Michael G. Munz

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

Book Review: Aberrant Vectors

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Aberrant Vectors by JM Guillen

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)

Aberrant Vectors continues the tradition of throwing J.M. Guillen’s Asset 108 into a nightmarish mess of other-reality dangers and forcing him and his cadre to sneak, fight, and think their way out of it. Guillen’s skill with description is at full strength here as he paints vivid images of the strange, the terrifying, and the weird. He takes us through the depths (and heights) of a skyscraper housing alien geometries, an alien world of mind-stripping symbiotes, and even the most horrible evil known to mankind. Yes, that’s right: telemarketers.

I enjoyed the characters, particularly two newcomers that I do hope to see again. While there are many long stretches where the protagonist is on his own, my favorite parts of the book allow him to interact with the others. As with other tales of Asset 108, there is a LOT of sci-fi action in Aberrant Vectors. I found myself wishing for a little more breathing room between the action, but that’s just my own personal taste. And Guillen does write some of the most unique action scenes I’ve ever read.

Bottom line: If you’re craving sci-fi action with incredible tech and reality-bending locales, grab this book.

…If you’re craving nachos, grab some nachos. This book will not turn into nachos. No book will turn into nachos. That is not how books work.

My publisher is dissolving. So what’s next for me?

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Booktrope Logo

Gone at the end of the month.

On Friday I received some disheartening news: Booktrope, my publisher for the past two years, will be going out of business on May 31st. The news hit me and the rest of my fellow Booktropian authors pretty hard. While there were recent signs of problems, I hadn’t expected things to take this particular turn. [Read more…]

I’ve sent A Dragon at the Gate to my editor!

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If you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you already know this, but just in case you’re not stalking me to the best of your ability: Yesterday, April 3rd, 2016, at just about exactly 3pm, I finished writing A Dragon at the Gate!!!

Yes, okay, so there will be more work done on it. My editor will surely have things to say, and I’m waiting to hear back from a beta-reader or two with some input, but it’s now in a state where I consider it ready to move on to the publishing phase. Note the use of the word “phase” in there. It’s not instantaneous. Along with the final editing, there’s also layout, setting things up regarding at least a little bit of marketing, and oh, gee, it still needs a cover!

A Dragon at the Gate

Still not the actual cover!

And since I mentioned the cover, I’m really excited to be working with Amalia Chitulescu again to come up with another great cover that matches the style of the first two in the series–both of which are her work. I’m not yet sure when we’ll have the cover finalized, but you can bet I’ll be doing a reveal here.

“Yes, Michael,” I hear you asking, “that’s all well and good, but when do we get to READ the damn thing?!” Dates are still in flux, but once I and the editor/designer/publisher peoples get all of our ducks in a row, it’s likely to be late summer or early autumn. Hopefully very early autumn, if it does take that long. I don’t want to keep you all waiting too much longer. Then again, maybe I should keep pushing it back because given some of the events in book 3, I do wonder if some of you will wish to kill me. 😀

But now, I’ve got a little more free time than I used to! I’ll be diving back into Percy Jackson (more on that soon), hopefully getting some more general geek content on this site, and, at long last, start to make some real headway on the Zeus Is Dead sequel. I can’t tell you how many times something funny occurred to me as I was finishing up ADATG that I couldn’t put into the book because it’s not actually a comedy. Well, I mean, except for Felix’s sense of humor. But he can’t say everything I want him to.

…And maybe there’s an unpublished fantasy novel that I’ve already written that might be making an appearance. But that’s for another time…

Writing Update: A Dragon at the Gate – March 2016

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A Dragon at the Gate

And this is still just a temporary cover.

This post is coming to you from one of those crowded, caffeine-fueled generators of books known as a café. (Yes, I often write in cafés. I’m a human cliché.) I’m closing in on the point where I can finally put the words “The End” on A Dragon at the Gate, the third and final book in the New Aeneid Cycle. Of course, this particular writing session is going about as well as a rowboat made of sugar, so I’m shifting my focus to the blog so as to best procrastinate and hide from my problems.

So here’s the skinny. (The “skinny”? Who talks like that?) I’m currently on day 3 of a 6-day forced writing march. (The fact that it’s also taking place IN March–and that I’m writing this on March 6th, come to think of it–is pure coincidence. But it is kinda neat, isn’t it?) I’ve taken off of my day job. I’ve (mostly) avoided my social media. I’ve shunned my friends. My goal in this is to finally finish the book by March 9th. There will still need to be rewrites, polishing, and a smattering of unwritten scenes, of course. Those I’ll be finishing up by the end of March, at which time I’ll be handing it over to my editor and entering the final stages of getting the book into published form, which will come in paperback and ebook forms.

Except for this afternoon’s troubles, it’s going pretty well. I’m pushing myself, but it’s paying off. I have a clear path to the end of the book, and I’m confident that I’m going to make it. As a certain psychopathic, delusional man-boy recently said, “I know the words. I have the best words.” 😉 A Dragon at the Gate is going to be a wild ride, and I want to make it the best of the series.

As for when you’ll finally be able to read it, things still need to be worked out on that front, but assuming I can stay on schedule, we’re looking at very late spring or early summer. And then you’ll get to know just what happens, who survives, and just what the heck is going on up there on the Moon, because even if you’ve read A Shadow in the Flames and A Memory in the Black, there’s a very key element missing.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
For now.

Book Review: Wizzy Wig by Tiffany Pitts

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Wizzy Wig by Tiffany Pittz

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)

I’ve read both books in Tiffany Pitts’s Thanatos Rising series, and I can honestly say that Pitts writes with a uniquely delightful literary voice. Her particular brand of contemporary sci-fi adventure somehow manages to present life-and-death situations alongside blithe imagination in a way that often seems to look askance at reality as if to say, “Really, reality? Really?”

I’m not sure if I’m making sense here, so to sum up my opinion more concisely: The second book in the series in the series, Wizzy Wig is a fun sci-fi read that’s certainly worth your time. Especially if you like cats. And strong characters of any gender. And reality-bending pizza.

Yeah, you read that right: reality-bending pizza. I won’t spoil the details, but this book is a tale of multiple realities and how a tiny hole between them wreaks havoc upon a small group of Seattle citizens, a nanotechnologically-augmented house cat, a sugar glider, and quite possibly one of the few point-of-view spider characters in fiction.

Pitts tells the story from multiple points of view, which is something of a necessity when dealing with characters able to force themselves into the bodies of their alternate-universe counterparts–or when entertaining us with the internal thought processes of a cat or a deadly (and puckish) Brazilian wandering spider. While the reality-warps in Wizzy Wig were a tad confusing for me to keep up with, the characters themselves were in the same boat, so my confusion was theirs, but I grasped it all in the end.

Wizzy Wig is a ridiculous book, and I say that in every complimentary sense of the word. Whether or not you’ve read the first book in the series, if you like light science fiction with a sense of humor, you’ll find something to enjoy here.

Also, pizza. 🙂

Geek Notes bonus: Check out my interview with the aforementioned nanotechnologically-augmented house cat in a post last November!

Excerpt: The Highly Capable by Jayme Beddinfield

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Today on Geek Notes, I’m happy to host an excerpt from the first chapter of a new YA novel by my fellow author Jayme Beddinfield, titled The Highly Capable. Read on for more about this new book, and check out the end for a Rafflecopter giveaway! -Michael

The Highly Capable (cover)The Highly Capable
Jayme Beddingfield

What would you do if you could control objects with your mind?

Would you be able to choose between right and wrong?

Eighteen-year-old Ruby Dawson was born with the powers to move things with her mind. She thought she was the only one of her kind until she met Tristan-a self-destructive drug addict and a crew of super-powered thieves. Working in the shadows, the crew follows their fire conjuring leader, Madison, as they descend further and further into the world of organized crime.

Ruby finds herself in a whirlwind of wrong decisions, lies, murder, and realizations she isn’t ready to face. As Ruby watches Tristan disappear further into his drug addiction and her team fight for more money and territory, she struggles with who she has become. Can Ruby walk away from the closest thing she has to a family and be the hero she is actually meant to be? [Read more…]

Book Review: The Wormwood Event

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The Wormwood Event cover

My rating: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5)

If I’m counting correctly, this is the fifth book I’ve read from JM Guillen, and I continue to be impressed. The Wormwood Event is an excellent, gripping work of short fiction that combines Lovecraftian horror with a modern sensibility and setting. Experience the end of the world through the eyes of college student Grace Juarez, a survivor of the horrifying event that left billions dead and turned billions more into savage, soulless monsters. I enjoyed the references to a couple of elements from his other books–note that these are not gratuitous mentions, but in-universe elements that fit perfectly for how they are used.

My one complaint is that I want more! This is only a brief novella–really more of a long short story–which I read in one sitting. I’m hopeful this tale will prove an introduction to another, to take place after it ends.