New York Comic-Con Schedule

If you’re heading to NYCC this week, here’s where you can find me doing official-type things! I’ll also be walking the show floor, attending panels, and scouring artists’ alley all weekend. Ping me on Twitter if you want to meet up!

Thursday, Oct 8th

Signing!
2pm – Booth #1828

In-booth signing with fellow Pocket author Kristi Charish. S&S is providing rare bound galley copies of GEEKOMANCY which we’ll have for me to sign and send home with readers.

Saturday, Oct 10th

Books to Movies Wishlist
4pm – Room A101

The Martian. Foundation. American Gods. Redshirts: So many iconic SFF novels are finally scheduled to hit the big screen, thanks to the rabid fandom of recent dramatizations of Game of Thrones, Outlander, The Hunger Games, Divergent. But what’s on the big screen wish list of this Panel of bestselling speculative fiction superstars? They all agree that the obvious franchises have been done already – and now, they want to discuss with NYCC Attendees what lesser-know/cult fave titles should invade theaters and march into cable programming! Join us for a nerdy-fun discussion about which science fiction and fantasy must-reads would really make celluloid magic!

Panel:

Charlie Jane Anders
Christopher Golden
Chuck Wendig
Jennifer Armentrout
Clay Griffith
Susan Griffith
Michael R. Underwood (Moderator)

Post-Panel Signing
5:15pm-6:15pm WORD Bookstore 1-B

Come and get books signed by the panelists, and me! We’ll have a very small # of the left-over Geekomancy galleys for people at this signing.

Hexomancy Review Roundup

Hexomancy is here, but several folks have already read it, thanks to the wonders of NetGalley. And lucky for me, they seem to be loving the book, which makes my geeky heart soar. It means a lot to me that people are still reading and reviewing the series four books in, since it’s often very hard to get reviews of books after the first in the series.

Hexomancy cover

Joe’s Geek Fest says:

Michael Underwood scores full points for a perfect hit with Hexomancy, drawing (at least the first cycle) of the Ree Reyes series (which include Geekomancy and Celebromancy along with the novella, Attack the Geek) to a full-on fun while satisfying ending. You know those episode-ending scenes around the table of Serenity from Firefly? There is a sense of camaraderie, coming home with people and life seeming to fit (even with chaos around the corner). That’s what Hexomancy is for me.

Brainfluff gives some love to the series’ lead:

Ree is an engaging, likeable heroine, with an interesting backstory. She is a ‘glass half full’ lass, rather than the tortured, angsty type, so the overall tone is fairly upbeat despite the various disasters and mayhem that befalls them. I enjoyed her positive energetic outlook and the buzz of the bar, Grognard’s, where she works as a waitress is effectively captured. That said, it isn’t all a bundle of laughs. Underwood handles the building threat well, and the action scenes whip through with plenty of tension – more so, because he isn’t afraid of offing significant characters. There was also a couple of pleasing story twists I didn’t see coming.

James at Fragile Muse loves the fun and calls out one of the primary influences of the series:

First and foremost, these books are FUN! Michael Underwood wears his geek cred on his sleeve, much like Ernest Cline who wrote Ready Player One and Armada. However, instead of just dropping geek references, he weaves our shared love of all these properties, characters and culture into the fabric of the engine which drives Ree’s powers.

Brad K. Horner says:

There’s nothing quite like this series. The rules are well defined, the characters are interesting, and the utter truckload of geeky nostalgia plows through me like the power of the dark side. Or is that Hexomancy? Hmm.

And the fine folks at Talk Supe say they Loved It:

Hexomancy was a satisfying and exciting conclusion to the first arc of Ree Reyes. There are new things that come up, when a door closes, another one opens…I’m really looking forward to reading what’s next for our adorable heroine.

 

In addition to squeeing over reviews, I’ve been making the promotional rounds to support Hexomancy. Here’s the first batch of fun:

I was the first-ever guest interviewed on Last Chance Salon Podcast (how cool!), talking about my writing journey, the Ree Reyes books, Force Friday, and more.

Over at Literary Escapism, I reflect on changes in the world of geekdom and pop culture since Geekomancy was released in the summer of 2012.

And if you’re on the fence about the books or your memory is foggy about what’s happened before Hexomancy, I gave an introduction and summary of the series at XOXO After Dark.

 

If you’re planning to buy Hexomancy and haven’t done so already, please consider picking it up this week. First week sales are an important indicator to a book’s publisher, and it helps drive momentum and discovery. Also, if you’ve already read the book, please consider leaving a review on the ebook retailers (as many as you care to cross-post to), as those also drive discovery.

And if you’ve done all of the above (my heroes!) and are hungry for more, don’t fret! Genrenauts: The Shootout Solution is only 2 months and 2 days away, and is specifically designed to be fun for Ree Reyes readers while also being totally their own thing.

Shield and Crocus super-bundle contest

Contest time!

I’m going to give away a three-pack of Shield and Crocus awesomeness – the paperback, a CD audiobook, and a copy of the ebook. I’ll sign and personalize the paperback.

cover to Shield and Crocus

How do I enter?

We’ll have a bit of fun inspired by Shield and Crocus. Comment on this post and tell me your favorite superhero, and what fantasy world you’d love to see them in, and why.

Deadpool in Ankh-Morpork or Wonder Woman in Westeros, and so on.

Enter by July 2nd, 12 Noon EDT, and I’ll select a winner at random to get the deluxe pack. Entrants from USA and CAN will be eligible for the full pack – entrants from elsewhere in the world are welcome, but the prize will be just the ebook.

Geekomancy and Celebromancy on BoingBoing

Today I woke to the delightful news that Geekomancy and Celebromancy got recommendation shout-outs from Ramez Naam on Gweek, a BoingBoing podcast.

From Russia With Doubt

From Russia With Doubt (Gweek podcast 138)

*pinches self* Yep, that happened.

Huge thanks to Mez, who is a friend, a wickedly smart guy, and an excellent author. His debut science fiction novel Nexus just got nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, you know. If you haven’t checked it out, definitely go do so.

Mind Meld – Epic Geek Debates

Aside

Over at SF Signal, I took part in a Mind Meld about Epic Geek Debates, which is a topic so perfect for me I had a lot of difficulty narrowing my experiences down to just one debate to talk about.

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/03/mind-meld-epic-geek-debates-rants/

With shout-outs to my Skiffy & Fanty colleagues, and especially Kommandant Shaun Duke.

Geekomancy mention in Sword & Laser

Geekomancy makes a guest appearance on the fabulous Sword & Laser video show, during the Calendar segment of episode 7.

Linkage! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHW8kzc1dmg&feature=g-all-u

If you don’t want to watch the whole episode (you should watch it anyway), you can see the novel at 15:45.

And now back to the happy author dance.

Podcast Interview at Once & Future Podcast

Anton Strout, gentleman and scholar and host of the Once & Future Podcast, has posted his latest episode, where he and I talk about Geekomancy, our shared love of GenCon, why he and Patrick Rothfuss should fight like Pokemon in the writing arena, and much more.

http://blog.antonstrout.com/2012/07/05/of-podcast-ep-38–michael-r-underwood.aspx

It was a blast talking with Anton, and I learned a lot about how to arrange my thoughts when doing author interviews on the phone and how that’s different than in person or via email.

Enjoy!