Sexiest Geeks Alive

In my ongoing quest to find newer and sexier geekdom, I attended a meet-up for the members of io9.com - the 6 month young science fiction themed blog from gawker Media. It was held at The Magician Bar on a Wednesday night.

I had not previously read io9, but was going to meet up with Editor in Chief, Annalee Newitz, whom I knew from her previous incarnation as a writer on technology. Since she certainly qualifies as a Sexy Geek, and had once written a column about a party that she attended at my house during CFP 2003, it seemed only fair for me write something for SGA about the party she was having in NYC for the readers of her new blog.

The gathering was actually a fairly special occasion, Annalee and the other two io9 editors were appearing in the same place at the same time for the very first time ever. In fact, in a brief discussion with Meredith Woerner (third editor on the io9 masthead and also a very sexy young geek lady) I had the distinct impression that she had never met Annalee before that very night. So this was a get-together at which the three editors were not only getting a chance to meet their adoring fans, but also a chance to actually all meet each other.

Oh, and the second editor, Charlie Jane Anders - yet another very sexy (and in her case, also very tall) geekgrrl.

Coincidence? I think not…

If this trio of sexy female science fiction obsessed ladies is not part of a deliberate formula by Gawker to guarantee success with Science Finction Fandom, then it definitely should be. Gawker’s stats for i09 show an 80% male audience, and I know that when I was a young male science fiction geek, there was nothing more attractive to me than a woman who could hold her own in a conversation that ranged from Asimov to Zelazny. In fact I will confess to still being a bit turned on by an SF literate woman, even now that I have matured into a middle aged (still male) philosophy and economics geek.

But please don’t think that these editors were chosen just for their lack of external genitalia. Annalee is an excellent writer who also brings tech cred to analyze the science inside the fiction, and while she is most definitely my favorite (maybe just because I have had a crush on her longer) the other two ladies are both also very bright, well informed, and great writers. I only skimmed a bit of the content on io9 (and boy does it have a lot of content - more posts per day, maybe, than any blog I have ever tried to read) but from what I did read, each of the editors, and pretty much all of the other contributers, are well worth reading at a more leisurely pace. (And I intend to go back and do just that.)

My favorite post was one of Charlie’s entitled, “Posthumans, Rise Up And Destroy Hollywood!” in which she examines the way in which SF movies are much more biased against transhumanism than the SF found in books.

But back to the event…

To my eye it looked like a great success - lots of happy geeks enjoying each other’s company - talking about all sorts of wild and wonderful things.

Personally I did not mingle as much as I would like, but NYC bars are always too loud and crowded for me, and my natural instinct is to flee from them. Science Fiction geeks are wonderful company one on one or in small groups, but when you get this many of them together, they could become an angry mob as fast as any other group of people. The sociophobic monster in me always fears that the villagers are going to break out the torches and pitchforks, so I did not stay long.

But I might try it again if there is ever another one of these events. Maybe a few extra drinks can mute this feeling I get, when there are too many bodies pressed together in a closed space, that makes me want to charge through the crowd like a bull on a Pamplona street - knocking everyone to the ground and trampling them a bit. Either that or the extra drinks might remove the inhibitions that normally prevent me from doing this… in any case, I will have more fun.

Final analysis:

io9 - A great blog if you are into science fiction.

Annalee, Charlie, and Meredith - Three very sexy geek grrls and wonderful writers.

io9 meetup - A very sexy event with an excellent turn out for a Wednesday evening, and probably a great deal more fun for anyone who is just a little bit more comfortable in a crowd than I am. (That is to say - pretty much everyone else in the world.)

Oh, and I will try to dig up some pictures of the girls of io9. I brought my camera but forgot to take any pictures. Hopefully my journalistic skills will improve with use…