"The book is TERRIFIC – I just loved it and will recommend it all over the place to teen and adult readers. You have a unique ability to convey deep and complicated feeling through simple, funny and sweet prose." -- Rachel Cohn, author of Gingerbread, Shrimp, The Steps, and Two Steps Forward

"I wanted to tell you how much I liked It's Kind of a Funny Story. Your descriptions of depression are so accurate and heartbreaking. One of my favorite metaphors was on the first page when you describe trying to talk like words coming out in chunks from a crushed-ice dispenser. So true." -- Ariel Schrag, creator of the graphic novels Awkward, Definition, Potential, and Likewise

It's Kind of a Funny Story is my third book. It's the story of Craig Gilner, a kid in high school who gets freaked out, wants to kill himself, and checks into the psych hospital. The book details the week he spends there and how he gets his life... well, not together. But alive.

It's based, not too loosely, on my own experience on the good ol' adult psychiatric floor of Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, which I entered when I wanted to kill myself in November 2004. Yay! I've managed to stay out since then, although I've wanted to go back many a time.

There is a Myspace for the book at myspace.com/ikoafs. Press for the book is posted as it appears right here.

Be More Chill is the story of a guy who gets a pill that makes him cool. The pill is called a "squip"--it's actually a quantum computer that lives in your brain and gives you real-time social advice. The kid is named Jeremy Heere. And that's about what you need to know.

"A fresh, spontaneous and original voice. It's fun, wacky, outrageous. I just couldn't stop reading."
-- Judy Blume

For more about the squip itself and the campaign that went along with it, watch the squip video (warning--it may take a while to load).

"I wish I'd had a squip when I was a teenager. Actually, I wish I had one now. You know what? Forget the squip. Reading this hilarious book is what will make you cool."
-- Neal Pollack

"Ned Vizzini writes about teenagers without the Saved by the Bell, 'boy I sure love pizza' clichés. Be More Chill is a funny, perceptive, and surprisingly well-written read for all ages."
-- Robert Lanham, author, The Hipster Handbook

"I thought Be More Chill was very funny, well observed and well written. Very clever story, beautifully executed - definitely one to take notice of, and one of the cleverest plots I've come across in a long time."
-- Melvin Burgess, author, Smack

"Authentic without pretense and honest without stifling morality."
-- Zoe Trope

"Authentic, refreshingly honest and hilarious. You have perfectly captured the angst-filled, sex-obsessed thoughts of today's teens. Also, it is an incredibly original plot."
-- Anne Rouyer, the New York Public Library

"As a two-time survivor of high school (once as a student and once as a teacher), I know how hard it is to write about adolescence. But Ned Vizzini gets it right-- the lingo, the rigid caste system, the minutiae of teen courtship rituals. Be More Chill shows that high school can be a hero's journey, a treacherous march through minefields of bullies, drugs, and unfairly complicated bra straps. A smart, funny book that shies away from sentimentality and cliché, Be More Chill handles powerful themes with a light touch."
-- David Benioff, author, The 25th Hour

"Be More Chill is a sharp social commentary disguised as a high school sex (or no sex, in our hero's case) comedy. I was thoroughly entertained by Vizzini's clever take on the insanity (and inanity) of contemporary teendom."
-- Megan McCafferty, author, Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings

Published by Free Spirit Publishing!

One of the things that people asked for on this site site was more attention paid to Teen Angst? Naaah.... I hope this satisfies:

1. Teen Angst? Naaah... is my first book.

2. When it came out, I learned quickly that if I described it as "a bunch of funny, stupid stories about stuff that happened to me in high school", they got the point. For more refined people who only enjoyed art that pushed the envelope, I would say it was "a bunch of funny, stupid stories about SHIT that happened to me in high school." Those remain good descriptions.

3. The stories in the book span 1990-1999.

4. I wrote the stories between 1996 and 1999, inclusive.

5. A majority of the book originally appeared in the New York Press, a local alternative weekly, sometimes edited differently or in a wildly divergent form. They have great archives so many of the stories as they were originally originally written are here.

6. Teen Angst? Naaah... has a typical history of complete failure in the world of television. Soon after the book came out, I was contacted by a man named John Schultz, who came to New York, took me out for a hamburger, and outlined a sweeping vision for the TA?N movie. (The burger was good too.) I left feeling enthusiastic. Then, a few weeks later, Jane startz Productions, who had a first-look deal with Miramax Films (this just meant I could say "Miramax" in conjunction with my book, which got me one girl, no more), offered to option the book. My book company and I went with Jane Startz because of the Miramax connection and the option began. An option means that a company pays for the right to try and make a television show (or movie) out of your product within a certain period of time. We had 18 months. Jane Startz Productions brought in a wonderful gentleman named Ken Lipman; he had helmed the mid-90s cable show The Secret World of Alex Mack, which, let's look for it on the internet... ah, check out this Geocities site: Gallery of Alex Mack Pictures. Ken Lipman got to work on the show but we failed to get it picked up by any networks. Some years later (2005), Ken decided to take another shot and sell the show to The N cable network, which, in an entirely unrelated venture, I had tried to create music for. This, too, failed. By the way, John Schultz, who we ditched for Jane Startz (Schultz vs. Startz, I know), went on to direct Like Mike and The Honeymooners. Who knows what would have happened if we'd gone with him? Right now the best chance of a Teen Angst television show getting made is if you make one yourself. I'll host it, I'm serious. (Host as in, host the files.)

7. Any general questions that you have about the book, the characters, whether it's true, etc. should be in the FAQ.

8. Many people want to know why, of all the schools I applied to in the book, I chose to go to Hunter. The answer is that I did something horrible and screwed up my chance attend a different school (Columbia). What I did is probably the worst and most stupid thing that I've done in my life and I'm not really ready to talk about it right now.

9. To my knowledge, Teen Angst? Naaah... has been used in plays, forensics competitions, skits, and numerous book reports across the USA (and the Philippines). I greatly appreciate the attention that it continues to get, especially five-plus years after its publication.

10. Wormwhole lives!