Grenade Bouquets (Runaway Train, Book 2) by Lee Matthew Goldberg


Publisher:  Wise Wolf Books (August 5, 2021)
Series: Runaway Train, Book 2
Category: Young Adult, Runaways, Outcasts, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Depression, Mental Illness
Tour dates: August31-September 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1953944078
Available in Print and ebook, 286 pages

Description Grenade Bouquets by Lee Matthew Goldberg

I had stars in my eyes and I couldn’t see around them…

The year is 1995 and my parents have finally allowed me to take the summer to tour in a VW van across the country with my boyfriend Evan and our band. Yes, my dream to be a singer became reality. Even with Clarissa, Evan’s jealous ex-girlfriend, as the lead singer, it’s my presence on stage that led us to a major record deal. There are moments you’ll always remember in life, but I can’t imagine anything more cool than hearing your song on the radio for the first time.

But being a Rockstar isn’t as easy as it sounds. Using alcohol and drugs as coping mechanisms, nothing but tension surrounded me, hurting my still blossoming relationship, and continued grieving over my sister’s death.

A love letter to the nineties and a journey of a girl becoming a woman, Grenade Bouquets charts the rollercoaster ride of a band primed to explode on the scene, as long as they keep from actually exploding.

Praise Grenade Bouquets by Lee Matthew Goldberg

“An engaging ’90s pastiche with an earnest heart beating at its center.”- Kirkus Reviews

“Runaway Train is a high-energy testimonial to the redemptive power of a road trip with an awesome soundtrack. Lee Matthew Goldberg balances the urgency of youth with a whiff of anticipatory nostalgia for the music and misadventures of late adolescence. Attuned to way distinctions between music genres and teen idols can feel like impermeable walls worth defending, and then crumble as a teen like Nico Sullivan finds her own voice.”- Jenn Stroud Rossman, author of The Place You’re Supposed to Laugh

“Raw. Riveting. Runaway Train stays true to its title as it explores the deep pain of a teenager desperately trying to find peace in a world full of pain. Lee Matthew Goldberg is a master at bestowing sympathy and strength on deeply flawed characters. Realistic and shocking, hopeful and satisfying, Runaway Train will keep readers turning the page.”- USA Today Bestselling Author Rebecca Forster 

“It’s an incredibly challenging task for an author to utilize a darkly comedic tone without coming across as disingenuous–but Goldberg executes it here with expert precision. Brimming over with the visceral atmosphere of the early 90s grunge era, RUNAWAY TRAIN is a must-read for those willing to buckle up for the ride.”-Peter Malone Elliott (Director of Operations, Book Pipeline)

Interview With Lee Matthew Goldberg

TR: Please tell us something about ‘Grenade Bouquets’ that is not in the summary.  (About the book, character you particularly enjoyed writing etc.)

LMG: Grenade Bouquets is a sequel to my novel ‘Runaway Train’ that continues to follow Nico on her journey to being a rock star. The book charts her rise and fall as the band gains traction and then ultimately implodes. I wanted it to read really fast, so it mimics what the characters are experiencing. They’re being swept up in becoming a band-of-the-moment and flying high, not realizing they’re about to crash. For Nico, she’s also still reeling from the loss of her sister, so she seeks to fill that emptiness with fame and fortune, which never works out.

TR: I always enjoy looking at the names that authors choose to give their characters. Where do you derive the names of your characters?  Are they based on real people you knew or now know in real life? How do you create names for your characters?

LMG: I love naming my characters. I never use real names from people I know. Actually, it’s hard finding names that aren’t of people I know. I usually use a baby name database for supporting characters. For the main characters, the names just come to me. Somehow it has to fit. For Nico Sullivan, she’s a bit of a badass, so her original name Nicole was too “pedestrian”, as she would say. She’s the kind of person who would name herself.

TR: When did you first have a desire to write?  How did this desire manifest itself?

LMG: I’ve always been a writer even since I was a little kid. In third grade we had to write a journal entry every day and I remember asking my teacher if I could write a story instead, since I was eight and it’s not like my life was that different day-to-day to write about. She said yes and I spent the year writing around a hundred pages about a dog and cat who get stranded at a spooky hotel. I was hooked from then on.

TR: What words do you use over and over that drive your editor crazy?

LMG: An editor has never said this directly, but I’m guilty of using “but” a lot. Also “just”, so I always do an edit where I go through and delete as many “justs” and “buts” as possible. Same with “that”. I also overuse descriptions for eyes. Again, no one has ever mentioned. It’s just something I’ve noticed.

TR: Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?

LMG: Huge challenge. It took about two years and change to land my lit agent and then about the same to get my first book deal with my debut Slow Down. A few big presses were interested but felt the character was too unlikeable (a term I hate in literature). We found a publisher that wanted it for that very reason—he liked his unlikability. And my career was born.

TR: What are you currently working on?

LMG: I’m writing the third book in the Runaway Train series ‘VANISH ME’. I’m mostly a thriller writer, YA has been a break from that, but the third book will have more thriller vibes. It takes place in the ‘90s like the other books and also in the present time as Nico vanishes and her daughter, Love uses the entries in her mom’s diary as clues to find her. And I’m developing the books as a TV show. Right now, the pilot is done and we’re finishing a pitch deck to go to producers. Fingers crossed!

About Lee Matthew Goldberg

Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of seven novels including THE ANCESTOR and THE MENTOR, currently in development as a film off his original script, and the YA series RUNAWAY TRAIN. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the Prix du Polar. After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Millions, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, LitReactor, Monkeybicycle, Fiction Writers Review, Cagibi, Necessary Fiction, Hypertext, If My Book, Past Ten, the anthology Dirty Boulevard, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press and others.

His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City.

Website: http://www.leematthewgoldberg.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeeMatthewG
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leemgol
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leematthewgoldberg/

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