Tap & Gown Countdown

Six Weeks until the release of the final volume in the Secret Society Girl Saga.* I’m so excited! And of course, there are all sorts of goodies coming to this site in time for the release.

• Two more secret stories, starting with “A New Confession,” which will be posted on Tax Day (just to cheer you up).
• More episodes of the Tap & Gown Show, each more surreal, avant-garde, and — let’s see, what else can I call it? offbeat? — than the last!
• An interview with moi.
• Special end-of-series giveaways!
• A chat!
• More excerptlets! Yay! Here’s today’s:

I retreated into Clarissa’s bedroom and sank down at the foot of the bed, resting my face in my hands.

[snip for spoilers]

“Amy?” I looked up to see Clarissa standing in the doorway. “You okay?”

I nodded miserably.

She closed the door and came to sit next to me, cat-hairing up her sequined fantasy. “Good, because I totally call dibs on being the hot mess tonight.” She beat her head against the duvet.

“Not fair,” came a voice from the other side of the bed. “I called dibs long before either of you.” Demetria sat up and stared at us over the top of the mattress.

“What’s your problem?” Clarissa asked.

“I don’t want to submit anyone on my list to their own version of this crap next year. I hate every minute of this and I’ve decided that friends don’t let friends join secret societies.”

This again. I put my head back in my hands.

Also, a few fans have been writing me to tell me that, in anticipation of the last book’s release, they are doing re-reads of the first three books in the series. A few of them have even banded together to do a sort of SSG bookclub series. Which is so awesome! Thanks, guys! And if you’re an LJ member, you might consider joining the Peterfreundfans forum that jobiegirl6 and katayla have set up. Word on the street is that they will be reading an SSG book every two weeks until the release.

I’ve got a special giveaway planned for LJ forum members. That’s all I’m saying for now.

PS: Just found out there’s a great new review of SECRET SOCIETY GIRL up at The Booksmugglers. Go check it out! My favorite part is how the review was structured as a series of SSG-style “confessions” like “I hereby confess, I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did,” “I hereby confess, Ms. Peterfreund’s writing style is more addictive than Pringles,” “I hereby confess, Amy Haskel is freaking awesome.” and, possibly my favorite: “I hereby confess, there’s no way in hell I’d want to be in Rose and Grave.”

That was a question that a lot of readers had at the beginning of the series, namely, why would someone fight to be a member of a society that causes so much trouble? That could be so misogynistic to its members, that would cause all the problems that Amy has to deal with? I think that is the central question of the story. It’s a question that Brandon poses at the very beginning. It’s a question that Amy –and, many of the other members — struggle with throughout the series. It’s a question that comes to a head as they attempt to encourage new members to join. What’s the point? Should the society even survive? Should it go on in the form that it has all these years? Is that good for the members, for the school, for the community at large? I think the answer is different for each of them in terms of what they, as people, need — friendship, acceptance, bragging rights, closure, exposure to different ideas, revenge, whatever it is — and I hope that by the end of the last book, some of those questions will be answered. So yeah, great question to have!

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* Just kidding. Saga feels more like there should be horeseback writing. And swordfights. Wait… there *is* a swordfight. Sorry, spoiler.