By Mark Boshnack
Staff Writer
A dream of a Brooklyn-based author who grew up in Oneonta is coming true with the publication of his first book, he recently said.
"Numb," by Sean Ferrell, 38, will be published by HarperCollins in August.
"When I think of my hometown, I still think of Oneonta," said Ferrell.
He lived in Oneonta from the ages of 3 to 12, attending Greater Plains Elementary School and starting middle school before moving with his family in 1984 to Rochester, he said.
His father, who was a teacher at Hartwick College, got a job at a Rochester college.
Speaking of Oneonta, he said, "It was where I scraped my knees and had my first friends."
He has lost touch with people he knew in Oneonta, but the area shows up in his writing, especially in his short stories, he said.
"My childhood fuels the history of my characters," he said.
"It's pretty exciting," Ferrell said about the whole process of this first book published. He has finished his second book and is working on a third, he said.
"Numb" is the bizarrely endearing tale of a man with no memory or ability to feel pain who attracts a colorful crown of sycophants and exploiters while trying to come to terms with who he really is, according to his publisher's catalog.
Ferrell's story "Building an Elephant" won the Fulton Prize from the "Adirondack Review." His short stories have appeared in several publications. He lives with his family in Brooklyn and also works at a private foundation in Manhattan reviewing grants.
"I look at childhood as an idyllic era," he said. It was a time he was out all day riding his bike through the back streets of the West End, he said.
He enjoyed reading such science fiction novels as Dragonriders of Pern and Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffery. Both books he checked out at the Huntington Memorial Library, he said.
"Anytime I could be around books, I adored it," he said.
He decided to become a writer when he was 20, at college. He enjoys a lot of different genres, and his writing reflects that, he said.
Huntington Library Director Marie Bruni said that she was glad to hear that Ferrell remembers his time at the library so fondly.
"Books are such a great way for people to expand their horizons" whether they are reading for pleasure or working on a report, she said.
Ferrell signed the contract for the book in early 2009, he said.
"It's been a slow process," he said
Until the actual publication of the book, Ferrell's high point was when he was accepted by his agent Janet Reid of Fine Print Literary Management, he said.
"American literature is infused with young men from small towns trying to find their place in the world," and Ferrell continues that tradition in his book, Reid said.
"I think Sean retains some of the optimism" she associates with small town life, she said. "He is an extraordinary writer."
