Laura Preble | Why Can't I Have My Own Robot?

I've been a geek since birth. I was raised on Star Trek (the original,
styrofoam-rock, red-shirt-guy-killing Star Trek) and my parents took us to see
both Barbarella and Planet of the Apes at the drive-in. So, when I was asked by
an editor at Penguin to take a stab at writing in the genre of Chick Lit, I
sort of balked. I mean, what do I have in common with those elegant Chick Lit
writers? I associated them with cheerleaders, slutty high school girls (not the
same thing, mind you), makeup, high heels, and the felonious application of
Newton's Laws of Motion.