The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To

The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To is a 2010 novel by DC Pierson (Duncan in Derrick Comedy's Mystery Team), told from the perspective of nerdy high school student Darren, who privately writes a Troperiffic sci-fi epic in his spare time, and his even nerdier friend, Eric, who joins in. One day, Eric discloses to Darren that he is physically incapable of sleeping, and that he never experiences fatigue.

Despite the single fantastical science fiction element (the eponymous Eric) and the over-the-top sci-fi universe the boys devise, most of the book is more Lit Fic about being a nerdy boy growing up in high school in the style of J. D. Salinger, and it isn't until the last four chapters of the book that the speculative fiction takes the narrative wheel.


 * Colon Cancer: Eric points out that TimeBlaze's titles start to have "more colons than a proctologist".
 * Cursed with Awesome: Not only They Would Cut You Up, but Eric has.
 * And.
 * Eric's walking around has also gotten him in trouble with before.
 * Downer Ending: From the prologue, it can be gathered that Darren made a mistake that caused Eric to go away and his abilities made available through Symnitol.
 * Foregone Conclusion: The book opens with Darren in college, talking about a new medication coming out that allows people to stay awake with no consequences, how people who won't become his friends have "dodged a bullet", and how he's already made the biggest mistake of his life. Considering the title...
 * Foreshadowing:
 * Goggles Do Something Unusual: The Man's sunglasses, among other things, show life bars next to everything.
 * Government Conspiracy: The events surrounding Eric's capture.
 * Heart Is an Awesome Power: Never having to sleep, Eric can spend his nights getting to know every nook and cranny of the neighborhood, allowing him to escape any pursuers through his uncanny knowledge of his environment.
 * Magic Realism: The titular description is referred to as Eric's "thing".
 * The Men in Black: The Man.
 * The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Committee in TimeBlaze.
 * Pietà Plagiarism: explicitly describes holding Eric as this.
 * They Would Cut You Up: Why Eric's never told anybody abut his thing. Implied to be the source of Symnitol in the book's prologue, and.
 * Troperiffic: TimeBlaze: An EVILution . The boys repeatedly mention how they plan to "change the way people think about" various tropes.
 * Reality Warper: Dr. Praetoreous's strong suit is making inventions that do this, from The Legitimacy Engine to The Mortalizer.
 * Later in the book,.
 * Wham! Line: The last line of Chapter 10, after Darren asks Eric how he :


 * The last sentence of Chapter 11 as well.