HERE COME THE GEEKS!

The fourth book in my geeky cyber mystery series, NO PLACE LIKE ROME, drops this Monday, November 25, and I'm pretty excited about it! 

For those of you not familiar with the series, Lexi is a geek first-class—a gamer, hacker, book nerd and fangirl who double-majored in mathematics and computer science and has zero social skills. Her day job for a hot new cyber-intelligence firm has landed her an exciting case on behalf of the sexiest uberhacker in the universe, code-named Slash. Slash's uncle in Rome has been accused of siphoning money from the Vatican Bank and it’s up to Lexi to hunt the hacker and clear his name.

Here is a short excerpt from the book:

I’ve loved listening to music since I was a little girl. Not because I’m musically gifted, but because notes, themes, chords and tempo all have an intrinsic mathematical logic that speaks to me. After all, music is defined by its numeric divisions, such as a beat, a measure or a bar. Musical scales are actually harmonics based on the numerical ratios present in the Fibonacci series, which are a sequence of integers beginning at zero and one and continuing with each new number being the sum of the previous two.

I know all of this because I’m a geek first-class. My name is Lexi Carmichael and I’m a mild-mannered twenty-five-year old who, thankfully for music aficionados, is not employed in any part of the music industry. By day, I work as the Director of Information Security at a hot new cyber-intelligence firm just outside of Washington, D.C. By night, I’m a gamer, book nerd and fangirl (Bond, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Lord of the Rings). I’ve got long brown hair, no discernible curves and zip in the social skills department. I double-majored in mathematics and computer science at Georgetown University with a specialty in cybersecurity. Ask me to talk about a rigorous axiomatic framework or computational complexity theory, and I’m all over it. Ask me to make small talk and I’ll imagine myself jumping off a bridge.

Haven’t tried a Lexi Carmichael adventure yet? Well, you’re in luck! The first book in the series NO ONE LIVES TWICE, is now available everywhere ebooks are sold for ***FREE***.  But hurry, this offer ends on November 30!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FROM CARINA PRESS OR HERE TO DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON.COM OR HERE FOR BARNESANDNOBLE.COM.

So, who is your favorite geek of all time? Albert Einstein? Sheldon Cooper? Copernicus? Vint Cerf? Thomas Edison? Inquiring minds want to know!  :)

Julie Moffett is a bestselling and award-winning author who writes in the genres of mystery, historical romance and paranormal romance. Learn more about Julie and her books on Facebook, Twitter and her website. She has won numerous awards, including the EPIC 2011 Award for Best Action/Adventure Novel, PRISM Award for Best Romantic Time-Travel and Best of the Best Paranormal Books of 2002. She has also garnered several nominations for the Daphne du Maurier Award, the Holt Medallion and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence.

What's in a Title?

Okay, I'll admit it. I love titles. In fact, I'm a title junkie. I enjoy choosing the titles for my novels while having abundant hope the publisher will like them, too.

Unfortunately, I don't always get what I want. I've written eleven novels. The first three books I wrote all had their titles changed leaving me to wonder about my particular skill in this area. When I got to keep my fourth and fifth titles, I was elated. Maybe this title thing wasn't so hard after all. Then...CRASH. The sixth and seventh titles were changed. Still I kept the faith. To my delight, I was permitted to keep the titles for my eighth through eleventh books. Hooray! (For the time being, anyway)

I especially like it when a title fits a novel. I mean, really fits it. When I'm reading along and I come across a passage that makes the book title make sense, it gives me a thrill. For my latest mystery release, NO ONE LIVES TWICE (Carina Press/August 2010), I tried to play upon my love for titles by choosing one that specifically fit this book. Since my story is a high-tech spy caper, I chose a twist on a James' Bond movie title, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. The theme and style seemed to play well with my novel. But if you read the book, you'll discover that the title is actually an important clue to the plot of the story. I must say I was tickled pink when I later read a positive review that mentioned how well the title fit the book. Yeah! Mission accomplished!

Here are some of my all-time favorite titles: "Something Wicked This Way Come" by Ray Bradbury, "The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things," by Carolyn Mackler, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," by Milan Kundera, and "The Sound of Building Coffins" by Louis Maistros. There are a dozen more examples I could cite, but these are a few that I like the best.

So... do titles attract you to a book and are you a title junkie like me? What are some of your all-time favorite titles?

Writing Humor in Your Mystery

When I was a little girl my mom bought me a pretty pink dress. I eagerly tried it on and felt so beautiful. Parading around the living room, I showed it off for my parents and siblings. But I had a secret. I also liked to be comfortable. Therefore, the scratchy pink undies that went with the dress never made it on. Not a problem until I bent over to pick up the bone for the puppy and gave everyone an unexpected view of what was (or wasn't) underneath.

Writing humor can be a lot like wearing pretty clothes on the outside, but going bare-bottomed underneath. You have a secret - a plan to put your characters into unexpected and amusing situations and watch them try to figure it out. The end goal is to create chaos with laughable consequence and yet still further the plot.

Inserting humor into a mystery can be difficult. Mysteries are by nature a rather serious affair. Before you start to write, decide if the subject matter of your novel is suited to comedy. Also keep in mind that humor in mysteries is typically more successful when focused on the characters not on the mystery itself. Take Columbo, for example. The bumbling, seemingly inept detective of this series constantly got himself into one comical situation after the next. But he always solved the mystery and caught the bad guy.

How can you effectively use humor in your mystery? One way is to make an ordinary situation extraordinary. Shake things up with a surprise situation or an unexpected result to an otherwise normal day. Play with words by using metaphors, similes, irony or satire. Bring misunderstandings to the forefront of the action and incorporate a bit of silliness. Let the reader in on the joke, but keep the characters clueless. This is often an effective technique because it helps the reader relate to the characters since, at one time or another, we’ve all been the butt of the joke (or the joke has been on us).

Expectations are also important. The reader will know instantly when a character’s decision will cause a problem later in the book. Lead the reader along, show them how they are right, but then surprise them. Someone once asked silent-screen legend Charlie Chaplin how to do the perfect banana peel gag. He answered that it would be to have a woman walking down the street directly toward a banana peel on the sidewalk. The audience will make a logical assumption about what will happen next. However, it’s funny when instead of slipping on the banana peel, the woman cleverly jumps over it … only to fall into an open manhole on the other side.

For my latest mystery, No One Lives Twice, I spent a lot of time working on the humorous aspect of the story. It’s hard work. I had to choose my words and situations with care. There is a lot of rewriting, beta reading, and revising. Timing is another critical aspect for humor writers. You have to figure out the best time to reveal the punch line, the absurd ending, or the result of a hysterical situation. It’s important to keep the reader interested and invested, as well as amused. The end goal is to create chaos with laughable consequence and yet still further the plot.

How can you do this? Look for the humor in everyday life. Focus on the bright side of every situation, including dark ones. People would rather laugh than cry when faced with difficult life experiences such as death, disease or hardship. Play off experiences you’ve had, nearly had, or have happened to a friend. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself. You will find the best humor comes from within, an honest, amusing moment we can share with others through the eyes of our fictional characters.