I would really have loved this if I was younger when it came out. Still fun though. ( )

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.

As I won a copy of the ARC edition, some of the art pages and at least one story was missing. 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. ( )

A good collection of short stories by YA authors. ( )

I would probably give the writing a 4, but the experience was 5. This is the best collection of adorable geeky stories I've read in forever. I think that everyone I know, write with, game with, talk to, share stories and shoes and fandoms and passions with would adore it.

Run, don't walk. You'll find yourself smiling and laughing aloud. ( )

I loved almost every story in this book--I read a lot of short stories and it's rare to find a collection with so few "meh" stories for me. Recommended for geeks and nerds everywhere! ( )