During
her virtual book tour, Michelle will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and
Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be
entered for a chance to win, use the
form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit
her other tour stops and enter there, too!
Bio:
Michelle Garren Flye is
an award-winning romance author of eleven novels and counting. Her short
stories have been published by the romance anthology Foreign Affairs,
Opium.com, SmokelongQuarterly.com and Flashquake.com, among others. She has
served on the editorial staffs of Horror Library, Butcher Shop Quartet and
Tattered Souls. Michelle has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass
Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a
Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro. She is the mother of three and lives in North Carolina.
Welcome, Michelle. Please
share a little bit about your current release.
Becoming Magic is the fifth book in
my Sleight of Hand series, which features magicians (stage magicians, not the
paranormal wizard kind) as heroes/heroines. Becoming
Magic is a little darker than my other books in this series. The heroine
was sexually assaulted as a young woman and hasn’t totally recovered from it. The
hero, a sexy movie star turned magician, has a tough time convincing her to let
down her guard with him long enough for him to convince her he’s a good guy.
Which he definitely is.
What inspired you to
write this book?
So
many things. Women are at a point in history where real change can and is
occurring for us. From the #Metoo Movement to running for office, we’re
stronger and braver and more present than we’ve ever been before. Yet the
romance genre—which is written and read mostly by women—isn’t reflecting that.
There are still so many alpha heroes, controlling relationships, rape fantasies
and sexual practices like sadomasochism that were once marginalized but are now
prevalent in the romance genre. As women, we need to make up our minds. Do we
want to be treated like sex toys or do we want to be respected? And why should
it make a man less sexy to be willing to wait? That’s what my “new kind of
romance” is all about. My heroes make waiting for the woman very sexy. Here’s an excerpt that might
just prove my point.
Excerpt from Becoming Magic:
She reached for a handful of popcorn and her
hand brushed his. When she turned her head and met the gaze of the same pair of
clear blue eyes as those on the screen, her heart skipped a beat and she froze.
For an eternity of a half second, neither of them moved, then he slowly turned
his hand over and folded his fingers over hers. “Is this okay?”
“Yes.” She breathed the single word, then
added, “And no.”
“No?” He raised his eyebrows.
“I really want some popcorn.”
“And I still really want to kiss you.” His eyes
flickered down to her lips. Then he sighed and released her hand. “I guess one
of us should get what they want, huh?”
What exciting story are
you working on next?
I’m
currently putting the finishing touches on Dickens
Magic, book 6 in the Sleight of Hand series. It’s a Christmas book and
it’ll be out on October 31. I’m also working on another project that I’m very
excited about, but I’m not quite ready to reveal any details about it. It’s in
the very early stages. I think it could be my best one yet (I always strive to
make the next book the best, anyway.) All I will say at this point is that it
is a contemporary romance, it’s not part of any series, and it’s got more
action in it than you would expect from one of my contemporary romances.
There’s even an explosion!
When
I was seven years old I started writing short stories and I remember my mother
saying someday I could be an author. That word “author” filled me with awe back
then, and I didn’t even really know what it meant. But it’s something I’ve
aspired to my entire life. I guess I realized I had achieved that aspiration
sometime around two years ago when I started answering “writer” for occupation
on forms.
Do you write full-time?
If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and
how do you find time to write?
Yes.
I write every second I can. I have three kids ranging from fifth grade to
first-year college student, so it’s much easier now than it used to be, but I
still don’t have an actual regimen
for writing. I don’t think writing is something you can fix to certain hours.
Sometimes I can write from eight in the morning to almost three in the
afternoon (school day). Other days I can’t get going in the morning, so I do
something else for a while and work at night. I’m typing this at midnight, for
instance. And then there are the days when I stare blankly at the computer for
far too long and let myself get distracted by Facebook or Twitter or CNN. And
then I feel awful because I know better, but I did it anyway.
What would you say is
your interesting writing quirk?
I’m
not sure if this counts as a quirk, but I am a big believer in serendipity. I’m
a “pantser”, meaning I don’t plot out every aspect of my story. I don’t have a
storyboard with everything planned out for me to write from. I write bits and
pieces, though I’ve gotten better at mostly writing straight through instead of
a scene here and another one there. But with almost every book I’ve ever
written, I’ve had a moment where I think, Oh my God, I didn’t even know that
was going to happen and now it fits in perfectly with this other piece and they
fit with that piece.
As a child, what did
you want to be when you grew up?
Well,
I’ve been writing since I was seven years old, so I’ll have to go with writer.
I had a brief career as a journalist and another, slightly longer, career as a
librarian, but I’ve always, always, always wanted to be a writer. I’m lucky
enough to do it full-time now. Or as full-time as a mother of three can get.
Anything additional you
want to share with the readers?
Just
that I hope they’ll give Becoming Magic
a try. And let me know what they think! I say all the time that I love reviews,
good or bad. I like to know if my writing works for people and if not, why. It
helps me grow as a writer, and for that, I thank anyone who ever bothers to
review my work.
Links:
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon
| Barnes
and Noble
Thank you for being a
guest on my blog!
Thank
you so much for having me!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
14 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
I appreciate getting to read about another book my family have not known about previously. Thanks so much for the book description and giveaway also.
Thanks for sharing so much interesting stuff about yourself. Thanks for the giveaway!
James and B.J., thank you for reading the interview! I hope you will give Becoming Magic a try! Lisa, thank you so much for having me on your blog. I'll be back from time to time to answer any questions anyone might have.
A good slow-burn story is hard to resist!
--Trix
Thanks for checking it out, Trix. :)
Thanks for sharing the great post!
Thank you for reading the post, Victoria.
If you could meet any literary character, who would it be? Congrats on the release. Bernie Wallace BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
Hi Bernie. That's a tough question. I think I'd go back to my childhood books. One of my favorites was always Watership Down by Richard Adams. The protagonist was Hazel, a rabbit. I always admired how he became the leader and hero to the little bunch of rabbits he led on an epic journey to a new home. So, yeah. It'd probably be him. Or the Mad Hatter, maybe. ;)
Sounds like a good read.
What was your favorite part of the book?
I enjoyed reading your interview today.
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