Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
WILDER Blog Tour
About The Book:
Title: WILDER
Author: Andrew Simonet
Pub. Date: November 13, 2018
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook
Pages: 320
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD
I met Melissa in the rubber room, a.k.a. in-school suspension. And that’s not her real name.
She had secrets, I had enemies.
“People are either useful or dangerous,” she said. “One or the other.”
“Which one am I?” I said.
“You’re both.”
Meili was right. (That’s her real name.)
You can solve a lot of problems if you don’t mind getting hurt.
Jason Wilder is in permanent in-school suspension for fighting. Meili Wen gets there by breaking a girl’s finger. Jason and Meili don’t just connect; they collide. Two people who would never cross paths―outsiders from radically different backgrounds―they form an exhiliarating, unpredictable bond. When circumstances push, they push back. There’s no plan. And there’s no stopping.
“I am so crap. How can you stand being with me? Don’t answer that or I will crash this thing with both of us on it, swear to god, are you ready?”
Yes. No. Didn’t matter.
I reached both arms around Meili’s waist as we zoomed down the hill.
About Andrew:
I am a writer and choreographer in Philadelphia. I am interested in messy, complex humans colliding with rigid systems. I am interested in how unequal everything is, and the stories we tell ourselves about that. I am interested in the stories men tell ourselves about everything. I am interested in what bodies know that brains don’t. I think pretty is the enemy of beautiful.
My debut young adult novel, Wilder, will be published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in November 2018. I am currently writing a sequel.
I was a founding Co-Director of Philadelphia’s Headlong Dance Theater from 1993-2013. We made raucous performance works.
I am an activist and organizer for artists having sustainable lives. I founded Artists U (programs in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and South Carolina) and wrote Making Your Life as an Artist.
Career stuff: my creative work has been supported by the Creative Capital Foundation, The NEA, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The New England Foundation for the Arts, Yaddo, and Ucross. I received a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, an Independence Fellowship in the Arts, and a Bessie for Choreography at the New York Dance and Performance Awards.
1. What book is currently on your nightstand?
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. Whipsmart memoir of writing, the body, and queer activism. We crossed paths in college, and I’m so impressed by his work.
Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork. I‘m a fan (see below).
The Glen Rock Book of the Dead by Marion Winik. A tiny book of tiny prose poems about everyone the author knows who has died. Short life-affirming portraits, a yearbook of ghosts.
2. What author would you totally fan?
I am currently fanning Fransisco X. Stork. We are having a conversation about writing which will become an article, and I am thrilled. He’s exactly as thoughtful, honest, and generous as his writing. Would fan: Dashka Slater, Yaa Gyasi, Haruki Murakami, Jason Reynolds, and Nicola Yoon.
3. What makes you cringe?
In writing, my overuse of certain words: just, very, OK, actually, really, like, still. I spent hours removing “just” from my manuscript. Occasionally, it makes a sentence stronger; usually it’s (just) an apology.
4. Do you obsessively plot out each point or just go with the flow?
There is a lot I don’t know while I am writing. I am jealous of writers who can outline a plot in advance. If I did that, it would be a horribly predictable story. I look for the story underneath the surface story, the first story, and that means I have to push away from shore into the unknown. I’m currently writing the story of a young woman who shaves her head and goes looking for her intellectually disabled brother. I know where it’s heading—enough to keep writing—but not how it will all end.
5. Is there a word you love to use?
Turbulent. Perpendicular. Hornswaggle.
Giveaway Details:
3 Winners will receive a finished copy of WILDER, US Only.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
11/12/2018- Lifestyle Of Me– Review
11/13/2018- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review
11/14/2018- The Pages In-Between– Review
11/15/2018- Adventures Thru Wonderland– Review
11/16/2018- Novel Novice– Excerpt
Week Two:
11/19/2018- BookHounds– Interview
11/20/2018- Do You Dog-ear?– Review
11/21/2018- The Desert Bibliophile– Review
11/22/2018- Two points of interest– Review
11/23/2018- Oh Hey! Books.– Review
TAMMY HUDSON says
November 19, 2018 at 3:42 amI love YA fiction. This sounds like it will be great read. Definitely want to read
Tighefan42@gmail.com
Nancy Burgess says
November 19, 2018 at 1:58 pmThis sounds good.