Friday, December 28, 2012

GUEST POST - LIBBY MERCER

Nerd Love
Guest Post by Libby Mercer


Derek Whitley, the love interest in my recently released novel, Unmasking Maya, is a technological whiz. He started writing computer programs as a small child, he’s running a hot new tech company, and his closet is full of tee shirts with cryptic scientific formulas printed on them. He’s a hottie, of course, but personality-wise, he’s a serious science geek. Maya, my heroine, is totally okay with this. She says:

“In my experience, nerdy people are more honest and have the most integrity. It’s the cool people – the charmers of this world – that you have to watch out for.”

While Maya is a bit jaded, I generally agree with the point she makes here. I’ve always felt a tad more comfortable around people who were slightly off-center. And truth be told, I’ve always had a kind of a thing for dorky guys.

With this in mind, I decided to blog about some geeky hotties you may or may not know about.

Just a quick disclaimer: in some instances, I’m celebrating an actor and in some cases, I’m celebrating a character. And in some cases, both! I do recognize the difference between fact and fiction, but the lines will be a bit blurry in this post.

And away we go!

1. Dr. Spencer Reid (Criminal Minds)/Matthew Gray Gubler


Spencer Reid is definitely my favorite nerdy television character, and I’ve got a total TV crush on him – even if he does have a stupid hairdo in most of the shows. A super genius with three PhDs and an IQ of 187, he struggles a bit when it comes to human interaction. It’s so endearing, though, how clueless he is about “normal” things. As far as I can tell, Matthew Gray Gubler, the actor who plays Spencer Reid, is not a nerd in real life.

2. Chuck Bartowski (Chuck)/Zachary Levi


Geeks all across the land fell in love with the star of Chuck, the cult hit show. Fans tuned in each week to watch Chuck complete a top-secret mission with the help of “flashes” from the CIA’s supercomputer that had been implanted in his brain. In real life, Zachary Levi, the actor who played Chuck, embraces his nerdy persona, flying the flag for geeks everywhere. He’s into Comic-Con and sci-fi stuff, big time.

3. Laurence Fishburne


This may seem like an odd choice because he doesn’t seem like a typical dork, but you can’t overlook his choice in film roles. Matrix, anyone? And Othello? Apologies to fans of the Bard (sorry, Tracie) but any actor who stars in a Shakespeare film is a drama geek at heart. Laurence Fishburne has just finished filming his role as Perry White in Man of Steel, the latest in the Superman franchise. Need I say more?

4. Seth Cohen (The OC)/Adam Brody


As the resident geek on The OC, he’s been credited with making dorky cool, but the jury’s still out on whether or not Adam Brody is a geek in real life. Before it got scrapped, he had signed on to play The Flash in a film version of Justice League (based on characters published by DC Comics) so I’m thinking even if he’s not a real-life nerd, he’s pulling a Laurence Fishburne here.

5. Stephen Malkmus


I wanted to feature a musician as my final nerdy hottie, and oh my goodness, the possibilities were just about endless. This is going to age me but… I thought back to the late 90s, when I was more informed about pop culture than I am now, and back then, the music scene positively was overrun with awkward alterna-nerds. In the end, I decided to go with Stephen Malkmus from Pavement because he’s apparently a huge fantasy basketball geek and bangs on about it to everyone who will listen. Seriously. Googling “Stephen Malkmus” and “Fantasy Basketball” brings up over 10,000 results.

And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading my post about dorky hotties. If you’ve got a soft spot for gorgeous geeks, be sure to download a copy of Unmasking Maya where dorky Derek Whitley awaits.


Author Bio:

Born and raised in the Midwest, Libby Mercer’s adventurous spirit kicked in after graduating from high school, and she’s since lived in Boston, NYC and London. San Francisco is the city she currently calls home. For several years, Libby worked in fashion – first as a journalist and then as a shopkeeper. She also dabbled in design for a while. Even through the crazy fashion years, Libby never let go of her dream of being a published author, and has since developed her signature writing style, crafting quirky chick lit/romance hybrids. Fashioning a Romance was her first published novel, and Unmasking Maya will be her second. Libby has a third novel, The Karmic Connection, scheduled for release in 2013.


Book Blurb:

Defamed, Disgraced and Displaced...

Fresh from a career-killing scandal, New York fashion girl, Maya Kirkwood, arrives in San Francisco to reinvent herself as a fine artist. She's offered the opportunity to create an installation at the Silicon Valley headquarters of a hot new tech company. Fabulous, right?

Not so much.

She can't stand Derek Whitley - wunderkind software genius and CEO of the company. Hot as he may be on the outside, inside the man is a cold, unemotional, robotic type. Way too left-brained for her right-brained self.

As Maya and Derek get to know each other, however, their facades begin to crack. She catches her first glimpse of the man behind the superhuman tech prodigy, and he starts to see her as the woman she used to be. But is this a good thing? Once that last secret is revealed, will it bring them closer together or will it tear them apart?

Buy Unmasking Maya:


Where you can find Libby Mercer:






20 comments:

  1. Yes, I have to agree most of them look like total nerds, but having read Unmasking Maya, Derek is nothing like them. I imagined him as a total hottie but with a boring-ass job, filled with Java and Sequel servers! (I used to work in IT!) Great post girls! Sooz

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sooz! True, none of these guys look much like Derek, but at heart he is a nerd. Stay tuned for another blog next week, featuring a guy who's a bit more Derek-y :-)

      Delete
  2. Fun post! Libby you know I am all about the nerds! Hilarious! xoFrancine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought you might like this one, Francine! xo Libby

      Delete
  3. Fabulous post! I LOVE nerds because they're so interesting and real. And I love what Maya says about nerds being honest and having integrity. Great list of nerds!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Samantha! I don't know if it's true, but they do seem to be more "real" than cool people, in my opinion.

      Delete
  4. Great post! Dr. Spencer Reid is definitely my favorite nerd on this list! I've stopped watching Criminal Minds (too many shows, too little time) but he was the best part of the show in my opinion ... along with Garcia, who's an awesome girlie nerd! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't even know when the new shows air, but I catch the reruns from time to time. (Always a bonus to land on an episode when Spencer Reid has normal hair!) And I love Garcia too. Her fashion sense is second to none!

      Delete
  5. I have always liked guys I considered "dorky cute" I LOVE Spencer Reid. Another favorite is Agent Lincoln Lee from Fringe. He's seriously adorkable. Great list!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fabulous! Another nerd-o-phile! I haven't heard of Agent Lincoln Lee OR Fringe. Will have to check that out. Thanks, Meredith!

      Delete
  6. Yes! I'm so glad that you included Adam Brody on this list! He is my future husband, just for your information :P I fell in love with him in the show Sausage Factory but then The O.C. just clinched it for me. Seth Cohen is just too cute. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll be lighting a candle for you pairing up with Adam Brody, Kaley! :-) He looks so YOUNG in this photo, I was a little nervous that people would think I was a pervert for including him, but he's just youthful. (33 years old apparently.) Perhaps he just doesn't get enough sunlight in true nerd fashion. :-)

      Delete
  7. I'm married to a nerdy hottie! LOL. Ladies - I recommend hot accoountants! :P

    Great post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fabulous! Thanks for the tip, Jackie. :-) I'll have to keep my eyes and ears open.

      Delete
  8. Fun post ladies! I'm partial to Sheldon Cooper myself, not for hotness but for sheer nerd-awesomeness. Oh, Bazinga!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, ST! I probably should have put good old Sheldon Cooper on the list. Actually I was inspired by him, in part, when I created Derek Whitley's character. Derek has a closet full of dorky, cryptic tee shirts with science-y stuff printed on them, and it was Sheldon Cooper's quirky tee shirt collection that gave me that idea!

      Delete
  9. I love nerds! Intelligence is a real turn on, and I think I'm a bit of a nerd myself. Not a science nerd, but a book nerd!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fear not, Lucie. You're amongst friends. I'm a bit of a nerd as well. (Mama's Family is my all-time favorite show.) And so true about intelligence being the hottest thing of all! :-)

      Delete
  10. Hi ladies! WOW, I'm so stoked that so many of you share my love of nerds! Thanks so much for reading!! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the list of nerds! Zachary Levi is my favorite nerd on your list above. But I think my favorite nerd of them all currently is Nathan Fillion. <3

    ReplyDelete