Announcing ANNIHILATION ARIA

I’ve been alluding to a [REDACTED NOVEL] for some time now, and I can finally drop the brackets and tell everyone what’s up!

My next novel is a space opera called ANNIHILATION ARIA, and it’s coming May 5th, 2020 from Parvus Press!

On Monday, Parvus tweeted this:

 

and this:

 

 

Which may or include zoomed-in sections of a soon-to-be-revealed cover. Who could say? 😉

Here’s the official announcement.

There will be more news about ANNIHILATION ARIA soon, from art to endorsements to some travel plans and more! This novel has been a long time coming, serving as a back-burner project for several years as I was wrapping up Season One of Genrenauts and as I was developing and writing Born to the Blade with the team and Serial Box.

 

Genrenauts Season One Collection

I’m very excited (like hovering over my chair excited) because today is a big landmark in my writing career. Today marks the result of countless hours of writing, planning, and promotion, as Genrenauts: The Complete Season One Collection releases to the world.

If you’re coming here through random happenstance and haven’t about Genrenauts, it’s like Leverage meets Redshirts, where a group travels to dimensions based on narrative genres (like Fantasy, Western, Romantic Comedy, etc.) to find and fix broken stories. It’s set up like a TV series with a new adventure every episode, arranged in seasons with an overarching plot. This new book collects the first season in one volume.

Writing this series has let me really dig in and explore what makes stories tick, why we tell certain types of stories, and what I love about different genres.

I’m eager to bring Genrenauts to new readers by collecting all six episodes from Season One in this single volume, sold at a big discount compared to buying each episode individually.

You can get the Season One Collection in ebook:

Direct from Me (via Gumroad)
Amazon Kindle * Nook * Kobo * iBooks

And in paperback from:
Amazon * Barnes & Noble * IndieBound

A final bit of fun. Here’s me unboxing the first physical copy of the omnibus:

A Book Birthday Message from Your Host

Hi folks.

Today is the release of my seventh book, The Shootout Solution. It’s the beginning of my Genrenauts series, and I think it’s my strongest work to date. It’s about a group of storytellers that travel between dimensions, each other world being the home of a story genre (Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, etc.). They find and fix broken stories in order to protect their Earth. Genrenauts lets me explore my thoughts about the social and psychological role of genres and storytelling. It’s also a chance for me to try to tell a big, dramatic story while staying optimistic.

It’s like Leverage meets Jasper Fforde, or Leverage for stories. It’s a great match for Ree Reyes fans, or for anyone that likes action/adventure or genre-bending SF/F.

Some of you have been with me since Geekomancy released in 2012, others are probably just now finding my work. Whoever you are, however you got here, thank you for completing the storytelling circuit. I write these books to communicate, to get my thoughts out into the world, and to entertain. Without you, without readers, I’m just talking to myself.

I’m incredibly excited about this series, as you have already seen. I’ve got a five-seasons planned for the series, and I’ve already written all six episodes of season 1. I want to take this one all the way.

Now, it’s up to you, the readers, to see if you like the book. Because if you do, there’s plenty more to come. Not just from me, but from the entire Tor.com Publishing imprint. They’ve got stand-alone novellas and series like mine across every corner of SF/F, from gritty revenge stories starring anthropomorphic animals to lyrical tales about outsider witches, stand-alone epic fantasy, and more.

If you’re here, it’s probably because you already know me from my books, from Twitter, from Angry Robot, or from a podcast. However you got here, welcome. I work from home, so a lot of my socializing happens through the internet – I thrive off of that interaction, and I appreciate having you here.

Like I said, it’s my book birthday, so here’s my wish: Please buy The Shootout Solution. And if you like it, tell your friends. Tell your co-workers. Find the people in your life that you think would enjoy the series, and share it with them. And then, consider trying some of the other novellas from Tor.com. We’re all in this boat together.

Every book that does well makes it more likely that Tor.com Publishing will succeed. Because I tell you what – Macmillan aren’t the only ones watching. You can guarantee that other publishers are watching what happens with Tor.com Publishing and deciding what to do about novellas, about innovative publishing strategies.

This entire imprint is an experiment by Macmillan, which does a perfectly good business in SF/F with their existing imprints (Tor Books is the largest North American publisher of SF/F, with many of the biggest writers in the genre). Macmillan is taking a big risk and investing a lot in trying to make this new model work, but it will only succeed if readers get as excited about novellas as the staff and writers for the imprint are.

I’ve found writing novellas to be incredibly rewarding – they’re long enough to establish an interesting world and tell a meaty story, but they don’t come with the expectations of a full-length novel. You can get in, tell your story, and get out, without the need to elongate the story with sub-plots and additional try-fail cycles. I still love writing novels, but this series has taught me to appreciate the versatility and beauty of the novella form. And for episodic storytelling in prose? Novellas are the place to be.

So if you’re excited about novellas, too – whether it’s from reading Genrenauts already, other novellas, or from any of the other Tor.com Publishing books, please spread the word. Recommend novellas to your friends, buy novellas as gifts for the holidays, and be sure to review the novellas you’ve read on retailer sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, as well as Goodreads.

So, here’s the take-away:

  1. Please buy The Shootout Solution – you can get it in paperbackebook, or audio (narrated by the amazing Mary Robinette Kowal, who narrated Celebromancy and Attack the Geek). The ebook edition is just $2.99, less than a latte, and just as energizing.
  2. Once you’ve read the book, please consider writing an honest review on retailer sites (Amazon, B&N, iTunes) and Goodreads. More reviews = more attention = more support from the publisher and from the retailers themselves. Especially on Amazon, the more reviews a book gets (especially right away upon release), the more it gets recommended through emails and so on. This is huge, especially for a digital-first book like The Shootout Solution.
  3. Spread the word. Talk about the book wherever you like to talk about books. This is really the most important thing. Maybe you can’t afford to buy too many books, or don’t have the time to read more than a handful a year. If you never buy one of my books and get them all on NetGalley or whatever, you can still make a huge difference by talking about the book. Anonymity is the kiss of death for creative work, so when someone cares about a work, cares enough to talk about it, that is magic.

P.S. If you buy the book before November 23rd, or if you’ve already pre-ordered, you can enter to win a signed & personalized print galley of The Absconded Ambassador, Genrenauts Episode 2. I’m doing this because early sales are a huge deal, I greatly appreciate them, and this is a way I can show that appreciation.

 

The way I see it, creative work succeeds when it makes an impact. Whether that’s just being a pleasant distraction during your commute or a way to focus during a flight, changing your mind or how you see the world, or providing a way to fill a lazy afternoon – however you partake, the fact that you care is the biggest magic of all.

Because it’s the beginning of what I hope to be a big, ambitious series, it’s really important for the first book to sell well. That’s why I’ve been running around the entire internet doing podcasts, written interviews, guest posts, videos, etc. I’ve been doing my best to spread the word and get people excited about it.

Thanks for coming this far, and I hope you’ll come back as Genrenauts continues February 23rd, 2016, with Episode 2 – The Absconded Ambassador.

Genrenauts Combined

 

The Absconded Ambassador giveaway!

We’re just 5 days from the release of The Shootout Solution: Genrenauts Episode 1

The Shootout Solution Final

Happy minion

 

There’s still time to pre-order the book in paperback, ebook, and/or audio, which I say because pre-orders are incredibly important.

Here’s what pre-orders do.

  1. They maximize week one sales, which makes the book look good and makes the publisher happy. Since I want to sell all of Season 1 (and beyond) of Genrenauts to Tor.com, this is a big deal.
  2. They get the retailers excited about the book. Especially if you order with a friendly local store – your local indie, a B&N, and so on.
  3. The sooner readers get to a book, the sooner they can review a book. First week reviews are a big factor for ebook retailers in determining what books get promoted and to whom.

The second-best thing to pre-orders are sales the first week of release. I know some people like to buy on the spot, so instead of just doing a pre-order giveaway, I’m going to extend it to both pre-orders and first week sales.

Buy the book (in your format of choosing) and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a signed and personalized print galley of The Absconded Ambassador – Genrenauts Episode 2. Those galleys are due to me by the end of November, so you’d get yours shortly afterword. And then you’ll be months ahead of the February 23rd 2016 release for the book.

Full Giveaway Rules:

  1. Pre-order The Shootout Solution from any retailer, or buy it in the first week (November 17th – 22nd).*
  2. Send an email with the proof of purchase/receipt to munderwood@gmail.com. The subject line should read “Absconded Ambassador Giveaway
  3. On November 30th, I’ll randomly select winners to receive the 5 signed & personalized print galleys.

 

Pre-order links:

Paperback: IndieBound * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Ebook:   Kindle * Google PlayKobo * Nook * iTunes

Audio: Audible

 

*The physical galleys will be available to US and Canadian readers only. (I’m sorry, but international shipping gets incredibly expensive. If you’re outside the US/CAN territory and win, I will send you a free ebook copy of The Absconded Ambassador when it releases in Feb 2016, along with Other Cool Stuff via email.)

The Absconded Ambassador

 

Good luck, and stay tuned for much more from the Genrenauts Episode 1 Promonado – Essays, interviews, podcasts, and more!

Fist bump

Hexomancy Week One

Hexomancy has been out in the world for one week, and I’m quite happy at the sales #s so far. Thank you so much to the folks who pre-ordered, spread the word, and so on.

This was a special book for me – I wrote it in just over a month, thanks to an improved outlining process and getting into a great writing rhythm. I had a ton of ideas of what I wanted to happen in the book, and I knew the characters really well, so I was able to let loose during the drafting process.

Here’s a recap of my latest PROMONADO activity:

The first review round-up from last week.

I shared my Favorite Pop-Culture Geeks over at SF Signal.

Kingdom of Evil Podcast – I talk about book publicity/promotion

Last Chance Salon Podcast – Writing! Star Wars! Laughter!

Reader Mari live-tweeted her reading of HEXOMANCY and it was amazing. There are some substantial spoilers involved, so be forewarned.

Mari also reviewed the book.

Hexomancy hits all my sweet spots for good crunchy urban fantasy fiction, with laugh out loud snark-studded dialogue, just the right amount of nostalgic callbacks to things geeks of all genre-spheres will love, and crisply paced prose that moves the story forward at downhill-on-black-ice-slope’s pace.”

If you haven’t picked up your copy of Hexomancy, here’s a handy page with an index of the various ebook retailers.

Hexomancy cover

And if you’ve read Hexomancy, please consider leaving an honest review on the various retailer sites. They have a big impact on discovery, helping readers decide if it’s a book for them.

Bonus! If you’re attending the Baltimore Book Festival this week, come to my panels or swing by during the meet-and-greet to say hello!

Hexomancy is here!

 

 

 

Hexomancy cover

 

At long last, Hexomancy has arrived!

It’s been over a year since Attack the Geek, the last Ree Reyes story, was released, and now Hexomancy closes out the first story arc of the Ree Reyes universe.

If you’re not familiar with the Ree Reyes stories, check out this series summary I wrote for XOXO After Dark to see if it catches your fancy.

For long-running readers, here’s what you can expect from Hexomancy: More Lucretia, more Drake, more Eastwood and Grognard, but also more of the Rhyming Ladies, and plots from the first three books to come back around for a reckoning. Expect Eastwood’s history to figure in a big way, and as always, there’s more of the patented Ree Reyes series pop-culture references, geeky jokes, and energetic action-adventure storytelling.

I’m really proud of Hexomancy – I think it’s the best novel I’ve written to-date, in terms of pacing, action, characterization, and interpersonal relationships. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Click here for links to ebook retailers to get your copy now.

Until next time, Geek on!

Shield and Crocus launch report

Last Friday, Atomic Books hosted the launch for Shield and Crocus, my first book in paperback format. It was amazing, wonderful, and I will cherish the memory for all of my days.

I was greeted by a lovely stack of bookness upon my arrival:

Bqm5W54IQAIYLcc

 

I took the lay of the land, remembering how cool it was to be in a book/comic shop with its very own bar:

Eightbar

 

When the time came, Benn from Atomic introduced me, and I faced the crowd (it got even bigger later!)

photo (14)

Fellow Codexian and Team Novelocity member Fran Wilde snapped this photo during my reading, which I love and very well may want to use as my next author photo:

BqnDHZIIcAAeL3n

 

I read from the beginning of Shield and Crocus (featuring a messy apartment, a grappling hook, and robot voices), answered a few questions, and then we broke out into social time. I was excited to meet several fellow writers in the area, re-connect with local friends, and make several new friends.

There was even cake! (It was not a lie)

photo (15)

And I was so excited as we were arriving that I didn’t even notice the poster they put in the front window! We snapped a quick picture before heading home for the night.

Author Michael R. Underwood at Atomic Books

 

Thank you  to Atomic Books for hosting me, and to everyone who came out to help launch the book!

For those who weren’t able to make it, Atomic Books still has a number of signed copies of Shield and Crocus, which you can order from their website.