Everybody having a good summer so far? I hope so! Considering this is the time of year when most literate people pick up vacation reads and head outside (or not, depending on your internet addiction to sunburn ratio) I thought this would be a prime opportunity to show off some more nerdly writers who’ve email me over the past few weeks.

You may recall my last post about nerdy consumers of our wee blog who’ve written books and let me know? Well, the response has been GREAT. I love nerds supporting nerds (who doesn’t?) and I hope to make this a regularly occurring trend here, so please keep sending your links about the amazing things you’ve worked on to [email protected]. Assuming they’re not totally insane or completely unrelated to our nerdly endeavors here, I’ll continue to try and extend the awesomeness outward to the masses. Hooray!

That said, are we ready for another batch of nerdly writers? Well, CONTINUE ON! I feel like there’s a little something in here for everyone. I hope.

The Simon Canderous Series by Anton Strout. I just started digging into this series and, so far, I’m enjoying it. A LOT. A note emailed to me from the author probably summed it up the best with: “…basically I miss Buffy and Ghostbusters so I write what I write.” Clearly, these are bound to be fabulous books, right? I devoured the first book on vacation and immediately regretted not having the second handy a day and a half later.

Psychometry (the power to touch an object and divine information about it’s history) has meant a life of petty crime for Simon Canderous in the past, but now he’s gone to the good side. He’s learning about red tape, office politics, and the basics of paranormal investigation at New York’s underfunded and (mostly) secret Department of Extraordinary Affairs. “Fighting evil! (under budget).”

Simon has a bit of arrested development because of the annoying lack of control he has over his powers. They’ve successfully crippled every relationship he’s ever had. Ultimately the books follow his desire to do good, and maybe  (if he’s lucky), he’ll find a little love along the way.

The books, in order are: Dead To Me, Deader Still, Dead Matter, and (recently released) Dead Waters. Check ‘em out!

Sunny Ella by Sally Zybert. This short story sounds like a lot of fun and I wish I’d had the chance to read it before tacking it into this post. Somebody let me know if you pick it up anytime soon. I’m adding it to my ever growing stack of things to read, which is about a mile long already — I HAVE A SYSTEM, OKAY? Don’t judge me! Anyway. Here’s the description: “Sunny Ella by Sally Zybert is the classic story of Cinderella — if in the classic story Ella lost her mind after years of abuse. The book has everything you could want from Cinderella: a fairy godmother, a wicked stepmother, a handsome prince, singing mice, unnecessary surgery, stabbing(!) and a Rapunzel vampire story thrown in for good measure.” Potentially sounds like a good time, I think?

As You Wish by Jennifer Malin (also available for Nook). When Jen emailed me this description — “While touring an English estate, American Leah Cantrell finds an antique coin in a spring and tosses it back, casually wishing she knew who originally made a wish with it. The next thing she knows, she slips into the water and finds herself drowning in an abyss.  In 1815, David Traymore, illegitimate son of the Marquess of Solebury, saves Leah from drowning on his father’s property. In his view, she’s dressed scantily, speaks with a strange accent and talks a lot of nonsense. Is this mysterious woman a madwoman, a French spy, the victim of a crime … or the answer to his wish?” — I was SUPER excited.

You know why? Because we have Lady Nerds meandering about on this site and some Lady Nerds like happy, lilting romance novels — I mean, c’mon. It’s got time travel, regency England and looooove. Like Doctor Who, only… not at all. LISTEN. Even Manly Nerds might enjoy a nice little romance now and again, ok? Don’t be a hater! Plus, Jennifer Malin is hands down one of the nicest Lady Nerd Authors I’ve conversed with via email and she’ll truly appreciate nerd-support. You can follow her on the twitters and you can also read the first two chapters of this book on her blog. Nice people are the best.

Stage Combat: Fisticuffs, Stunts and Swordplay for Theater and Film. This book is something fun for theatre and film nerds (which is pretty self explanatory by the title I’d say) by Jenn Zuko Boughn. Plus, it has FISTICUFFS in the title and that’s one of my all time favorite words. (Anybody else have favorite words? No? Just me? Right. Moving on.)

Bluff City by Jay Busbee (for Kindle.) Here’s the description: “Luther Washington is the last of the great bluesmen, a legend now reduced to playing a fourth-rate Mississippi casino bar. But when two down-on-their-luck gamblers, flat busted and cleaned out from a bad night’s run at the casino tables, decide to kidnap Luther, he suddenly becomes famous all over again. Everyone from white supremacists to church congregations wants to get their hands on the old bluesman, and things descend into bad craziness in a hurry. In the mix are a housewife who finds her true calling as a grifter; a disgraced former heavyweight champ seeking a shot at redemption; a hotshot sportswriter running for his life after writing a too-revealing profile of the city’s star athlete; and a reverend who knows a lot more about the kidnapping than he’s telling his flock. The whole crew comes together at the Elvis Brawl, a worldwide pay-per-view extravaganza starring wrestling Elvis impersonators, while outside, the city nears its boiling point… Bluff City will have you packing your bags for Memphis–and locking your door once you get there.”

Lastly, we have an author! Julie Cox sent me a few links to ebooks that she has published. First is Hearth and Harvest, a collection of short stories. The site description follows:  “In Hearth and Harvest, Julie Cox explores the roles of parents and children through stories steeped in magic, wonder, grief and inevitability. A farmer hatches an unlikely egg; a barren girl searches for a god; death and birth abound, and creators clash with their creations. These six stories find the fantastic in the mundane, and the grounded, dirty world in the unreal.”

Her next is probably more along the lines of something our wonderful Sex Nerd Sandra might recommend and it’s called Chasing Tail. Here’s the description from Amazon: “Through six linked erotic stories, Chasing Tail explores the realm between human and animal, order and chaos, civilization and nature–the realm to which shapeshifters belong. The characters learn, love, and lose as they navigate their wild, yet inescapably human society, in which nothing–politics, romance, sex–is simple.” Maybe interesting? I can’t say, as I haven’t read either of these collections, but let us know if you do!

And that’s it for now! I don’t want to overload your brains by dumping all of the awesome authors who emailed me into one ginormous post, so keep your eyes peeled for more of the same. Also, you can email me at [email protected], or find me on Twitter should you have something of your own you want to share with other nerds. Happy reading, nerdlings!