Christian Holub is a writer covering comics and other geeky pop culture. He's still mad about 'Firefly' getting canceled. Brutal Youth, the coming-of-age novel following four freshmen at a Draconian ...

In the new novel Brutal Youth (available today), a clip-on tie is an unlikely source of paralyzing embarrassment and internalized agony. The character who’s feeling the clip-on’s force is Peter ...