I’m headed up to Saratoga Springs next week for the World Fantasy Convention, and if you’ll be there on Wednesday, I’d love to invite you to come to Northshire Books, where Tor Books/Tor.com Publishing is hosting an event. I’ll be there (possibly even with copies of The Shootout Solution!), along with many other fabulous authors.
Over lunch, I tweeted out a handful of short comics reviews from recent books I’ve read. Here’s a Storify of those reviews, and some links below to help find the books:
I’m very pleased to share the news that Macmillan Entertainment is going to be representing Genrenauts for TV/Film rights. This is not an option sale – it’s the equivalent of when I partnered with Jon Cassir at CAA a couple of years back for him to represent Geekomancy for media rights. This means that Macmillan Entertainment is sending the book out to producers, production companies, etc. and serving as my advocate in offers for film/TV rights.
I had a good chat with Brendan Deneen, the head at Macmillan Entertainment when we were talking about a partnership, and he totally gets Genrenauts and what makes it tick, including a lot of my biggest influences. I’m very excited to see what comes next.
And as a reminder, you can pre-order Genrenauts: The Shootout Solution right now in trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook. November 17th is getting very close now. I can’t wait to introduce you all to Leah, King, and the whole Genrenauts team.
Hi all! One of the best things about being a writer in Baltimore is that the city’s book festival every fall. SFWA runs an entire mini-convention throughout the festival, and I’ll be there this weekend (as well as splitting my time with the Baltimore Comic-Con, checking in with my comics friends).
Here’s where you can find me at the book festival:
Friday, September 25th
11am – The Revolution Will Be Science Fictional and Fantastic
What to read in SF/F and where to find it! Our panel looks at the latest trends in SF/F and the books people are talking about this year.
Emmie Mears, Cat Rambo, Fran Wilde, Michael R. Underwood
12pm – Comics! Science Fiction! Fantasy!
POW! BAM! See how comics, science fiction, and fantasy inform each other. Are superhero stories fantasy, science fiction, or both? Which non-superhero SF/F comics should you be reading? What’s up with novels about superheroes? From Saga to Ms. Marvel to Kavalier & Clay, our panel will discuss it all.
Bill Campbell, Anne Gray, Cat Rambo, Michael R. Underwood
1pm – Reading Group 1 – Superheroes, SF, and Action!
Sit down and discover your new favorite author! Four writers, one hour.
DH Aire, Tom Doyle, Cat Rambo, Michael R. Underwood
Saturday, September 26th
12pm – Dangerous Voices Variety Hour
A fast-paced quiz show in the vein of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me! brought to you by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Win free books and learn things you never knew about your favorite authors.
Tobias S. Buckell, Sarah Pinsker, Michael R. Underwood, Diana Peterfreund
6pm – Meet The Authors Social
Rub elbows with your new favorite science fiction and fantasy authors at this annual event.
All the Attending Authors
Here’s a map of the festival:
The fine folks at Ukazoo will be handling book sales, and I’ll be bringing some swag for my various books, current and upcoming. See you there!
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.
“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.
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!
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!
Hi folks! I know it’s supposed to be the calm before the storm, but sometimes I get too excited.
I wanted to give you all a heads-up that coming into next week, I’m going to be quite active with promotion for Hexomancy, the fourth Ree Reyes book, and that promo will eventually give way to promotion for Genrenauts: The Shootout Solution.
But first, here’s a bit of catch-up of what I’ve been up to over the last month:
At GenCon, Wesley Chu (now a John W. Campbell Award-winner) and I talked with Greg Wilson and Brad Beaulieu of Speculate! The Podcast For Writers, Readers, and Fans) about our publishing journeys, as the start of a new series of episodes.
Then I turned the mic and interviewed Greg and Brad on their journeys so far, their podcasting, hobbies, and life balance.
Tor.com released a free collection with sample chapters from each of the launch list of novellas, including the first Genrenauts story.
Audec-Hal was included in Bradley Beaulieu’s List of Top 10 Metropolis stories.
And right now, Shield and Crocus is on sale for just $1.99 in ebook – grab a copy if you’ve been holding off, or buy a copy for a friend if you feel so inclined.
Deb Stanish interviewed me for the Uncanny Magazine Podcast about my essay on representation in the Marvel & DC Cinematic Universes.
And there’s plenty more to come!
My fellow Geekomancers and Genrenauts,
I write you from a airport brewery restaurant in Indianapolis, having been stranded overnight by weather in Chicago (cancelled the first leg of my flight).
GenCon was, as expected, a glorious time. I was very pleased with my panels and the Writers Symposium, from the crowds to their questions to my excellent moderators. It was a great experience. I even got to do a tiny bit of gaming, leading me to put a few on my wish (Fortune & Glory, Star Wars: Imperial Assault, Fantasy Age, and others).
I was Angry Roboting most of the weekend, but I did get to hand out sampler chapbooks for Genrenauts: The Shootout Solution to spread the word, and met several fans that came up after panels or found me at the AR booth. W00t!
During the weekend, I was a guest/guest host on no fewer than five podcast episodes, which you’ll hear about in the coming weeks.
Another fun discovery during the weekend was that Celebromancy, the second Ree Reyes novel, is on discount right now on Kindle, just $1.99! If you enjoyed Geekomancy but haven’t moved on with the series, now’s your chance to do so and save some $ along the way. Remember, Hexomancy is just over a month (!) away.
Hermes permitting, I’ll be home tonight and then taking a couple of rest days to recover from the con and wrap up edits on my second Tor.com Publishing novella – Genrenauts: The Absconded Ambassador.
Catch you on the flip-side,
Mike
A while back, Borderlands Books announced that they would have to close up shop. This was met with much despair and many calls to investigate options to avoid closing.
Borderlands held a planning meeting earlier this month to consider options. Writer and Reviewer Sunil Patel took notes at the planning meeting, which I Storified here (N.B. these are not official meeting minutes).
On Twitter last night, I saw a huge outpouring of support for Borderlands, and it looks like they’re well on their way to reaching the goal of 300 sponsorships to stay open through at least the end of 2015. I will be buying a sponsorship, for sure. And I would invite you, dear readers, to take a look at their website, look up the events they have hosted, the role they play in the SFF community, and to consider buying a sponsorship if it is within your means and your giving allowance.
Even though I’ve only physically been to Borderlands twice, I have felt the positive impact their presence has on the community. There are a very small number of specialist SF/F bookstores in the country, and Borderlands is one of the very best. It is my hope and sincere belief that the broader SF/F community can come together and give them the boost they need to continue to serve the San Francisco SF/F community, the city that is their home, and the genre writ large.
Side note – this post is not the place for discussion of the minimum wage regulations or Borderlands’ state reason for closing. That has been much-discussed elsewhere. This is about coming together to help the store.
June was a whirlwind, and now moving into July, we’ve come through the eye of the PROMONADO and are now going through the second half, with CONvergence and ReaderCon, as well as more podcastery.
Today, I’m on Adventures of Sci-Fi Publishing, talking about SHIELD AND CROCUS, Tor.com’s new imprint, the Hachette/Amazon situation, and more. There’s also a giveaway for a SHIELD AND CROCUS bundle (paperback, audiobook, ebook).
And just a couple of days before that, my spot on the Reader/Writer podcast went live.
Fangirl Nation has a review of CELEBROMANCY– “a creative look at an intricate movie culture and works as a commentary on the power of that culture. Underwood continues to write a series that is engaging, filled with pop culture references and entertaining to boot.”
SHIELD AND CROCUS gets a mention on Literologie’s Summer Reading List.
And lastly, I squee about Beth Cato’s THE CLOCKWORK DAGGER for Tor.com’s Writers on Writing segment.
