THE PIZZA CHRONICLES SERIES TOUR
and BOOK 5 NEW RELEASE
SERIES BLURB
The books in the Pizza Chronicles series follow the main character, RV, through his high school years, as he tries to answer his many questions about life, God, prayer, sexuality, being the son of immigrants, and staying loyal to his heritage while carving out his own life and relationships.
The stories should be read in order.
Book #1: Why Can’t Life Be Like Pizza?
Book #2: Why Can’t Freshman Summer Be Like Pizza?
Book #3: Why Can’t Relationships Be Like Pizza?
Book #4: Why Can’t Sophomore Summer Be Like Pizza?
Book #5: Why Can’t Dating Be Like Pizza?
Overall Heat Rating for the series: 1 flame
BOOK 5 - NEW RELEASE
Book Title: Why Can’t Dating Be Like Pizza?
Author: Andy V. Roamer
Publisher: Nine Star Press
Length: 52 000 words
Release Date: August 20, 2022
Genre: Young Adult
Trope: Gay romance
Heat Rating: 2 flames
Themes: Dating, films, art, bullying, gay suicide, finding one’s passion, surviving break-ups
This story is a continuation of Book #1-4 with the same characters and does not end on a cliffhanger. It is best to read the books in order.
Series Buy Links
NineStar Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Sixteen year-old RV negotiates the ups and down of junior year of high school, filled with pressure, new romance, and unexpected discoveries.
Blurb
RV is now a junior in Book #5, Why Can’t Dating Be Like Pizza?. It’s the most important year of high school, as his guidance counselor makes clear. He pushes RV to improve his grades, get more active socially, and show colleges why they should accept him over other candidates. But RV has other things on his mind. He has met Luke, freshly arrived in Boston from Los Angeles. Luke shows him a whole new world of romance, movie making, and fun. RV’s friends and family pull him in other directions though. There’s the responsibility of earning money. His longtime friend Carole pulls him into politics, asking him to direct her campaign running for the student council. His old crush Bobby isn’t around much, and RV has to accept that he and Bobby are no longer an item, though he still has some feelings for him. But when Luke makes an unexpected announcement, RV really has to accept that dating has painful downs as well as joyful ups.
CHECK OUT THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS IN
THE PIZZA CHRONICLES SERIES
BOOK 1
Book Title: Why Can’t Life Be Like Pizza?
Author: Andy V. Roamer
Publisher: Nine Star Press
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
Length: 55 100 words/ 208 pages
Release Date: March 30, 2020
Genre: YA Contemporary
Trope: Son of immigrants
Themes: Coming Out
It is a standalone story.
Buy Links
NineStar Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK
In Why Can’t Life Be Like Pizza? RV begins freshman year at demanding Boston Latin School, doing his best to keep up and fit in while wrestling with his immigrant heritage and his sexuality.
Blurb
Wrestling with his sexuality, along with a lot of other things, RV thinks all is okay when he starts going out with Carole. But things get more complicated when RV develops a crush on Bobby, a football player in his class, who admits he may have gay feelings, too. Bobby is African American and facing his own pressures. Luckily, RV develops a friendship with Mr. Aniso, his Latin teacher, who is gay and always there to talk to when the pressure becomes overwhelming.
BOOK 2
Book Title: Why Can’t Freshman Summer Be Like Pizza?
Author: Andy V. Roamer
Publisher: Nine Star Press
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
Length: 50 200 words/196 pages
Release Date: June 1, 2020
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Trope: Summer Vacation
Themes: Obstacles to exploring sexuality and enjoying summer
This story is a continuation of Book #1 with the same characters
Buy Links
Nine Star Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK
In Why Can’t Freshman Summer Be Like Pizza? RV and Bobby have survived freshman year and are looking forward to spending a wonderful summer together. But life has other plans.
Blurb
RV and Bobby’s summer is not what they wish for. They hardly have time to spend with each other. Bobby is busy at football camp and working at a job his father has pressured him into taking. RV is busy with a summer job, too, and also has to help his parents pass their U.S. citizenship test. His friend Carole jumps at the chance to spend her summer in Paris. As always, Mr. Aniso, RV’s Latin teacher is there to talk to when RV gets too lonely. He’s also there when RV inadvertently spills one of Bobby’s secrets, and Bobby is so angry at him RV is afraid he’s ready to cut off the friendship.
BOOK 3
Book Title: Why Can’t Relationships Be Like Pizza?
Author: Andy V. Roamer
Publisher: Nine Star Press
Length: 58 000 words/ 272 pages
Release Date: March 15, 2021
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Trope: Forming relationships
Themes: Maintaining relationships through difficulties/helping friend through tragedy
This is a continuation of Book #2 of The Pizza Chronicles
Buy Links
Nine Star Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK
In Why Can’t Relationships Be Like Pizza?, Book #3, RV begins sophomore year in high school, though his relationships create more questions than answers.
Blurb
RV is trying to maintain his newfound friendship with Bobby, but it’s becoming harder and harder. Bobby seems a different, more distant, person. RV’s friend Carole is distracted with the ups and downs in her relationships with the French boyfriends she met during her summer in Paris. RV’s new friend Mark is focused on his family’s troubles. School is a mixed bag. But Mr. Aniso, RV’s former teacher and mentor, is there to lean on, especially when near tragedy strikes and RV needs Mr. Aniso’s counsel to stay strong and provide help where it’s needed most.
BOOK 4
Book Title: Why Can’t Sophomore Summer Be Like Pizza?
Author: Andy V. Roamer
Publisher: Nine Star Press
Length: 52 000 words
Release Date: August 23, 2021
Genre: Young Adult LGBT
Tropes: Summer vacation between freshman & sophomore years of high school
Themes: Teenage steps toward maturity: ups & downs of romance, driving lessons, coming out to family
It is a standalone story, with the same characters from books 1-3.
The books have frequent references to previous titles in the series, so better if they are read in order.
Buy Links
RV’s summer after sophomore year of high school isn’t all fun and games as he navigates a budding new relationship, struggles with driving lessons, copes with the ups and downs of his summer job in a movie theatre, and tries to be patient with his traditional family that doesn’t want to deal with his sexuality.
Blurb
It’s the summer after sophomore year and RV enjoys new adventures and faces new challenges having finished two years of high school. Since he loves movies, he’s happy to get a job as an usher at a movie multiplex, but learns the realities of dealing with job stresses and unruly customers. It’s time for him to start learning how to drive, and his father is eager to give him lessons. But he’s not the most patient of teachers and RV is not the most capable of drivers. Bobby is still around, but he’s doing the hard job of recovering from his injury so doesn’t have time for much else. RV tries to open himself up to a new relationship and is happy when he meets Matteo, who works at the multiplex also. It looks like the start of a budding romance – until it isn’t. And then there is RV’s family, loving but traditional, not ready or willing to discuss issues of sexuality. Luckily, as always, there is Mr. Aniso, RV’s freshmen-year teacher, who has become a friend and is always there to talk over anything that might be bothering RV. But he’s away for the summer, helping his partner’s family, so there’s only so much time and attention he can give RV.
About the Author
Andy V. Roamer grew up in the Boston area and moved to New York City after college. He worked in book publishing for many years, starting out in the children’s and YA books division and then wearing many other hats. This is his first novel about RV, the teenage son of immigrants from Lithuania in Eastern Europe, as RV tries to negotiate his demanding high school, his budding sexuality, and new relationships. He has written an adult novel, Confessions of a Gay Curmudgeon, under the pen name Andy V. Ambrose. To relax, Andy loves to ride his bike, read, watch foreign and independent movies, and travel.
Social Media Links
Blog/Website | Facebook | Instagram
INTERVIEW WITH ANDY V. ROAMER
Welcome, Andy. Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m the author of THE PIZZA CHRONICLES, a series of YA titles about RV, who is in high school and wrestling with many questions about life, God, prayer, sexuality, dating, being the son of immigrants, and staying loyal to his heritage while carving out his own life and tries at relationships.
When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?
I have been writing for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I’d write fantasy stories with my cousin, about us going on various adventures, being captured by bad guys but outwitting them. Then in college I tried my hand at screenplays and even sent one to a well-known Hollywood actress, who politely replied that it was not for her. And when I moved to New York City after college and got a job in book publishing, I used the people around me and the authors I worked with as inspiration to keep on writing and try to get published (which happened after many years).
How many books have you written?
I’ve written six books, all published by Nine Star Press.
--One adult novel, Confessions of a Gay Curmudgeon, under the pen name Andy V Ambrose.
--Five (so far) in my YA series, The Pizza Chronicles. The fifth book, Why Can’t Dating Be Like Pizza?, is being published at the end of August.
How long does it usually take you to write a book?
I’d say roughly 6 – 9 months. For about 2-3 months, I let ideas percolate in my head, thinking about what I want to write, which characters I want to include, jotting down notes, and doing research on certain topics if necessary. Then, after enough percolating, I sit down at the keyboard and begin the actual writing process. -
How did you come up with the idea for your book?
I wanted to write about a teen from a conservative, immigrant background wrestling with his sexuality and various life issues. I used some of my own experiences in growing up. But, as I remind people, The Pizza Chronicles, are novels, not autobiographies. In the previous books, the main character RV, has struggled with accepting himself, overcoming shyness, coming out to his family, and wrestling with his feelings toward other classmates. In this fifth book, RV, is openly dating someone and negotiates the ups and downs that come with that process.
Where is your favorite place to write?
Usually I write at home in front of my computer, with occasional glances out the window, which has a view of the New York City skyline. Glancing out the window at the sky and skyline relaxes me and give me hope about the future.
When I need a change of pace, I sometimes go to a public place, such a café or Barnes and Noble, where I’m around people but not bothered and can quietly dive into the world I am working on with my writing.
When you develop characters do you already know who they are before you begin writing or do you let them develop as you go?
I’d say it’s a combination. There are friends and acquaintances who inspire me because of certain traits (they’re very funny; quirky; smart; annoying), so I create a character around them. Sometimes a public figure such as a politician or Hollywood star has a particular trait that inspires me to create a character. Other times it’s someone totally out of my imagination. I create such a character because I want him or her to tell a particular story. As I write, different aspects of each character might get stronger, or weaker, or change into something else. PS: You see how often I’ve used the word “create.” So it’s definitely a mixture of real people and my imagination and is fluid as I go along.
Do you aim for a set number of words/pages per day?
Nope. I usually aim to satisfactorily finish a scene or some action or description. When I say satisfactorily, I mean something that feels right to me.
What is the hardest thing about writing?
See two questions below.
What is the easiest thing about writing?
Being done with the first draft. The blank computer screen is intimidating. But after the first draft, I look forward to editing. Already having something there serves as a sort of guidepost. I’m not inventing everything totally from scratch. Sometimes I enjoy what I’ve written, sometimes I’m disappointed and know I have to redo something, and sometimes I get new ideas for scenes and events that give me more energy for a rewrite.
Do you use images to develop your characters’ looks?
Sometimes I do. It helps if I have a picture of the character in my mind, so I can embellish or change as necessary. By the way, that goes for events and scenes as well. My imagination is very visual, so I often “see” things in my mind, maybe just in bits and pieces, before I have words to express exactly what I’m seeing. I then have to sit down at the keyboard and try to express in words exactly what’s going on in that mind of mine and where it might be going. That’s the hard part of writing. Getting something often not totally formed to come out from inside me, very often an image, and translating it into words on the computer screen.
What has been one of your most rewarding experiences as an author?
Here’s a quick story. A friend of mine gave the first book in The Pizza Chronicles series, Why Can’t Life Be Like Pizza?,to friends of hers, grandparents of a boy who was wrestling with his sexuality. I didn’t know these people at all, but my friend told me they told her that after they read my book they understood their grandson more fully and felt closer to him. To know my book had this effect on total strangers, felt wonderful. That’s why I write these books and that’s what I want to happen more.
What do your friends and family think about you being an author?
They’re happy for me, saying I’ve finally found my niche in life. I can also tell they can’t wait for me to tell them I’m rich and famous.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
When I’m not writing I go swimming and biking to keep in shape. I also enjoy many of the cultural opportunities available in New York City. And my other big passion is traveling. Just like writing, I’ve always had it, collecting brochures and National Geographics as long as I remember. PS: And I still remember sneaking down to the local drugstore when I was an adolescent. It had an extensive magazine rack. At ten or eleven years old, I didn’t have enough money to buy the magazines, so I would sneak a look through travel magazines before the clerks would shoo me away, telling me that this was not a library. I remember overhearing one clerk tell another about me, “Look at that kid. He isn’t sneaking Playboy or Hot Rod but travel magazines.” I should have known then my life would be different.
Do you like music or silence when your write?
Silence. I get too easily distracted by noise around me. I’m amazed when some friends tell me they work with the TV or radio on in the background. Interestingly, though, I usually don’t mind writing in a public place as long as no one bothers me. I can usually tune out everything as white noise.
Do you outline or do you just write?
I used to outline, but then I realized I killed my stories that way. If I just described the events using the outline, but they had no life. So I stopped the outlining. I guess those first few months of “percolating,” which I’ve described above, serves as a sort of outline, giving my unconscious some ideas and nuggets of info that will come out when I start the actual writing.
Do you prefer pen and paper or computer?
I write on the computer.
Do you write as part of a routine or do you write when you feel like it?
Oh, I need a schedule. Otherwise, too many excuses can come into play: “I’m tired.” “I’m busy with something else.” “I have to answer emails.” “I have to make some calls.” “I have to vacuum the rug.” The excuses are endless. As a friend told me once, “My apartment is spotless because of my writing.”
So I go for a swim, or a bike ride, or a walk in the morning. And then I write in the afternoon.
What do you love best about your current book?
RV, the main character, reaching this point in his emotional growth. He has gone through a period of struggling to accept himself in the previous books. I like to think I’ve really captured that what goes on in a RV’s brain as he slowly but surely goes from being very scared and unsure of himself to someone who has a greater degree of self acceptance. It’s never full confidence, of course, because we’re always learning and growing, aren’t we? But, still, RV has reached a certain point where he now can start dating with a little more confidence. Not that it always goes swimmingly! Does dating ever?
What is your next project?
I’m working on the next book in the series. It will take place when RV is a senior in high school. No plot yet. I’ve just started the percolating process.
Thank you
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