Welcome to Meet The Newbies, a co-hosted event from Rachel @ A Perfection Called Books and I, in which we introduce you to all of the new kids in school aka the 2015 debut authors.
Meet the debut:
Writer of books and plays and performing member of theater company Elevator Repair Service since 2002. Grew up in New Jersey, went to Sarah Lawrence College, and now lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two black cats. Current interests include: angsty singing ladies, interior revolutions and exterior adornments. Also - nostalgia as an art form. And - spiritual conspiracy theories.
Meet her debut novel:

Author: Kate Scelsa
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pages: 368
Releases: September 8th, 2015 by Balzar + Bray
Book Description:
This is the story of a girl, her gay best friend, and the boy in love with both of them. Ten months after her recurring depression landed her in the hospital, Mira is starting over as a new student at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to act like a normal, functioning human this time around, not a girl who sometimes can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby. Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn it’s as if he’s been expecting this blond, lanky boy with a mischievous glint in his eye. Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him like a backlit halo. Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and secret road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives. As Jeremy finds himself drawn into Sebby and Mira’s world, he begins to understand the secrets that they hide in order to protect themselves, to keep each other safe from those who don’t understand their quest to live for the impossible. A captivating and profound debut novel, "Fans of the Impossible Life" is a story about complicated love and the friendships that change you forever.
10 Facts about FANS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE LIFE
1.
My character Sebby was inspired by Sebastian
Flyte in Evelyn Waugh’s book “Brideshead Revisted.” There are a bunch of
Brideshead references in the book in honor of the original Sebastian. If you
have not read Brideshead or watched the BBC miniseries of Brideshead, it is
time to either get yourself a copy or head on over to YouTube where you can
find the full miniseries. Quick!
2.
I wrote and edited a lot of FANS when I was performing
onstage during a show called “Gatz,” an eight hour long marathon performance
that uses the entire text of “The Great Gatsby.” The show took place in an
office and I played a secretary who sat in a cubicle for much of the eight
hours, so you could only see me from the shoulders up. We performed this show
on and off for about nine years, at venues all around the world. Two of the
most exciting places we toured were the Sydney Opera House and the Noel Coward
Theatre on the West End in London. I got a lot of good writing done in London.
3.
In honor of my time spent performing a “Gatz,”a
major plot point in FANS revolves around the end of chapter two in “The Great
Gatsby” when Nick Carraway gets drunk at a party at Myrtle’s apartment and
seems to not really remember what happens but somehow ends up in this guy’s
bedroom looking at his “portfolio” while the guy’s in his underwear. It’s my
favorite chapter in the book, because we got to perform it in “Gatz” as a big
crazy office party where we kind of trash the place. But in the next scene we
would have to clean it up. Which was less fun.
4.
Mountain View, where the book takes place, is a
fictional town, but it is based on the area that I grew up in in Northern New
Jersey. I wanted to convey that feeling of living so close to New York City but
not being quite there. Feeling like a savvy kid for knowing New York, but still
being very much a product of the suburbs.
5.
The thrift store that my characters shop in is
based on a real thrift store, not in New Jersey but in Minneapolis. When I was
on tour in Minneapolis with the theater company I worked for, about ten of us
used our day off to go on an epic thrifting binge. We were completely high on
thrifting. It was incredible.
6.
I listened to a lot of Diamond Rings when I was
writing the book.
7.
I listened to a lot of Fiona Apple when I was
revising the book.
8.
FANS is written in the first, second, and third
person.
9.
I was working on FANS for so many years that I
had to keep changing my references. My characters used to shop at Borders Books.
They used to watch DVDs (which I guess technically people still do, but it was
starting to seem dated). I had to keep making the drinks at the bar in
Provincetown more expensive.
10. When
you read this book, you will be inspired to take a pilgrimage to Provincetown,
which I refer to as “the gayest beach town North of Fire Island” (many straight
people also enjoy Provincetown). I have been many places in the world and Ptown
is still the most magical to me. It’s a tiny town at the tip of Cape Cod,
Massachusetts. It takes a long time to get there from almost anywhere, and no
one just drives through, because there’s nowhere to drive through to. You go to
Ptown because you must go to Ptown.
FANS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE LIFE comes out 9/8/15 from
HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray
www.katescelsa.com
This book sounds sooo good. I can't wait to read it! #8 is really interesting. Don't think I've seen a book written in first, second, and third person.
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Boundless Bookaholic
Hi Kate,
ReplyDeleteAfter stumbling over FANS and reading the synopsis, I was going to buy the book
but then I've realized that it is only out in September, can't wait!
-Malvina
I've heard great things about Fans so it was lovely to hear from the author. Thanks for the giveaway, too!
ReplyDeleteHi Kate. The book sounds interesting, and I wonder how you managed a risky move like 8. Is it still ok to read your book without reading Brideshead Revisted ? Even if it is already on my big TBR.
ReplyDelete