Geekomancy [Kindle Edition]

Michael R Underwood (Author)

Book Description

Clerks meets Buffy the Vampire the Slayer in this original urban fantasy eBook about Geekomancers—humans that derive supernatural powers from pop culture.

Ree Reyes’s life was easier when all she had to worry about was scraping together tips from her gig as a barista and comicshop slave to pursue her ambitions as a screenwriter.

When a scruffy-looking guy storms into the shop looking for a comic like his life depends on it, Ree writes it off as just another day in the land of the geeks. Until a gigantic “BOOM!” echoes from the alley a minute later, and Ree follows the rabbit hole down into her town’s magical flip-side. Here, astral cowboy hackers fight trolls, rubber-suited werewolves, and elegant Gothic Lolita witches while wielding nostalgia-powered props.

Ree joins Eastwood (aka Scruffy Guy), investigating a mysterious string of teen suicides as she tries to recover from her own drag-your-heart-through-jagged-glass breakup. But as she digs deeper, Ree discovers Eastwood may not be the knight-in-cardboard armor she thought. Will Ree be able to stop the suicides, save Eastwood from himself, and somehow keep her job?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Geekomancy is a glorious blender of genres, like a sweet candy shell filled with pop culture and high heroism. Absolutely stellar." - Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Discount Armageddon

If Buffy hooked up with Doctor Who while on board the Serenity, this book would be their lovechild. In other words, GEEKOMANCY is full of epic win.
- Marie Lu, author of the Legend trilogy

If you took wish-fulfillment, ground it into a powder, and shot twice the recommended dosage into your eye socket, the result would look a lot like GEEKOMANCY. I want to live in this world, where all the books and shows and movies and games I love are a source of power, not only in psychological terms, -- which they already are -- but practical, villain-pounding ones.
- Marie Brennan, award winning author of the Onyx Court series.

Modern, sleek, and whip-smart, GEEKOMANCY is a wonderful blend of geek and pop culture -- you'll find yourself grinning knowingly at least every other page. And Ree is the perfect protagonist to navigate Geekomancy's world -- geek enough to hold her own, yet human enough for me to be deeply invested in her struggles. I can't wait to read the next one!
- Cassie Alexander, author of NIGHTSHIFTED

Underwood's Geek Fu is strong-and he's not afraid to use it. GEEKOMANCY is fun, fresh and full of geek culture references that will have you LOLing to the very last page. This book is one hundred percent pure awesomesauce and totally FTW.
- Mari Mancusi, award winning author of The Blood Coven Vampire series

Product Details

• File Size: 1073 KB
• Print Length: 284 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star (July 10, 2012)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007SNRRP8
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,116 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Geekery July 10, 2012

By Paul M. Harmon

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a book for all true geeks. Crossing between Star Wars and comic books and Sherlock Holmes and every conceivable cool (pronounced geek) icon in between it's just a fun popcorn blast of a read. I challenge those who think their Geek-fu is mighty to catch every reference and trope in this book. The Closest thing I can compare this too would be Ernest Cline's Brilliant Ready Player One.
Not for literary snobs, this book is just about having fun with our beloved geek culture. Team Unicorn would approve.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Geeky, goofy, and tons of fun! July 12, 2012

By MyBookishWays

Format:Kindle Edition

Ree Reyes is a struggling screenwriter that is biding her time by working as a barista at Café Xombie. It's not a bad gig, and she loves the people, but life could be a little more exciting. Be careful what you wish for, because when Eastwood comes into her life, nothing will be the same. She manages to witness him fighting otherworld baddies in the alley outside the shop and is sucked into a world of all kinds of supernatural oddities. After overcoming her initial disbelief, Ree is asked to help him in his inquiries into recent teen suicides. Full on, geeky mayhem ensues.

I have to admit, while the author was setting up his magic system, and we were getting to know Ree, the near constant pop culture and "geek" references were distracting to me. They come hard, fast, and often. However, as I got into the flow of the book, and let myself go with said flow, I really had a quite a bit of fun with this one. The brand of magic (genre magic) used here is tons of fun. His characters can pick up magic abilities by watching moves or shows on whatever subject they need to use magic in conjunction with. Also, reading can do the same thing. For example, when Ree needs help with sleuthing, she watches Sherlock Holmes. With genre emulation, the more emotional attachment you have to the material, the more you get out of it. As Ree follows Eastwood, she meets all sorts of interesting folks, including some Geekomancers that give them a run for their money, Drake Winters, a displaced steampunk super hero, Furrymancers, and gnomes (probably not like you're picturing.) She also discovers that Eastwood might not be quite what he seems.

Can Ree stop the suicides? Will she manage to keep her job at Café Xombi amidst all the mayhem? Will she ever write that screenplay? You're in for a treat with this one, and I found myself especially enjoying it amidst all of the "darker" reads that I've been eating up lately, not to mention that the author validates my love for the 2005 movie Sahara and Steve Zahn. Evidently, I'm not the only one that liked it (I just knew I wasn't.) I hope you have as much fun with this one as I did, and I'll look forward to seeing what the author has up his geektastic sleeves next!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Urban Fantasy "Clerks" July 12, 2012

By I Hear Vine Voices VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

What if Kevin Smith wrote an urban fantasy novel?*

If that question intrigues you, this book should shoot straight to the top of your TBR pile. If that sounds like it might be a little too heavy or meta, "Geekomancy" is still worth the read--but it might yield diminished returns if you're not highly fluent in geek culture. Since geek culture has gone pretty far mainstream, however, I doubt there will be many readers scratching their heads over lines such as "You *are* the droid they're looking for."

The pop culture references come at you fast and furious, and -- here's the kicker -- they're actually integral to the plot (which you can read in the synopsis, so I won't recap here...). The plot is pretty standard for urban fantasy--mentor trains a young heroine how to use her "powers." I can't wait to see what directions Underwood takes the premise in the future...

*Although I guess "Dogma" was technically urban fantasy.

More About the Author

Michael R. Underwood grew up devouring stories in all forms. He holds a B.A. in Creative Mythology and East Asian Studies from Indiana University and an M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon, which have been great preparation for writing speculative fiction.

Because he abhors boredom, Michael went immediately from finishing his M.A. to the Clarion West Writers Workshop. He landed in Bloomington, Indiana, but is now living in NYC as the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books. When not writing, Michael studies renaissance martial arts and dances Argentine Tango.