Michael G. Munz

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

A Memory in the Black: Free Oct 23rd and 24th!

By Leave a Comment

Free 10/23 & 10/24!

The Kindle version of A Memory in the Black is currently free today (October 23rd) and tomorrow on Amazon.com!

Save humanity from itself. It is the goal of the worldwide conspiracy known as the Agents of Aeneas. For months they have struggled to unlock the secrets of an alien spacecraft buried on the Moon. Now word of that craft has leaked, and multiple groups plot to seize it for themselves.

One man has plumbed its depths and returned alive. While Agent Michael Flynn protects him from those who believe that he knows too much, together they must find a demon from Michael’s past: the freelancer Diomedes. Michael’s violent ex-mentor, Diomedes murdered a man at the heart of the spacecraft’s discovery. They must learn why.

Meanwhile the vigilante Gideon, slain by Diomedes six months ago, has been seen alive in the city of Northgate. His baffling return will draw two women into dangers far beyond those that lurk in the city.

Memories that haunt them all will entangle their fates as one in the blackness.

Praise for A Memory in the Black:
“Munz expertly crafts his characters, letting them evolve and react to the events that unfold. It was the characters that really kept me hooked…”

“Munz writes some of the most engaging action sequences of any book I’ve read.”

“Left me wanting more. In the best sort of way.” 

Free for Kindle today and tomorrow! 

Don’t have a Kindle? You can still read Kindle books on your computer, tablet, or smartphone with Amazon’s free Kindle app…

A Memory in the Black: Now Available!

By Leave a Comment

Well, it’s been a number of years since the original edition of A Shadow in the Flames was published. Two and a half months ago I posted the revised Kindle edition as my first experiment into the world of eBooks. As you likely know if you’ve been here before, that experiment led me to publish the ASITF sequel as an eBook as well.

Today’s the big day. I’m pleased to announce that A Memory in the Black, the sequel to A Shadow in the Flames, has been released!

$3.99 for Kindle!

The thing I love most about A Memory in the Black is how much more deeply I was able to explore the characters after establishing them in the first book. As is the case with much of life, events from A Shadow in the Flames continue to affect them, and will lead some of them to go further than they might have thought possible. You’ll also see into the minds of Diomedes and Caitlin for the first time. (Ever wondered how Diomedes got the way he was?) And, of course, Gideon has been seen alive…

I must warn you, however: not everyone is back. Brian does not appear in this book. (I’m sure that’s a great disappointment to the 2% of readers who didn’t think he was a putz.) There wasn’t any purpose for him in the story, and, frankly, I’m in the implied 98% myself. There are, of course, new characters…

So why not give it a try? You can even read the first 10% on Amazon by clicking the “look inside!” on the book’s cover image.

The book is dedicated to everyone who wanted to know what happened next, and I’m sorry for making you all wait so long. I do hope you’ll find it worth the wait.

Save humanity from itself. It is the goal of the worldwide conspiracy known as the Agents of Aeneas. For months they have struggled to unlock the secrets of an alien spacecraft buried on the Moon. Now word of that craft has leaked, and multiple groups plot to seize it for themselves.

One man has plumbed its depths and returned alive. While Agent Michael Flynn protects him from those who believe that he knows too much, together they must find a demon from Michael’s past: the freelancer Diomedes. Michael’s violent ex-mentor, Diomedes murdered a man at the heart of the spacecraft’s discovery. They must learn why.

Meanwhile the vigilante Gideon, slain by Diomedes six months ago, has been seen alive in the city of Northgate. His baffling return will draw two women into dangers far beyond those that lurk in the city.

Memories that haunt them all will entangle their fates as one in the blackness.

Don’t have a Kindle? You can still read Kindle books on your computer, tablet, or smartphone with the free Kindle app!

A Shadow in the Flames price drop

By Leave a Comment

A few novel announcements…

Now 99 cents!

#1: The revised edition of A Shadow in the Flames is now just $.99 on Kindle, and will be staying at that price for some time in honor of the upcoming Kindle release of the sequel, A Memory in the Black.

#2: Speaking of A Memory in the Black, I’ve just picked a cover design from my design contest on 99Designs. The winning designer is Amalia Chitulescu (link goes to her Facebook profile). I’ll be posting a look at her winning design here soon, once everything is officially official.

For those of you who haven’t heard of 99Designs (and I hadn’t heard of it myself until quite recently), it’s essentially a crowdsourcing website where you submit a design need and put up a sum of money as a prize for the best design. Then designers look at your request and begin submitting designs for you to rate, comment on, and request changes for. I started my contest about a week and a half ago, and I spent about 2 hours each day just going through designs and giving my feedback. Over the course of the contest, I wound up getting 320 total designs from 36 designers. (Of course, some of those 320 were adjustments to already submitted designs that I’d requested, but I still got a LOT of variety.) All of the designers were responsive and helpful in trying to meet my needs.

After four days of open submissions, the contest moves to a “final” stage, wherein I had to pick 6 designers to continue on and work with me for another 3 days to create their final submission. Just narrowing it down to 6 was difficult. When the final stage was over and it was time to pick a winner, that was an even harder choice. I spent three days agonizing over my options, going back and forth, and trying to choose from 6 final (and unique) choices, some of which had multiple versions for me to decide on.

But hey, now I’ve got a great, professional looking cover.

Most of the designs I received were combinations of photographic images – there wasn’t too much in the way of painted artwork, though there was some. I think if I were doing a fantasy book cover, I’d either go elsewhere or create a contest with a higher reward (you can increase the amount you’re offering, which I’m told brings in even more, and possibly better, designers). But I’m more than happy with my results here.

A Shadow in the Flames: Available Free 6/10/13 – 6/13/13

By Leave a Comment

It’s official. The revised edition of A Shadow in the Flames will be available for download for free starting Monday, June 10th. The promotion is in effect until midnight on Thursday, June 13th. After that, it will return to the regular price of $2.99.

This is my first experience with publishing on Kindle, but if things go well, I’ll soon publish the (completed) sequel to A Shadow in the Flames, A Memory in the Black.

Don’t have a Kindle? You can still read Kindle books on a computer or mobile device with their free reading app.

I leave you with a review of the original edition, from an Amazon reader review by Wanda Phillips:
“I don’t know what I expected when I started this book. I think I was leery of a first novel, but within a few pages Munz had me hooked. The story is remarkably philosophical without being pedantic or rhetorical. The blending of perspective, a sort of speaking stick between characters gave you a chance to see each event, character, and situation from several sides. It was seamless.

The character at the true focus of the novel matures and grows over the course of the story (one of my favourite things, I love adventure and so on but I lose interest in characters that are so wooden they are left unaffected by the most mind-numbing events). The maturation of the primary character, starting from his sense of confusion and hope, to one where he stands not just on his own (another fantasy, the solo superhero), but as a member of a society that shares his values, his ideals, and gives shape to his imagination.

The characters least explored are the violent ones. In truth, no amount of justification in a character study allows me to see the value of violence. Munz treats his characters with a generous heart and even those characters from whom the human heart has been eviscerated, Munz treats with a strong, delicate touch. I felt for everyone in the novel (except, of course, the true evil master mind whose presence was rare and yet pervasive).

There was pretty much a bit of everything in this book, action, adventure, intelligence, thrills, chills, and romance. No book is complete without characters that don’t develop feelings for each other. It just wouldn’t ring true.

Munz hints at events more complex than those witnessed in the novel. He does this with the deft touch of a story teller, what is needed in the scene is seeded in the scenes before. He gives you enough to be pleasing, not so much that you need a score card in the book to track what is going on. Besides, who said we had to understand mad men and their ways?

Munz ties things up with an opening. Brilliant.”

Get it here!

In unrelated geek-news, last night I won a tribble by knowing the rest of the phrase, “Greetings, Starfighter. You have been chosen by the Star League to defend the Frontier against…” (It was “Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.” Yes, I know. There’s something terribly wrong with me that I remember that even after having not actually seen The Last Starfighter for over a decade…)

A Shadow in the Flames now on Kindle!

By Leave a Comment

As promised, the revised edition of A Shadow in the Flames is now available on Kindle! Note the snazzy, updated cover that includes the name of the series: The New Aeneid Cycle.

Northgate is a city in turmoil. Decaying, violent and corrupt, it is a common enough place in the mid twenty-first century, yet discoveries beneath the Moon’s surface have marked it with their first distant echoes.

Into Northgate has come Michael Flynn. Jobless and down to his last few dollars, Michael still dreams of making a positive difference of his own. Yet he has no family, no friends save for the freelancer known only as Diomedes, and tonight the apartment they share will burn to the ground.

When Diomedes becomes his mentor in a search for the arsonist responsible, Michael gets his chance to realize those dreams. But he must face dangers far more personal than fire if he is to succeed, for like a shadow in the flames, neither arsonist nor mentor may be what they appear.

And the ones who search the Moon will be watching him.

The current price is $2.99, but look for a free promotion to happen very soon. The great thing about the Kindle edition, besides the polished prose and correction of some typos from the print version, is that I can update it after you’ve gotten a copy. I plan to include a teaser excerpt from the sequel just as soon as I choose something that’s properly enticing.

Don’t have a Kindle? Read it on your computer, tablet, or phone with the free app…