LADY LYDIA: I do.

MGF: Well, I guess, officially, about four years? My first romance novel, SECRETS OF THE LOTUS, was published in 2010, but I know I’d been writing romance a while before that. In fact, most of my more successful short stories and flash fiction were women’s fiction. I know so many brave and courageous women, and they never cease to inspire me.

LADY LYDIA: How many novels have you written?

MGF: I’ve written five novels that fit into contemporary romance or women’s fiction, and one coming-of-age novel. And Escape Magic is my first novella.

LADY LYDIA: Which makes me wonder…how come Tony and I didn’t get a full-length novel?

MGF: I could tell you that it’s because your story fit nicely into the novella box, but the truth is, I wanted to experiment with a different format. I’ve written short stories and I’ve written novels, but I’ve never tried to make a story fit into fifteen to twenty thousand words with a complete story arc and conflict and everything.

LADY LYDIA: Conflict? What conflict?

MGF: Your conflict and Tony’s were both internal. They come from different sources, but they boil down to fear.

LADY LYDIA: I’m not afraid of anything. But moving on. Why on earth did you decide to write about magic?

MGF: If I had a penny for every time I’d been asked that question…well, I’d have a handful of pennies, anyway. I love magic. I believe in magic, and stage magic is, to me, just an extension of that. I love that I can watch a really good magician and never see the trick. Of course, even a mediocre magician has a pretty good chance at fooling me because I don’t WANT to see the trick. I want them to help me believe. That is the magic.

LADY LYDIA: And that’s all sweetness and light, but escapology is a whole different ballgame. It verges on revealing some tricks of magic.

MGF: Not if it’s done right by a good magician. Like you.

LADY LYDIA: I can’t be sweet-talked. Well, maybe a little bit. Finally, you’ve been calling ESCAPE MAGIC “the anti-50 shades bondage romance”. Is that really how you see it?

MGF: I didn’t set out to write it like that, but, yeah. I do. I mean, you and Tony definitely have a little fun with a certain silk scarf, but you know all the tricks of escapology, so that empowers you to a degree that I’ve never seen in a bondage romance. In fact, there’s no dominant or submissive, just a meeting of equals. Ahem. So to speak.

LADY LYDIA: Yes, well, speaking of silk scarves…I should probably be getting back to Tony now. Not to spoil the ending of the book, but your readers know it’s got an HEA.

MGF: I understand, and yes they do, but one question before you go, Lydia. Do you think you and Tony really have an HEA (happy ever after) to look forward to?

LADY LYDIA: Well, we have just as much chance at one at the end of our book as Stacey and Andre had at the end of CLOSE UP MAGIC. And you saw how they ended up in ESCAPE MAGIC. Maybe you’ll give everyone a hint at our fate in Book 3 of Sleight of Hand, huh?

MGF: Maybe so.

And she’s off, back to Vegas to practice for her show and work on her relationship with Tony (hopefully with a little bit of play, too). But I imagine if any of you have a comment or question for her (or me), she’d be happy to pop back in, especially since, in my imagination, she can get from Vegas to NC in the snap of my fingers. So leave us a comment below and I’ll enter you in a drawing to win a fabulous prize!

Escape Magic is only one week away! Enjoy an excerpt NOW!

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So I realized today that I can now start a one-week countdown to the release of Escape Magic, the novella that is book 2 of my Sleight of Hand series, and I got really excited! I actually love this book. The characters are fun, the storyline is fun, and the ending…well, it wouldn’t be a romance if it didn’t have a happy ever after, would it? Plus, I got to revisit Stacey and Andre from Book 1, Close Up Magic, and there’s even a glimpse of my tragic hero from Book 3, Island Magic (see if you can spot him!).

Next week you’ll be able to purchase Escape Magic for 99 cents for the Kindle or in paperback (can’t remember how much, but it’s less than my others because it IS a novella). Which means short. Both paperback and Kindle versions include the first chapter of Close Up Magic, just in case you missed it. And, for a limited time, Close Up Magic is only 99 cents for Kindle, so if you want to read Book 1 first, get it right away!

But for now, I thought I’d give you a little taste of why I love this little book. For your exclusive reading pleasure, here’s an excerpt from Escape Magic:

Lydia was not easy to find. Tony finally located her in a knot of cheering men. She was seated on a table with her legs crossed and her arms bound behind her. A handsome, dark complected man teased her with a wine glass. “C’mon, Lady Lydia! Get loose and it’s all yours.”

Lydia pretended to have trouble with the knot. “Oh, you might just have me with this one.”

The dark man smiled a little lasciviously and leaned on the table so his body half covered hers. “Oh, I really hope so. But give it a try anyway.”

Lydia remained perfectly calm. Tony knew she’d probably already worked her way out of the knot, or at least knew how to, but she gave no indication of it. “How on earth could I possibly—oops!” She held up her hands with the rope dangling from one and gave him a little push away from her. “Did you lose something, Samir?”

“Just his pride.” Tony recognized the little toadlike man who spoke as Phil, an illusionist. He frowned, searching his mind. Had Phil even been invited? Before he could speak, Phil made a beckoning motion. “Everybody pay up.”

“Not the right venue, Phil.” Tony stepped forward as Lydia took the wine from the handsome magician’s fingers. Tony noticed a line of empty wine glasses on the table next to her. It wasn’t the first bet, then. His resolution to put a stop to the illicit activities strengthened into an almost protective resolve. “Lydia.”

She glanced at Tony as she sipped the wine. “What? You want to go next?” She dangled the rope in front of him. At his disbelieving look, she laughed. “Sorry, don’t have any cuffs. You have to bring your own.”

He gave her a suspicious look. “Are you drunk?”

“Probably not nearly enough.” Her voice sounded clear, but her words made him uncertain.

“Well, I’m not playing, and neither are any of you.” He glared around at the others in the group as he took Lydia’s arm and half helped, half lifted her off the table. “You’re not messing up my brother’s wedding day this way. And Phil, were you even invited?”

“I figured my invitation got lost in the mail.” Phil grinned toothily.

Tony understood. Dear God, there but for your grace… He stopped himself. “Get out. Quietly. And the rest of you should call it a night, too, probably.” He gave them all a scathing glare then turned away, pulling Lydia along with him. “Stupid sons of bitches. And what the hell, Lydia? I thought you had better sense.”

They were in the lobby by this point and she yanked her arm away from his grasp, turning to glare at him. “What’s your damage? I wasn’t doing anything wrong. It was just a little fun.”

“A little fun that looked like it was well on its way to being a gang rape.”

“It was no such thing. You’re projecting.” She glared at him, her hands on her hips.

“Projecting what? Disgust?” He faced her.

Just then, a door opened to the side and a couple came out. Lydia’s head swiveled to watch them and they both ducked, half hiding their faces. Tony frowned at the cloakroom door as it swung closed behind them. “You’re joking.”

She chortled. “Nope. Looks like they were having a little fun, too. C’mon.”

“What?” He held back as she grabbed his hand and started that way.

“Come on.” She tugged at his hand. “If they’ve just come out, it’s available. Let’s go.” She grinned, waggling her eyebrows at him. “I’ll show you what you were projecting. You can’t tell me you don’t want to.”

Her words brought on a surge of unexpected desire. “Jesus.” He hesitated a second more. Why the hell am I hesitating? He let her pull him in the door and shut it behind him.

Writing the Anti-50 Shades Bondage Romance

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No offense intended to E.L. James or those who thoroughly enjoyed the erotic fanaticism that swept our great nation with 50 Shades of Grey and its sequels, but when I set out to write ESCAPE MAGIC, the second in my Sleight of Hand series, I knew it might be difficult to avoid comparison. After all, my main female character is young, beautiful and into bondage…on the stage, no less.

No, I haven’t slipped into erotica here, although ESCAPE MAGIC does contain the hottest sex scene I’ve written so far. (Consider that both warning and promise!) In fact, I think I’m still okay calling this a sweet romance, although I’ll be interested to find out what reviewers think. In point of fact, my heroine is a strong, capable, escape magician who just might be more ready to fall in love than she thinks…with the right man.

Here’s the blurb for ESCAPE MAGIC, coming October 31!

For every lock, there is a key…

Escape magician Lady Lydia can pick any lock, untie any knot, free herself from any trunk of doom. She’s spent years perfecting her brand of escapology, and she’s now poised for success with a Las Vegas show and growing popularity. She’s right where she wants to be, and she’s determined not to fall into any trap.

Tony Hawkins has spent the past three years overcoming his addictions to drugs and alcohol. Now he’s back where it all started. Tony’s stronger than he’s ever been, more in control than he ever thought he could be. But the moment he sees Lydia again, he fears he could lose himself in yet another addiction.

Surrounded by magic, magicians and a glamorous Vegas wedding, Escape Magic is a story about forgetting your fear and finding your faith…even if it means taking a leap you never counted on.

Join me here on my blog for an all-day celebration of the release of ESCAPE MAGIC and the life of Harry Houdini, the greatest escape magician of all time. There’ll be prizes and fun facts and maybe a special surprise, if I can work it out on short notice!

The Spider and the Squirrel: When Best Laid Plans Pay Off…and When They Don’t.

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Since obtaining a small dog minion who must be walked every hour and a half, I’ve discovered something surprising. I live in the woods. Yeah, you’d think I would’ve noticed that, wouldn’t you? But when you’re “walking” a Yorkie, you see things a little differently, mainly because there are a lot of starts and stops and while he’s sniffing around for a good place to go the bathroom, you actually get a chance to look around a little bit. Yesterday I spotted something very cool. It was a spider web. Being a romance writer, I’m probably a little more, well, romantic about this sort of thing, but I was very impressed with that spiderweb, which was perfectly circular in the middle but had long strands stretching from trees on one side of my driveway to the other, a span of about twenty feet.

I started thinking about the planning that no doubt went into that web. Did ever an architect plan a skyscraper more intricately? And what about that perfect circle in the middle of it? Just looking at it took my breath away.

That’s when I decided I need a plan. I’ve got so much going on in my life right now. Wonderful stuff, but it does distract from my writing projects a bit. I have three books in various stages of being ready for reader consumption. I need a schedule. So I made one, and I’ll share it with you in just a sec. But first I have to tell you about the other little lesson nature taught me.

It was a squirrel this time. We have a lot of those and at this time of year, they go a little crazy hopping from one treetop to another. They can practically fly, or at least they appear to…ahem, most of the time. This morning, I watched as one jumped from one tree to the next, ran up a branch and jumped again…and fell flat on his face. That fall must have been forty or fifty feet. I actually felt the earth tremble as its little body hit the ground. Imagine my amazement when that squirrel not only got up (after a stunned second) but raced back up that tree, pausing to scold me on the way for seeing his embarrassing slip.

So plans don’t always work out. You don’t always end up with a glimmering gossamer masterpiece. Sometimes you fall flat on your face. The important thing is to get back up and keep trying. With that in mind, I’m announcing a tentative publishing schedule for my next few books:

October 31: Escape Magic (book 2 in the Sleight of Hand Series)
January 1: Saturday Love (sequel of Ducks in a Row)
March?: Island Magic (book 3 in the Sleight of Hand Series)
June/July: Agapi Mou (sequel of Saturday Love)

Please don’t judge me too harshly if this schedule is adjusted over the coming months. Agapi Mou (which is Greek for My Love) isn’t even written yet, although it is an extension of a short story by the same title. Looking at this schedule now, I’m fairly confident I can manage it. But then, I’m pretty sure that squirrel thought he could make it to that next tree, too.

Living the Alternative Write-Style

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Yes, that’s right. Me. Joe Romance Novelist. I live an alternative write-style.

You never would have guessed? Or you have no idea what I’m talking about?

Well, here it is. I take writing very seriously. I identify myself as a writer, an author, a storyteller, a book-maker. Hell, last year when I filled out my taxes, I put “writer” in as my profession. It is, and someday I even hope to make a living at it.

But I can’t swear I write forty hours a week or two thousand words a day or whatever is considered the going rate for a working writer. And I’m starting to accept that I don’t have to.

Last night I stayed up late because I hadn’t written all day. Well, nothing but tweets, and I just can’t count those. I have two works-in-progress ongoing right now, a vague outline of a romance featuring a sexy male librarian hero, and a complete novel waiting for my edits. I’ve got plenty to do, ideas percolating in my brain at all hours. If I had my way, I’d be indulging in a write fest nine to five every day.

Ah, but there’s a rub. I also have three kids getting ready to start school, a puppy who insists on being walked every hour and a half, a hard-working husband who deserves to be fed at some point after he comes home from work, and a house that hasn’t been completely clean since summer started…or possibly since we moved in.

This is where the alternative write-style comes in. Over the summer I’ve given up on set writing time. I’ve made the decision that I will write when I can. Like last night. I stayed up thirty minutes later than I should have and wrote a grand total of about four hundred words. And you know what I saw when I gazed blearily at my computer screen at 12:30 a.m.? I saw the one thing that I needed to see.

Progress.

(For some reason, that little song Dory from “Finding Nemo” sang keeps running through my head: “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…”)

If you have to live an alternative write-style, don’t worry. You may not hit the two thousand prescribed words a day a serious writer is supposed to write. The question is, would you like to? If you could get someone else to do your grocery shopping and kid carting and day job for you, would you sit down and write until you hit two thousand words a day? If the answer is yes, then you’re a writer.

However, if you’d rather be rock-climbing or skydiving or playing Minecraft all day (I mean, hell, if you’ve got someone working your day job for you, who can blame you?), then you might be more of a hobbyist writer. Nothing wrong with it, but you probably shouldn’t call yourself a writer on your income taxes.

In the meantime, writers, here’s the one bit of advice I really feel like I can give you: Whatever you do, just keep swimming…

The Cicadas are Dying

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The cicadas are dying. It’s just what they do every year about this time. Throughout July they’re very loud–so loud and so constant, you barely hear them. But around the beginning of August, they start dropping out of the trees. That’s when you become aware of them. Instead of a continual, deafening, whirring chorus, fewer of the insects sing, and it’s a softer, less consistent song. Sometimes they even fall silent.

And you realize they’ve been singing all along and you didn’t really notice it.

While walking my puppy (who has to be walked at least once every hour), I came across a dying one today. He was still struggling to fly. I thought about how many times I’ve walked my pup this summer (innumerable–I think I mentioned how often he has to be walked) and realized I only noticed the cicadas a handful of times. But I heard their rattling chatter every time I went outside. Loud as it was, it faded into the background, became part of what I expected.

Soon I’ll walk outside and not hear them and I’ll notice it. The air will grow chillier, the sound of children confined to schoolyards in the day. Darkness will fall earlier and summer will end.

My puppy wanted to play with the cicada we found flopping ungracefully on the driveway, but I pulled him away. I was glad I did because in the next instant the cicada got his feet under him and summoned enough strength to whir back up into the trees. I’ll be able to hear him sing again. For a little while longer.

Motivation: What Makes Your Characters Move?

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I started a new story the other day and did my normal thing. I jumped right the hell into the deep end. Only then did I realize that I didn’t know how to swim in this particular pool. Ripples in the Blue Water of a Swimming Pool

Getting away from the swimming metaphor (forgive me, it’s HOT in eastern North Carolina), I set the story aside for a day or so and figured out why I couldn’t make it work. You see, I have a very clear idea of what I want to have happen, but I couldn’t figure out how to make my characters get from point A to point B. They just stood there like little statues.

I know now why. I knew one of the characters pretty well. He was in Close Up Magic, so he didn’t hold that much mystery for me. I knew what motivated him. Guilt, love, a certain fragility of spirit and an inner strength he doesn’t realize he possesses yet. And I created this awesomely sexy heroine to show him the way. She’s strong, beautiful, worldly–but I couldn’t get her to fall in love with him.

I realized that while I knew what my hero’s motivation was, I wasn’t sure about hers. I’d jumped into the middle of the story and forgotten to wade a little into the backstory first. Even if I don’t need to tell the reader everything at first, I need to know why she’d choose this particular instance to fall in love with this particular guy.

It’s a rookie mistake, and one I’ve made before (waaay back when I was a rookie, wink wink). I think a lot of writers make it. We get excited about telling the story and forget a basic fundamental of storytelling: without motivation, our characters won’t live. Whether it’s a carrot or a stick, we’ve gotta give them a reason to move from the beginning of the story to the climactic middle to the end.