"Skinless: Inside the Story"
Substack: Maggie Moor Skinless: Story of a Female Survivor (Book 1 Charmay: New York Noir)
Substack is where Maggie Moor shares the world behind Skinless and the Charmay: New York Noir series—story, song, and the real‑life threads that inspired them. You’ll find excerpts, craft notes, music releases, and reflections on trauma, healing, and artistry in late‑night, beat‑poetic New York hues. It’s a space for readers and listeners who resonate with the raw voice of turning hard experience into art.
November 4, 2025.
Substack “Inside the Story“: 8 Episodes bring you inside the world of Skinless: The Story of a Female Survivor. Welcome…
November 4, 2025.
This spotlight invites you to become acquainted with the first chapter, enter the world of Skinless. (after prologue, chapter 1) Excerpts from the book (non spoiler)
“In each of us there is another whom we do not know” – Carl Gustav Jung
Lower East Side, New York
Good Morning.
A wind tapped lightly at heavily drawn aluminum shades, wishing to breathe newness amidst the howling chaos. Me and Sam had one thing to cling to on this banal rock, and that was each other. Well, each other and whatever else we could get our hands on.
(c) maggiemoor
November 4, 2025.
Explore the opening pages of Skinless, the Artist’s words on Why Skinless, and more. Excerpts from the book (non-spoiler)
“SKINLESS is an x-ray of survival and artistry—urgent, unfiltered—a raw look at trauma, resilience, and how we adapt to survive.” —MM
Prologue
This story has characters who some may not like or care about because they’re considered low life on the barometer of what people are worth in society, but if you choose to judge them, you’re probably not looking at something about you. A guy told me recently, “If you knew all the parts of someone, you would love them.”
(c)maggiemoor
November 11, 2025.
This spotlight gets you acquainted your with female protagonist, Charmay. She is the voice of the book, hard-boiled, jazz-staccato, insightful, raw, fighting to heal.
Charmay’s story. . .
Charmay, a young singer songwriter haunted by childhood PTSD returns to New York City in 1999 after teenage homelessness to build her career. In her back pocket is built Cindy—a magnetic, seductive body-double; armor that helps her not just pay the bills, but to breathe—and powerful enough to take Charmay over. Star-crossed lovers meet in Times Square when she finds Sam, a young Cuban American running from his criminal past. Fueled by love, determined to bring their dreams to light, Charmay navigates a gritty triangle of sex, drugs, and manipulation while relentlessly writing lyrics in rock bottom moments and learning to empower her wounds through song.
November 18, 2025.
This episode brings you into a main theme of Skinless: alter-ego/ identity/ the effects of PTSD
NYC, 1999: After teen homelessness and abuse, street-smart singer Charmay creates “Cindy,” a glittering alter ego—until chaos ricochets and she must choose: the mask or her honest voice.
Inside scope: Charmay struggles to make amends with her past. With PTSD flashbacks throughout each day, she creates Cindy—her glittering body double: confidence, finesse, strength, dialed-up sex appeal. Charmay slips into stepping out with Rex Raven, the older Wall-street financier who chases her at Darling’s Gentleman’s club. Family ties—and a father’s silence—tug her toward Cindy. Hustles collide. Masks switch places. Cindy makes a play. Beats. Bullets. Bedsheets. By the final chorus, Charmay must choose: wear the mask that kept her alive—or claim the voice that could set her free.
November 25, 2025.
This episode brings you into one of the core themes in Skinless: the struggle to achieve intimacy. Chapter excerpts (non spoiler)
Background: Skinless is hard‑boiled psychological suspense set in 1999 NYC—Honest, tense, and compassionate— Skinless is also psychological portrait of a woman fighting to overcome trauma’s scars—and learning that healing begins within.
Lower East Side, New York City, 1999. Fresh from teenage homelessness, Charmay—a street-smart, trauma-bruised, velvet-voiced singer—wants more than survival. By night she becomes Cindy, the seductive armor that protects her—and threatens to take over. By day she pours truth into song, turning pain to power.
Across two turbulent years—slipping from past to present—in the city’s underground, three forces converge: producer Eddie Cruise hears fire in her voice and pushes her raw; Sam Black—the Miami-raised son of Cuban exiles—earns her trust, but his vendetta against a privileged partner draws danger; Rex Raven—a Wall Street financier who wants Cindy, not Charmay—opens glittering doors—and traps.
December 02, 2025.
This episode highlights the key players: Sam Black, Eddie Cruise, Rex Raven, & Jesse Boy. Explores the Lynchian current troughout NYC and the worlds Charmay enters. Displays the Official Skinless Trailer (40s) and a stellar, elucidating reader review. Chapter excerpts (non spoilers).
Background: Across two years slipping between past and present in New York’s underground, we see it through Charmay—our velvet‑voiced, street‑smart, trauma‑bruised singer who, by night, becomes Cindy. Three forces keep the pressure on: producer Eddie Cruise hears fire and pushes her voice raw; Sam Black earns her trust even as danger gathers; and Rex Raven opens glittering doors—and traps. Between gigs and after‑hours sessions, Charmay chases Eddie for a record deal.
Episode #7: SKINLESS: Inside the Story | Spotlight: Nonlinear World: How Fractured Time Mirrors Trauma, Memory, and Life.
December 09, 2025.
From Charmay: ” Cheyenne elder told me once, camping Colorado Rockies: “Past, present, and future dance eternally within us.” “
This episode explores the world of time in Skinless. I will discuss voice, fragmented slang, and why Skinless moves the way it does. The story is told through Charmay’s eyes, in an often staccato, jazz-infused beat, with lush poetic descriptions of often harrowing scenes.
Recent Reviews:
“Written in the first person, with a style that grabs you—twisting to a suspenseful ending.” — Barbara R., Goodreads & Amazon, 5★ (sec. ed. 2025)
“Raw, poetic, and fearless. Voice cuts to the bone. An unflinching act of emotional courage; both visceral and lyrical. Will stay with me.” —Goodreads, 5★ (sec. ed. 2025)
“Skinless immerses you in a voice. Duality between Charmay and Cindy…fighting for space inside one woman. Like living in a story than just reading one.”—Goodreads 5★ (sec. ed 2025)
“A fast‑paced page‑turner. A woman fighting her traumatic past. Did not disappoint.” —NetGalley, Goodreads 4★ (sec. edition)
Episode #8: SKINLESS: Inside the Story | Spotlight: Themes from the Book: The American Dream with the Skin Torn Off: On Race, Class, and Abandonment in Skinless
December 16, 2025
This Episode dives more deeply into the interior/ exterior themes throughout Skinless: Race, Class conflict in a Capitalist Society; Family Abandonment, Trauma, and the American Illusion; Education system and artistry; “In Each of Us, There Is Another”: “Trash Girl” / Chanel Suit.
Recent Reviews:
“Told in Charmay’s raw first‑person voice, Skinless is razor‑taut literary psychological suspense—a portrait of a woman fighting to heal. For readers of The Bell Jar, Just Kids, and literary noir.
My Thoughts:
This book is a hidden gem, apparently a debut work from author Maggie Moor. A story of a young woman Charmay who is raised in a dysfunctional family and sexual abuse from her drunken stepfather which left her jaded with very cynical view of men. This is a narrative in the first person of how she survived raising herself up from the streets of San Franciso and New York City, maneuvering a relationship triangle between her husband who is the local weed kingpin.The author takes you deep into the thought process of the main protagonist, who is sharp witted, resourceful, and dangerous. She can feign sweetness
to obtain what she wants from a man but has the ability to spit venom that can emasculate one in the bat of an eyelash. She goes deep into the character’s family background, her opinion of her world, her surrounding extensive knowledge on various subjects from street survival, film and music production, to the art of studying gems. Goes into such deep description of characters and events that you can almost taste it. I would recommend this book to those that enjoy psychological suspense then add this to your TBR List.”
—NetGalley, Advanced Reviewer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Episode #9: Bonus Episode: SKINLESS: Inside the Story: Music in SKINLESS: From Pulse to Page to Record
December 23, 2025
Skinless: Songs from the Book —A track‑by‑track guide to 8 songs and 1 single, with chapter excerpts showing where each song appears in the novel, how the music fits into Charmay’s world, and how these tracks connect Skinless: The Story of a Female Survivor (Book 1) to the rest of the series Charmay: New York Noir.