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.

Geeks, Lies and Spies, Oh, My!

Okay, I admit it. I’m a James Bond geek. As a teen I read most of Ian Fleming’s books and then saw the movies. I adored the danger, the thrill of a complicated plot, the international action, and even the over-the-top chase scenes. Once in college, I decided to join the CIA, majoring in Political Science and Russian Language and going all the way through four years of the interview process, including taking a tour of the site, meeting my prospective boss in the Psychological Profiling Unit, and taking a lengthy lie detector test. (By the way, did you know that the CIA cafeteria at Langley has two sides to it: one side for the ordinary agents and one side for the covert agents? I kid you not!!) At the very last moment, however, I changed my mind, opting instead for a less restrictive career in international journalism. But my love for all things spy and Bond remained.

So when I began to write a new series several years ago, I decided to do it by turning the James Bond concept on its head. I would, therefore, create an action/adventure character (Lexi Carmichael) who would be an antithesis to 007. She would be plain, lacking in social skills, and a complete fashion disaster. Instead of using her debonair charm and good looks to save the day, she’d use her brain. A super-charged geek brain. To help her out I’d pair her with a set of esoteric genius geek twins to get her through the crisis (as opposed to Q). Her best friend would be the Bond-girl-type and would help Lexi navigate the tricky waters of dating, socializing, and finding a decent bathing suit. Yet I’d still give Lexi a geeky obsession with all things Bond, leading to many humorous moments in the series.

The newest release in the Lexi Carmichael series, NO MONEY DOWN, came out on Monday. Here’s the back cover blurb:

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Me and the legendary Zimmerman twins--it's a friendship made in geek heaven. And it all started back when I worked for the NSA...

My best friend Basia dragged me to the beach for her idea of a vacation. All those annoying people, sand in embarrassing places--not exactly R & R for a girl who doesn't like the sun, the ocean or bathing suits. I couldn't wait to get back to work.

But things started looking up when I ran into Elvis and Xavier Zimmerman. We discovered we had a lot in common: gaming, anchovies, hacking. After that, the vacation was perfect--until I accidentally broke some poor guy's fingers. Then Broken-Fingered Guy disappeared, and things got really dicey. With the Secret Service and a bunch of thugs suddenly after me, all I wanted was to solve the mystery and enjoy what was left of my vacation--preferably alive.

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I’m often asked whether I have a favorite Bond actor and which of the books are my favorite. I do, but I’m going to wait and see what's the consensus here. So, who is it for you? Connery, Moore, Craig, Dalton, Lazenby, or Brosnan? Anyone have a favorite Bond book, too?