YOU GUUUYS! I can’t believe how many emails I’ve gotten about the books you wonderful nerds (or your friends) have written! The literary nerd in my soul absolutely loves it and I encourage everyone to drop me a line ([email protected]) and link me to your own book(s).

Relatedly!: I’ve gotten a few non-traditional-but-sort-of-literature related things too, like web comics, screen plays and even a magazine, so I was thinkin’: Would you guys be interested in discovering other sorts of nerd reading?  I’m all about connecting nerds with nerds and I’ve been thinking that compiling these works that are outside the normal “book sphere” (but still in the same general spirit) sounds like a lot of fun. To me. I don’t know about you.

That said, here’s another round of WRITERS YOU MIGHT LIKE! That’s three-ish posts full of authors, so far! This is better than I ever imagined, for realsies.

Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love by Andrew Shaffer!
Few people have failed at love as spectacularly as the great philosophers. Although we admire their wisdom, history is littered with the romantic failures of the most sensible men and women of every age, including:

Friedrich Nietzsche: “Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.” (Rejected by everyone he proposed to, even when he kept asking and asking.)

Jean-Paul Sartre: “There are of course ugly women, but I prefer those who are pretty.” (Adopted his mistress as his daughter.)

Louis Althusser: “The trouble is there are bodies and, worse still, sexual organs.” (Accidentally strangled his wife to death.)

And dozens of other great thinkers whose words we revere—but whose romantic decisions we should avoid at all costs.

Note! This is a little quote from the author in the email he sent me, which I thought was ADORABLE: “Back Story: As a young nerd, I was painfully aware of the social shortcomings of nerds. I was the last one picked for kickball teams (if I was picked at all), and couldn’t get close enough to a girl to kiss one until the ninth grade. My book is about the romantic failures of the great philosophers (the ‘original nerds’). I thought, if I had a hard time finding a date for the school dance in junior high, these guys couldn’t have been much better–the bigger the brain, the bigger the pain…”

I picked this book up but haven’t been able to crack it open yet. From a cursory glance, it looks pretty great.

Tattoo by Kristen Imani Kasai.
Her fate is in her flesh. In an environmentally fragile world where human and animal genes combine, the rarest mutation of all — the Trader — can instantly switch genders. One such Trader — female Sorykah — is battling her male alter, Soryk, for dominance and the right to live a full life.

Sorykah has rescued her infant twins from mad Matuk the Collector. Her children are safe. Her journey, she believes, is over, but Matuk’s death has unleashed darker, more evil forces. Those forces — led by the Collector’s son—cast nets that stretch from the glittering capital of Neubonne to the murky depths below the frozen Sigue, where the ink of octameroons is harvested to make addictive, aphrodisiac tattoos. Bitter enemies trapped within a single skin, Sorykah and Soryk are soon drawn into a sinister web of death and deceit.

The Smart Aleck’s Guide to American History by Adam Selzer
Do you know America? No, I mean, do you REALLY know America? Would you recognize John Adams in a lineup? Can you identify any presidents between Lincoln and Roosevelt?

Hmmm. I thought so.

Well, you really need this book.

Not only will it improve your sorry historical knowledge, it will crack you up, and give you material to throw your teachers off-balance for entire class periods. Identify their lies! Point out their half-truths! And possibly, just possibly, gain some extra credit for yourself.

Note! This is a young adult book, so grab it for your kids! Or, you know, pretend that’s why…

I See Me In Your Eyes by Joe Graves
“This is a collection of stories about my life, my son Jake, and baseball. It is about the struggles I had to overcome to achieve my dream of playing professional baseball. In my pursuit, I learned that you really can do anything you want to, if you commit, and don’t ever, ever, ever, ever quit. While chasing something I’ve always wanted, I found something that I loved even more. I became a father. I love being a dad I wanted to be the best dad I could possibly be. The song ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’ always haunted me. I would never let myself be that kind of dad, and have to look back and realize it was too late to spend the time I should have with my children.”

Note: I was sent this submission by Jake, Joe’s son. He’s a great guy trying to get his Dad’s words out, and he thinks that, if you’re into sports, you’ll enjoy this. Give it a go if you’re THAT kind of nerdy. (I’m a baseball nerd, so of course I’m all for it!)

Heroine Addiction by Jennifer Matarese
Vera Noble belongs to a long line of famous superheroes, but she’s done quite enough lifesaving in her time. Now, she’s perfectly happy to serve pie and coffee in her small-town cafe, far away from the bright explosions and enormous radiation-spawned monsters of the big city. However, no life ever stays safe and quiet forever, and one simple request from her family’s former mortal enemy upends Vera’s semi-average existence.

Well, that’s it for this installment. Please keep sending your books in and I’ll do my best to distribute them accordingly, if not with an in depth review then at least in one of these awesome Writer’s posts. Getting into the “big market” isn’t always an easy thing, and I’m a firm believer that if you like something so much that you’re moved to write about it, then somebody else likes it enough to read about it. That’s the theory, anyway.

Keep on writing and reading, literary nerds!

As usual, you can email me at [email protected] or send me a tweet!