Ashley Poston’s latest YA novel is a retelling of the classic fairytale, Cinderella, in the perfect fandom style. Check out the synopsis for Geekerella below:
Elle Wittimer who lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. Living with her aloof stepmother and selfish stepsisters isn’t easy, but the fandom is a place she can always escape to. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize is an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.
Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons — before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake — until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise. But when she disappears at midnight, he worries he might never be able to find her again.
In an interview with Bustle, Postner talks her latest novel:
“Geekerella is a story from my fandom-loving heart. I grew up in the time of Livejournal and learned life’s greatest lessons on message boards, in shipping wars, and fanfictions. I learned that it’s never silly to have unironic enthusiasm for what you love—be it a book series, a boy band, or a children’s card game. So this book is my love letter to all the people I met in fandom who I’ll never meet IRL, but who have become a part of me nonetheless, and who helped me realize that while sometimes we might feel like we are alone, we’re just smaller robots who come together to form one giant super mega robot. After all, we’re just a bunch of nerds standing in front of other nerds, asking for their username.”
The book goes on sale April 4, 2017. In the meantime read an excerpt from Geekerella below:
Elle
The stepmonster is at it again.
Raffles, discount coupons, and magazine sweepstakes lay strewn across the kitchen table. My stepmom sits straight-backed in one of the creaky wooden chairs, delicately cutting out another coupon, dyed blonde hair piled on top of her head in perfect ringlets, lipstick the color of men’s heartblood. Her white blouse is spotless, her dark pencil skirt neatly ironed. She must have a meeting with a potential client today.
“Sweetie, a little faster this morning.” She snaps her fingers for me to hurry up.
I shuffle over to the counter and pry open the coffee tin. The smell is strong and cheap — the only kind I was raised on. Which is all the better, seeing as we can’t afford expensive coffee, although I know that never stops the stepmonster from ordering her double-shot dirty chai soy latte no whip every morning and charging it to one of her dozens of credit cards.
Catherine — my stepmom — picks up another magazine to cut. “No carbs this morning. I’m feeling bloated and I have a meeting with a couple this afternoon. Big wedding plans. She’s a debutante, if you could believe that!”
In Charleston? I can believe it. Everyone’s either a debutante, a Daughter of the Confederacy, or a politician’s kid — Thornhill or Fishburne or Van Noy or Pickney or a handful of old Charlestonian names. And I couldn’t care less.
I dump two scoops of coffee into the machine — plus an extra one for good measure. It feels like a three-scoop kind of day. Maybe adding more caffeine to their morning will get my stepmother and the twins out before nine. That’s not too much to wish for, is it?
To read the excerpt in its entirety, click HERE.