The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Have To is the debut novel from writer/actor/rapper DC Pierson (Mystery Team, Community). This novel features your run-of-the-mill teenage plot development. Isolated, awkward high school boy loves to draw. Awkward boy meets extra-awkward boy who is equally isolated. They bond over love of science fiction. They become best friends. Awkward boy falls in love with girl. Best friend ends up taking girl. They fight, they make-up. The End. Oh wait, somewhere in there, extra-awkward boy admits he can’t sleep and has never been able to. Awkward boy becomes determined to test the bounds and limits of such a power/ability (or lack of ability). It turns into a fast-paced adventure when their greatest fear (The man in the suit) finds out and tries to capture the ‘never-sleeper.’

Pierson’s novel is  full of charm built on the basis that growing up is hard no matter who you are. Throw in an abstract ability like not having to sleep and its bound to complicate the already tough high school lifestyle. The characters drive this tale, which goes past analysis of teenage culture to add evocative moments on top of brooding science fiction action. The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To is a novel that provides entertainment, humor, and adventure that works for anyone, young or old.

***ABOVE THE FOLD is giving away TWO COPIES of Pierson’s new book! E-mail contests[at]above-thefold[dot]com with DC Pierson in the subject line for your chance to win a copy. Winners will be chosen February 17.***

Purchase the book HERE

Pierson took some time to answer a few questions about what his new book means to him, his own high school experience, and more:

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ABOVE THE FOLD: You have a writing background with your degree in TV writing at NYU as well as a large collection of short stories. When did you first start writing as a creative outlet?

DC Pierson: I always liked doing a lot of things but writing was the first thing I was ever demonstrably good at.  I think it stemmed from reading a lot at an early age.  Want to alienate yourself from your peers?  In the wake of the release of the movie “Jurassic Park,” bore everyone with descriptions of how it is different from the Michael Crichton novel.

ATF: What was your inspiration to write your first full novel?

DC: I randomly saw my friend Eliza Skinner on the subway one day in Queens, where we both lived.  She said she liked my writing and that I should try writing a novel.  I said something half-committed about how I would like to someday.  “A lot of people say that,” she said, “and a lot of people never do.”  That really got to me so when I got to my temp job that day I e-mailed her and asked her if she would be my “novel sponsor,” basically haranguing and bothering me until I finished a first draft.  She agreed!

ATF: The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Didn’t Have To is a book in essence about growing up as an awkward teen, how much of the story did you pull from personal experience?

DC: Yeah, a lot of it is loosely, loosely based on real stuff.  Because there are a lot of fantastical elements to the book, I wanted the “grounded” parts to seem particularly grounded, the idea being that the fantastic stuff will make the real stuff more fantastic and the real stuff will make the fantastic stuff seem more real, by force of contrast.

ATF: Your characters are very strong because they feel very personal to you. Would that be an accurate statement?

DC: Sure.  I knew and was kids like this.  The main characters are supposed to be nerds too nerdy for nerd cliques.  There are lots of subcultures now that identify as “geek” and are heavily self-involved and catered to.  And that’s cool, but it does kind of take something away from being a geek, y’know?  How many times can you say “the geeks won!” before it becomes the case that the geeks are the new jocks?  Jocks with the new ‘Star Trek’ movie on Blu-Ray?

I did not have the courage to be this kind of uber-loner kid in high school.  I sought refuge in the theater program, and was glad of it.  In a lot of ways this book is a celebration of finding one or more people who make you feel not so crazy for being who you are, and a plea to recognize and value those people.

ATF: The concept of not having to sleep seems like a college kid’s dream. What spawned the concept for the book’s quirky detail?

DC: I stayed up late arbitrarily in high school, just because I could.  I think a lot of kids do.  And if left to my own devices, I will tend to drift towards an abnormal sleeping schedule where I’m up until 5 AM for absolutely no reason.  But one of the characters not having to sleep was less about that thing in itself and more about him having something that set him apart, some casual little psuedo-superpower you could have and plausibly keep secret for your entire life.

ATF: In the book, the main character Darren and his best friend Eric come up with a science fiction saga called TimeBlaze. If someone asked you to create a saga would we get everything promised in the book?

DC: Man, that would be cool!  I don’t know if I would have the guts to do it.  Like Darren and Eric in the book, I am more in love with the first blush of an idea, with the explosion of a thing you just came up with and could be infinite because you haven’t actually had to do the work of following through on it.  Like a lot of people I think I secretly like beginnings more than trying to stick the landing, trailers more than movies, and band names more than music.  Beginnings are potential and promise.  Endings are haaaaaard work.

One afternoon when I was a kid my friend and I set up the all-time biggest Lego battle.  All of our Legos were in play, from across the various Lego genres: spaceships and castles and pirates, all that stuff, had converged.  And just as we finished setting up this impossibly huge battle and were ready to get into it, it was time for him to go home.

ATF: What advice would you give to anyone interested in writing their first novel?

DC: As with anything, I think it is less important to gather advice and counsel and to wait for the absolute right time and right opportunity, and more important to do it.  “Just Do It” is a sneaker slogan I actually find to be an extremely useful tenet in real life.  You can lose a lot of time waiting for the absolutely perfect moment.

ATF: You are also apart of the comedy troupe DERRICK who released their first feature film Mystery Team. You also work with fellow DERRICK member Don Glover to create raps over indie songs. Is there anything you don’t do?

DC: I don’t draw as much as I’d like.  I am trying to get back into that stuff in earnest.

ATF: What can we expect next from DC Pierson?
DC: Working on the next novel.  Continuing to post over at dcpierson dot com.  Flooding twitter with puns at twitter.com/dcpierson.

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Pierson’s movie Mystery Team will be playing at the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis starting March 5. You can also pre-order the DVD on Amazon HERE. Watch the trailer:

Not quite done yet! Pierson is clearly multi-talented, but one skill you might not expect are his MC skills. Check out Pierson going in over Washed Out’s Feel it All Around on Childish Gambino’s newest mixtape I Am Just a Rapper 2.

Childish Gambino – Different (Feat. DC Pierson)