Category Archives: Writing

I am very much a geek dad, something that my wife and daughter accept with a great deal of grace and forbearance. So when I saw this morning that GeekDad posted a review of The Daedalus Incident, I was pretty excited.

Then I read it, and got even more excited.

The Daedalus Incident has so many things going for it: ship to ship battles, swordplay, pirates, aliens, and even a solid whodunit. Coming in at almost 400 pages, it is one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had all year. The conclusion was a whirlwind, and thankfully I won’t have to wait too long (April 2014) for the follow-up, The Enceladus Crisis.

Reviewer James Floyd Kelly gave the book six stars on a five-star scale, with another star thrown in because of the upcoming sequel. That’s a whole heap of stars. And more than a little awesome.

Thanks for the review, fellow GeekDad!

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Nearly two months after it’s release, The Daedalus Incident is still going strong. And now, the good folks at uber-geek site io9.com say it’s a must read for October.

Charlie Jane Anders — a super-talented writer in her own right — included Daedalus in her October list of books you can’t afford to miss. I had no idea this was in the works, so needless to say, this was a very pleasant surprise.

Given the plethora of excellent books out every month, this is no small thing. And the list includes books from folks like Dave Eggers, Ann Leckie and Scott Lynch. Fine company indeed.

The folks at io9 do fantastic work covering all things awesome; if you haven’t checked out the site, you should. Their coverage of the whole Night Shade/Skyhorse deal was very good, and they ran an excerpt of Daedalus when it launched. Plus, Charlie Jane and her colleague Rob Bricken are two of my favorite culture writers working today.

So thanks, io9, for all the support and kind words. Keep on being awesome.

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Abhinav Jain (a.k.a. Shadowhawk) of The Founding Fields was one of the very first people to review The Daedalus Incident last spring, and what’s better, he liked it a lot. So it was a real pleasure to get together again for an interview. We talk about where Daedalus came from, as well as the fun and challenges inherent in writing the follow-up, The Enceladus Crisis.

He also continues to like the book, to wit:

…Michael wrote one of my favourite books of the year, a really memorable story that has stayed with me even now, months after the I read it. In fact, I’d say that the novel is in contention for best debut of the year from among all the other debuts I’ve read in 2013. Its been a great year for debut authors and Michael is at the head of the pack.

That’s high praise. He’s absolutely right that there’s been some fantastic books out this year, written by really great authors. I’m honored to be on the same bookshelves, frankly.

The interview is pretty in-depth, and Abhinav asks some interesting questions, so click on over and check it out! Thanks, Abhinav!

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I haven’t exactly been burning up the blog here lately, but I’m wrapping up The Enceladus Crisis, so I hope you’ll permit a bit of latitude. Besides, I think book two of the Daedalus series is gonna be a lot of fun.

Speaking of, I had a guest post up today on that very topic — going from debut to series — over at Bastard Books. Writing Enceladus is very different from the experience I had writing The Daedalus Incident. Nothing was really expected of that first book, so the fact that it turned out to be well-received — and is now in its second printing, no less — is all gravy. Here, though, there are expectations. That makes it challenging, but also kinda fun. What’s life without challenge?

Also today, the good people over at the two-time Hugo Award-winning SFSignal posted the transcript of the #SFFWRTCHT Twitter chat I did over the summer. It’s primarily about Daedalus, so if you’re looking for a primer on where that book came from and what inspired it, surf on over and give it a read. And stay for the rest of the site, because there are very good reasons they won the Hugo twice.

Finally, Feliza Casano, she of the excellent site Girls in Capes, posted a review of Daedalus up on her site. She had some very nice things to say, concluding:

Overall, I’d recommend THE DAEDALUS INCIDENT for people who enjoy both science fiction AND fantasy, accessible language that’s not pretentious, and action-driven stories with interesting and relatable characters.

Thanks, Feliza!

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