Michael G. Munz

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

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Book Review: The Wormwood Event

November 30, 2015 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

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.

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Filed Under: Books, Featured Tagged With: apocalypse, Free, JM Guillen, Lovecraft, occult, Review, science fic, The Wormwood Event

Book Review: Crooked by Austin Grossman

August 13, 2015 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

Crooked, by Austin Grossman

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5)

“What if our nation’s worst president was actually a pivotal figure caught in a desperate struggle between ordinary life and horrors from another reality? What if the man we call our worst president was, in truth, our greatest?”

These are the questions posed by the new novel Crooked by Austin Grossman—indeed, the quoted text is from the official book description—into which I recently immersed myself.

The moment I heard Crooked’s premise, it grabbed my interest: a supernatural, Lovecraftian layer to not just the Watergate scandal but to Nixon’s full political career, the entire Cold War, and the institution of the U.S. Presidency itself. (Note: The novel is alternative history, and not meant as some sort of non-fiction conspiracy exposé.) I knew I was going to read it. What I got was a book with a fantastic first half that stumbles toward the end and ultimately leaves me disappointed. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Books, Featured Tagged With: alternate history, Austin Grossman, Crooked, Fantasy, Lovecraft, Nixon, Review

Book Review: The Primary Protocol

July 31, 2015 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

The Primary Protocol - JM Guillen

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)

J.M. Guillen’s The Primary Protocol wastes no time in plunging us back into his eldrich world of technologically augmented agents waging a secret battle with Lovecraftian forces that threaten to overrun our rational realm. The cosmic horror of the Vyriim, introduced in Rationality Zero (the spawn point of this series), have threaded their nightmarish tentacles further into our world, seeking a beachhead, and as The Primary Protocol begins, we—and protagonist Michael Bishop—are already right in the thick of it. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Books, Featured Tagged With: cosmic horror, JM Guillen, Lovecraft, Review, Science Fiction, The Primary Protocol

Guest Geeks: K.M. Alexander

June 10, 2015 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

Guest GeeksWelcome back! (Look at me, typing as if I’m welcoming you back from a commercial break or something. I’ve been watching too much Conan.) Given the big ol’ “Guest Geeks” up there at the top of the page, the more attentive among you have likely already picked up on the fact that it’s time for another guest to the blog who will help me fill it up with something geeky. This time we’ve got Lovecraft fan and fellow writer K.M. Alexander, who I met for the first time at Norwescon in April after learning of his writing from the Seattle Geekly podcast folk. Here’s here to talk about everyone’s favorite Lovecraftian insanity-entity, Cthulhu… So let’s give a big “Ai! Ai! Alexander fhtagn!” and read on, because he makes a very good point about…

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Filed Under: Featured, Guest Geeks Tagged With: Cthulhu, Fantasy, Geek Interest, horror, K.M. Alexander, Lovecraft, The Stars Were Right

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Memory of Dragons: A Contemporary Fantasy Adventure

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Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure

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Zeus Is Undead: This One Has Zombies

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A Shadow in the Flames (The New Aeneid Cycle Book 1)

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A Memory in the Black (The New Aeneid Cycle Book 2)

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A Dragon at the Gate (The New Aeneid Cycle Book 3)

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Mythed Connections (short story collection)

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Four Fantastical Ways to Lose Your Fingers

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