Once, geeks were reviled. Ridiculed. Ignored. Now … we’re sex objects. Yes, that’s right folks, there are now romance novels about geeks and nerds. I found this out accidentally, while walking through my local Giant supermarket on a quest to buy diapers and milk. There, on the book frontend, in bright blue and yellow pastels, was the novel Nerds Like It Hot (Amazon) by Vicki Lewis Thompson.
Intrigued (and slightly horrified) I picked up the book. Palm trees hung low on the cover. A cruise ship sat on the horizon of the deep blue sea. And the tagline said “Some like it naughty, some like it nice, but nerds like it hot”.
And then there was the book description:
Hollywood makeup artist Gillian McCormick wouldn’t normally be caught dead on a cruise aimed at single geeks. But as the sole witness to a murder, hiding out may be her only chance at staying alive. With P.I. Lex Manchester guarding her, and a voluptuous disguise in place of her plain-Jane wardrobe, Gillian should be safe… if she can resist a titanic attraction to Lex that’s making her fantasize about some extra-naughty cruise activities…He’s rediscovered his inner nerd…Lex thought he had left behind his nerdy ways, but his suave demeanor has no chance against Gillian’s bombshell image and the smart, sexy woman within.
Questions abound. Does the author really know nerds? Can we expect lots of Linux and Star Trek jokes? How about one-liners from Star Wars? Passionate debates over which operating system is the best? And does Gillian wear the infamous Leia bikini from Jedi? These and other questions leapt to mind … but I’m not quite interested enough to actually buy the book.
And yet … it haunted me. When I got home I searched for the book on Amazon, and discovered that it was part of an entire series of nerdy romance novels. Other books in the series include Talk Nerdy to Me (Amazon), Nerd in Shining Armor (Amazon), Gone with the Nerd (Amazon) and Nerd Gone Wild (Amazon).
I’m stunned folks, absolutely stunned. I’d love to know what the market is for these books: women geeks? Women who love nerds? Nerds themselves? I still haven’t bought any of these books, but if anyone’s read them, I’d love to hear your thoughts on them — post a comment or e-mail me at editor@nuketown.com. Finally, I will review this … if someone (like say, someone at its publisher, St. Martin’s Paperbacks) wants to send me a review copy — just e-mail me and we’ll work out the details.