“Fascinating and dreamy…The Vast Fields of Ordinary reads like the best kind of first novel — it’s packed with insights that might have been carried around for years, just waiting to come out.” – The New York Times Book Review

“Trapped in a suburban wasteland the summer before his first year in college, closeted indie loser Dade Hamilton is stuck in the middle of his parents’ disintegrating marriage and wastes his time pining after his girlfriend-ed hook-up–buddy Pablo. That is, until he spots dreamy, drug-dealing Alex Kincaid at a party, and the summer explodes into a lusty haze of blazing romance, pot smoke and danger. Burd breathes new life into the old coming-out formula with a blast of 21st-century testosterone-injected anger, heaps of longing and insecurity and even some violence. His carefully drawn characterizations and raw tone make the drama of Dade’s life feel urgent and very real. The allure of the illicit, decay and regret are only a few of the irresistibly dangerous themes woven into the mix, and readers will watch in rapt fascination and dread as Alex draws a willing Dade into his dark world. The results of their pairing aren’t exactly pretty, but they’re honest. One of the best in a new generation of LGBTQ novels, it can stand alongside Peter Cameron’s and Brian Sloan’s.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Somewhere between My So-Called Life and Twin Peaks…bright and concise, a beautiful blur. Dade is a teenage spaceship, sewn to the sky.” – FLAUNT

“Burd addresses the themes of family, unrequited love, bullying, and sexuality in a fresh and believable manner. His use of language is beautiful; his words paint clear pictures of Dade’s deep and complex psyche….The Vast Fields of Ordinary is a refreshingly honest, sometimes funny, and often tender novel.” – School Library Journal (starred review)

“Burd is a terrific writer with a special gift for creating teenage characters who are vital, plausible, and always engaging…a new talent to watch.” – Booklist (starred review)

“Nick Burd reaps a bounty from The Vast Fields of Ordinary.” – Vanity Fair

“In the same way that Sarah Dessen allows readers to lose themselves in the ordinary, Burd takes a familiar plot—boy struggles with his sexuality, then meets a love interest who changes everything—and makes it fresh…Burd is an author to watch.” – Publishers Weekly

“The Vast Fields of Ordinary is a wonderfully engaging and satisfying book about all kinds of growing: growing up, growing together, growing apart. Dade Hamilton and his family and friends (and enemies) are all vividly and complexly imagined and realized, and I loved spending time with them. Nick Burd’s extremely accomplished and beautifully detailed prose reanimates the usually moribund American suburban wasteland; like an alchemist, he finds the wonder in the ordinary.” – Peter Cameron, author of Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You

“Nick Burd’s The Vast Fields of Ordinary is bold. Engaging. Heartbreaking. A book worthy of attention.” – Ellen Hopkins, New York Times bestselling author of Crank

“Nick Burd’s debut novel unfolds like the summer vacation it chronicles: in the beginning the vista seems limitless, but as the pages turn and the days pass the plot thickens and the end comes way before you’re ready to put it down. This is a mysterious, funny, wise, generous story, and its main character is someone you need to know, and you’ll never forget.” – Dale Peck, author of Martin and John and Sprout

“Who can resist a kid who survives his senior year of high school despite having been given the nickname “Vagisil”? Not I… Dade Hamilton’s coming-of-age tale with a Midwest twist is devastatingly real…but it’s also funny, touching, and ultimately quite hopeful.” – T Cooper, author of Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes