Tag Archives: MJ-12: Inception

November 3, 2017 · 3:51 pm

Hello from World Fantasy 2017 in San Antonio!

A nice big Lone Star howdy to everyone at the World Fantasy Convention 2017 here in San Antonio! Got in yesterday, and have been playing tourist for much of today. But I have some things coming up that I want to get out there, so here goes:

  • I will be at the mass autograph session tonight at 8 p.m. in the Fiesta Paviliion here at the Wyndham Riverwalk. I know the good folks at Night Shade Books sent over a bunch of paperback copies of MJ-12: Inception to put in the swag bags, so I’ll happily sign them there.
  • Tomorrow at 8 p.m. in  Executive Salon 3 on the third floor, I’ll be doing a reading, most likely from MJ-12: Shadows. I also have a couple extra copies to give away for those attending.

Also worth noting: Larry Smith Booksellers now has signed paperbacks of all my books. They have the entire Daedalus trilogy as well as MJ-12: Inception and MJ-12: Shadows. So if you’ve not gotten a copy in your swag bag and miss out on freebies, please go visit them and pick ’em up. Larry himself is no longer with us, having passed away in January, but his legacy lives on in one of the finest booksellers on the conventions circuit. Please support this excellent seller!

Finally, I’m pleased as punch to report that the Night Shade Books Bundle over at Humble Bundle is doing really well — more than 3,000 bundles sold since Wednesday afternoon, roughly 48 hours. This is amazing and, dare I say it, humbling. The Daedalus Incident is one of the books available in the bundles, and the proceeds to go charity, so if you want a whole heap of great books, go check it out.

And if you’re at World Fantasy and have picked up a Humble Bundle, come find me at one of the events above and show me the receipts, so to speak. I have something special for the first person to do so. First come, first served.

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September 5, 2017 · 5:30 pm

MJ-12: Shadows launches today with some sweet reviews

It’s here! MJ-12: Shadows, the second in the MAJESTIC-12 Cold War spy-fi thriller series, is now out in the wild and ready for you to make with the grabby hands. (Please pay first.)

And it just so happened that two new reviews hit the Internet today, both of which were extremely gratifying to read. The first was in Amazing Stories, courtesy of the Alternate Historian himself, Matt Mitrovich. A bit from that one:

Shadows was ultimately a satisfying sequel to Inception. Michael continues to be an excellent world-builder and can create believable characters…If you like superhuman operatives fighting the weird fight in the shadow of nuclear war, then go check out the Majestic-12 series.

You can see Matt’s entire review here. Fair warning, there’s a bit of a spoiler therein — nothing massive, but go in with eyes open. As always, thank you to Matt for a great and nuanced review.

And then there’s Michael Cook of Thoroughly Modern Reviewer, whose thoroughly modern review gave me some serious old-fashioned feels. To wit:

MJ-12: Shadows is an excellent book in every way you look at it. It’s gripping, entertaining, and suspenseful. Martinez expertly juggles the demands of the mysteries, the action scenes, and the character moments of the novel…Michael J. Martinez is definitely an author that everybody should be watching.

You can see Michael’s full review here. No spoilers in this one, but man…it was really amazing and humbling to read. Thanks, Michael!

And there were more lists, too! Lots of excellent authors have books out today, and I’m proud to have MJ-12: Shadows out there among them. So if you don’t mind abusing your credit cards or foregoing your groceries this week, check out Barnes & Noble, the Geekiverse and Locus for all kinds of great science-fiction and fantasy books you can buy.

Once again, thank you to everyone involved in getting this book out there, and to all the fantastic readers who keep buying the stuff I write. Y’all are awesome.

MJ-12: Shadows — Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Books-A-Million | Mysterious Galaxy

MJ-12: Inception (in case you need to play catch-up with the first one) — Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound| Books-A-Million | Mysterious Galaxy

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August 29, 2017 · 5:45 pm

One week until MJ-12: Shadows is out!

It’s been a busy summer, full of travel and work and writing the third MAJESTIC-12 novel, a trip to Wyoming for Launch Pad and, most recently, taking two 13-year-olds to see Lady Gaga in Queens. (The Storify here is mildly amusing, I’d like to think.)

So let’s kick autumn off in style with the release of MJ-12: Shadows next Tuesday! (OK, it’s still technically summer. Work with me.)

The second in a series seems to be a sweet spot for me. The groundwork and exposition is already laid, the plots can be furthered and character arcs…arced?…without worrying about aiming for the finish line quite yet. Plus, MJ-12: Shadows’ setting in 1949 Syria really lent itself to the MAJESTIC-12 concept. (More on that later…)

I’ve scattered some previews and such around the blog over the past few months. For your convenience, here’s everything on Shadows thus far:

There will be more, of course. I’ve got some guest posts, interviews and podcasts coming up in the weeks ahead, and likely more reviews as well. But hopefully this will get you started, along with the reminder that Shadows is available for pre-order. And if you haven’t caught up with the first novel in the series, MJ-12: Inception, the order links are below!

MJ-12: Shadows — Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Books-A-Million | Mysterious Galaxy

MJ-12: Inception — Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound| Books-A-Million | Mysterious Galaxy

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August 9, 2017 · 5:00 pm

A excerpt from MJ-12: Shadows, on shelves next month!

Where does the time go? Actually, I know damn well where it goes — a summer full of hard work, home improvements, family time and various other things. Oh, and writing the third MAJESTIC-12 book in between. (Ha.)

But the second book in that superpowered Cold War spy series, MJ-12: Shadows, is out September 5, and it’s high time I begin letting you folks know what the heck’s going on with it. To be fair, I did give you a sneak peek at some of the cool faux documents we ginned up again — click here if you missed it. And if you want the basic synopsis, here you go:

It’s 1949, and the Cold War is heating up across the world. Operating in the shadows, the Variants–once ordinary US citizens, but now imbued with strange paranormal abilities and corralled into covert service by the government’s top secret MAJESTIC-12 program–find themselves on the front lines of an international crisis.

In Syria, Variant agents have been sent to support a coup by a pro-American army officer. In Washington, a shocking suicide has them fighting for their very freedom. And at Area 51, the operation’s headquarters, the strange interspatial phenomenon which originally granted Variants their abilities has yielded disturbing discoveries.

All the while, dangerous figures flit among the shadows, and it’s unclear whether they are threatening to expose the Variants for what they are . . . or completely destroy them. Are they working for the Soviet Union, or something far worse?

In addition, there’s a couple of reviews up on Goodreads — including one from the gloriously talented Beth Cato (preorder Call of Fire now, it’s really good and it’s out next week). I’m expecting some reviews to land soonish, probably after everyone gets back from WorldCon in Helsinki, which I didn’t get to go to this year, sadly. So far, I’m pleased with what I’m hearing from the people who’ve read it, and there’s a decent consensus going that it could very well be better than the first one, MJ-12: Inception.

But hey, you should judge for yourself. So here’s an excerpt of MJ-12: Shadows to whet your appetite.

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June 19, 2017 · 5:00 pm

Back for now, off again soon

Yes, it’s been a week since I returned from the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop — during which time I turned 45, had a very full week of work, and then did up some Father’s Day fun. So there’s some catching up to do, for sure. Here we go.

Launch Pad was, in short, amazing. Mike Brotherton and Christian Ready assembled an amazing bunch of writers to head to the University of Wyoming and get a crash course on astronomy for a week. We learned everything from planetary science to cosmology, star formation to colliding galaxies. I came out with some great ideas around exoplanets that have been added to the (neverending and exponentially increasing) to-write list. Just an amazing week.

If you’re an established science fiction writer, I cannot recommend Launch Pad highly enough. Just be sure to hydrate and take it easy at altitude for the first few days. (I hit the gym Monday morning and spent the rest of the day with a massive headache. Learn from my errors.)

For those who haven’t yet read MJ-12: Inception, the good folks at Skyhorse Publishing — home to my imprint, Night Shade Books — are running a giveaway over on Goodreads. You have until Saturday to enter for your chance to win one of five free copies. Go forth and enter!

I’ll be in Los Angeles for work starting this Saturday and all through next week, so apologies in advance if I don’t keep up on the blogging. But definitely keep an eye out on Twitter, which has become my more immediate go-to for news and such. I imagine I might hit up a few bookstores here in New York, as well as in L.A., to sign the new MJ-12: Inception paperbacks, so definitely keep an eye out for that if you want one!

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June 6, 2017 · 9:23 am

MJ-12: Inception out in paperback today!

Greetings from Wyoming! I’m about to embark on the second day of the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop here at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and so far it’s been pretty incredible. But while we’re all busy here contemplating the vastness of the universe, I still have a book out today here on Earth, and I’m pretty stoked about it.

MJ-12: Inception hits shelves in mass-market paperback today, and I hope it’ll introduce the Cold War espionage adventures of the Variants to even more people. The paperback edition also has an excerpt from MJ-12: Shadows, out in September, tucked in the back. The ebook price at Amazon has dropped considerably with the new edition, and I expect other ebook vendors to follow suit soon, if they haven’t already.

I’m grateful to the folks at Night Shade Books for getting this one out there in mass-market. I know hardcover can be tough for some folks to swing, especially for a new series. We’ll also be issuing MJ-12: Shadows in mass-market right out of the gate, because when you think spy thrillers — superpowers or not — you tend to think paperback. And as much as the hardcover was super pretty and excellent, getting the books into readers’ hands is more important.

That said, I’m very grateful to all the folks who bought and read MJ-12: Inception in hardcover, and doubly so if you’ve taken the time to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads or wherever. That stuff helps a lot, believe it or not. And if you haven’t left a review or rating yet, please consider doing so. It matters.

All right, then. Back to astronomy! Enjoy the paperback!

MJ-12: Inception  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound| Books-A-Million | Mysterious Galaxy

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June 3, 2017 · 4:14 pm

Heading to Wyoming to gaze at the stars and learn a whole bunch

May was a particularly busy month, with trips to Pittsburgh for the Nebulas and Richmond, Va., for vacation — and, of course, work and writing and all that jazz. June is starting off on a very different note — I’m heading to the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop!

Getting accepted to the workshop was incredibly cool. It’s designed for established science fiction writers to get a crash-course in astronomy and space sciences, and our schedule looks amazing. We’ll be talking about planetary formation, various types of stars, galaxies, dark matter…you name it. And we’ll also be talking about how we might apply our newfound knowledge in stories.

Oh, and we get to go check out the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO), a 2.3 meter telescope, seen above. This is real-deal science, y’all. Not bad for an English and government major.

I’ve talked to past Launch Pad attendees, and they had nothing but excellent things to say about it. I’m honored to have been chosen to go, and I’ll be among quite a diverse and accomplished group of scribes. There will likely be beer at some point.

It remains an open question as to whether I’m going to blog much during the week, but you can bet I’ll be doing my thing on Twitter, so if you want to follow my antics, I’d try there first.

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May 25, 2017 · 5:30 pm

MJ-12: Inception Kindle price cut ahead of paperback release

Wow, that headline reads like a press release. Sorry. But hey! Cheap books, amirite?

MJ-12: Inception, the first in the MAJESTIC-12 series of spy-fi thrillers, comes out in paperback June 6. I’ll be up in Wyoming for the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop that week, but I’ll do my best to blog and tweet and all that other stuff.

And because of that impending release, the Amazon ebook price just got hacked way down. It’s just $7.59 on Kindle right now, which is far better than the $13.99 price it had on release. (I swear, I had nothing to do with that, by the way. Even I balk at buying ebooks at that price.) The ebook is still running at higher prices on Barnes & Noble and Kobo, but I imagine — and fervently hope — that the price will be coming down soon.

And of course, it’ll hit bookstores in mass-market paperback in less than two weeks. I’m excited to see this book out there on the cheap, and I hope it continues to attract new readers. Plus, there’s an excerpt of MJ-12: Shadows in the Inception paperback, which is even more value for your money!

Of course, if you’ve already bought MJ-12: Inception at that higher price, I most definitely thank you for supporting my work. And if you enjoyed it, I would really, really appreciate it if you threw a review up on Amazon or Goodreads or wherever you like. Facebook, Twitter, it’s all good. It really does help.

Finally, if you want to pre-order Inception in paperback, or Shadows before its September release, I got the links right here.

MJ-12: Inception  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound| Books-A-Million | Mysterious Galaxy

MJ-12: Shadows  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Books-A-Million | Mysterious Galaxy

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May 15, 2017 · 5:00 pm

I’ll be at the SFWA Mass Autograph Signing in Pittsburgh this Friday

I’m heading to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Conference this weekend in Pittsburgh, and if you’re in the Pittsburgh area — or attending the weekend’s festivities or, frankly, just like road-tripping — there’s going to be a mass autograph signing this Friday evening, and I’ll be there with pen in hand.

The event starts at 8 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center’s Grand Ballroom, and it’ll likely go for a few hours, at the very least. You can expect most of the Nebula Award nominees will be on hand to sign their stuff, along with many others — click here for the details. I’m told there will indeed be books on hand for sale, including copies of the Daedalus trilogy in mass-market paperback and hardcover copies of MJ-12: Inception. Of course, you can feel free to bring your own, too.

And chances are, I’m likely to have some extra advance reader copies of MJ-12: Shadows to give away as well. Given that this one isn’t out until September, you’re getting your hands on it super-early (and with some typos, because it’s a pre-proof copy, which means it’s totally a collector’s item).

I haven’t been to the Nebulas since 2013, just before The Daedalus Incident came out. The event’s evolved considerably since then, with a lot of cool panels and information sessions. I’m still feeling like a newbie compared to some, so I’m planning on listening and learning as much as I can. And, of course, I’m looking forward to seeing my people again.

So if you’re going — for the whole conference or just for the signing — be sure to find me and say hello!

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May 6, 2017 · 4:00 pm

Only one more day to bid on signed copies of the Daedalus and MAJESTIC-12 books

Here’s your obligatory time-is-running-out notice: The charity auctions to benefit Con or Bust — an organization that sends lots of awesome people of color to SF/F conventions — end tomorrow at 4 p.m. EDT. That means you have a little more than a day to bid on stuff, including signed copies of all my books to date, including a never-before-seen advance copy of MJ-12: Shadows.

I have two lots in the auction. The first is all three Daedalus paperbacks — The Daedalus Incident, The Enceladus Crisis and The Venusian Gambit — signed and sent to your door if you win. The other is a signed hardcover of MJ-12: Inception and, as previously mentioned, that signed advance copy of MJ-12: Shadows, which doesn’t come out until September.

So there you go. Click here to get bidding! As of this posting you have 24 hours — GO!

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