Michael G. Munz

The official website of Seattle sci-fi/fantasy author and geek Michael G. Munz

Archives for 2014

Star Wars TIE Fighter Animation

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And now for some just plain cool Star Wars-related animation. I ran across this online in a link on Imgur after someone had made an animated GIF from a couple of seconds of it. Lucasarts’ X-Wing/TIE Fighter PC game series from the mid-90s is one of my favorites. I included TIE Fighter in my Top 5 List of PC Games a short while back. Watching this, complete with cockpit details based on those games, really made me want to play again.

Disney is keeping Lucasarts alive now for licensing purposes. I wonder if they have any idea how much money they could make simply by releasing X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and XvT with zero changes beyond updated graphics?

[via JPL4185, animation by OtaKing77077]

Blog and Website Update!

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Hey everyone! If you’re extra on the ball today, you may have noticed that things look just a tiny bit different around here. For a couple of years my blog (Geek Notes) has been pulling double duty as my website. Well, no more! Geek Notes is now an integrated part of my larger site. (See those menus over there? Good!) Now you can find a lot more at your fingertips. Or mouse pointer. Or however you’re browsing this sucker.

Looking for more detailed info on my novels? Click the “Novels” link! Want to contact me without giving your email address? Click “Connect!” Want more info on a particular novel? It’s all in the menu.

Better still, you can sign up for the website mailing list in order to stay informed about my writing and other cool geek stuff! (I’ll never send your email address to anyone else, of course.) In the coming months, as we get close to the release of Zeus is Dead, special Zeus is Dead extras will be sent exclusively to mailing list subscribers. Don’t miss anything!

And now, here’s what I understand is a picture of last night’s “blood moon.”

(Go ahead. Say the line. You know you want to.)

Top 5 List: Video Game Supporting Characters

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So I’ve finally got a little bit of breathing room in working with my Booktrope team toward getting Zeus is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure ready for publication. That means it’s time for another geek-related Top 5. This time…

Top Five Video Game Supporting Characters

Note that this is for supporting characters. So there will be no Samus, no JC Denton, no Commander Shepard (just her favorite supporting character on the Citadel). This will be rather biased on the side of computer games as well, because my time as a console gamer is far more limited. I’ve been playing PC games since 1990, but my console experience is only limited to the original NES and the PS3 which I only got a few months ago.

And, as always, the list is in no particular order due to my complete inability to rank favorites. [Read more…]

Starting to feel like Apollo

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Whew, it’s been a busy few weeks here. I’ve been a bit slow in updating the blog, but I assure you it’s all for a good cause. There’s a lot happening on the Zeus is Dead front, which is what’s filling up most of my time, and most of that is due to the final edit on the manuscript itself. My Booktrope editor is giving me a lot of great comments and notes. It’s making the novel even better than it was, but it does mean that much of my time is taken up in reviewing and incorporating those notes into revisions. It’s fun (and it’s fantastic to work with someone as excited about the book as I am), but time consuming. Our deadline is April 15th, so I’m working hard to meet that. [Read more…]

Simpsonized Twin Peaks Characters!

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Okay, as both a Twin Peaks fan and a Simpsons fan (obligatory “not as good as it used to be, yadda yadda yadda” comment here), this is just pretty freaking cool. As reported by WelcomeToTwinPeaks.com, Belgian illustrator and art director Adrien Noterdaem has “Simpsonized” 15 Twin Peaks characters. Click on Leland Palmer below for all of the images and the full ensemble picture…

Time to go back to Missoula, Montana!!

Top 5 List: Sci-fi/Fantasy Books

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Well, an unspecified amount of time has passed, and you know what that means! (Okay, so actually you probably don’t, but just pretend like you do. Then again, you probably did see that whole “Top 5 List” thing up above there, so as you’re likely a reasonably observant person, you probably do have at least some inkling.) That’s right, it’s time for another geek-related Top 5 List, as always, chosen and voted on by an exclusive panel of me! This random period of time’s list is…

Top Five Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books

Once again, the list is in no particular order, because I have enough trouble narrowing the list down this far already, to say nothing of actually ranking favorites. [Read more…]

Announcing Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure

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It’s official: My upcoming comedic contemporary fantasy, previously titled Murdering Zeus for Fun and Prophet, now has a final title and release date! (Cue the lights and some manner of musical gravitas!) Coming from Booktrope on July 21, 2014…

Zeus Is Dead:
A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure
Thank you all for your opinions on the various title options here and elsewhere. The Booktrope team and I gave this one a lot of research and thought, posting polls in various places, arguing among ourselves, and hurling punctuation to and fro with enthusiastic vigor. (Mostly exclamation points, some colons–there was even an umlaut in there somewhere. Not sure what THAT was about…)
I’m quite pleased with this title, and can’t wait for you to have the chance to read the book this July. Watch this blog for more info as we get closer! There will be more details about the Zeus Is Dead, a sample chapter or two, and some other fun little bits and pre-order incentives.
Oh, and you’ll see the cover at some point soon, too, in case you want to violate all proverbial wisdom and judge the book by that. Careful, however: Violating proverbial wisdom could be considered hubris, which might very well bring down the Erinyes upon your heads, and I hear Alecto is getting especially twitchy lately…