Category Archives: News

SHIELD AND CROCUS is here!

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Today is the day!

You can get Shield and Crocus on Amazon as well as several different bookstores. It’s also available in audiobook, performed by the amazing Luke Daniels.

If you’d like to read a preview first, Tor.com has you covered.

What have others been saying about it?

“…with Shield and Crocus, everything I love in a summer blockbuster. was contained between two covers. I think it’s safe to say that summer is officially here.”
-Eric Christensen, Fantasy Faction

“Blindingly creative, Shield and Crocus delivers action-packed, four-color fantasy with a lot of heart.”
-Michael J. Martinez, author of The Daedalus Incident

“Audec-Hal is a city where dispassionate robots co-exist with mad sorcerers and unpredictable storms that warp the fabric of reality itself. Fans of China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station or David Edison’s The Waking Engine will surely enjoy the mad inventiveness on display here.”
-Marie Brennan, author of A Natural History of Dragons

“The book is fast-paced, especially impressive considering the amount of world-building. The fight is desperate. The tyrants are villains in the truest sense. Superheroes + Epic Fantasy = Awesomeness.”
-Beth Cato, author of Clockwork Dagger

“I can’t say enough about the mythology and the world building. Underwood put a lot of thought into constructing the world of Audec-Hal, and it shows.”
-Beauty in Ruins

 

 

The Skiffy & Fanty Show Nominated for Best Fancast Hugo

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Dear all,

I’m over the that’s-not-a-moon to announce that The Skiffy & Fanty Show, the SF/F Podcast I joined last year, has been nominated for the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Fancast. We’re nominated with a great slate of podcasts, and it’s a great honor to be among such company.

You can find a full list of nominees here.

Shield and Crocus cover reveal!

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At long last, the cover to Shield and Crocus has been revealed on Tor.com!

Go over there and bask in the awesomeness, okay? I’ll wait here.

 

Back?

Super-cool, right? I was totally awed. Like, open jaw ‘Whaaa?’ awed. It think that Stephan Martinière is one of the best fantasy/science fiction artists working today (and might be the single best landscape painter among them), so the fact that he brought one of my worlds to life, and with a painting of that caliber, is still kind of mind-blowing for me, almost a month after I saw the first rough sketches.

While you’re basking in the cover’s awesomeness, you might as well go and pre-order Shield and Crocus in your preferred format 😉

Paperback
Ebook
Audiobook

cover to Shield and Crocus

2013 Eligibility and Recommendations

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Hi all. Because I have a zillion projects that I’m juggling right now, I’m late on the Eligibility Round-Ups for 2013 work.

 

Eligibility

I only published one fiction work in 2013 — CELEBROMANCY, the second in my Ree Reyes urban fantasy series. It is a 2nd in series, but it was written to be accessible to new readers and a stand-alone for folks who don’t like series. It’s available in ebook and the audiobook is performed marvelously by Mary Robinette Kowal.

Mary’s performance of CELEBROMANCY is eligible for Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form, due to the current interpretation of how audiobooks are handled for eligibility. I’d strongly encourage people to consider their favorite audiobook performances of 2013 when drawing up your Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form ballots.

I suppose I am also eligible for the World Fantasy — Special Award: Professional for my work as the Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books. But in reality, that award should go to someone making more of an impact on the field. I’m still warming up at Angry Robot — my best is yet to come.

My other award-nominable activity is on the fannish side. I am a contributor to the Skiffy & Fanty blog, which is eligible as best Fanzine. I am also an occasional co-host on the Skiffy & Fanty Show, which is eligible for best Fancast.

And my proudest S&F achievement for 2013, if by proud I mean delighted because it was so much fun, is the Skiffy & Fanty Show Torture Cinema episode on Sharknado. Recording that episode included far more laughing and hilarity than the Daily Recommended Dose, and was really what cemented my friendship with Shaun Duke, Jen Zink, and Julia Rios, who I would go on to join in Skiffy & Fanty hostitude. That episode, taken on its own, would be eligible for Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form. And wouldn’t it be cool to have something not a movie win the Hugo? Super cool. I won’t shill hard for my novel, but I will shill for that podcast episode. It was super-cool.

 

Recommendations

Conveniently, in the latest episode of the Skiff & Fanty Show, I make some recommendations of some of the stuff I most enjoyed and would love to see on awards ballots, so you can hear some of what I have to recommend that way.

 

Writahouse

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In case anyone still hasn’t seen this story, I direct your attention to Writeahouse, a charity that’s buying up abandoned, run-down houses, providing work to fix them up to 80% restored, then giving them to writers, who get the house free if they live there, do the last 20% of the restoration, and will get to keep the house if they stay long enough.

Given the numerous and serious problems facing Detroit, including a huge PR problem of ‘who would want to live in Detroit?’ offering artists a chance at super-affordable housing and a ready-made community is very intriguing.

If they did something similar in Baltimore, I might be up for it. Right now, we can’t leave where we are, due to my fiance’s work. And living anywhere but New England/East Coast is a no-go for my Angry Robot work. I have to stay within striking distance of New York City.

More info on Writahouse here:

http://boingboing.net/2013/12/18/free-houses-for-writers.html

2014 – The Year of World Domination

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This year is going to be big.

I’ve got conventions, publications, new projects, and high ambitions. If I pull off 2014 right, I might just have taken over the world. Or at least, it’ll feel like I’ve done so.

Here’s a summary of what’s coming up for me in 2014, including 2 novels, a novella, a graphic novel, and at least one short story. Whew. I’m already tired just thinking about what’s in store.

 

Publications:

Continue reading →

Angry Robot Books Open Door Period (Updated!)

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W00t! It’s that time again, folks – It’s Angry Robot Open Door time!

“But Mike, what are you talking about? I am conveniently unaware of the Angry Robot Open Door periods for informative purposes.”

Angry Robot, being constantly on the lookout for fresh blood and new approaches to the genre, periodically open our doors to unagented submissions, allowing writers to submit directly to the publisher for consideration. We’ve acquired a number of books this way, and some of those have gone on to be our stronger sellers.

 

Updated:

The doors have now opened!

Bonus: If Angry Robot acquires your book, you and I will get to work together!