April 18, 2014

Blog Tour: The Screaming Divas by Suzanne Kamata – Interview, Excerpt, and Giveaway

Welcome to our Tour Stop for

The Screaming Divas by Suzanne Kamata

presented by YaReads Blog Tours!

At sixteen, Trudy Baxter is tired of her debutante mom, her deadbeat dad, and her standing reservation at the juvenile detention center. Changing her name to Trudy Sin, she cranks up her major chops as a singer and starts a band, gathering around other girls ill at ease in their own lives. Cassie Haywood, would-have-been beauty queen, was scarred in an accident in which her alcoholic mom was killed. But she can still sing and play her guitar, even though she seeks way too much relief from the pain in her body and her heart through drugs, and way too much relief from loneliness through casual sex. Still, it’s Cassie who hears former child prodigy Harumi Yokoyama playing in a punk band at a party, and enlists her, outraging Harumi’s overbearing first-generation Japanese parents. The fourth member is Esther Shealy, who joins as a drummer in order to be close to Cassie–the long-time object of her unrequited love–and Harumi, her estranged childhood friend. Together, they are Screaming Divas, and they’re quickly swept up as a local sensation. Then, just as they are about to achieve their rock-girl dreams, a tragedy strikes.

The Screaming Divas by Suzanne Kamata

Publication Date:  Mat 18, 2014

Publisher:  Merit Press

Available for Purchase: | | 

CxC:  Hi Suzanne!  Thanks so much for taking the time and spending time with us here at Chapter by Chapter!

SK:  Hi! Thanks so much for having me!

CxC:  Describe Screaming Divas in 140 characters or less (like a Tweet)

SK: Trudy, Cassie, Esther, and Harumi form a punk band in 1980s South  Carolina. Drama ensues

CxC:  What was your inspiration in writing Screaming Divas?  Was it in a dream? A thought while taking a walk?

SK:  I had wanted to write a novel about an all-girl group for a long time. I was inspired by many things, but  mainly the great girl groups of the Riot Grrl movement and the intensely creative people that I knew in  South Carolina.

CxC:  Tell us about the main character(s) in Screaming Divas.

SK:  Trudy, the founder of the group, has been bouncing around foster homes and  the juvenile detention center, but she wants to make something of her life. She ‘s a bit needy, and has some anger issues. Then there’s Cassie, whose career as a beauty queen was cut short by a disfiguring  car crash in which her mother was killed. She tries to blot out the residual pain through drugs and sex. Harumi, the bass player, is trying to escape the influence of her overbearing first generation immigrant parents, and Esther, the drummer, is dealing with her sexual identity.   They are very different but they manage to form an unlikely sisterhood. One reader likened them to a “punk Little Women.”

CxC:  Do you have a favorite quote or specific part in the book that you really love?

SK:   “Wake up, girl. That Barbie doll has been lynched.”

CxC:  Was there a specific part in Screaming Divas that you had an especially difficult time writing?  If so, why?

SK: The car crash was difficult to write. I wound up cutting it, and just alluding to it.  I think that car crashes are difficult to write well in general.

CxC:  What sort of projects do you have going on right now.  Any new books coming out?

SK:  There are no new books scheduled for publication in the immediate future, but I’m working on a sequel to my YA novel Gadget Girl, which was published last year. I’ve also been writing essays about traveling with my daughter, who has cerebral palsy and is deaf.

CxC:  It was great having you on the blog today, Suzanne!  We hope you’ll decide to stop by again someday, and we wish you much success in your writing future!!

SK: Thank you so much for your interesting questions!

Back in the day, Suzanne Kamata spent a lot of time hanging out in a club in Columbia, South Carolina, much like the one in Screaming Divas. (The beat goes on . . .) She later wrote about musicians for The State newspaper, The Japan Times, and other publications. Now, she mostly writes novels. In her free time, she enjoys searching for the perfect fake fur leopard-print coat and listening to the Japanese all-girl band Chatmonchy. Her YA debut, Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible was named the 2013-2014 APALA YA Honor Book and Grand Prize Winner of the Paris Book Festival. For more info, visithttp://www.suzannekamata.com or follow her on Twitter @shikokusue.

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