Michael G. Munz

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May 4, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

“I saw part of the newsletter he–“
“I seem to have subscribed.”

Perhaps you’ve seen the various boxes around my blog and website inviting you to subscribe or stay informed about geek stuff and my writing. First of all, thanks to all of you who’ve already subscribed! For those of you who haven’t yet, I’m now pleased to offer this additional incentive:

Subscribe to the website mailing list now and get a FREE copy of my short story collection Mythed Connections: A Short Story Collection of Classical Myth in the Modern World!

Mythed Connections contains three stories written prior to when I began to write the upcoming, full-length novel Zeus is Dead. You might say it’s a spiritual prequel. (Go on, say it. There, wasn’t that fun?) And yeah, I know, the title is long. When I picked it, being concise was not the foremost thing on my mind. Perhaps the fact that they’re SHORT stories made me want to go with a long title to balance them out?

So subscribe! The form is right below this post. I promise to never use your email address for anything beyond sending an occasional newsletter with updates on my writing and other fun geek-related things, and I’ll especially never give or sell your contact information to any third parties. (And if you ever change your mind, you can always unsubscribe.)

Subscribe and get it free!

Short Story: “Squirrel!”

May 2, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

Though I’ve been writing since I was a little kid, my first ever published short story (not counting stories published in school magazines and such) came out in 2003 in a little literary magazine known as “The Armchair Aesthete.” It wasn’t even a story I’d originally intended to publish. Heck, technically it wasn’t even a story at all, in the beginning.

I can still remember writing it on a sunny day out in the Quad on the UW campus. Though I’d graduated, I used to go there sometimes to sit among the cherry trees and write. Yet whatever I’d planned to work on that day just wasn’t flowing. Still, “a writer writes,” so I figured it couldn’t hurt to practice. Essentially it was just a bit of tongue-in-cheek journal writing. I wrote the first section, then went home, and on the way, other things…occurred to me.

Just a few days ago I decided to post the story up on a reading site called Wattpad. While I’d like to think my writing has improved since then, I wanted to share it with people again–and if it leads to more attention for my upcoming comedic fantasy Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure, then so much the better.

And so, here ’tis. Enjoy “Squirrel!”

And don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list below!

Top 5 List: Villains

April 26, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 5 Comments

And we’re back with another geek-related Top 5 list! (Who is this “we”? I’ve no idea! I suspect I’ve somehow split into two or three people in order to deal with all the things I have to do lately. On the other hand, maybe I’ve just turned pompous and I’m using the royal “we”? Or I’ve been assimilated by the Borg.) This time I’m going with the top five villains in fiction, as judged by me. In totally subjective fashion. In relation to my mood at tastes right at this moment on April 26th, 2014, because I am flighty and I apparently lack conviction. Oh! I nearly forgot to toss up the title in fancy title-fashion. So here it is:

Top Five Fictional Villains

Good. Got that out of the way. As always, this list is in no particular order due to my usual inability to rank favorites. (Well, okay, so the first one in the list is likely the one that occurred to me first, but…) [Read more…]

Blog and Website Update!

April 15, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

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: Sci-fi/Fantasy Books

March 25, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 5 Comments

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

March 22, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 3 Comments

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…

Writing Zeus is Dead

March 2, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

In part two of my reblogging some entries written a few years ago when I finished writing the original manuscript of what’s now titled Zeus is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure (a comedic contemporary fantasy coming soon from Seattle publisher Booktrope!), I talk a little about the process of writing the novel itself. (See part one for the origin of the idea.) Writing it was a blast, though not without difficulties…

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

In my last entry I wrote about how I originally embarked on writing the (completed) manuscript I’m now calling Murdering Zeus for Fun and Prophet. At the time I began, I only made a few veiled comments about what I was working on. “Somewhat less serious” was the phrase I used when comparing it to my previous work, but I didn’t mention anything at the time about Greek gods.

[Read more…]