Hello my lovelies!
I am happy to kick of the Justice Book tour with both a guest post from author Jennifer Harlow, and a giveaway of an E-Book of Justice!
I've already read Justice and it was fantastic!
Make sure you read the blurb & excerpt below!
So, without further babbling by me, here is Jennifer Harlow!
The
Rise of the Geek Girl- Jennifer Harlow
I am a geek girl. I have always been
a geek girl. I blame my parents and their Doctor
Who, Star Trek, Tolkien ways. No My
Little Pony Care Bears for this girl. I grew up watching The Real Ghostbusters, She-Ra Princess of
Power and Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles. I wanted to marry Jack Nicholson’s The Joker at age six and even
learned how to crack a literal whip after watching Michelle Pfieffer do it in Batman Returns. I named my cat Remy
LeBeau after X-Men’s Gambit. At present I have about a thousand comic books,
two dozen action figures, and too many trading cards to count in my parent’s
basement. In high school I wore graphic t-shirts with the likes of Wonder Woman
and The Bride of Frankenstein proudly on my chest. I even went to Comic Con
when the only people there were comic book sellers. The only geek box I cannot
check off is I’ve never played Dungeons
& Dragons mostly because no one ever invited me to. Yes, I am a geek
girl. A pioneer geek girl. And the struggle was worth it.
Before the days of Tumblr,
blockbuster superhero books, and Twilight
geeks were looked down upon, especially if you were a girl. When I was growing
up, geek was as big a put down as being smelly or having cooties. It meant you
dressed like an elf, would never get laid, and lived in your parents basement
with no hopes of escape. And that was just the boys. No one had a stereotypical
view of a geek girl because there were so few of us and the boys wouldn’t let
us play. Even in the 1990s gender roles were a tad ridged. I grew up with
brothers, and my parents wanted me to be me, so I didn’t know better. I liked
what I liked. We geek girls simply did not exist. I remember once I walked into
a comic book store filled with about six men and all eyes moved to me, but not
in the way you’d expect. No, I was like an alien there to zap them with my ray gun
and take away all their fun. I was an interloper even with Rogue blazoned
across my chest. And forget about when I mentioned to people I loved horror
movies and even had a subscription to Fangoria.
My grandmother thought I’d grow up to be a serial killer, and when I told boys
of my love of Texas Chainsaw Massacre
or vampires their faces scrunched up in horror. It sucked.
Yet I continued to like what I did.
I went and saw Shaun of the Dead when
every other girl in college was swooning over The Notebook. I never did find my tribe of geeks beyond my family
and best friend, who I indoctrinated into the world of geekiness so I would not
be alone. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-20s that I did. I was working as a
government investigator and I had to get a record at a college campus,
strolling down the quad when I noticed all the girls wore graphic t-shirts.
They all wore glasses. They were chatting about vampires and Comic Con and Battlestar Galactica in co-ed groups. It
blew my mind. These people became known as “hipsters.” We had a name, and
though it now has a negative connotation, it was nice to be recognized by the
zeitgeist. People like Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion, and David Tennant who I’d
admired for years became mega-stars and continued to make all things geek,
gasp, cool. Even for us girls.
But we still have a long way to go
before equality in the geek culture is reached. Recently there was a big
controversy within the Science Fiction Writers Association (I am not a member)
where several authors, most female, took umbrage to months of comments in their
magazine about their physical appearances, and how Barbie is had a quiet
reserve which women should aspire to. This prompted several female members to
share their stories about being dismissed and outright sexually harassed by
male members. (This goes across genres. Something like 70% of reviews in major
news sources are about books written by men, but that’s a blog topic for
another time.) This sexism isn’t limited to the publishing world by any means. Girl
gamers are still put down in live chats as “bitches” and denied access into
guilds. The world of superheroes and superhero movies shows the most disparity.
Skimpy outfits and large breasts are
still the norm. There hasn’t been a single female superhero with her own movie
or show since the failed Birds of Prey
on The WB. Sure Scarlett Johansson kicked butt in The Avengers but unlike her male counterparts her costume was
skintight and more was said about her butt than her butt kicking skills. Buffy
and Katniss are the exceptions, not the rule.
Hollywood
is catching on but really they don’t think us geek girls are a force to be
reckoned with. That we don’t like ass kicking babes who aren’t defined by the
men in their lives. When I was shopping around my latest book, Justice which features a normal
hard-boiled female detective fighting supervillains I got the nicest rejection
letters. They loved the story, the loved my writing but either my main
character Joanna was too tough (not a Mary Sue) or there was no market for
anything superhero with a female as a main character. In other words, it was brilliant
but women don’t like superheroes or tough broads. I hope to prove them wrong
because I am a geek girl, just as I think you are. We like what we like, and we
make no excuses for it. And may our strength and perseverance help continue our
rise to equality. Let’s make Wonder Woman proud.
What
about you? Have you noticed the inequality as well? Which superheroine would
you like to see on the big or small screen?
Bio
Jennifer
Harlow spent her restless childhood fighting with her three brothers and
scaring the heck out of herself with horror movies and books. She grew up to
earn a degree at the University of Virginia which she put to use as a radio DJ,
crisis hotline volunteer, bookseller, lab assistant, wedding coordinator, and
government investigator. Currently she calls Northern Virginia home but that
restless itch is ever present. In her free time, she continues to scare the
beejepers out of herself watching scary movies and opening her credit card
bills. She is the author of the Amazon best-selling F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad, Midnight
Magic Mystery series and Justice, the
first in the superhero thriller trilogy. For the soundtrack to her books and
other goodies visit her at www.jenniferharlowbooks.com
It’s hard being a
regular police officer in Galilee Falls, a city with the highest concentration
of superheroes and villains in the country. It’s even harder watching your best
friend, the man you’re secretly in love with your whole life, planning to marry
another woman. Detective Joanna Fallon has to contend with both. When the
vilest supervillain in the city’s history, Alkaline, the former crime boss who
can shoot acid from his wrists, escapes from the maximum security prison, the
whole city is gripped by panic. Leading the pursuit is Captain Harry O’Hara,
Joanna’s boss and secret lover, and the city’s champion superhero Justice, who
caught the villain last time, much to Joanna’s chagrin. Before her father was
murdered in a mugging twenty years earlier, Joanna worshiped the hero, but when
he disappeared and failed to save her father, that adoration turned to contempt
for all supers. After Alkaline attacks too close to home and targets Joanna as
his next victim, tough-as-nail Joanna has to contend with her increasing fear
while struggling to choose between her life-long crush and her new-found love.
At turns vulnerable and
fierce, equally mordant and winsome, Joanna is an earnest yet emotionally
damaged heroine, who despite the tough breaks of her childhood sees the good in
people and vow to protect her beloved city at all costs. An ass-kicking petite
firecracker with no superpowers of her own, she charges after supervillains unflinchingly,
never losing her wit even when facing her toughest fight. With a coy blend
of whimsy and vivid imagination, she delivers both humor and thrills in an
action-packed and edgy blend of comic book cool, fantasy-noir, and bitter-sweet
romance.
Excerpt
Prologue
The
wolves are at the gate.
I count
thirty police officers on my security monitors, including SWAT, all armed to
the gills led by him. I
always knew this day would come. It has been almost twenty years in the making,
but now it’s here…this must have been how Nero felt as he played that fiddle.
My Rome is burning. Soon my freedom will be gone and yet I could still manage a
tune. First things first.
Waverly,
one of my loyal employees these two years, runs into the study. His fear does
not inspire confidence. “Sir, what are we supposed to do? The police and—”
“Stop
sniveling for one,” I say, taking a sip of my Scotch. I will miss this.
“Did Grace—”
The
bullet I put between his eyes stops the rest of that sentence. I don’t have
time to answer a million questions. Company’s coming. I down the rest of my
drink as I run the electromagnet over my computer. Cleaner than the day I
bought it. Must leave things tidy. I’ve already set the timers in the file
cabinets. Thirty more seconds before, like Nero, all that remains of my empire
is ashes.
The
bombs detonate as I walk down the hall, no louder than gunshots but still
rocking the walls sprinkling dust on my paintings. I wonder what will happen to
my art. Probably sold for victim reparations. The Degas alone will cover the
cost of the library we destroyed today. Smith and Rees are waiting in what is
left of my living room. Just looking at it, especially what’s left of Bradley
under that bloody sheet, I feel embarrassed for myself. I never lose control
like that. I don’t know what I was thinking. I suppose I’m paying the price
now.
“Sir,
where do you want us?” Smith, a five year veteran of my service, asks.
I turn
over the couch with a sigh. “Gentlemen, I want to thank you both for your loyal
service through the years. You have both been invaluable. I wish things could
have gone a different way. I apologize.” I fire a single shot into Smith’s
forehead. Poor Rees is too shocked to even draw on me before he meets the same
ending. The loose ends are no more. The rest is in the hands of the fates.
The last
of my security doors fall, the sound of steel hitting marble echoing through
the room. I cross my leg, wipe the speckles of dust off my costume, and put a
smile on my face. The bane of my existence, the man I hate, who has consumed my
life for years, super-speeds into my living room as if he owns it. And the
press calls me arrogant.
“Alkaline,” he says beneath that dark mask.
“Justice,”
I say with a nod. We stare at each other for a few seconds, even now locked in
battle. “Grace?”
“She’s
safe. You can’t hurt her or anyone else ever again.” He pauses for dramatic
effect, or to savor his victory. “Will this be easy or hard?”
For a
moment, I consider an attack. It always gives me almost orgasmic pleasure when
my fist hits his body and he cries out in pain. One last taste for the road?
No, I quell this urge. My body has not completely healed from our fight a few hours
ago and quite frankly, I need a break. Being the scourge of the city is
exhausting. “You may take me to jail now.”
As I’m
led out past the frightened police and gawking bystanders, I keep that smile on
my face. Not because I’m arrogant, not to save face, because…I may have lost
this battle, but the war has just begun.
Then
Rome will truly burn.
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