Michael G. Munz

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

My Lightsaber Arrives!

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As I mentioned previously, I recently made one of those Big Life Purchases: I bought a lightsaber. I promised to bring you more details and show it off when it arrived, and finally, I am bringing!

The saber, a modified “Dark Menace” model from Ultrasabers, arrived in a long, slim box, ensconced in bubble wrap, with the blade already attached. I’m happy to report that UltraSabers had charged the batteries as well, so I was able to light that sucker up right out of the box without having to be patient any further. They also included the battery charger and little hilt display stand I’d asked for. The special silver pommel I’d ordered to swap out the stock Dark Menace pommel had already arrived, so I swiftly attached that.

my Dark Menace saber

My own Dark Menace, with a customized pommel and other wee tweaks. LOOK AT THE AWESOME!

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So, I Bought a Lightsaber…

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That’s right, I’ve made what’s arguably my geekiest purchase ever: I now own a lightsaber. Or, at least, a reasonably convincing facsimile of one. I’m sorry to say that it will not actually slice through walls, speeder bikes, or tauntauns. On the other hand, given how often I accidentally cut myself with mundane items, that’s probably for the best. Still, this sucker could probably break a bone or two if swung hard enough, so it may still be ideal for home defense. [Read more…]

Holiday Rafflecopter Giveaway!

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Stuff

A glimpse of just some of the loot!

Wanna win free stuff?

You may have already noticed the Rafflecopter addition to the footer of all of my blog posts, but I’m officially announcing it here! I and some of my fellow authors have put together a holiday giveaway with prizes totaling over $200, and the best thing about it is there’s no cost to enter!

Check out the Rafflecopter doowhatzit (official term) below to see the ways you can sign up for multiple chances to win. The more ways you enter, the more chances you have!

Check Out the Prizes!

$60 Amazon Gift Card
$10 Victoria Secret Gift Card
$5 Dunkin Donut Gift Card
Various teas (VARIOUS!)
A pair of Joe Boxers (I confess I don’t know what these are)
Nine paperbacks (most autographed, two of which are mine)
Five eBooks
Greek honey with cookies
Other assorted swag!

So hey, dive in, discover some new authors, and take your shot at winning free stuff! The entry form is below, and also at the end of every single blog post. But hurry: The contest ends at 8pm PST December 10th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oh, and if you’ve never heard of Rafflecopter, it’s an online site/system for setting up giveaways just like this. It has absolutely nothing to do with Soylent Green, the festive holiday food of the future that, of course, is made out of people.

Things That Go “Ffft!” in the Night

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(Dramatization. May not have happened.)

You have no idea just how close I came to becoming a pod-person. Or murdered in my sleep. Or both. If I may digress from the usual sort of post I do around here, I’d like share with you a creepy little story of what happened to me the other night –or the other early morning, to be specifically vague… [Read more…]

Cover Reveal for The Phoenix Project by D.M. Cain

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Today I’m happy to host a cover reveal by author D.M. Cain, a previous guest geek here on the blog! The dark, gritty psychological thriller The Phoenix Project undergoes a makeover in the brand new Booktrope edition. It’s completely re-edited and re-designed, and features this stunning cover by the talented Amalia Chitulescu, with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working as well. Have a look!

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Audio-Play: “Finding Victor”

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Many years ago I entered one of the quarterly “24 Hour Short Story” contests at Writers-Weekly.com. Essentially, the idea was to write a story based off of a single first line, no longer than the given word limit (1,000 words in the case of that particular contest), within 24 hours. Now I am by no means a fast writer. It may or may not have taken me forty-five minutes just to write the last three sentences. But it sounded like fun, and 1,000 words was surely doable.

1000 Words

For example, as the saying goes, this picture alone is worth 1,000 words.
Not sure to whom, but an aphorism is an aphorism.

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My First Norwescon (Panelist!) Experience

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Rather than having a Guest Geek post up this week, I figured I’d do something weird and be my own guest! (It’s complicated. There are lots of forms, and I needed to apply to USCIS for a visa… You wouldn’t believe the paperwork.) I know, it’s terribly unusual. Just bare with me. This is something I’d written with the idea to submit to another blog, but I decided I’d just put it up here and cut out the middleman!

As you may know, I’m a lifetime geek who’s lived in Seattle since autumn 1992. Between then and last January, there were twenty-two occurrences of Norwescon, the Pacific Northwest’s premiere sci-fi/fantasy convention, and I’m ashamed to say that I missed every single one of them. Either I hadn’t heard of it, or each year I was reminded of its existence either as it was happening or a few days afterward. It was like the final episode of Farscape: “Bad Timing.” [Read more…]