Monday, July 12, 2010

Join the Nerd Herd at Tonight's Geektastic Twitter Chat

Join anthologists Holly Black @hollyblack and Cecil Castellucci @cecilseaskull, along with authors Libba Bray @LIBBABRAY, Cassandra Clare @cassieclare, Barry Lyga, Tracy Lynn @TracyLynntastic, Wendy Mass, and Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith @CynLeitichSmith for a #GEEKTASTIC tweet chat in celebration of the paperback release of Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd (Little, Brown, 2010).

The chat is scheduled for 5 p.m. PST, 6 p.m. MST, 7 p.m. CST, and 8 p.m. EST on July 12.

My contribution is "The Wrath of Dawn," co-authored by Greg, which is a love letter of sorts to little sisters as well as fans of "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" and (to a lesser extent) "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

But more than that, it's a tribute to the long-standing tradition of bringing in a teen character to add more youth to a show and, in the depiction/execution, somehow vexing a fair portion of the fan base.

As YA authors, it occurred to us that maybe we should be on the side of the awkward teen rather than those scorning him/her. And maybe everybody else be should, too.

Since Geektastic was first released last year in hard cover, it's been a treat to discuss it with YA readers, many of whom have first come to "Buffy" through syndication, DVD releases, graphic novels, or the "Buffy: Season Eight" comic from Dark Horse.


I must admit, I envy them.

Imagine seeing "Buffy" from season one, episode one for the first time!

"The earth is doomed!" -- Giles

From the promotional copy:

Acclaimed authors Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci have united in geekdom to edit short stories from some of the best-selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Tracy Lynn, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers.

Whether you're a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!