Dear all, I’m incredibly thrilled to finally be able to share the news that I’ve inked a new book deal for what will be my print debut(!).

From the Publishers Marketplace announcement:

FICTION: SCIENCE FICTION/ FANTASY
Author of GEEKOMANCY, Michael R. Underwood’s SHIELD AND CROCUS about an aging revolutionary and a haunted city, to David Pomerico at 47North, in a nice deal, for publication in 2014 in print and graphic novel by Sara Megibow at Nelson Literary Agency. (World)

 

My Hollywood-style pitch for SHIELD is “Mistborn meets China Mieville,” since it combines high action with a New Weird-style setting.

SHIELD AND CROCUS is a novel that began its life as a short story critiqued at the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2007, with Graham Joyce as the instructor for the week. I was inspired by a story written by Jon Christian Allison, one of my classmates, and wrote a tale that combined a setting drawing upon the New Weird with the action of heroic fantasy that I’ve loved all my life.

Graham and my classmates encouraged me to take the story and expand it into a novel, and years later, after several revisions and a lot of growth on my part as a writer, I’m over the moon that David Pomerico has acquired it for 47North. David has a laser-focused plan for positioning and supporting the novel, including providing the truly exciting opportunity of having the story adapted as a graphic novel. More on that later.

I’ve had an impressive amount of feedback and support along the way, so the acknowledgements for this novel are going to be substantial. I cannot promise that I will not cry when I finally get around to writing them, since this novel has been a big part of my life for several years (from mid-2007 through 2010, most specifically), and represents the work that put me over the top from being an apprentice writer to a new professional. Without the skills at character voice and revision I developed working on SHIELD, I would not have been able to write GEEKOMANCY at the level that allowed it to be sold to Pocket Star.

I also want to take the time to give a huge shout-out to Sara Megibow, my agent, who has now helped me sign three book deals for a total of five novels and a novella, within the first two years of working together. Thanks to her support and cunning skills, I am going to have an amazingly busy 2014, and I couldn’t be more excited.