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Brendan’s Year In Books

Brendan’s 2022 Year in Books

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Brendan Halpin

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://www.brendanhalpin.com

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Young Adult

Member Since

April 2008

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I grew up in Cincinnati, went to college in Philadelphia, and also lived in Taipei and Edinburgh along the way. I've lived in Boston since 1991.

I became a professional writer in 2000, writing about my late wife Kirsten's breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Kirsten died in 2003, leaving me and our daughter Rowen. I married Suzanne in 2005 and got her kids Casey and Kylie in the deal too. Bargain! Suzanne and I live with our three kids and dog in the shadow of Franklin Park in Jamaica Plain, best neighborhood on earth. ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

I really like your books because (apart from great style) you seem to write about a bunch of important issues, (mental health, queerness etc). Do you choose these things because you want to make statements about them, or are they just where you stories go? And how do you make sure you stay representative of marginalised groups you aren't necessarily a part of?

Brendan Halpin Thanks so much! I really appreciate your compliment and your questions!

I really just write the stories I'm interested in telling. There's a pretty com…moreThanks so much! I really appreciate your compliment and your questions!

I really just write the stories I'm interested in telling. There's a pretty common idea out there that YA fiction has a responsibility to be didactic, but I think this seriously underestimates the critical thinking ability of teenagers. Teenagers are sophisticated consumers of all kinds of media, and they know (and typically reject) when they're being preached at. They can also distinguish problematic or inaccurate portrayals. So I'm pretty strongly against the idea of writing in order to send a message.

Having said that, one of the things I always try to write into my fiction is the importance of empathy, but I think this is more me atoning for being kind of a dick in high school than trying to teach anything to my readers.

As far as writing marginalized groups that I'm not a part of, I mean, you can never really be completely sure that you're portraying someone else's experience accurately. I get a lot from knowing a wide variety of people- I think it's easier for me to write about different kinds of people because I know different kinds of people. The rest is pretty much just empathy--imagining, okay, if this were my situation, how would it affect me? (less)

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After Jenna and Jonah's Fauxmance, would you write another novel with an author? How did you go about writing the book? Did she come to you or vice versa? Where do you get your inspiration from?

Brendan Halpin I would, and I have! Emily and I wrote Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom after Fauxmance, and I've also written three books with Trish Cook, most recent…moreI would, and I have! Emily and I wrote Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom after Fauxmance, and I've also written three books with Trish Cook, most recently A Really Awesome Mess.

With both Emily and Trish, the process was pretty similar: we'd get together at the beginning to talk about what the book was going to look like,and then we'd trade chapters, with me writing the boy chapters and them writing the girl chapters. There's usually some back and forth in the middle where we figure out whether we're headed in the right direction or not.

Fauxmance actually came from an idea that an editor pitched to us. My other books with Emily all came from ideas that she originally had that we worked out the details of together; with Trish, I had the skeleton of an idea for Notes From the Blender, and she had the idea for A Really Awesome Mess, and, again, we fleshed them out together.

I don't really know where inspiration comes from. In my case, mostly from being nosy and curious--I'm just interested in people and their lives and how they deal with situations. But I also often find something from my own life that connects to the characters.

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Brendan Halpin’s books

Average rating: 3.6 · 10,876 ratings · 1,767 reviews · 18 distinct works • Similar authors

	Forever Changes 3.85 avg rating — 548 ratings — published 2008 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Donorboy 3.67 avg rating — 575 ratings — published 2004 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shutout 3.85 avg rating — 428 ratings — published 2010 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Losing My Faculties: A Teacher's Story 3.83 avg rating — 385 ratings — published 2003 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	It Takes a Worried Man 4.18 avg rating — 221 ratings — published 2002 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dear Catastrophe Waitress 3.63 avg rating — 252 ratings — published 2007 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Long Way Back 3.85 avg rating — 108 ratings — published 2007 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How Ya Like Me Now 3.66 avg rating — 107 ratings — published 2007 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	I Can See Clearly Now 3.03 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 2009 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Enter the Bluebird 4.10 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Brendan Halpin…

277 posts
Brendan Halpin's Blog

Where to find my new books!

Hello, my brave, wonderful Goodreads followers! You may have noticed a...dearth of published work by me in the last few years.

Well, I've been continuing to write, but publishers, for whatever reason, haven't seen fit to pay me for it.

But fear not! You can get all of my recent work for free! It's all up at my Gumroad page. You'll find 3 YA books, a mystery, (though actually 2 of the YA books are Read more of this blog post »

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Published on February 04, 2022 14:29

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Brendan’s Recent Updates

Brendan rated a book it was amazing Forest Hills Bootleg Society by Dave Baker	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This absolutely knocked me out. Great, melancholy portrait of being a high school misfit. I really liked all the characters and really ached for all of their private struggles. (view spoiler) ...more
Mar 12, 2023 12:30PM · 1 like · like · see review
Brendan liked Kathy's review of Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars Omnibus: "Meh. I found this boring. I don't know how they were able to take such complex themes such as indentured servitude, the cycle of poverty, death, and plight of the indigenous peoples and make them boring but they did. Also, WTF Marq? Were you trying to" Read more of this review »
Mar 10, 2023 01:59PM · see review
Brendan liked Billie's review of Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars Omnibus: "I would love to read a prose novel set in this world that focused on the uprising of the workers and their relationship with the indigenous Martians. The derby parts felt not superfluous so much as that any other activity could have been plugged in t" Read more of this review »
Mar 10, 2023 01:50PM · see review
Brendan liked m_miriam's review of Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars Omnibus: "While the artwork is engaging and striking, the narrative is lacking in fully developed characters. Marq's motivation was sometimes unclear to me, Devin felt tacked on, and Hanna was a cliched mean girl. The ending felt simplistic and formulaic given" Read more of this review »
Mar 10, 2023 01:49PM · see review
Brendan rated a book it was ok Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars Omnibus by Jessica Abel (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Loved the art and the anti-corporate themes, but ultimately it didn't hit for me. The characters felt a little thin, and ultimately the roller derby stuff was a distraction from the other parts of the story that were way more interesting to me. So, n ...more
Mar 10, 2023 01:47PM · like · see review
Brendan rated a book really liked it The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I knew that Collins was a contemporary of Dickens, so I was pleasantly surprised at how readable this is. It's a mystery, sure, but the main attraction here are the characters, particularly Betteridge who narrates the first chunk of the novel, and Cl ...more
Mar 05, 2023 06:53AM · like · see review
Brendan made a comment on Kirsten Feldman’s review of The Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway, #1) " What I really liked about this was that she didn't start some "will they or won't they" bullshit that takes 7 books to resolve. They did! Boom! ...more "
Feb 26, 2023 11:46AM · see review
Brendan rated a book really liked it The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Really enjoyed this one. Fascinating story of both Millicent Patrick and how she did great work and got screwed over and Mallory O'Meara trying to track down the story of a woman whose contributions were intentionally covered up. I really enjoyed the ...more
Feb 09, 2023 07:19AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O'Meara. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O'Meara <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Brendan rated a book really liked it Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5) by Martha Wells (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
For some reason this one didn't hit for me the way the others did. I wonder if I just expect these stories to be short and was therefore impatient with the increased length here. But also--Murderbot is as close to invulnerable as it's possible to be ...more
Feb 09, 2023 07:10AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Network Effect by Martha Wells. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Network Effect by Martha Wells <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Brendan rated a book it was amazing Dead Space by Kali Wallace (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mystery writers have a really difficult task when it comes to plot twists. They need to feel organic to the story without being predictable. Wallace manages this perfectly in this novel, where twist follows twist follows twist. I didn't see any of th ...more
Jan 25, 2023 08:20AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Dead Space by Kali Wallace. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Dead Space by Kali Wallace <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Brendan Halpin (?)

“Yeah, well. You're my best friend, you know, and I love you.”
― Brendan Halpin, Forever Changes

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“if you wait for everyone else to do the right thing before you do the right thing, then you'll never do what's right. You have to do what's right even if other people aren't. Maybe even especially if other people aren't.”
― Brendan Halpin, Shutout

tags: inspirational

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“But here, Ms. Pelletier, is the thing. Without infinitesimals, the calculus as we know and love it simply wouldn't exist. It is these nearly-zero, sort-of-zero, sometimes-zero quantities that allow us to understand the world. Something which seems to be nearly nothing turns out to be crucial to everything. So though I, or for you that matter, or any of us, may be, as a collection of atoms, practically indistinguishable from zero, this does not necessarily mean we are insignificant. Indeed, it may be that we are actually crucially important.”
― Brendan Halpin, Forever Changes

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