Now that my novel is done and off to the printer, I’m taking a short break from writing seriously. Although, maybe this is a serious poem? Who knows, really.
A Sonnet for My Last Hinge Match By Michelle Garren-Flye
Let’s not fall in love, just listen a while: I can’t sell myself short, it’s no longer my style. I’m not even sure anymore what I want, and I’m not saying that just to taunt.
I guess my desire is for a hero of old a god shining above in a chariot of gold or winging across the sky on Pegasus. That’s why there can never be an us.
I expect starlit dance floors, fountains of wine, and you to be faithful, handsome, and kind. Settle for something less than? I won’t. I think I’m destined to wind down my life alone.
I know your bargain doesn’t include all that, so I’ll happily spend the night alone with my cat.
My last original romance novel was published in 2020. I believe it was at the height of Covid, when we all thought the world was going to end. I remember people caught on cruise ships and getting stuck because of Covid cases being detected onboard. And I bravely published a romance that took place on board a cruise ship.
Ah, those were the days.
No fear this time, though. Covid has been interwoven into our society (along with some other unpleasant things). So for my comeback, my first novel in nearly SIX YEARS, I chose to write a total escape romantasy set in 1700s England and featuring Greek gods. Yep. It’s like if Jane Austen met the crazy-ass gods of mythology.
Here’s the summary:
In a world where magic and religion are outlawed, the fates of a natural mage and a wandering god collide.
Callie has hidden her powers all her life while working as a kitchen maid for the St. Clair family—until one night when she is discovered in the woods by Samir, a servant of the Muses. Drawn to the beauty of her magic, Samir recruits his friend Dionysus to help him discover more about the young woman with extraordinary power.
Together, they embark on a search for the lost pithos of Pandora. The journey tests their love, expands their beliefs, and leads them on a wild ride from the excesses of London’s “season” to the mysterious depths of the Oracle of Delphi.
Can the new love Samir and Callie have discovered survive the demands of London society and the quirks of the gods of Olympus?
And here’s the final cover:
copyright 2026 Michelle Garren-Flye
Laws of Lightning will be released on February 28, 2026. I’ll be posting more about it between now and then. I’ve ordered my preview copy of it, just to make sure it really is going to look as good as I think it will when it comes out. Just FYI, although it’s a romantasy, I doubt this one would get even 3 spicy peppers on today’s spicy scale. Still, I’m old-fashioned and recommending it for 18+ readers. So approach with caution.
I just wrote the 50,000th word of my latest work-in-progress. This is significant to me because I haven’t gotten that far on a novel since 2020. I’ve written plenty of poems and actually published several poetry books, but a novel? Ha! My muse wasn’t talking.
But all that changed with this idea. I’ve started and restarted it at least three times. I’ve tried different settings, different time periods, different characters…and it finally seems to be working out. Never being one to do things in order, I made myself a working cover to help keep myself on task. And, in a fairly weird reversal of never judge a book by its cover, I love the cover so much the book has to be written!
So, as a celebration, here’s the preview of the cover (still may change a bit…or a lot) and a brief summary of what it’s all about.
I’m excited!
Cover design by Michelle Garren-Flye Copyright 2025
Set in 18th century England, in an alternate universe where magic and religion are both equated and outlawed, Callie, a natural mage, has hidden her powers all her life while working as a kitchen maid. Callie is discovered in the woods one night by Samir, a servant of the Muses who is traveling England as Lord Wildingham. After witnessing Callie’s magic, Samir recruits his friend Dionysus to accompany him to the manor where Callie works.
Samir remembers nothing but servitude to the Muses, Callie knows nothing but concealing her magic. Yet together, the two realize they are much more. Their mutual discoveries lead them on a search for the lost pithos of Pandora. The journey tests their love and their beliefs, as they hunt down the sins released from Pandora’s pithos.
Ranging from the countryside of England to London to the mountains of Greece and beyond, Laws of Lightning imagines a world where magic and mythology intertwine with the conventions of Georgian England.
Today is the winter solstice, aka the darkest day of the year. There are fewer minutes of daylight today than on any other day.
It’s my favorite day, not because I don’t like light but because I do. I love light, and if today is the shortest day, then we start getting longer days tomorrow. It’s like hitting rock bottom but knowing you will have the strength to climb back up.
That’s why I wrote my book Winter Solstice, which is now in print in my “Author’s Edition”. This is a day we don’t always appreciate or even note, but it’s worth remembering if there’s a down, there’s usually an up that follows.
It seems I just can’t NOT share my excitement about this ongoing project. I’m up to about eighty pictures now, and I’m still going strong. I’ve been experimenting more with drawing people as well as places and things. I think it’s working out…
“What do you do with a gift?”
Of course, my strength remains in the words, but I have had fun experimenting with drawing things like fire, too.
“Why would you think all the fire in the world is yours?”
I know, of course, that my pictures will not be the works of art I see in other graphic novels. I am not truly an artist. Most of what I’m doing is photographic manipulation. My strength is really in the five poems that are in this book. And the story I’ve woven around the poems and pictures. I am hopeful that they will find a place in the hearts of readers.
I blame 2020. So in a way, I guess I should thank 2020 for being such a miserable year it froze my creative juices in my veins so that the only way I could continue writing at all was to take up a study of haiku and try to figure out why some 5-7-5 poems are better than others.
Until Boku No Hero Academia, that is.
My daughter introduced me to it. More to the point, I found out she’d been watching anime and reacted like any sensible parent would and demanded she watch it with me. I have a bit of a prejudice against anime and manga due to the way it portrays women. I found some of that in BNHA (a.k.a., My Hero Academia, based on the manga by Kohei Horikoshi), but nothing I felt would scar my beautiful, confident, intelligent daughter.
I did think the anime could use a stronger female character or two, preferably on the hero and not the villain side.
I was pretty sure I could create one.
In mid-July I did exactly that. And then I started writing her story. Then I posted it on a fanfiction site. It’s now up to 22 chapters (I’ve been posting one a day, serial-like), has almost 700 hits, 22 kudos, six subscribers, and one reader who comments every single day. I’m kind of proud of that. It might be the most successful thing I’ve ever written.
After I wrote about ten chapters of it, I came clean with my daughter. She was shocked and, I think, happy. She asked if she could read it. I gave her the link because I’ve rated it “Teen and Up” on the site, and I know it’s okay for her.
She said it was really good.
I asked if it was weird that I wrote it.
She pointed out that most fanfiction is written by kids, so my readers are probably kids and probably think I am, too.
Oh jeez.
That is a little weird.
And still, I know I’m going to finish this story because I can’t not. It’s been pure fun to write. I love the universe, the characters (Kohei Horikoshi’s and mine), and how it’s brought me back to reading the comic books I borrowed from my older brother’s room when I was a kid. He always had the best ones. Richie Rich, Spider-Man, The Micronauts (remember Baron Karza, anyone?), and so many others. I loved those comics.
And I’m not going to apologize for writing a fanfiction based on an anime based on a manga. After all, it’s better than sitting frozen in horror watching our world flame out.
And besides, it inspired my beautiful daughter to draw me this:
My OC (that’s Original Character) from my fanfiction.
I am not going to post a link to my fanfiction because I don’t want to lead any children to my romances. If any of you do find this, my romances are not child friendly. I would refer you to my Shelley Gee account for middle grade children’s books. Possibly my semi-YA Weeds and Flowers. But none of these are set in a universe with heroes and villains and would probably be a disappointment. Sorry? On the other hand, if you know me and want to read the fanfiction to see if it’s really all that, let me know.
Today is, in a very real way, a very big day for me. It’s my 25th wedding anniversary and the day I officially release my 18th book.
Thank you.
It’s hard to celebrate right now, as I have good reason to know. My 50th birthday fell right at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. My son and my daughter also have celebrated birthdays. Today I have no actual plans to celebrate. I once envisioned a busy day full of well wishing friends for both my book and my marriage. I mean, not as many people make it to their silver wedding anniversary as used to, right? And quite a few authors never see 18 books with their name on the front.
But celebrating is hard right now. People are still sick, still dying. I’m working hard to make sure I’m not one of them. I have nightmares that my family is. And life goes on.
And still, I am happy to announce the publication of my 18th book, Magic at Sea, the seventh book of my Sleight of Hand series (and still a standalone, so you can read it even if you haven’t kept up with the series!). And I am happier still to be married to the same wonderful man for twenty-five years. Rain or shine, we’ve had them both.
Rain or Shine
By Michelle Garren Flye
When did it rain?
I never heard thunder
Or wind or raindrops.
When did they fall?
It must have happened
Behind the scenes
While we were busy
Doing something else.
Something important.
Raising kids, living life,
Paying bills…surviving.
I didn’t know it rained.
Just like so many other
Things have happened
In the background.
It’s funny how you start:
Focused on each other,
Certain nothing will change.
But then it does.
Work and family and life
All change you.
And rain falls unnoticed
Until you see the puddles,
And then you notice the wet
And open an umbrella.
Happy anniversary to my patient, supportive, loving husband. Photo by Michelle Garren Flye
There’s no such thing as really good timing, I’ve found, but bad timing? Oh yeah.
So go ahead and giggle. Yeah, this is some of the worst timing ever in the history of publishing in general. A romance novel on a cruise ship? I can pretty much guarantee you no one else is putting this out.
As I’m putting the finishing touches on it, I find myself questioning other things, too. Simple things like handshakes and hugs. A kiss on the cheek from a friend. And, well, love in general.
How will Covid-19 affect writing about romance? I have no idea. I haven’t actually tried it. If it’s a transient thing, which we all hope, it won’t, obviously. But if the times change, as I’m scared they will, will I have to take that into account? Will courting be done via Zoom or Facetime? How will anyone fall in love that way? Love has to do with sparks, and I’m not sure the right kind can travel over virtual reality.
I imagine people like me will continue to write about what love and romance once were for a long time. We’ll either become outdated as humans evolve and learn to fall in love in different ways or we’ll serve as a valued reminder of what once was and hopefully one day will be again.
Whatever the future holds, I maintain that the sea is and always will be a source of romance. Whether the big cruise lines ever come back or not, love on the sea will always be a thing. So, in a couple of weeks (15 days to be exact), I’ll welcome Magic at Sea to my Sleight of Hand collection.
BREATHE: Michelle Garren-Flye 