Kate Flora: When I was a book-loving little girl and imagined what the author’s life must be like, it was full of fabulous events with swooning readers and booksellers and libraries thrilled to be in an author’s presence. It was a fantasy, of course. The reality, which began for me in 1994, was far different. Doing my own PR. Driving for hours to an event only to learn that publisher had failed to send the books or given them away prior to my arrival. Once, driving through a growing snowstorm to Camden only to have the bookseller say, as soon as I arrived, “I’m sorry about that review. I had a chance to stop it but of course I didn’t.” Nothing like learning your newest book has been trashed by a reviewer in the local paper—and that the bookseller was proud of herself for not saying anything.
But that rather harsh and daunting reality has been punctuated along the way with magical moments. Among the best? The night I got to interview Tony Hillerman on stage while he was touring his memoir. I was a huge Hillerman fan…always had been, and it had been made greater by meeting him just before my first book came out, having a private chat, and getting his advice. But this night was truly special. A pair of armchairs, a little coffee table to display his books, and a conversation. At the end, when I was asking him questions the audience had submitted on index cards, I wasn’t even daunted when one of the questions was: What is the name of the woman who is interviewing Mr. Hillerman? I had forgotten to introduce myself and I really didn’t care.
An amazing and illuminating encounter was at the Writer’s Police Academy. I was on a ride along. It was a very quiet night and we were in a rural part of the city. At one point, I asked the officer I was riding with why he had stopped and questioned a lone man walking down the road. He pulled over, told me about another such night when the man he’d stopped to speak with had nearly killed him. Then he showed the dashcam video of the entire event and shared how his supervisor had reacted, how his pregnant wife had, and how the department had supported him after the event. It was one of those special opportunities to get behind the “us vs. them” curtain and understand the huge emotional impact such an event has on everyone involved. Along the way, there have been several times when the officers I was speaking with shared intensely personal information that has made me a better writer of crime fiction.
Full house on Vinalhaven
Another great event was last summer when three of us, myself, Jule Selbo, and Maureen Milliken, were invited to do a “Making a Mystery” presentation at the Vinalhaven Library. They gave us ferry tickets, put us up in a lovely house, treated us to a cocktail party, and provided a full house for our presentation. Later, there was dinner in the fridge, and wine, and we could sit for hours and talk about writing. It was absolutely perfect!!
And then there was this. Back in 2017, I had a story in a collection from Three Rooms Press called The Obama Inheritance. I got an email from the publisher that the book was going to be reviewed by Maureen Corrigan on Fresh Air. This is what she said, and my story, Michelle in Hot Water, was singled out for attention. I stood in my kitchen and listened and it felt like a thousand pats on the back.
Maureen Corrigan: A truly fabulous story kicks off this collection. Remember all those loud whispers, sparked by a fist bump, that Michelle Obama was a covert black power separatist? In “Michelle in Hot Water,” crime writer Kate Flora takes that conspiracy fantasy about the first lady and runs with it. Here’s how the story opens:
The big man with the Russian accent wore an expression somewhere between a smirk and a smile. Not a pleasant smile, but the smile of someone who likes to inflict pain and was about to do just that . … Michelle wasn’t afraid of him; bullies had been common in the part of Chicago where she grew up. Her years in the White House had shown her plenty more, even if they did hide behind expensive suits and artificial courtesies. No. … What scared her was the predicament she had gotten herself into and the trouble it was going to cause for her team: Faiza from State, Leela from the Surgeon General’s office, Charisa from the Pentagon, Lourdes from the FDA, and Alice from Justice.
Michelle, dressed in full combat gear and a Mission Impossible-worthy disguise of fake skin, has gotten caught by that Russian enforcer in the middle of a vigilante mission. It seems as though she and her team of high-level government gal pals have banded together — under cover of being in a women’s book group — to pressure pharmaceutical kingpins to lower the cost of cancer fighting drugs for kids.
When, as always, the drug makers initially refuse, first lady Michelle and her sister Amazons devise ways to inject these fat cats with a drug that temporarily renders them impotent, incontinent and bald. Part of the fun of this story is the repartee that Flora conjures up between Michelle and Barack. Like FDR, Barack realizes that his wayward activist wife can’t be reined in.
The Obama Inheritance looks like great fun! I will check it out. Kudos to a career full of highs and lows. That is what makes it all worthwhile.
If I dare say you’re my writing hero. There I say it. I am 71 years old and began writing in earnest upon learning how to live with a terminal illness. I lacked the courage that you were raised with on that chicken farm. I have enjoyed reading your work. Now to hear your voice on your blog is a gift. Warmly yours, dlg via the coast of Maine
Dare I say.