Michael G. Munz

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Archives for February 2014

Top 5 List: PC Games

February 24, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 7 Comments

This being the Internet, a person can only have a blog for so long before they’re legally required to post one of three things: top 5 lists, cat photos, or porn. (Don’t blame me! It’s the LAW! We must comply lest the Internet gods smite us from the face of the Web!) Since I don’t own a cat and few people (myself included) want to see me naked on the Internet, I bring you the first of a series of geek-related Top 5 lists! All lists shall be chosen and voted on by an exclusive panel of me. This week’s list:

Top Five PC Games

Well huh. After the arduous task of coming up with a list of only five, I’m suddenly faced with the question of whether or not to rank them. More decisions! Just picking them was hard enough! So, in no particular order (unless I change my mind): [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Gaming, Top 5 Tagged With: Games, Geek Interest

The origins of Zeus is Dead

February 23, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

So you’ve probably heard my news that Zeus is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure will soon be published by Seattle publisher Booktrope. Today I’m reblogging something I wrote a few years ago after I’d completed the manuscript and was getting ready to shop it around to agents: the “origin story” of how I came to write my favorite work…

(Note that the working title of the novel was Murdering Zeus for Fun and Prophet.)

Way back when I started writing–at least in any serious fashion–I had an idea about writing an original Greek myth. Not to retell The Odyssey or some such thing, but rather writing an epic of my own plotting using the already existing (and public domain, obviously) characters of Greek and Roman mythology.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Books, Press, Writing, Zeus Is Dead Tagged With: Booktrope, Fantasy, Geek Interest, Mythology, Writer

A Memory in the Black now available on Nook, iTunes, and Smashwords

February 22, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

Book Two of
The New Aeneid Cycle

I’ve received a lot of questions about this, and I’m pleased to announce that A Memory in the Black is now available on Nook, iTunes, and Smashwords! (I expect it to appear on Kobo soon as well, but it’s not there quite yet.)

Special Smashwords offer: Today through February 28th, you can download it (in epub, mobi, or PDF) from Smashwords for half the price with coupon code VG23D!

Want to get a FREE copy? Help me out by sharing this link (http://www.michaelgmunz.com/new_aeneid.html) on Twitter or Facebook by Feb 28th, then either comment on this post or email me that you’ve done so at mike@michaelgmunz.com, and I’ll send you a code to get it from Smashwords free!

“This series so far has me hooked! It’s just really exciting!!! I can’t wait for the third book!!!” –★★★★★ Amazon review

And, of course, A Shadow in the Flames, book one of the series, continues to be free across just as many platforms. If you haven’t read it yet, pick it up today!

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Filed Under: A Memory in the Black, Books, Featured Tagged With: Ebook, Free, New Aeneid Cycle, Nook, Review, Science Fiction, Smashwords

Don’t Be A Psycho…

February 18, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

An important service message from Writing.com:
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Filed Under: Miscellaneous, Writing Tagged With: Humor

Murdering Zeus for Fun and Prophet to be published!

February 15, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 5 Comments

(Note: Murdering Zeus for Fun and Prophet was the working title. The book will be published under the name Zeus is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure.)

So it’s happened.

Big news.

Epic, one might even say.

That’s right, the Seahawks actually won the Superbowl! Er, wait, that’s not it. (I mean, they DID win, but that’s not the news.) Sorry, it’s early Saturday and I haven’t yet finished my coffee. One sec.

*gulps*

Okay! So, the actual news: Seattle publisher Booktrope will be publishing my comedic fantasy novel, currently titled Murdering Zeus for Fun and Prophet!!!!

It would be accurate to say that I’m a wee bit excited about this. Yes, I do have two sci-fi novels out there right now as ebooks, but Murdering Zeus will be my first non-self published novel and will be published in both paper and electronic formats. Don’t get me wrong, self-publishing can be a great way to go–there are a great many fantastic self-published authors out there–but it’s long been a goal of mine to get a publisher interested enough in a novel I’ve written to say, “Hey, this is great! Let us put it out there!” If you’ll permit me a little pride, it’s an incredible feeling.

“That’s great, Mike, really. But quit blubbering and tell us what the novel’s about, huh?”

Impatient folk, aren’t you?

Murdering Zeus for Fun and Prophet is a comedic contemporary fantasy set in a version of our world where reality TV heroes slay actual monsters and the Greek gods have their own casinos, media empires, and Twitter feeds.

Yet the gods have only recently returned to our world. You see, Zeus (king of the Greek/Olympian gods, for those not in the know) ordered the Olympian gods to go into hiding 3,000 years ago. Everyone knows that you don’t argue with Zeus unless you want a lightning bolt where the sun don’t shine. Yet it seems that wasn’t enough to stop someone from assassinating him nine months ago, and with Zeus dead, his order fell by the wayside. The Olympians are back! (Except, obviously, for Zeus.) And if you thought mortal celebrities had big egos, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

This is not to say that killing an immortal is commonplace in this story; it’s got the entire pantheon quite consternated. Someone out there can KILL them? As in dead? Forever? Heck, even the Titans only got locked up in Tartarus after the Olympian gods overthrew them, and those bastards were dangerous! It’s got them so disturbed that they’ve all decided en masse to just, well, kind of ignore the question of exactly who ganked him. Why poke about in matters that might get them killed, too? Besides, now they can strut their stuff openly among the mortals again, and who doesn’t love attention?

I won’t go into too many details about the actual plot just yet, but I will say that I had a blast writing this book. I got to throw the full force of my sense of humor into the voice (my sci-fi novels are obviously more serious), and I’ve always been fascinated with Greek mythology. I can’t wait to share this book with all of you.

I don’t yet know quite when it will come out, but sometime in 2014, certainly. Booktrope is a new publisher (but so far quite successful–they’ve been written up in Forbes), working on a different publishing model to adapt to the evolution of the publishing industry. That means a shorter time to publication than the year or more that older publishers can take. But we’ve still got to do some editing, cover design, layout, etc. I’m excited to get going on it all, and I look forward to being able to show you the cover once it’s available.

In the meantime, why not follow one of the book’s characters on Twitter? Thalia is one of the nine Muses, and responsible for musing comedy, poems about farming, and science fiction. Yes, science fiction. What, did you think the Muses just ignored the modern genres?

I leave you now with a quote from Thalia, who tends to babble. A lot:

“I’m not Artemis here, you know! I can only talk to animals, I don’t have some special stupid slavery-power over them! You think training a cat is bad, try getting a bird to do what you want it to do! There’s a reason ‘flighty’ means what it means! And for that matter, we’re dealing with jewelry here! Birds do not like carrying jewelry for anyone! Tolkien understood that; why can’t you? Stay here!”

Keep an eye out on this blog, my Twitter feed, or my Facebook page for more info on Murdering Zeus for Fun and Prophet! Further bulletins as events warrant. (3/13/14 edit: Like this one and this one about the origins and writing of the book…)

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Filed Under: Books, Mythed Connections, Zeus Is Dead Tagged With: Booktrope, Fantasy, Geek Interest, Humor, Mythology

Robocop remake (mostly non-spoiler review)

February 11, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 4 Comments

Last night I had the opportunity to see a sneak preview of the Robocop remake (to be released February 12th, 2014) here in Seattle. My reaction?

Okay, so I suppose I should elaborate. I’m a fan of the original. While not the best movie in the entire world ever, one cannot deny that the original most definitely has character, owing primarily to Verhoeven’s direction and many actor performances (including 3 Twin Peaks alumni). It made its mark on sci-fi culture, reflecting and informing the cyberpunk sub-genre and engraving upon geek consciousness phrases like “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me!”, “Can you fly, Bobby?”, and of course, “I’d buy that for a dollar!”

You should see him at the 99 Cent Store.

I’m not normally a fan of remakes. At the moment, I can’t think of any remake that wasn’t less enjoyable than the original; most seem pale imitations with no reason for being beyond cashing in on nostalgia. The new Robocop is the exception. It pays appropriate homage to the original, but it does not attempt to ape it. The new version is its own movie, its own interpretation, with its own reason for being. While the original is a product of the late 1980s in its satirical themes of corporate corruption and the “me-generation,” the remake reflects today’s culture in both the presentation of Omnicorp (Michael Keaton’s character feels to me very much like an evil Steve Jobs) and the theme of unmanned drones. It doesn’t have the satirical bite that the original did, but what would be the point of making the same movie in Verhoeven’s style without Verhoeven? (That’s what Robocop 2 and 3 attempted, and you know how THAT turned out. Good God, Robocop 3. *shudders*)

In many ways it’s actually more thoughtful, more cerebral, than the original. It’s not afraid to take time for emotional beats or to do what sci-fi can really do well: take a look at the human condition from another angle. This isn’t a movie you “turn off your brain” for. I suspect, had I seen it before writing A Memory in the Black, it would have influenced some of the ideas I explored in that book.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s got plenty of action, too. This is Robocop, after all. Action scenes are engaging and exciting without falling victim to the hated (at least by me) “shaky-cam” convention. The filmmakers can do things with (multiple) ED-209s that just couldn’t be done in the original. It’s PG-13, yes, but unless you absolutely need nudity and blood-festooned carnage on screen in all your movies, it doesn’t suffer for it. It’s not without graphic images, but they’re graphic in a different sort of way. And heck, the opening scene had me surprised that it WASN’T rated R. Also, Samuel L. Jackson does manage to get a “motherfucking” in there.

So how different is it, plot-wise? Like I said, it doesn’t try to ape the original. It takes the original’s premise, respects it, and finds its own way to tell the story. After seeing the trailers, I had certain expectations with how some things were going to go, but the trailers are, in some ways, deceiving. I was pleasantly surprised by many things, though I won’t go into detail here, so as to avoid spoilers. There’s a great scene about, oh, a third of the way in that made me gasp. That was the point when I completely put my faith in the film to execute itself in a worthy fashion. (If you’re curious, it’s the scene when the doctor brings the mirror up.)

If you’re at all curious about this movie, go see it. It doesn’t try to replace the original. They’re sci-fi movies of a different flavor: both good, just different. Plus, it’s got Samuel L. Jackson, Jackie Earle Haley, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, and a woman I recognized from the police station siege during I think it was season 3 of Supernatural. (Sadly, no Twin Peaks actors.)

Not worried about semi-minor spoilers? Here’s a quick rundown of some of the homages/differences that I can remember:

Some things still the same:
The lead is still named Alex Murphy, his partner’s name is still Lewis (but Lewis is a  guy), there are ED-209s, and a media figure still helps to frame the story. Robocop still has a good solid weight to him. The sound effects for his movement were not disappointing. There’s a definite homage to the drug factory from the original. Oh! And they used the original Robocop theme! (I was pleased.)

Some things slightly changed:
Robocop’s creator (Gary Oldman) is Dennett Norton rather than Bob Morton. OCP is now Omnicorp, but OCP is Omnicorp’s parent company. The ED-209 is already functional and out in the world (but legally bound from being deployed in the U.S.) at the start. Robocop himself is a little slimmer and SOMETIMES painted black. It’s a car bomb that gets Murphy rather than massive repeated gunshot wounds. Directive 4’s concept is still there, but it takes a slightly different form in a way that worked well for me. Oh, and I think we do briefly see the old Robocop design at one point on a screen, but I’d need to see it again to be sure.

Major changes (I still don’t want to list major spoilers so I’ll only list a few):
The plot itself is different in ways I won’t go into. No direct Dick Jones equivalent, The criminal bad guy isn’t named Boddicker. (Side note: I think he stole Brad Dourif’s eyes.) Robocop’s creator is a different sort of guy from the original. No toxic waste, Cobra Assault Cannons, or gunshot wounds to the crotch. Still plenty of excellent scenes of Robocop, er, robocopping, though.

Oh, and as for certain catch phrases:
“Dead or alive, you’re coming with me!” – It’s in the movie, but with a different context. Mostly works.
“Can you fly, Bobby?” – Nope.
“Stay out of trouble.” – I’m not actually sure on this one, but I don’t remember it.
“I’d buy that for a dollar!” – At one point a character says, “I wouldn’t buy that for a dollar!” And you know what? It works perfectly. Though there’s no Bixby Snyder.

So, yeah, good movie.

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Filed Under: Movies and TV Tagged With: Cyberpunk, Geek Interest, Review, Robocop, Science Fiction

A Memory in the Black coming to B&N, Kobi, and iTunes…

February 8, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

Well, A Memory in the Black was released on Amazon in late August, and ever since I’ve had people asking when it’s going to be available elsewhere. The wait is nearly over. Beginning February 17th you’ll be able to get copies of A Memory in the Black from non-Amazon retailers including Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Smashwords!

Expect to see it appear on Smashwords first (in fact, there’s already a pre-order option). It should trickle into other retailers soon afterward. In the meantime, of course, it’s still there at Amazon!

Oh, and I’ll have some even more excellent news on the writing front coming very, very soon… Epic things are afoot, people…

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Filed Under: A Memory in the Black, Books Tagged With: Cyberpunk, Ebook, Nook, Science Fiction, Smashwords

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Zeus Is Undead: This One Has Zombies

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A Shadow in the Flames (The New Aeneid Cycle Book 1)

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Four Fantastical Ways to Lose Your Fingers

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