"Potato plants growing" by Julio Martinez is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
"Potatoes are one thing. People are another. You can't abandon people and think they're going to be fine. People need things. Probably love most of all."
--- The Freak, pg. 317
Text from the back cover:
The shoveler, The Freak, CanIHelpYou?, Loretta the flea-circus mistress, and first-class Malcolm. These are the five teenagers lost in the Hemmings family's maze of secrets. Only a generation removed from being Pennsylvania potato farmers, Gottfried and Marla Hemmings managed to trade digging spuds for developing subdivisions and now sit atop a seven-figure bank account -- wealth they've declined to pass on to their adult children or their teenage grandchildren. As the rot just beneath the surface of the Hemmings' suburban respectability begins to spread, the far-flung grandchildren each gradually find their way back to one another, just in time to uncover the terrible cost of maintaining the family name.
A.S. King's acceptance speech begins at 30:27.
WARNING: King's speech contains mature language and ideas. If it makes you uncomfortable STOP WATCHING THE VIDEO.