Skinless: - Specs

Skinless; The Story of a Female Survivor

(Book 1) Charmay: New York Noir

Enter Skinless

Skinless is a dark literary psychological crime novel told in raw first person, with the intimacy of memoir.

Skinless; The Story of a Female Survivor

Second Edition, Expanded and Revised

Street poetry. Beauty. Danger. Survival.

Skinless is a dark literary psychological crime novel set in 1999 New York City—told in raw, poetic first person, a memoir‑like portrait of a woman navigating addiction, violence, the city’s underworld, and the brutal cost of surviving what should have broken her.

At the turn of the millennium in New York City, fresh from teenage homelessness and childhood abuse, Charmay, a street‑smart, velvet‑voiced singer‑songwriter, develops a glittering alter ego, Cindy, to survive the PTSD she calls “skinless,” a raw vulnerability she drinks to numb and sings to soothe.
Over two turbulent years, chasing quick fixes and the American Dream, she’s pulled into a maze of small‑time hustles and crime that devolves into a dangerous game of secrets, lies, and power. Longing for her estranged father and the girl she once was, she clings to three men—and “Cindy”—for protection and hope, until hustles collide and masks ricochet into beats, bullets, and bedsheets, and it’s never clear who is really in control or who is using whom.

By the final chorus, Skinless becomes a strange evocation of turn‑of‑the‑century America—the times we live in and the forces we live by—as Charmay fights between the mask that kept her alive and the honest voice that could make her whole.

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PRAISE:

“Skinless offers something rare: a portrait of survival that doesn’t sanitize the mess. Moor’s nonlinear, fragmented prose is the only honest way to render a mind trying to hold itself together, and her unflinching imagery never shies away from bodily trauma or the long shadow of childhood wounds—uncomfortable, occasionally overwhelming, and undeniably powerful.”—BookLife Reviews

“Most of the book’s sentences vacillate between beauty and despair… Skinless is an eloquent crime novel about a woman’s relentless desire to survive… her street poetry highlights the city’s colors and sensations in lush, sensual language.”— Benjamin Welton, Foreword Reviews

“A humane, unsparing portrait—wringing hope from the drug-drenched, sex-soaked streets of 1990s New York City.”— D. Ballantyne, Foreword Reviews

“This is different and that is good. It tells a story which is worth the hearing but it also offers some amazing characters and a writing style which is somehow modern and vintage at the same time. The style takes you into the mind of the protagonist in a way which conventional, descriptive prose may not. I really liked it.”— Louise Gray, NetGalley reviewer, Goodreads

“Moor’s prose has a lyrical and poetic flow… evocative of beat generation writers like Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs—with the New York City style grit of Jim Carroll. The word play… is phenomenal.” — David H.K., Goodreads

“Maggie Moor has a voice unlike any I’ve ever encountered. Both hip and illuminating. A voice that lifts the mind to a place it’s never been.” — Kate Lardner, author

“Crafted in the moment, thinking and reacting in real time… she gives us a real internal voice… a writing exercise that would intimidate an author writing their 10th novel—and Ms. Moor has pulled it off.” — Mark McLaughlin, Amazon reader

“Quirky, singular… Language so original it vanishes words as we know them… In a word, Skinless is a stunner.” — Stacey Donovan, writer and editor

“Ms. Moor’s unique writing style takes you directly inside the narrator’s mind and heart… twisting and turning right up to the final, suspenseful ending; the images and life lessons stay with you long after.” — G.D. Barbara Hodge

“Written in the first person and with a special style that grabs you inside the protagonist’s mind… different and original. I highly recommend it.” — Vincent J. Wallace, author of Deadly Wealth

“Noir-ish feel that hooked me right away… a thrilling and realistic story about living on the edge in 1990s New York City.” — Antwan Floyd Sr., author

About the Author

Maggie Moor is a New York City–based author, jazz‑blues singer‑songwriter, NPC athlete, and licensed psychoanalyst. Her writing is dark literary psychological noir told in raw first person, with the intimacy of memoir, exploring identity, trauma, and survival. As a recording artist, she blends jazz, blues, and poetic lyricism in music that mirrors the emotional grit of her fiction. She is the creator of Charmay: New York Noir and Skinless; The Story of a Female Survivor (Book 1), set in the 1999 Lower East Side and paired with the companion album Skinless: Songs from the Book (Charmay & Maggie Moor).

Meet Maggie Moor

The Artist's Note; Illuminations

Inquiries:

MaggieMoorWriter@gmail.com
Pearl of Peace Publishing, LLC.
New York, NY 10023

email Pearl of Peace Publishing

SPECS:

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Events/support: readings/Q&A; signed bookplates; shelf‑talkers | NYC‑based | Website: MaggieMoor.com | Contact: email | Fb | X | IG |

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Buy links:

Amazon: http://mybook.to/SkinlessMoor

Amazon Author: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Maggie-Moor/author/B0FT1L2GK2

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242129543

Goodreads Author: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19468458.Maggie_Moor

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Skinless: Works Cited in the Text

A little more insight into Skinless, Charmay. . .

This is a curated list of the literature, poetry, theatre, and film explicitly mentioned in Skinless—quoted, name‑checked, or discussed in dialogue and in Charmay’s narration. These references live on the page and shape the book’s voice, relationships, and texture. Page numbers may vary slightly by edition. Due to subsequent edits, this list was created for the first edition of Skinless. The second edition has substantial expansion, but the references all remain.

Works cited in the text Skinless:

Alice in Wonderland, 28
“Amazing Grace,” the snow globe Sam gives Charmay places the spiritual, 106
“A-Train,” jazz singer at Hudson’s Restaurant, 72
Angel Heart, 1987, neo-noir psychological thriller, Charmay likes the film, 21
“Angie,” (1973) Stones song, Charmay thinks of it near the end of the book when Sam comes back after the fight, 315
Arms and the Man, George Barnard Shaw. Charmay tells Rex she’s studying in her script analysis class, Rex tells her it was Marlon Brandon’s stage swan song (1953); both of them like the play, 171,172, 173
Baby Doll, film, based on Tennessee Williams’s 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, 1956
Bach concerto, 83
Backstage, where Charmay looks for auditions, 150, 221
Barbarella, character, 223
Beaudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, 7
The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, by political scientist Harvard man Charles Murray, 111
Bible, 113
Blueprint 3, Jay Z album, 88
Body Heat, 326
Bonnie and Clyde, 326
“Born to Be Wild,” Sam sings his version while cooking, 126
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, (1961), 40
Bus Stop, 257
Business of Acting, 111
“But Not for Me,” by George Gershwin, 224, 225
Caged Bird, (1969) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou, one of Charmay’s faves, 108
Caligula, 1979, 49
Canadian Newspaper, where Charmay and Sam’s Las Vegas wedding pictures ended up on the cover, 75
Carrie, Charmay’s aborted fetus calls up the Stephen King horror film, 355
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee Williams, 96
Caravan of Dreams, Idries Shah, 1968, 272
Casablanca, 151
Chopin, “Nocturne, op 9, no. 2,” 294
Color Purple, (1982), Alice Walker, one of Charmay’s faves, 108
“Cry like a Baby,” Roberta Flack, a song Charmay performs for Rex, 84, 227
Danger: Diabolik, 1968 film, 89
Dead Eye Boy, The, 237
Divorce American Style, 253
Family Feud, TV game show, 155
Fantasia, 127
Elementary Gazette, Charmay’ school paper, 49
Enquirer, 292
Entertainment Weekly, 313
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Russ Meyer film, Charmay boasts to Sam’s parents that a director has asked her to study a part from the cult class, 225
Fear of Flying, Erica Jong, 325
Fool for Love, Sam Shepherd, Charmay played May, 94
Fortune, 199
“Four Quartets 4: Little Gidding,” T. S. Eliot’s, 265
Friendship, Egon Schiele painting Charmay love, 128
“Für Elise,” Beethoven’s bagatelle, tune playing on a ballerina music box of Charmay’s childhood, 57, 107
Gemstones of the World, a book from Drew’s mom, 176
Gift of the Magi, The, O’Henry story, Charmay thinks she should have used this reference instead of The Muse, at Sam’s shrink’s, 203
Gilda, namely Rita Hayworth, 257
“Girls, Girls, Girls” Motley Crue, 53
Giselle, from Lion King 218
The Glass Menagerie, Williams, Sam compares Charmay’s daydreaming to Laura in the play, Charmay had play Laura at Stella Adler’s, 96
Grinch, character’s name from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 162, 185, 295
Hatful of Rain, Gazzo, Charmay tells Rex she’s playing the lead, 150, 151
Home Cooking, name of magazine at Sam’s shrinks’, 199
“Honey in My Honeycomb,” Ethel Waters; jazz singer at Hudson’s, 59
“Hot Legs,” song Sam sings while cooking, 126
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, opening lines of the song from, 295
“Hush,” by Maggie Moor, 122, 123, 304
Importance of Being Earnest, The, 151
“I Thought About You,” Johnny Mercer; Charmay sings in a movie, 224
James Joyce’s The Dead Broadway musical production with Christopher Walken (1999), 269
Jetsons, The, 154
Kama Sutra, 35
Kids, magazine at Sam’s shrink, 199
Last Exit to Brooklyn, 21
Last Seduction, The, 1994, 292
“Lilac Whine,” song by James Shelton, 1950; Charmay tunes into the song when she’s with Rex at Hudson’s, 69
Lion King, The, 226
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 8
“Love Potion Number Nine,” Searchers, 186
Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti, 85
Magnolia, film of P. T. Anderson (2000), 27
Maltese Falcon, Falcon, 327, 331
Miss Sadie, Rita Hayworth film, 257
Moby Dick, 338
Modigliani painting, 28
Mozart’s “Allegro” from A Little Night Music, 184
Muse, The, 291
“My Mother’s Son-in-Law,” 185
National Geographic Nautical Photographs, 110
New Rose Hotel (1998), 264
New Testament, 113
New Yorker, The, 236, 237
Night before Christmas, 338
91/2 Weeks, film, Charmay tells Sam Rex is obsessed with the film, 118, 263
“Numb”, Beth Orton, Portishead, 50
Old Testament, 113
Oz, 31
Paris Nightlife, Picasso painting; Charmay refers to while on stage at Lucky Strike, 245
“Pearly Gates, The” Barostti cartoon, 237
Pope of Greenwich Village, (1984) 21
Porter, Cole; standards, 221
Post, The, copy in the pocket of the Lucky Strike owner, 248
Pride and Prejudice, 199
Rainman, 343
Requiem for a Dream, 268
River of No Return (1954), 257
“Run This Town,” Jay-Z, 88
Sacred Dance, 36
Sea of Love, 19889, film, 268
Sex in the City (1998), 320
Short Cuts, 237
Simpsons, 163
Sleeper, 174
Sopranos, second season, 226, 320
Spiderman, 263
Spoon River Anthology, 69
Starry Night, Van Gogh, 1889, 199
“Sussudio,” by Phil Collins (1985), 187
Taming of the Shrew, 25
Times, The, 237
True Romance, 1993, pop culture film, Charmay likes, 21, 76, 268
Twenty-Four Hours A Day, Hazelden. Daily meditations, 281
Water Lilies, Monet, 1914-1926, 199
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, 117
When God Was a Woman, by Merlin Stone, a book Charmay read in Marin, 36
“Where is Everybody?” Nine Inch Nails song, 291
Where the Wild Things Are, 116
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Charmay and Sam had played Martha and George in the Albee play at the Adler studio, 89
Why Do I Feel Nothing Without a Man, book mom reads, 72
Wicked, 240
Yellow Pages, Mom uses them, 282, 293
“You Can Leave Your Hat On,” Sam sings to Charmay about Rex, 118, 263
The Young and the Restless, soap opera, 245