Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd Karen Coats Black, Holly, ed. Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd; edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci; illus. by Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O’Malley. Little, 2009 403p. ISBN 978-0-316-00809-9 $16.99 Did you hear the one about the geek who grew up to write young adult fiction? Apparently that particular coming-of-age trajectory has achieved the status of a cultural meme, as Black and Castellucci demonstrate here. They have assembled nineteen of today’s most popular YA authors to tell the stories of role-playing geeks, band geeks, theater geeks, comic-book geeks, cosplay geeks, science geeks, Buffy geeks, Rocky Horror geeks, etc. Given the details included in the author bios and the fluency with [End Page 59] which the characters engage in complex dorkuments (arguments over some finer point of geek culture), it’s clear that these authors, which include M. T. Anderson, John Green, Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Scott Westerfeld, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, Garth Nix, and David Levithan, among others, are speaking in their native tongue. However, for readers who don’t know the difference between, say, a LARP (Live Action Role-Playing Game) and an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) an internet connection will handy, since the authors don’t include a glossary, although interstitial comics by Black and Castellucci and illustrators Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O’Malley go some way toward mapping the geek ’verse. Though not all the stories are independently stellar, the formula of one part irony, one part justification, and two parts wish-fulfillment fantasy works pretty well across the board to highlight the important role a geeky obsession can play in getting teens through tough social and familial situations. Because of this persistent and universalizing theme, even non-geeks will find something to like here, and they may even learn to treat those weirdly dressed, oddly intense kids at the other lunch table with more respect. Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois