Genrenauts Giveaway

The fine folks at Tor.com are giving away three copies of Genrenauts: The Shootout Solution on Goodreads. Enter here

The Shootout Solution cover

Here’s a round-up of reviews to get you psyched to enter:

“This is fun…Readers will be looking forward to Leah and company’s next trip to a story world.”
Library Journal

“It’s an entertaining enough concept, and the diverse cast of characters is a nice change of pace.”
Publishers Weekly

“Who hasn’t wanted to imagine themselves parachuting into a story gone wrong and putting it back on track? It’s storytelling as heroism, genre savviness as power. Endless fun.”
Marie Brennan, World Fantasy Award-nominated author of A Natural History of Dragons

“A clever, exciting, and seriously fun twist on portal fantasy that sends a geeky stand-up comedian into the Wild West. Sign me up to be a Genrenaut, too!”
Delilah S. Dawson, author of the Blud series, Hit, and Wake of Vultures, written as Lila Bowen

“My favorite new TV show of 2015 isn’t on TV, it’s in the pages of Mike Underwood’s Genrenauts. Deeply funny and creative, shrewdly insightful, and thrillingly paced, every pop culture diehard will want to keep living vicariously through the characters in this series.”
Matt Wallace, author of the Slingers Saga and Envy of Angels.

“…a rollicking exploration of western tropes, with hints of a larger conspiracy afoot. Underwood has plans for a lot more of these, and I can’t wait to read them.”
Joel Cunningham, B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

“A wonderfully executed idea that uses the strengths and background of the writer to great effect.”
Paul Weimer, SF Signal

The Shootout Solution is Genre blending fun.”
Fangirl Nation

“A Tardis of a novella, The Shootout Solution is packed full of ideas… The possibilities are endless… Tor.com continues to blaze a bookish trail in terms of both originality and diversity. More like this, please.”
Geek Syndicate

“Snappy dialogue, twisting plot turns, and efficiently written action scenes combine with a strongly realized protagonist that reminds me of a old friend from my art school days, not a cardboard cut-out of the “strong female character” trope.”
Polychromantium

While the book is short (it is a novella after all) I could not help but get sucked right into the concept. Everything is explained just enough to get me going. The characters are great and interesting, and they included both our main character who is an Asian Female (this is rare as hell) and even had a Transgender lady (male to female). It comes up briefly, and then just moves right on. Its well done, and fun.
Page Turners, Inc.

“I enjoyed this book tremendously. Leah is a smart, savvy, snarky young woman whose character nicely balances the calm goodheartedness of Shirin, the experienced competency of King, and the attractive cockiness of Roman. They make a great team.”
Fang-Tastic Fiction

“I can see this really appealing to readers who are into browsing TV Tropes, or who liked Ready Player One but want a more satisfying experience.”
One Last Sketch

“We like nerdy Leah and were able to immediately identify with her. She should return for many more episodes!”
Exploding Spaceship

“It’s got a clever, rather cool central idea. It has a plot built around that which keeps up suspense, whilst giving you a protagonist to care about, portrayed well, in a world which feels believable – perhaps by virtue of the setting for that world. I’d like to see more of all of the characters, and really, more of the setting in general, but that’s more recommendation than complaint!”
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviews

 

And here’s that link again to enter the giveaway.

 

The Shootout Solution Promonado Round-up: Week 2

The Shootout Solution is here, and the glorious Promonado, distributing promotion and love and geekdom all across the internet, has reached Category V. You can catch up on last week’s Promonado if you haven’t done so.

First, I celebrated the release itself.

The Shootout Solution Final

 

Serial Box had me over to their blog for an interview.

I sent my mailing list subscribers the password to my development diaries for The Shootout Solution.

Books

Barnes & Noble’s SF/F Blog gave me space to talk about genre-aware stories.

B&N also included the book in its weekly round-up of SF/F releases, repeating the kind review from a couple of months back.

Book Riot Podcast All The Books! Included The Shootout Solution in its longlist of releases. I’m a big Book Riot fan, so this was a treat.

At Tor.com, I talk about Leah as a Stand-up hero, and the three tries it took to get her stand-up routine right.

I gave away some copies on my friend and Speculate Co-host Gregory A. Wilson’s Twitch channel.

I geeked out with the fine folks of the Grim Tidings Podcast.

comics speech bubbles

Stephen Geigen-Miller interviewed me for his Breaking In series.

Library Freaking Journal reviewed The Shootout Solution, prompting joyful flail.

Author Jay Swanson and I talked about genre for writing and marketing on his Creative Mines video podcast.

I rambled about work/writing balance and more with Mahvesh Murad on Midnight in Karachi.

Mary Robinette Kowal gave me space to talk about My Favorite Bit from The Shootout Solution.

And the Audiobook edition came out today – performed by one of the best audiobook performers of our time, Mary Robinette Kowal.

If you haven’t seen them, Tor.com has been posting fun Genrenauts adventure prompts on their YouTube page:

So, that’s the state of the Promonado! Remember, if you buy The Shootout Solution – Genrenauts Episode 1 before November 23rd, you can enter to win a signed galley of 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

Attack the Geek at Bitten By Books

Dear all,

The amazing team at Bitten By Books is hosting me for an interactive event to support Attack the Geek on Thursday 4/10 at Noon CDT.

You can RSVP here — if you’re planning on attending, I highly recommend RSVPing, since it gives you a much better chance at winning the $50 gift card I’m providing as a giveaway prize.