Book News: YOU CAN GO YOUR OWN WAY, Publishing in 2021 with Inkyard Press
Hey, time for some fun news!
If you read Don’t Read the Comments (please read it!), you might have noticed all the love for Philadelphia in that geeky story of video games, love, and fighting against cyber harassment. It turns out, Philly, that I really love setting my novels here. The Girl and the Grove was set here, my story in Sangu Mandanna’s beautiful anthology, Color Outside the Lines, was set here.
And well, let’s keep this trend going.
I’m so pleased to announce my next geeky Philadelphia YA novel… YOU CAN GO YOUR OWN WAY.
And if you heard that title as sung by Fleetwood Mac… good.
Meet Adam, a 70’s rock obsessed teen who is (poorly) managing his family’s failing pinball arcade in Old City, Philadelphia. And then there’s Whitney, the daughter of a virtual reality tech mogul. Her father’s hip VR cafes have started popping up all around Philadelphia, and he has his eyes set on Adam’s arcade… and is being really aggressive with his takeover plans.
But Adam’s got his own plan. To save the arcade, he’s going to sell one of the wildly rare pinball machines from his father’s collection. When the two find themselves snowed inside the pinball arcade during the worst snowstorm in Philadelphia’s recent history, they’ll have to determine what’s really worth saving. New friendships, or clinging to the past.
It’s a nerdy YA rivals-to-lovers rom-com set around pinball, classic rock, virtual reality, and social media.
And best of all… you might see some familiar faces make a return. *wink*
Here’s the blip from Publisher’s Marketplace:
Author of DON’T READ THE COMMENTS Eric Smith’s YOU CAN GO YOUR OWN WAY, a YA romantic comedy about a boy trying to save his family’s aging pinball arcade, and a girl whose tech giant dad wants to buy it. When the two get stuck there during the biggest snowstorm Philadelphia has ever seen, they’ll have to work together to make it out, to Rebecca Kuss at Inkyard Press, represented by Dawn Frederick of Red Sofa Literary (World).
Massive thank you to my agent Dawn Frederick, my editor Rebecca Kuss, and the entire Inkyard Press team for having me back for another book, and for another story of being a geek in Philadelphia.
Stay tuned.