System Failure

Geek Actually #1.12

by Cecilia Tan

Thank you to everyone who pointed out that a trigger warning would be appreciated in this episode. We are truly grateful for your feedback and will be inserting warnings.

~Please be aware this episode contains scenes depicting sexual assault and harassment that some readers may find triggering~

Meet your new best girlfriends. Michelle is a hard-nosed Science Fiction editor who is used to things going her way; Taneesha is a talented video game programmer who is used to being the odd (wo)man out. Aditi is a fantasy writer on the verge of her big break; Christina is a rebel on the sidelines of Hollywood. And Elli is a fan – of anything and everything that keeps are from “proper adulting.” Together they are Rebel Scum (at least in their shared group chat), and best friends through thick and thin. They might live far apart but through the power of the internet and a shared love of all things geek, they are ready to face the world side by side.

This is the 12th episode in the first season of Geek Actually, a 13-episode serial from Serial Box Publishing. This episode was written by Cecilia Tan.

46 pages, ebook

First published August 23, 2017

About the author

Susie Bright says, "Cecilia Tan is simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature." Since the publication of Telepaths Don't Need Safewords in 1992, she has been on the cutting edge of the erotic form, often combining elements of fantasy and science fiction in her work. She is also founder and editor of Circlet Press.

RT Book Reviews awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and her novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence from GRW in 2013. She has been publishing Daron's Guitar Chronicles as a web serial since 2009 and her Secrets of a Rock Star series (Taking the Lead, Wild Licks, Hard Rhythm) is published by Hachette/Forever. In 2018 Tor Books will launch her urban fantasy/paranormal series, The Vanished Chronicles. In her other life, Cecilia is also the editor of the Baseball Research Journal and publications director for SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research.

Reviews

[Paula Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

System Failure is the 12th Episode of the Geek Actually serial, and I have to admit I was a tad nervous reading this book as it means that it is nearing the end of the serial unless they decide to write a second season. System Failure featured mainly Michelle, Christina, and Elli. Its main topic was Sexuality and the negative side of things. Michelle is learning the ropes of how to be a Dom and goes to her first BDSM party where she is given a sub. The thing is that they don't discuss safe words etc. and the scene ends with the sub being hurt. He rages, and it backlashes to Michelle. Is this the end of her trying to be part of the BDSM society? I have to admit; this was a little questionable as even though she is new to this world, it is BDSM 101 to have a safe word put in place for any scene and since neither party mentioned it -they were both at fault. Christina believes she is the start of a proper relationship with Vivi but what happens when Vivi starts to introduce other people into their sex life? Is Christina ready to explore the world of threesomes? Elli, as we know, is asexual and still grieving the loss of her friend Ruby goes to a con where a supposed friend takes advantage of her naivety and sexually assaults her. Apparently, this is a common issue in the States at comic conventions as there are warnings on the sites that Sexual Harassment is not on and Cosplay Costumes are not an invitation to welcome sex and rape.
If you are not comfortable with reading about BDSM and Sexual Harassment, Rape, etc. then Episode #12 might be a skipping point for you. I am now in two minds about reading Episode #13 as part of me wants to read it to finish the series, but the other part doesn't want the serial to finish.

[Dev · Rating 2 out of 5]

[update 9/26/17: the publishers reached out to me and a few other reviewers shortly after this book was published and apologized for the lack of a content warning on this particular episode and it looks like they have since added one to the description. I appreciate their response and hope that this helps other people avoid reading things that will affect them negatively, however I am keeping my rating at 2 stars just because to me a rating is reflection on personal enjoyment of a book and I definitely did not personally enjoy this, however I'm sure for a lot of people it won't be an issue]

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I knew just from looking at the cover that I wasn't going to like this episode, but I was not actually prepared for how much that would be true. I almost gave this 1 star because I am just in SUCH a bad mood right now, but I do recognize that my problems with this particular episode are that it contains things I do NOT want to read about and not that it is necessarily 'bad' or even that it handles those things in a bad way because it doesn't, but 2 stars is really the best I can do here. I would have skipped it entirely if I could but you can't just skip an episode of a serial so ...

I knew from the cover that this episode would focus on Michelle and her whole BDSM thing so I was prepared to skip the actual sex scenes - which I did - and actually only one of her parts is a sex scene and the rest are her dealing with the aftermath of that, so really I only skipped one small section of hers. But add that to what happened to Elli at the end of this and I'm just so done.

I mean, I've literally been there. And I don't want to have to relive it with no warning when I'm just trying to relax and read a book. I recognize that it's important to talk about and portray things like that but there really should have been some kind of warning at the beginning of the episode. And I mean I knew SOMETHING was coming because how could you not, but I was not expecting it to be that bad.

Really looking back I think a lot of these episodes could have benefited from having warnings at the beginning so that you knew what you were getting yourself into. I just wanted a fun geek girls series and instead I got stuck in [waves hand around] all of this mess that is WAY too real for me. But I hate to leave things unfinished so here I still am. Sorry for the long mildly-ranting review, I'm just really upset about the Elli thing still.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

System Failure
Geek Actually, Book 1.12

I Picked Up This Book Because: Continuing the series


The Characters:

Aditi Sodhi, Christina Webber, Elli Kelman, Michelle Andrada, Taneesha Adams:


The Story:

Wow, Michelle’s story just got embarrassing. I knew nothing good was coming from Elli’s story. She was just being nice and totally took advantage. *insert rage face here* I want to continue to express my lack of support for Christina’s relationship. Aditi and Taneesha weren’t much featured in this installment.

The Random Thoughts:



The Score Card:



4 Stars

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

These multifaceted women remain committed to their friendships to each other, even when it means taking long hard looks at their own behaviour, which illustrates high level of support!

[Crazybooklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

funny, heart breaking and a genuine story of friends and life.

[Christy]

Please note that this episode features sexual assault and concerns with consent.

[kelly {BookCrushin} · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this episode was a major fail, or a system failure. Ugh it was painful to read and it is the next to last episode, so really disappointing to feel so icky after this episode.

[Paul Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

This episode had the plotlines coming to a head right before the ending. Misunderstood sex and BDSM lead to major problems, which are then left cliffhanging for a big finish.

[Amy! · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too much Elli and uncomfortableness (both Elli's and Michelle's) for me this installment. I definitely knew Tyler was going to make a move on her, but perhaps actual assault is taking it a bit too far?

Also, I'm pretty sure that next week is the last installment, and it kind of still feels like there's a LOT of stuff that needs resolution, especially because next week is probably going to be dealing mainly with the aftermath of Elli's assault. I can only imagine how shoehorned in Michelle & Aditi's make-up will be, PLUS whatever's got to happen with Christina & Vivi. NOT TO MENTION that Elli still hasn't even told the girls that Ruby died or dealt with that in any sort of reasonable fashion.

[Xan]

I will not be posting a review, but wanted to include trigger warnings.

Trigger Warnings sexual assault, BDSM scene gone wrong, drug use, sexual coercion, cheating