Roxanne Rhoads: Guest Blog and Giveaway: No Biz Like Showbiz by Julie Moffett

Geeks Take on Hollywood!

Lexi Carmichael, geek girl extraordinaire, is back and this time she’s headed to Hollywood. 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 a job trying to track down a Hollywood hacker who is messing up the online voting for a popular reality dating television show.

The hacker is targeting a show called Geeks Get Some, featuring real-life geeks tryingto well…get some. After a series of mishaps, the producers convince Lexi to continue her investigation from the inside. What should be an easy hunt for the hacker turns ugly when he sets his sights on her. Add to that a studio obsessed with ratings, a bunch of nerdy contestants, and her own confusing love life, and unraveling this mystery might make her a star…or get her killed.

Need a laugh or two? Feel free to download NO BIZ LIKE SHOWBIZ from Carina Press here. You can also download it from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and wherever ebooks are sold!

I love writing about Lexi, her friends and their adventures. Who knew geeks could be so much fun? Haven’t tried a Lexi Carmichael adventure yet?

Well, you’re in luck!

Just for answering the following question on this blog, I’ll enter you in a random drawing to WIN any ebook of mine and some geeky swag to go with it.

The question is: “Would you rather be in front of or behind the camera in Hollywood?”

By the way, feel free any time to drop me a line at my website, my Facebook page or on Twitter. I really enjoy chatting with readers, writers, and totally random people. In the meantime, “Get Your Geek On!”

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 Holt Medallion 2014, 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 nominations for the Daphne du Maurier Award and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence.

No Biz Like Showbiz

Lexi Carmichael Mystery Series

Book 5

Julie Moffett

Genre: Mystery/Romance/ Action Adventure

Publisher: Carina Press

Date of Publication: July 21, 2014

ISBN: 9781426898730

ASIN:

Word Count: 75,000

Book Description:

Lexi Carmichael: Helping Geeks Everywhere Get Some

Okay, so it’s not exactly as it seems, but that’s what is happening on the dating reality television show called “Geeks Get Some” that I, Lexi Carmichael geek extraordinaire, am called to work on. Not that I’m a fan of reality shows (I can barely deal with my own reality), yet I’ve been sent to Hollywood to find a hacker who’s screwing with the results of the show’s online voting system.

So what happens when I get there? Well, the producers convince me to continue my investigation from the inside. What should be an easy hunt for the hacker turns ugly when he sets his sights on me. Add to that a studio obsessed with ratings, a bunch of nerdy contestants, and my own confusing love life, and unraveling this mystery might make me a star—or get me killed.

Catch up with Lexi in No One Lives Twice, No One to Trust, No Money Down, No Place Like Rome!

Book Trailer: http://animoto.com/play/Uvjf5YdOcTrKr1qTkhdUwA

Excerpt:

No Biz Like Showbiz . . .

My name is Lexi Carmichael and I have a problem with most of today’s television programming. Not because of the sheer implausibility of a majority of the shows—although that does factor—but because too many programs seem to feature a tech genius who can solve the problems of the world with one stroke of a keyboard.

Here’s how it happens… a tech head is desperately trying to hack into a system. Death, the collapse of the free world, or the apocalypse is imminent if he fails. (Yes, tech heroes always seem to be guys since I guess in Hollywood a woman doesn’t know her way around a keyboard.) He types commands frantically as the clock ticks down to Doomsday. As the scenario continues, our frazzled hero takes a moment to run his fingers through his perfectly styled hair before he types just one more command and bingo, he’s in. He’ll then have a whole millisecond to navigate a completely unfamiliar system, find the magic switch, and shut down the entire system in time to save the day, world, girl, whatever, with one stroke. All of this while the super expensive, cutting-edge government system or expensive black-market technology used by the show's villain will aid our intrepid hero by providing helpful visual prompts like Access Denied or Access Granted in big bold letters across the screen as he works his hacking magic.

Just shoot me.

I’m a real hacker and yes, I’m female. I double-majored in mathematics and computer science at Georgetown University and have spent most of my twenty-five years learning how to bypass cryptographic protocols, exploit system vulnerabilities, and finesse distributed denial of service attacks. I’ve never had to avert an apocalypse, but if I did, I’m pretty sure it would take more than one freaking minute, and I wouldn’t be worried about my hair while doing it. My first successful hack on a relatively simple system took five hours. It might have taken four, but my mom kept distracting me by yelling through my bedroom door that if I gave ballet class just one more try she’d give me a hundred dollars to spend however I wanted. So, watching these types of shows and movies is hard on both my nerves and stomach.

July 28 Spotlight and review

Books N Pearls

http://booksnpearls.weebly.com/blog

July 28 Spotlight

Corazones Literarios

http://corazones-literarios.blogspot.com

July 29 Spotlight

3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy, Too! http://3partnersinshopping.blogspot.com

July 29 Spotlight

Share My Destiny

http://sharemydestiny.blogspot.com

July 30 Guest blog