Geekomancy is Back!

Today marks the return of my debut novel Geekomancy to the bookstore shelves in a new edition, with gorgeous new art.

The new edition is available in ebook and paperback forms from major booksellers.
You can also request it from your local library or special order from a friendly local
bookstore! The completed Ree Reyes series will be returning this summer/fall.
Celebromancy returns in July, Attack the Geek in August, and then Hexomancy in
September!

Handy bookstore links:

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/books/geekomancy/9780998060637
Amazon: https://t.co/VqAjXPhXEa
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1620987421
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/geekomancy-michael-r-underwood/1110049211?st=AFF&SID
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/geekomancy-1

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 minion 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?

If you’re not already familiar with Geekomancy, here’s what people have said about it over the years:

“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 the October Daye and Wayward Children series

“Magic in geekery, mysticism in celebrities, the Ree Reyes series by Mike Underwood is a celebration of everything that makes being a geek cool. Can’t wait to read what he has in store next.”

  • Stephen Blackmoore, author of Dead Things

“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 A Natural History of Dragons

“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

Balticon+ArvCon schedules

I’m participating in a few online panels at Balticon this weekend, if you’re attending/viewing and want to catch me chatting about various geeky things.

Balticon activities – (All times EDT)

Saturday, May 28
Sat 2:30 PM   Virtual Consuite Readings  Session 1069
Readings: Michael Underwood and Leonardo Espinoza Benavides

Sunday, May 29th
1:00 PM    Virtual Panel Room 2     Session 374       
What Makes Video Games Genre?                   

2:30 PM    Virtual Panel Room 2       Session 451       
An Introduction and Reevaluation of Neon Genesis Evangelion

7:00 PM    Virtual Panel Room 2      Session 918         
Deep Thoughts on Giant Monsters     

   
And on Monday the 30th, I’ll be playing a one-shot with the Strange Friends crew at 10 am EDT and then running a game for scientist fellows at 1:30 pm.
Both for ArvCon, over at Twitch.tv/Arvaneleron        

Writefest Schedule!

I’m appearing virtually on panels for this year’s Writefest, a multi-genre conference run by Writespace. Find out how to register here.

You can see me on panels across the weekend:

Saturday April 30th
9am EDT
Podcasting: How Audio Can Grow Your Writing Career
Michael R. Underwood • Marshall Ryan Maresca • Meg Hafdal • Michael DeLuca

1pm EDT
The Query Letter: How to Land an Agent
Michael R. Underwood • Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam • Valerie Valdes • Cassandra Rose Clarke • Kate Pentecost

Sunday May 1st
6pm EDT
Worldbuilding: When Is Your World a Character?
Sean Morrissey Carroll • Georgina Key • Michael R. Underwood • Marshall Ryan Maresca • Valerie Valdes

The Summer of Ree!

After a hiatus where the rights reverted to me but I wasn’t able to work on them, the Ree Reyes books are returning this summer with new covers AND publishing in paperback for the first time!

Here you can see the first of the new covers, this one for Geekomancy!

Cover by Deranged Doctor Design.

I absolutely love this new cover. The giant d20-as-magical orb makes me so happy.

PLUS, the Deranged Doctor Design team also created an animated version of the cover:

I’m still working with people on production of the ebook and print versions, but when they are done, I will let everyone know the re-release date and share the pre-order information. Plus, there will be new cover reveals for the other books soon!

Flights of Foundry schedule

This weekend I’m attending Flights of Foundry, presenting on panels and teaching a workshop. Flights of Foundry bills itself as “The world’s biggest multi-disciplinary, round the clock, international virtual convention” with guests of honor such as L. D. Lewis, Jana Bianchi, and Tobias Buckell, an intensive workshops series, and activities to fill the whole weekend, there’s something for everyone and more than you’ll make it to.”

Registration is donation-based, so you can attend whatever your economic circumstances!

My schedule (all times EDT)

Friday
3pm – Reimagining TTRPGS
9pm – Workshop – Power & Politics in Worldbuilding

Saturday
9pm – Building an Actual Play Podcast

Sunday
3pm – Synchronized Storytelling: Collaboration and Co-writing

Fractal Spire series premiere tonight!

Tonight Speculate! (the actual play show I co-host with Brandon O’Brien and Gregory A. Wilson) is kicking off a new series called “Fractal Spire”, playing Girl by Moonlight, a Forged in the Dark RPG forthcoming from Evil Hat Productions.

In Fractal Spire, a group of dream travelers in a dystopian world fight both the State and a sentient dream conspiracy. After losing their leader and the person that bound their group together, the remaining four must find a way to patch up their wounded hearts and fight on, together.

Watch the series premiere of “Fractal Spire” Sunday, Feb 6th at 7pm EST at Twitch.tv/ArvanEleron.

If you can’t make the live broadcast, the video will show up at Youtube.com/Arvaneleron 24 hours later. Each episode will be available in this YouTube playlist, and will come to the Speculate! podcast feed later on in smaller chunks.

Virtual WorldCon schedule!

I’ve decided to attend Worldcon virtually this year, given *waves hands at state of the pandemic*. I’m hoping to go down to DC for some very limited in-person socializing and meetings, but that’s still TBD.

But thanks to the programming team, I do have a full suite of programming:

All times EST (Eastern Standard/Eastern US time)

Wednesday
7pm – Breaking a Story, Hollywood Style (Older – Virtual)

Thursday
4pm – Building an Urban Fantasy (Older – Virtual)

Friday
2:30 pm – The Best Video Games of the Last Ten Years (Older – Virtual)

Saturday
5:30 pm – New TV: From Foundation to Squid Game & Beyond (Older – Virtual)

Listen to Born to the Blade for Free!

Born to the Blade series cover, by Will Stahle

Born to the Blade, the magic swordplay + diplomacy series I created for Realm and co-wrote with Marie Brennan, Cassandra Khaw, and Malka Older, is now available on all podcast platforms!

When it was released, it was only available to buy or to subscribers at Realm (formerly Serial Box), but now the series is being released as a weekly podcast to listen for free (supported by ads).

I’m very proud of the work we did on Born to the Blade and I’m excited for this chance for it to find a new audience thanks to a very low barrier to entry for listeners. Two episodes are live right now, with new episodes coming every Friday.

You can find Born to the Blade on Apple Podcasts here and (hopefully) by title on all other podcast platforms!

Streaming on Twitch!

Promotional Image for Twitch.tv/TurboTango

I’ve relaunched my channel “TurboTango” on Twitch, which I’m hoping to use to stream both video games and some future TTRPG actual play.

In last Sunday’s re-launch stream, I played a run on Trials of Fire, a fantasy post-apocalyptic roguelike deckbuilder. It’s a recent favorite of mine, and I’ll be playing the game again (with a new scenario) this Sunday!

My current streaming schedule is as follows:

Wednesdays and Sundays, 1-4pm EDT – Games With Mike (Video games, mostly roguelikes and/or deckbuilders)

To get reminders when the streams go live, you can follow my page at Twitch.tv/TurboTango and turn on notifications.

Upcoming Class on Action Scenes

Next month I am teaching a new class with Cat Rambo’s “Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers.” This one is about action scenes and emotional storytelling.

The class will be held on April 8th at 1 pm Pacific (4 pm Eastern) Daylight Time. The class will be two hours long and costs $99 USD ($79 if you have taken other classes at the Rambo Academy before).

Here’s the course description:

Characterization and the emotional arc of a novel don’t step aside when the blasters start firing or people start throwing punches. The best action storytelling uses chases, misadventure, and fight scenes to foreground emotion, to show characters making big choices based on their feelings. Instead, the best action stories include the audience in the emotional rollercoaster of the characters. This class will talk through techniques for using action scenes to advance the plot and the emotional journey of your characters and how to make sure that the scenes are far more than choreography and flashy explosions.

Sign up to take the class here.

This class draws heavily on the experiences I had writing Annihilation Aria and what I’ve learned as a reader in the past few years as well as through analysis of some of my favorite action scenes in media over the past decade.