8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Freaking Fantastic, January 15, 2010
This review is from: Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd (Hardcover)
This is an amazing collection of fiction with everything from sci-fi conventions, to cheerleaders, to star gazing and prep schools. Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci came up with the idea for the first story in this collection in 2007 at Comic-Con in San Diego. The story would be a nerd love story - a Jedi and a Klingon wake up in bed at a Science Fiction convention together not remembering exactly what happened. They realize that their preferred alternate realities, theologies and practices are diametrically opposed, and yet they find they like each other. But soon upon having the idea for the story they realized nobody would publish it, so they went to their geek friends far and wide and asked them to contribute to a collection, and what an amazing collection it is.
To be honest, I picked it up because Holly Black was one of the editors and I generally really appreciate and enjoy her work. And yet it surpassed all my expectations; I plan on tracking down works from a number of contributors and reading them from the pieces found in this collection. Their work will be great. The contributors are:
Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Tracy Lynn
Scott Westerfeld
Cassandra Clare
M.T. Anderson
Cynthia Leitich Smith and Greg Leitich Smith
David Levithan
Garth Nix
Lisa Yee
Kelly Link
John Green
Barry Lyga
Sara Zarr
Wendy Mass
Libba Bray
And between each short story is a comic, illustrated either by Bryan Lee O'Malley or Hope Larson. The back of the dust jacket gives definitions of both geek and geektastic. They are:
Geek \gek\ n: 1. A person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked 2. A person who is so passionate about a given subject or subjects as to occasionally cause annoyance among others
geek-tas-tic \ gek-tas-tic\ adj: marked by fantastic geek qualities; a compliment of the highest regard
Number 1. From geek might be is a real definition. This book will help make the others so as well. For geek is the new chic. To be a geek is now cool and this collection has something for every flavor of geek: Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Comics, and much, much more. I was surprised that I enjoyed every story in the collection. Usually with anthologies, a few stories stick out as great, a few suck and a few are ok. I actually appreciate the art of each piece in the collection. That speaks much about the editors but also the authors that contributed. Reading this collection brought back memories of high school, Queen's University and my time here at UWaterloo. Just as a side note, the images on the covers are representations of our contributors, and there are a few different versions of the covers because the figures are not always in the same order. Each represents the story they told or the characters in those stories. It's geeky but fun to link them together as you work through the book. And as a second aside, I would love to see an audio book come out either as dramatized or each author reading their piece.
Knowing I will not do them justice, I will try to provide a brief summary of each of the stories in this wonderful collection.
Once You're a Jedi, You're a Jedi All the Way
Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci have woven a wonderful tale about different world views colliding and then settling. It is an excellent story of a Jedi and a Klingon who fall in love. As the best stories do, it leaves you wanting to know what happens next. Black is best known for her part in the duo that created The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Castelluci has won awards for both her novels and graphic novels. By far, this is one of my favorite pieces in the collection.
One of Us
In this interesting story by Tracy Lynn, a cheerleader goes to the Games club so they can teach her Geek. Her boyfriend is into Original Trek, and the Lord of the Rings. She wants to understand him better so she pays the geeks to teach her. They set up a schedule to teach her - movies, tv, comics and more. She is doing this for love, but as many of us know, at times, love sucks. Lynn has published numerous books including Snow, RX, and The Nine Lives of Chloe.
Definitional Chaos
Can a last kiss ever be good? In this story Scott Westerfeld takes us on an adventure between two people who were once in a relationship and are now trusted with taking eighty-four thousand dollars by train to pay for convention fees. He doesn't trust her, and she loves pushing his buttons. But in reality she is looking for resolution to their already-ended relationship. It is a great story and would read a little like a Robert B. Parker story if he spoke geek instead of just tough. Westerfeld is the author of So Yesterday, Peeps and The Last Day.
I Never
Cassandra Clare is bestselling author of City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass (Not to be confused with Douglas Coupland's book by the same title.) This again is another love story but about two people from an online game who meet at a gathering of members from the game. It does not go nearly as planned. Jane was in the online game playing as who she is in the real word and her Heathcliff is not, or at least not who she thinks Heathcliff is. It is fun, funny and quirky in the way that is best enjoyed by those who have met in real life someone they met online previously.
The King of Plinesse
Having met a number of the authors I really appreciate, I have enjoyed the experience. I have however never gone to one's house to meet them unannounced. Of course it might be different if I was under the impression the author in question had had an affair with my mother. It is interesting that M.T. Anderson writes a story about a fan contacting an author when he is the only contributor to the collection without a personal or professional website I could find. It is an interesting story but in my opinion it is the weakest in the collection.
The Wrath of Dawn
This story by Cynthia Leitich Smith and Greg Leitich Smith is both about the geek and the blended family. It is the story of a Dawn who relates to Dawn from Buffy, and yet it has a strength and power in her protestations over her situation in life. A good well-balanced story.
Quiz Bowl Antichrist
My favorite quote from this whole book comes from this story: "My social status was the same as a water fountain in the hall - people were happy enough I was there when they needed me, but otherwise they walked on by." This story written by David Levithan is about sexuality and self discovery. It is about a boy who doesn't realize it, but he is in love with one of the other boys on the Quiz Bowl team, and that is really the only reason he does it. Things come to a head when the team has traveled to compete in the nationals. The story is well and tastefully done by the author of such books as Boy Meets Boy, the Realm of Possibility and Marley's Ghost to name but a few.
The Quiet Knight
It is hard to imagine someone who likes science fiction or fantasy who has not heard of Garth Nix. This is a great story for anyone who wanted to fight in armor or play with swords. The Quiet Knight had damaged vocal cords but he loves to role play, especially simulated battles. But his role playing world and his life at school are about to collide. It is definitely one of the top 3 stories in the collection.
Everyone But You
Lisa Yee creates a story about a girl who is the queen bee at her current highschool but when her family moves to Hawaii she becomes the lowest on the school totem pole. But it is also the story of her learning what really matters and how to face adversity. This is a good story by author of Millicent Min, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time and Absolutely Maybe.
Secret Identity
Kelly Link writes a story that is a long, rambling letter from a 15 year old girl who had pretended to be much older in an online game. Then when she sneaks off to New York to meet her online romance, things do not go as planned, and this story is her true confession. It is a story with superheroes, (of the convention kind) and personalities both flamboyant and somber. It is the longest piece in the collection and has a certain charm, but not one of the best. Link has authored Pretty Monsters and Stranger Things Happen (both of which are reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk books Invisible Monsters and Stranger than Fiction.)
Freak the Geek
In one of the shortest pieces in the collection John Green presents a story about life at a girls' prep school - a story where the senior class picks two geeks to pick on as part of the school's tradition. It is told from the perspective of those to be freaked. John Green is award-winning author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns.
The Truth About Dino Girl
Revenge of the Nerd, told from a girl's perspective is the best way to describe this story by Barry Lyga. They say Revenge is a dish best served cold. In this one, be cautious of the woman wronged, especially if that woman is a geek. This is a dark tale of what people can do to each other after being hurt. It is a powerful piece of storytelling, and captures the damage that a few words or actions can cause. Lyga is the author of The Astonishing adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl.
This is My Audition Monologue
This story was the one I enjoyed the least. Sara Zarr presents a piece about a drama club person who is auditioning in her senior year. She does a long rambling piece about her 4 years doing behind the scene work for school plays, and that the guy who was electrocuted last year doing lighting should have...
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, I am a geek, and proud of it, September 13, 2009
This review is from: Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd (Hardcover)
I will not lie. I am a total geek. I have admitted this many times and I will not be ashamed. I am a Star Wars nerd, I watch Lord of the Rings marathons, I read the entire Harry Potter series at least once a year, I know everything about James Bond. The only geeky thing I'm not really into is Star Trek, but I will admit to watching the newest one and really enjoying it. That said, this book was PERFECT for me. It's pretty much the story of my life.
What I really love about this book is that I can totally relate to many of the stories. Even greater is the number of stories that feature girls as being totally into the geek culture. Too often the stereotype is that only nerdy guys who have no friends are geeks, but this book shows that girls, cool girls can be geeks and enjoy it. Of course there are also many stories that show how the "in crowd" shuns the geeks and the hardships that goes from feeling as you are a freak for the things you like. Many of the stories are painful to read because of the treatment received from others. However, there are still others that show it doesn't matter what others think as long as you enjoy what you do. I really loved the comic strips that were featured in between the stories. These were laugh out loud hilarious in their portrayal of the different types of geekdom. I wish there was a whole book on just these comics alone.
I did like some stories better than others. There were a few that I really just could not get into. I'm not sure if it was because I was unaware of the background of the story or because I was unfamiliar with the author's style of writing. Also some stories featured a bit more sex and language than I would have liked to read. That being said, there's something for everyone in this book. Even if you have no idea what a Wookie is or can't speak a lick of Klingon, you'll still enjoy the multitude of talent from the authors who contributed to the book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Geektastic!, September 26, 2009
This review is from: Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd (Hardcover)
My question is this: How can you not want to read this book? Even if your interest in (any) fandom is casual to the point of 'I kind of remember that blond chick with a pointy stick' this book will have you in stitches, tears or ready to be a more active member of some wonderful community. Whether you are a Trekkie (or is it Trekker now?), Star Wars fan, Whedonite, Otaku or a more obscure fandom (Blake's 7? Does anyone remember that show?) you'll enjoy this book.
It's not perfect, I sometimes wondered if some of the stories rely too heavily on some prior knowledge of the geeky topic at hand or took some of the examples to extremes (though to be fair I knew a guy who literally grew up Klingon. It was the first language he learned--yes before English--started 'developing' forehead ridges around the age of five and who's parents left him out in the wilderness at the age of 13 for a month in the summer for his 'Rite of Passage' ceremony--since beating him with sticks is considered illegal of course. By the time he was twenty-one, you'd be hard-pressed to know that he was human underneath all the make-up, Klingon cursing and bloodwine guzzling), but the book made me feel less odd.
I grew up in a school where sports were #1, academics #2 and theater #3. Geeky things like Star Trek or D&D or comic books came in distant distant last place. Golf was considered cooler then Star Trek or comic book reading. The rare few who were part of the 'Nerd Herd' with me did so in severe secrecy--our school's QB for my 9th and 10th grade years would trade X-Men cards with me under the pretense of me tutoring him in english. The leading 'brain' of the school played Q-Bert down at the shore (a good hour and half away from us) twice a week--far away from anyone who would know him. I was out in the open about my interests, mostly because I had long since given up caring about my image. I got teased, taunted, ridiculed and scorned at (and these were my friends), but I couldn't help that I couldn't fake interest in how badly our school's football team sucked (it was pretty bad).
Some of the stories were simply hilarious, some were moving and some took itself as seriously as a Jedi Master takes going to the dark side. As to be expected of a Compendium of Geekness, pop culture references abound. Subtle (Mr. Pointy for example), not so subtle (pretty much elvish or Klingon word uttered throughout) and the convention oriented (Jedis vs. Klingons vs. Stormtroopers vs. Peacekeepers vs. Cylons....with some Starfleet Cadets/Officers thrown in for good measure).
For anyone who has ever been to a major (or even small) convention you'll probably appreciate the humor behind Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci's story about cosplayers who take things to the extreme, gamers will definitely fall in line with Scott Westerfield's story and Tracy Lynn's story about a cheerleader trying to learn Geek is wonderful. It hits all the fandoms, all the stereotypes and then presents them differently without being insulting.
Regardless I think that Geektastic is a great anthology with its own pitfalls, but for the casual Geeky young adult (or hell even an adult) its the perfect gift--either to show them that they aren't that alone in the world or hey you could always be that kid who wears his Jedi robes to school and tries to use the Force to get passing grades.
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