Adventures of the Flash Gang

THE BOOK: Adventures of the Flash Gang Episode One: The Exploding Experiment

Adventures of the Flash Gang Episode Two: Treasonous Tycoon

PUBLISHED IN: 2023, 2024

THE AUTHOR:  MM Downing & SJ Waugh.

PHOTOS: SJ Waugh left, MM Downing right.

THE EDITOR: Jaynie Royal

THE PUBLISHER: Fitzroy Books, an imprint of Regal House Publishing, LLC

SUMMARY: Episode One:

That brief, blinding dazzle? The blue smudge and lingering stink? The Flash Gang has struck again! They are the most notorious thieves in Pittsburgh, food-stealing crooks the police and newspapers say are highly trained and very dangerous. But eleven-year-old Lewis Carter isn’t a thief, he’s just homeless and hungry. The Flash is a recipe he invented from bits of his missing father’s scientific research. He uses it to pinch his dinners. It’s been going pretty well, until now…Now his recipe is stolen, and he is in the clutches of some rather nasty people. Enter tutu-wearing, starry-eyed, and all around extraordinary (she will tell you) Pearl Alice Clavell. She is on a mission to uncover a Nefarious Deed she’s convinced involves the Flash Gang. Rescuing Lewis is right up her alley. Truth is, a Nefarious Deed is afoot, one that threatens the entire country. It will take Lewis and Pearl joining forces to save the recipe and themselves against an enemy who will stop at nothing, including kidnapping, and, very possibly, murder.

SUMMARY: Episode Two:

Where is the Flash Gang? Pittsburgh’ s most notorious thieves haven’ t struck for a year, not since a devastating fire resulted in the supposed death of two streeters. Pearl and Lewis— along with their pals, Duck and Mac— are alive and well, just in hiding. But now, their hideout is crumbling under the relentless rain. It’ s been a winter of bitter winds and slim pickings, and their friendship is starting to fray. To make matters worse, streeters are disappearing. Are they skipping town or is something more nefarious afoot? When one of their own vanishes, the gang goes all out to unravel the mystery, which once again points to enemy #1: the steel tycoon who had Lewis’ s father killed. But Pittsburgh is flooding and the tycoon’ s plans are in motion. If they want to save their friends, they’re running out of time.

THE BACK STORY: We met in a writers’ group and connected right away with our shared sensibilities of being both vigorous readers and fantasy adventure lovers. At some point we decided that we should write a book together, and almost immediately chose to make our own version of the stories that kept us captivated as kids. To that end, we had three requirements: We wanted a quirky, memorable, lovable heroine. We wanted an unlikely hero—not strong or confident or an overtly natural leader. And we wanted a setting that evoked the dark and gloomy mood of all our favorite orphan stories. The Great Depression, with its food lines, shanty towns and hollow-eyed people whose lives had suddenly imploded, seemed to be the perfect setting for our orphans. And Pittsburgh specifically fit the bill for the world we aimed to create with its great steel factories belching endless ribbons of poisonous smog, its wonderfully steep ridges and numerous bridges across three converging rivers. It had rickety wooden staircases, back alleys, grim skies…we could go on!

But that was the easy part. Finding our story (or ‘listening’ for it) came through weekly phone calls, trading pages…and lots of tossing. There were tossed drafts, tossed characters, tossed locations, tossed names, tossed points-of-view… It took over a year to truly discover Lewis, who is weak and scrawny and smart, and Pearl, whose loneliness is hidden in theatricality and fantasy, and the powerful, loyal friendship they develop. 

WHY THIS TITLE? The title THE ADVENTURES OF THE FLASH GANG is a nod to the comic strips and radio programs of the 30’s, a la “The Katzenjammer Kids” and “The Adventures of Sam Spade”, with each book in our trilogy defined as an “Episode”. But it’s also an echo of our very own, utterly made-up “The Adventures of Lola Lavender”, which, in the books, is Pearl’sFAVORITE radio program and the cornerstone of her fantastical interpretation of life. Each Lola Lavender installment has an alliterative subtitle. We had the best time coming up with them and decided to give our books similarly named episodes!

WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO READ IT? We’d like to say it’s historical fiction, grand adventure and mystery all rolled into one fun page-turning romp. But more importantly, the characters are immensely empathetic. They are children on their own, through circumstances not of their making. They only have themselves to rely on, so their bravery, their ability to solve problems and react to danger takes on a deeper, more heartfelt hue. 

REVIEW COMMENTS: For episode one:

“A tale with plenty of humor and suspense, memorable characters, and a plot that’s vividly informed by a challenging time in US history.” –Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW ★

“The underlying themes about community, acceptance, and friendship make this book far more than your average adventure story…The book also excels at balancing thrilling action sequences with humor and deeply felt emotion…Young readers will be swept up in this whirlwind of a story and long to join the Flash Gang too. This is a fun read with an inspiring message about how a community can come together to be courageous and surmount enormous obstacles. The relatable characters, gripping mystery, and rich historical locale make it quite the series debut and an excellent gateway for kids curious to learn about life in depression-era America.” – Independent Book Review

“…a throwback gangster caper with irresistible kid sleuths and loads of page turning action.” –Ben Guterson, author of the award-winning Winterhouse series

“If you’re looking for something fun and interesting to read that will take you on all sorts of adventures with humor and lots of drama thrown in, you’ll want to grab a copy of The Adventures of the Flash Gang: Episode One: Exploding Experiment. It grabs you and doesn’t let go until it’s epic finale while perfectly setting up things for the next entry, Episode Two: Treacherous Tycoon that releases in March and can’t release soon enough.” – Popzara

For episode two:

“A smart mix of action and suspense…. This newest entry in a dynamic, character-rich middle-grade fiction series doesn’t disappoint.” –Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW ★

“Like the first in the series, this book achieves a marvelous synthesis of emotional life and riveting storytelling. Characters are alive and vital, humor splashes each page, and the truthful frustrations of being young and overlooked are palpable.” – Independent Book Review

“What a hidden gem…. Both thrilling and intriguing, all the way to the end.” -Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews

AUTHOR PROFILE: 

Sandra Waugh is the author of Lark Rising and Silver Eve, books 1 & 2 in the Guardians of Tarnec series published by Random House. Prior to taking up the pen, Sandra was an actress, most notably a co-founder and one-time artistic director of Echo Repertory, a not-for-profit women’s theater company based in New York City. She holds a B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, a black belt in Nia and 500-hour yoga teacher certification, the latter two she sometimes teaches when not writing. Sandra lives in rural Connecticut.

Melanie Murray Downing, writing as M.M. Downing, is a freelance editor and author who has been previously published at Harlequin and HarperTeen (under the pseudonym Claire Ray.) She has a B.F.A. from New York University and worked for six years at Warner Books and Grand Central Publishing. She lives in New Jersey.

Learn more at downingwaugh.com.

AUTHOR COMMENTS: Writing together was a labor of love—with lots of cooperation, commitment, compromise and of course much laughter. We had our plucky street orphan, his ebullient sidekick, and were creating the sort of story we would have loved to read when we were young. And then a funny thing happened. The 2016 election came and went, the pandemic took its toll, and soon the ideas in our book, about poverty, pollution, faux patriotism, greed, and the threat of fascism, stood out to us in a different way. Our topics were suddenly timely, and so our passion project took on a new resonance.

But what we love most about our book is the idea of the found family. So many children today are growing up disconnected from each other, because of devices and due to the fallout from social distancing. And often the family you’re born into doesn’t always meet all your emotional needs. The idea that these fictional characters, Lewis and Pearl – each missing their parents, each having suffered loss at a young age, each feeling loneliness – could find each other and pull together a little family of their own, well…we are most proud of accomplishing that with our book.

WHERE ELSE TO BUY IT: Amazon, Barnes & noble, Regal House Publishing, Bookshop.org

PRICE: $9.95, $12.95

CONTACT THE AUTHOR: Connect with M.M. Downing and S.J. Waugh on Instagram @downing_waugh, X @Downing_Waugh, and Facebook at Downing Waugh.