Last week Mississippi State University English professor Michael Kardos published his new novel “Bluff,” the story of a successful magician who goes on a downward spiral and attempts to con a significant poker game.
Kardos began teaching at MSU in 2007, and this is his fourth book printed.
Kardos said magic mesmerized him in high school, which gave him the necessary background to write the story and he did further research by talking to magicians.
Kardos said he discovered parallels between performing magic and iterating a story, such as a sense of competition, structure and resolution.
“I had always wanted to write something to do with magic,” Kardos said. “I thought that there were a lot of similarities with doing a magic trick and telling a story.”
He said he has tried to write magician-based stories for quite some time.
“I think I have probably stopped and started writing magician stories for over 15 years,” Kardos said. “Finally, I kind of had an idea that stuck for a novel.”
The story of his novel centers on protagonist Natalie Webb, a once-successful magician who has fallen into hard times. Upon being out of money, Webb sets out to make some extra cash by writing a magazine article comparing magicians to card cheats. While profiling a prominent card cheat, Webb is enchanted and agrees to attempt to con a poker game for $1.5 million.
“So, she kind of gets drawn into this dark world of cheating at cards,” Kardos said.
Kardos said he is traveling to different bookstores for readings, and he also held a reading on campus last week.
Junior English major and Virginia native Alyson Addy attended the event, and said she thoroughly enjoyed it.
“Kardos told us about the research he did and how he loved magic when he was younger, so he started working on this novel,” Addy said. “Just by the first two chapters you can tell the female protagonist is really complex and he does a fantastic job of giving her her own voice. He only read the first two chapters, but the book shows a suspenseful conflict and a lot of humor. It was very intriguing.”
Also attending the event was Ginger Pizer, director of undergraduate studies in the department of English. Pizer said she has known Kardos for 10 years.
“As a colleague, he is impressive and also very warm and fun,” Pizer said. “Seeing him be so successful is really encouraging for the students. They say, ‘I’m studying creative writing from this person who is getting published and getting all these great reviews.’ It’s always fun for me to travel somewhere to a bookstore and see one of my colleague’s books.”
Bluff can be purchased in any Mississippi bookstore, as well as online. In addition, Kardos will do a reading at 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. tomorrow at the Book Mart in downtown Starkville.