Archive for the 'Stupid Fast' Category

Thanks for the Valentine’s Cybils Pick @SourcebooksFire

Published February 14, 2012 Stupid Fast , Young Adult 5 Comments
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I’m just feeling very good this Valentine’s Day.  Steph is sitting next to me, all Goth Mom and serious about whatever deep, dark emotion she’s experiencing, that she can’t quite express. I’m more like happy Unicorn Dad (I should have some kind of leather strap tied around my head, maybe a feathered clip of some kind).  Steph is here and The Cybils, The Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards picked Stupid Fast as their top YA Fiction book of 2011.  That’s a very big deal to me.

1. There are a lot of enormously great YA books out there right now.  Having Stupid Fast mentioned with some of them is seriously validating.

2. I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can make stuff that boys want to read (a lot of time trying to connect with how seriously cool and complicated male teens can be). That an audience broader than very hungry young dudes thinks the book has value gives me a lot of hope.

3. Sourcebooks, my publisher, has put a lot of effort into supporting this weird, rambly book (when other publishers wouldn’t), and this sort of award hopefully validates their choice! Leah, Derry, Kelly, Todd, among others, I’ve sometimes felt a bit… what’s the word… fraudy?  uh, something like that, because you guys are so dang good to me.

4. I’ve been in awe of YA book bloggers. So much energy and care and passion all born of love, not monetary reward.  To have a group of bloggers want to celebrate Stupid Fast feels like a seriously fat, gigantic world hug.  And on Valentine’s Day.

Goth Mom, Steph, works next to me. I’m really like freaking Unicorn Dad, today.  Thanks Cybils.  I’ll remove the leather strap and the feather tomorrow, get back to business.

The Nothing Special ARC Arrived!

Published January 18, 2012 Fiction , Happy , New Book , Nothing Special , Stupid Fast , Young Adult 14 Comments

Out of the blue, in the door, there was a Fed-ex box…  I expected the box last week and when it didn’t come, I assumed it would never come.  When you least expect it, expect it.  Because it was there!  My box of galleys from the publisher!  And, other than the glaring typo on the first page of text (how did I miss that? Am I an idiot?) it looks really good and I read some, and I liked it a lot, which is a good sign, because I wasn’t sure after I finished it, because I’d gone entirely blind from having stared at it so much.  This book, Nothing Special, is ready for pre-sale reviews.  I am p-syched!

ARC in the morning sun.

It Is This: Nothing Special Cover

Published December 9, 2011 Fiction , Nothing Special , Stupid Fast , Young Adult 11 Comments
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I haven’t been entirely sure that this cover would stick.  I like it a lot.  So, I hoped.  It’s Felton’s little brother Andrew, with his glasses removed, trying to look like a philosopher and sort of mimicking his piano hero Glenn Gould.

Not Andrew

Andrew’s a funny kid.  Andrew’s maybe sadder than he seems.  The cover is now official, I believe.

Yeah, I’m getting pretty excited about this book.  The more distance I get from actually writing it, the more fond of the thing I’m getting. I like those Reinstein boys a lot.

Nothing Special comes out May 1, 2012.  Review copies are coming.  It can be added to your Goodreads lists, already.  Good times, Herbach.

Nothing Special

Published October 13, 2011 Nothing Special , Stupid Fast 7 Comments
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I just delivered Stupid Fast’s sequel, Nothing Special, to the publisher. I’m pretty excited about it.  Felton becomes an absolute monster on the field, a mega-player.  He loses his balance, though, and loses Gus, Aleah, and Andrew, his poor little brother.  To be the kind of dude he really wants to be, he will have to learn, go where he doesn’t want to go, and rebuild what’s been broken (with a lot of help).  Oh yeah… He’ll have to make it to Florida, twice.

When I was a kid, I’d run head first into the refrigerator

Published September 22, 2011 Football , Health , Stupid Fast 2 Comments

I have a double standard.  When I was a kid, I’d put on a football helmet, run down the stairs from my bedroom, leap over ottoman and coffee table, dodge the freaking cat (vicious: named Lil Bit), then crash through the kitchen to put a hit on the refrigerator (nearly knocked myself out once).  I rode my bike off small cliffs.  I skied into woods at 60 miles an hour.  I jumped off the roof of my house into the sandbox.  I threw rocks at wasp nests.  I was an idiot.  And, I was very happy.

Now my son is playing football and I’m all like, “Whoa.  Jeez, man.  You sure you want to do this?  Uh… there are some big kids out there, right?  Killers.  They want to hurt you.  You know that don’t you?  Pop you.  Take your head off.  You have to be prepared for that. Hit them first!  Hey… I like your piano playing.  What’s wrong with piano?  Isn’t piano enough for you?”

What’s my problem?

I want to protect the boy.  He does not want to be protected.  I really loved playing football, too.  It was my favorite thing.  I liked getting hit.  I liked hitting.  I liked it when my ears rang.  That’s not healthy, I know.  Still. Football is seriously fun.  Must get over it, Herbach.

Number 80.

Okay, I’m trying to get all my junk ready for a new website, so I’m not posting much.  In the meantime, if you have Stupid Fast questions and you’re not finding the information here, just email me — geoff (dot) herbach (at) gmail (dot) com.  Why write it that way?  I don’t know.  Other people do it.  Hackers?  Spammers?  Is that who I’m hiding from?

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I am…

Geoff Herbach. I teach creative writing at Minnesota State University - Mankato, write novels (young adult-y at the moment), radio plays (from grubby to clean), and am working on musicals, because I like them.

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